Life: Serious Control Issues (Episode 109)

"Do I look like I tan?"

Before I start the recap, I want to take a moment to give a cheer that Life has been given a full season order. Hooray! Now, if only the strike will end so we actually get all of those 22 episodes.

Now that Ted has seen Charlie's conspiracy wall, they're poring over the contents, which are spread across the kitchen island. Charlie tells him that Rachel Seybolt witnessed her family getting murdered and even drew a sketch of the killer, but Ted isn't convinced that Charlie hasn't lost his damn mind. However, when Charlie points out that Ames, the lead investigator in the Seybolt case, was murdered right after he had an argument with Jack Reese, the SWAT leader at the bank robbery where all of the money went missing, Ted is forced to agree that there's something creepy going on. He asks what Charlie is going to do and Charlie replies that he's going to bring hidden things into the light. By that, he means he's going to plant the picture he took of Ames and Jack arguing in Jack's newspaper. As Jack looks at the picture and his face tightens in anger, Charlie watches from across the street.

Charlie and Dani arrive at their latest crime scene, where the body of a young girl has been found in the woods near a highway overpass. The girl has a guitar in her lap and her throat has been cut. Dani notes that there's not a lot of blood and she and Charlie agree that the victim was killed somewhere else and dumped her body. Charlie looks around and sees two homeless girls peering at the crime scene, but they take off when they see Charlie has spotted them. Charlie and Dani get in the car and pull up alongside the girls, who don't want to answer any questions. Charlie asks them if they like fruit and they think it's a skeevy come-on, but he holds up a bag of oranges. "It's not pervy, it's just an orange." I have to say, if some guy drove up next to me and asked me if I liked fruit, I'd also think it was pervy. But if that guy looked like Damian Lewis, I'd be hoping it was pervy. Warily, the girls each take an orange, which Charlie proudly shares he grew himself, and the sharing of food makes them relax a little. They tell Charlie and Dani that the girl was their friend Josie, who showed up over the summer and often performed music at a food store and would bring bread back for them to eat. The girls say Josie always insisted she only played music for the guy at the store.

Charlie and Dani report in with Karen, telling her that the victim had consensual sex a few hours before she died but they have no ID because there wasn't a prints match. Dani says they're going to the market and she gets up to leave, but Charlie stays back to ask Karen how the Ames investigation is going. Karen sternly advises him to keep his eyes on his own paper, so to speak. He leaves, telling her he's submitting a bill for his broken door lock when his house was investigated, and Karen asks Dani to stay behind. She tells Dani that IAD will want to ask if Charlie said anything about Ames and says Ames put Charlie away for 12 years and no amount of Zen can take that kind of hate away. "Isn't there?" Dani asks in a very Charlie-ish way. Karen warns her against getting too close to Charlie and says if she doesn't watch out, anyone who wants to get Charlies ousted could go after her and set her up. Dani leaves and Charlie asks if she wants to talk about it. When she doesn't respond, he teasingly says if she keeps swallowing things she'll get an ulcer. She glares at him and he backs off, saying they'll just work the case.

Charlie and Dani are walking over to the grocery store when a kid on a skateboard wipes out right in front of them. They hurry over to help him up but he nervously brushes off their concern and tries to skedaddle. However, Charlie's noticed the carving of the kid's name - Nate - on the board and calls his name, then compliments the carving work. He shares that he used to carve but doesn't anymore since Dani took away his knife. Why? "Yeah, Reese, why'd you take away my knife?" Charlie asks pointedly. Hee. Dani scowls and says it's not the time to talk about it, but Charlie's off and running already, telling Nate that he used his knife when he should've been using his service weapon. Nate realizes they're cops and starts to back away. Charlie asks if Nate knew Josie and Nate asks if something happened to her, but doesn't really admit that he knew her. Charlie says it must've taken a good knife to do the carving on his board and asks to see Nate's knife, but Nate says it's not his. Dani asks whose knife it is, but just then Nate's father, who works at the grocery, walks over and Nate, already nervous, completely clams up and stares at his feet like his shoes are the most interesting things he's ever seen. Charlie asks about Josie and the dad, Ray, recognizes her from hanging around the store regularly and expresses totally fake dismay to learn she's dead. Charlie hands his card out to Nate and asks him to call if he has anything else to say, but Ray snatches the card before Nate can take it. Ray leads Nate away and Charlie and Dani exchance significant looks, agreeing that they need to talk to Nate when Ray isn't around.

Later, Charlie and Dani knock on Nate and Ray's apartment door and Dani exposits that Ray's at work. Nate is unhappy to see them and keeps trying to shut the door in their faces, but Dani points out the dancing bear carving on Nate's board, saying it looks exactly like one carved into Josie's guitar. Charlie agrees and says the lab could probably match them, then hilariously tells Nate that the lab is so good it could even match a fart. Hee. Nate comes clean before someone comes along to bag his farts and admits he and Josie were friends who fooled around sometimes. He lied because Ray doesn't allow him to date, but he insists he didn't kill Josie because he was working when she died. He goes to get his timecards and Charlie peers around the apartment from the door. Something grabs his attention and he steps in, while Dani hisses at him to get out since without a warrant anything he finds can't be admissible. Unsettled and getting angry, Charlie points out the bars and padlocks on the windows, but Dani says a lot of people have those. However, when Charlie tells her that one of the bedroom doors has a lock on the outside, Dani starts to look just as disturbed. "Reese, this is a cell," Charlie seethes.

Nate returns and seeing Charlie inside the apartment, he tells them they need to leave. Dani says the locks looks they're used to hold someone captive and Josie wasn't killed where they found her. Nate blanches and insists he didn't kill her. He says they were friends and she was teaching him how to play the guitar, and although they fooled around he didn't have sex with her. He knows she was having sex with someone and Charlie presses him to reveal who it was, saying "we" always know. "We," I guess, meaning men who have a secret power of knowing who the women they're in love with are sexing it up with. I...what? That's the one false step I've seen in Charlie's characterization on this show. It's uncharacteristically sexist and macho, unless I'm misinterpreting, which is always possible. Anyway, Nate apparently does have the secret power and says Josie was sleeping with a guy who delivered bread to the grocery store. Nate begs them to leave before his dad gets home and Charlie asks him about the locks. On cue, Ray enters the doorway and coldly says it's none of Charlie's business. Nate tells Ray that he asked them to leave and Charlie confirms, then looks right at Nate and asks if he wants to come with them. Standing behind Ray, who glares at Charlie and Dani, Nate tells them to leave. Charlie curls his lip at Ray and says he knows him, sees Ray has that "guard" look he knows very well. "You like the keys, don't you, Ray? And the locks. I know you," Charlie says menacingly, getting right in Ray's face. Dani orders Charlie to leave and Charlie breaks eye contact with Ray only to tell Nate to call 911 and ask for him if he ever needs to. Out in the hallway, Dani berates Charlie for losing his cool and says she knows he's under a lot of stress he's with the IAD investigation but he has to keep it together. Charlie is still angry but he acknowledges Dani's point.

Charlie arrives late to his IAD meeting, still in a snarly mood, and pointedly reminds the investigator that he was late because he was out trying to solve a murder. Garrity gets Charlie to sit down and Raitt asked him why he decided to return to the department when he got such a big settlement and Charlie says he's a good cop. Raitt asks if he's conducting his own investigation into the Seybolt case and Charlie derails the questioning by cracking jokes and responding in platitudes. Cut to Karen's office, where Raitt is again pitching a fit over Charlie's lack of cooperation. Charlie watches, looking rather pleased with himself, and Bobby walks over and notes that Charlie has a knack for causing mayhem. Dani joins them and says she's got a lead on the delivery guy, so if Charlie is done messing with IAD and wants to do some work, they should head out. Bobby makes a sexist remark about Dani's tough attitude and Dani just rolls her eyes dismissively and ignores Bobby. She tells Charlie that Dean Gill hasn't been to work in three days and the store owner has reported his truck as missing.

Dani and Charlie pull up to Dean's house and are walking across the street when they hear high-pitched screaming. They look at each other in alarm, then race over and kick through the door with their guns drawn, to see the house is filled with a bajillion kittens, many of them mewing very loudly. "Cats? I hate cats," Dani mutters with such disgust that I laugh for about ten minutes. I also laugh when I see one kitten bodily shove another off the top of a scratching post. Hee! As for Charlie, he looks confused and intrigued and even a wee bit charmed, but he doesn't fulfill a million fangirls' fantasies by picking up and cuddling one of the cute fuzzy kittens. Damn you, show! A fussy chubby man with a lisp comes hurrying out and politely asks them to close the door so the kittens don't escape, even though they're pointing guns right at him. It's Dean Gill and he proudly declares he has 36 kittens, which isn't a crime, but Charlie points out the missing truck in the backyard. Dean insists the owner lets him take it home sometimes and says he doesn't remember ever seeing Josie. He lets them look in the truck and Dani finds a guitar pick in the passenger seat. Before she can bag it and question Dean further, Dean snatches the pick out of her hand and swallows it. Dani looks at Charlie like, "Did that seriously just happen? SERIOUSLY?" Heh, poor Dani's having kind of a rough day, what with her partner being all crabby, the kittens, and now a crazy evidence-eating suspect.

Dani and Charlie bring Dean into the station, making him wait in interrogation until he poops out the guitar pick. As they're taking him into the room, Charlie spots Jack entering Karen's office with the photo of Jack arguing with Ames. Jack shoots Charlie a dirty look and points at him through the window, confirming to Charlie that he's been busted. Later, Dani watches from her desk as Charlie is confronted by Karen and Jack. Charlie freely admits he left the photo and says he knows the police will eventually figure out he didn't kill Ames, but he does think Jack should be a suspect since they argued right before Ames was killed. He also awesomely reminds the cocky Jack that he's retired, so he has no say in how the investigation goes. Jack claims he and Ames argued over football, then gives a nod to Karen to leave them alone. Yes, he kicks her out of her own damn office. Man, what a entitled asshole. But Karen complies without argument so she's equally at fault for not reminding Jack that she's in charge. Karen joins Dani at her desk as Jack tries to bully Charlie into giving up everything he's learned. Following his plan to bring things into the light, Charlie tells Jack about Rachel Seybolt and says he went to Ames, Ames went to Jack, then Ames ended up dead. Jack tells Charlie that he's going to find trouble if he keeps digging, whether he's looking for it or not, and orders him to keep Dani out of it.

Charlie joins Dani in the interrogation room and she looks relieved to see him, because Dean has been naming all of his kittens. She asks if he had a nice chat and Charlie admits it wasn't, then asks if she wants to know what Jack wanted. "He always wants the same thing," she replies flatly. "Everyone else's unhappiness." Charlie takes that in, then asks Dani if she asked Dean about Josie. Dean continues to play dumb but Dani tells him that after he poops out the pick, they'll find Josie's DNA on it and he'll go to jail, where they probably won't let him take his 36 kittens. Dean admits that Josie was in his truck and she used to sing for him, but he claims he didn't kill her.

Charlie and Dani are getting their guns from the weapons locker when Karen joins them and tells Charlie that IAD said he could remain on duty. She asks Dani if she wants to request a new partner and Dani firmly declines the offer, which makes Charlie smile to himself adorably. Accepting Dani's decision, Karen hands them the warrant to Ray and Nate's apartment. However, when they get there and the landlord lets them in, the place has been cleared out. After calling in an Amber Alert, Charlie and Dani sit in the couch and try to figure out if Nate killed Josie and Ray took him on the run to protect him, Ray killed Josie and took Nate on the run, or they both killed Josie. Dani looks at all of the bars and locks and obliviously asks Charlie if can imagine living like this, but it's clear as soon as the words leave her mouth that she knows it was a stupid thing to say. Still, Charlie has to needle her about it and says he doesn't have to imagine it, "because of the whole prison thing." Hee. Charlie brings up her dad and Dani tells him that she spent her whole life trying to figure out if Jack is truly bad or just mean. She goes on to say that she doesn't understand Charlie and doesn't really like him, but she knows he's not one of the bad guys. Charlie says nothing, knowing if he does that it may break whatever spell it is that has Dani so chatty and sharing, but he looks quietly pleased at what he's hearing. She wonders why, with his money, he came back to his job rather than going to lie on a beach somewhere. "Do I look like I tan?" Charlie replies impishly. HEE! Even the usually stone-faced Dani has to smile a little at that. Going back to the case, Charlie starts to muse about parents and children, then wonders where all the cats were. Dani doesn't follow, so he explains that Dean had all of those kittens, but there were no adult cats.

Back at Dean's house, investigators dig up the backyard and find lots and lots of furry corpses and all of their throats were cut. Dani and Charlie go back to the station and confront Dean with the new evidence. Dani tells him that when the lab confirms that the wounds on the cats match Josie's, Dean will be get the death penalty. Charlie muses that Dean liked Josie's voice so he took it, just like he took the kittens' voices once they grew up and stopped sounding good to Dean. Just as Charlie and Dani are about to walk out the door, letting the lab condemn Dean before he can confess and avoid execution, Dean speaks up and admits he killed Josie because he wanted her voice.

Having solved Josie's murder, Charlie still isn't satisfied and wonders why Nate and Ray ran if they didn't kill Josie. Dani is also curious and wonders where Nate's mother is. Charlie speculates there was a custody issue and Ray ran with Nate, so Dani suggests they track down the mother. Unfortunately, they can't find any record of Nate having a mother, or even of Nate at all. They present their findings to Karen and say there's no evidence that Ray ever had a son. Karen wonders if Nate isn't Ray's real son, where did he come from? Later, Karen tells them that the FBI matched prints in the apartment to a 12-year-old missing persons case. Nate, whose real name is Steven Weston, was kidnapped when he was 3 years old. Charlie remembers that Nate was skateboarding when they met him and Josie was teaching him guitar, both indications that Nate wasn't guarded by Ray day and night. Ray didn't need the locks and bars anymore because Nate carried them inside him. Dani realizes that if Ray isn't holding Nate captive anymore, they don't have an abduction but instead they have two people on the run. Karen says they've probably split up so the FBI needs to look for them separately.

Charlie and Constance sit on a park bench, watching kids play soccer and snacking on popsicles. This scene is like a love letter to the Damian Lewis mouth fetishists like me. Constance chastises him for giving IAD the runaround and advises him to stop hanging around so many cops since they don't all want what's best for him. Constance really needs to stop badgering Charlie to give up his job. Dani doing it was fine because it was the first time she really questioned why he'd want to come back and she still doesn't know Charlie that well, but Constance should know better. She worked on his case for four years and should understand by now what Charlie's job means to him. I get that her heart is in the right place but she's coming off as dumb as a brick about this issue, and Charlie is too mellow to tell her to back the fuck off. Luckily, before she can harangue him more, Charlie gets a call that Ray has been found and takes off, jauntily kicking the stray soccer ball back to the kids as he leaves.

Dani and Charlie, looking hot in their bullet-proof vests, pull up to a farm with their cavalcade of police. Ray is chopping wood and turns to watch them as they drive in, but makes no move to run away. He feigns complete ignorance of Nate's existence so Charlie arrests him for Nate's murder, assuming that Nate's love for Ray will compel him to turn himself in to clear Ray's name. Back at the station, Dani points out to Charlie that there's a chance Ray really did kill Nate and Charlie knows she could be right. They sit and wait for a call at their desks, Charlie playing with a wee pineapple. Dani looks at it a few times, fidgets, then finally asks what's the deal with the fruit. Charlie says when he was in prison, he never got fresh fruit and he missed it. Dani snarks that it wouldn't be fruit she'd miss the most and Charlie says it would. Not arguing the point because Charlie would probably know, Dani eyes him for a long moment, then reaches into her desk and pulls out his knife. He looks surprised, then smiles and takes it from her, promising to use it for good instead or evil. She smiles back at him but the nice moment of bonding is broken by Charlie's phone ringing. He answers and it's Nate, reminding him that Charlie said he could call if he needed help.

Down in the woods where Josie died, Nate is picking out chords on a guitar. As Beth Orton's beautiful, heartbreaking cover of "Oooh Child" starts playing, Nate says he heard what supposedly happened to him as a child, and insists that Ray loves him and is his father. Dani calmly agrees and Charlie asks if Nate wants to see Ray, both of them knowing what to say to keep Nate from getting spooked and taking off. They return with him to station and walk past Karen's office, where Nate's real parents watch him through the glass. Charlie and Dani walk Nate over to the interrogation room, where he can see Ray, but he's not permitted to enter. He apologizes to Ray, who doesn't look guilty or angry or defiant, just sad. In Karen's office, she tells Nate's parents that it will take time and therapy for Nate to adjust to what's happened to him. Charlie escorts Nate to the elevator and Nate realizes that what he heard is the truth, that Ray kidnapped him when he was a child. Charlie understands how distraught Nate is and says he's supposed to take him to child services, but he doesn't want to go down and has a better idea.

On the roof, Charlie and Nate sit in the police helicopter as the warm sun shines on them through the cockpit window. Charlie tells Nate that he's never going to be like anyone else because of what happened to him. Nate asks how he knows that and Charlie says he knows because of what happened to him, which was in many ways the same thing that happened to Nate. Nate asks when they're taking off and Charlie, with a mischievous grin, says he doesn't know how to fly the helicopter, which makes Nate laugh a little. They sit in comfortable silence, watching the sun set over Los Angeles.