Essential Episode #4: Cypher

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Jim and Blair are stuck in traffic leaving a Jags game – Jim is annoyed, feeling that they could have missed this had they left earlier, but Blair ignores him, excited over the win.  That all changes when Jim gets a radio call about a 911 call reporting a prowler.  He puts on the sirens and he and Blair head to the scene.

 

 

When they get to the address they’ve been given, they find the front door open.  Jim walks in cautiously, making sure Blair stays behind him.  The apartment seems deserted, but then Jim hears water dripping.  He follows the sound and finds a naked woman, dead, in the bathtub, with a yellow scarf around her neck.  Blair is unnerved by the sight and has to leave.

 

The next day, Simon, Jim, and Carolyn are discussing the murder.  Turns out the woman – Susan Frasier – was drowned, and there were items taken from the house.  Jim surmises the killer is taking trophies.  We also find out that she was dead for at least 12 hours before Jim got there, which raises the question of who it was that called 911.  It turns out that there have been two other people killed within the last three months with the same MO – it looks like Cascade has a serial killer.  Simon tells Jim and Carolyn that he wants a total media blackout on this for now to avoid mass panic.

 

That night, Blair has his girlfriend, Christine, over at the loft, and they’re getting pretty hot and heavy when Blair has a flashback to seeing Susan Frasier’s body.  Christine is pissed off at first, but when Blair explains himself, and his emotional reaction to seeing someone dead for the first time, she becomes more understanding. 

 

Unfortunately for Blair, Jim comes home at that point, and is not pleased to find a) the door to his own home chained against him, and b) his roomie getting it on on his couch.  Turns out Jim was supposed to be working tonight, and Blair thought he’d have the loft to himself.  Christine isn’t very thrilled by Jim’s sudden appearance, so she leaves.  Blair is upset at first, but then acknowledges to Jim that the murder rattled him.  Jim gives him his best combination Army ranger/cop speech about “separating yourself”, otherwise your emotions will get the best of you and you won’t be effective in the field.  And he does it all while leaning gorgeously against one of the loft pillars. 

 

Jim gets an unpleasant surprise the next day as he’s going into the station – the newspapers have gotten a hold of the story.  Carolyn plays him the 911 call and Susan Frasier’s answering machine message, and Jim (using his Sentinel hearing, presumably), can tell that they’re not the same person, which means that the 911 caller is probably the killer (and a woman).  Simon comes in with the newspaper and tells Jim to make sure that Blair knows that he’s not to talk to the media about the case. 

 

Jim and Blair go to Susan Frasier’s funeral, because, as Jim explains to Blair, serial killers often attend the funerals of their victims, as a means of taunting police.  He’s actually quite solicitous of Blair in this scene, asking him if he’ll be okay if there’s an open casket funeral.  Blair says he’ll be fine.  Jim goes up to the balcony so he can see all the people present, and focuses in on a woman with a heavy black veil holding a yellow scarf.  Blair has seen her too, and as she approaches the casket he motions to Jim, trying to get Jim to notice her.  Jim doesn’t see Blair, but the woman does, and she flees the church.  Jim goes after her, and a group of news reporters outside the church film her as she runs to a car, gets in, and drives off.  Jim gets in his car and gives chase (as Blair, blaming himself for tipping her off, sits disconsolately on the steps of the church).  They approach a bridge where the traffic is backed up, and the woman stops the car, gets out, runs on to the bridge, and then jumps into the water.  Jim is left with the yellow scarf.

 

The next day, Simon is tearing Jim a new one over losing what was probably the killer, and definitely their best lead.  Jim takes full responsibility for the screw-up, but Simon isn’t sure, and tells Jim that maybe he’d better have Blair stop riding with him.  It’s clear that Simon is worried that Blair is a liability in general, not being a cop, and maybe even the source of the media leak.  Jim, in a steady voice that warms the hearts of TS fans everywhere, disagrees with Simon and insists that not only does he trust Blair, he needs him. 

 

Simon is somewhat mollified, but then tells Jim that he’s brought in some help.  Jim protests that he can handle the case by himself (a theme we’ll see repeated throughout the show), but before Simon can respond, Dr. Anthony Bates, one of the FBI’s top forensic psychiatrists, walks in.  Simon introduces him to Jim, and Bates engages Jim in a discussion of the killer’s signature and how she may be choosing her victims.  Jim thinks the killer is just choosing victims at random, but Bates disagrees, saying, “…in cases like this, nothing is random.”

 

Later that evening, Jim and Blair are at the loft, about to watch the video that the news reporters shot of the woman in the black dress leaving the funeral today.  Turns out Jim has promised the reporter a “hot tip” in exchange for the video.  Before they start, though, Jim tells Blair that Simon thinks that he’s the leak.  Blair thinks Jim is still mad at him for alerting the suspect, and promises that he’ll never do anything like that again.

 

They watch the tape, and Jim notices that the woman looks an awful lot like the victim, Susan Frasier – same hairstyle, and she’s driving the same car.  He looks even more closely and realizes that she is a he – the “woman” has a prominent Adam’s apple.  With this new clue, Jim tells Blair that he is going to go check out a place called Club Doom, where one of the victims played in a band.  Blair laughs at this and tells Jim that he will clearly be made as a cop.  He offers to go, instead, but Jim firmly nixes this idea. 

 

Of course, the next thing we see is Blair and Christine outside Club Doom.  Blair tells Christine that he’s helping Jim investigate a murder, and that he needs to go into Club Doom to search for clues.  He makes Christine promise that she won’t tell anyone about it, which she does.

 

Later that night, Simon and Jim and Dr. Bates are all in Simon’s office, watching a news report about the fact that the suspected serial killer is a transvestite.  Simon is visibly upset that someone is clearly leaking very sensitive information about the case to the media, but before he can say more, Blair barges in, excited.  He had a very productive night at Club Doom, and found out that the killer took on the identity of his first victim, Adam Walker, and through that identity interacted with his second victim.  Even Jim’s annoyance that Blair went to Club Doom when he told him not to can’t dim Blair’s enthusiasm.  Dr. Bates introduces himself and congratulates Blair on his insight, and surmises that Blair is right, that the killer assumes the identity of his victims in a process of “psychic ingestion”.  Jim is frustrated by the discussion, though, because it’s not giving him any concrete facts to work with to find the killer.  The meeting is interrupted when a call comes in that a prowler has been spotted at the Maritime Museum. 

 

Jim goes to the museum, where the woman who called the police tells him that she saw a woman’s face at the window as she was locking up.  Jim is searching the building when he sees someone; he gives chase and catches the person, who turns out to be a man wearing woman’s clothing.

 

Back at the station, it turns out that the prowler is a career junkie who was paid by someone to dress up like a woman and lurk around the museum.  And to make matters worse, he’s got an airtight alibi for the night of Susan Frasier’s murder – he was in a detox tank.  But Jim has been doing some good old-fashioned detective work as well, and has run a set of fingerprints that were found in Susan Frasier’s car.  Turns out they belong to David Lash, a “serious head case” who escaped from a mental hospital in California three months ago.  Jim has subpoenaed his file.  It looks like a break in the case is imminent, and Dr. Bates congratulates Jim and Blair on their impressive work.

 

Meanwhile, Carolyn has been doing some detective work of her own.  She tells Jim that, based on the salinity of the water in Susan Frasier’s stomach, she wasn’t drowned in her own bathtub.  And the water matches across all the victims, meaning that they were all killed in the same place.  Also, blood analysis indicates that all three victims were drugged with just enough chloral hydrate to subdue them, but not to render them  unconscious. 

 

Jim heads back to Simon’s office and lets Dr. Bates know that the file on David Lash is coming through the fax.  Bates says he’ll be there in a minute and heads into the restroom.  Simon, Jim, and Blair are reading the file as it comes through – David Lash is a very sick individual, and Bates was dead right in his diagnosis.  But things get very confusing when Jim notices that Lash’s psychiatrist is Anthony Bates.  Has the psychiatrist been hiding something from them?  It all becomes clear when Jim pulls the last page from the fax and they see Lash’s picture – the man calling himself Anthony Bates is actually David Lash.

 

Simon seals the exits and Jim races to the restroom, but he’s too late.  There’s nothing left of David Lash besides a pile of clothes and “Who am I now?” written on the bathroom mirror in lipstick. 

 

Simon, Jim, Blair, and Carolyn sit in Simon’s office and watch the news on TV as the story of Lash’s masquerade leaks.  Police in California have found Anthony Bates’ body decomposing in a bathtub, and Jim and Simon realize that the source of their leak was Lash himself, pretending to be Bates. 

 

We next join Jim and Blair as they’re talking to Lash’s father.  Lash’s dad is incredibly creepy and tells them that “Davey” has always been a strange kid.  He tells them the story of how Lash killed a duck that his dad got for him for a pet and kept it in his room for days.  He also tells Jim and Blair that Davey’s little brother Jimmy died when he was five, and that Davey used to pretend that he was Jimmy after that.  He talks about Lash’s mom, how she was abusive to her son, and how yellow was her favorite color.  He then admits that he was always hoping that Lash’s mother would kill him, because “the boy was a devil.”

 

That night, Blair is at a lecture on campus with Christine.  Blair is bringing her up to date on the case.  He sheepishly admits that he was concerned that Christine might be the leak to the media, and Christine gets upset and calls a taxi.  Blair is unnerved to see his reflection in the window of the taxi, but when he turns, no one is there.

 

Back at the loft, Blair is nervous, but trying to convince himself that everything is okay.  He locks all the windows and pulls the shades, then pages Jim.  But before Jim can answer, the door to the loft is kicked in.

 

Jim is at the gym, working out.  As he’s changing back into his street clothes, he sees that Blair has paged him with “911”.  He races back to the loft, but it’s too late.  The door is wide open, the loft in a shambles, and Blair is nowhere to be found.

 

Frantic, Jim calls Carolyn, then goes to examine Susan Frasier’s apartment again.  He sees a down feather in the bathtub drain.  He convinces Carolyn to break the evidence seal on the water and smells it – it smells like bird waste.  Jim realizes that Lash must take his victims to a duck pond to kill them.

 

Meanwhile, we see Blair, chained and gagged, being carried by Lash down a short flight of stairs into a room full of lit candles and the trophies of his kills.  Lash dumps Blair into a dentist’s chair in the middle of the room and proceeds to go on a semi-psychotic rant about how all his victims were his “friends” and how easy they were to kill.

 

Jim, Carolyn, and Simon are looking at duck ponds in Cascade and manage to narrow the selection down to one that is isolated and near a bunch of old, abandoned warehouses.  Carolyn wants him to check out some other leads, but Jim knows that time is running out and they have to do something now.  In no time at all he’s suited up, all in black, and is heading off to reconnoiter.

 

In the warehouse, Lash is clearly planning to assume Blair’s identity – he’s wearing Blair’s clothes and a wig that resembles Blair’s hair.  He takes the gag off Blair so he can practice doing Blair’s voice.  Blair screams for help, but when he realizes that he’s on his own, he taunts Lash, telling him that he can’t do a good job of imitating him, asking him questions about his history that Lash doesn’t know the answers to in order to prove that Lash can’t be him. 

 

We see Jim, who’s arrived at the warehouse, hearing Blair talking to Lash and using his voice to hone in on where he is.  Meanwhile, Blair is using what he knows about Lash from the interview with his father to try and psych Lash out.  Lash gets enraged and tries to drug Blair with the chloral hydrate, but Jim bursts in at that point and yells, “Freeze!”  Unfortunately, Lash has rigged a trap, and as Jim starts down the stairs, one of the steps collapses underneath him and he tumbles to the ground.  Jim and Lash fight, at one point falling down to a lower floor of the old warehouse.  Jim loses his gun, then gets his spare from his ankle holster.  He loses that, though, when Lash attacks him with a piece of wood, then gets it back in time to shoot Lash five times.

 

The next day, all the Major Crimes staff are gathered around the TV, watching the report of Jim’s heroics, Blair’s rescue, and Lash’s death.  Many people congratulate Jim.  Jim, for his part, commends Blair for keeping his head in the face of what seemed like certain death.  Blair seems a bit bashful at all the attention, and makes a comment that the Chinese believe that if you save a man’s life, you become his Blessed Protector.  There’s some sweet teasing between Jim and Blair as they head out of the PD and the episode ends.

 

Why this episode is essential:

 

It’s safe to say that Cypher is one of the best-loved and most-frequently referenced episodes in TS fandom, for a number of reasons.  A significant one is the introduction of David Lash, another creepy, psychopathic killer.  But unlike Garrett Kincaid, Lash hides in plain sight, and is smart enough to outwit Jim, Blair, and Simon for quite a while.  He also has a backstory that, unlike most of the other TS villains, makes him somewhat sympathetic.  While Dennis Christopher does a great job bringing Lash to life, I have to say that the actor who played Lash’s father really brought his A-game, and almost out-creeped him.  In fact, this episode is notably darker than most other TS episodes, and the UPN executives told Danny and Paul they didn’t like it, which is too bad, because I think it’s one of the best episodes of the show. 

 

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, this episode firmly establishes Blair in the role of “the hero’s girlfriend who gets put in peril and needs to be rescued.”  Fortunate in that this episode does a great job of showing the growing friendship between Jim and Blair.  We see them going to a Jags game together.  Jim clearly cares about Blair and balks at getting him into dangerous situations, even though he could use the help, and even though Blair is eager to help out.  He also tries to help Blair learn to distance himself from his emotions when he’s working a case. 

 

I say unfortunately only because the circumstances of Blair’s abduction may be one of the things that gives rise to a lot of fic in which Blair is weak, fearful, and fragile; often seen as a victim.  On the other hand, if you really watch the episode, you can see that that’s not true.  Instead, much like what happened in Siege, Blair’s bravery and resourcefulness really shines through.  Despite being completely immobilized and with no hope (he thinks) of aid, he manages to use his wits and his mouth to confront and unnerve Lash. 

 

This episode provides many slashy moments, as well.  From Jim’s defense of Blair to Simon, to him forbidding Blair to go to Club Doom, to Jim’s clear panic when Blair is abducted, to Jim’s telling Blair that he “did everything right” when he was being held by Lash, to Blair’s mention of “Blessed Protector” and his joking about having a nipple ring and getting a tattoo (which Jim forbids him to do), there’s a wealth of favorite lines and scenes in this ep for the slashily-inclined.  And rumor has it that the original script called for a “manly hug” between Jim and Blair after Lash was dead, but it was cut because the UPN officials were worried about sending the wrong message. 

 

So, to sum up, Cypher is one of the most important episodes in the TS canon, and you definitely don’t want to miss it.

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