The Ledger

10.18 Mega

Michael McKean guest stars in this episode (10.18) in which 6 people are killed in a helicopter crash that was the result of a bomb on board. Who was responsible: the jealous wife, the leader of a quasi-cult for rich people, or another jealous wife? Briscoe and Green investigate.

The episode begins with the helicopter taking off and crashing just off camera. The detecives learn that the explosion was a small one. ("We're not talking about Osama Bin Laden," one of the forensic techs says in an episode that pre-dated 9/11.) Since the helicopter was en route to JFK, they wonder if the bomb was meant to detonate on a jet. They learn that one of the victims had fun permits and had been audited by the IRS twice and was headed to Washington. Perhaps he was trying to send a message to some politicians? When they go through the pilot's luggage, they find evidence he was having an affair. The good-looking audio forensics guy (who has appeared in a previous episode) analyzes the tape between the pilot and his dispatchers at the heliport, and they hear him saying "I'm sorry...I'm sorry." Forensics determines that the bomb was kept in a small gift box. Green decipher the letters on the box, and connects it to a boutique. They connect the purchase to a Maggie Callister, wife of one of the victims.

To learn more about Maggie, they question the rich friends she is staying with. Michael McKean palys one of these frends, Elias Grace. They learn that her husband had his financial assets, apparently in anticipation of a divorce from her. They arrest Maggie at 26 minutes in, reasoning that she gave the bomb to her husband.

Her defense attorney rightly wonders, Who made the bomb? Probably not Maggie. That means someone else must be responsible. Going through her financial records, they learn that she had recently given $200,000 to a company called the KBG Corporation. Her husband's brother tells them that this was a leadership training group, of sorts, which solicited very large donations from its members. He says that his brother had refused to give up so much money. It turns out that Grace is the founder and controller of KBG. Another member/client of KBG says that he made a lot of money because of Grace, and so did everyone else. Schiff begins to wonder how much of a cult KBG is, and harumphs when he's told it has to do with self-actualization.

McCoy confronts Grace, who tells him that KBG merely helps out a "wide circle of friends. During this exchange, Grace's wife seems oddly devoted to her husband, a little Stepford-y. The new theory of the crime becomes that Grace was upset because Mr. Callister was withholding funds, and killed him as a result.

They search Grace's Rockland estate and find guns, but also learn from his groundskeeper that two sticks of dynamite, used to clear beaver dams, were missing. At Grace's arraignment (41 minutes in), it's disclosed that the Graces are worth $50 million.

Maggie Callister refuses to roll on her friends, however, but then some new information emergers: Mr. Callister was having an affair with Grace's wife! Here's a new motive. Valerie rolls on her husband in front of him, despite his loud objections. She says he learned of the affair and decided to kill Callister. But there's one more twist left: When McCoy suspects that Valerie had "gaslighted" her husband, Valerie tells McCoy the affair never really happened. She just made it look like it had happened, so that she could control their financial empire. They can't prosecute her, even though this is basically the sort of thing McCoy has prosecuted people for in the past.

Posted by adm at April 9, 2004 08:13 PM

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