The Ledger

13.14 Star Crossed

In this episode (13.14), a manipulative Latina vamp is behind a dim-witted young man's crime spree, which ends in the death of a car salesman during a carjacking. Briscoe and Green investigate and McCoy and Southerlyn and prosecute the femme fatale.

The episode begins with a couple of cops in a car who see three men running away. They come up on a badly beaten man who is dad. The victim is a middle-aged man named Hal Garber, who is a car salesman at a Manhattan Jaguar dealer. He's discovered in Harlem, a bit out of the way for him.

They visit his work place and find he took a Jaguar out with a man named Mr Martinez, and the Jag has not been returned. They talk to Martines: his license was stolen 3 months ago. It looks like the perpetrator stole the car, and killed Garber.

They get some prints from the car, which match those from the perpetrator of a 2nd Avenue bar robbery a while back. They talk to the bartender, and Detective Spivak, who investigated the robbery. He says the witnesses all reported a "Spanish kid" was responsible for the robbery.

They talk to a witness named Tarlow. He called 911 during the robbery, and says he was hitting on a "Spanish girl" at the bar, who left after the robbery. The detectives suspect this girl might be connected to their unknown suspect. They trace her down: her name is Rosalita, aka Tina. They find her at Max Mara, and she immediately starts flirting with Det. Green. She says she doesn't know anything, but they remain suspicious. They also learn that an art gallery was robbed by the same perpetrator as the other two cases. The painting stolen was worth $80,0000.

Briscoe makes it clear he thinks Tina is an accomplice in the crimes. They talk to her ex-boyfriend, a painter named Manuel Lopez, but he's not a suspect. They learn that she's been walking around with a $20K leather bag that was stolen during delivery to a store. They trace the courier for that package, and it's a young Latino guy named Roberto Delgado. They enter his apartment and find the missing painting and Garber's wallet. Looks like he's the suspect! They track him down at the restaurant where he works and arrest him. (18')

They have Tina in for questioning at the precinct, and she acts like she doesn't know anything. They listen in on her conversation with Delgado, and she tells Delgado not to say anything. Tina comes out, and continues flirting with Green, even touching his hand. Green tells her he wants her. In jail.

Del Gado gets a defense attorney, Mr Conners (played by Peter Gerety, who was "Stu Gharty" on Homicide: Life on the Streets). Delgado refuses to speak at his arraigment. Conners admits that there is plenty of evidence against his client and, true to his reputation, he wants a deal. At the deal meeting, it's clear that Delgado is mentally a little slower than most, and he's still not said a word in the entire episode. Olivet interviews him, and he finally utters his first word: "Tina." Finally, he starts talking. He says he doesn't like doctors, who tried to "fix" him. He says he's known Tina since he was in the second grade.

Olivet says his IQ is around 80, and that Tina pushed him to commit these crimes. McCoy tells Branch he wants to go after Tina as an accomplice. They arrest her (39') for conspiracy to commit murder.

McCoy and Southerlyn question Tina, and she actually starts flirting with McCoy. McCoy meets Conners at a restaurant, and he tries to make a new deal: put Delgado away on Murder 2, as long as Tina isn't charged. That seems strange -- he's making a deal that harms his client.

At his allocution, Delgado says he hid the gun used in the Garber killing at the "restaurant," but they can't find the restaurant where he works. Then SS develops the theory that Tina was in the back seat of the Jaguar, and she killed Garber. They learn that her dad -- who she said owned a restaurant in Midtown -- is actually a dishwasher. Guess what restaurant the gun is hid at? Her dad doesn't like Tina -- so maybe that's why she's always seeking the approval of men. McCoy, in deciding whether to charge Tina as an accomplice, has Olivet watch him as he talk to Tina, and then asks her, "Could she kill?" It is very stupid, because (a) how is Olivet supposed to know, really, and (b) can't everybody kill someone if they're so motivated? Anyway, it turns out the the mushy-spined Conners is being played by Tina, and Delgado says that Conners told him to confess, to protect Tina. She calls Conners "sweetie" as McCoy gets him right where he wants him. Conners is upset because he's "measured [his] life in coffee spoons" and Tina represented his first taste of excitement in a long time. Overwhelmed by McCoy's ability to suppress his human nature in pursuit of justice, he turns to McCoy and asks, "Who are you?", a rare metaphysical moment for the series.

The actress who plays Tina is Vanessa Ferlito, best known perhaps as Claudia on Season 3 of 24, and as Adrianna's friend (also named Tina) on The Sopranos.

Posted by adm at June 21, 2004 08:44 PM

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