Post by TVFan on Dec 13, 2005 11:52:32 GMT -5
Recap Provided By Cellogal
August 16, 1972
A house, where we hear “Rocket Man,” by Elton John. People carry in trays of party food and decorate liberally with American flags. A young boy, Ned, walks in carrying a box, and a woman asks him what he has there. Ned answers that it’s for his dad, then carries it in and sets it on the coffee table. Ned’s mom calls for him, and he comes into the kitchen. She asks him to take that bowl of potato chips into the family room, since she’s got batter on her hands. Ned chirps that he drew a picture of his dad’s plane with the exact way the wings were decorated. Mom tries to brush him off, but Ned continues, saying since his dad’s not going flying anymore, he needs something to remember his plane by. He then shuffles off, flying the bowl of chips like it’s a plane, complete with adorable childish plane noises. Suddenly, Ned spies a tall, lanky man in a uniform and asks him, “Who are you?” The man echoes his question, and Ned replies with his name. The soldier then tells Ned that he’s his dad. Awww. Ned argues that the man doesn’t look like his dad, that he has his dad’s picture, and Dad says he’s a lot handsomer now than he used to be. Mom comes in from the kitchen then and can only stop and stare. Dad tells her, in a choked whisper, that he’s home. “Oh, Carl,” she says, and they embrace and kiss tearfully. After they pull apart, Carl tells her he remembers her, and she smiles. They walk toward Ned hand in hand, and Mom helps Carl kneel awkwardly by the coffee table, where Ned tells Carl that he made the box for him. He shows Carl the bracelets with his name on them, saying everybody wore them when Carl was in Vietnam. Carl fingers one of them and is too overcome with emotion to speak. Ned chides Carl that big boys don’t cry, and Carl says he’s crying because Mom spent so much money on this box. Ned argues that he made it, and Carl grabs him in a hug and starts tickling him and wrestling playfully, as only dads and sons can do.
On a stormy night, Carl lies in the street, shot in the chest. His evidence box is placed on the shelf in the warehouse.
Crack house. Hey, look, it’s Tracie Thoms from Rent! She calls to Stillman, introducing herself as Kat Miller from Narcotics and saying she called him. Stillman introduces Lilly and Scotty, and Miller says she’s glad they could come down, then says they found something interesting tossing the place. She shows Stillman Ned’s wooden box of bracelets, and Lilly asks what they are. Stillman says they’re POW bracelets, and Miller says they all have Carl Burton’s name on them. Stillman explains that Carl was a Navy pilot and POW in Vietnam who was shot to death in 1973. Scotty’s impressed that Stillman can remember that off the cuff, and Stillman says Carl was a war hero. Lilly asks if they ever brought the job in, but Stillman ignores her, asking Miller where they found the box. She says they found it behind the water heater in the cellar. Miller says she thought that it was off, something sentimental to a murder victim being stuffed down there. Scotty, ever the history ignoramus, asks if they were like dog tags, and Miller explains that friends and family of the prisoners wore them. Stillman continues, saying that when a POW made it home, someone would gather up the bracelets and make a presentation. Lilly asks Miller if anyone they dragged out of the house knew why the box was there, and Miller says the house was empty when they hit it. Scotty deems this skimpy new direction, but Stillman says sternly that Carl was a POW, and if they’ve got anything, they’ll go with it. Scotty, clearly startled, agrees, and Stillman gives them further instructions: they’re to think of Carl Burton like family.
Credits.
Evidence warehouse. Stillman gives us the 411: Carl Burton, 35, Lt. Comm., US Navy. Scotty continues, saying Carl was shot down on his 23rd bombing mission over Hanoi. Jeffries theorizes that if you go up enough times, your luck’s bound to run out, and Stillman replies that Carl’s got even worse: he spent five years as a prisoner. Scotty reflects on the irony that Carl survived all that and got gunned down in his own area code seven months after he got home. Jeffries says the last place Carl was seen was at the funeral reception of a POW buddy of his, Rex Potter. Stillman says Potter was another Roxboro guy who didn’t make it out of the prison camp. Scotty says that interviews with the Potter family and the people at the house that night don’t indicate anything unusual, and Jeffries adds that Carl’s body was found a mile from the reception, the gun a few feet from him, but rain washed away any prints. Stillman notes, with some disgust, that a bag of marijuana was found in Carl’s pocket. Scotty theorizes that the funeral had to be pretty intense, and Carl might have been in the mood for some kind of escape. Jeffries suggests that Carl was shot after buying the drugs; that maybe he was in the wrong neighborhood, but Stillman says that doesn’t explain the bracelets in the house. Scotty thinks Carl tried to trade them for the marijuana, but Jeffries says they weren’t worth anything. “Could be why he got shot,” Scotty argues. Stillman suggests talking to the wife and son to see what they remember about the funeral. Jeffries warns Stillman that it could be another case of vet burnout, saying that a lot of guys they served with came home and turned to junk. Stillman pauses for a second, then says whatever they find, they’ll follow it up.
Burton home. Janet Burton comes downstairs, looking very prim and proper, and Lilly tells her she didn’t have to fix up. Janet recites her credo: military wife, look right, live right, then offers them a drink. Jeffries says it’s a little early, but Janet replies that it’s cocktail hour somewhere, then heads off to fill her own glass. Lilly tells her they’re there about Carl’s murder, and Jeffries tells her that Carl’s POW bracelets turned up in an abandoned house. Lilly tells her the area was sketchy back then, and even worse now. Janet doesn’t give much of a response, and Jeffries asks her if she has any idea how the bracelets wound up there. She doesn’t, then says it’s embarrassing, but she lost track of them. Lilly points out that she doesn’t seem like the “losing track” type, and Janet says she’s not, but she lost track of herself for a time then. Lilly tells her that Carl had pot on him the night he died, and the theory was that he had a habit that got him into trouble. Janet says that doesn’t sound like the gung-ho fighter pilot she married. Lilly asks if it sounds like the guy who came home in 1972, and Janet says she doesn’t think about that man, that she’d rather remember Carl as he was before: strong, a hero, and she was his wife. Jeffries asks her if she’d have known if Carl was doing drugs, and with tears in her eyes, she says no, that they really tried, but they just never got to know each other again.
Bedroom. Carl pours some drinks, and Janet giggles and dances around to “Baby I’m-a Want You” by Bread, saying this is romantic. Carl asks if she turned into a champagne girl while he was gone, and she says she didn’t. They clink glasses and sip, then she giggles and dances away. Carl sheds his uniform shirt and says that after five years of sleeping next to a guy in his skivvies and showering once a week…”I’m finally looking good,” Janet finishes. They gaze at each other for a few seconds, and he reaches for her, reminding Janet of the time he broke up with her. She remembers him leaving a pathetic note in her parents’ mailbox, saying he needed to be free. Classy! He says she came up to him in the parking lot, and he was dreading her tears, then asks if she remembers. She does, saying she knew better even then. He recalls her response. “Carl, I got your note. I don’t think so.” Atta girl. She nods and agrees, and they kiss tentatively. She winds his arms around her neck and says she feels eighteen, but he winces. She panics, asking if it’s his shoulders, but Carl protests that it’s okay and tells her to come back. She won’t if it hurts him, but he insists. He hugs her again, but Janet says they’ll dance later when he’s better; she doesn’t want him to pretend it doesn’t hurt. Carl yells at her to let him pretend, then explains that his arms have been broken four times, they’re busted and always will be; he can’t lift them, and he can’t dance. He apologizes softly, but Janet says she should make sure Ned didn’t wake up. He says he’s going for a walk, and tells her she doesn’t need to wait for him. She sinks down on the bed.
Janet says Carl would go walk for hours. Lilly asks if that’s when the drinking started; she doesn’t answer. Jeffries asks where Carl would go, and she protests that she didn’t know where Carl was, even when he was right in front of her. Lilly reminds her that they stayed together, and she says they were hoping that somehow they’d find what they lost, but before they could, he was gone again.
UPenn Hospital. Scotty and Vera have tracked down the now grown-up Ned, who’s now a doctor. Scotty concludes that Ned isn’t the kind of doctor who sees patients, and Ned concurs, saying he’s the kind who does research. Vera guesses that it’s better hours, but Ned says it’s better company. He asks where the bracelets turned up, and Scotty tells him they were stashed away in a crack house. Ned asks if they were in the box, and when Scotty confirms it, Ned smiles wistfully and says he made that thing. Vera tells Ned that they’re thinking Carl wanted to buy drugs, got desperate, and tried to pawn the bracelets. Ned says this isn’t exactly what you want to believe about your father. Scotty says they know Ned was young when his dad got home. “Seven,” Ned answers. Scotty continues, asking Ned if, looking back, anything made Ned think Carl was using. Ned denies it, saying that from the day Carl got back, he never missed “triple-nickel reveille,” waking up at 5:55 AM, exercising as best he could, and starting his day. Scotty agrees this isn’t junkie behavior. Vera asks Ned about the last time he saw the bracelets, and Ned says the day he got back, Carl put the box in the basement, since he wasn’t big on war mementos. Vera concludes Carl was trying to move on. Scotty asks if anyone was around back then who could have gotten in the way of that, and Ned says there was someone they shouldn’t have even known about.
Zoo, where we hear Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes.” Carl and Ned walk together, and Carl’s explaining, as best he can, about the people that made him stay over in Vietnam. Ned asks if that’s why Carl couldn’t write him any letters. Aww. Carl says that the only way he could even talk to his friends was through a secret code they made up. Ned’s intrigued, and Carl explains that each letter had a certain number of knocks, and they could spell out words by knocking on the walls between their rooms. Ned asks if Carl can do an N, and Carl knocks on the wooden railing. Ned echoes his knocks, then asks for an E. Carl obliges, then Ned asks for a D. Ned is beyond impressed that Carl can spell out his name in secret code, then asks for another. Carl knocks a few times, and Ned doesn’t know. Carl tells him he said “bear,” and asks Ned if he wants to go see the bears. Ned says that when he comes to the zoo with Ken, they always go see the lions first. Oh, snap. Carl asks who Ken is, and Ned says it’s Mommy’s friend. Carl asks what kind of friend, and Ned replies that he takes him to the zoo and Mommy to dinner. Oh, so it’s that kind of friend. Again, oh, snap.
Ned says that on some level, he knew he shouldn’t have said that, and Vera surmises that Ken was his mom’s “special friend.” Ned nods, then guesses that he was still a little messed up about the dueling father figures, since he knew Ken a lot better than his dad at that point. Scotty asks if Carl followed up with Ken. “Not that I heard about,” Ned answers. Vera says that if he spent five years in a box getting tortured while some guy’s taking his wife to dinner… “I’d follow up,” Scotty finishes. Oh, he totally would.
Squad room. Stillman asks if Janet Burton mentioned anything about Ken, and Lilly denies it, saying she played the pained and patient wife, not big on airing dirty laundry. Stillman seems incredulous that Janet doesn’t want to find out what happened to Carl, and Lilly theorizes that Janet’s afraid of what she might find: that her husband might not have been the perfect hero. Vera comes up then, saying that the crack house where they found the bracelets had renters back in 1973, before crack ran them out, and Ken Weston was one of them. “Our perfect wife’s boyfriend,” Lilly confirms.
Museum. A self-important security guard is relishing giving instructions to tour groups when Scotty approaches him. This must be the famous Ken. Scotty introduces himself, and Ken asks Scotty if he wouldn’t mind stepping to this side of the velvet rope. Scotty minds. He ignores the request, then says that they found some POW bracelets hidden in Ken’s old house that belonged to a murder victim: Carl Burton. Ken’s stunned, saying he must have left the bracelets when he moved. Scotty asks him why the bracelets were in Ken’s house in the first place, and Ken pauses awkwardly. Scotty tells him, by way of reassurance, that they’ve already got the skinny on his relationship with Janet, so Ken can pick up from there. Hee. Ken says he’s confessing to the act of a heartsick young man, then says he took the bracelets the day Janet broke up with him to make himself feel better. He admits this is low, and Scotty agrees, reminding him that Carl was a POW. Ken gets a little bristly, saying he appreciates that, that he was over there, too: eleven months, before illness befell him. Scotty theorizes that perhaps the bracelet snatch didn’t do the trick, and Ken’s still stewing, and this makes Scotty wonder where Ken was the night Carl was shot. Ken says he was at Smokey’s, his regular night spot. He admits to stealing from Carl, but didn’t wish him dead. Scotty asks Ken if he knows anyone who might have, and Ken says that when Carl came back, he wasn’t exactly winning friends and influencing people: he was a little unstable. Scotty asks how Ken would know, and Ken says he did some research and checked up on the guy “to make sure he was worthy.”
Car lot. We hear “Draggin’ The Line” by Tommy James and the Shondells. The windows of the dealership are festooned with “POW: War Hero,” and Carl reminds his boss that he asked him to take that down. The boss refuses, prattling about how they’ve increased sales, and would increase Carl’s sales even more if he could learn a little hustle. Carl approaches Ken, who’s eyeing a car. He tells Ken the car’s a beauty and asks if he can send them home together today. Ken says he’s thinking about it, and Carl excuses himself. His boss takes off after him, finding Carl exchanging words with a teenage boy who’s washing a car. Carl tells the boy that he can’t keep showing up here, and the boy, Daniel, asks Carl if he’s going to talk to him. Carl says no, and Daniel retorts that Carl has to someday. The boss says the kid’s got hustle, washing cars for free, and asks Carl if he knows Daniel. Carl ignores him, quietly reminding Daniel that he told him to beat it. Daniel says he just wants to know about his dad, that he’s asked Carl three times, and now he’s doing his work for him, then asks what it’s going to take. Carl yells at him to leave this alone. “Leave my father alone?” Daniel shouts incredulously, and Carl says there are some things Daniel doesn’t want to know, then yells at him again to get out of there. Daniel glares at him for a minute, then storms off, saying he’s been real nice to Carl, and Carl’s going to wish he’d been nicer to Daniel.
Scotty asks who Daniel was, and Ken can’t say for sure, since he was no longer a member of the inner circle. Scotty presses him, saying it looked like a personal thing, and Ken says the kid got under Carl’s skin, and Ken had done enough research, saying that’s the last time he saw “the moody son of a gun.”
Squad room. Janet admits that Ken was a mistake, that he was a neighborhood guy who kept her company. Lilly tells her that Carl was pretty wounded by the breakup and stole Carl’s bracelets. “Ken did?” Janet asks in disbelief. “Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Lilly asks if Janet thinks Ken might have gone a step farther and gotten into it with Carl, but Janet says confrontation was not Ken’s style. Jeffries asks her if she knows anything about a kid named Daniel, and she does. She starts to answer, then stops, and Lilly asks her, with just a touch of bitterness, if coffee would help her. Janet says no, then says Daniel Potter’s father, Rex,was a POW with Carl who didn’t make it home. Lilly remembers that Carl went to Rex’s memorial the day he died, and Jeffries asks Janet if she has any idea why Carl and Daniel were fighting at the car dealership. Janet says Daniel was hounding Carl, trying to get stuff out of him about his father. Lilly surmises that Carl wouldn’t talk about that, and Janet says Carl saw horrible things in that prison camp, and wouldn’t revisit them for anyone, not her, not Daniel. Lilly asks what happened when Carl said no to Daniel, and Janet says the kid put a rock through their window, saying he was angry at the world. “But…taking it out on Carl,” Jeffries concludes.
Classroom at the juvenile detention center. Scotty confirms that Daniel, who’s now a teacher, was about the age of his students when his dad was in prison. Vera concludes that this must have been rough, never knowing when he was coming home. Daniel says he thought it’d be easier, somehow, if he knew the details of what his dad was going through. “But…Carl wouldn’t say,” Scotty continues, and Daniel says Carl was trying to protect him. Vera remarks that this is pretty understanding for a guy that threw a rock at Carl’s house. Daniel agrees that that was awful, and Scotty asks if he took it any further. Daniel says his anger with Carl stopped with the rock, because Carl caught him red-handed and finally gave him what he wanted.
Exterior, Burton home. Glass shatters and Daniel tries to leave, but Carl grabs him and orders him to pay for the window. Daniel tells Carl to let go of him, and Carl finally agrees to talk, wanting to get it over with. Daniel asks where his dad is, and Carl answers that Rex is still in prison in Hanoi. Daniel asks why, and Carl explains that Rex is an American soldier, and to the North Vietnamese, that’s a crime. Daniel asks what the prison is like, and Carl pauses before answering, telling Daniel that there’s not a lot to eat, the water makes them sick, and the guards are monsters in human clothes, but Rex and the other guys have each other. Daniel asks why they can’t just get together and break out of there, confident that his dad could take some Vietnamese guy. Carl smiles slightly and whispers that maybe he will. Daniel asks Carl if his dad’s going to live, and Carl says yes, that Rex is one of the strongest people he’s ever met; that if he had to truck into hell, Rex is the guy he’d want by his side, then reassures Daniel that Rex is coming home. Daniel compliments Carl on his bravery, and Carl gets reluctant and turns away. Daniel insists, and Carl, near tears, tells Daniel that his dad is the hero, not him, that he’s a coward, then walks away.
Scotty asks why Carl would call himself a coward, and Daniel agrees that this doesn’t make sense, since he survived five years being tortured. Vera thinks Carl’s humble, but Scotty theorizes that maybe Carl was troubled, then asks Daniel if he got the feeling Carl really meant what he said. Daniel says he saw Carl a few times after that and talked to him about Rex, but he could always feel that something was eating him up.
Squad room. Scotty hands Stillman Carl’s military service record, saying he doesn’t see anything in there that would make Carl a coward. Lilly recaps Carl’s Bronze Star and Purple Heart, but Stillman’s found the culprit: Carl took early release. Lilly asks what that is, and Stillman explains that Carl left the prison camp early. Scotty says he thought they couldn’t leave, and Stillman says they couldn’t leave under honorable circumstances, that the code of conduct among POWs was that the sickest and longest-serving go first. Lil points out that Carl was neither of those, and Scotty asks how he got to the front of the line. Stillman answers that Carl told the VC guards what they wanted to hear and allowed them to use him for propaganda. Lilly says that doesn’t sound like a gung-ho fighter pilot and asks why he’d do that. Stillman says that Carl’s sick of getting beaten nearly to death five years in a row, misses his family, is stowed in solitary, then says that it’s hard to know what a code like that starts to mean at that point. Scotty points out that a lot of guys hung in, and Stillman concurs, saying hundreds did, and they would not have been fans of Carl’s. Lilly says that a lot of the POWs came back at the end of March 1973, a week before Carl was killed. Scotty asks if any of them were from Philly, and Lilly says a guy named Rait, from Antioch was. “Roger Rait, a Navy Commander?” Stillman asks, and Lilly nods. Scotty asks Stillman if he knows Rait, and Stillman answers that he served with him. Well, this could get interesting.
August 16, 1972
A house, where we hear “Rocket Man,” by Elton John. People carry in trays of party food and decorate liberally with American flags. A young boy, Ned, walks in carrying a box, and a woman asks him what he has there. Ned answers that it’s for his dad, then carries it in and sets it on the coffee table. Ned’s mom calls for him, and he comes into the kitchen. She asks him to take that bowl of potato chips into the family room, since she’s got batter on her hands. Ned chirps that he drew a picture of his dad’s plane with the exact way the wings were decorated. Mom tries to brush him off, but Ned continues, saying since his dad’s not going flying anymore, he needs something to remember his plane by. He then shuffles off, flying the bowl of chips like it’s a plane, complete with adorable childish plane noises. Suddenly, Ned spies a tall, lanky man in a uniform and asks him, “Who are you?” The man echoes his question, and Ned replies with his name. The soldier then tells Ned that he’s his dad. Awww. Ned argues that the man doesn’t look like his dad, that he has his dad’s picture, and Dad says he’s a lot handsomer now than he used to be. Mom comes in from the kitchen then and can only stop and stare. Dad tells her, in a choked whisper, that he’s home. “Oh, Carl,” she says, and they embrace and kiss tearfully. After they pull apart, Carl tells her he remembers her, and she smiles. They walk toward Ned hand in hand, and Mom helps Carl kneel awkwardly by the coffee table, where Ned tells Carl that he made the box for him. He shows Carl the bracelets with his name on them, saying everybody wore them when Carl was in Vietnam. Carl fingers one of them and is too overcome with emotion to speak. Ned chides Carl that big boys don’t cry, and Carl says he’s crying because Mom spent so much money on this box. Ned argues that he made it, and Carl grabs him in a hug and starts tickling him and wrestling playfully, as only dads and sons can do.
On a stormy night, Carl lies in the street, shot in the chest. His evidence box is placed on the shelf in the warehouse.
Crack house. Hey, look, it’s Tracie Thoms from Rent! She calls to Stillman, introducing herself as Kat Miller from Narcotics and saying she called him. Stillman introduces Lilly and Scotty, and Miller says she’s glad they could come down, then says they found something interesting tossing the place. She shows Stillman Ned’s wooden box of bracelets, and Lilly asks what they are. Stillman says they’re POW bracelets, and Miller says they all have Carl Burton’s name on them. Stillman explains that Carl was a Navy pilot and POW in Vietnam who was shot to death in 1973. Scotty’s impressed that Stillman can remember that off the cuff, and Stillman says Carl was a war hero. Lilly asks if they ever brought the job in, but Stillman ignores her, asking Miller where they found the box. She says they found it behind the water heater in the cellar. Miller says she thought that it was off, something sentimental to a murder victim being stuffed down there. Scotty, ever the history ignoramus, asks if they were like dog tags, and Miller explains that friends and family of the prisoners wore them. Stillman continues, saying that when a POW made it home, someone would gather up the bracelets and make a presentation. Lilly asks Miller if anyone they dragged out of the house knew why the box was there, and Miller says the house was empty when they hit it. Scotty deems this skimpy new direction, but Stillman says sternly that Carl was a POW, and if they’ve got anything, they’ll go with it. Scotty, clearly startled, agrees, and Stillman gives them further instructions: they’re to think of Carl Burton like family.
Credits.
Evidence warehouse. Stillman gives us the 411: Carl Burton, 35, Lt. Comm., US Navy. Scotty continues, saying Carl was shot down on his 23rd bombing mission over Hanoi. Jeffries theorizes that if you go up enough times, your luck’s bound to run out, and Stillman replies that Carl’s got even worse: he spent five years as a prisoner. Scotty reflects on the irony that Carl survived all that and got gunned down in his own area code seven months after he got home. Jeffries says the last place Carl was seen was at the funeral reception of a POW buddy of his, Rex Potter. Stillman says Potter was another Roxboro guy who didn’t make it out of the prison camp. Scotty says that interviews with the Potter family and the people at the house that night don’t indicate anything unusual, and Jeffries adds that Carl’s body was found a mile from the reception, the gun a few feet from him, but rain washed away any prints. Stillman notes, with some disgust, that a bag of marijuana was found in Carl’s pocket. Scotty theorizes that the funeral had to be pretty intense, and Carl might have been in the mood for some kind of escape. Jeffries suggests that Carl was shot after buying the drugs; that maybe he was in the wrong neighborhood, but Stillman says that doesn’t explain the bracelets in the house. Scotty thinks Carl tried to trade them for the marijuana, but Jeffries says they weren’t worth anything. “Could be why he got shot,” Scotty argues. Stillman suggests talking to the wife and son to see what they remember about the funeral. Jeffries warns Stillman that it could be another case of vet burnout, saying that a lot of guys they served with came home and turned to junk. Stillman pauses for a second, then says whatever they find, they’ll follow it up.
Burton home. Janet Burton comes downstairs, looking very prim and proper, and Lilly tells her she didn’t have to fix up. Janet recites her credo: military wife, look right, live right, then offers them a drink. Jeffries says it’s a little early, but Janet replies that it’s cocktail hour somewhere, then heads off to fill her own glass. Lilly tells her they’re there about Carl’s murder, and Jeffries tells her that Carl’s POW bracelets turned up in an abandoned house. Lilly tells her the area was sketchy back then, and even worse now. Janet doesn’t give much of a response, and Jeffries asks her if she has any idea how the bracelets wound up there. She doesn’t, then says it’s embarrassing, but she lost track of them. Lilly points out that she doesn’t seem like the “losing track” type, and Janet says she’s not, but she lost track of herself for a time then. Lilly tells her that Carl had pot on him the night he died, and the theory was that he had a habit that got him into trouble. Janet says that doesn’t sound like the gung-ho fighter pilot she married. Lilly asks if it sounds like the guy who came home in 1972, and Janet says she doesn’t think about that man, that she’d rather remember Carl as he was before: strong, a hero, and she was his wife. Jeffries asks her if she’d have known if Carl was doing drugs, and with tears in her eyes, she says no, that they really tried, but they just never got to know each other again.
Bedroom. Carl pours some drinks, and Janet giggles and dances around to “Baby I’m-a Want You” by Bread, saying this is romantic. Carl asks if she turned into a champagne girl while he was gone, and she says she didn’t. They clink glasses and sip, then she giggles and dances away. Carl sheds his uniform shirt and says that after five years of sleeping next to a guy in his skivvies and showering once a week…”I’m finally looking good,” Janet finishes. They gaze at each other for a few seconds, and he reaches for her, reminding Janet of the time he broke up with her. She remembers him leaving a pathetic note in her parents’ mailbox, saying he needed to be free. Classy! He says she came up to him in the parking lot, and he was dreading her tears, then asks if she remembers. She does, saying she knew better even then. He recalls her response. “Carl, I got your note. I don’t think so.” Atta girl. She nods and agrees, and they kiss tentatively. She winds his arms around her neck and says she feels eighteen, but he winces. She panics, asking if it’s his shoulders, but Carl protests that it’s okay and tells her to come back. She won’t if it hurts him, but he insists. He hugs her again, but Janet says they’ll dance later when he’s better; she doesn’t want him to pretend it doesn’t hurt. Carl yells at her to let him pretend, then explains that his arms have been broken four times, they’re busted and always will be; he can’t lift them, and he can’t dance. He apologizes softly, but Janet says she should make sure Ned didn’t wake up. He says he’s going for a walk, and tells her she doesn’t need to wait for him. She sinks down on the bed.
Janet says Carl would go walk for hours. Lilly asks if that’s when the drinking started; she doesn’t answer. Jeffries asks where Carl would go, and she protests that she didn’t know where Carl was, even when he was right in front of her. Lilly reminds her that they stayed together, and she says they were hoping that somehow they’d find what they lost, but before they could, he was gone again.
UPenn Hospital. Scotty and Vera have tracked down the now grown-up Ned, who’s now a doctor. Scotty concludes that Ned isn’t the kind of doctor who sees patients, and Ned concurs, saying he’s the kind who does research. Vera guesses that it’s better hours, but Ned says it’s better company. He asks where the bracelets turned up, and Scotty tells him they were stashed away in a crack house. Ned asks if they were in the box, and when Scotty confirms it, Ned smiles wistfully and says he made that thing. Vera tells Ned that they’re thinking Carl wanted to buy drugs, got desperate, and tried to pawn the bracelets. Ned says this isn’t exactly what you want to believe about your father. Scotty says they know Ned was young when his dad got home. “Seven,” Ned answers. Scotty continues, asking Ned if, looking back, anything made Ned think Carl was using. Ned denies it, saying that from the day Carl got back, he never missed “triple-nickel reveille,” waking up at 5:55 AM, exercising as best he could, and starting his day. Scotty agrees this isn’t junkie behavior. Vera asks Ned about the last time he saw the bracelets, and Ned says the day he got back, Carl put the box in the basement, since he wasn’t big on war mementos. Vera concludes Carl was trying to move on. Scotty asks if anyone was around back then who could have gotten in the way of that, and Ned says there was someone they shouldn’t have even known about.
Zoo, where we hear Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes.” Carl and Ned walk together, and Carl’s explaining, as best he can, about the people that made him stay over in Vietnam. Ned asks if that’s why Carl couldn’t write him any letters. Aww. Carl says that the only way he could even talk to his friends was through a secret code they made up. Ned’s intrigued, and Carl explains that each letter had a certain number of knocks, and they could spell out words by knocking on the walls between their rooms. Ned asks if Carl can do an N, and Carl knocks on the wooden railing. Ned echoes his knocks, then asks for an E. Carl obliges, then Ned asks for a D. Ned is beyond impressed that Carl can spell out his name in secret code, then asks for another. Carl knocks a few times, and Ned doesn’t know. Carl tells him he said “bear,” and asks Ned if he wants to go see the bears. Ned says that when he comes to the zoo with Ken, they always go see the lions first. Oh, snap. Carl asks who Ken is, and Ned says it’s Mommy’s friend. Carl asks what kind of friend, and Ned replies that he takes him to the zoo and Mommy to dinner. Oh, so it’s that kind of friend. Again, oh, snap.
Ned says that on some level, he knew he shouldn’t have said that, and Vera surmises that Ken was his mom’s “special friend.” Ned nods, then guesses that he was still a little messed up about the dueling father figures, since he knew Ken a lot better than his dad at that point. Scotty asks if Carl followed up with Ken. “Not that I heard about,” Ned answers. Vera says that if he spent five years in a box getting tortured while some guy’s taking his wife to dinner… “I’d follow up,” Scotty finishes. Oh, he totally would.
Squad room. Stillman asks if Janet Burton mentioned anything about Ken, and Lilly denies it, saying she played the pained and patient wife, not big on airing dirty laundry. Stillman seems incredulous that Janet doesn’t want to find out what happened to Carl, and Lilly theorizes that Janet’s afraid of what she might find: that her husband might not have been the perfect hero. Vera comes up then, saying that the crack house where they found the bracelets had renters back in 1973, before crack ran them out, and Ken Weston was one of them. “Our perfect wife’s boyfriend,” Lilly confirms.
Museum. A self-important security guard is relishing giving instructions to tour groups when Scotty approaches him. This must be the famous Ken. Scotty introduces himself, and Ken asks Scotty if he wouldn’t mind stepping to this side of the velvet rope. Scotty minds. He ignores the request, then says that they found some POW bracelets hidden in Ken’s old house that belonged to a murder victim: Carl Burton. Ken’s stunned, saying he must have left the bracelets when he moved. Scotty asks him why the bracelets were in Ken’s house in the first place, and Ken pauses awkwardly. Scotty tells him, by way of reassurance, that they’ve already got the skinny on his relationship with Janet, so Ken can pick up from there. Hee. Ken says he’s confessing to the act of a heartsick young man, then says he took the bracelets the day Janet broke up with him to make himself feel better. He admits this is low, and Scotty agrees, reminding him that Carl was a POW. Ken gets a little bristly, saying he appreciates that, that he was over there, too: eleven months, before illness befell him. Scotty theorizes that perhaps the bracelet snatch didn’t do the trick, and Ken’s still stewing, and this makes Scotty wonder where Ken was the night Carl was shot. Ken says he was at Smokey’s, his regular night spot. He admits to stealing from Carl, but didn’t wish him dead. Scotty asks Ken if he knows anyone who might have, and Ken says that when Carl came back, he wasn’t exactly winning friends and influencing people: he was a little unstable. Scotty asks how Ken would know, and Ken says he did some research and checked up on the guy “to make sure he was worthy.”
Car lot. We hear “Draggin’ The Line” by Tommy James and the Shondells. The windows of the dealership are festooned with “POW: War Hero,” and Carl reminds his boss that he asked him to take that down. The boss refuses, prattling about how they’ve increased sales, and would increase Carl’s sales even more if he could learn a little hustle. Carl approaches Ken, who’s eyeing a car. He tells Ken the car’s a beauty and asks if he can send them home together today. Ken says he’s thinking about it, and Carl excuses himself. His boss takes off after him, finding Carl exchanging words with a teenage boy who’s washing a car. Carl tells the boy that he can’t keep showing up here, and the boy, Daniel, asks Carl if he’s going to talk to him. Carl says no, and Daniel retorts that Carl has to someday. The boss says the kid’s got hustle, washing cars for free, and asks Carl if he knows Daniel. Carl ignores him, quietly reminding Daniel that he told him to beat it. Daniel says he just wants to know about his dad, that he’s asked Carl three times, and now he’s doing his work for him, then asks what it’s going to take. Carl yells at him to leave this alone. “Leave my father alone?” Daniel shouts incredulously, and Carl says there are some things Daniel doesn’t want to know, then yells at him again to get out of there. Daniel glares at him for a minute, then storms off, saying he’s been real nice to Carl, and Carl’s going to wish he’d been nicer to Daniel.
Scotty asks who Daniel was, and Ken can’t say for sure, since he was no longer a member of the inner circle. Scotty presses him, saying it looked like a personal thing, and Ken says the kid got under Carl’s skin, and Ken had done enough research, saying that’s the last time he saw “the moody son of a gun.”
Squad room. Janet admits that Ken was a mistake, that he was a neighborhood guy who kept her company. Lilly tells her that Carl was pretty wounded by the breakup and stole Carl’s bracelets. “Ken did?” Janet asks in disbelief. “Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Lilly asks if Janet thinks Ken might have gone a step farther and gotten into it with Carl, but Janet says confrontation was not Ken’s style. Jeffries asks her if she knows anything about a kid named Daniel, and she does. She starts to answer, then stops, and Lilly asks her, with just a touch of bitterness, if coffee would help her. Janet says no, then says Daniel Potter’s father, Rex,was a POW with Carl who didn’t make it home. Lilly remembers that Carl went to Rex’s memorial the day he died, and Jeffries asks Janet if she has any idea why Carl and Daniel were fighting at the car dealership. Janet says Daniel was hounding Carl, trying to get stuff out of him about his father. Lilly surmises that Carl wouldn’t talk about that, and Janet says Carl saw horrible things in that prison camp, and wouldn’t revisit them for anyone, not her, not Daniel. Lilly asks what happened when Carl said no to Daniel, and Janet says the kid put a rock through their window, saying he was angry at the world. “But…taking it out on Carl,” Jeffries concludes.
Classroom at the juvenile detention center. Scotty confirms that Daniel, who’s now a teacher, was about the age of his students when his dad was in prison. Vera concludes that this must have been rough, never knowing when he was coming home. Daniel says he thought it’d be easier, somehow, if he knew the details of what his dad was going through. “But…Carl wouldn’t say,” Scotty continues, and Daniel says Carl was trying to protect him. Vera remarks that this is pretty understanding for a guy that threw a rock at Carl’s house. Daniel agrees that that was awful, and Scotty asks if he took it any further. Daniel says his anger with Carl stopped with the rock, because Carl caught him red-handed and finally gave him what he wanted.
Exterior, Burton home. Glass shatters and Daniel tries to leave, but Carl grabs him and orders him to pay for the window. Daniel tells Carl to let go of him, and Carl finally agrees to talk, wanting to get it over with. Daniel asks where his dad is, and Carl answers that Rex is still in prison in Hanoi. Daniel asks why, and Carl explains that Rex is an American soldier, and to the North Vietnamese, that’s a crime. Daniel asks what the prison is like, and Carl pauses before answering, telling Daniel that there’s not a lot to eat, the water makes them sick, and the guards are monsters in human clothes, but Rex and the other guys have each other. Daniel asks why they can’t just get together and break out of there, confident that his dad could take some Vietnamese guy. Carl smiles slightly and whispers that maybe he will. Daniel asks Carl if his dad’s going to live, and Carl says yes, that Rex is one of the strongest people he’s ever met; that if he had to truck into hell, Rex is the guy he’d want by his side, then reassures Daniel that Rex is coming home. Daniel compliments Carl on his bravery, and Carl gets reluctant and turns away. Daniel insists, and Carl, near tears, tells Daniel that his dad is the hero, not him, that he’s a coward, then walks away.
Scotty asks why Carl would call himself a coward, and Daniel agrees that this doesn’t make sense, since he survived five years being tortured. Vera thinks Carl’s humble, but Scotty theorizes that maybe Carl was troubled, then asks Daniel if he got the feeling Carl really meant what he said. Daniel says he saw Carl a few times after that and talked to him about Rex, but he could always feel that something was eating him up.
Squad room. Scotty hands Stillman Carl’s military service record, saying he doesn’t see anything in there that would make Carl a coward. Lilly recaps Carl’s Bronze Star and Purple Heart, but Stillman’s found the culprit: Carl took early release. Lilly asks what that is, and Stillman explains that Carl left the prison camp early. Scotty says he thought they couldn’t leave, and Stillman says they couldn’t leave under honorable circumstances, that the code of conduct among POWs was that the sickest and longest-serving go first. Lil points out that Carl was neither of those, and Scotty asks how he got to the front of the line. Stillman answers that Carl told the VC guards what they wanted to hear and allowed them to use him for propaganda. Lilly says that doesn’t sound like a gung-ho fighter pilot and asks why he’d do that. Stillman says that Carl’s sick of getting beaten nearly to death five years in a row, misses his family, is stowed in solitary, then says that it’s hard to know what a code like that starts to mean at that point. Scotty points out that a lot of guys hung in, and Stillman concurs, saying hundreds did, and they would not have been fans of Carl’s. Lilly says that a lot of the POWs came back at the end of March 1973, a week before Carl was killed. Scotty asks if any of them were from Philly, and Lilly says a guy named Rait, from Antioch was. “Roger Rait, a Navy Commander?” Stillman asks, and Lilly nods. Scotty asks Stillman if he knows Rait, and Stillman answers that he served with him. Well, this could get interesting.
