Post by TVFan on Apr 16, 2008 8:57:44 GMT -5
Recap Provided By Cellogal
May 13, 1994
Oh, sweet. Offspring’s “Come Out And Play” starts up as we hear a bell ring and see your typical crowded school hallway scenes, and I instantly know that I’ll be reliving my own high school years. I was a freshman back in 1994, so as soon as I get the image of myself with a frizzy perm and braces to take a hike, we’ll get started!
In the women’s restroom, an attractive African-American girl lights a cigarette in front of the mirror. A teacher comes out of a stall and starts to praise the girl, Dawn, on a recent paper, but is shocked to see the cigarette, and instantly assigns detention. Dawn looks like this just seriously put a wrinkle in her day.
A blonde guy with that strange, forward-combed hairstyle that was popular for reasons that escape me leans nonchalantly against an open locker. A real stick-in-the-mud-looking faculty member chides him for his bad attitude, and assigns detention. Jeez. My high school wasn’t nearly this strict. Besides, if they assigned detentions in every high school for having a bad attitude, nobody would get to leave school. Ever.
Stick In The Mud goes outside to search for more miscreants. He knocks on the window of a parked car, and a trashy-looking girl with stringy hair, red lipstick all over her face, and a cigarette hanging from her mouth answers his knock. He asks her what she’s doing. “Studying,” she replies drily. I knew this girl in high school, by the way. Stick In The Mud assigns her detention, and she gives him a thumbs-up, but it’s clear to all of us that she’d be using a different finger if this show were on cable.
A locker opens to reveal a picture of Kurt Cobain taped to the inside of the door. The locker is soon revealed to belong to a goth-looking boy with long, black hair and a set of headphones. Yup. It’s 1994, all right. Stick In The Mud comes up behind the kid and sarcastically admires his locker art, asking him how he got it all up there. Goth Kid answers that he used a glue stick. Stick In The Mud tries to prove that he’s Down With It by asking if that’s the one who…
“Suicide,” Goth Kid supplies for him. Stick In The Mud has little sympathy for Goth Kid and assigns him detention that afternoon. Looks like we’re gonna have quite the party in detention! Goth Kid slams his locker shut and trudges down the hallway.
Later that afternoon, our happy quartet has found its way to detention. Goth Kid slides his backpack along the row and sits down behind Dawn.
Night falls, and we see Goth Kid’s lifeless body lying on the pavement next to the school, a piece of paper crumpled in his hand. As we can see from the folder his information is placed in, his death is ruled a suicide.
Present Day
Squad room. Lilly walks in with a piece of paper in a plastic evidence bag, and says she has new info on the case of Trevor Dawson, who died in 1994 falling from the roof of his high school. She tells us that the police originally ruled it a suicide, having found a note with his body, and she hands the evidence bag to Stillman, who begins to read the note. In it, Trevor says he wants his parents to know that he doesn’t regret what he’s doing; it may sound extreme, but it’s the best for everyone. Stillman hands the note to Vera, who says it sounds pretty straightforward. Lilly agrees, but then reveals that she now has the other half of the note: the custodian at the high school just died, and in going through his apartment, which was, as Lilly says, “full of creepy high school memorabilia,” the landlord found the other half of Trevor’s note.
Stillman reads aloud from the note. “This is T.D. writing from a scary spot. I want you to know that I’m in danger; if something happens to me today, please tell my parents I love them.” The handwriting is the same, and the tear pattern indicates that it is, indeed, from the same sheet of paper. Doesn’t look like we have a straightforward suicide note anymore, now, does it? Vera asks what kind of kid Trevor was, and Lilly answers that he had no record and no drugs. Stillman wonders why anyone would want to kill a high school kid with no record and no drugs, and Lilly wonders why a high school kid with no record and no drugs would want to kill himself.
Credits.
Break Room. Vera, in a conspiratorial tone, tells Scotty that yesterday, he saw a phone message for Miller, which was promptly whisked away. Scotty sarcastically agrees that this is crazy, but Vera, undaunted, presses on, saying the message was from “Veronica” about Wednesday night, then reminds Scotty, and us, that Miller has a strict rule about not working on Wednesday nights. Scotty seems to understand what Vera’s getting at, but is clearly unconvinced. They head out into the squad room, greet Miller, and then Vera walks on, mouthing “Veronica!” at Scotty from behind Miller. Scotty just shakes his head. Wow…seems like everyone’s gone back to high school today!
Meanwhile, back in Adult World, Lilly has a videotape from the classroom where Trevor and the other students served detention from 3:00 to 6:00 that afternoon, and Miller says the autopsy put time of death at just before 6:00. Stillman asks about the other detainees, and Scotty fills us in: Dawn Hill, Boris Litvak, and Raquel Montero all said at the time that Trevor slipped out a few minutes before detention ended, and they found him dead in the parking lot as they were leaving. Stillman instructs the detectives to go talk to the students again, pointing out that they’re not teenagers anymore and might be more forthcoming.
Stillman then asks, as I was about to, where the teacher was in all of this. Lilly says the teacher, Abe Monti, died in a car wreck in 2002, and Scotty adds that Mr. Monti told the students that day that he was stepping out for a few minutes, but ended up falling asleep in the teachers’ lounge. Stillman asks about the security tape, and Miller says all the tape shows us is the four students sitting and eyeballing each other. Stillman says someone needs to go talk to Trevor’s parents and tell them they’re reopening the case, but stresses that they need to be sensitive. Scotty agrees, saying they don’t want to get the parents’ hopes up for nothing. Miller asks why the possibility of murder would get their hopes up, and Scotty explains that they lose their son either way, but if he was murdered, “maybe it ain’t their fault.” We get just the briefest glimpse of pain in Scotty’s eyes, adding a wonderfully understated bit of continuity.
Dawson Home. Trevor’s parents instantly recognize the handwriting on the top half of the note as their son’s, but they have no idea what kind of danger he was in. Trevor’s mom says suicide never made sense to her, as he never said anything about it, but she says, with a touch of bitterness, that he didn’t say much of anything to them at that time. His dad says Trevor was moody, and locked himself in his room a lot, but his mom insists if he had been in enough pain to kill himself, they would have seen it. Lilly asks how Trevor got along in school, and his parents say he didn’t have any enemies, but not really any friends, either, as he was sensitive, and didn’t fit the “popular mold.” As an example of this sensitivity, his parents point to Trevor’s locking himself in his room for a week after Kurt Cobain’s suicide, and a few weeks later, Trevor himself died. Trevor’s dad said he tried to be understanding, but he just didn’t get it.
Principal’s office, where we hear 8mm’s “Opener.” Stick In The Mud is going on about cleaning expenses and replacing landscaping that Trevor set on fire. Trevor protests that he was making a memorial. Dad clearly doesn’t understand, but Mom shushes him, and Trevor explains that Kurt Cobain died. Dad, in that typical Clueless Parent Of An Angsty Teenager way, asks if Cobain was a friend of his, and Mom explains that one of Trevor’s rock stars killed himself. Dad laughs this off, but Trevor, clearly upset, pulls his hood up a la Kenny from South Park. Mom yanks it back and asks him why he’s acting out. Trevor tearfully protests that he’s not, but Dad goes on to inform Trevor that he risks getting expelled for a guy who wears makeup, gets high, and kills himself, then asks, in disbelief, if this guy is Trevor’s hero. Mom tries a different tactic, asking Trevor if he’s on drugs, but Trevor protests that it’s the music; that the first time he listened to Cobain’s music was the first time he felt like he wasn’t alone. Mom gently grabs Trevor’s chin and forces him to look at her, insisting that he is not alone.
Mom shows the detectives Trevor’s yearbook, saying he even had Kurt Cobain’s birth and death dates underneath his yearbook photo. Scotty asks if they can take the yearbook, and the parents agree. Dad adds that he was a big Led Zeppelin fan, but never would have offed himself over it, so they never bought the Kurt Cobain Copycat theory. Mom says that after Trevor died, they got their phone bill, which was full of calls to a teen hotline, and that was the only thing that made the parents think Trevor was having dark thoughts, but Dad adds that it was obviously too late by then.
Stillman’s office. Jeffries says that the hotline Trevor called wasn’t just for suicidal kids, it was for those in all kinds of trouble, and Lilly says that maybe they can learn what Trevor’s danger was. No dice, as the call transcripts are sealed to protect privacy. Jeffries does, however, supply call logs from the months prior to Trevor’s death, and one of the volunteers at the hotline was Dawn Hill, who was in detention with Trevor the day he died. Coincidence? I think not.
UPenn Hospital. Dawn, now a doctor, chugs coffee as she confirms to Miller and Jeffries that she talked to Trevor on the teen hotline once, and that she was in detention with Trevor the day he died, the first and only time she got detention in her life. Miller asks Dawn if she and Trevor knew each other, and Dawn says they didn’t, really, as Teen Hotline was anonymous, first names only. She says she figured out who Trevor was, but she didn’t think he knew she was the same Dawn. Jeffries asks Dawn if she knew that Trevor was in danger, and she says no, that they never talked about it on the hotline. Miller asks if Trevor talked about it in detention, and Dawn says nobody really talked about anything. The detectives seem surprised by this, and Dawn replies, “It wasn’t like The Breakfast Club, it was like high school.” Heh.
Detention. We’re listening to Stone Temple Pilots’ “Vasoline.” Dawn sits in front of Trevor with a thick book. Trevor asks what it is, and she tells him it’s a book of various colleges and their admissions requirements. They banter for a while about SAT scores, and then Trevor looks through the book. He’s intrigued by a school that offers classes in Japanese poetry, but disappointed to learn that it costs $28.000 a year to go there (not including, of course, the millions of quarters he’ll need to do four years’ worth of laundry). Dawn says that maybe if he’d done better on his SATs, he could get a scholarship, then takes the book back. Mr. Monti yells at them to stop talking. Raquel, who’s been sitting there glowering the whole time, looks at Dawn’s loafers with contempt and says she had a pair like them in second grade. Dawn replies, as only a high school girl can, that Raquel has lipstick, “like…all over your face.” She does. It’s true. And kinda gross, really. Raquel sarcastically dabs at it and asks if that means she’s not pretty.
Meanwhile, Boris, who has been silent until now, suddenly asks Mr. Monti if he had to choose one of them, him or Dawn, to be his child, who he’d pick. Mr. Monti looks like he needs a good stiff drink right about now. Boris then says Dawn needs to get high, and invites her over to his place, even saying he’ll have his mom call her mom to say it’s okay. Mr. Monti explodes, asking them why they do this every time, then stands up, tells them he’s going to the teacher’s lounge to get an aspirin (or maybe that good stiff drink he so desperately seems to need. Raquel, by her pantomimed drinking action, clearly is on my wavelength), and says that while he’s gone, they should think about why they insist on being cruel to one another. Trevor raises his hand and says it’s “because it’s high school and we hate ourselves.” Heh. Mr. Monti, clearly not amused, sends Trevor to the corner, reminds the motley crew that they’re being videotaped, and leaves.
Miller asks Dawn to confirm that Monti made Trevor sit in the corner, and Dawn is suddenly unsure. Jeffries presses her, reminding her that it’s what she just said, and she confirms it uncertainly, saying if she remembers correctly, that’s what happened, then asks if that means something. Miller and Jeffries don’t answer, just look at each other and thank Dawn for her time.
Squad Room. The detectives gather around the little TV watching the detention tape again, and Miller points out that Trevor never sits in the corner. A CSU explains that the tape, rather than recording the whole three hours, has been seamlessly edited to instead play a loop of the first ten minutes after Monti left. Jeffries asks how it got missed in 1994, and the CSU says that it was well-orchestrated; the kids all sat very still on purpose, leading our fearless detectives to conclude that they were all in on faking the tape, so they are all now without an alibi.
Squad Room, probably the next day. Stillman and Miller inform Scotty what they’ve learned about the tape, and Scotty asks why those kids would want to kill Trevor. Stillman exposits that kids in detention are usually “troubled types,” and Vera adds, “Who knows what’s brewin’ in the hormone-addled brain?” Hee. Scotty’s pulled the students’ files, and shares with us that one of them, Boris Litvak, has a record: several drug-related offense, plus nine months for DVD piracy. (Meanwhile, I’m thinking that “Boris Litvak” would be an excellent name for a hockey player). Stillman concludes Boris has the technical knowhow, and wonders if he’ll own up to making the tape. Miller’s cell phone rings then, and she takes the call with a “Hey, V.” Vera gives Scotty a Significant Glance, but Scotty’s still not buying it.
Dunk ‘n’ Glaze coffee and donut shop. Boris is as thrilled to see Philly PD as you might expect, saying he’s going to be in trouble with his manager for this. Scotty asks if the manager knows about Boris’s record, and Boris points to the “must disclose” employment clause. Scotty asks if he’d get fired for a murder charge. Boris guesses that he would, and Vera pounces, telling Boris to talk about Trevor Dawson. Boris remembers that Trevor jumped off the roof, but Scotty explains the new theory: that Boris, Dawn, and Raquel used detention as an alibi so they could off Trevor. Boris encourages the detectives not to let their imaginations spin out of control: he knew Trevor from detention, but didn’t have a murderous relationship with him. Vera and Scotty mention the tape, and Trevor owns up to it, saying he made the tape to cover for the fact that he and Trevor snuck out to steal sulphuric acid from the chem lab to make ecstasy. Vera states the obvious, that Boris is a model citizen, but Boris somehow makes himself look better by saying that he didn’t have the follow-through back then, so he didn’t actually make the ecstasy. Vera asks why the girls went along with the plan, and Boris explains that Raquel went along with whatever Trevor did, and Dawn didn’t really know what was going on.
Chem lab, accompanied by the strains of AM Vibe’s aptly named “Tantrum.” Our detention crew is all there, and Boris complains that all the labels are, “like…scientific,” and he can’t read any of them. Well, that’s why you pay attention in chemistry class, Boris! Trevor asks Dawn if she knows the formula. I’m pretty sure she does. Raquel asks if they’re sure Monti’s passed out, and Dawn stresses that she cannot get caught. Trevor finds a rope, Boris urges him to take it, and Raquel decides to use a Bunsen burner to light a cigarette. Dawn flips out at this, but not for the reasons I’m thinking (that they’re in a chemistry lab, surrounded by God alone knows what flammable substances); no, Dawn’s just reiterating her desire to not get caught. Raquel tosses the cigarette behind her, then starts kicking random things. Teenage angst at its finest, people! Boris tells her to keep it down. Raquel saunters up to Trevor and shares with him the rumor she heard that Courtney Love killed Kurt Cobain because she heard he was thinking about divorce. Raquel expresses her admiration for Courtney Love and her rumored psychotic attachment, and Trevor brushes her off, saying he’s really freaked out about what they’re doing. Not to mention the fact that they’re in a chemistry lab and there’s a lit cigarette on the floor somewhere! Raquel asks Trevor if he’s moved on from her or what, and Trevor gets this classic Confused Teenage Boy look and says there’s nothing to move on from. Raquel calls him a liar, reminding him of the night they listened to Kurt Cobain, and she held Trevor in her arms while he cried. Trevor protests that it was the day Cobain died, and Raquel says she can’t believe she ever told Trevor to hang on, like she cared if he lived or died, then trashes more of the chem lab and walks out. Boris watches her leave, and eloquently says what we’re all thinking: “You’re a crazy b*tch.”
Boris reiterates his “crazy b*tch” theory to Scotty and Vera, then clarifies that Raquel thought she was Courtney to Trevor’s Kurt. Scotty asks what they did after the chem lab, and Boris says they all went their separate ways until shortly before 6:00, when they knew that Monti would return to check on them. It was his usual detention routine, Boris says: leave, booze, snooze, and wake up at 6:00. Charming. When asked where he was, Boris says he went home to store the stolen stuff, then came back, but Trevor was already dead. Scotty asks if Raquel was with Trevor, and Boris says she was wherever he was, and reminds them of the Courtney-killed-Kurt theory.
May 13, 1994
Oh, sweet. Offspring’s “Come Out And Play” starts up as we hear a bell ring and see your typical crowded school hallway scenes, and I instantly know that I’ll be reliving my own high school years. I was a freshman back in 1994, so as soon as I get the image of myself with a frizzy perm and braces to take a hike, we’ll get started!
In the women’s restroom, an attractive African-American girl lights a cigarette in front of the mirror. A teacher comes out of a stall and starts to praise the girl, Dawn, on a recent paper, but is shocked to see the cigarette, and instantly assigns detention. Dawn looks like this just seriously put a wrinkle in her day.
A blonde guy with that strange, forward-combed hairstyle that was popular for reasons that escape me leans nonchalantly against an open locker. A real stick-in-the-mud-looking faculty member chides him for his bad attitude, and assigns detention. Jeez. My high school wasn’t nearly this strict. Besides, if they assigned detentions in every high school for having a bad attitude, nobody would get to leave school. Ever.
Stick In The Mud goes outside to search for more miscreants. He knocks on the window of a parked car, and a trashy-looking girl with stringy hair, red lipstick all over her face, and a cigarette hanging from her mouth answers his knock. He asks her what she’s doing. “Studying,” she replies drily. I knew this girl in high school, by the way. Stick In The Mud assigns her detention, and she gives him a thumbs-up, but it’s clear to all of us that she’d be using a different finger if this show were on cable.
A locker opens to reveal a picture of Kurt Cobain taped to the inside of the door. The locker is soon revealed to belong to a goth-looking boy with long, black hair and a set of headphones. Yup. It’s 1994, all right. Stick In The Mud comes up behind the kid and sarcastically admires his locker art, asking him how he got it all up there. Goth Kid answers that he used a glue stick. Stick In The Mud tries to prove that he’s Down With It by asking if that’s the one who…
“Suicide,” Goth Kid supplies for him. Stick In The Mud has little sympathy for Goth Kid and assigns him detention that afternoon. Looks like we’re gonna have quite the party in detention! Goth Kid slams his locker shut and trudges down the hallway.
Later that afternoon, our happy quartet has found its way to detention. Goth Kid slides his backpack along the row and sits down behind Dawn.
Night falls, and we see Goth Kid’s lifeless body lying on the pavement next to the school, a piece of paper crumpled in his hand. As we can see from the folder his information is placed in, his death is ruled a suicide.
Present Day
Squad room. Lilly walks in with a piece of paper in a plastic evidence bag, and says she has new info on the case of Trevor Dawson, who died in 1994 falling from the roof of his high school. She tells us that the police originally ruled it a suicide, having found a note with his body, and she hands the evidence bag to Stillman, who begins to read the note. In it, Trevor says he wants his parents to know that he doesn’t regret what he’s doing; it may sound extreme, but it’s the best for everyone. Stillman hands the note to Vera, who says it sounds pretty straightforward. Lilly agrees, but then reveals that she now has the other half of the note: the custodian at the high school just died, and in going through his apartment, which was, as Lilly says, “full of creepy high school memorabilia,” the landlord found the other half of Trevor’s note.
Stillman reads aloud from the note. “This is T.D. writing from a scary spot. I want you to know that I’m in danger; if something happens to me today, please tell my parents I love them.” The handwriting is the same, and the tear pattern indicates that it is, indeed, from the same sheet of paper. Doesn’t look like we have a straightforward suicide note anymore, now, does it? Vera asks what kind of kid Trevor was, and Lilly answers that he had no record and no drugs. Stillman wonders why anyone would want to kill a high school kid with no record and no drugs, and Lilly wonders why a high school kid with no record and no drugs would want to kill himself.
Credits.
Break Room. Vera, in a conspiratorial tone, tells Scotty that yesterday, he saw a phone message for Miller, which was promptly whisked away. Scotty sarcastically agrees that this is crazy, but Vera, undaunted, presses on, saying the message was from “Veronica” about Wednesday night, then reminds Scotty, and us, that Miller has a strict rule about not working on Wednesday nights. Scotty seems to understand what Vera’s getting at, but is clearly unconvinced. They head out into the squad room, greet Miller, and then Vera walks on, mouthing “Veronica!” at Scotty from behind Miller. Scotty just shakes his head. Wow…seems like everyone’s gone back to high school today!
Meanwhile, back in Adult World, Lilly has a videotape from the classroom where Trevor and the other students served detention from 3:00 to 6:00 that afternoon, and Miller says the autopsy put time of death at just before 6:00. Stillman asks about the other detainees, and Scotty fills us in: Dawn Hill, Boris Litvak, and Raquel Montero all said at the time that Trevor slipped out a few minutes before detention ended, and they found him dead in the parking lot as they were leaving. Stillman instructs the detectives to go talk to the students again, pointing out that they’re not teenagers anymore and might be more forthcoming.
Stillman then asks, as I was about to, where the teacher was in all of this. Lilly says the teacher, Abe Monti, died in a car wreck in 2002, and Scotty adds that Mr. Monti told the students that day that he was stepping out for a few minutes, but ended up falling asleep in the teachers’ lounge. Stillman asks about the security tape, and Miller says all the tape shows us is the four students sitting and eyeballing each other. Stillman says someone needs to go talk to Trevor’s parents and tell them they’re reopening the case, but stresses that they need to be sensitive. Scotty agrees, saying they don’t want to get the parents’ hopes up for nothing. Miller asks why the possibility of murder would get their hopes up, and Scotty explains that they lose their son either way, but if he was murdered, “maybe it ain’t their fault.” We get just the briefest glimpse of pain in Scotty’s eyes, adding a wonderfully understated bit of continuity.
Dawson Home. Trevor’s parents instantly recognize the handwriting on the top half of the note as their son’s, but they have no idea what kind of danger he was in. Trevor’s mom says suicide never made sense to her, as he never said anything about it, but she says, with a touch of bitterness, that he didn’t say much of anything to them at that time. His dad says Trevor was moody, and locked himself in his room a lot, but his mom insists if he had been in enough pain to kill himself, they would have seen it. Lilly asks how Trevor got along in school, and his parents say he didn’t have any enemies, but not really any friends, either, as he was sensitive, and didn’t fit the “popular mold.” As an example of this sensitivity, his parents point to Trevor’s locking himself in his room for a week after Kurt Cobain’s suicide, and a few weeks later, Trevor himself died. Trevor’s dad said he tried to be understanding, but he just didn’t get it.
Principal’s office, where we hear 8mm’s “Opener.” Stick In The Mud is going on about cleaning expenses and replacing landscaping that Trevor set on fire. Trevor protests that he was making a memorial. Dad clearly doesn’t understand, but Mom shushes him, and Trevor explains that Kurt Cobain died. Dad, in that typical Clueless Parent Of An Angsty Teenager way, asks if Cobain was a friend of his, and Mom explains that one of Trevor’s rock stars killed himself. Dad laughs this off, but Trevor, clearly upset, pulls his hood up a la Kenny from South Park. Mom yanks it back and asks him why he’s acting out. Trevor tearfully protests that he’s not, but Dad goes on to inform Trevor that he risks getting expelled for a guy who wears makeup, gets high, and kills himself, then asks, in disbelief, if this guy is Trevor’s hero. Mom tries a different tactic, asking Trevor if he’s on drugs, but Trevor protests that it’s the music; that the first time he listened to Cobain’s music was the first time he felt like he wasn’t alone. Mom gently grabs Trevor’s chin and forces him to look at her, insisting that he is not alone.
Mom shows the detectives Trevor’s yearbook, saying he even had Kurt Cobain’s birth and death dates underneath his yearbook photo. Scotty asks if they can take the yearbook, and the parents agree. Dad adds that he was a big Led Zeppelin fan, but never would have offed himself over it, so they never bought the Kurt Cobain Copycat theory. Mom says that after Trevor died, they got their phone bill, which was full of calls to a teen hotline, and that was the only thing that made the parents think Trevor was having dark thoughts, but Dad adds that it was obviously too late by then.
Stillman’s office. Jeffries says that the hotline Trevor called wasn’t just for suicidal kids, it was for those in all kinds of trouble, and Lilly says that maybe they can learn what Trevor’s danger was. No dice, as the call transcripts are sealed to protect privacy. Jeffries does, however, supply call logs from the months prior to Trevor’s death, and one of the volunteers at the hotline was Dawn Hill, who was in detention with Trevor the day he died. Coincidence? I think not.
UPenn Hospital. Dawn, now a doctor, chugs coffee as she confirms to Miller and Jeffries that she talked to Trevor on the teen hotline once, and that she was in detention with Trevor the day he died, the first and only time she got detention in her life. Miller asks Dawn if she and Trevor knew each other, and Dawn says they didn’t, really, as Teen Hotline was anonymous, first names only. She says she figured out who Trevor was, but she didn’t think he knew she was the same Dawn. Jeffries asks Dawn if she knew that Trevor was in danger, and she says no, that they never talked about it on the hotline. Miller asks if Trevor talked about it in detention, and Dawn says nobody really talked about anything. The detectives seem surprised by this, and Dawn replies, “It wasn’t like The Breakfast Club, it was like high school.” Heh.
Detention. We’re listening to Stone Temple Pilots’ “Vasoline.” Dawn sits in front of Trevor with a thick book. Trevor asks what it is, and she tells him it’s a book of various colleges and their admissions requirements. They banter for a while about SAT scores, and then Trevor looks through the book. He’s intrigued by a school that offers classes in Japanese poetry, but disappointed to learn that it costs $28.000 a year to go there (not including, of course, the millions of quarters he’ll need to do four years’ worth of laundry). Dawn says that maybe if he’d done better on his SATs, he could get a scholarship, then takes the book back. Mr. Monti yells at them to stop talking. Raquel, who’s been sitting there glowering the whole time, looks at Dawn’s loafers with contempt and says she had a pair like them in second grade. Dawn replies, as only a high school girl can, that Raquel has lipstick, “like…all over your face.” She does. It’s true. And kinda gross, really. Raquel sarcastically dabs at it and asks if that means she’s not pretty.
Meanwhile, Boris, who has been silent until now, suddenly asks Mr. Monti if he had to choose one of them, him or Dawn, to be his child, who he’d pick. Mr. Monti looks like he needs a good stiff drink right about now. Boris then says Dawn needs to get high, and invites her over to his place, even saying he’ll have his mom call her mom to say it’s okay. Mr. Monti explodes, asking them why they do this every time, then stands up, tells them he’s going to the teacher’s lounge to get an aspirin (or maybe that good stiff drink he so desperately seems to need. Raquel, by her pantomimed drinking action, clearly is on my wavelength), and says that while he’s gone, they should think about why they insist on being cruel to one another. Trevor raises his hand and says it’s “because it’s high school and we hate ourselves.” Heh. Mr. Monti, clearly not amused, sends Trevor to the corner, reminds the motley crew that they’re being videotaped, and leaves.
Miller asks Dawn to confirm that Monti made Trevor sit in the corner, and Dawn is suddenly unsure. Jeffries presses her, reminding her that it’s what she just said, and she confirms it uncertainly, saying if she remembers correctly, that’s what happened, then asks if that means something. Miller and Jeffries don’t answer, just look at each other and thank Dawn for her time.
Squad Room. The detectives gather around the little TV watching the detention tape again, and Miller points out that Trevor never sits in the corner. A CSU explains that the tape, rather than recording the whole three hours, has been seamlessly edited to instead play a loop of the first ten minutes after Monti left. Jeffries asks how it got missed in 1994, and the CSU says that it was well-orchestrated; the kids all sat very still on purpose, leading our fearless detectives to conclude that they were all in on faking the tape, so they are all now without an alibi.
Squad Room, probably the next day. Stillman and Miller inform Scotty what they’ve learned about the tape, and Scotty asks why those kids would want to kill Trevor. Stillman exposits that kids in detention are usually “troubled types,” and Vera adds, “Who knows what’s brewin’ in the hormone-addled brain?” Hee. Scotty’s pulled the students’ files, and shares with us that one of them, Boris Litvak, has a record: several drug-related offense, plus nine months for DVD piracy. (Meanwhile, I’m thinking that “Boris Litvak” would be an excellent name for a hockey player). Stillman concludes Boris has the technical knowhow, and wonders if he’ll own up to making the tape. Miller’s cell phone rings then, and she takes the call with a “Hey, V.” Vera gives Scotty a Significant Glance, but Scotty’s still not buying it.
Dunk ‘n’ Glaze coffee and donut shop. Boris is as thrilled to see Philly PD as you might expect, saying he’s going to be in trouble with his manager for this. Scotty asks if the manager knows about Boris’s record, and Boris points to the “must disclose” employment clause. Scotty asks if he’d get fired for a murder charge. Boris guesses that he would, and Vera pounces, telling Boris to talk about Trevor Dawson. Boris remembers that Trevor jumped off the roof, but Scotty explains the new theory: that Boris, Dawn, and Raquel used detention as an alibi so they could off Trevor. Boris encourages the detectives not to let their imaginations spin out of control: he knew Trevor from detention, but didn’t have a murderous relationship with him. Vera and Scotty mention the tape, and Trevor owns up to it, saying he made the tape to cover for the fact that he and Trevor snuck out to steal sulphuric acid from the chem lab to make ecstasy. Vera states the obvious, that Boris is a model citizen, but Boris somehow makes himself look better by saying that he didn’t have the follow-through back then, so he didn’t actually make the ecstasy. Vera asks why the girls went along with the plan, and Boris explains that Raquel went along with whatever Trevor did, and Dawn didn’t really know what was going on.
Chem lab, accompanied by the strains of AM Vibe’s aptly named “Tantrum.” Our detention crew is all there, and Boris complains that all the labels are, “like…scientific,” and he can’t read any of them. Well, that’s why you pay attention in chemistry class, Boris! Trevor asks Dawn if she knows the formula. I’m pretty sure she does. Raquel asks if they’re sure Monti’s passed out, and Dawn stresses that she cannot get caught. Trevor finds a rope, Boris urges him to take it, and Raquel decides to use a Bunsen burner to light a cigarette. Dawn flips out at this, but not for the reasons I’m thinking (that they’re in a chemistry lab, surrounded by God alone knows what flammable substances); no, Dawn’s just reiterating her desire to not get caught. Raquel tosses the cigarette behind her, then starts kicking random things. Teenage angst at its finest, people! Boris tells her to keep it down. Raquel saunters up to Trevor and shares with him the rumor she heard that Courtney Love killed Kurt Cobain because she heard he was thinking about divorce. Raquel expresses her admiration for Courtney Love and her rumored psychotic attachment, and Trevor brushes her off, saying he’s really freaked out about what they’re doing. Not to mention the fact that they’re in a chemistry lab and there’s a lit cigarette on the floor somewhere! Raquel asks Trevor if he’s moved on from her or what, and Trevor gets this classic Confused Teenage Boy look and says there’s nothing to move on from. Raquel calls him a liar, reminding him of the night they listened to Kurt Cobain, and she held Trevor in her arms while he cried. Trevor protests that it was the day Cobain died, and Raquel says she can’t believe she ever told Trevor to hang on, like she cared if he lived or died, then trashes more of the chem lab and walks out. Boris watches her leave, and eloquently says what we’re all thinking: “You’re a crazy b*tch.”
Boris reiterates his “crazy b*tch” theory to Scotty and Vera, then clarifies that Raquel thought she was Courtney to Trevor’s Kurt. Scotty asks what they did after the chem lab, and Boris says they all went their separate ways until shortly before 6:00, when they knew that Monti would return to check on them. It was his usual detention routine, Boris says: leave, booze, snooze, and wake up at 6:00. Charming. When asked where he was, Boris says he went home to store the stolen stuff, then came back, but Trevor was already dead. Scotty asks if Raquel was with Trevor, and Boris says she was wherever he was, and reminds them of the Courtney-killed-Kurt theory.
