Directed by Tim Matheson
The team reinvestigate the triple homicide featured in the pilot when it turns out that the prime suspect, who Vera had arrested after he took over from Rush when she left to reopen the case of Jill Shelby, had an alibi for the time of the murder.
Written by Chris Mundy
Tropes for the episode:
- All for Nothing: Trey sincerely gets his act together after killing Derek, Della, and Tom, but he's likely heading to death row anyway.
- Back to the Early Installment: The triple murder case that Lilly was working on in the pilot episode becomes the newest cold case for her and her new team.
- Big Bad Wannabe: JT Simms acts all gangster-like but is easily told off by Della, the police, and Joe.
- Big Brother Instinct: Trey angrily interrupts Jammal assaulting Derek by throwing bottles at him. Ironically and tragically, this all goes out the window a few hours later when he kills his brother.
- Bittersweet Ending: Della and Tom's daughter reopens the restaurant and the final scenes are of everyone happily celebrating. But Tyra is still with her abusive boyfriend while Trey's genuine redemption is undone with his arrest for the murders.
- Crazy Homeless People: Frank was a simpleminded busboy at Della's who became homeless after the massacre. He gets his job back in the end.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Tyra's boyfriend Jammal beats Derek up when he catches them talking.
- Domestic Abuse: Tyra, one of Della's waitresses, was being smacked around by her boyfriend and Joe's alibi for the murder is that he was in the ER following a beating from his mother's boyfriend.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Vera is last seen getting drunk after screwing up the case which took a year to build.
- Drugs Are Bad: And how. The killer turns out to be Trey, Derek's junkie brother, who killed the three when they caught him trying to rob the place to get money for his habit.
- Everyone Has Standards: The gang leader seen harassing Derek and Joe at the beginning of the episode is floored when Joe claims that he's the killer, stunned that he'd be willing to kill his friend for street cred.
- False Confession: Joe brags about being the killer in order to protect himself. A year later, he's gone from being afraid of the local gang to being the gang's leader, with the former leader now terrified of him.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Despite being thoroughly fed up with his brother Trey's behavior, Derek still lets him into the restaurant after they're closed when he comes begging for food. This turns out to be a ruse so that Trey can rob the place, and when Derek confronts him, the situation rapidly escalates to murder.
- From Bad to Worse: Trey may have only intended to rob Della's, but when Derek angrily confronted him, Tom came to see what the commotion was about. Trey promptly shot him and when Della came out, shot her as well, then finally shot Derek when he insisted on calling 911.
- Heel–Face Turn: Trey was so shaken up by his younger brother Derek's brutal murder that he buckled down and kicked his drug addiction and joined the army. Then it turns out that he wasn't just shaken up by his brother's murder, he was horrified that HE was the killer.
- Hollywood Autism: Frank Morgan is said to be mentally challenged and takes medicine for it, but it’s never given a name.
- Irony: Sinking so low as to kill his little brother and two people who tried to help him is what made Trey finally get his act together. By the time of the episode, he's gotten clean and has joined the army. But it's all for nothing once he's revealed as the killer.
- Killed Offscreen: JT Simms is reported to have been murdered on the orders of Joe.
- Red Herring: As is par for this show, but one of the suspects deliberately invoked this, claiming to be the killer.
- Sequel Episode: This episode concerns the triple homicide Lilly was investigating in the pilot before being transferred out of Homicide.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Explicitly stated by Derek to Trey when he insists on calling 911. Tragically, he does.
