Directed by Mark Pellington
Written by Liz W Garcia
After the remains of a teenage boy named Maurice Hall are discovered and it appears that he was murdered, the team look back at the circumstances surrounding his 1984 disappearance.
Tropes:
- Always Someone Better: Grant pretended to ruin his knee in his tussle with Maurice because he was intimidated by the skill of the other wrestlers in the junior program. Maurice tried to convince him not to give up, explaining he felt the same way about dancing, but Grant wouldn’t believe him.
- Big Brother Bully: Grant is a notorious example as he not only bullies Maurice, but has also beaten him up on occasion (only to force him into silence with the threat of even more violence) and, jealous of his talent and winning their father's love, kills him.
- Big Fish in a Bigger Ocean: Grant is a talented wrestler, but seeing how good the other candidates in the Junior Olympic program are freaks him out enough to fake an injury to quit.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Initially downplayed, but essentially averted. When Jeffries has a conversation with Isaac Keller, the ex-trucker who killed his wife years earlier, he casually brings up the night in question without specifically mentioning the accident, which the latter evasively and hastily answers. The following episode shows that he remembers what he did and is genuinely remorseful.
- Cain and Abel: Grant was the Cain to Maurice’s Abel.
- Career-Ending Injury: Dr. Leroy, the dance instructor, injured his leg and needs a cane to walk. It has become his Berserk Button when Maurice calls him out on it.
- Casting Gag: Don Swayze, the real-life brother of a famous actor known for dancing, plays the present-day version of a brother of an aspiring dancer.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: Just ask Maurice’s dance teacher.
- Downer Ending: The case is solved but Maurice and Grant's father realizes that his Parental Favoritism has caused one of his sons to kill his brother. Lilly imagines Maurice dancing, knowing that his talent is forever lost.
- Finally Found the Body: Maurice was first thought to be missing.
- Future Loser: Grant goes from local sports hero with a brilliant wrestling career ahead of him to freaking out before he can even get started and 20-something years later, working as a stockboy in his father's grocery store.
- I Want My Mommy!: As Grant is beating Maurice to death, the latter cries out for their father.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The dance teacher. He embarrasses Maurice in front of the dance class and tells him that he’s not cut out for dancing. But when he sees how determined and dedicated Maurice is, he gives him private lessons, coming to recognize and admire Maurice’s drive.
- Mama's Boy: Maurice’s late mother fostered his love of dance. The reason Grant was so upset when Pat showed signs of pride in Maurice was because he felt like their dad was all Grant had, since Maurice had been their mother’s favorite.
- Mistaken for Gay: Maurice, after Grant sees him dancing. Grant implies that he thought he was gay even before this.
- Motive Misidentification: Grant didn't kill his brother for any of the reasons the detectives think (rejecting him for his dancing, feeling jealous, or blaming Maurice for ruining his wrestling career by hurting his knee), and in fact seemed to be making peace with him about all of those events right before Maurice died. Instead, he beat his brother to death during an Unstoppable Rage because Maurice wanted him to stop faking his injury and go back to wrestling when Grant felt trapped by it.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Pat is devastated over how he failed his sons, Grant by pushing him over the edge and putting so much pressure on him, and Maurice by pushing him away and favoring Grant over him.
- Grant is visibly shaken immediately after killing Maurice, realizing what he had just done.
- Obfuscating Disability: Grant faked a knee injury to drop out of wrestling without disappointing his father. The crutch he used later turns out to be the murder weapon used to beat his brother to death.
- Parting-Words Regret: Maurice's father is guilt-ridden about the last words he said to Maurice being "God help you, Maurice" in a moment of anger.
- Rewatch Bonus: Grant clearly freaking out over the news that Maurice's remains have been discovered seems like a perfectly normal reaction. Until we learn that he's the killer and he's actually freaking out over his horrific deed being uncovered and knowing that it's only a matter of time before he's caught. He also gets very defensive when Scotty insinuates that he failed to protect his brother... because he knows that's what happened.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Maurice manages to put the arrogant and abrasive dance teacher in his place by pointing out his failed career and how he has to teach high schoolers just to make ends meet. This both shocks his classmates and knocks the man down quite a few pegs, and the teacher's only response is to call Maurice poor White trash and order him out of his classroom. That being said, the dance teacher gives Maurice private dance lessons later on.
- So Proud of You: Pat was dismissive of Maurice becoming a dancer until he actually saw him in action at the audition, and was blown away by his talent and dedication, knowing that he must have worked hard to be that good in such a short time. He only wishes he got to tell Maurice that before he died.
- Spotting the Thread: Scotty realizes that Grant must have been the one who gave Maurice a black eye, knowing that no one would have been so foolish as to bully the brother of the local sports hero.
- Stalker without a Crush: Jeffries begins to stalk the man who killed his wife in a hit-and-run accident a decade earlier.
- Throwing Off the Disability: Grant throws away his crutches to reveal to Maurice that he was never injured.
- The Unfavorite: Both boys to different parents. Grant was praised and pushed by their dad to be the best at sports, often overlooking Maurice for seemingly have no direction or common interests with him and his brother. On the other hand, Maurice’s love for dance began with his mother, who would dance with him around the room before she died. Because Maurice was his mom’s "baby", Grant was even more pressured to hold on to his father’s approval, as without it, he felt he had nothing.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Both Grant and Maurice strive for their widowed father's love and approval. While Grant is a talented school wrestler constantly pushed by him, Maurice has a love for dance that gains his initial indifference/dismay and his brother's contempt.
