After the mummified body of an unknown young man is discovered in the Newfoundland tundra, Charlie and Rex set off in search of a community of survivalists who may be harboring a murderer.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun: Heath mentions in Edgar Vance’s video that his favorite book was The Count of Monte Cristo, and how its lessons were what inspired him to want to go out and see the world. Upon a second look at where Heath's body is found, a small pouch is discovered containing one of the book's torn out discolored pages. He used it to write the name of his killer so that whoever found it could use it to track him down and arrest him.
- Crazy Survivalist: The survivalist camp has existed for over two decades and is comprised of almost two dozen people who came out to the wilderness for various reasons. The camp’s members go from as old as Shale and Skye who had been there for over twenty years to the most recent additions like the camp doctor Casey who arrived only three months ago. There were even children who were born into the camp, with Heath having been the oldest of them.
- Dying Clue: Heath left a torn-out page of his copy of The Count of Monte Cristo in a leather pouch near where he died, with the page representing how Heath realized who his killer was. He also wrote down on the page the name of his killer, Kent Coolidge, aka the camp doctor Casey.
- Foreshadowing:
- Shale and Skye mention that three months ago, Heath suddenly left the camp without telling anyone where or why he was going and never returned. The camp heard no word on Heath since then until Charlie and Rex arrived and told them that he was murdered out in the wild. The time that Heath left was also around the time that the camp’s doctor Casey had become the camp’s newest member. Heath had left for St. John’s to turn Casey in to the police after finding out about the latter’s criminal past, only to be shot and killed by him.
- The rifle used to kill Heath that was found near Baron’s shelter has the bolt on the left side. Baron is shown to be right-handed while Casey is one of the only left-handed people in the camp. Casey is the one who killed Heath and tried to use Baron’s criminal history to frame him for the murder.
- He Knows Too Much:
- One night, Casey and Heath had gotten together to drink moonshine brewed by one of the men in the camp, which led to Casey drunkenly and accidentally admitting to his crimes to Heath. By the time Casey sobered up, he found out that Heath searched his shelter and learned Casey’s real name Kent Coolidge via his ID in his gun bag and left for St. John’s to turn him in to the police. Kent caught up to Heath, shot him in the back with a hunting rifle, and left him for the elements to finish him off.
- Kent also tries to kill Charlie after the latter figures out he’s responsible for Heath’s murder and is heading back to St. John’s.
- Loved by All: Heath is mentioned to have been loved by everyone in the camp he grew up in, being known for his talents, smarts, and dreams. He even accepted journalist Edgar Vance when nobody else didn’t and made him a talisman as a sign of friendship. His death hits everyone who knew him pretty hard.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Heath’s mother Skye came to the survivalist community twenty years ago after escaping from her abusive husband while she was pregnant, and she’s devastated when she finds out her son was murdered. After the case is solved, Charlie returns to the camp to help construct a shrine in memory of Heath.
- Patricide: Kent Coolidge, a former med school student who years ago was kicked out for a prescription pill addiction. He later robbed a pharmacy and killed the owner, who happened to be Kent’s own father, making him the subject of a three-month-long manhunt, but he was never found. He turns out to have fled to the tundra where he integrated into the survivalist camp under the name Casey and became their doctor.
- Reformed Criminal: One of the camp members is Mateo Baron, a former criminal convicted seven years for manslaughter who disappeared six years ago after failing to report to his parole officer. He claims to have done so because he was unable to find work and that he came out to the tundra to die until he found the camp, where he was accepted with open arms. He’s the one who took Charlie’s gun out of distrust, but he returns it after the case is solved and apologizes for it. He’s also allowed to stay in the camp as Donovan doesn’t consider there to be a lot of pressure in pursuing Baron’s case.
- Significant Monogram: Kent Coolidge’s fake name Casey comes from his initials K. C.. Charlie even points out how obvious it is after hearing Kent’s backstory and reason for killing Heath.
- A Sinister Clue: Charlie mentions that he had initially suspected Baron of being the culprit after finding the rifle used to kill Heath and Heath’s copy of The Count of Monte Cristo buried near his shelter and knowing of his criminal history. That is, until he remembered that the rifle was a left-handed rifle, and that Casey aka Kent Coolidge is one of the only left-handed people in the camp.
- Spanner in the Works:
- Upon figuring out who killed Heath, Charlie decides to leave the camp to go back to St. John’s and tells Skye not to tell anyone. However, Shale was nearby and saw him leaving, going on to tell Baron and Casey about it. This prompts Casey to go after Charlie and kill him before he gets back to St. John’s.
- After shooting Heath and leaving him for dead, Kent planned to come back and dispose of the body. His plan was derailed by a heavy snow squall that forced him to leave Heath in a rock crevice for three months until he could come back in the spring and do the job right. But by that point the body had been found, which eventually led to Kent’s arrest.
- Baron was the one who stole Charlie’s gun while the latter was unconscious, which left Charlie without a way to defend himself from Kent upon being cornered by him. Charlie even lampshades it, which Baron apologizes for.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Heath was an adventurous and kind-hearted young man with a strong sense of justice and a desire to see the world for himself once becomes old enough. He ends up dying on his first and last trip to civilization trying to protect his friends and family in the survivalist camp from the murderer whom had conned his way into living amongst them, with the major crimes team vowing to make sure Heath's death doesn't go unpunished when they learn of his story.
- Tragic Dream: Heath was an adventurous, intelligent young man who dreamed of leaving the camp one day to see the world. His dreams were tragically cut short when he found out a wanted criminal who would do anything to avoid arrest was living with him.
- Un-person: The children who were born into the camp like Heath was are this, as they have nothing tying them to the modern world like birth certificates, medical records or social insurance numbers. This made identifying Heath difficult until Charlie secures a lead from Edgar Vance, who was the only person outside of the camp who knew him.
- Untrusting Community: The camp tends to be wary of outsiders and don’t like attention brought to them. Baron is mentioned to be openly and especially distrustful of outsiders, believing that they bring nothing but trouble and attention to the survivalist community. However, they won’t turn away someone who needs help, such as Charlie when he accidentally slips and falls unconscious out in the woods. Although one of the members steals Charlie’s gun while he’s knocked out. It was Baron, who did it out of distrust. He returns it to him at the end of the episode.
- Watch the Paint Job: Upon returning to his car after checking out the area where Heath’s body was found, Charlie discovers someone to have broken into it by smashing out the driver’s side window, having stolen his phone charger and removed the spark plugs from the engine. Stranded and with no way to call for help, the detective decides to make his way towards the survivalist camp with Rex. It was done by Kent in an attempt to warn Charlie away, only for it to have backfired and just made the latter more determined to catch whoever was behind it.
- Younger Than They Look: At the start of the episode, Charlie, Sarah, and Jesse discuss how the body could be from a settler back in the 1700s going by the clothing he was wearing. That is until the autopsy reports reveal him to be younger and a modern-day bullet is found in his back.
