Summoned by a frantic call from her sister Louise, Jessica flies to Saskatchewan, Canada to check out her niece Jill's new boyfriend, a slick rodeo rider named Marty Reed. During the visit, a fire in one of the trailers kills the rodeo circuit's resident doctor and Marty and his rival Boone Talbot fall under suspicion.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Beardness Protection Program: Luke, actually an escaped convict named Carlton, let his hair grow long and stopped shaving to cover his face and make sure he wasn't recognized.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Marty's manager Luke. Luke initially seems like a polite guy who's helpful with the police investigation. Then he turns extremely rude and nasty after Marty forfeits the competition to the injured Boone (who has saved both of their lives over the past 24 hours). He's also an escaped convict and the murderer.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Jill thinks that her mother's concern about Marty is just because she's overprotective. Jessica tries to sympathize, noting that her father was a very sweet man, but his reaction when she first told him about her future husband, Frank, was something to see (and hear).
- Career-Ending Injury: The dangerous nature of rodeo life comes up more than once. One minor character, a rodeo clown named Wally Bryce, used to work as a rider before he got injured, though he blames Dr. Sam's poor patch-up job rather than the injury itself for ending his career.
- Chekhov's Gun: Consuela mentions that Doc Sam worked in a prison before they married, and that he asked Luke a lot of questions while he was sedated. This foreshadows the reveal that Luke is an escaped convict.
- Dirty Old Man: Doc is about sixty and drunkenly tries to grope a married woman about half of his age while standing right next to her husband and his wife.
- Draw Aggro: After one of the bulls, Strychnine, throws Marty, Boone charges into the arena to draw his attention. Wally Bryce later tells Jessica that the distraction, which nearly resulted in Boone dying instead, saved Marty's life.
- Hidden Depths: Doc establishes himself as an Asshole Victim after about thirty seconds of screen time, but he does get a little depth posthumously revealed by the warden of the prison where he used to work. The warden mentions that Doc began to feel "like a prisoner himself" treating people behind those walls and became a rodeo doctor so he could work in wide open spaces.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Midway through the episode, Boone Talbot charges into the arena to save his rival Marty Reed from a bull after he gets thrown, getting his arm broken in the process. However, the viewer, like Jessica, mostly finds out about the incident secondhand after it happens rather than seeing it.
- Pet the Dog: Marty is a cheating hothead, but he ultimately refuses to continue the rodeo (pleading a broken arm, which neither the doctor nor Luke thinks is legit) and lets Boone have the prize money.
- Properly Paranoid: Louise calls Jessica, worried about her daughter's new boyfriend. Jessica tries to keep an open mind, but she ultimately discovers that Louise's concern was correct.
- Secret Other Family: A twist; Jill is in love with Marty but gradually comes to think he's not interested in a serious relationship with her. After Jessica advises her to talk it out with him, the two of them witness Marty's wife and young son arriving unexpectedly, explaining why he refused to take her home.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Jill is incredulous that Marty named his son "Buster."
