Directed by: Peter Salim
Written by: Carlton Hollander
Jessica' book tour of the midwest brings her to a radio station with an obnoxious personality, feuding owners and a heavy influence in the election of an upcoming senator. Soon, murder follows.
Tropes:
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Quite a lot of the townsfolk are pleased when Jessica takes down Marcus Rule on the air, congratulating her and otherwise being gleeful that he got a taste of his own medicine.
- Dark Secret: Marcus Rule has a thing for 14-year-old girls, something that Collin tries to use to blackmail him out of quitting. Marcus seems to think he can get around it.
- Hypocrite: Marcus spends all his programs insulting other people, yet when Jessica nails him by comparing him to the main character of a Dostoyefsky novel (The Idiot), he complains about the cheap shot.
- Love Martyr: Danny is in love with Louise, and has been for years, with that being why he stayed at the station, even though there's always someone else in her life. He murdered Colin because he was buying Louise out and once she no longer had the radio station to keep her there, she'd disappear from his life for good.
- Mugging the Monster: A non-physical example. Marcus declares that writers crumple more easily than anyone when told that he's supposed to interview Jessica on the air. He has no idea what he's getting into, and ends up whammied on public radio after harassing her the entire program.
- Shock Jock: Marcus Rule is a smarmy, insulting creep who will make claims that aren't true at a drop of a hat.
- Shout-Out: Marcus' "what's his name" quote early in the episode comes from H. L. Mencken: "No one... has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people."
- Straw Feminist: Marcus accuses Jessica of having something against men, because of all the men killed in various gruesome ways in her books. Jessica says that this isn't fair (women meet nasty ends in her books as well) and insults him back after he spends the entire program making jokes of the same sort.
- Suit with Vested Interests: Collin has Marcus Rule insulting local political candidate David Osterman and convincing listeners he's corrupt (which he isn't) due to his own interests in who is elected senator.
- "We're Live" Realization: The end of the episode has Marcus insulting his listeners, calling them things like "the most stupid, muddle-headed doofuses this side of a zoo" while his mic is live and showing horror upon finding out, causing Jessica to quip that now she realizes why it's called "killer radio!" It's hard to tell if Louise and the tech control man turned the mic on specifically to catch it, but they're certainly happy with the result.
