Directed by Jamie Babbit
Written by Antoinette Stella, Janet Tamaro, & Ted Sullivan
A law student is found dead inside a trash bin, but identification is near impossible. Strapped for options, Jane urges Maura to contact her biological mother, Dr. Hope Martin (Sharon Lawrence), who is a highly sucessful doctor who previously invented a a technique to help rehydrate the fingers of victims so that they may be fingerprinted for identification. Maura is hesitant since she doesn't want to tell Dr. Martin that she is her daughter, since Hope was told Maura died at birth. Meanwhile, Angela gets involved in politics by helping a local mayoral condiate that turns out to be connected to the deceased.
Tropes
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Brought up regarding Tom McGregor and [[spoiler:a past death; he was actually framed by his future campaign manager, but even if Tom didn’t commit the murder he’s still arrested as an accessory after the fact as he helped cover up the crime.
- Fingore: Maura cuts the finger off a corpse to extract a print.
- Frame-Up: It’s ultimately revealed that Tom McGregor was tricked into believing that he killed a girl ten years ago, but in reality he was drugged by his future campaign manager and left beside the dead body.
- Selective Obliviousness: Suggested regarding Hope Martin, Maura’s mother; when Maura observes that Hope has never gotten in touch with her even though Maura being Paddy Doyle’s daughter has been well-publicised, Jane points out that Hope may just have not thought about Paddy for years and may not read the relevant newspapers.
- Staircase Tumble: The Victim of the Week was killed when she was shoved down a flight of stairs.
