Culp confronts Danner about her unauthorized investigation as Yasper, Aniq, and Zoë listen in. Evoking a Cop Show, Danner describes her history in the force and how she knows Germain, the ringer sent in to solve the case. They were in the academy together and were both involved in a homicide case involving a local package thief in 2014. Danner catches the package thief. Germain wants to charge her with the homicide, but Danner is suspicious. She visits Vaughn, the husband of the deceased, and the set of the show he works on, to Germain's displeasure, and gets Willow exonerated. She was reassigned to the records room as punishment and transferred to the local PD to work without baggage.
Culp asks Danner not to let her bias towards Aniq cloud her judgement. Danner has an epiphany and thinks she might have solved the murder.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Law Enforcement: Danner complains about the fictional TV show Marshall Law, saying it's basically everything wrong with portrayals of law enforcement in TV.
- Bonding Through Shared Earbuds: Aniq and Yasper are eavesdropping on the cops. Aniq asks Yasper to hand over his AirPod so he and his crush Zoë can listen in together, and Aniq repeatedly pushes Yasper away.
- A Day in the Limelight: This episode puts the mystery on hold as Danner reveals her past and history with Detective Germain.
- A Deadly Affair: Discussed and double subverted. Danner says that 90% of daytime homicide cases in the posh California neighborhood they patrol are domestic affairs. The most likely suspect is a package thief, but Danner realizes that it was a husband impersonating said package thief to kill his wife...because he was having an affair with a coworker.
- Genre Savvy: Vaughn is suspicious when Danner starts acting questions about anyone who could have held a grudge against his murdered wife. He thinks it means he's a suspect because it happens on the cop show he works on regularly.
- Occam's Razor: Invoked. Culp says that Danner is sympathetic to Aniq, but in truth him committing the murder is the simplest answer. When you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras.Danner: But if you hear the clomping of hooves in Tanzania, nine times out of ten, it's zebras.
Culp: Oh, my god, your theories are so convoluted. - Oscar Bait: Invoked. Culp describes that one of Germain's previous cases is being turned into a limited series with an All-Star Cast as a blatant awards play.
- Pun-Based Title: The TV writer works on a show called Marshall Law (martial law).
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Danner breaks all sorts of protocol solving Willow's crime because she didn't want to condemn a girl guilty of being a package thief but innocent of murder. She is assigned to the records room with no chance for advancement as punishment, but Willow is grateful.
- Unusual Pop Culture Name: Willow. Danner asks if she was named from the movie or the tree.Willow: The movie. My mom really liked it...
