Senator Terrence Bell finds himself rather stressed. Not only is he up for re-election, his daughter Melanie nearly dies of an overdose. She's thankfully saved by his close friend Mark, but it becomes all for naught when she dies during an argument with her father. While he wants to try desperately to make things right, his aid Peter Trent convinces him that the best thing to do is make the death appear elsewhere. Anything for a political victory, right?
"A Candidate for Murder" displays symptoms of the following tropes:
- Ambition Is Evil: Peter saw Terrence as a puppet in politics, and was willing to murder Terrence's daughter in order to keep him under his sway, possibly all the way to the White House.
- And Starring; John Rubenstein gets credited as Peter Trent.
- Death by Falling Over: During the fight with her father, Melanie falls backwards onto his hotel room's glass coffee table. We're led to believe that this is what killed her, but Amanda discovers this is not actually the case, because...
- Did Not Die That Way: Amanda's autopsy finds it was not the blow to her head or even an overdose of heroin that did Melanie in, but rather an injection of air into her veins.
- Driven to Suicide: Melanie yells at her father that her mother committed suicide after contracting a terminal illness. Moreover, she brings this up because she believes her mother did so because she didn't want to be a problem for Terrence, and she believes being shipped off to rehab is more Terrence wanting to not make her a problem for his campaign.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Peter takes Melanie's body over to Ryan's apartment, ties a band around her arm and puts a syringe in it, while smearing blood onto a nearby cabinet. The intended effect is to make it look like Melanie shot up some heroin, and cracked her head on the cabinet while passing out.
- Make It Look Like A Suicide: Peter tells Terrence that he plans to make his death look like a grief-driven suicide once he's found out by him for murdering Melanie.
- Offing the Offspring: Subverted. Terrence and the audience certainly think Terrence has done this, but all parties later find out Peter gave her an embolism at Ryan's apartment
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mark realizes Peter was behind staging Melanie's body, as he wasn't at the groundbreaking ceremony with Terrence despite practically being glued to his side most of the time.
- Scary Black Man: Drug dealer Doc hires one of these as his bodyguards. The goon, however, buckles under Steve's threat of a third strike on his record while confronting Doc about the heroin found in Ryan's drawer, prompting Doc to fire him.
