As Major Crimes investigates the dark web marketplace Tempest’s Way, revealed by the death of one of its members, Iris Cross, Charlie and Rex protect a witness in their home, the site’s customer service representative Eva Reed.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: At first glance, Iris’s death is made to be a murder, judging by the mess in her kitchen and the blood on the floor making it look like there was a struggle. That is until the autopsy report reveals that she actually died from a seizure caused by unknowingly consuming unregulated ephedrine pills (aka, diet pills) she bought from Tempest’s Way that were three times the fatal amount, with the blood being from the anticoagulants the victim was taking in addition and the mess from the seizure making her drop a pot she was holding. After declaring the situation with the ephedrine to be criminal negligence if not manslaughter, the Major Crimes team work to shut down the site before more of Tempest’s Way’s members end up like Iris.
- Anti-Villain: Eva is the customer service representative for Tempest’s Way and got involved due to needing psylocibin to help her brother’s depression, having become horrified enough at Mercurius’s actions that she agrees to help the SJPD bring him to justice. However, she is very reluctant about shutting down the site, protesting that it is used to help people while also writing off Iris as being another victim of the war on drugs despite Charlie repeatedly pointing out legitimate reasons such as Tempest’s Way’s actions causing the death of one of its members and having the ability to put hits on people. Eva is also the site’s co-founder, having created it to help people in need (herself included due to suffering from the same as what her brother was at the time) until Mercurius perverted it, with Eva becoming desperate enough to not let it fall into the hands of her colleague or the SJPD that she tries to make off with the server.
- Bittersweet Ending: Tempest’s Way is shut down and Mercurius is arrested for his crimes, but Eva manages to escape arrest, though not without her expressing interest in wanting to meet up with Charlie again.
- Black Market: Tempest’s Way is a premium dark web black market that originally dealt exclusively in buying and selling of psylocibin using bitcoin before expanding into unregulated drugs and other illegal services (or as Jesse puts it, an “eBay for all your illicit needs”). Because the site’s actions resulted in the death of one of its members and has ability to post hit targets, the Major Crimes team declare Tempest’s Way to be too dangerous to stay active and work to try and shut it down.
- Cool Old Lady: Iris is mentioned to bring in home-grown flowers to the SJPD during the holidays, and lived by a strict exercise regimen to the point her grandson believed that she would outlive everyone. Said regimen led to her getting involved in Tempest’s Way with help from Eva, where Iris secretly sold psylocibin mushrooms while buying unregulated ephedrine pills, up until her death from unknowingly consuming a fatal dosage she recently bought from the site.
- Crazy-Prepared: Eva carries a kill switch for her computer in the form of a flash drive to erase data for Tempest’s Way to protect the information on it, such as Charlie attempting to get her laptop with Eva managing to pull it before he’s able to do so.
- Dating Catwoman: While protecting Eva in his house, events lead to her and Charlie having a make out session, much to the surprise of an observing Sarah and Jesse who point out that Charlie is risking his job by getting intimate with a witness. Later, when Charlie has Eva cornered when she tries to escape with Tempest’s Way’s server, she proposes that maybe they could get together sometime again to have a drink. While Charlie agrees to the idea, he still chooses to arrest her. Even after becoming a wanted fugitive, Eva expresses interest in continuing a relationship with Charlie, leaving a memento on one of Rex’s toys.
- Drugs Are Bad: In this case, the unregulated ones, which are a part of Tempest’s Way’s assortment of products that are bought and sold. But as Donovan points out, unregulated drugs are just as if not more dangerous for personal use than regulated ones as there’s no way to tell what the actual amount being bought is, as demonstrated by Iris dying from unknowingly consuming a dosage of ephedrine pills that she recently bought from the site that were three times the fatal amount.
- A God Am I: Tempest’s Way’s founder Mercurius considers himself to be this, not helped by the site’s members calling him as such and constantly inflating his already massive ego. He also believes that the site is a revolution worth over a billion dollars and claims to be using it to create a "new world order", only for an exasperated Donovan to basically tell him to stuff it and that he will be going to jail for a long time after arresting him.
- A House Divided: Eva was the co-founder of Tempest’s Way alongside Mercurius. However, while she created the site as a way to help people, Mercurius only cared about the money and expanding the business into other services. This led to Eva moonlighting as Tempest’s Way’s customer service and Mercurius’s greed and ego making him neglect the safety of the products, resulting in Iris’s death and the site becoming too dangerous to stay active.
- Meaningful Name:
- The username of Tempest’s Way’s operator is Mercurius, the Roman god of commerce and thievery.
- Donovan’s username when talking to Mercurius online is Janus, the roman god of new beginnings (his fake backstory being a tech investor who’s interested in buying the site), in order to attract his attention. Sure enough, it works.
- Karma Houdini: Eva manages to escape arrest when a second hitman shows up to try and kill her, which distracts Charlie long enough for her to get away at the cost of leaving behind Tempest’s Way’s server.
- Playful Hacker: In addition to being Tempest’s Way’s customer service rep, Eva is shown to be a skilled hacker and programmer, such as being able to reprogram a faulty toy belonging to Rex to say whatever she wants it to and carrying a kill switch to keep sensitive material on her laptop safe. There’s also the fact that she’s the site’s co-founder. While protected in Charlie’s home, she also devises a Batman Gambit to not only get Mercurius arrested, but also allow her to almost escape custody with the Tempest’s Way’s server. The second part fails, as Eva is forced to surrender it to Rex in order to get away from Charlie and the second shooter.
- Price on Their Head: After Eva is arrested by the SJPD, Mercurius puts a hit on her worth 250k in Bitcoin, causing the Major Crimes team to resort to protecting her in Charlie’s home. However, Eva secretly launching a DOS against Tempest’s Way manages to attract a hitman to her location. Fortunately, they’re arrested. Another one shows up when Charlie tries to stop her from making off with the server, giving her the opportunity to escape at the cost of doing so empty-handed.
- We Will Meet Again: Eva is revealed to have secretly programmed Rex’s new toy to leave a memento regarding her and Charlie’s time together and referencing their last conversation, expressing interest in continuing their relationship if he’s up for it despite her now being a wanted fugitive.
Eva: How about that drink sometime, Charlie?
