Manny Suleimani, a very wealthy caviar dealer, is found dead the day after his marriage to a much younger trophy wife. His autopsy shows that he was tranquilized and smothered with a pillow. The victim's wife Yasmine, son Ben, and daughter Roya all had motive and opportunity to kill. Roya dislikes Yasmine and was upset that her father wouldn't allow her to adopt a Chinese baby girl. Forensic evidence indicates Roya is the killer, so she is arrested.
After examining Roya, Skoda concludes that she felt Manny was "replacing" her with Yasmine - since Roya had essentially done everything for him ever since her mother died. Manny also would not let her go ahead with the planned adoption, forcing her to abandon a child she'd grown to love. Roya felt her father was replacing her with Yasmine, so she killed him. In court, Roya states that she doesn't regret backing out of the adoption, and chose not to go through with it to make her father happy. But under cross-examination, she admits that the last straw was when he told her to move out because he planned to have more children with Yasmine.
When Roya's husband Asher is called as a witness, he now alleges he killed Manny. Asher insists that Manny betrayed his family by choosing Yasmine over his loyal daughter, and not allowing Roya her chance to be a mother. He denies lying under oath to protect his wife. McCoy points out in his summation that the defence hasn't provided a sufficient case to deny any of the evidence against Roya, but she is acquitted. Asher is instantly arrested and Branch reflects that while the case is sad, Asher should probably have expected Manny's reaction.
This episode contains examples of:
- Adoption Is Not an Option: Manny wouldn't allow Roya to adopt a child for cultural reasons, giving her a motive for murder.
- Culture Justifies Anything: Roya's lawyer claims in her defence that Skoda's evidence isn't credible because he does not understand the culture of her family, who are Persian Jews.
- Happily Married: Roya and Asher, despite their failed attempt at adoption. Yasmine insists she and the victim were also this.
- Incest Subtext: Skoda feels this was present in Roya's relationship with her father.
- Incriminating Indifference: Yasmine really doesn't seem that broken up about losing her husband of only one day, but it's subverted in that she isn't his killer.
- Left Hanging: It is left uncertain whether Roya or Asher really killed Manny Suleimani, although the prosecutors eventually conclude it probably was Asher.
- Loophole Abuse: Southerlyn convinces a judge to grant permission for an autopsy because technically the marriage wasn't legally registered yet (since it's the weekend), making Manny's next of kin Ben rather than Yasmine.
- May–December Romance: Manny was around 70, and Yasmine is 25. She's young enough to be his granddaughter, since his two children are in their forties.
- My Beloved Smother: Manny was highly controlling and demanding toward his children, especially Roya.
- Not Blood, Not Family: Manny refused to allow his grown daughter to adopt a baby girl from China, even though she had already been approved. His exact words were: "I won't allow someone else's bastard to become my grandchild."
- Oedipus Complex: Roya previously enjoyed a close relationship with her father, enough to still feel obligated to obey him regarding his refusal to let her adopt a Chinese baby, despite being a grown woman fully capable of making her own decisions (though that might be more of a cultural explanation) and to resent that the much younger Yasmine would be replacing her as his companion and caretaker.
- Out with a Bang: Green jokes that Manny's death could have been this.
- Patricide: Roya is put on trial for this. It's unclear whether it was she or her husband who actually killed her father.
- Red Herring: The much younger Yasmine isn't Manny's killer—she comes from wealth herself and therefore probably wasn't after his money.
- Rich Bitch: Yasmine. She isn't overly nasty, but her tone when she declares "I don't run errands" makes it quite clear that she considers such things beneath her.
- Taking the Heat: The prosecution says that Asher did this during the trial. They may be right.
- Trophy Wife: Yasmine is one.
- Vorpal Pillow: The method of murder.
- Wedding/Death Juxtaposition: Manny Suleimani is murdered the day after marrying his much younger wife.
