S01.E16: The Job

[Trini]

When a motorcycle gang robbery turns into a murder, Malcolm and team are called to the scene to investigate. While he's working on a profile, he runs into an old friend from boarding school, licensed insurance investigator Vijay (guest star Dhruv Singh). Together they work to uncover the identity of the murderer and his accomplices who stole millions in watches. Meanwhile, Martin blackmails Jessica, exchanging his silence about who stabbed him for more quality time with his son.

Airdate: March 16, 2020

[Chaos Theory]

"This phone is reserved for telemarketers and politicians. Identify yourself so I know how hard to slam the receiver" God I love Jessica Whitly.  And I am so going to start answering  the phone that way,

But she has got to stop hiding the vases for her flowers because Eve had way to much time to go find the girl hidy box.  And I am assuming that she is the girl in the box Jessica and Malcolm have been looking for.

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[redfish]

So if you want to annoy/piss off Martin just say you're going to call Gil as he's the go to Father figure.

Eve is definitely connected to the girl in the box (sister?).  Does she want to climb in to the box  to experience what her sister felt?

Demanding visitation rights like Malcolm is still ten, is everyone on the show is treating him like he's a child?

The return of hallucination Martin to provide some insights and a creepy set up. "They're not all dead..."

"You going to blackmail your way into surgery? That's my boy." Why do I get the feeling that Martin's endgame is to make Malcolm to embrace the darkness and be a killer like him.

[Dbolt]

10 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

"This phone is reserved for telemarketers and politicians. Identify yourself so I know how hard to slam the receiver" God I love Jessica Whitly.  And I am so going to start answer the phone that way,

But she has got to stop hiding the vases for her flowers because Eve had way to much time to go find the girl hidy trunk.  And I am assuming that she is the girl in the trunk Jessica and Malcolm have been looking for.

 

I don’t think she is nearly old enough to be the girl in the box. Maybe younger sister or even daughter. 

[saber5055]

I was hoping the trunk would auto lock and Eve would be trapped and die inside it. Then Malcolm could discover her body several episodes down the road for some good deja vu moments. And Jessica could be all pissy about Eve leaving and not saying good bye. And Malcolm's dating life would cease to exist even less than it exists now.

Edited March 17, 2020 by saber5055

[Roxie]

Agreed, there is definitely something fishy going on with Eve.  I've thought so from the start.

[AnimeMania]

Didn't they show the chest upside down when Eve entered. It looked like the largest portion was on the top.

Maybe Eve is Martin's biggest groupie, she lives to hear stories about the things Martin has done, especially things that are not public knowledge.

Edited March 17, 2020 by AnimeMania
spelling mistake

[Regalbegal]

4 hours ago, Dbolt said:

I don’t think she is nearly old enough to be the girl in the box. Maybe younger sister or even daughter. 

I would put money on younger sister.  Which isn't really a super shocking surprise, given that some folks have been suggesting this since her first episode.  The crawling into the box was a nice/weird Prodigal Son-esque touch, though.  The question at this point is: is she just looking for answers, or does she really have some ulterior/vengeance plan (I hope the latter bc it will be a lot more interesting). 

All in all, it felt like a bit of a placeholder episode until the very end, but that was fine, a lot of fun moments and some Martin/Jessica time, which is always a plus.  His friend was a fun addition - I think that was Raj from Good Trouble? 

[rove4]

I love Jessica!  

The corner table boys!  I thought Malcolm's friend was a lot of fun, too. I liked that he turned out to be a good person and helpful.  I hope he'll make more appearances.  If Malcolm is too screwed up to have a stable romantic life right now, I'd like to see him have at least one friend outside of police work. 

[AnimeMania]

I still don't understand why the leader of the group would point his gun at the other guy instead of the guy that was killing all the women. I guess it was just to make everything even for the story's sake. Seemed improbable, but I guess it made for a memorable scene.

[foxfreakinmulder]

Good episode. I liked Malcolm's friend. I ran him over with a vintage Porsche, lol.

The one thing I have to keep telling myself to let go is that Malcolm can look at a dead body and figure out the profile. Is he supposed to be a Sherlock Holmes? It really bugs me, I don't know why, maybe because he makes it look too easy. It's like the police wouldn't be able to catch bad guys without him.

I agree with everyone about Eve, she's related to the girl in the box somehow. I was wondering if she would've ever returned Malcom's calls she didn't seem to happy to talk to him when mom called her and put him on the phone. So what if mom didn't call her? 

[Roxie]

Can you imagine how many concussions Malcolm has had so far this season?

[Samwise979]

@Regalbegal that was definitely Raj from Good Trouble!! He cleans up nice 😉

If Eve and Malcolm are around the same age she'd be around 10 as well when Malcom found the girl in the box so it can't be her. She'll either be Eve's older sister or her mom. 

Edited March 18, 2020 by Samwise979

[nodorothyparker]

I know what they were going for with Eve sneaking off to immediately be able to locate the exact trunk and then of course crawling inside it.  But all I could think was, you better hope that lid doesn't auto lock because Jessica doesn't know where you wandered off to.  She's the same woman who simply walled off Daddy Dearest's hobby/murder room and forgot she had a working landline down there for 20 years.  

The Mexican standoff portion of the murder of the week was entertaining, mostly because I rather enjoy Martin being Malcolm's snarky hallucinatory subconscious when he gets himself in trouble like that.  I'm mostly just relieved that whatever else was going on with Malcolm's friend, he didn't also turn out to be the killer because that would have been too utterly expected and gods know he doesn't need any more baggage.  There's some sad commentary there that the only real friend we've seen of his also had a fairly messed up childhood because of a criminal father, but hey, he got to run over someone with a vintage Porsche.  I wouldn't mind seeing this friend make a return visit.

Jessica is always way over the top, but I might be too if I was stuck now in an endless blackmail/co-parenting loop with my serial killer ex.  It's so very Martin to think that he can dictate a visitation schedule like Malcolm is still a child.  Love that the mere mention of Gil's name is a talisman to get out of whatever dysfunction Martin's trying to stir up.

[Trini]

The show has a lot of elements to balance - procedural, psychological thriller, dark comedy, family drama, murder mystery - and I thought this was a solid episode that managed it well. Although the police officers kind of took a backseat this time.

Was glad to see a friend for Malcolm; hope he can come back sometime.

So Eve is definitely connected to Girl in the Box somehow. Hope that we can make some real progress on that mystery soon.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Trini

[tennisgurl]

Dang, Raj from Good Trouble cleans up real good! 

I am really glad that Malcolm's old school pal came through for him, I hope that we can see him again, it would be good for Malcolm to have a few friends outside of work. Corner Table Boys! 

Whoa damn Jessica. "Parenting is tough, its good to have someone else who cares as much as you do" 

"Your right, I should call Gil." 

Love you Jessica! Martin might be the family serial killer, but that was a real shot in the heart! 

So is Eve related to the girl in the box, or is she some Martin Whitley fangirl who wants to be closer to him?

[Lady Calypso]

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

So is Eve related to the girl in the box, or is she some Martin Whitley fangirl who wants to be closer to him?

I'd say it's the former. She got really emotional when she found the box, as if remembering how someone she knew died. Probably an older sister, potentially her mother? It's unclear how Eve is related to the girl in the box, but she definitely is. It's been suspected, but it's good to get actual confirmation.

This was a good episode. I knew I recognized Malcolm's friend but I couldn't figure out from where until the very end. He was entertaining, at least, but I'm good if we don't see him again. Although it might be good for Malcolm to interact with people more. 

Also, it seemed to take Jessica a long time to find a vase for those flowers, since Eve could casually go downstairs, find the box, and climb inside of it after crying for a minute.

No surprise Martin asked for more time with Malcolm. I'm sure he thinks that he can convince Malcolm to love him more than Jessica and to essentially comb him as the next protege for his serial killer actions, but I also think that Malcolm is stronger than that. Or, at the very least, he can hold off for a while longer. 

Jessica is still great. She's definitely become my favourite character. 

[kirkola]

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Dang, Raj from Good Trouble cleans up real good! 

I am really glad that Malcolm's old school pal came through for him, I hope that we can see him again, it would be good for Malcolm to have a few friends outside of work. Corner Table Boys! 

Whoa damn Jessica. "Parenting is tough, its good to have someone else who cares as much as you do" 

"Your right, I should call Gil." 

Love you Jessica! Martin might be the family serial killer, but that was a real shot in the heart! 

So is Eve related to the girl in the box, or is she some Martin Whitley fangirl who wants to be closer to him?

I liked Eve as a fan girl in the beginning.  I mean there is no way she would spend more than 5 minutes with Malcolm without getting weird creepy guy vibes....and she stuck around long enough to sleep with him.  But she seemed genuine in her freakout over Malcolm's sleepwalking (sleep slashing?) nightmare.  And she didn't come back until Jessica prompted Eve.  So I am starting to lean toward related to girl in the box.  Like maybe the girl in the box was Eve's Aunt. 

I'll admit, having the actress playing Jessica looking roughly the same age as the actor playing Malcolm, has thrown me for figuring out who is older and who is younger on the show.  It makes it hard to figure things out.  The girl in the box should have been in her late teens or early 20s.  Which means that if Eve were the one in the box, she'd been in her 30s by now.  So Jessica's age and not Malcolm's.  And yeah they are all consenting adults and all that.  But I would be a little put off by sleeping with someone my parents age.

[CoyoteBlue]

14 hours ago, kirkola said:

I'll admit, having the actress playing Jessica looking roughly the same age as the actor playing Malcolm, has thrown me for figuring out who is older and who is younger on the show.  It makes it hard to figure things out. 

Bellamy Young just looks good then because she and Michael Sheen are 50 and 51 respectively. Tom Payne is 37 and Halston 26. 

Technically, the parent characters should probably be older than the actors are, given that Martin would have been such a famous surgeon and Jessica had a ten-year-old child twenty(?) years ago when Martin was caught. They would have had to start their family while Martin was still in med school probably?

[Simba122504]

On 3/20/2020 at 12:04 AM, CoyoteBlue said:

Bellamy Young just looks good then because she and Michael Sheen are 50 and 51 respectively. Tom Payne is 37 and Halston 26. 

Technically, the parent characters should probably be older than the actors are, given that Martin would have been such a famous surgeon and Jessica had a ten-year-old child twenty(?) years ago when Martin was caught. They would have had to start their family while Martin was still in med school probably?

Pilot script says he was arrested in '98. 22 years ago and Malcolm was 10 which means he was born in '88. He's 32 now. Script says Martin was in his late 30s in '98. My mom who was born in '61 was 37 in '98.  My father was 39. Martin was born in '59 or '60. He was in his late '20s when Malcolm was born. He would have been in his final years of  residency? Of course Malcolm gets access to the surgery room by just making a call. lol This show. 😆 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Simba122504
Wrong word

[Mari]

On 3/17/2020 at 1:12 PM, icemiser69 said:

It sounded like his friend bailed on him when he was younger.  I understand his friend's explanation of wanting to do things that perhaps Malcolm was unwilling to do.  Still, they should have found a way to spend sometime together, even if they weren't as close. 

Eehh . . . yes, but I get this.  From a logical, mature standpoint, absolutely.

But they were teenagers, and what it comes down to, is how many times in a row can you be told "no, I'm not doing that with you," before you start to think that they just don't want to spend time with you?  

If the average mature, adult person can be told, say, ten times in a row?  A teenager would probably be at six.  Someone with the issues that Malcolm's childhood, especially, and Vijay's to a lesser extent?  Maybe three-four.

[Lunula]

On 3/17/2020 at 5:48 PM, foxfreakinmulder said:I agree with everyone about Eve, she's related to the girl in the box somehow. I was wondering if she would've ever returned Malcom's calls she didn't seem to happy to talk to him when mom called her and put him on the phone. So what if mom didn't call her? 

This. No part of the Eve story made any sense to me. If she had a clue, it would’ve come when Jessica went on TV with the bracelet, right? And yet she makes no attempt to get back into Malcom’s life - or into Jessica’s home - until they randomly call her? 

If she saw it and was connected via mom/older sister- there is no way she wouldn’t try to stay in touch. If she didn’t see it, then we are supposed to believe Jessica mentions it like that and Eve immediately goes directly to the exact correct spot (and why would they keep the box and not turn it over to police for DNA testing?) - and the box is unlocked - and she sobs and crawls in? WTF? Again, if she knew the box was there previously, then why make no attempt to stay in Malcolm/Jessica’s life? If she didn’t, how the hell did she find it so easily?

The way that played out was pretty silly, IMO. This show is smarter than that, right?