S01.E06: An Ear For An Ear

[DanaK]

Quote

After one of New York's most sought-after plastic surgeons is found dead, Elsbeth has her eye on the victim's former boss, Dr. Vanessa Holmes (Gina Gershon), who she believes has motives that are more than skin-deep. Also, Kaya keeps tabs on Elsbeth's whereabouts as her investigation into Captain Wagner heats up, on ELSBETH, Thursday, April 25 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+

 

[AnimeMania]

Gina Gershon as Dr. Vanessa Holmes
Fredric Lehne as Lt. Dave Noonan
Ajay Naidu as Martin Wali
Danny McCarthy as Agent Fred Celetano
Jillian Gottlieb as Dr. Astrid Olsen
NaTonia Monét as Nurse

[wonderwoman]

i wasn’t paying attention to the guest credits, and i couldn’t find anything at imdb or online, but i’m pretty sure that daniel davis (niles on the nanny) played the older plastic surgeon. can anyone confirm? 

[MerBearHou]

36 minutes ago, wonderwoman said:

i wasn’t paying attention to the guest credits, and i couldn’t find anything at imdb or online, but i’m pretty sure that daniel davis (niles on the nanny) played the older plastic surgeon. can anyone confirm? 

Definitely!

[incandescent]

They are only six episodes in and Elsbeth's cheery, chatty, hyper-observant, deliberately underestimated schtick has already gotten both boring and irritating enough that I root for the murderers...

[possibilities]

That scene with Kaya and Elsbeth gave me chills. But I liked it. Female friendship FTW.

I liked the murderer's wife, but I didn't understand why she was with such a cold, controlling partner. It made me sad.

[MerBearHou]

Hope everyone saw the final few seconds in the last scene.  Very key about the corruption in the PD.

It is very hard for me to look at people who’ve had a lot of plastic surgery — like, literally hard for me to even look at them and you can spot the bad cases a mile away — that sure includes Gina Gershon.  Ugh.  

Agreed @possibilities the wife was cool and I could not see how she was with the creepy doctor. 

 

Edited April 26 by MerBearHou

[EtheltoTillie]

Anyone know who played the long curly haired detective?  She looked familiar but she’s not in the IMDB listing. 

[possibilities]

2 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Hope everyone saw the final few seconds in the last scene.  Very key about the corruption in the PD.

I wondered whether it was a clear indication that the Captain is in on the corruption, or if the guy was just saying that to make it LOOK like the Captain was in on it.

This show is based on showing us the crime up front and not being a mystery. The interest is supposed to be in showing how Elsbeth figures out what we already know.

But it's unclear to me whether they will follow through on that in all aspects.

 

I like Elsbeth's attitude to be on the side of the truth.

I do like that theya re moving the story along andnot dragging it out so ,uch that it feels totally stagnant.

[AnimeMania]

Micaela Diamond as Detective Edwards 

Holly James as Carolyn, Dr. Vanessa Holmes' wife

Daniel Davis as Dr. Yablonski

[sugarbaker design]

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

This show is based on showing us the crime up front and not being a mystery. The interest is supposed to be in showing how Elsbeth figures out what we already know.

It's clearly a Columbo (and more recently, Pokerface)-style detective show.  More like a howtheysolveit than whodunnit.

12 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Micaela Diamond as Detective Edwards 

One of the upsides of a showing filming in NYC is they get excellent Broadway actors like the Tony-nominated Diamond.

Edited April 26 by sugarbaker design

[HelloooKitty]

9 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

22 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

 

One of the upsides of a showing filming in NYC is they get excellent Broadway actors like the Tony-nominated Diamond

See also Law and Order in all iterations, a show where I unexpectedly said the words, “hey, it’s Shrek!” once while watching. 

[Yeah No]

On 4/25/2024 at 10:53 PM, wonderwoman said:

i wasn’t paying attention to the guest credits, and i couldn’t find anything at imdb or online, but i’m pretty sure that daniel davis (niles on the nanny) played the older plastic surgeon. can anyone confirm? 

I also remember him as Moriarty in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".  It's a pleasure to see him again.  I just read that he did a reprise of that character on "Picard" season 3 but I've only watched the first two episodes.  Now I have motivation to watch the rest.

On 4/26/2024 at 2:45 AM, possibilities said:

I wondered whether it was a clear indication that the Captain is in on the corruption, or if the guy was just saying that to make it LOOK like the Captain was in on it.

Yeah, I wondered the same thing.  I guess we're supposed to wonder at this point. 

On 4/26/2024 at 2:45 AM, possibilities said:

This show is based on showing us the crime up front and not being a mystery. The interest is supposed to be in showing how Elsbeth figures out what we already know.

But it's unclear to me whether they will follow through on that in all aspects.

It's already a little on the formulaic side in general, and how she just happens to find herself in the path of the killer right away every week has gotten a little stale for me I must admit. But there are so many other things of interest to like going on that it isn't bothering me that much.

[astrohip]

On 4/26/2024 at 1:45 AM, possibilities said:

I wondered whether it was a clear indication that the Captain is in on the corruption, or if the guy was just saying that to make it LOOK like the Captain was in on it.

Yes, it's clear they wrote that scene to keep us in the dark. We know there's corruption now. But we don't know if the Captain is involved. This gives the writers leeway to take the story where they want.

One thing that's a little odd, but doesn't really matter. The Captain has his own "charity" and philanthropic fund. A couple episodes ago they had a fancy event at a fund-raiser for his charity/fund. Police captains aren't dime a dozen, but they are not remotely high up enough to have charities & funds. Unless he or his wife come from (or have) money, in which case all bets are off.

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, astrohip said:

Police captains aren't dime a dozen, but they are not remotely high up enough to have charities & funds. Unless he or his wife come from (or have) money, in which case all bets are off.

Even if it wasn't explicitly stated in the dialog (can't recall), I got the impression that the Captain's wife came from money. 

[TV Diva Queen]

13 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Even if it wasn't explicitly stated in the dialog (can't recall), I got the impression that the Captain's wife came from money. 

same - she seems pretty fancy  :)

[Johannah]

Yeah, I think definitely that Lt is using the Captain's name to extort money and maybe even to shift the blame if things go sideways. 

I'm so sure of it, that it means I'm probably wrong.

I'm glad we finally got a killer that didn't break down and confess after hearing the flimsiest of evidence.  I think she might actually get off, unless I missed something more compelling than someone splashed the same paint that everyone uses on a pair of shoes.  Might have ruined her alibi, but no alibi doesn't mean guilty.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 4/26/2024 at 3:32 PM, sugarbaker design said:

One of the upsides of a showing filming in NYC is they get excellent Broadway actors like the Tony-nominated Diamond.

On 4/27/2024 at 12:56 AM, HelloooKitty said:

See also Law and Order in all iterations, a show where I unexpectedly said the words, “hey, it’s Shrek!” once while watching. 

Also Only Murders in the Building for some of the Arconia residents.

On 5/1/2024 at 10:38 PM, Johannah said:

I'm glad we finally got a killer that didn't break down and confess after hearing the flimsiest of evidence.  I think she might actually get off, unless I missed something more compelling than someone splashed the same paint that everyone uses on a pair of shoes.  Might have ruined her alibi, but no alibi doesn't mean guilty.

Which is why it was pretty stupid of Vanessa to yell at her wife about  having let Astrid ("that bitch") revise her ear as she was led out in handcuffs, thereby providing a motive from her own mouth.

How did Vanessa's wife hide the ear revision healing process from her?  Wouldn't she have been bandaged for a while, and then have still had some sign of a procedure (even if there was no visible stitch marks) until the ear was fully healed?

On 4/28/2024 at 4:11 PM, astrohip said:

Yes, it's clear they wrote that scene to keep us in the dark. We know there's corruption now. But we don't know if the Captain is involved. This gives the writers leeway to take the story where they want.

Having seen a lot of television shows, it seems to me that the Captain doesn't know what is going on.  But it's pretty sleazy to remind Elsbeth that he got her son the job to keep her in his debt.  It was also dumb for Elsbeth not to somehow convince her son that he needed to quit that job and look for another, even if she had to support him for awhile.  The job is far more serious than a comped tennis ticket would have been.

 

Edited May 10 by ItCouldBeWorse

[TV Anonymous]

This episode confuses me. Well, all episodes confuse me but this one is a bit particular.

Dr. Olsen separated from the clinic and did her own practice. She went ahead and slammed her old practice and former colleagues on social media. But then she still did her practice at the same location? Further, what kind of place was that? Was that a day clinic, a recovery place or a place to stay for an extended time? 

Why did Mrs. Holmes dance at the clinic? Was the upper floor of the clinic a residential area? Why was she in the clinic at all if she did not have any procedure done?

[Johnny Dollar]

There were two locations. The practice appeared to be in a brownstone with the perp and her dancer wife living upstairs. The second location appeared to be some kind of surgery center where apparently all the best plastic surgeons in Manhattan do their thing. I was also very confused by this since I didn’t understand why Vanessa was at the crime scene in the first place.

I don’t get how Elsbeth even suspected Gina Gershon in the first place since all the facts weren’t even known yet and she didn’t act the least bit suspiciously. 

[snarktini]

On 5/1/2024 at 7:38 PM, Johannah said:

Yeah, I think definitely that Lt is using the Captain's name to extort money and maybe even to shift the blame if things go sideways. 

I'm so sure of it, that it means I'm probably wrong.

I feel the same way. They're letting the Captain act just enough suspiciously to make it ambiguous but I think it's the LT who's corrupt and setting up the Captain as the fall guy. But, like you, if I'm this sure all bets are off!
 

On 6/3/2024 at 3:53 PM, Johnny Dollar said:

I don’t get how Elsbeth even suspected Gina Gershon in the first place since all the facts weren’t even known yet and she didn’t act the least bit suspiciously. 

Elsbeth said it was because Gershon was so unaffected, while everyone else was visibly upset. It's a stretch. They often are.

I can't believe Gershon signed off on that closeup with the bandages being unwound, because that highlighted everything about her mouth area that looks like obvious plastic surgery when she is supposed to be a top doc. Who would go to a cosmetic surgeon who looked like that?!