| Stalker | |
| Season 1, Episode 2 | |
 | |
| Air date | October 8, 2014 |
| Written by | Kevin Williamson (created by)
Sanford Golden |
| Directed by | Liz Friedlander |
| Episode Guide Transcript | |
| previous Pilot |
next Manhunt |
What Ever Happened to Baby James is the second episode in the first season of Stalker.
Summary
Beth, Jack and the Threat Assessment Unit (TAU) investigate after a teenaged girl has a stalker break into her house, but quickly realize that she is not the one being targeted. Meanwhile, Perry pays Beth an unsolicited visit at work.
Detailed Plot
The episode starts off with Hannah, who is on the phone with her friend. She says she's babysitting her brother Thomas, who is making a lot of noise. However when she goes to check, he is asleep. Her friend jokes it might be her stalker, to which Hannah replies someone has been following her around and lurking in the backyard but nobody believes her. It is mentioned only celebrities supposedly have stalkers. After hearing more noises, she is convinced someone is in the house. The open backdoor confirms it. She goes to get her brother, and tells her friend to call the police. They are able to leave the house, but then they walk into another person.
After the shows opening, we see Beth in her bedroom. She goes through her morning ritual. Simultaneously we see Jack, who is drinking coffee and then heads out. Beth is then seen talking in a bar to a friend. She encourages her to have fun with a guy she met last night, and she ensures her friend that she is safe. She gets a call and then leaves the bar. We see Perry in the street when Beth leaves.
Meanwhile Jack is in his car at his son's school, he is looking at his wife and his son. He then goes to work with coffee, Janice accept (although she mentions later she prefers to drink chai tea in the mornings) but Beth says he's interrupting. Jack is shown his desk, and he learns about the TAU and other people working there. Janice says Jack is envied by Ben because he gets to work in the field. He says he's just looking for a change when he gets asked why he chose LA.
Ben's jealousy shows when Beth, Janice and Jack leave to the home invasion-case. Janice talks to the neighbours. One of them is Ron, Hannah's neighbour who was walking the dog. Hannah says she ran in to him, and he called the cops. She says there was nothing missing from the house. Beth asks about the statement Hannah made, about her stalker. Hannah says she didn't want to worry her mom because she thinks nobody will believe her. Beth says she does, and asks Hannah to write down a timeline of her stalker's appearances, saying that Hannah's instincts will become her clues.
Jack talks to the mother and Thomas when he suddenly spots a pair of footprints. He takes pictures, and then looks around the garden. The mother mentions Hannah's deceased father, who died 3 years prior. Jack then goes to investigate the treehouse. He tells Beth that there was voyance proof in the treehouse. Beth gets informed a former child rapist lived 4 blocks away. Upon entering the house Jack finds a hidden wall, leading to another room. He finds a laptop there, with a bunch of pictures including Hannah (McCoy)'s.
The guy states he is not violating his probation, and he says he doesn't know anything about Hannah. He says he only walks around the neighbourhood, and he says he has developed coping skills. He says 'I look , I don't touch'. When Beth asks about his shoesize, she says agents are searching for a match. The guy says she can't railroad him. He aknowledge he has a problem, and then he states he will no longer answer questions without his lawyer.
In the hallway Beth sees Amanda with papers granting her acces to Barnes' harddrive. Beth introduces Jack and Amanda. Beth says she'll get the PO to sign off a probation hold and leaves Jack and Amanda, who is clearly in an agitated state. Amanda gets angry at Jack when they're alone and Jack says he lobbied for TAU because he thought she handled robery homicides. Amanda says she's covering for someone in maternity leave, who covers TAU. Amanda says it's despicable when Jack says 'it won't be weird'. *****
Janice returns from Hannah's highschool. Ben asks for any problems within Hannah's life. He then shows the evidence on Barnes laptop.
Perry shows up at the office, asking for Beth.
Jack doubts if Barnes is the right guy when overlooking pictures. He states it's not violating the probation. He further explains the feeling he has, stating Barnes was kind to the girls and they (Jack, Perry and Ben) conclude he doesn't like confrontation. Ben confirms Jack's idea when Barnes' shoes don't match. Instead, the profile matches someone who followed Hannah and watched from the treehouse. Jack asks for pictures from the treehouse's point of view.
Beth and Perry talk, and Perry says he won't rat her out, to which Beth says she doesn't have recollection of it even happening. Perry apologizes for herassing Eric. Beth says she'll hold him to it, and urges to leave. Perry then says he needs help, aknowledging it. He says he fixates and focusses on someone. He wants to them know and be with them, like a drug. Beth gives him a card of a therapist. Perry thanks her, and then leaves.
Back into the conference-room with the evidence boards, Jack states he could see the livingroom from the treehouse. He starts to roleplay from the stalker's POV. He wonders how a view of the living room triggered the stalker to get inside the house. Janice implies it's Hannah's bedroom that triggers, but the bedroom is not visible. Jack then notices there is a window, the window of Thomas' room. This leads them to believe Thomas might be the target, and Hannah's timeline confirms she was with her brother all those times. They realise they have the wrong victim.
Beth calls the family, and urges the mother to check on her son. When Thomas isn't watching tv, Hannah and her mom go and search for him. When they find the door open, they conclude Thomas is gone. Forensics go through the house again, and Beth assures that they're going to find her son. Jack backs up Beth, saying she will find Thomas.
Jack finds a squirt gun, to which the mother states she doesn't allow guns and it's not Thomas' gun. Beth decides to go check in Hannah's room because she finds it odd Hannah doesn't have a boyfriend. Beth finds a bag of condoms, and asks about Hannah's boyfriend.
Jack and Beth then interrogate Victor Sweeny, a guy who runs a tattoo parlor. They ask him if he did Hannah's tattoo, which he shoves off. They show hum the toy gun and they mention his shoes when showing the picture of the shoeprint. Victor caves and says he's been there, to which Beth highlights his relationship with Hannah and Thomas' abduction. When asked about his whereabouts, he says he was asleep. Beth mentions his record, and the fact that his relationship with Hannah is illegal. He says the gun was a friendly acts. When asked if he saw anything while creeping around the house, Victor says he saw something once, a couple of weeks ago on a late night, and again last week. He states someone was parked in a car on the street, staring at Hannah's house. He says he didn't see a face, but recognizes a silver or grey sedan. They quickly link it to Rosemary Wilson, the McCoy's neighbour that Janice also interviewed earlier.
We then see her getting Thomas out of the truck, treatening him a her own child. She ignores Thomas' cry for his mother, and then closes the trunk again before entering a house. The person living there emerges from the other room, and asks Rosemary what she's doing in her house. Rosemary bounces back the question before smacking the house owner with an object.
Janice, Beth and Jack are seen doing research when Ben enters. Ben confirms that Rosemary is the suspect, showing Thomas' clothes found in her house. Ben says it appeared Rosemary left in a hurry, and that she hasn't been seen since yesterday. No leads came in from her car or Amber alerts. Janice then says they're searching for the real Rosemary, while they should be looking for her sister Judith-Ann. The real Rosemary apparently lives in Seattle, and Judith-Ann has been using her identity all along. Judith seems to have problems, having stolen her sister's identity before and she thinks people are out to get her, paranoia or psychotic delision. James Peterson, Judith's son, drowned 2 years ago on the same age Thomas currently is and Judith hasn't been the same every since.
The figure out what triggered the fixation, and they get an adress on the father, Derek, who lives in south bay. Derek states he hasn't seen her since the divorce. He profiles her as problematic, even before the death of James. Beth hears doubt when Derek says James fell into the water. When Jack mentions Judith's diagnosis in her early, anti social personality disorder, Derek defends her saying she took her medication. He states she did not take the death of their son well, lashing out and becoming depressed. Beth states it is possible she blamed James for the divorce, which was filed 6 weeks before James' death. Jack says Derek is in denial because it would mean Derek wasn't there as a father. He says he had thoughts, but there was never any proof. Jack and Beth guess she was desperate to save her marriage. When it failed all she had left was guilt. Thomas brought back the ghost of Thomas, and the pain, fueling her obsession. They head over to 1217 Carest Drive, where the houseowner has been put into a closet. Thomas is seen crying, and Judith says he needs to be quiet because she hates it when 'James' cries. The team sees Judith lashing out at Thomas while holding a knife.
Beth decides to go in posing as a neighbour and she plays on Judith's delusion. When Beth is close, Thomas runs and Beth is hit by a closet. Judith goes up for Thomas, who has locked himself in. Beth arrives there shortly after, but with no sign of Judith. Beth and Jack try to get Thomas to open the door, when Judith enters the room through another one. When Beth and Jack barge in, Judith holds a knife in the air over Thomas. Beth closes in or Judith playing on her feelings about James, and is able to take the knife away. Thomas runs over to Jack, and Beth calms down Judith, saying they'll get her help.
We see Judith getting walked out in cuffs, while Jack sits with Thomas. When his mom and sister arrive, Thomas runs to them. Judith and Jack watch the scene before the police car drives off.
Back in the office, Jack says he likes Ben and he doesn't care if Ben dislikes him. Janice greets Jack and offers them to go on a platonic base. He then states if they go for drinks he'll become 'that guy' and he doesn't want to be that guy because he has been that guy. Despite the fact that she is an attractive woman, he doesn't want to be that guy at work. Upon her 'rejection', Janice says Jack only got more interesting.
Jack and Amanda later meet in the parking lot. Jack says he knows he has hurt her, and he wouldn't ask for her forgiveness. He says he's not there to ruin her life, he just wants the chance to know his son. Amanda says she doesn't want that, and that he's not worthy of him. Jack says he wouldn't hurt him, but Amanda says he has to get out of LA. She threatens she will tell his bosses the 'little thing she knows and nobody else does'. She highlights the deadline of two weeks.
When Beth gets home, she goes through her nightly routine. Jack is seen at his home, staring at the pictures of Amanda and his son. Back in the bar of earlier in the day, Perry asks for a drink. When Beth's friend mentions he looks young, she asks his ID. He shows her his ID and he smirks when she makes his drink.
Cast
Main Cast
- Dylan McDermott as LAPD Detective Jack Larsen
- Maggie Q as Lieutenant Beth Davis
- Victor Rasuk as Detective Ben Caldwell
- Mariana Klaveno as Detective Janice Lawrence
- Elisabeth Röhm as D.A Amanda Taylor
Guest Cast
- Erik Stocklin as Perry Whitley
- Gabriel Bateman as Ethan Taylor
- Tara Summers as Tracy Wright
- Sammi Hanratty as Hannah McCoy
- Lesley Fera as Mrs. McCoy
- Jadon Wells as Thomas McCoy
Trivia
- The McCoy house was used as Nancy's house in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Stalker's Appearances
- TBA
Featured Music
TBA
Quotes
- TBA
Gallery
To view the What Ever Happened to Baby James gallery, click here.
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