User Reviews

After the mess that was the previous episode, comes one written by Bruno Heller himself. And the difference is remarkable. From the *brilliant* teaser (Who saw *that* coming? You're lying!) almost right to the end, this episode beats the previous one with one hand tied behind its back.

First of all: no illogical plot twists (only one slightly implausible, more on that later). Second: no handy "coincidences". Third: no characters stupid as rocks (only one of inconsistent intelligence, more on that also later). Then there are those brilliant character moments: Jane "throwing 'a blind cat' into the group" is hilarious as is him admitting that he just likes to know that he's right, being the smug bastard that he is. And that's why we love him. And then we are shown that even he can't figure everything out - at least not immediately. All this makes him more human.

Unfortunately this cannot be said of certain other characters. Faulk is a 2-dimensional character (there is *no* such thing as "1-dimensional character" as anything 1-dimensional is a straight line, whereas those industry-famous cardboard characters are 2-dimensional): he is a stereotypical profit-driven corporate head - he even has a sexual relationship with one of his underlings (pun intended).

Then there are the characters of Van Pelt and Rigsby. After what happened between them in the previous episode, it feels like a cop-out that they are conveniently separated in this episode, even if it is just an honest coincidence resulting from episodes not airing in the order they were shot (or written, for that matter). This kind of apparent Reset-Button Use brings back painful memories of all those old episodic TV shows where nothing that happened mattered in the next episode.

These and one last thing make me give this one "only" 8/10. Now who hasn't seen the "I'll expose the bomb-maker by forcing him to disarm his own bomb that is now harmless, just in case I'm wrong" plot device? That's another cliché that should have been left in the 1900s. Hasn't Faulk ever seen that ruse used in fiction? His own plot is ingenious, yet he is stupid enough to fall into Jane's trap. Sorry, not buying that.

When a message is received suggesting that the body of a bad man will be found at a spot in the Mojave Desert at a certain time Lisbon is sceptical but the team heads to the location. A minute or so after the appointed time they hear a noise from above and moments later a man slams into the desert; his parachute rig has clearly been sabotaged. He is one of a group of executives from the titular Carnelian Inc. who are taking part in a team building exercise. It emerges that the sabotaged parachute could have been used by any of the group so the CBI look for somebody with a grievance with the company rather than the dead man personally. The list of people who had a grievance and access to the parachute is rather short… one man who was fired rather than paid a bonus owed to him. Of course Jane doesn't think he did it. Soon there are more threats and a bomb is found under the bed of Rand Faulk, the senior member of the group. It fails to go off but the next murder attempt, when a woman in the group is shot is successful… Jane soon has a theory.

This episode got off to a great start with the way the body 'arrived' it would have been a great surprise if I hadn't watched the episode shortly after a real-life case of 'attempted murder by sabotaged parachute' hadn't been in the news! Nobody is likely to believe the original suspect is guilty but that still leaves the surviving executives or somebody else working at the airfield. There are plenty of laughs to be had as Jane questions the executives; Simon Baker is on top form in these scenes. The ultimate resolution isn't too surprising but is fun despite being a little cliché. Away from the case it was a bit of a pity that Van Pelt was left back at the office so her plot line with Rigsby wasn't advanced at all… or even hinted at. Overall though I thought this was another solid episode.