For a change, this episode opens in Los Angeles, 2003, with Juliet and her boyfriend Scott (Josh Braaten) saying goodbye at the train station. They agree to meet at the same place, same time seven years later and see where they are in their lives. Juliet keeps the date, but Scott doesn’t show. Barred from using police resources to search for him, she asks Gus (not Shawn) for help. Shawn butts in anyway. Believing Juliet didn’t know Scott, he finds that Scott is dead, probably murdered.
With some information from Juliet, Shawn and Gus found Scott’s Dumbo figurine collection for sale on eBay. They followed the collection to an address where Scott was living under witness protection. Scott went back to Santa Barbara and wanted to leave the program to be with Juliet. Shawn and Gus visited Scott’s old boss (Arnold Vosloo), who was serving three consecutive life sentences thanks to Scott’s testimony that he murdered a federal marshal. Scott’s boss claimed he was framed, and he was so convincing that Shawn agreed to prove him innocent to ensure Scott’s future safety.
There were only two other suspects in the marshal’s murder, Scott and Agent Wayne (Craig Sheffer), who supervised his protection. The suspense was in how long it would take Shawn to reconstruct what really happened. I suspected Scott all while he, Shawn, and Gus revisited the scene of the federal agent’s shooting. I didn’t dismiss Scott until evidence was removed from the crime scene after Scott, Shawn, and Gus fled.
In addition to a juicy cover-up story, this episode featured a very believable hand-to-hand fight scene between Shawn and Agent Wayne. I wonder how this case will affect the way Juliet looks at Shawn in the future.
They did not agree to meet seven years later, they agreed to meet ten years later. Only seven years had passed. This was obviously a big mistake by the makers of the show. It annoyed me and my wife the whole time but it seems like many people did not notice it. We had it on our DVR and checked it a few times and it was a big mistake.
I re-watched the episode on Hulu before posting my review, and as Juliet is getting on the train, she and Scott haggle over when to meet:
Scott: There’s only one problem. Ten years is too long.
Juliet: Well, how about eight?
Scott: How about seven?
Juliet: See you then.
James – how did you manage to re-watch the scene several times courtesy of your DVR and miss Juliet and Scott haggling over when to meet? I watched the episode 1 time (and thoroughly enjoyed it) and was never confused about that because it’s not exactly subtle, even if you aren’t paying very close attention.