RAINES 1.5 – "The Fifth Step"

Writer: Taylor Elmore
Director: Paul Michael Glaser

Cast: Jeff Goldblum (Detective Michael Raines), Nicole Sullivan (Carolyn Crumley), Matt Craven (Captain Daniel Lewis), Malik Yoba (Charlie Lincoln), Linda Park (Sally Lance), Dov Davidoff (Remi Boyer), Felice Heather Monteith (Theresa), Blake Gibbons (Marcus), Melinda Page Hamilton (Conny Webb), Mark Harelik (Lionel Webb), Luba Mason (Svetlana Uzdanov), Markus Foster (Conor), Michael Maize (Dexter/Skeezy Guy), Patrick Hume (J. P. LeVay) & Teddy Sears (Mitchell Parks)

The wife of one of Raines' friends is found dead with Aryan Nation insignia cut into her body – and Raines discovers disturbing lies, cover-ups, and misguided good intentions...

Connie: This is a much better look for me, don't you think?
Raines: Any image of you with a head is a good
one as far as I'm concerned.

Raines hits its stride with its fifth episode, giving us a compelling mystery that lacks a lightness of touch, but at least manages to provide a stronger sense of resolution...

In contrast to its preceding episode, The Fifth Step is a more serious affair, particularly for Raines (Jeff Goldblum), who finds himself leading the investigation into the death of a friend's wife, Conny Webb (Melinda Page Hamilton). Her husband, court judge Lionel Webb (Mark Harelik) has known Raines for years, and his wife's death was particularly gruesome: decapitated by a gunshot and with Aryan Nation insignia carved into her flesh...

It's a nice idea to make Raines' case more personal – although the show has yet to pair Raines with an imaginary victim he knew well personally (Charlie doesn't count). There are some moments of ghoulish fun, as Conny starts the show wandering around her house headless, before Raines corrects her after seeing a photograph.

Conny's a beautiful woman in a flowing white dress, and Raines immediately takes a shine to his "fantasy lady", making him very determined to bring her killer to justice. The episode once again spends its opening chunk investigating a dead-end, as the quite hardcore notion of a white-supremacist-themed episode doesn't quite come to fruition.

However, Taylor Elmore's script does takes some corkscrew twists into less inflammatory territory – eventually having Raines deduce that Conny and husband Lionel dabbled with a sexy escort girl called Svetlana (Luba Mason) -- prompting some girl-on-girl fantasy imaginings by the smitten detective. In fact, the episode does a great job at keeping you interested in the actual investigation, rather than being pulled along by Goldblum's quirky performance and the "imaginary victims" gimmick.

It was also good to see the supporting cast have a marginally bigger role to play – even if it consisted of a rather half-hearted subplot for Sally (Linda Park) over the psychological ramifications of shooting a man dead, and irritant Boyer (Dov Davidoff) still doing his utmost to provide unfunny "comic relief". It's a shame the show is having problems with its cast, as I get the sense there's missed opportunities with actors like winsome Park and character actor Matt Craven.

The Fifth Step isn't a revelation for the series, but there's a more compelling plot to draw you along, and the eventual resolution about who killed Conny, and why, is unpredictable and desperately tragic. There's a slightly awkward final race to stop a contract killer who's yet to complete his job, but that's a relatively small complaint for an episode that weaves a strong murder mystery together. I've yet to be blown away by an episode of Raines -- and it's yet to decide if it's a kooky detective drama, or a melancholy crime drama -- but recent episodes have been told well, regardless.


25 February 2008
ITV3, 9.00 pm