Instinct Episode 3
Family can be a difficult thing. Sometimes they make us smile, and sometimes they make us mad and upset. Three families, three different stories… but all important.
Murder victim Caleb Tryor
Caleb (played by Colby Dezelick) came from a very religious community. Dylan said that they were kind of like the Amish, but not. They didn’t allow the playing of music in the community – But Dylan loved the piano so much, he had popsicle sticks that matched the colors and numbers of piano keys. He also took private piano lessons behind his parents back. After the ugly realization that his family would never support his dreams of becoming a pianist, he moves to New York and applies to Juilliard.
He met the killer at a park and with one quick movement, his throat is sliced open.
The most powerful scenes in this episode came when they visited Caleb’s parents. His mother was trying to grieve and his father was showing no empathy what so ever.
After they solved the case they brought his parents a letter he had written to them asking for their blessing about attending the school and they play his Juilliard audition video for them. Seeing his father break down and accept his son’s talent was heart breaking. It was like he saw his son for the very first time.
Lizzie’s Family
A surprise visit by her sister Katie (played by Genevieve Angelson) at the beginning of the episode set Lizzie up to have an eventful episode. Katie was right outside Lizzie’s door as she was leaving to a murder scene.
After telling Katie to settle in we basically see Katie make herself right at home. We don’t know why, but we see a frustration about Katie run through Lizzie, but the episode lets us in on why.
We learn that Lizzie’s mom was an alcoholic and she had to take care of Katie while she was navigating high school. The next time we see Katie, she is getting out of a taxi after throwing up inside and Lizzie having to pay for it because Katie didn’t have the money to do so.
After talking with Dylan and him letting her know the best thing would be for her to not enable her sisters behavior, she tells Katie that if she continues to drink she has to leave her house.
At the end of the episode Katie meets Lizzie at Andy’s bar and tells her that she had been attending AA meetings and had been ten and a half months sober. Until, that is, she got fired and her boyfriend dumped her for his mother’s oncologist who bought him a BMW.
Katie promised to get back on the program and the only reason she went to Lizzie was so Lizzie would push her to do so.
Learning about Lizzie’s family and the struggles that she has faced was enlightening. The fact it was a real world problem and not just another cliche “man problem” where all they do is talk about their dating lives and how cute Lizzie’s partner is, was refreshing.
Dylan’s family
Though we didn’t learn a lot about Dylan’s family we saw the love and trust between him and Dylan. I love that they show a strong same sex couple who are just like any other couple. It’s a giant step forward for progress.
Let’s solve the crime
When Dylan and Lizzie weren’t dealing with family drama, they had to solve not one, but two murders as the body of a photographer who was killed forty eight hours before Caleb was found.
The connection between the two was a girl named Nicki, who had been dating Dylan. We also found out she had been almost raped by the photographer and he had stolen her bag.
The curveball is that she claimed she had amnesia which led them to her other boyfriend, Gene (played by Christopher Ramirez). They thought he was the one doing the killings because they found the drawings of the victims in his art book.
They started looking at Nicki when they interviewed her at the hospital. Dylan asked her how she felt when she learned that Caleb had been murdered and her only response was that she glad it wasn’t her. This showed Dylan that she had no empathy at all towards anyone else, she was only out for herself.
The Truth
They would find out from tracing calls that her real name is Amber Burnett. They contacted Lizzie’s old wheelchair bound roommate, Ella (played by Ali Stroker, who is wheelchair bound herself and is proving to young kids that no matter what you can follow your dreams), who worshipped Amber and used her to prove she was lying about the amnesia. Having Ella ask to use the bathroom and Nicki getting her wheelchair – proving she remembered everything – was really ingenious on their part.
We learn that her first kill was an out of town boyfriend named Brendan. She ran away.
Nicki seemed just fine being caught, she even smiled at Dylan as she was being taken away. They did a great job of showing how sociopathic and narcissistic she really was at the end.
Instinct airs Sunday at 8/9c on CBS.
Before You Go:
Podcast: TWD “Still Gotta Mean Something”