Cal (Tim Roth) and Gillian (Kelli Williams) are called in after the disappearance of a couple's adopted daughter, Samantha (Madeline Carroll). Peter (Bradford Tatum) and Lorraine (Megan Follows) have offered a reward for info and as usual this brings out all the gold diggers and low lives looking to score a quick buck. There have been plenty of tips on the tipline. Lorraine asks Cal if he has children - as does everyone - wondered how long that question would take to be posed. Cal comes straight out with it and asks if they've killed Samantha, over and over. The parents are genuinely shocked and distressed by this, leading Cal to conclude they didn't. Outside, Cal sends the reporters away by giving them a false lead to the Happy Dragon restaurant. The restaurant could do with the business and the couple needed their privacy.
Det John Hughes (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) wonders whether Cal and Gillian are actually capable of doing this job. Cal dispenses with a whole room full of 'tipsters' by weeding them out, with questions, leading only to about a handful, who may have real info. One is a little girl who tells them about a boy named Wayne (David Gore) who would look at Samantha.
A publisher asks Ria (Monica Raymund) and Eli (Brendan Hines) to ascertain whether a book written by a former captive, Farida Mogisha (Christine Adam) about her time in Uganda, as the wife of a military leader, bears any truth.
Cal asks Wayne about his friends and suspects Wayne is hiding something in his room. - where he plays the 'hot and cold' game with Wayne. Reminded me of Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) and how he talks to potential suspects, in the Mentalist to find clues. As did the scene where Cal removed any glory hunting; money-grabbing tipsters earlier on. You know, the way in which Patrick would get them to raise their hands if they killed the Vic etc. Anyway, Cal gets 'hot' and finds Samantha's backpack in Wayne's closet. Gillian refers to it as a 'getaway kit', which children pack who have the intention of running away. Wayne hasn't looked inside and has respected Samantha's privacy and inside is found some money with a psychiatrist's card wrapped around it. Would've thought Wayne would have at least had some dirty mags lying around under the bed or something? Either that card was a big clue; since this episode had a shortage of suspects, once her parents were eliminated, or Samantha left the card behind for a reason - knowing the backpack would be found.
The psychiatrist, Dr Christina Knowlton (Stacey Edwards) tells them she can't answer all of their questions and mentions the case of a colleague who called the police in a domestic violence case; where the husband subsequently killed his wife. Cal asks if Samantha was being abused and she grips the arm of her chair, confirming a positive answer to his question. Being a psychiatrist she sure couldn't control her emotions.
Eli and Ria order drinks from the bar, Ria a club soda and Eli a cranberry spritzer for which Ria comments he'd be beaten up where she comes from, and he replies the same where he comes from, too. Farida tells Eli he'll sign his book for him if he comes to her speech later on. Clearly Eli is in awe of her which doesn't bode well since that's how things generally work out.
At Peter and Lorraine's house, Cal receives a call from his daughter and gets angry, calling her a bitch. Once again to gage the reactions and from their disgust, they find neither one was abusing Samantha. Lorraine however admits she had a run in with Samantha when she was throwing a tantrum and accidentally burned her back on the stove. Peter is distraught and disgusted at this, but Lorraine is clearly remorseful. John checks out the hospital as her burns would require medical treatment. Gillian tells Lorraine that any mother would have reacted that way with an adopted child and she shouldn't blame herself. Cal notices Gillian isn't herself and suggests she should get a puppy and can put her in touch with Obama's people. She shrugs it off with Alec having allergies and just sits in her office.
Farida tells of how she witnessed widespread murder, torture and rape, and child soldiers carried this out too. She was made the wife of a military officer. She appears to look nervous and Eli thinks it's due to her experiences. Eli and Ria disagree over Farida, who signs Eli's book. They report to the publisher that she's not lying, but Ria wants to look into it further. The publisher walks off since she got her report and that's all she wanted. In the inscription Farida asks Eli out and leaves her phone number. He brings her to their office where she notices the wall of photos, which are expressions of truth. Which is what they do here. Farida touches her ear which is seen by Ria. Wasn't Eli at least meant to listen to Ria since she's a natural. He finds Ria with some of Cal's books, trying to 'educate' herself in the science of lying.
John's found a suspect - a man, Kevin (Andrew Rothenberg) who was at the clinic who is a paedophile. Cal notices he's excessively sweating. He takes self-castration drugs and did see Samantha at the clinic. Surveillance at the clinic shows Samantha turn up and when taken in she refers to herself as Jessica, saying she needs to return before her curfew. Gillian believes she is afraid of her abductor and is protecting whoever it is. Gillian tells Lorraine about adopting baby Sophie from Delaware but three days before the adoption would have been finalized, her mother took her back. Lorraine should speak with Samantha as she's her mother and should tell her this. Samantha was concerned for Heather, another girl being held with her, they aren't allowed out at the same time. John searches for Heather and finds a girl who was at a foster home. The media chose to concentrate of Samantha (for obvious reason, cos of her colour.)
Ria watches a video of Farida where she talks about herself and then her speech changes. She's lying. Eli takes Farida to the museum saying he hardly dates but tells her about Ria thinking she's lying. Farida touches her ear again and admits she lied cos of the atrocities in her country which were going unnoticed, until she gave them a face - her face and spoke out.
Cal asks Samantha some questions but only gets to question 6 as he sees her swallow when he mentions Christina. A photo of the Christina's daughter is found at her house, who died some years ago. She died at the lake which is where they find her with Heather and a gun. She was a good mother and told her not to dive into the lake. Gillian is upset about Sophie and Alec doesn't want to talk about it - no he's too busy floozing. Cal notices her grief and pain and wants to comfort her.
Eli told the publisher about Farida and copies of her book are being withdrawn. He believes the only reason she wanted to go out with him is that deep down she wanted to be caught, he doesn't care. Ria tells him he just lied.
Bad things come in threes and here they affect two of the characters, Eli who rues Farida, and Gillian isn't over losing baby Sophie. Oh and Eli has to tell the publisher. At least we get to see a little of their characters, how Cal would rather be there for Gillan as he knows what a liar Alec really is. The title being attributed to doctors - even though Christina isn't a doctor, she was causing harm to those girls she took, all because she lost her daughter. Just like Gillian did, but she didn't behave in that way, showing just how such things affect people differently. Was Eli right to tell about Farida's book when she wasn't really hurting anyone? Then again he did his job irrespective of his feelings, since he would have done the same for anyone else. Ria says she didn't have to lie and could have written about someone else.
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