Murder in the First returns tonight on TNT with another episode at 9PM EST called “The City of Sisterly Love”. On tonight’s episode, Terry and Hildy launch their investigation into the death of Erich Blunt’s flight attendant, but the case takes a twisty turn when autopsy results reveal a shocking secret. Meanwhile, Terry copes with the death of his wife, and Terry’s sister-in-law arrives.
On the last episode when a junkie was murdered in the Tenderloin district, SFPD detectives Terry English and Hildy Mulligan were shocked to discover the case may be related to the city’s youngest billionaire, tech genius Erich Blunt. But Terry’s ability to focus was troubled as his wife battles stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Just as the inspectors began closing in on the case, Blunt’s beautiful flight attendant was found dead. Did you watch the last episode? If you didn’t we recapped it all here for you.
On tonight’s episode as Inspectors Terry English and Hildy Mulligan begin their investigation into the death of Erich Blunt’s flight attendant, Cindy Strauss, Terry must also deal with the recent death of his wife and the arrival of his sister-in-law. The investigation takes an unexpected turn when the results of Cindy’s autopsy reveal a shocking secret.
Tonight’s episode is going to be great. You’re not going to want to miss a minute of the action and we’ll be recapping it live for you as well. While you’re waiting for the episode to begin hit up the comments and tell us your thoughts about the show. In the meantime, enjoy a sneak peek preview of tonight’s episode below.
RECAP:
Justin is performing the autopsy on Cindy Strauss, the dead girl that was found at the end of the last episode. They say it’s a possible homicide. The cops are all at the funeral of Terry’s wife. The coroner finds a scar on Cindy’s buttock, a skull fracture and says that the matter is acute, unnatural cervical injury and says it was homicide. Terry talks about how he met Emily. He says he met her at a party and that she was radiant. He takes a handful of dirt and sprinkles it on the coffin.
The coroner continues his examination and says oh no. He amends his ruling and says it’s a double homicide since she was two months pregnant. There’s a press conference and the DA – Perez – is saying the city is safe. A reporter criticizes their low closure rate. They asks about Cindy’s death and if it’s a homicide. She says yes and they ask if Erich is a suspect. She says she guarantees they’ll solve it.
Terry thinks that Erich is the common thread but Lindy says Chris Walton is the likely perp on the Nyers killing. He says that he could have flown back and forth in his plane but she says there’s no record of the plane and you can’t sneak around in a 737. He says Erich could have hired Blunt but she says even so, he would have rolled on Erich.
Terry says there is no such thing as coincidence even though Tildy is ready to close the books on Nyers. Bob Groff, a court appointed attorney, comes in to see Walton. He asks where he went to school and what happened that he ended up a public defender. Walton wants to take it to trial and Goff says their evidence is shaky and that no one seems to care about him or Nyers. He says they have a good deal.
They are offering voluntary manslaughter and six years instead of murder. Walton says he needs to think and Goff says he has until the end of the day or they’ll go after him for murder one. In court, Walton stands with his lawyer and Tildy and Terry are surprised there’s a deal on the table. The judge asks Walton if this is what he wants and he admits that he shot Nyers.
The judge says he has to give up certain rights before she accepts the plea deal. The prosecutor tells Tildy and Terry they can go. Back at his office, Erich checks out a VR program that one of his programmers is working on. He says it’s so good, it’s freaky. He stands atop a building and gives her some feedback for the AI program. He tells her she forgot the bridge.
He wants to see his avatar and she says he looks like Abraham staring down from the mountain top and he says that’s what he’s selling – that in his world, you get to play God. He pulls off the helmet and tells her it was good. David comes and tells Erich that homicide wants to talk to him. Erich says it’s okay but David has hired Warren Daniels – a criminal shark – to represent him.
Erich steps up to the podium at an event and greets his employees and investors. He rings the opening bell. Terry asks Tildy about Erich and she says he’s lawyered up. Cindy’s ex has a violent past and there’s some history there including a restraining order. Terry says that the guy is lying low. Jim asks about the mail they found that “fell” out of the guy’s mailbox. He takes 60 mg of Adderall a day and is due for a refill.
Terry, Tildy and Molk wait near the pharmacy for the guy. Tildy runs into him and asks the time and she thanks him. He tries to flirt and she says she’s SFPD. He tries to run and then ducks into a restaurant. Tildy knocks him down a flight of stairs and he recovers but Terry tackles him. He insists he didn’t do anything and then screams police brutality. They cuff him and haul him off.
In interrogation, Terry tells Mark that his truck was spotted nearby when Cindy killed and says that they have him on domestic violence and says he’ll be able to get home before the game since he’s so obviously guilty. Mark says he’s got it wrong and Terry says he has to do better than that or he’s going to be on death row. He leaves him to think. Mark yells out that he didn’t kill her.
Mark sits and sweats. Tildy comes in with a water for him and undoes his cuffs. She asks if he’s okay and he says again that he didn’t kill Cindy. He says he was there the night before but not the night she died and says he was at the pub and has an alibi. He says Cindy called him and begged him to come over because she was upset that she was fired. He says she was crazy emotional and he told her before that she couldn’t trust Erich.
He says that Cindy slapped him and he did hit her back but it was self defense. He says it was just heat of the moment. Tildy asks about the night she died and he says there’s at least six guys that can alibi him. He says he loved her and she was his girl. Jim watches on camera and whispers to get his DNA. Tildy tells him that she believes him and he says it’s the truth. He opens the bottle and takes a drink.
The other cops watch and she grabs the bottle and leaves after he drinks. He ask where she’s going and she says that she’s just the water girl. She bags the bottle for the lab. Jim sends Molk to check the alibi and tells Navarro to take it to the lab. Jim tells Tildy and Terry to focus on Erich and tells them good job.
Terry asks her for dinner and she says she has a date with Stewart Horny. He asks if she’s for real and she says a girl can hope. She’s on her date and the guy is bragging about his money conquests and speaks about himself in the third person. She guzzles her drink. She looks around and is totally bored. He asks what she does and she says she’s a cop – SFPD homicide. She asks if it’s a problem and he asks if she carries a gun and she says always. He asks where it is and she says it’s in her purse. He asks to see it and she says he can if he commits a crime.
Terry hears a knock at his door and it’s Emily’s sister telling him that her flight for tomorrow has been delayed. She tells him that she misses her so much and he says he does too. She says she doesn’t want to be alone. She opens up her robe and takes it off. She’s naked underneath. He stands and walks to her and touches her but then drapes her robe back on her. He holds her close and they cry together.
Tildy and Terry come to Bob the pilot’s house and see his shiny new sports car. They ask how close he was with her and he says they were work friendly but he was still her boss. He says she texted him after they got back to LA then didn’t show up to work, Terry asks if that was the text – it was one that said she talked to Erich and it was fine.
Bob says that she and Erich got into a scrape on the plane. He says that Cindy spilled some wine on him when there was turbulence and he fired her. Terry asks if they were sleeping together and Bob says he doesn’t know but would guess yes if he had to. Bob says he needs more tissues and leaves the room. Terry grabs one of the used tissues out of the trash and bags it for evidence. They use their kitchen tongs and then slide them back into place. Gross.
Erich and David are in the elevator headed to the criminal lawyer’s office. David says Daniels is the best trial lawyer on the planet and Erich says that’s hyperbolic. He says that Daniels could have gotten Jesus’ charges reduced from King of the Jews down to disorderly conduct with just some community service working with blind kids and hookers. Erich tells him that he’s definitely going to hell.
Daniels introduces himself and Erich asks why he thinks he needs his services. Daniels says they wanted the meeting, not him. Erich says if he hires him, it will make it look like he has something to hide, which he doesn’t. Erich says he intends to cooperate since he had nothing to do with the girl’s death. Daniels says in a case like this, given Erich’s stature, the presumption is guilt. Erich says she was a nice girl and David chimes in that he was banging her. Erich says hiring a criminal lawyer is premature and sends the wrong message. Daniels says to call him when he changes his mind.
Erich shows up at the SFPD unannounced and they wonder what his game is. Terry says – let’s go find out and he and Tildy go in to talk to him and David. They sit and he asks them why no hello and thanks for coming down. David says it’s their tactics for them to force him to talk and assess him. He says based on his reaction, they’ll know who will be good and bad cop.
Erich asks if this is BS and then Tildy speaks and David says there it is. Erich says he was devastated by Cindy’s death and says she was a good friend. He asks how he can help and admits to seeing her. He says he tried to keep it private since she worked for him. He says the last time he saw her was on the plane back to LA. Tildy says she heard they had a fight.
Erich says he raised his voice and was out of line but never touched her. David tells Erich to stop talking because they will twist his words. Erich says he didn’t kill her and has nothing to hide. David says if he won’t listen to him, he can leave and Erich says – suit yourself. He leaves. They offer Erich a bottle of water and he asks where they were.
Erich says the projectile they are accusing him of throwing was his t-shirt that he threw at her to put him in the laundry. He says he called the next day to apologize. They ask what time and he says about 7 pm on the way home from the office and says that she told him she would be at work the next day for the flight. He says Ivana West, his CTO, came over that night and they worked late on one of her new products.
Erich says she left at about 2 am. He says she rode her bike over and so he had Jimmy drive her home. Tildy asks if he had sex with Ivana and he asks why and Terry says they are trying to determine if he had sex with all his female employees or if Cindy was special. He says that Cindy was special. Terry leaves and Erich looks at Tildy and says it’s chess and that’s okay because he trusts her more. She asks him about the sex and if Cindy liked it rough, liked it when he choked her.
He says she’s turning him on. She asks the last time they had sex and he says a week ago at a tech conference and says she spent the night with him in his bungalow. She says that was the night his father was murdered and he congratulates her on making an arrest. Tildy says it’s funny all the people around him dropping like flies and asks if it’s coincidence. He says it’s bad luck. She says she doesn’t believe in luck and he says he doesn’t either theoretically. She says you killed her.
Erich says when you look at me, you don’t see a human, you see a promotion, or a book deal or a shot at cable TV. He tells her to go ahead and charge me with murder and I’ll give you a show and will eviscerate your case piece by piece and put the whole place on trial, will embarrass her and will win because he’s smarter than her, has more capital and resources than this whole city AND just happens to be innocent. He stares at her close and says – get a life. He walks out of the room.
Terry goes through the timeline for Erich on the night of Cindy’s death with the DA. Cindy had seminal fluid in her throat. The coroner says it was injected into her throat within 15 minutes of her death. One of the guys called it “The Blowjob Killer.” They have DNA on all the suspects except Erich and Perez says to get it.
A couple of lesbian chicks in the office talk about a girl they think is hot. Tildy gets a call and accepts a date for drinks. We see her getting all dolled up. Her daughter checks her out and asks to play in the makeup but she says not tonight. Her daughter smears on some lipstick anyway. Her baby daddy shows up to pick up Louise. Tildy wipes off the lipstick and tells Louise to call her before bed. They leave.
Tildy takes her tiny black leather skirt for a ride to meet Erich for drinks. He says he’s surprised she came and she says she thought the same about him. He apologizes for the way he acted earlier and says he lost his cool. She says it was a pretty great speech. He has champagne delivered and they drink up. He says he loves San Francisco – that it’s like a diamond with many facets – beautiful from many angles with the bay lurking at the end of so many streets. He says he hoped she would like this view and she says she does.
Erich says life is strange and he says the strange parts make it good. He says she knows so much about her and he knows nothing about her. She admits she grew up in SF. She says her dad was a cop and her mom a nurse and that she has two cop brothers. They laugh and make small talk. He says she hasn’t asked about the case. She says she’s off duty and he asks if she can come back to his place. She says she can’t because she has to pick up her daughter. He asks if she’s married and she says no, that life happened.
She asks him to walk her to her car and pops in a piece of gun. He says he didn’t hurt Cindy and she says she’s off duty. He says he bets she’s wearing a wire and she opens her jacket and tells him to pat her down. He rubs her breasts and then her legs. She says told you – then pulls him in for a kiss. She thanks him for dinner and walks away. She sputs the gum into an evidence tube and walks off smartly.
