Сезон 2 | Эпизод 02 | "Moral Waiver" (Моральное оправдание)

Cal cuts into a styrofoam box. Eli then walks in and tells Cal that DHS wants Cal's opinion on a new polygraph machine. Cal removes a white orb from the box. He meets with Gillian and two men from DHS. Cal hands the egg to one of the the DHS guys and says it's a lie detector. Cal explains that it is used in Africa. He says if the person is telling the truth, nothing happens, but if the person lies, they get nervous and drop the egg. Cal makes DHS redo the test and Gillian explains that polygraph machines are too sensitive and often get false positives. The man breaks the egg. Cal tells the men to spend their money studying facial expressions to find out if people are telling the truth.

Cal tests a new facial recognition program. Gillian walks in and says the college athletic association wants to find out if a student named Earl White was bribed to join the team. She suggests they involve Ria because she's a natural. Ria walks in and Cal asks her what she sees when she looks at facial images. Ria gets them all right, then they take off.

Cal rides in a jeep and is told that Staff Sergeant Russel Scott is being accused of rape by a private named Sheila Lake. Major Harris asks Cal to find out if Scott is telling the truth. He says Scott passed the polygraph, so they put off the court martial. He says he's worried about the safety of the women on his team and needs to know if Scott is telling the truth.

Gillian and Eli meet with Jeremy Levine from the athletic association. He says they want to investigate whether or not Earl White was bribed to go to his school. Gillian and Eli meet with Earl. He says he can't chat because he has to take his little brother home. Eli tells Levine that Earl's speech was hurried and he brought the basketball to his chest which indicates anxiety.

Cal and Ria meet with Lake. She says she was harassed, there was porn in the latrines, and there were constant cat calls. She says Scott walked in on them while they were changing and in the showers. She starts to talk about the attack. Cal watches a tear roll down her eye as she says Scott grabbed her, pinned her down and assaulted her. Cal gets up and walks out. He then meets up with Gillian. They observe Scott while Ria interviews him. He says he didn't attack Lake and was nowhere near where she said the attack occurred. Cal grabs Scott's muscle, then asks him out. Scott says he's not gay, then leaves. Gillian says the rape was a single occurrence which means assertion of machismo. Ria says he didn't seem angry when asked if he was gay. Cal says Lake frowned while she talked which means she had no confidence in her words.

Ria asks if Cal really thinks a woman would lie about a rape. Gillian notices that Lake wasn't exhibiting shame or fear which most rape victims show. Cal says that Ria probably is siding with Lake because she's a woman. Cal is then handed an anonymous report alleging harassment from Scott in the women's showers. Ria smirks and Cal tells her not to call him an idiot.

Gillian tells Cal to go easy on Ria. Cal says she has too many false positives. They get some food from a street vendor. Cal asks if he's washed his hands and the man says yes and rubs his neck. Cal then asks if he went to the bathroom and the man says no. Cal begins shouting out to the crowds that the vendor's food comes with feces.

Gillian and Eli go to a restaurant and meet with Mr. Taft. Eli asks if he bought his championship ring online and Taft says he earned it. Gillian asks about his relationship with Earl White. Afterward, they go back to the lab and listen to the tape. Eli says Taft had three moments of anxiety, all when they asked about him bribing Earl. Gillian wonders why there is no change in Earl's spending habits. She says they need to get inside Earl's head.

Cal examines Lake's interview tape. Three other women are brought to Cal and he takes one with him for a private interview. The other two women play the rest of the tape and listen to Lake's testimony.

Ria tells Gillian that Scott has a criminal past, but got a moral waiver and was admitted into the army. Gillian sees Scott had an arson charge, which makes the rape charge more likely because rape and arson have a high correlation rate due to the assertion of power. Gillian and Ria show Cal Scott's record. Cal says the charges are irrelevant. Cal shows Gillian and Ria footage of the other women watching Lake's interview. Cal shows that the women showed no reaction when they watched the tape. Gillian says that women usually react a certain way when they believe a rape story.

Cal meets with Lake again and says she made a false accusation. He says the women that helped her plan the charge are as guilty as she is. Lake then says the other women had nothing to do with it. She says Scott didn't rape her. Ria gets angry and tells Lake there are real victims in the army and she should be ashamed. Lake says she was doing the right thing and was trying to protect her platoon as she is taken away in handcuffs.

Ria tells Eli that Cal is hard on her. Eli says she is just uneducated. He says she is a natural which irritates someone like Cal who spent two decades learning what she was born seeing.

Gillian tells Cal that Earl White could have gotten into any school, but when asked where he wanted to go, he gave an expression of anger. Gillian says he should have been on top of the world. Cal then walks in and says Lake said she was protecting her platoon. He says Lake said it with conviction. He then plays the interviews with the other women and they see they all had disgust. Cal thinks Scott probably raped someone and Lake came forward on her behalf. Cal says he doesn't think Scott raped any of the women he met with. Ria walks in and the two update her. Cal then teases Ria about being wrong.

Gillian buys a muffin on the street, but Eli stops her. He then shows Gillian pictures of Earl playing basketball and says he can't figure out what emotion he is showing. Gillian says it is not an emotion, then walks off.

Cal watches stock reports and tries to figure out where to put his money. Ria walks in and says a woman from the platoon named Rebecca went AWOL. Ria says the anonymous handwriting matches Rebecca's. Ria says she doesn't know where she is, but has an address for her family. They then decide to meet with Rebecca's grandfather. He says she's not there. Cal grabs his cane, pretends to fall and calls for help. Rebecca runs down the stairs to help. Cal and Ria tell Rebecca they are not with the army, they just want to know what happened. Rebecca tells them what happened. She says Scott raped her more than once. Cal asks her to go back with them, but Rebecca says she can't. Cal then opens the door and army officers walk in to take Rebecca.

Ria and Cal meet with Rebecca in jail. Ria notices that Rebecca is scared. Rebecca says she is afraid they won't believe her. Cal says they'll believe him. Cal tells Major Harris his findings. He says Rebecca was AWOL and questions her truthfulness. Major Harris requests a court martial. Scott says he wants to make a plea to fraternization. Scott says Rebecca was his girlfriend. He then shows them pictures of him and Rebecca together. The team examines the photos and see that Rebecca's eyes show fear. They figure she had to do what her commanding officer told her or else she could be hurt.

Gillian and Eli meet with Earl. Gillian asks him to autograph her ball and Earl says pro ball is big business. Eli says that Earl stuck out his chin which means he's angry. Gillian asks why he would be angry about entering into a big money business. Eli then throws a ball to Earl and he catches it. Eli says the face Earl made shows pain. Gillian asks what kind of injury he has. Earl admits he has arthritis and would never play pro ball, so he took the bribe.

Rebecca tells Cal that no one will believe it was rape. She says she never actually said no. She said she was afraid she would end up dead like a friend of hers. Cal tells her to tell Major Harris what she told them. Rebecca says the truth isn't good enough. Cal has Rebecca strapped into a polygraph machine. Scott watches Rebecca say Scott forced her to have sex with him. Scott gets angry and says Rebecca is lying. Cal says the machine says she was telling the truth. Scott says as long as Rebecca was with him, she never had to drive lead. Scott admits that Rebecca's safety hinged on whether or not she had sex with him. Scott is then taken away. Rebecca sees Lake in cuffs and salutes her as she passes.

Gillian meets with Earl who is angry that she told on him for taking a bribe. Gillian tells Earl that his grades are good and she talked Taft into giving him a trust fund to go towards college. Meanwhile, Ria wonders how Rebecca passed the polygraph. Cal hands her a bottle of Valium. He says it calmed her. Cal tells Ria that because she doesn't know the science of facial recognition, people could get hurt. Ria notices Cal showing shame, but he won't tell her why.

I'm still not sold on this show. I wonder how people even find Cal and his team to hire them. They aren't with police, so I guess people just look them up in the phone book. I have a felling that by the time the writers get around to developing the characters, I will have already decided not to like them. As for the cases, I guess they were mildly interesting. I guess it is odd that the army would hire and promote to sergeant someone with an arrest record. As for the kid who accepted a bribe to go to a specific school, I think it sucks that Gillian ratted him out. I don't see how any integrity could have been compromised for him to accept a payment to go to one school over the other. I don't understand what his punishment was. Was he kicked out? Did he have to give back the money? The whole issue is weird.