Сезон 1 | Эпизод 10 | "The Better Half" (Дражайшая половина)

Cal finds a woman in his office. Ria learns that the woman is Zoe, the assisstant U.S. attorney. Zoe tells Ria that she is Cal's ex-wife. Zoe says that she wants to hire the group for a case.

Zoe introduces Cal to a family who's house was burned down from a possible arson. Cal learns that the girl was burned and is now in the hospital. He is told that the girl's grandma died in the fire. Zoe tells Cal that the family's little boy, AJ, spotted Jack Garcia, a TV reporter, leaving the home after the fire. AJ tells Cal that he saw Garcia leave the cellar. Cal asks him if he knows the story about the Boy that Cried Wolf. Cal gets close to the boy as he asks him if he is telling the truth.

Zoe brings Jack Garcia into the headquarters for an interview. Jack Garcia says that he hasn't seen Frank Ambrose, the owner of the house that burned, in years. After reviewing the interview tape, Cal sees that Jack holds Ambrose in contempt. Gillian asks Cal to talk to her. She says that she thinks it is a mistake for them to take Zoe's case because she thinks that Zoe clouds Cal's judgment.

Cal asks Jack what happened between him and Frank. Jack says that they used to be friends. He says that Frank called him six months ago to borrow some money. Jack says that he feels contempt toward Frank because he acted like he owed him. Gillian tells Cal that he should question AJ.

Ria and Gillian meet with a detective about the murder of a producer named Dante Edwards. The detective tells them that Dante worked for a rapper named Little Sid who is the rival of another rapper named Caden. The detective says that he thinks that Caden killed Dante. They go to Caden's mansion and are let in by Caden's cousin Benny. Gillian asks Caden if he knew Dante. He says that he grew up with Dante. Gillian and Ria tell each other that it doesn't seem like Caden killed Dante. Gillian tells the detective that Caden showed remorse over Dante's death.

Cal plays with AJ. Cal pretends to have an imaginary friend named Penelope. AJ tells Cal that he is weird. Cal tells Gillian that AJ knows the difference between fantasy and reality. Zoe tells Cal that Frank had a lot of debt. She says that Frank's house was insured and was worth more in ashes that it was standing.

Eli meets with Frank's daughter Maggie in the hospital. Eli sees that Maggie is angry at her mom. Cal meets with Cheryl, Frank's wife, and asks her if she is having an affair with Jack Garcia. Cheryl says that she stopped being intimate with Frank after he lost his job. She admits that she had an affair with Jack. She says that she knows that Jack would never burn down her house.

Cal and Zoe meet. Cal apologizes for cheating on her when they were married. Zoe tells Cal that she never cheated on him because he would have known. They meet with Jack and his wife, Sarah. She tells them that Jack told her that he was having an affair two weeks ago. Cal sees that Sarah is still angry at Jack.

Cal and Zoe argue in the station. Zoe says that she got sick of Cal studying her every move.

Ria and Eli watch a video of Little Sid and Caden during a party. They see Caden pull a gun on Little Sid. Eli says that Caden's anger towards Little Sid is fake. He says that rap feuds make big business. Eli shows Ria a picture of Dante during the party. He shows Ria two groups of men and asks her who Dante looks like more. Ria picks the group of men on the left and Eli tells her that the group consists of gay men. He says that a recent study shows that gay men make similar facial expressions. Eli plays Little Sid's new album and hear that it contains anti-gay lyrics. They wonder if Little Sid found out that Dante was gay then killed him.

Gillian tells Zoe and Cal she thinks that AJ is embellishing his story. She says that she thinks that one of her parents is putting him up to telling a lie. Cal brings Cheryl and Frank to the institute. Cal asks them why they started the fire. Cal says that Cheryl was having an affair with Jack. Frank says that he is surprised at the news. Later, Cal and Zoe watch the tape. Zoe tells Cal that she thinks that Frank is lying. Cal says that he doesn't think so. Cal asks Zoe if she is more interested in him than the case. Zoe says that her long time boyfriend proposed to her and that she is going to get married. Emily, Cal and Zoe's daughter, arrives and tells Zoe that she is surprised that she hasn't told Cal yet.

Ria and the detective meet with Little Sid. Ria tells Sid that he must have been angry to learn that Dante was gay. Sid says that he always knew that Dante was gay. Ria asks Sid why he wrote anti-gay lyrics. Sid says that he wrote the hateful lyrics just to keep up his gangster image and sell more records. Sid says that he was angry that Dante went to work for Caden.

Emily goes through old pictures of her, Cal and Zoe. She tells Cal that Zoe is not wearing her engagement ring because she thinks that she is in still in love with him. Cal calls Zoe. They go to Maggie's hospital room. Cal asks Maggie how long she knew about his mom's affair with Jack. He asks if she was afraid that Jack was going to break up her family. Maggie says that she heard her mom tell Jack that she loved him and wanted to run away with him. Cheryl tells Maggie that she was never going to leave them. Maggie admits that she convinced AJ to say that Jack set the fire in order to save their family. She says that she didn't start the fire.

Ria goes to Caden's house and finds him crying on the couch. She asks Caden why he didn't tell her that Dante went to work for him. Ria tells Caden that she thinks that he knew that Dante was gay. Ria figures that Caden is secretly gay. Ria asks Caden if he thought that Dante was going to come out and expose his lifestyle. Caden says that he is sad that he isn't able to go to Dante's funeral. Ria sees that Caden's cousin, Benny, feels contempt toward Dante. Benny asks Caden to give him an alibi. Caden asks his cousin where he was when Dante died. Benny tells Caden that he was protecting him. He says that he wouldn't have the life that he has now if people knew the truth about him. Later, the police arrest Benny.

Cal and Zoe watch a report about another fire. They see an FBI agent say that they think that the fire is being committed by a serial arsonist. Zoe and Cal go to the scene of the fire. The homeowners tell the team that they got home and saw their house on fire. Later, Cal tells the husband that he thinks he started the fire. The husband says that he was going to split with his wife. He says that the real estate market tanked so he glad that his house burned down so he can get the insurance money. Cal asks the husband if they cheated on each other and he says that they did. Cal asks the wife if Jack Garcia is her favorite reporter then sees that she knows him.

Cal and Zoe meet with Jack at the TV station. Cal tells Jack that they think that he was having an affair with the second arson victim. Cal asks Sarah if she knew about the affair. Sarah admits that she found out about the women Jack was having affairs with. She tells Jack that the women took everything from her so she took everything from them. The police arrest Sarah.

Later, Zoe tells Cal that she wanted to wait for the right time to tell him about her engagement. Cal tells her to do what makes her happy. He tells her that she should wear her ring. Zoe and Cal end up sleeping with each other.

The secondary case with the gay rap performer was more entertaining than the primary case. The case might be a small wink to the rumored secret lifestyle of Birdman and Lil' Wayne. Although his theme is interesting it has already been covered and more hilariously in the animated show, The Boondocks.

In this episode, the show finally introduced Cal's ex-wife. It is a wise move for shows to explore the lives of the main characters beyond the workplace. For the show to decide to elaborate on Cal's life during the tenth episode might be a little late. With the show declining in viewership, the development with Cal and Zoe getting back together may not be interesting enough to bring back the people who tuned out the extreme facial expression closeup drama.