- Title: Jake and the Fatman – Laura
- IMDb: link
Flashback Friday takes us to 80s Las Angeles, a large and in charge district attorney, and his special investigator with a taste of the finer things in life. After starting out with an unrelated win for McCabe (William Conrad) in court, and the introduction of Jake’s (Joe Penny) old partner (Alan Campbell) and fiancée (Brynn Thayer) at a party he throws in their honor, we witness Laura kill him in an alley attempting to pin the crime on a local gang kid stealing some electronics equipment.
Almost immediately McCabe smells something fishy about the story. Although it takes Jake longer to come around, eventually there are too many facts that don’t add up. Connecting Laura to a group of thieves planning a big heist, using insider information her dead boyfriend was privy to, is one piece of the puzzle, although the hitwoman proves smart and strong enough never to give herself away. To catch her, the police will need to nab the thieves leading to a showdown between Jake and Laura who attempts to user her wiles and quickdraw skills one too many times.
The staging of the murder, which Laura takes full advantage of, and her performance afterwards help sell her story (although if she had been a little more vague and not volunteered evidence she didn’t have, the chances of her being caught would have been far less). Seeing red through most of the first-half of the episode (including his interrogation of the gang member), Jake’s anger is never truly abated until he’s standing over Laura’s body. It certainly makes for a climactic final scene (although you do have to wonder why he was the only one to show up, without any police backup, to take her down at the end of the episode).
