- Title: Take Two – Stillwater
- IMDb: link
In “Stillwater” Sam (Rachel Bilson) and Eddie (Eddie Cibrian) head into wine country and to a small town where a client believes his mother has been abducted by aliens. Like Castle‘s “Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind,” the episode piles up the evidence on the side of actual aliens before providing a terrestrial rationale for the mystery. Despite the evidence of alien intervention Sam and Eddie witness with their own eyes, and previous UFO sightings in the town during the 70s, the episode fails to sell us (or even them) on aliens. Even after their “abduction” the pair seem less, not more, likely to buy the story of what is happening in Stillwater.
“Stillwater” takes its sweet time getting to the connection to the various abductees and the reason for them being targeted by those pretending to be from another world. Wrapped up quickly, the conclusion of a wealthy person going to insanely elaborate lengths to save those who his company injured makes some sense but isn’t as satisfying as it should be (nor does it seem Sam and Eddie actually deduced any answers so much as accidentally stumbling on the evidence needed to lead them to the truth).