Betrayal -- Shoot Em In The Head If You Want Em Dead
Thatchter doesn't react as Zarek had hoped
Not by a long shot. Zarek thinks Thatcher is going to pat him on the head for what he did. He made it look like an overdose and the cops bought it as an accident. When he says he knew it's what Thatcher wanted, he said he never wanted to leave Brandy's child without a mother. But he agrees to give Zarek one more chance.
Zarek doesn't know when to quit, as he's still determined to show Thatcher he can replace Jack. He tries to get Jack to tell him how to deal with the union so he can impress Thatcher and he blows off his mouth about killing Brandy. Jack thinks Thatcher ordered it and throws it in his face. That was the last mistake Thatcher is going to allow.
He takes Zarek to his empty warehouse and shoots him point blank, then to make sure he's dead he shoots him in the head. At which point I said, "If you want em dead, shoot em in the head."
And no, Sara still hasn't gotten shot, yet. But if whomever shot her wanted her dead, they should have shot her in the head.
Speaking of Sara, there was a real creepy scene with her kid Ollie at the beginning of the show. The kid demanded Drew and Sara kiss each other on the lips. I'm surprised he didn't demand them using their tongues, as well. Turns out the kid is also stealing stuff from school. This makes Sara feel guilty about being a bad mommy to Ollie. Maybe she should of thought of that before she started cheating on her husband. But it seems if she goes back to Drew it'll be because of the kid and feeling guilty.
Drew actually asked her to come back, but in her usual mealy-mouth fashion, she didn't have the guts to admit to Drew that she's in love with Jack. She claimed she still loves Drew but the relationship with Jack isn't casual.
Sara also met a reporter named Nate who introduced her to a more exciting form of photography; crime photography. When she takes pics of the cops dragging people out of their home while a child cries, the cop arrested her. She called Jack to bail her out, but it seems she intends to go back and do it again.
Jack isn't having as great of success in her career. People only want to hire him to do their dirty work for them. And when he shows up for the twins birthday party Elaine tells him this isn't his house and to call before he comes over, again. Meanwhile, while Jack's daughter still loves him, Vic wants nothing to do with him. And TJ isn't even acknowledging Jack's presence.
Speaking of TJ, he's taking Brandy's death hard. He tells Thatcher he doesn't want to take over Jack's old office or work at the company. He wants to find his own way in the world. He also wants to talk to his doctor about changing his meds. When Thatcher disagrees to all of the above, TJ secretly throws his meds into the fire and stops taking them period. Then he starts drinking heavily with Vic.
The big story of the evening was Thatcher recalling a relationship in his past that echoed TJ's relationship with Brandy. She was a black jazz singer and she seemed to be kept by a mobster Thatcher worked for. Back in those days Thatcher was going by a different name and having an affair with Suzanne. When he caught the fat mobster trying to force himself on Suzanne he repeatedly stabbed the man and killed him. Then took over his position in the mob, complete with the newly made up name, Thatcher Karsten.
Thatcher thought he could finally have Suzanne but seeing how violently he killed the mobster she ended things with Thatcher. He watched from afar as Suzanne and her daughter went away.
Brandy's death is reminding him of Suzanne. He's deeply affected by Brandy's daughter being left parentless. When the girls father can't be found, Thatcher steps in and arranges for a couple to adopt her and to arrange a trust fund for the girl.
It seems like the writers realized the real story is the Karsten family. Jack, Sara and Drew really took a backseat to Thatcher, this week. Crazy as it seems, considering how he went all Norman Bates on his obese boss when he was young, he had more of a heart than the rest of the characters did. Jack, Drew and TJ all knew about Brandy's daughter and that she just lost her mother, but not one of them tried to reach out and do anything for that girl. Drew just thought of using it to help get a case against the Karsten family. Jack didn't even give the child a thought. A TJ was too busy getting drunk. Thatcher was the only one who thought about that child automatically.
No matter what problems he felt Brandy was, it seems pretty obvious for the sake of that child he would have never went through and had Brandy killed. For his caring for a child he didn't even know it makes him a better person than either Jack and Sara, despite the horrible things he does. Jack and Sara couldn't even think about the harm their affair could do their own children, let alone care about someone else's child.
We still haven't come to the point where someone shoots Sara. Will it just be a result of her taking crime photos in a tough neighborhood? Or will it be because of her affair with Jack? If it is because of her affair, I'm leaning towards TJ as the shooter. Elaine seems to be handling the end of her marriage to Jack fine and isn't brooding about it. And we've seen through Brandy that there are things Thatcher won't do, and that's kill a woman with a child. Although, with Drew around maybe he might make an exception in Sara's case. But with TJ going off his meds, he really seems the most likely person to shoot Sara.
