Unforgettable “Day Of The Jackie” 

In every season of most television series, some badass surfaces whose storyline doesn’t get resolved until the season finale (if then).  I thought Kilborn from last week’s “Incognito” was going to be that baddie, but it turns out I wasn’t that far off.  This week we are introduced to the assassin that will evade authorities for we assume the remainder of the season, but with the added twist that the killer is a woman.

The episode begins fairly slowly.  Paul Dirkson, the manager of a Fortune 500 hedge fund, is found strangled in his hotel room.  The guy manages a lot of people’s money, and I’m sure has lost a lot of that money.  So, any of his present or former clients could be the killer.  However, things get interesting when Dr. Webster (Jane Curtin) discovers that the strangulation was staged for their benefit – instead, he was poisoned and with a very rare toxin.  That makes it less likely to be a crime of passion or robbery like Carrie (Poppy Montgomery) and Al (Dylan Walsh) originally had thought.

It gets even more interesting when Carrie discovers a cell-phone hacking device in the air vent of Dirkson’s room, and all of their theories go out the window when techie-geek Jay Lee (James Liao) informs them the target of the device was the room above Dirkson.  Basically, Carrie and Al had been profiling the wrong victim for nearly 24 hours.  Dirkson had been killed simply because he had surprised the assassin while she was planting the cell-phone device in his room.

The real target turns out to be Dr. Okoro Dimka (played by veteran actor Oliver Litondo).  Dimka is an activist who has been attempting to take down the illegal diamond industry in Africa.  He has been threatened before, and so, is not phased when Carrie and Al tell him that a para-military group, Alpha-5, led by a woman who goes by “Jackie M.” (Annika Boras) is trying to assassinate him.  He’s very passionate about his cause and refuses to move the main event, which is a big speech at Hofstra University and one that will be viewed from around the world.  He does, however, agree to move the remainder of his appearances, which gives Carrie and Al an edge since Jackie doesn’t know the new locations.

From this point on, it is a big cat and mouse game between Jackie and the Major Crimes Unit.  Jackie does show up at one of the smaller events, disguised as an old lady, but backs out before she makes her move after detecting police presence.  But, that’s not before Jackie gets a good, long look at Carrie and from that, is able to look up Carrie’s history with the NYPD online.  Jackie now knows about Carrie’s gift, which she ultimately decides to use against her.

They are finally able to locate Jackie’s hideout, but not before she is long gone.  The room is completely wiped of forensics, but Carrie remembers one piece of paper from the room that proves to be important (or so they think) – a wrapper from Black Kitty Cyber Café.  By looking at the cache on the computer that Jackie used, Carrie and Al now know that Jackie will be impersonating a journalist at the Hofstra event.  However, when all reporters are accounted for, Carrie realizes Jackie’s game and sees that she used her perfect memory against her.  Jackie knew that Carrie would remember the Black Kitty wrapper, which would buy her time to execute her real plan.

Fortunately, Carrie pulls it all together fast enough to locate Jackie, just moments before she attempts to kill Dr. Dimka with a sniper rifle.  Wow, what a tangled mess.  Both Jackie and Carrie are brilliant in their own ways, and the entire episode was almost like a competition to see who could bring down the other.  Unfortunately, it looks like Jackie may have the upper hand – at least for now.  Jackie feigns suicide by poison, and by the time Carrie figures out that the poison didn’t actually kill her, Jackie had killed two EMT’s and was in the wind.

I absolutely loved last week’s episode with the big “Arnold” twist at the end, and I love this week’s episode even more.  I, and I’m betting most of the viewers, really thought Jackie was dead after drinking the poison.  She was just another hired gun who would rather die than be caught.  But, Jackie was smarter than that – much, much smarter.  I literally yelled “Oh, my God”  at my television set when Carrie finally puts all of the pieces together.  Eliot (Dallas Roberts) called the case “a win” because Dr. Dimka was kept safe and seems to think that Jackie won’t come around NYC again.  But, I’m willing to bet anything she will.  Just like Walter Morgan couldn’t pass up the challenge in Carrie Wells from Season 1, Jackie won’t be able to resist coming back to Carrie, who she sees as a worthy opponent.

All in all, I thought it was a good episode.  The only part I thought was poor was the lame attempt at romance between Carrie and Al.  When Al started singing “Truly, Madly, Deeply”, I really thought I was going to be sick.  I’d love to hear what the rest of the viewers think on this, but I don’t like the idea of a romantic relationship between Carrie and Al.  I never thought the 2 characters had chemistry, and I don’t think they ever will have chemistry.  Carrie is more of a free spirit, and Al… well, Al is just Al.  I thought Roe and Tanya was a much better pairing, but unfortunately, those two characters got axed.  So, now, it appears that the writers are trying to fill the romance void by putting Carrie and Al back together.  All I can say is that I really hope that’s not the direction they’ll take, and instead, move to one of the new characters, perhaps Jay Lee.  Lee is such a nerd, and it would be hilarious to watch him trying to navigate a romantic relationship.  Heck, even a love interest for Dr. Webster would be fun.  Anything, anything, other than Carrie and Al.

Regardless, except for the Carrie and Al romance hiccup, the episode was a solid one.  The case was fantastic, with an even bigger twist than last week’s episode.  It also had plenty of humor, primarily very memorable one-liners, courtesy of Eliot and Dr. Webster:

Most Memorable Quotes and Random Thoughts:

• Do you ever get tired of it… you know <pointing to Carrie> — Eliot to Al
• You two should go on Letterman – Eliot to Carrie and Al
• Okay, then, it’s Jimmy Kimmel – Eliot to Carrie and Al
• I liked the type-back to Queens, but wished they took that opportunity to have 1 or 2 characters from last season make a guest appearance, even if only a small one.

Unforgettable airs on Sunday nights at 9/8c on CBS.