Unforgettable “Memory Kings” 

As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end.  If you read my reviews of the last couple of episodes of Unforgettable, you will know that I rated them as top-notch and virtually near-perfect.  Unfortunately, last night’s “Memory Kings” fell short of prior episodes.  While the episode had some fantastic character development and filled in the back story of how Carrie (Poppy Montgomery) discovered her special gift, the main storyline was quite poor.

The case this week involved the death of Dr. Eugene Lustig (Mark Nelson).  Dr. Lustig fell to his death from the balcony of his apartment, and due to a recent divorce and possible heath issues, it was initially believed to be a suicide.  However, Carrie knew Dr. Lustig from a memory study she participated in nearly a decade ago, and just when she was about to crack, Dr. Lustig gave her hope when no one else could.  So, Carrie is convinced that Dr. Lustig’s death wasn’t a suicide, which is supported by Dr. Webster’s (Jane Curtin) findings that he had been forced off the balcony.

The case is complicated even further when a colleague of Dr. Rustig’s, Dr. Alwin Pierce, is also murdered.  Because Dr. Pierce had been denied tenure primarily due to Dr. Lustig’s recommendation, Dr. Pierce was originally the prime suspect in his murder.  However, after she is murdered as well, the team is back to the drawing board.  Carrie and Al (Dylan Walsh) finally get the break they needed after one of the other participants in Dr. Lustig’s memory study, Ruth Menney (guest star Phyllis Somerville), is interviewed.  Like all of the other participants in the study, she had been contacted recently by Dr. Pierce, and the only thing she knew is that Dr. Pierce had evidence that one of the participants had lied in the group session of the study.  The big question is who lied, and once they had that question answered, Carrie and Al were convinced that would have their killer.

At this point comes one of the best scenes in the entire episode.  The tape of the group session of the study had conveniently disappeared, and so, the team had no way of determining what was said in the session and certainly no way to verify one way or the other if anything said was a lie.  That is until Carrie informs everyone that every, single word that was said in the session was stored away with her perfect memory, and all she needed was a stenographer to get a full transcript.  Here we get to see just how perfect Carrie’s memory really is and what a phenomenal gift she has.  Even after almost a decade, every last word of the session she was able to recall, all the way down to any passing jokes made by the participants.

After transcribing the session, the team is finally able to track down their liar – Dale Parsons (Robert Pogue).  Each person in the group had been asked to recall events on certain dates, and he had lied about what he had done on March 6, 1997. He claimed he was looking at a particular painting at the museum, but upon further investigation, that painting was on loan to another museam in Madrid, Spain.  With the revealing of Parsons’ motive behind his lie comes the most ridiculous part of the episode.

It turns out that Parsons lied about that date because he actually didn’t remember what he did on that day.  And, why?  Because he had killed a woman on that day.  As Dr. Lustig pointed out in his study, people like Carrie who have perfect memories are “adrenalin junkies” because adrenalin helps them forget.  Parsons figured out that he was able to get an adrenalin rush by killing, which made him forget just how miserable his life was.  Armed with the information on the 1997 murder, Carrie and Al are then able to link Parsons to close to a dozen other murders.

In my opinion, this storyline was ludicrous.  Parsons had killed over 10 women over the past decade, retained the same M.O. from day one, and no one was able to connect these murders over the years and realize they had a serial killer?  Really? Any rookie homicide with half a brain would have been able to connect the dots.   I thought this was a very weak and very unbelievable storyline, especially given the caliber of the ones in prior episodes.

All in all, I thought it was a decent episode.  It certainly wasn’t a strong “A” like the last couple ones, but it did fill in the rest of Carrie’s back story while she was in Syracuse, which was sorely needed.  Oh, and no painful romantic scenes between Carrie and Al this week, which I always consider a plus.

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