Written by Sonny Steelgrave and directed by Mark A. Altman, this is another episode that picks up plot lines from a previous episode, two episodes in fact. Stephen Macht first played mob boss Leland Ryan in the season 1 episode The White Flower. He reprised the role in the season 1 episode Angels and Demons, which ended with his character being shot dead.

In this episode, we learn that since Leland’s death, a mob war has broken out in the city, as rival families vie for control, with the most ruthless of mob bosses being Leland’s daughter Nicole, played by Nikki Griffin. Tara Radcliffe plays police detective Joanne Terranova, who is determined to take Nicole down after she discovers that Nicole is responsible for the death of a fellow cop and his family. As the episode progresses, we learn that Joanne and Nicole were friends and roommates in college until Nicole stole Joanne’s boyfriend Devlin, who is played by Ashley Hamilton. Devlin eventually left Nicole after having a drunken one-night stand with Nicole’s stepmother Alicia, who is played by Donna W. Scott.

Today Devlin is a rich playboy who spends most of his time partying while drinking and doing coke. Joanne contacts him and, despite his initial reluctance, convinces him to help her go after Nicole. They come up with a plan for him to get back in touch with Nicole and resume their relationship, which works because, according to Joanne, Nicole always had a blindspot towards him.

After Devlin and Nicole rekindle their romance, he swears to her that he loves “all of her” and she makes him prove it by bringing him along when she goes late at night to meet David Bannion (Eric Roberts), a candidate for District Attorney who is planning several indictments against her and is planning to make arresting her his top priority. Devlin watches in horror as she reveals to David that at that moment, her bodyguard and hitman (an unnamed man played by Kimo Leopoldo) is in David’s house, ready to kill David’s wife and children, unless David kills himself. It works, as David takes a gun out of his desk and shoots himself in the head (off camera).

Devlin meets with Joanne and tells her that he wants to do whatever it takes to take Nicole down. Joanne stresses that they need irrefutable evidence of a crime to stop Nicole for good, something that a crooked judge and high-priced lawyers can’t get her out of. Devlin says that he’ll find a way to get that evidence and he swears that Joanne is the one he always really loved.

Alicia, who still lives with Nicole and doesn’t trust Devlin, had him followed and shows Nicole pictures she has of Devlin and Joanne together. Nicole goes to Devlin’s home with her bodyguard, who beats and holds him down as Nicole injects some poison into Devlin’s arm, to make it look like he died of a drug overdose.

In the end, Joanne goes to arrest Nicole and the plot twist is revealed. Devlin knew what would happen, so he set up a secret camera in his place and had his murder recorded. With that evidence, Nicole is done and taken to jail.

It’s a clever episode, I like the story and it’s got an impressive cast. There are some hot sex scenes between Devlin and Nicole and Devin and Joanne. We also see Alicia fully nude, as well as some nude shots of David’s wife, played by Chanon Finley, as we see her taking a bath. There’s also a very brief shot of an uncredited Christine Nguyen, who plays a topless waitress in a nightclub. It’s literally a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene, but any opportunity to see Christine’s breasts is a good one for me.

Chacebook rating: FIVE STARS

P.S. I have to note that the writer of this episode, Sonny Steelgrave, who only has one writing credit on IMDB, is an obvious pseudonym. This was the name of a character played by Ray Sharkey on the TV series WISEGUY, which starred Ken Wahl as a federal agent named Vinnie Terranova, which is the same last name the character of Joanne has here, who specialized in going after organized crime. I don’t know if there is a direct connection between anyone on this show and that show, or if it was just a little inside joke since this episode deals with someone going undercover to take down a mob boss.

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