Sooner or later every Homicide detective is going to face an investigation like this. A murder victim who many people would feel deserved his fate. How do Homicide detectives put aside their personal opinions? How do you make yourself concentrate solely on the cold, hard facts and leave judgement for the courts? It's a toughie. Simon seems to be struggling with those kinds of questions. For Sparkes and Duncan on the other hand, it's cut and dried; you investigate the crime, you do your job and you make your opinions abundantly clear. Then you go home and forget about it until your next shift.

This episode neatly rounded off a story arc that's been bubbling away since the first episode. Jennifer Mapplethorpe is a fine detective. She's thorough and smart and asks the tough questions. Wolfie saw that in the way she handled coming into the team when Duncan was on leave. He liked the way she operated and he did everything in his power to get her back on the team when it seemed she'd be sent back to Fraud. She's paid him back for that faith in her by being a consistently good officer and by making the gang of four a successful team.

When Brian Van Der Burgh threatened her career (boo! He's a nasty pasty isn't he? Even his teeth looked like they were plotting world domination), Jennifer had to make a decision. Did she trust Wolfie's faith in her enough to go to him with this evidence of blackmail? Would he think of her as a compromised detective from now on? Would he judge her? Even though Matt and Simon seemed to think it was a no-brainer, Jennifer took a risk in going to Stanley. But considering it was that or let Brian Van Der Burgh have one over on her, maybe she had no option. You can bet he wouldn't have stopped at the five thousand dollars either. And she was obviously determined not to let Brian get the better of her because she went into that meeting with the secret recording device.

So Jennifer went to Wolfie and he donned his superhero cape and had a subtle word in Brian's evil ear. Because if a boss won't go into bat for his troops, he's not much of a boss, is he? Wolfie earned himself a gold star in Jennifer's book this episode. They're kinda equal on the trust issue - Jen has justified Wolfie's faith in her and now he has justified her faith in him. We also like to think that Stanley learnt from the way he dealt with Duncan during the Drug Squad operation.

COMING UP: Ever wondered where Waverley goes when she leaves the office? Or who's waiting at home for her with a hot dinner and glass of red? Next week we get a glimpse of Waverley's life when she leaves the office and takes off her big ol' bossy bureaucracy boots... and it's not what you'd expect.

By now you've become used to seeing Sparksey propped at a desk in the work area, letting loose with a pearl of wisdom and a silent fart and generally teaching the new dogs old tricks. Shame. Something nasty could be just around the corner for poor old Sparkesy...
The Creative Team, CITY HOMICIDE