‘Elsbeth’ "Good Grief" Recap: Influencer Fame Turns Fatal in a Killer Episode

Raquel Drabowski, Staten Island housewife, on the  “Black Veil” reality show, opens tonight’s story. Raquel surprises the viewers with an unexpected ending. She doesn’t choose either of the two finalists. She couldn’t choose anyone because she is still grieving Johnny, her firefighter husband. Sydney Fletcher, her agent, promises Raquel her own show and a custom line of little black dresses after seeing the ratings bonanza of “The Black Veil” show. Raquel is overjoyed.

The joke is on Raquel the next day when Johnny shocks her when she returns home  from a shopping spree.  Johnny’s alive! He was rescued after being flung out of the helicopter above a rainforest in Puerto Rico. He had no memory until he saw her on an episode of “Black Veil”. Raquel asks him if anyone knows he’s alive, and Johnny says he wanted to surprise her first. She suggests they take the ferry to Staten Island to see his Mom. This time Raquel makes sure Johnny disappears for real. Raquel later goes back home and continues feeding content to her social media followers like nothing happened. She’s an influencer, and continues updating her content.  She gets a call from the police about Johnny’s Mom, Marie. She’s gone to the police with the story about Johnny calling her. Raquel gets there and acts like Marie is not in her right mind. She consoles her. Everyone gathers around the famous celebrity, Raquel. She says she’s just there to get Marie home. Even Captain Wagner comes out of his office, and seems starstruck. Marie refocuses everyone on Johnny, and says she has a voicemail message from him. Captain Wagner directs the investigative team to the conference room.

Detective Fleming and Officer Hacket are handling the case with Elsbeth. Marie plays the voicemail. She says that’s her son. Raquel denies it. She says it’s a sick prank call, and suddenly live streams a message to social media requesting they stop prank calling them. Raquel still tries to deny and distract, but Fleming asks if they recognize the caller’s phone number. It’s from out of state, and Marie suggests they trace it. Elsbeth and Captain Wagner have been quietly observing what was happening, and both exchange a knowing nod. They look at Raquel intently. Captain Wagner tells Marie they can make it happen. Raquel is not pleased.

The investigation begins. They interrogate a trucker who picked up a hitchhiker in the conference room later. He still had beer cans that the hitchhiker, Johnny/Don, drank from on the trip from Delaware to New York. The trucker picked Johnny up hitchhiking along the road.  

Detective Fleming, Elsbeth and Officer Hacket go to Marie’s house to see Marie and Raquel with news. Marie gives them some background information on Raquel and Johnny’s relationship while they wait for Raquel. The two had been high school sweethearts, and later moved in with her after getting married. Raquel joins them. Detective Fleming tells them they got a positive DNA identification of Johnny from some beer cans in the truck driver’s truck. Marie says it’s a miracle and Raquel feigns relief. Elsbeth watches Raquel’s response intrigued. Sadly, Johnny’s body is later found in an unusual spot in the water. Scuba divers found him in deep water. Cameron says it was a lucky fluke. Elsbeth goes to a dock worker’s booth to ask for security dock camera footage. Guess who she sees? It was so nice to see them together again. They catch up and also exchange useful information to help the case. Of course Elsbeth runs back to Captain Wagner with what she found out. Cameron provides more forensic evidence, Elsbeth and Detective Fleming and Officer Hacket all meet in Captain Wagner’s office. The detailed brainstorming continues.

Social media and ‘likes’ are an insidious factor in this murderer’s motive.  Officer Hacket shares why ‘likes’ are so addictive.  Elsbeth and Detective Fleming are surprised. Officer Hacket’s expertise in the use of social media and the associated apps helps to solve this murder. Detective Fleming, Elsbeth and Officer Hacket do a big reveal of how Johnny’s murder happened on the set of “Black Veil”.  It was live streamed and  fantastically done.

Loved the guest appearance of Carra Patterson as Detective Kaya Blanke in this episode. It was interesting to see how the team used social media in conjunction with investigative expertise and exceptional forensic analysis to solve this case.  An episode that achieved the blending of media and murder mystery investigative suspense, and topped off with great performances was the right recipe for another entertaining episode. Elsbeth only had two large bags this time. I enjoyed the episode, and was amused to see some similarities to scenes in the “Working Girl” movie, one of my fave movies. The ferry scene, the dead boyfriend presumed dead then surprise return, and how the first death occurred are a few scenes.  

I gave this episode 4.5 out of 5 Stars. 

What did you think?

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