Blackout

Season 4, Episode 13, Aired

Episode Summary

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The team re-opens the 1996 case of a wealthy woman who was afraid of the dark and died during a citywide electricity blackout.
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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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  • one of the best season 4 episodes

    10
    "Perfect"
    By facebookfan, Sep 07, 2009
    The team reopens the 1996 case of a wealthy woman who supposedly drowned during a citywide blackout (hence the episode's name). During the investigation, the team discovers she was no angel and everyone she was with at the time had a reason to want her dead. First of all, she had molested her son when he was younger and tried to do the same thing to her grandson at the pool (luckily, the son came in to stop her from doing the same thing to the grandson). Secondly, she divorced her husband who is now engaged to a much younger woman but didn't squander her share of the money and the husband is bitter about that. Of course, in the end Lauren Williams still got justice and the daughter is arrested.

    An episode that is not to be missed!moreless

  • When marks indicting a woman murdered in 1996 fought back are discovered, the team re-opens the case of the wealthy woman who they thought accidently drowned.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By luckydagangsta, Jun 18, 2008
    Lauren Williams was by no means the perfect woman. She was a harsh woman who refused to put up with her family's problems and was disappointed with them about everything. She was found dead in her ex-husband's mansion pool during a black-out and blizzard in 1996.

    I thought this was quite a good episode. The storyline was very original. It let you know a lot about Lauren's personality, although there was nothing there to make it sad when she died.

    It was well written, the acting was good. The problem I had was casting the older Matt. The two actors looked nothing alike so whenever it would flash, it just ruined it for me.moreless

  • Who was to blame for her attitude, her or her husband?

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By crbjc, Jan 15, 2007
    A woman, beautiful and charming. A husband chasing younger women with his sweet little newbie, two damaged adult children and a 13 year old grandson converge in the dark in a lonely mansion. You just know that would not end well. However, the twists and turns surprised me. I did not see the revelation coming. When she accused him of being a pedophile I was certain she had caught him with their daughter at some time in the past. It never occured to me that she was the one who had taken the innocence of her own son or that she would set her sights on her grandson. I suppose we are all so certain when some one says pedohile that it has to be a man. Men are suppose to be the preditors not women so maybe that is why I found this so interesting and unsettling.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (3)

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    • Goof: At the end when Rush sees the victim's "ghost", after the figure fades there remains a reflection on the water where the victim stood.

    • Goof: The title card in the beginning of the episode reads "January 14, 1996". However, the blackout occurred on the 11th, and Lauren's body was found in the morning of the 12th. The police report is also dated January 12.

    • Lauren Williams died on January 11, 1996.

  • QUOTES (10)

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    • Tad: I gave every cent of that money away. Scotty: You gave away three million dollars? Tad: Got the numbers if you want to donate. Kat Miller: Well damn, you could have kept some of it.

    • Tad: She didn't have power over me. Kat Miller: Mothers always have power. Whether you like it or not.

    • Lauren: Do not walk away from me, Virginia! Tad: She's right, Ginny. Run.

    • Tad: (to Diana) After we were born, my father lost interest, started fooling around. I don't know, it could have been earlier. Lauren: (coming in) No, it was later. Around the time that you were born. Tad: I knew it had to be my fault somehow.

    • Stan Williams: After she cleaned me out, I thought of little else but killing her. But drowning Lauren was never an option. Too humane. Det. Jeffries: Really? Stan Williams: My fantasy was to bury her alive, scarabs feasting on her intestines.

    • Kat Miller: Stanford Williams was 60 at the time and his fiancĂ©e was 28. Lt. Stillman: That make him a killer? Kat Miller: Makes him a scumbag.

    • Toni: Found this in my sheets this morning: somebody's sock. Vera: Mysterious. Toni: Yeah. Vera: No idea how it might've got there? Toni: Possibly this new neighbor. Moved in below. Vera: Frisky fellow? Toni: Frisky ain't the half of it. Vera: Well, maybe if the lady let the poor guy stay the night, he'd be less careless. Toni: Ahh, lady's got a son. Son don't need to know what his mom is up to.

    • Stan Williams: You sure Lauren was murdered? Det. Jeffries: You find that hard to believe? Stan Williams: Yes. And no. Det. Valens: Because? Stan Williams: Because of who was at the house that night, of course. Det. Jeffries: And no? Stan Williams: Because my ex-wife was a raving bitch.

    • Stan Williams: Isn't there a belfry somewhere you can hang upside-down from? Lauren Williams: Oh, now I'm the vampire? Tad Williams: If the cape fits.

    • Ginny Williams: My family was dysfunctional, not homicidal.

  • NOTES (3)

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  • ALLUSIONS (4)

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    • Kat: Five rich little Indians. Kat's making a reference to the Agatha Christie murder mystery And Then There Were None, published in 1939. The novel is also known as Ten Little Indians, which is also the name of a nursery rhyme featured in the book. Like in the book, also in this episode a number of people (10 in the novel, 5 in the episode) are stranded together in a secluded place, and one of them is the killer.

    • John Stillman: Follow the money, see who benefited from Lauren's death. This is a famous line from the film 1976 All The President's Men, starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. When Deep Throat meets with Woodward and Bernstein to give them information on the Watergate scandal, he tells them to "just follow the money". The real Deep Throat (Mark Felt of the FBI) never actually said this; it was a moment of artistic license.

    • Tad: 800,000 dead in 80 days. Tad shows his family photographs of the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that was committed by Hutu extremist militias against Tutsis. General Romeo Dallaire was in charge of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Rwanda at the time. Before the massacres began, he had warned the UN that ethnic tensions were increasing in the country and that he needed more troops and more funding, but nothing was done. The death toll from the genocide is estimated at 800,000 to 1 million.

    • Florence Unger This episode is inspired by the case of Florence Unger, a housewife who was found drowned on October 25, 2003 at the Watervale resort in Benzie County, Detroit. Her husband, Mark Unger, was accused of the murder and later, in June 2006, found guilty for pushing his wife from a boathouse roof and then dragging her to a shallow edge of the lake where she drowned. Mrs. Unger had filed for divorce before going on a weekend trip to the resort with her husband and two sons.

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