Bully - Recap

An artist named Andreas tells a man that three people in Missouri
complained about his work and he lost funding. A woman starts calling
his name, and the man tells him "Here comes your new funding." She finds
him and greets him with a kiss. His work is brilliant, especially the
one in the other room. She starts to drag him away as he exclaims that
all HIS paintings are in the room they're leaving. The 'painting' is
vertical blood stains trailing down from somewhere above.

Melinda gives the victim's name as Ellen Sazelin, the CFO of a wine
seller named Luscious Grape, age 43. TOD is somewhere between 6 and 9
pm. Her carotid was severed with a broken vase. She was anally attacked,
but no DNA.

Elliot and Olivia watch a video on Ellen's laptop which appears to be an
introduction to Luscious Grape. They wonder if maybe a jealous coworker
is behind the attack, or just somebody who resented how far she'd come.
Elliot wonders if the neighbors will be as friendly as Ellen's
coworkers. Interviewing should be a breeze, since there are only three
tenants in the building.

Liv reports to Elliot that the woman who lived above Ellen for ten years
never heard a peep out of her. The guy on three said she was so shy, she
wouldn't even say hello on the elevator. The final tenant, Maureen,
travels a lot for business, and just came home. Liv flashes her badge
and asks if she knows Ellen Sazelin. She does, but not well. What
happened?

When they fill her in, she suggests they talk to Andreas. She says when
he's not painting, he's prowling. He showed up at her door about six
months ago with a bottle of wine. She fell asleep, and when she woke up,
he was on top of her. Liv asks if he raped her, and she says he tried.
She screamed and pushed him off, and he left. She didn't call the cops.
He owns the building, and the very next day he gave her a break on her
rent.

When they arrive to question Andreas, he's working. Not going to let a
little thing like a murder stifle his creativity. He already told the
cops everything he knows. Liv asks the woman who is modeling for him
(same woman who hauled him off to the other room the night before) to
give them a moment. While being questioned, he tells the detectives that
Maureen invited him up and came on to him. Elliot rounds the corner on
the painting and finds that Andreas is painting with Ellen's blood.

Andreas is questioned and says he was never in Ellen's loft. He just
incorporated what had already dripped onto the canvas into a new
painting. He has an alibi, and it's a strong one. They're barking up the
wrong tree.

Fin fills in a bit more of Ellen's history. Totally law-abiding citizen
with no social life whatsoever. Maybe she met her killer at work? Fin
and Liv don't buy the LG hype at the corporate website. He wants to talk
to the CEO, Annette Cole. She's truly broken up over her loss. Aside
from herself, Ellen was also close with Bruce Clarkson, the head of
advertising. He says she was a blast at parties. She socialized, but
only with people she knew, loved and trusted. She was drawn to gay men
(like Bruce) because she didn't have the looks to draw straight men (her
words, not his).

Ellen had a drinking problem. Very secret. He doesn't even think Annette
knew. The only way Ellen could approach a man is if she was sloshed.
It's a past-tense problem though. He and Ellen have been sober together
for five years, thanks to AA. He is obviously shocked when informed
she'd been drinking the night she was killed. He knew she'd been jittery
lately. In fact, a bit ago he heard her on her cell in the parking
garage. The person she was talking to was yelling at her so hard, Bruce
could actually hear them. When she realized she wasn't alone, she ended
the call.

Fin checks Ellen's phone records and thinks he knows who may have been
harassing her. Over the past two weeks, she called the same number four
times. Whoever is at the other end called her 63 times. No wonder she
was jittery. Somebody was harassing her. Fin plays one of the calls, and
it's a death threat. The calls originated from My Leather Fantasy, owned
by Edward Ross Stanton of Park Avenue. However, the phone is owned by a
thug named Juan Alvarez.

Elliot flashes his badge and identifies himself. Juan takes off running
- right into Fin. As he's being led off in handcuffs, he claims he
didn't threaten Ellen. Fin plays the audio for him, and he drops his head.

A man stops in front of them and gut shoots Juan at point blank range.
The man screams that Juan killed his wife. He murdered her.

Fin questions him. There is no record of Peggy being killed. She had
Alzheimers. She ordered $5000 of merchandise at MLF. Juan picks up and
tells Elliot that the husband called to stop the sale, but he told him
no refunds, no returns. The husband stopped the charges from his end,
and Juan started calling Peggy repeatedly, usually in the middle of the
night. She started having panic attacks every time the phone rang. The
last time he called, she collapsed. Her heart gave out. Juan stands by
his behavior. If she wasn't happy with him, good or bad, she could post
it on the website. Come again? He patiently explains to Elliot that the
more feedback you get, good or bad, the higher your Google ranking. He's
serious. For every pissed-off customer, 100 new people visit his
website. 10-20% of them buy something? KaCHING! Elliot is disgusted.
Juan is a piece of crap. Maybe so. But he didn't kill anybody.

Elliot tells him that his 63rd call to Ellen came in three hours before
she was raped and murdered. Juan adamantly denies it - oh really? So
where was he? Scaring the crap out of a customer in the Bronx. She came
outside and screamed at him. He couldn't have been at Ellen's. Go ask
her. Elliot does, and lets Fin and Liv know that Juan has an alibi. He's
still going down, they've got him cold on 2nd degree menacing.

Warner informs them that she is ruling Ellen's manner of death as
"undetermined." She suggests that Ellen's wounds may have been
accidental or self-inflicted. There were no fingerprints in her
apartment, save her own, and no DNA on or near her person. Warner
hypothesizes that Ellen was drunk, fell on the vase, and bled out. Ellen
had bruises, both old and new, in several places on her body. Liv brings
up the forgotten anal trauma. That can't really be explained away, but
Melinda gives it a shot. She may have been self-pleasuring and gotten
too violent. In addition, she suffered from Trichotillomania (the
impulsive need to pull out her hair). With all of the above information,
it becomes obvious that Ellen was under a lot of stress. If Luscious
Grape really IS "one big, happy family", why did nobody notice how
stressed out Ellen was?

Bruce claims to not know why Ellen was stressed. Corrine, the
receptionist, first claimed that Ellen didn't interact with her, but
then that she was always cheerful and smiling. Which was it, Elliot
asks. When she did speak, she smiled. Justin is the top salesman, and
has an eye for the pretty ladies. Ellen didn't qualify. LG treats him
great. If there's any office gossip, he's out of the loop. David, the
wine expert, says LG is a great place to work and there's nothing to
gossip about here. Liv remains skeptical. He reiterates that Ellen was
brilliant at what she did, and her death was a terrible blow. David
tells Annette it's time. The whole office is headed for the memorial
service.

Fin and Liv come away with the same impression. The employees were told
what to say. Liv takes a call from Andreas. He's hearing loud noises
from Ellen's loft, like someone is wrecking the apartment. Upon arrival,
they find the apartment trashed. Somebody tore the place apart looking
for something. Somebody searched her computer, too. Liv says CSU did the
same, and they didn't find anything. Maybe she hid whatever they were
looking for on a remote device? Elliot picks up a little panda statue
that is actually a hard drive.

Morales says it's full of videos from work. Ellen is narrating the date
and time of Annette's raging fit. Third time this week. She gets in
everybody's face, and finally Ellen's. She found three typos. Ellen asks
her to calm down, and Annette tells her she's been carrying her all
these years. She wants Ellen in her office, and when Ellen refuses until
she lowers her voice, Annette strikes her across the face. Everybody is
afraid of Annette, that's why they won't talk.

They play the video for Annette. She claims that Ellen was her friend,
they were just having a little disagreement, and somebody is trying to
make her look bad. Where did they get the video? She claims the tape is
doctored, but Liv informs her they had it checked, it's 100% legit, as
are the 20 other tapes Ellen made. Twenty horror films. All of them
starring Annette.

She changes her tune. "I push everyone as hard as I push myself." No,
Elliot says. She's a schoolyard bully who preys on the weakest kid.
Annette claims that Ellen preyed on her. She just keeps singing the same
song while Liv and Elliot point out that there's no way she's telling
the truth right now. She reiterates that Ellen was her best friend.
However, the night Ellen died, they were at Angelino's, where Annette
was screaming at her (according to their waiter). She admits to the
yelling, but says the waiter lied when he said Annette threw her coffee
cup at Ellen when she left.

Liv keeps pushing. Annette followed Ellen home, didn't she? She says
that Ellen was a recluse and a drunk, and she, Annette, is the head of a
successful company. Elliot says "You're a pissy little tyrant, and Ellen
was the perfect victim, because she never fought back." Who's she going
to beat up now? She asks if they're charging her with anything. Not yet.
Then she's leaving. And if they want to talk to her again, they can call
her attorney.

As she sails out the door, Fin notes that the Queen of Mean is on a
tear. Who's she going to abuse next? Fin doesn't understand why they
can't use the footage to get her on assault charges. They don't have any
corroborating witnesses. Everybody knows her coworkers won't talk,
they've made that abundantly clear. Elliot is going to attempt an end
run. He's going to have ADA Hardwick pull the company's financials,
subpoena the disability and medical records. See if everything is on the
up-and-up. Fin points out that bullies are like rabid dogs, like to take
a bite out of everybody. Maybe they can get somebody else she bit to talk.

Elliot starts with David. He didn't know that Ellen filed five work comp
claims last year. He didn't notice she wasn't at work, because Ellen
said she was traveling on business. Elliot tells him the police know
about how Annette was abusing Ellen. He wants the truth about Annette's
behavior. David is driving a $200k car. Did she buy his silence with it?
David says it was his year-end bonus.

Fin checks in with Corrine. She's en route to her therapist. Yet again,
she reiterates that Annette is a great boss, and she has nothing more to
say.

Justin sings the same song about LG. His mom lives with him. She's
disabled, so he takes care of her. Just like Annette takes care of him,
so he doesn't blab about what a psychobitch she is? Elliot still can't
get him to talk.

Fin talks to David. He says Annette might not be perfect, but none of
them will say a bad word about her. Ever. Fin asks what's wrong with them?

Huang has the answer. It's a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Annette's
employees have bonded to her emotionally, in order to survive. It makes
sense, but on the other hand it could just be good old-fashioned greed.
If Annette goes down for murder, bye-bye Luscious Grape, a steady
paycheck and all the other goodies that go with it. Liv may be right. LG
is about to be bought for $500,000,000. Looks like it's in everybody's
best interest to make LG look like a perfect company. How are they going
to break this case?

They don't have to. Ellen sent the footage to the press before she was
killed. Looks like it went out after her abusive dinner with Annette.
It's also all over the internet. Looks like Annette was just found
guilty in the court of public opinion.

Liv and Elliot confront Annette. She knows they leaked the tape. Ellen
never would have done that to her. She's suing the NYPD for emotional
distress. The press surrounds her, and she yells back to Liv and Ell to
protect her. They turn their backs on her, and she forces her way through.

It makes news when the company that was going to buy Luscious Grape
withdraws their offer, citing their morals clause. If any of Annette's
employees had any guts, Ellen might still be alive. Fin wonders if
people like Annette ever own their own. Liv thinks that might be what's
about to happen. Annette has scheduled a press conference for the next
morning at 10:00 a.m. She intends to explain her actions on that tape.
They are invited to attend.

At the conference, Annette claims she's mortified by her appearance on
the tape. She tells her business partners "Screw you for abandoning me
in my time of need." She sends a modified but similar message to the
customers who canceled orders and left hateful messages. In short order,
she attacks the press, the NYPD and her family at Luscious Grape.
They're all fired.

She just wants them to remember one thing. "You made me do this." She
then pulls out a gun and kills herself.

Huang says that was Annette's final act as a bully. She lured everybody
in with promises of contrition, then blamed them for her suicide. She
was a narcissistic sociopath, a ticking time bomb. Elliot arrives and
says Hardwick is willing to take Annette's rant about Ellen as her
confession of murder. According to her attorney, Annette left every
penny of her estate to her dog.

Fin takes a call and announces that Bruce got nailed by a hit-and-run.
At the hospital, he says he was trying to get that horrible image of
Annette out of his head, and he wasn't paying attention when he crossed
the street. A hit and run is a felony, so they're going to investigate
and find out who did this to him.

He lied about the accident. He was talking to the driver, per
surveillance footage. The car actually drove over him in reverse when it
struck him. They get the plates and go talk to the driver, only he
wasn't driving. His granddaughter borrowed it. The driver was the
receptionist, Corrine.

Liv brings Bruce in so he can see that Corinne is rolling over on him.
He insists on going in and confronting her, as she claims that he killed
Ellen. He didn't, and he's freaking out. He told her, Ellen was dead
when he got there! Corrine wonders who killed her then. They're both
incredibly irate, and Corrine finally yells that Bruce "killed Ellen,
and ruined our entire plan!" Oh really? What plan was that, Corinne?

They were trying to shut Ellen up. It was very important to all of them
that nobody find out the truth about Luscious Grape. All of them were
involved in stopping her. David, Justin, Bruce, Corinne. They killed
Ellen with their greed. But who actually was there that night, taking
physical action against her? Bruce says he may have conspired against
her, but he never hurt his friend. As they leave, Corrine says "We just
wanted to get rich."

Melinda has news for how Ellen died. There was no alcohol in her
stomach. Somebody gave it to her anally so her system would absorb it
faster. She never found any fingerprints, but she hadn't looked at the
rim of the bottle for cells. The cells she found are only in the anus.

The detectives confront Justin. Elliot tells him that his
co-conspirators gave written statements that put him on the hook for
Ellen's murder. He tells the truth. Ellen was pathetic, crying. Get over
it! You're about to be worth a fortune. He tried to give her some
champagne. She turned it down, sobriety. He made the move on her, and
she rejected him. Twice. He shoved her, she fell against the coffee
table, and a vase broke. He was sorry, and went to help her up. That's
when he saw the glass in her neck. He didn't call 911 because he freaked
out. He thought he had to make it look like an accident. Like she was
drunk. Elliot arrests him for murder.

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