The Big Picture - Recap

Brenda and Co. are at it again...this time they find a young Russian prostitute named Zoya with stab wounds in her back.

After following the usual leads, the team finds that a friend of Pope's, Danny Booth, an INS employee, was quite the regular customer of Zoya's...several times a week, in fact, and twice the day she died. Brenda questions Booth in Pope's office, and notes that Zoya's fees were upwards of $500 an hour...pretty pricey for a man on a federal salary. Even Pope raises his eyebrows at this little tidbit.

Meanwhile, phone records find that Zoya had several phone calls to a former Russian prostitute-turned-rich American's wife. When Brenda shows the reluctant woman a picture of Zoya taken by the coroner at the scene of the crime, she breaks down and gives Brenda some vital information. Seems she, Zoya, and other Russian girls worked for the Kozlovs, a Russian mob family,and primarily Nick Koslov, who runs the family prostitution racket. The deal was simple: they agreed to come over to L.A. to work in exchange for visas and passports, which were dutifully stamped by a helpful INS worker (Booth). Once in L.A, they were put to work as prostitutes. The woman also reveals that Booth was paid in "free dates" with his choice of the arriving girls, and that Nick himself had taken a liking to Zoya; so much so that he had put her up in a house and "kept" her. However, a few days ago Zoya called her friend telling her she was pregnant with Nick's child. Nick wasn't so happy about that...

Upon learning this, Brenda arrives back at the Parker Center just in time for Pope to introduce her to two FBI agents. The agents inform Brenda and Sgt. Gabriel, who was conferring with Brenda at the time, that they will be taking over Zoya's case---as a matter of national security. Brenda is furious, but alows the feds to haul out the evidence on Zoya's case. Pope apologizes, but says this was not his doing.

Sgt. Gabriel asks what Brenda is going to do now, and gets an unexpected answer---she's got a case that seems eerily similar to Zoya's, in which a young Russian prostitute name Vonya shared the same fate as Zoya. And, Brenda notes, "I've suddenly got all this free time..."

...which she and Sgt. Gabriel spend excavating all the unmarked graves in a local church frequented by the Russian prostitutes. The priest there tells Brenda upon finding Vonya's body that he had hoped to place a special marker on her grave, due to the fact that she was pregnant when she was murdered.

Brenda hauls out the photos of Koslov and Booth, and lo and behold, the priest picks out Koslov. He also tells Brenda that Vonya had confided to him that she was pregnant and was scared to keep the baby. DNA tests later confirm that the baby was indeed Nick's.

Brenda has Booth hauled into interrogation, and threatens to have him exposed---not to the Rusians, but to his fiancee. "If you don't cooperate I plan to have a long discussion with her about what you have been doing with your penis," she states, and Sgt. Gabriel tells him not to question her---she will. Booth, at Brenda's request, sets up an appointment with the agents who took Zoya's case from her.

Brenda keeps Booth's appointment with the agents, and learns that regardless of the time and date she gives for Vonya's death, the FBI has an alibi laid out for him. In other words, he's a mole the feds are using to try and bring down the Koslov family empire. Fritz sees Brenda stomping out of the building and barking orders to her team about bringing in Nick Koslov for questioning and making sure the family lawyer is there with him. Fritz tells her that he's not in charge of this particular operation, and though he doesn't agree with what is going on, begs her to consider "the big picture." "I used to set up 'the big picture'," says Brenda, "so I know all about it."

Once back at the Parker Center, Pope is right on Brenda's heels, demanding to know if she's lost her mind. What was she thinking, having a federal suspect arrested?! Brenda asks if the lawyer is there too, which Capt. Taylor and Pope confirm.

Then, in a surprisingly generous move, Capt. Taylor gives Brenda some background information on Nick Koslov: he was the son of his father's second mistress, who was killed under "mysterious circumstances" when he was four. He gets passed over for the more responsible jobs in the family enterprise--basically, he's the family's pimp. Brenda begs Pope to keep the FBI at bay for a few minutes, to which he replies "Okay, but if black helicopters surround the building, try to wrap it up!"

Brenda goes into interrogation, and shows Koslov and his lawyer the photos of Zoya and Vonya. Koslov brushes Brenda off, but after a few choice words about his parentage and his mother's mysterious death start to get under his skin, she lays down the death blow...

...she informs the lawyer that Nick Koslov was in federal custody for 10 hours a few days ago. Surely he, as Nick's criminal lawyer, was present at the questioning? The lawyer tries to hide his surprise, to no avail, and says that he was not at all present at that time.

Koslov knows what will happen to him once he leaves Parker Center, and so tries to confess to the murders against his lawyer's advice. Brenda's not hearing it. Koslov is violently against leaving the building---so much so that Capt. Taylor sends Flynn and Sanchez in to help Gabriel restrain him. Capt. Taylor advises Pope, who has witnessed the entire episode from the monitors just outside interrogation, "to call the FBI...in about three hours." "Three hours?! He'll be dead by then," Pope cries. "No," says Taylor, "he'll be buried in three hours. He'll be dead as soon as he leaves the building."

Later, Brenda greets Fritz at the house where Zoya was found murdered. Seems the owners are eager to sell...and Brenda's planning to buy it. Fritz remarks that Koslov was found dead a few hours after he left the Parker Center, and the yet Koslov empire remains strong. Brenda tells him not to have hard feelings...she's giving them a replacement snitch, and hands over her dossier on Booth. Fritz is visibly ticked that the feds case is blown, but still ponders the mystery that is Brenda and their relationship as he leaves her to get rid of the pesky cat that insists on living in her new house.


Copyright horatiofrog 2006----My original post at tv.com

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