In this episode, a woman that’s been in a catatonic state since the suicide of her employer ten years ago finally speaks, saying just one word: “Murder.” Max pushes to reopen the suicide case and this causes conflict with Jimmy, who was the lead investigator on the case ten years ago. Thomas Ryan is quite good as the surviving husband of the suicide (?) victim and Skerritt is particularly good here as he’s forced to wrestle with the accusation that his earlier investigation was sloppy and his mixed emotions at dragging up a bad event in the town’s history after everyone has healed from it. This episode does eventually get pretty cartoonish because, as the first season’s Halloween episode, it wants to ape some horror movie clichés. A late sequence in a spooky old house comes with shrieking strings, thunder booms and lightning flashes which is all in good fun, but kind of undercuts the serious drama of the early part of the episode. Still, a great premise, some nice character work and an intriguing twist. 3 stars.
tl;dr – Halloween episode goes for scares as a cold case gets reopened; fine character work and performances, but the serious elements are undercut by a late episode detour into comedy. 3 stars.