Fighting seems to be the only thing in common …
Summary: A fighter friend of Sinclair’s is suspected of murdering his competition
Original air date: February 16, 2007 (US)
Written by: J David Harden
Directed by: Alex Zakrzewski
Opening numbers:
50: Milliliters
$39.95: Pay-per-view
3: Taps
1: Champion
Family Concepts: (character development)
- David’s two best friends growing up in New York were Ben Ellis and Earl Day
- Larry is the five time Texas Hold ‘Em champion at CalSci
- Don has an unlit cigar while playing Texas Hold ‘Em with Charlie
- David doesn’t drink coffee
- Don still thinks about putting the wrong man in prison in ten years ago.
- Claudia Gomez grew up in South El Paso Texas
- Don’s tell is checking his watch
- Amita: What was that? Geek trash talk?
- Colby: you want to get shot, I’m your guy.
- David: The dude has always made me crazy. Ever know anybody like that?
Don: Well you know Charlie, right? - Charlie: He skunked my office, I’m taking him down.
- David: I wasn’t really ready for old home week, ya know.
- Charlie: Can you help me with some surveillance equipment?
Megan: No!
Episode Synopsis:
Ben Ellis is sparring with Pete Munson when Munson goes down after a hit and dies. Ellis is the LAPD’s best suspect since another fighter, Ocvatio Lopez also died while sparring with Ellis before a fight in Las Vegas. Ellis asks LAPD to call David Sinclair as the two grew up together in the Bronx. Sinclair isn’t sure what’s going on and asks Charlie to look at the two lists of people who were at both gyms when the deaths occurred.
Charlie is willing to help, but he is also training for a faculty Texas Hold ‘Em tournament to defend Larry’s title as faculty champ. His training program is hampered when his chief rival Dr Stanley Novich of the Biochemistry department skunks Charlie’s office preventing him from getting into the room or retrieving his computer.
Charlie looks over the data and sees Ellis would move up in the mixed martial arts rankings with both deaths. There is further evidence found against Ellis when a gym bag and his locker show traces of 1080 poison, the same poison that the medical examiner found in Pete Munson’s body, and the Las Vegas coroner found in the body of Octavio Lopez. When David and Colby go to arrest Ellis, he runs.
Charlie is able to locate Ellis based on his calling pattern, the discovery leads Colby and David to one of Ellis’ cousins where he is arrested. He denies owning the gym bag, claiming he’s never seen it before. David doesn’t know whether to believe him or not. Don convinces him to be absolutely sure Ellis is guilty before charging him. David has Dr Gomez run a DNA scan on the gym bag and discovers Ellis was telling the truth, the bag wasn’t his.
With Ellis cleared, the FBI has to go back and looks at the evidence again. Ellis tells David rankings aren’t the only determining factor in deciding who fights whom, Larry Alston the association owner actually has final say in the fight tickets. Charlie looks at the records of previous fights and finds one man, Ken Bainsworth, has had an easy trip to the championship rounds. Megan also discovers the fight association is in financial trouble and the only way out is a Pay-Per-View match between Bainsworth and the champion Tino Alva. Anyone who has a chance at beating Bainsworth to get to the final match has been killed or injured. They discover this just as Ben Ellis is announced to be Bainsworth’s challenger for the title match.
Megan and Dr Gomez discover the mouth guards for both Munson and Lopez were the items contaminated with the 1080 poison. David and Colby are at the fight venue to see Ben’s fight. When Ben wins, they arrest Larry Alston for murder.
Charlie figures out Dr Novich’s tell when Charlie has the professor’s lab door walled up. Armed with this information, Charlie wins the tournament and preserves Larry’s seat for next year’s match.