Lady Hamilton and Mrs Hyde
WILD CARDS – Episode 304 – Dead Weight (speculative recap) ⁓
Max goes undercover as a fitness instructor
Ridge Rodgers has been murdered. The nine-time world body-building champion was found dead in his gym. He had been struck on the back of the head with a hex dumbell while doing bench presses, causing him to drop a 300 lb weight on his neck. Max (Vanessa Morgan) and Cole (Giacomo Gianniotti) arrive to investigate and Max indicates that physical workouts are alien to her.
Olive
Cole is less than sympathetic. “Jess and I have been getting up and running every morning around 5am,” he says. “It’s a little ritual we started back in Mexico. Getting up with the sunrise and jogging along Caballo beach.” Caballo Beach is about three and a half kilometers west of Xinalani Retreat in Jalisco.
Principal suspects in the death of Ridge Rogers are:
Amy and Colin
– Colin, the gym’s co-owner, who was playing poker and losing heavily at the time of the murder.
– Amy (Jessica Sipos), Colin’s wife, who was at a local cinema watching Jekyll and Hyde (1941) and Frankenstein (1931) when Ridge was killed.
– Julia (Eva Day), a friend of the deceased whose stalker ex-husband Otis (Shane Leydon) was chased away and threatened by Ridge. Julia works at a license office and frequented Ridge’s gym. Ridge asked her to run a plate for him (something Chief Li points out is illegal). The plate was registered to airline pilot Captain Dennis Thornwood (Alex Rose).
– Sheldon Shankman (Ricky Starks) aka Atlas, a fitness influencer. Ridge had Sheldon’s protein drink analyzed and discovered it contained dangerous levels of heavy metals. Atlas took revenge on Ridge by purchasing 500 cockroaches online and turning them loose in the locker room of Ridge’s gym, then posting a video alleging a roach infestation there.
Sheldon Shankman aka Atlas is played by WWE wrestler Ricky Starks.
When she figures out who the murderer is, Max tells Cole: “You are not gonna believe this one.”
Detective Yates (Amy Goodmurphy) points out that a group of cockroaches is properly called an intrusion. It is discovered that Coroner Olive (Manuela Sosa) has Katsaridaphobia, a fear of cockroaches.
Cole piggybacks Olive out of the locker room and away from the cockroaches
We still don’t know Coroner Olive’s last name, nor have we been made aware of Detective Yate’s first name. Yates seems to go out of her way to convince everyone in the department, especially Max, that she has a complete disregard for protocol. At the end of this episode she takes Max for a joyride in the Shelby GT 350 Ford Mustang that’s been kept in lockup since “Con in 60 Seconds” (episode 2.1).
Using the name Lady Harding, Vivienne (Tamara Taylor) persuades a hotel concierge to open the safe in the hotel room of the actual Lady Harding. She extracts a card, transfers its data to another card, then puts it back. Once the concierge leaves she decides to steal a Rolex from the safe and present it to her husband George (Jason Priestley) as a gift. He declines to accept it.
Julia
George’s anger at his wife for faking her own death has not abated, and he tells her he doesn’t think their relationship can ever be the way it once was. Spontaneously stealing the Rolex might well compromise the planned diamond heist. If the watch is discovered to be missing, the concierge can certainly ID Vivienne, but George doesn’t mention that. After her encounter with George, Vivienne phones Cole, who is on his way back to his boat and a fish dinner being prepared by Jessica. “Cole Ellis,” she says. “You don’t know me but I think it’s time we met.”
Vivienne’s actions are puzzling, but if her choice of Lady Harding as an alias is a film reference (and there have been a few of those in this series) it might refer to the 1914 movie The Idler, and the Lady Harding in that had unquestionably honourable motives.
Miscellaneous Info
Alyson Pickett did the stunt driving for Amy Goodmurphy in this episode.
A recent investigation by Consumer Reports determined that more than two-thirds of the protein powders and shakes they tested contained a single serving with more lead than CR food safety experts deem safe for daily consumption and some had more than ten times the limit.
The car Yates and Simmons drive to the defensive driving course and to visit Julia is a 2014 Dodge Charger four door SXT Sedan likely with the 3.6 litre V-6.
This was the second Wild Cards episode written by Alexandra Zarowny and directed by Amanda Tapping. The other one was “Romancing the Egg” (episode 1.10).