WILD CARDS – Episode 305 – Hot Tub Death Machine (limited spoilers) ⁓

Pretending to be Max’s cousin Cheyenne, Vivienne (Tamara Taylor), invites Cole (Giacomo Gianniotti) to dinner, surprising George (Jason Priestley) and Max (Vanessa Morgan), and making Ricky (Fletcher Donovan) even more suspicious of her than he already was. When ‘Cheyenne’ tells Cole about the shared love she and Max had for a series of Vampire novels called Dead of Night, Cole figures out who she really is because Max had, some time ago, told him the same story about her mother. Max realises the possibility of that, hopes Cole didn’t notice, and changes the subject to the unsolved murder case they’re working on.

Crab puffs (Crab Rangoon) is served as an appetizer, and the main course is Baked Ziti, paired with a wine Ricky describes as “something assertive, a little leathery and a touch unrefined. Like if Christian Grey grew up in Bordeaux”, most likely a Cabernet Sauvingnon from Bordeaux’s Left Bank region.

The victim is Sylvia Redfern, an “agent of confidential interests, specializing in high-level contingencies and solutions”, who was electrocuted in the hot tub on the roof of her penthouse condo shortly after ordering takeaway. What she ordered was Miso Black Cod with truffle soy pearls (pseudo-caviar likely combining black truffle pearls with soy pearls) Before the food arrived, someone dropped Sylvia’s plugged-in portable radio into the water with her. It is quickly established that no one could possibly have entered the condo at the time of the killing.

The main suspects are:

— Adrian (Robel Zere), Sylvia’s project co-ordinator.
— Spencer Thorne (Kurt Evans), a billionaire, who was thinking of running for Mayor, and hired Sylvia to look into his opposition.
— Margot Thorne (Alana Hawley Purvis), the billionare’s wife.
— Robert Lang (Jeffrey Joseph), one of Thorne’s opponents in the mayoral race.
— Bobbi Carmichael (Sarah Surh), the realtor who sold Sylvia a new home in the Bahamas just before she died.
— Leon (Madison Ryne Smith) the concierge who found the body. His real name is Orrin Kryst a two-time convicted felon.

The mystery is solved when George connects items in the police reports from the night of the killing (laser beams flashing from north to south) with experiences he and Vivienne had with a Sheik Habib in Dubai. The solution involves falcons, lasers, and the past sneaking up on people, though not exactly like it did in the 2010 comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine”.

Once the case is resolved, Cole tells Max he knows ‘Cheyenne’ is her mother. Max edits the truth a little, and explains that Vivienne got on the wrong side of Gedeon Vargas (see “Rack’Em Up” – episode 301), and could only return home after he was dead. “She was protecting us,” Max tells Cole. “If he would have found out she had a family, then we all would have been in danger! Look, I know I should have told you before. Half my life, I thought that my mom was dead. And then one day I find out that it’s all a lie. Some days I’m filled with so much gratitude that she’s back. And other days I hate her for what she put me through.”

When Cole asks exactly when Vivienne came back into Max’s life, she drops the bigger bomb. “Two months ago,” she answers. “The night you left. I was headed out the door to meet you, and there she was. That’s the reason I didn’t show up on the boat. Sorry. I probably shouldn’t have told you that.”

Later, over some Lapsang Souchong, Ricky and Max worry that Vivienne’s spontaneity might screw up the planned diamond heist. Max’s mug changes colour as the tea warms it, and that gives her an idea. “I know how we’re going to get the diamond out,” she says. “With magic”.

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All episodes of WILD CARDS can be streamed on CBC Gem in Canada and on The CW website in the US.