Face Value (Season 2, Episode 5)
Premise: Toronto detectives find that a couple shot in a staged robbery were targeted by someone far closer than the gang it was meant to implicate.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 2, Episode 5
- Starring
- DS Henry Graff (Aden Young), DS Frankie Bateman (Kathleen Munroe), Insp. Vivienne Holness (Karen Robinson), DCA Theo Forrester (K.C. Collins)
- Guest stars
- Joshua Dela Cruz as Jerome Ábalos, Von Flores as Rod Ábalos, Catherine Thomas as Gloria Ábalos, Ashton James as Luc Francis
- Director
- Sharon Lewis
- Writers
- Stephen Cochrane
Summary
The Case
“Face Value” begins as Rod and Gloria Ábalos tell their son, Jerome, that they have cancelled a trip to the Philippines to attend his master’s graduation in psychology. Two days later, intruders smash into their import business; Gloria locks Jerome in a closet, and both parents are shot. The safe was opened, yet the couple were killed anyway in a sloppy imitation of a gangland execution, and their pockets and purse were searched. Jerome says the killers never spoke.
The business brought in pet food for Sam Leung, head of the Ghosts, whose son, Hao, threatened Rod after he refused to import protected turtles. Leung denies any part in it, mentions vandalism and threatening calls, and warns that he will find the killers first. A bumper sticker on a getaway car leads a hockey coach, Manny, to name two former players, Bo Lennox and Carlos Rodriguez, who are arrested with cash from the safe. Told that Leung is hunting the triggerman, Bo names Luc Francis, a fired employee, as the man who hired them by text.
Guns are found in Luc’s grandmother’s crawlspace, but Luc says Rod framed him for theft for befriending Jerome, who spent a night out with Bo and Carlos. The text telling the pair to dump the guns came an hour after the detectives asked Jerome about former employees. His supposed professor has never heard of him: Jerome was never enrolled, faked his receipts and degrees, and once staged a graduation with paid actors. After the detectives tell him they need the phone used to hire the killers, he is photographed hiding a burner phone at Luc’s grandmother’s house, then told it has been found and arrested.
The Interrogation
Bo’s taped statement is thrown out after his lawyer argues it was made under threat. The note “Dr. Fooi” in Rod’s notebook proves to stand for family-of-origin issues and leads to a therapist: Rod knew about the lies and wanted help talking to his son. At trial, several of defence lawyer Sutton’s objections are sustained as Forrester and Graff push too far, and Graff is warned about a mistrial. Jerome testifies anyway.
Forrester gets Jerome to admit his parents’ pride began with the fake degree, shows him a photo of his mother clutching the closet key and reads Rod’s plea to the therapist for help showing Jerome he was loved. Asked whether his parents would be alive had he known, Jerome says yes.
The ending
Spoiler: Jerome sobs on the stand, asking how he could have known; no verdict is shown. Afterward the question of whether the parents made him what he became is set aside: the result is the same either way.
Suspects’ fates: Jerome Ábalos, arrested; Bo Lennox, arrested; Carlos Rodriguez, arrested.
Why it stands out
- Much of the episode plays out in court, with Graff and Bateman on the witness stand and Forrester cross-examining the accused.
- A riff on Iggy Pop and Milli Vanilli separates a forged document from an outright fake.