This week’s episode kicks off in what I can only describe as a gorgeous museum/art gallery with the kind of giant windows that people love and birds just hate. The irony of this description will become apparent soon. Anyway: plot! One of the employees walks around turning off lights and exhibits, but unfortunately for her, she’s not alone: a large man in grade-A sneaking around clothes breaks in, lures her upstairs by breaking a glass, and then attacks her when she comes to investigate. The next morning, when her coworkers show up, they find her stuff still by the front door, followed by the smashed glass, and, unfortunately, her body. Queue Piet (who for some reason stayed up all night staring at a fire instead of sleeping) rolling up to fetch Hassell: there’s officially a murder to solve.
Arriving at the scene, Hassell helpfully points out that Piet’s car is about to blow a gasket, which he incorrectly hears as a comment about his weird mood.
Hassell: I meant the car, which is neglected. Are you taking care of it?
Me: We are talking about the car, right?
Piet: Doesn’t matter, I’m ignoring the question either way.
Inside, we learn that the victim’s name was Gerda, that Hendrik is planning to act like that cough is totally gone and no big deal, and that the CCTV one would expect at a conference center like this one was turned off just after midnight. We also find out that Gerda has pulled a A Study In Scarlet and written COB (or perhaps COL) on the floor in her own blood. Gerda’s family live out of the country, but she and her partner Flinn have a home downtown, so the goth besties head there to find him. Flinn, however, isn’t at home: he’s at a pool hall getting drunk. It turns out that Flinn and Gerda were on a break, so he hasn’t seen her in a few days. Even for someone in his situation, he’s acting weird, and the goth besties call him out on it.
Flinn: Ok look: Gerda had been acting strange lately. Hard to describe, but she’s been different.
Piet: Could Gerda have been cheating?
Flinn: … maybe.
Eddie, meanwhile, questions Gerda’s coworkers. They don’t know what she was trying to write, and say that because they were preparing for a big conference, more people than usual could have been there the previous evening. Their work is ecological activism, but they claim that since they’re not extremists, they don’t have enemies.
This becomes slightly harder to believe when the goth besties escort Flinn back to his apartment to look around, and find out that the building has been broken into. Piet and Hassell tell Flinn to wait outside and head upstairs, where Gerda and Flinn’s door is wide open. Inside, they find the apartment tossed, and Flinn (who ignored Piet and followed them up) tells them this doesn’t make any sense: Gerda had nothing to hide. Lucky for Flinn, who’s looking more suspicious by the second, he has an alibi: he was at work the previous evening until 3AM.
Back at the station, Piet tells Eddie to check out Flinn anyway. First, Eddie explains that Gerda campaigned against wildlife trafficking, which is apparently a hugely profitable criminal activity, which starts to explain how she might make an enemy! Gerda was particularly interested in bird crime, which is apparently a thing. While the CCTV inside the building was disabled, there WAS a road camera nearby, and that’s how Eddie comes to have photos of three potential suspects. Weirdly, one of these potential suspects looks suspiciously like a musician named Cobie who went missing a few years back and was presumed dead (her car was found near a flooded river and she had suffered from depression). Eddie tells the others that he’s convinced Cobie faked her own death to get out of the pressure of going on tour, and also that he was kind of a big fan. But what does this have to do with Gerda? It’s just a CCTV photo, says Piet! Well I’ll tell you: it could explain why Gerda wrote COB on the floor, for one.
Eddie returns to the crime scene to talk to Gerda’s coworker Danielle some more. Danielle explains that Flinn wanted to monetize Gerda’s passion for bird campaigning by creating a charity to fundraise. Since Flinn seemed more interested in making money than the cause, the activists turned him down. Eddie also shows Danielle the CCTV photos. She agrees that the photo looks like Cobie, but hasn’t seen her around. She HAS, however, seen the man in the sneaking-around outfit before: at a conference in Sweden. The man had talked to her colleague Jay, and Danielle remembers this because the mystery man was weirdly cagey about sharing his real name. Instead, he asked them to call him Meatball.
The fact that there’s literally a man called Meatball in this episode isn’t the only weird revelation we’re about to get. See, it turns out that Jay and Flinn have a stash of money hidden inside the building. A stash of money that’s owed to some people who Flinn is very eager to NOT upset, else they come after him and Jay next. This might explain why Jay pretends he has no idea who the man in the CCTV photo is, and that he doesn’t know any Meatball.
Back at the office, Piet and Hassell return to the question of how they’re going to find a notoriously missing person. They’re stumped (fair, I guess) but Piet has found some compelling evidence to back the idea that Cobie might have faked her own death. This still doesn’t explain how Cobie could possibly be connected to Gerda, or why she’d come out of hiding to do a murder. This means that they’ll have to speak to Cobie’s dad, which is going to be tricky: he remains convinced that his daughter is alive. The goth besties head out to conduct said interview, agreeing on the way that they won’t show him the CCTV photo and give false hope. Cobie’s dad isn’t home, but his neighbor helpfully tells them that he’s at his workshop, and where to find it. It turns out to be a bit of a hike from his home, so the goth besties set out, discussing the case on the way.
Piet: Oh, I totally get choosing to disappear. Except for the part where it’s so hard on the families. Why stay missing?
Hassell: Might be too hard to go back… they might see it as a form of self care? Mental health is tricky.
Arriving at the workshop, the two immediately have to give Cobie’s dad bad news: they officially don’t have a new lead and aren’t there to ask about Cobie. He’s not that interested in talking to them after that, even when they explain they’re there about a murder. Piet tells him that Gerda was a bird advocate, and, from looking around, it’s clear that Cobie’s dad is also a fan of our feathered friends.
Cobie’s dad: Birds were Cobie’s passion. They calmed her down.
Piet: Shouldn’t your pet here be in the forest, not in a cage?
Cobie’s dad: I mean, we domesticate a lot of different animals? This bird was born in captivity. If she were released she might not know how to survive. I’m keeping her for Cobie, when she gets back. She’s not dead. You know that, right? She’s not.
Hassell: If you believe that, why do you think she’s still missing? Why not let you know she’s ok?
Cobie’s dad: I don’t know. I just want her back.
Piet, breaking the agreement to not show the CCTV image: This was taken last night. It might not be her. Please do not share this information with anyone, and I need to be honest: your daughter is our prime suspect in this murder investigation.
Obviously Cobie’s dad doesn’t believe his daughter is a murderer. Parents, am I right? And speaking of parenting, Piet uses the walk back to the car to hassle Hassell about that thing where she said she might want to have kids. Hassell, who can clearly sense the bone-deep discomfort this is causing her bestie, takes the opportunity to mess with him.
Hassell: Yeah, I totally do want to have a baby. I’ve decided to look for a donor, and I want someone I know. Someone with good bone structure and genes and who wears a lot of black clothing might work.
Piet: Um. Uh. What about someone with a sense of humor, that’s good right?
Hassell: Well that certainly wouldn’t describe you right now, so…
Piet: Oh my god you’re messing with me. RUDE.
Hassell: Yeah, obviously I’m messing with you! You’re being so weird about this, what are you, my grandmother?
Piet: Point taken.
Meanwhile, at the office, Eddie is revealing himself to be a BAD singer (and a bigger fan of Cobie than he let on). When the goth besties return, Piet tells everyone to look over Gerda’s computer (searching for connections to Cobie), and Eddie one-ups everyone by already having found an important clue. Remember Meatball? He’s a known bird smuggler and loan shark, and Gerda was part of a sting operation that sent him to jail. Before they can digest that bit of news, Eddie gets a notification online: Cobie’s dad published the CCTV picture on his blog. Honestly, that probably shouldn’t be too surprising. By contrast, Hendrik throwing an autopsy report at Piet and practically running away rather than talk it over? Now THAT’S surprising. Maybe it’ll finally get the crew to ask our friend some questions, but given how many of them are weirdo loners, I doubt it.
Hendrik heads down to the morgue to play his saxophone whilst glowering at the body cooler, which I hate. Eddie goes to the bar to Tom Sawyer Cliff into helping with bird research. And the goth besties go back to talk to Cobie’s dad, instead finding his neighbor, who tells them that he went off to follow a lead: a tipster told him where the photo was taken. We also meet someone new: a young man who’s hanging out with the neighbor and doesn’t hesitate to tell the cops how much of a mistake it was to show Cobie’s dad that picture. Cobie’s dad needs to move on with his life! Cobie wouldn’t have wanted this! It turns out that this guy is the neighbor’s son Jesse, who grew up next to Cobie and thus knew her pretty well.
Hassell: So do you think she’s dead?
Jesse: Yes. She ALWAYS called me on my birthday, no matter where she was. She wouldn’t miss it. She’s gone.
Next stop? Returning to the crime scene, where Cobie’s dad is indeed showing the photo to anyone who will talk to him. Piet tells him off, but he’s being surprisingly chill about the whole thing. While they talk, Dahlman’s dog Sniffer notices something that Piet misses: Jay sneaking a mysterious bag out the side door. On Sniffer’s whine, Piet lets her off leash, and because she’s a very good girl, she quickly stops Jay so that Hassell and Piet can take him and his enormous bag of cash into custody.
In interrogation, Jay claims that he’s only a middle man for a hot second before he caves and tells the squad that yes: he’s done some bird smuggling in his day. No big deal! It was only songbirds! He claims that the money was payment for that, but based on the convo we heard earlier, I doubt it. Hassell and Piet pepper him with questions, but Jay keeps insisting he doesn’t know what happened. He does, however, finally give up Meatball’s address. The crew jumps in Piet’s car to head over to Meatball’s surprisingly cool place. Looking around, Piet surprises Meatball in the bedroom. Meatball isn’t about to go quietly, however, and runs out the back door, hitting Eddie in the process. All three pursue Meatball, and after an intense chase they finally catch up to him. He tells them that he is innocent, but he did see someone last night at the conference center. He’s about to explain… when out of nowhere a car swerves over and hits Meatball. Piet shoots at the car, and Eddie runs to get the plate number, but it’s too late: Meatball is dead.
Who did Meatball see? Was Cobie actually involved in the murder? Will Hendrik ever come clean to the rest of the crew? We’ll just have to watch the second half of this episode to find out.
