Aquarius Episode 1.07 Sick City

It's not quite 10:00 a.m. and Karn has already broken out the office vodka. His partner Banyin joins him for a toast to good news: based on the success of Karn's direct mail campaign, he has been appointed Nixon's campaign finance chair for California! But the glory only lasts a few minutes before both men realize this means the Republicans will have to vet both men and the firm. That's why Banyin has padded a few slobs' paychecks to avoid questions about Manson and the girl who disappeared seven years ago... but this morning, someone asked a question, and that someone is Hodiak, who's staring at Caroline Beecher's file and assigning Detective Sal Dunphy to look into this very cold case.

Emma is playing horseshoes at the spiral staircase house with Roy when a real square-looking guy drives up. Roy's ready to rough him up until he introduces himself as Elliot Hillman, record producer. It's not long before Emma's sitting on Hillman's lap, spooning a joint into his mouth while Charlie spins a fable of his history while showcasing his songs. But when a guitar string snaps, Charlie does too. Claiming it's time to take break, he snatches Emma off Hillman's lap to accuse her of turning him off. Moreover, there's a cop in Manson's head, distracting him, and that's Emma's fault, too. If she knows what's good for her, she'll get back to making Hillman happy, so he stays interested. Chastened, Emma lures Hillman to a bedroom, where rather than seduce him, she starts spewing Charlie's immersive philosophy of love. Claiming he's not prepared for immersion, Hillman thanks her for setting him straight and leaves.

Hodiak finds Grace waiting for him at the precinct, full of apologies for her behavior the last time they saw each other. Hodiak's quick to forgive, and they get right to talking about Manson and Caroline, whose murder wasn't prosecuted since her body was never found. So why did Ken, a first-rate lawyer, defend third-rate pimp Manson? Neither Hodiak nor Grace can come up with a reasonable answer. That night, Shafe meets Butano at the Pink Pussycat. Butano laments that he can't get any "traction," so Shafe offers to hook him up with Roy and his bikers - it could be like having his own private army, with a lot of "traction." Later, Hodiak asks Shafe what's going to happen when Butano starts wondering why he's being so nice. Just then Vickery, Shafe's CI, shows up, freaking out that Pink Pussycat owner Lucille Gladner wants to see him. Maybe she wants to kill him?! Shafe orders Vickery to settle down and call Lucille. Oh, and Vickery's not to trust himself because he's unreliable.

Hodiak receives another visitor, old chum Father Mackelroy, who's concerned that his fellow pastor Father Rowe is stealing from the collection plate. Since Mackelroy wants to spare the parish embarrassment, Hodiak offers to have his buddy, PI Joe Wilson, look into the matter, so no one will know the tip-off came from Mackelroy. Then he's off to the hospital to meet an old friend, Martha Kendall, once a hooker, now a nurse. After stirring up some of their old heat, Hodiak asks whether Martha's heard of Manson, Caroline or a woman named Lois Miller, who reported Caroline missing.

Shafe meets Roy at the Pink Pussycat for a meeting with Butano, which doesn't start off well. Luckily, Butano makes the first move, offering free drinks for all Roy's biker buddies until midnight. Shafe finds Vickery disparaging his fate at the bar. Lucille Gladner has made him her boy toy, and she plays rough. Lucille's not happy either, since it seems Roy and his bikers have taken up residence in her strip club, and for all intents and purposes, Butano is now acting like he owns the place. When she complains he didn't tell her Roy and his buddies are to be treated as special guests, he explains that these particular special guests work for him now, and that's all the notice Lucille needs. Rather than shy away, Lucille settles down on Roy's lap and makes the best of it.

Ken calls Grace to his office to explain that Dick Nixon, America's great white hope, is going to vet them both. Ken is going to do whatever it takes to ensure Nixon is the next president, so he's gonna tell Grace what she's gonna do, and when he's done, he only wants to hear two words. "Yes, dear," she says. Afterwards, Ken drives to the spiral staircase house to tell Emma that he's emancipating her. She wanted to be free, so now she will be, legally. Trying not to cry, Emma asks if this is what her mother wants, then asks Ken about his involvement with Charlie. "Tell me something real for once Daddy, please," she begs. But all he can do is promise to get the paperwork done so they don't have to hurt each other anymore. "Goodbye, Ken," Emma says, turning her back so her father can't see her tears. She stumbles back to the house, where Charlie is angrily ranting at his family, whom he claims has filled him with their fear and weakness. So in a move to center themselves, they're all going to take two tabs of acid right now. Frightened, Emma tries to soothe Charlie. Hillman loves his songs, he's coming back! Hard and unyielding, Manson orders her and the family to eat. the acid. now. It's not the happiest trip, and when a girl named Kitty starts freaking out, Charlie calls for Emma to calm her down. But Emma has thrown away her acid, put on her old, conservative clothes and headed into the hills. Emma's dad is in the hills too, in the middle of nowhere. While flashing back to that night seven years ago when Banyin called him to clean up a big mess, Ken digs up a woman's body.

Hodiak's hungover when Wilson knocks on his door to report on his surveillance of Father Rowe - he's gambling illegally, stealing from the collection plate to play high stakes poker. Hodiak reports back to Mackelroy, who insists he'll talk to Rowe on his own first. He doesn't want to shame Rowe and hopes he'll atone for his sins. And after that, he wants to have a nice long talk about Hodiak's tortured soul... Later that afternoon, Martha stops by the station to tell Hodiak she has nothing to tell him about Manson, Caroline or Lois. Luckily, Hodiak has run across an anomaly in a file: Lois Miller sometimes goes by the name Louise Mitchell, and on an arrest report she offered the same home address as Caroline: 5123 Fountain. Just then, Dunphy announces some real bad news: a local priest has been found strangled in his vestry. Fighting the urge to weep, Hodiak heads over to the church with Cutler, with plans to entrap Father Rowe. When a group of uniformed officers bring Rowe into the church, Hodiak can't help himself. After connecting a few solid hits to Rowe's chin, he stalks off before getting the needed confession.

When Shafe and Butano stop by the Pink Pussycat to hatch a plan for their first big drug deal, Louise greets them with news. The guy delivered the package to the club, which was not according to the original plan. Annoyed, Butano moves to pick up the package to hand over to Roy and the Satans, but Roy's waiting for him with a gun, and in a flash, Butano's brains are splattered across Shafe's face. Looks like the hunt for Guapo, drug kingpin, is back to square one.

That night, Hodiak seeks solace in Martha's arms. He's nearly cheered up when Grace knocks at the door, to apologize again and see if he's learned anything more about Manson. He hasn't, but in the time it takes to get rid of Grace, Martha's up, dressed and ready to go, no apologies needed. Hodiak has one last question - does Martha remember a prostitute named Louise Mitchell? Yes, she does. In fact, they used to run together before Louise skipped town, never to be heard from again.