Life Episode 1.05 The Fallen Woman

Constance calls Crews in tears, and he rushes to her office. There's a broken vase on the floor, and she's got a bloody lip. She admits that Cudahy hit her when she told him she couldn't get him a settlement like Crews'. He was right about Cudahy, but she just wanted Cudahy to be Crews. All those years Crews was hers, but now he's not. Crews holds Constance and tells her everything's going to be okay.

A young woman wearing a little black dress and fake angel wings plummets out of a hotel room onto a car parked on Hollywood Boulevard. Stark is already on the scene managing a growing crowd. Witnesses claim she just fell from the sky. Dani thinks she came from an open hotel window with billowing curtains, but the manager claims the room was empty. Media coverage of the fallen angel is already on TV.

Back at the precinct, the crazies are lined up to make statements, but the first guy in line, unassuming Jasper, keeps giving away his place. A woman "sees" that Dani has lost her faith; it's waiting for her if she wants it back. Crews asks Stark for a favor, to compile a list of Cudahy's known associates. On the way to investigate another fallen angel, Crews puts a plastic angel on the dashboard of Dani's car. She throws it out the window, so he accuses her of being hostile, but she claims she's not even close to hostile.

Two kids throw a mannequin with wings out the window. Crews wants to let them go, but Dani's pissed that they have wasted her time, and they'll pay for that. Crews visits Cudahy's pal Ron, offering cash for Cudahy's location. When Ron can't remember, Crews dislocates his finger - pain clears the mind. Ron agrees to make some calls, so Crews fixes his finger.

Back at the station, Crews notices that Jasper's still in line, so he and Dani pull him out. Jasper's afraid he'll find out bad news if he gets to the front of the line, and pulls out a picture of the dead angel. It's his Russian wife, Lena. He finally admits they met two years ago at Ritual, a bar wher older men go to meet Russian women. He had to pay every month, not at first, and...Jasper wants to go home.

Screaming to make sure the door is locked, Jasper claims it all started the night he was married. A guy said he owed for time with Lena, and that he would have to pay $10,000 a month to stay with her, otherwise he would beat her and make her live in a cage like a dog. The cops persuade Jasper to give them one name - Roman. But the name Roman is like "John" in Russia, so their search doesn't yield much.

Davies explains that Lena was a "Natasha," the same term used to refer to this popular long con favored by the Russians. She has a lot of respect for guys like Roman, and tells Dani and Reese they should too - or Roman will feed them to his dogs. Dani and Crews proceed to Ritual, where Crews picks up stunning Russian Julia. She tells Crews she can read him - he has new money and he doesn't know what to do with it. And she knows that both Crews and Dani are cops.

Julia claims she didn't know Lena very well, but Crews thinks that she did and that she knows Roman. Julia admits that Roman isn't like everyone else. Born in a Russian prison, he has been to hell, and has no fear. They will never be able to hold him. He will find them. Crews stops by Constance's office. She's packing up, moving away from her husband and Crews to take a case in New York City - tomorrow.

Roman doesn't actually own Ritual, but has been mixed up in a lot of crime including black marketing gas and dog fighting, and has never been indicted. Dani and Crews wait outside Ritual with a SWAT team. No one's sure if Roman is there or not, so Crews and Dani finally go in to find Roman waiting for them alone in the empty club. Back at the precinct, Davies informs that sociopath Roman is wanted in Russia in connection with five murders.

Roman knows deep history on both Dani and Crews. With mere words he easily picks Dani apart, asking her how rehab is going. She went undercover, got hooked and took a junkie lover - what ever happened to him? Just as Dani is beginning to loose it, Crews intervenes and tells Roman to look at him when he is speaking. Roman explains he had no interest in killing Lena - he's a businessman. His expensive lawyer comes to get him released, since there's nothing to tie Roman to Lena. On the way out, Roman asks Crews what happens if it was the cops that set him up?

Dani and Crews return to the hotel. On the way, Crews tells Dani she lost her faith because of the guy, not the drugs. She admits that she lost her faith so long ago, she's not sure if she ever had it. Hotel maintenance guy Stan was paying off his tattooist, Oliver with passkeys. Oliver hasn't been to work in a few days, and his car shows up in back of the hotel. Dani and Crews bust into his apartment, which is stuffed with angels, to find a beautiful photo portrait of Lena wearing angel wings.

Crews and Dani leave Julia in the interrogation room with the portrait of Lena, and it takes several hours for a tear to run down her cheek. Julia explains that Lena was in love with punk kid Oliver, and was planning to run away with him. She was only 23 and wanted to be young. If Roman found out, he would kill her to set an example. But what happened to Oliver? Claiming that she will die if she tells, Julia explains that according to Roman, death would be too good for a man who stole his property.

Crews and Dani question Jasper. From Jasper's fearful reaction the last time, Crews figures Jasper must have been beaten by Roman, and knows the whereabouts of his dogs. Jasper was blindfolded, but he does remember the pervasive odor of gas. Dani and Crews raid the warehouse where the dogs are held to find Oliver locked in a cage. He saw Roman throw Lena out the window and is willing to testify.

A beaten Roman is led through the station in handcuffs. Before Dani and Crews can question him, he's gone. Dani mouths off at a Homeland Security Agent who has released Roman - he's just too valuable to them, and the information he provides saves many lives. Crews locates Cudahy, and beats him in a men's room. Roman calls Crews, telling him to ask his partner about the Bank of LA shootout from 15 years ago. What happened to all that money? And which partner does Roman mean?