Prime Suspect Episode 1.01 Pilot

Detective Jane Timoney is jogging around the Central Park reservoir, and it's not going well. She's short of breath, coughing and just this side of dry heaves. It's her first day off the cigarettes. Abandoning fitness, she calls her boyfriend Matt while hailing a cab. The driver blasts his radio, talks at top volume on his phone... and then lights a butt. When her repeated interjections are ignored, Jane slaps her badge and gun against the partition, demanding the cabbie put out his cigarette - NOW! Matt suggests Jane might want to try a nicotine patch, in hopes of a better day.

'Lead Detective James Keating meets his "beef squad," comprised of Detectives Duffy, Blando and Calderon at an eastside townhouse, where the investigation of a bloody, brutal murder is in progress. Victim Courtney Edgecourt, a mom in her 40s, apparently fought hard for her life - maybe because her two kids were found hiding in the closet of the bedroom where she died. Curtis Hull, the distraught family friend who found her, is sitting by, bloody and in shock, and the kids are upstairs with the nanny. Taking charge, Keating orders the guys to find Courtney's husband, now.

In the squad room, Blando discusses the case with Calderon. Hull has been best friends with Courtney's husband since medical school. They were supposed to be playing racquetball this morning when she was murdered, except the husband was called to surgery. Calderon wonders if playing racquetball isn't code for "nailing your wife." A dry-erase board listing the detectives' names catches Jane's eye, and she immediately butts into their conversation. Last night, her name was at the top of the board, which means she should be lead on this case. So why isn't she? Of course, this isn't the first time her name has been moved, so the guys blame the assigning sergeant. Jane charges into the office of her commander, Lieutenant Sweeney, but he can't reassign the case now. All he can do is promise to make it right - next case down the pike is Jane's. In the meantime, plenty of people on the squad could use a hand.

Jane approaches Detective Eddie Gautier, offering her help. Gautier has a suspect in the interview room. Russell Moss, who's currently pretending to be deaf, is suspected of throwing his date off the roof of a building on 152nd Street. Since Gautier grabbed him off the street, he needs Jane to go to a homeless shelter way way out in Brooklyn to pick up Moss' stuff. Great. Nevertheless, Jane makes the most of her task, buddying up with the shelter's security guard, Ray Moresco. Apparently, Moss has a cousin Robert who just got out of jail and has been staying at the shelter too. Realizing Moresco has no interest in narcing on Robert, Jane deputizes him with a made-up pledge, a salute and her card.

Back at HQ, Jane attends an informational meeting where SVU Detective Frank Tkachenko runs down a serial rape case he's working on the east side. Jane approaches him as the meeting breaks up. Has Tkachenko noticed that his rapes are clustered around the location of the townhouse murder? Tkachenko hasn't. Furthermore, the rapes are all "push-in" attacks, the vics all in their 20s. Courtney doesn't fit the MO. Keating and his best friend Duffy sidle up to the conversation, and the rest of the squad follows suit. Keating loves the townhouse case because it's the kind of case where "the grade is made." For Jane's benefit, Keating and Duffy launch into their story: a squad is only as good as its "Beef Trust," made up of the kind of men who don't bang bureau chiefs to transfer out of Midtown. The Beef Trust can't flutter their eyelashes to get what they want. All they can do is work, which is why they deserve the good cases - nay, all the cases.

Later at home, Jane meets with Matt and his ex-wife Tricia to discuss setting up overnight visits with their six-year-old son, Owen. Jane's trying to be polite, but Tricia's whiny hyper-vigilance is more than mildly annoying. They need to wall mount the TV, get rid of the boiling water spigot on the kitchen sink, and Jane shouldn't use her phone around Owen. When Tricia brings up the subject of guns, Matt claims Jane locks up her gun at work. Jane takes Tricia into the bedroom and introduces her gun safe, which is chock full of weaponry. No one can get into it, but if Tricia's still uncomfortable, Jane will take care of it. As Tricia stalks out of the room, Matt gives Jane the hairiest of eyeballs. Why did she have to do that?!

Keating and Duffy meet Sweeney in his office to discuss the townhouse murder while drinking Jameson from jelly jars. The autopsy says Courtney was raped; now they just need to wait for DNA results on the semen. Regardless, Keating still suspects Hull. Sweeney switches topics to Jane, who was transferred to their squad for her good detective work and not for her rumored affair with big NYPD cheese Dan Costello. When Sweeney claims he's not a stooge, Keating agrees; what Sweeney is, is a survivor. But a woman on the squad is a roadside bomb. Suddenly, Keating's rant is interrupted by a serious heart attack, and he slams to the floor. Meanwhile, Jane hooks up with her old buddy Detective Evrard Velerio, who's just been transferred to the squad. Convinced the townhouse murder was committed by the serial rapist, she wants his help getting the names and addresses of the victims.

The next morning, Duffy enters the squad room with his best friend's belongings in a plastic bag. Keating died while being prepped for surgery. Everyone's wrecked with shock, except for Jane, who spies her name in first position (for once) on the dry-erase board. Trying to be diplomatic, she approaches Sweeney, but the timing's all wrong. Grief-stricken, Sweeney lays into her for insensitivity and possibly conniving to get the townhouse murder case that should have been hers to being with, then kicks her out of his office. Arms loaded with gun cases, Jane proceeds to her father Des' apartment to drop them off and confess to asking for Keating's job, convinced she's made an enemy of Sweeney for life. Des assures Jane that her instincts are good. Who cares what the guys think? Meanwhile, Sweeney tells an irate Duffy that he's giving Jane the townhouse murder case.

Jane harangues her dad - he's got to stick with their quit smoking program! They thought he had cancer, remember? They're quitting together. That's when her phone rings - she's got the case! It's not long before Jane's standing before the entire squad, saying the best way to honor Keating's memory is to close his case fast. Loyal to Keating's memory, the guys still suspect Curtis Hull. Duffy suggests Jane dive into the case. She could go out to the Bronx to interview the Edgecourts' housekeeper... On the way, Jane stops off to talk to Hull. Why didn't he tell the other detectives he'd been charged with soliciting male prostitutes? That way, they could see he'd never rape a woman. Hull knows the male detectives didn't want to see what the DNA results will prove. He's not guilty, but now the Edgecourt kids, his godchildren, think he is. Disgusted, he invites Jane to leave and never come back.

Jane and a none too happy Calderon proceed to the townhouse. Jane establishes that no one ever called in a child psychologist, which means that whatever the kids told the detectives is open to being called coerced. Calderon insists that everyone was satisfied when the kids said they didn't see anything. The nanny opens the door, so Jane instructs Calderon to call the psychiatrist, Dr. Hynes, then proceeds to the bedroom. Clearly, the kids could see what happened under the closet door. Twenty minutes later, Jane interviews Caleb and Paulina with Dr. Hynes. When she spies Caleb drawing a picture of a gun, she pulls hers out, empties the magazine, checks the chamber and puts it on the table, inviting him to pick it up. She thinks he's drawing guns because he's thinking about using them, which Caleb confirms. He would kill that guy with a gun like Jane's.

Afterward getting Caleb's description of the murderer, Jane stuffs nicotine gum in her mouth as Calderon admits to being wrong. Back at the precinct, she reports back to the rest of the squad. As of now, Curtis Hull is off the table. They're going back to square one. Later, Jane and the squad meet with Tkachenko, asking if he'll let some rape victims take a look at the sketch based on Caleb's description. But he's not willing to help Jane solve the case, especially if it means solving his own. Back in the squad room, Duffy demands everyone attend a boxing fundraiser being held that night for Keating. Gautier will be fighting, so Jane wishes him luck. That night at the fundraiser, everyone's enjoying the match while Duffy sits alone at the bar nursing a whiskey. He's furious to spy Jane holding up the sketch on TV and announcing Curtis Hull is no longer a suspect.

Jane shows up at the boxing match and finds her squad cheering Gautier, who's just knocked out his opponent. She offers to buy the guys a drink, and they proceed to a bar, where Duffy lays into her in a fury. Jane's money is no good. Keating's heart exploding was the best thing that ever happened to her, so she should stop expecting his guys to respect her. Duffy wouldn't give her the sweat off his stones. Jane faces the music, but the rest of the guys, including Sweeney, follow Duffy as he huffs out the door. Jane goes home and wakes up Matt. She knows he's still mad at her, but will he please talk to her for a minute? Crying, Jane climbs into his arms, then stays up late into the night, poring through case files on the bathroom floor. That's when Moresco calls in his so-called deputy capacity. One of the guys at the shelter recognized the man from the sketch Jane showed on TV - and knows where he is.

It's not long before Jane, the squad and a phalanx of emergency vehicles are blocking off the street where the suspect is allegedly hiding out. Jane asks Evrard to make the call in Spanish. The suspect is supposed to be exiting an apartment building, but when he doesn't, Jane asks Evrard to confirm the address - which is actually a block over. Jane slams into a squad car with Evrard and speeds around the block. Spying the guy, she crashes into a parked car, then leaps out to give chase, leaving Evrard to call in their location. Heaving, Jane heads right for the guy, who meets her head on, throws her through a car window, punches her to the ground and strangles her before Blando and Calderon pull him off.

With the serial rapist and murderer of Courtney behind bars, the squad suits up to attend Keating's funeral. In plain clothes, with her face still showing the fresh scars of her terrible beating, Jane extends her sympathy to Duffy. He seems to be softening towards her until he explains that the squad is his home, and Jane's invading it. When Jane suggests Duffy could use a new home, he scoffs. If he did, Jane's not the one who would give it to him.

Later, Jane and Matt meet Tricia and her new husband Doug for dinner. Jane explains that Tricia's list of requirements is complete, now that her guns have been relocated to her father's place. When Tricia starts complaining about the garbage chute in Jane and Matt's building, Matt excuses himself to go to the bathroom. Tricia turns the topic to Jane's beaten face, and the obvious violence of her "policewoman" job. Turning the tables, Jane brings up Doug's burglary charges and Tricia's DUI. Now that she finally has their attention, Jane lays down the law. Jane works terrible hours; she leaves early and arrives late; she gets calls all the time. And for the record, she's a homicide detective, not a policewoman. So, what day will Owen be coming over? Just as Matt returns to the table, Tricia allows that Owen can sleep over on Thursday, thrilling Matt. This round goes to Jane..