Professor T Gets a Day Pass in "The Perfect Picture"
The second episode of Professor T’s third season features a clever opener that intercuts between Jasper approaching the therapy room, where he finds his mother Adelaide waiting instead of Dr. Goldberg, and the murder of the week, with an employee seeing a young bride floating dead in a hotel pool, a conflation of unpleasant surprises. Her son’s condition takes her aback while Jasper berates her for the inappropriate use of the therapy room. Adelaide wants to know what happened and why he won’t defend himself. Jasper won’t tell her in case she’s called to testify. Adelaide deduces he’s protecting Christina, warning him his silence looks like an admission of guilt and his Cambridge professorship is in jeopardy.
Adelaide appeals to the Dean next, demanding he use his power to secure Jasper’s position. However, it’s dependent on Jasper’s case; the deans already petitioned the university board for Jasper to keep his job no matter the outcome, but he was the only one in Jasper’s corner. Near the end of the episode, Adelaide confronts Christina at the police station. “Have you visited Jasper yet? He’s been beaten up, he’s emaciated, his nerves are shredded! How can you let this happen?” She makes it clear she knows Jasper’s covering for Christina.
Inspector Hines (Jamie Maclachlan) interviews Christina again and reveals a recording of her phone call asking Simon to meet in her office. Having previously denied luring him there, she admits she planned to arrest him. Simon also said that Jasper showing up with a rifle was “obviously planned” and implicates Christina and Jasper as lovers. Simon claims Jasper pointed the rifle in his face, and if he hadn’t grabbed the barrel, he’d be dead. The case focus shifts from Christina to Jasper when Simon’s prints are found on the barrel, corroborating his version of events. It’s no longer just a case of discharging a gun in a police station – now it’s attempted murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life. Christina believes Hines is just trying to scare her into confessing, but Rabbit isn’t convinced.
