The Good Pod

Elsbeth Season 3, Episode 16 — Murder, He Wrote — is packed with elder millennial nostalgia, sharp callbacks, and one of the most satisfying villain takedowns of the season. When celebrated crime novelist Elliot Pope, played by Griffin Dunn (yes, Uncle Nicky from This Is Us), silences a devastating critic with a very literal avalanche of bookshelves, Elsbeth finds herself at a book reading eighteen months later, already suspicious. With Cousin Larry himself, Mark Linn-Baker, as the victim and Didi Conn stepping in as the grieving widow, this episode is a love letter to a very specific generation of TV fans. Throw in the return of Lieutenant Connor, a fax machine plot twist, and Alec officially winning the mayor's race — with a breakup to match — and episode 16 has all the good stuff.

00:00 – Welcome to The Good Pod, housekeeping, and how to support the show
06:32 – Recap kicks off with The Mirror Dare — meet Elliot Pope and Cousin Larry
21:57 – The bookshelf murder and Barney's fate
30:00 – Investigation officially reopens at the precinct with Connor back in the mix
50:02 – The book club assembles to read Elliot's books for clues, tuna sandwiches included
01:01:39 – The big arrest and the DNA-on-the-pages reveal
01:09:14 – The Alec for mayor storyline wraps up, Elsbeth and Alec are officially donezo

Enjoyed the episode? Hit subscribe so you never miss a recap! If you love what we're doing, leave us a rating and review — it really helps the show grow. Want to support The Good Pod directly? Buy us a coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/goodpod — every cup keeps the recaps coming. Thanks for listening!

Creators and Guests

Host

Jason Reed

I’m a simple guy with simple interests. Pop Culture, Tv, Movies, Comics. Constantly chasing that nostalgia dragon. Podcaster talking Married At First Sight on A Perfect Match and The Good Wife verse on The Good Pod.

Host

Marissa Garza

MTv never told me the Real World would be like this // podcaster, consultant, and tv watcher

What is The Good Pod?

Calling all fans of courtroom intrigue and complex characters! Join us each week as we dive deep into the gripping world of "The Good Wife," "The Good Fight", "Elsbeth," and the entire legal drama universe created by Robert and Michelle King. Jason Reed and Marissa Garza, break down each episode, unpack intricate plot lines, and analyze the moral dilemmas faced by Alicia Florrick, Diane Lockheart, Elsbeth Tascioni, and their colleagues. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to these addictive shows, you'll gain fresh insights and catch details you might have missed.

Welcome to The Good Pod,

where today we're talking Elsbeth Season

Three, Episode Sixteen, Murder, He Wrote.

I am one of your hosts, Jason Reed.

With me, as always,

the woman that knows that the pen is

mightier than the sword.

Or in this case, the bookcase.

Marissa, Marissa, Marissa, you good?

I'm good, Jason.

Those nibs, they'll get you any time.

The nibs are sharp.

They can get you.

Are you good?

I'm good.

Yeah, here we are.

Episode sixteen.

A lot, a lot happened this episode.

There were a lot of unexpected callbacks,

unexpected cameos in this episode.

So we're going to get into all that.

um but before we do we want to

remind you of some free and easy ways

you can help this podcast you can do

that by reviewing rating subscribing

anywhere you're watching and or listening

this really helps us get into the eyes

and ears of more people out there we'd

also love if you would uh comment on

youtube comment on spotify uh that really

helps us get interactive with uh with all

people listening to this if you have

thoughts you have questions you have

comments we love to hear them we love

to talk about them we'd love to bounce

off of them off of your thoughts and

opinions

So do all that stuff.

It really helps us.

You can also,

if you want to talk to us,

if you're just listening on audio through

Apple,

have a great way to talk to us

through comments.

You can just go to thegoodpodfeedback at

gmail.com and hit us up there.

If you hit us up there,

we will get back to you.

If it's something we can shout you on

the podcast, we'll do that.

Also, hey, I said free and easy.

If you want to help us in some

like not free but still easy ways,

you can go to buymeacoffee.com slash

goodpod and donate any sum you wish to

really help us out with the running of

this podcast.

So yeah,

those are all the housekeeping out there,

Marissa.

Give me your overview,

your big worldview of how you felt about

this episode.

Well, first of all,

it was like packed with people.

Loved it.

Loved seeing all of the guest stars that

we're going to talk about.

Also, I don't know about you, Jason,

but I really did watch a lot of

Murder, She Wrote as a child.

And this is something I have talked to

my therapist about.

But I don't know if you remember on

that show when someone was dead,

there was always a chalk outline.

Is that the origin of the chalk outline

on TV shows?

pretend I'd be like, this is it.

Strike a pose.

You'd be outside with your sister.

Lisa!

You see, go to the sidewalk.

Give me a chalk outline.

Lay down on the sidewalk.

Something like that.

But yeah, I mean like...

um i want to say but like that

show was about an author who wrote books

that's all murders in this case uh they

flipped it a bit so it was a

fun little um a little nod to to

an era gone by in my life i

mean listen an era that else elspeth is

trying to bring back kind of like you

guys you guys always talk about talk crap

about how a lawyer shouldn't be like a

detective well look look at this angela

lansbury character here uh what was what

was the name uh was it i was

It was Jessica.

Yeah, Jessica something.

I totally just blanked on it.

I know if I hear it,

I'll be like, yes, of course.

How can I forget Jessica something or

other?

Oh my gosh.

This is a great time for people to

tell us how wrong we are.

Fletcher.

Jessica Fletcher.

Yep.

As soon as I heard it,

I was like, yep, that's it.

It was like, yeah,

that lady was a book author.

She was solving murders.

So stop hassling me for being a lawyer

solving crimes, okay?

The TV last year was full of people

that don't solve crimes for a living

solving crimes.

So leave me alone.

And

i think i think this this um this

episode in particular is interesting to me

because lately i have been listening to a

lot of books about people that that don't

usually like right now i'm listening to um

a book series by jonathan kellerman um

about a about a psych child psychologist

that solves a lot of you know big

cases and crimes like you wouldn't believe

some of the stuff that happens to this

guy uh dr alex delaware um that i've

been like i've been checking out this book

series uh that started in the eighties and

man it's it's tough because when you read

slash listen because i don't think i've

actually read anything for like at least

twenty years um on on paper uh comic

books don't count um but yeah so i

don't think i've ever i read a physical

book

in a good long time like it's it's

it's happened just take a look yeah

reading rainbow can you tell that this

podcast is run by elder millennials i

think you probably can um but anyway uh

listening to these books from like the

eighties is a hard listen because there's

some things that have really got a style

that are still these books i'm just like

Could be now.

Words and terms and things that are like,

ugh.

And I give it a pass because it

was in a time where you could say

these things and be OK.

That's interesting.

But yeah,

in a lot of these books I listen

to, yeah,

these people that have no business,

being detectives and investigating things

are doing it and fighting murderers and

uncovering big plots.

So this was kind of funny for me.

I've listened to and watched, you know,

Jack Reacher, Alice Cross,

all these book series that I've gotten

into that really reminds me.

And the fact that they talk about the

fact that the character here, Elliot Pope,

the author, like, man,

this guy's not right.

Women.

Well, it's just like,

yeah that happens a lot that happens a

lot and these books that i read are

cool i'm just gonna call it read i

think i feel like it is reading jason

it is like it's scientifically like like

you are reading and also if we think

about it like the first stories that

humans ever told were oral traditions like

it's not like reading is something that

was like not until like the

there's a whole history there but don't

let anyone tell you if you're listening to

audiobooks that you are not reading even

even lavar burton says you're reading so

there you go i mean i feel like

it's a very specific opinion of whether or

not audiobooks count as reading uh so yeah

i'm glad you're on my side of this

yeah you are reading you are so yeah

let's um let's get into the episode we're

going to start as we well

Yeah.

Oh, no, go ahead.

Okay.

We're going to start with The Mirror Dare.

So we open up.

We see someone reading from seemingly

their book.

And who is it?

Someone, Jason.

Someone.

The character's name is Elliot Pope.

He's played by Griffin Dunn,

who if you are fans like us of

This Is Us,

you would recognize him as Uncle Nicky.

um it's definitely like he is part of

jason marissa lore for sure we go way

back with griffin dunn he's an important

part of me and marissa's origin stories as

friends as podcasters i think this is us

was our first of was that our first

official this was our first like i mean

let's let's go back in jason and rissa

time machine time

We were part of a network called Post

Show Recaps,

where if anyone's listening that was from

that time, I know there are some.

Hi, this is your shout out.

Things are just getting started.

Yeah,

we're back in the Post Show Recaps

universe.

We used to go on the Discord and

we used to chat it up about This

Is Us with some other people in that

Discord.

And it got to a level where the

head of that network, Josh Wickler,

was like,

you guys talk about it so much,

why don't you podcast about it?

it was actually i think like someone

requested that there be a podcast and then

josh was like should there be i guess

there could be here you go so it

was definitely a fan we would not be

here if it were not for the fans

yeah it happened so late into the road

it's like okay let's like there's five

episodes left let's talk guys about the

last five or six episodes of this is

us ever um but that was our first

big non like sanctioned like okay let's

just start this thing up so that was

fun for us it really helped us uh

build our rapport and our relationship

with podcasters and friends um so yeah

that was that was that was us and

we both like loved uncle nikki like we

were like it was it was a big

yes so i was like i even texted

you jason i was like jason

it's uncle nicky like he's our uncle yeah

it's uncle nicky and you know uncle nicky

also not a stranger to us because uh

you know he was he's shown up on

the good wife as well as as a

judge we're like when we showed up as

a judge like oh my god it's uncle

nicky judge um so you know he he

was retroactively parts of our lives

before this is us and we didn't even

realize it

oh he was there the whole time he

was there the whole time um and so

yes uh elliot pope is reading from his

book and this comes straight out of these

books i'm talking about where the the man

is this big swaggering guy and then he

finds this woman and he's like

objectifying the woman and the woman turns

out to be like some crazy person that's

going to try and dismember him it was

so loud and bizarre

um and we find out that the person

moderating this little book reading uh is

none other than cousin laddie from perfect

strangers mark lynn baker i was like oh

like this is usually the murder victim is

not usually this famous i know i was

like who's gonna kill who quite honestly

yeah exactly yeah exactly yeah because it

could have been marklin baker aka cousin

larry as the murderer i mean they're both

kind of like up there in the same

level

I mean, that's another one.

Again,

this episode is very elder millennial

coded given the references that we're

going to make because Perfect Strangers,

man, lives deep, deep in my heart.

And I was so happy to see Cousin

Larry.

Cousin Letty and Cousin Ducky,

Perfect Strangers, Marklin Baker.

Also,

I think his other big thing was Leftovers.

Am I correct?

Yeah.

So that was his other.

I think Perfect Strangers and Leftovers.

In that like,

thirty year span of time between Perfect

Strangers and Leftovers,

I don't think he did much,

but he showed up in two very bookend

moments of pop culture.

So he is moderating this panel.

And, you know,

after Elliot reads his little passage,

they have a conversation.

And, you know, Barney's like, hey, man,

like, you're doing great.

You know, you're a successful writer.

Like, I love this.

It's great that we come from the same

small town.

Like, it's awesome.

But, you know,

it seems like you take a lot of

influence from your past in writing these

books.

Yeah.

Elliot's like, hey, no way.

I definitely don't do that.

All the people I write about are made-up

people.

I don't take anything from my past.

How dare you suggest that I cull from

my past as a person, as a writer?

It's almost like he's like...

For the future.

Also,

I do not write from personal experience.

Just FYI,

like none of this is all in my

head.

I'm just like that much of a genius,

but I never take any,

any inspiration from real life in case

you're wondering in the future.

Yeah, I think we'll get a little,

there's a vibe there.

It's like a frenemy vibe of like, yeah,

we knew each other as kids.

Like we were cool, but yeah.

Like Barney doesn't like the fact that,

you know,

Elliot does a bunch of like smut in

his books.

And Elliot's like, okay, well,

who the F are you?

Like I'm a famous writer here, okay?

so after they do the whole panel thing

elliot and barney are like kind of just

uh in in the back room in the

shop in the shop room where you know

in barney's bookstore because barney

barney is both a critic of literature and

also owns a bookshop so that's where this

conversation is happening and they're in

the storeroom of barney's place um elliot

notes um it's kind of uh it's kind

of run down back here you got rats

all the stuff running around back here

cool cool cool

Barty tells Elliot, hey,

thanks for letting me moderate this thing.

It's really fun, really good time.

And Elliot's still a little upset that

Barty suggested that he uses people for

his stories.

He's like,

I don't like that you said that out

there.

And Barty's like, hey,

I didn't mean anything.

Hey,

why don't you let me take a look

at some of your stuff you got coming

up?

Just let me get a sneak peek.

I can give you some pointers,

give you some tips about maybe what you

could work on.

Elliot's like, okay.

Elliot is like,

it's first of all it's handwritten right

like this is where he's like it's

handwritten but he's so intense he like

goes up to barney and like really

threatens him yeah and it's like okay well

and that's a little later as as you

know oh did i skip ahead you know

a little bit just a tad sorry sorry

back on the show go go go

seemingly Barney has convinced Elliot to

give him like a early copy of something

something new he's working on so we we

flash forward a little bit as we find

out it's been about two months Elliot is

is writing some more like he's he's like

writing with a pen on just like yes

loose loose leaf paper it was like yeah

Jason that's interesting yeah I would like

to say as someone who spent time recently

in the current school system this is a

very very lost art

This is also very,

very important work because someday your

computer could blow up.

Also,

you don't necessarily own all of their

stuff if you're putting it in the cloud.

So I would just like recommend just like

getting to remembering how to write some

things down.

Maybe I was working with someone at a

museum recently.

They were writing like five things down

and then they were like, my hand hurts.

I was like, oh, no.

Oh, no.

It's happening.

Listen,

I don't even know if my daughter knows

how to hold a pen.

I have no idea.

These kids don't know how to do it.

I'm like,

what do you mean you don't know how

to write?

They're just typing the whole time.

I will say...

But me, myself,

I don't know how often I've actually

written anything in the last few years.

This is why, again,

I would like to remind everyone of the

Get Jason a Pen Fund because it is

desperately needed as he is just telling

me right now.

It's so sad.

I can't read.

I can't write anymore.

That's where we've gotten.

You're reading your notes.

You're reading.

I mean, you know,

I could be doing this by memory.

Who knows?

But yeah, Elliot is writing his book.

As he said before,

he doesn't use any of his past experiences

or people that he knows.

But in this new thing he's writing,

he's like, and this, you know,

he gave someone this thing and he hasn't

seen or heard from him in two months.

So again, he's using,

he is using his past,

his recent past to influence his current

books.

So we find out through that it's been

about two months and Elliot's like, huh,

I'm gonna go check in with Barney,

see what's going on.

Goes over to Barney's store.

Barney's like, hey, bud, how you doing?

Elliot's like, oh, hey, great, great.

Like, don't ask me about your book.

Hey, how about you,

I got this first edition book.

I'm gonna sell it to cover some of

his rent costs, you know,

the economy and all that.

Elliot's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But about that manuscript I let you

borrow, that I let you read.

What's going on with that?

Bonnie's like, oh, yeah, that.

You don't really want to hear what I

have to say about it, right?

It's all good.

It's like, yeah,

I didn't care when I walked in here,

but now that you try to not say

it, now I want to hear it.

It's such a weird...

process feedback right like like giving it

receiving it trying to do like i gotta

tell you i love i love you peeps

i love the good folks but there are

weeks where i'm like i can't look at

any i can't look at the metrics i

can't look at anything because i don't

want it to like get in my head

in terms of feedback so and i've also

been on in um in barney's position of

I read this or I listened to this

and I have some things to say and

it's such a delicate type of situation to

navigate but on both sides of it as

a podcaster it is a tightrope that you

walk of like I want to see the

feedback I want to see the reviews and

the five star reviews make me feel great

make me feel ecstatic and then you get

a one star review where it's like

my whole life is meaningless.

It's almost like, and I like, everyone,

it's a free country, but it's like,

did you have to leave it?

Like,

did you have to leave the one star?

Like, no star is better than one star,

right?

Like, in your mind,

if it's not that great, like,

just don't say anything.

Like, that's fine.

You could have just said nothing.

It would have been fine.

But yeah, so...

Elliot kind of is like, yeah, yeah,

you know, I didn't care,

but now I kind of care because you're

trying to dodge the question.

So what's up?

But he's like, oh, well, I mean,

the thing is, like,

I didn't I didn't really like it.

I didn't love it.

It's like it's kind of a he says

it's another sad masturbatory exercise

steeped in misogyny and cruelty.

And you once again utilize people from

your past in Massapequa,

the community that we grew up in,

and pretty much took down everybody from

your past, except for your sainted mother.

who you love and who made you tuna

sandwiches.

Everybody else got the short shrift,

but your mother turns out to be as

safe as usual.

He says, it made me want to vomit.

I was like, wow.

Thank you for your service, Cousin Larry.

Always sticking up for us women.

all these years later.

Love it.

And it was like, he went from,

I don't really want to say, to like,

I'm going to tell you about yourself real

quick.

And Elliot did not like that.

This is where he gets real intense and

he goes, well,

I don't even really care about what

someone like you would have to say about

my works.

You're just a wannabe loser of no

importance who wishes he could write,

but is incapable of holding anyone's

interest and your life is worthless.

it was intense he got in his face

he was like he wasn't yelling but he

was like growling words out it was wild

and this is like the second time he

did that because before when he gave him

the manuscript he's like and if you lose

it I will kill you and it wasn't

like I'll kill you you know what I

mean like it was like that is one

thing Uncle Nicky does pretty well he can

get pretty intense

oh yeah for sure we've seen it we

saw him this is us uh so we

we're familiar it wasn't quite like this

but no this was like intense and menacing

yes exactly like intense the intense land

is good land for uncle nikki yeah after

the the intense growling elliot i think

realizes he's gone a little far he's like

but barney's just like okay all right um

Cool, cool, cool.

What about those books that you want me

to sign for you?

Says Elliot.

Go ahead and grab the books you want

me to sign.

And as Barney is getting books off his

bookshelf for Elliot to sign,

Elliot sees himself an opportunity.

And I think he fulfills a wish that

a lot of us have when we're in...

I mean, not the murder part,

but when you're in a library or a

bookstore,

you just kind of want to tip over

the bookshelves and see the domino effect.

You don't have that thought?

I mean,

I know you can't see in your mind's

eye to see that,

but for those of us that do,

I think a lot of us...

envision this fantasy of what would it

just be like if I just knocked over

this bookshelf and what would the effect

be for all the other bookshelves?

Is that just me?

Is that just my dark part?

I get that.

I get it.

But I would feel like who's going to

clean that up?

And my eldest daughter responsibility

would definitely come in and prevent me

from thinking any further about that.

I would do it and run.

Marissa would do it and be like,

let me help you pick all these out.

like i would be like everyone clear clear

everyone all right get out all right if

it takes me twenty four hours i'm gonna

pick up all these books i knocked over

me i'm probably running two decimals in my

brain i got i feel it i feel

like it's also that that thing if we're

Maybe I'm revealing too much about myself

here.

But, like, whenever you're, like, in,

like, a stairwell of a lot of levels,

do you ever look over the side and

be like,

I just wonder what it would be like

to jump from here.

Like, I know I would die.

I know it would not be good for

me.

And it's not... Don't get me wrong.

It's not a, like...

suicidal ideation it's just like that

would be like a what if yeah it's

just like that'd be so cool to do

that if i could survive it but i

know i couldn't like if i was in

an action movie that'd be awesome but i'm

not i know it would kill me so

i'm not gonna do it but it'd be

pretty cool just like to just jump off

here and just

go down many flights of steps just like

see what it's like but I feel like

it's that kind of push and pull do

you think that like the camera would also

have to turn in a way to make

it look really cool while you're falling

down the stairs yeah probably like and I

would only want to have a third person

view of it oh yeah yeah yeah my

view would be fun I would want to

see me like jumping over the railing and

just like being like oh that's so cool

but yeah I think that's where that dark

part comes in of like what would it

be like if I just knocked over all

these bookshelves

there used to be a segment on david

letterman's version of the late show when

he would just throw stuff off the room

and it was fun like it was fine

yeah um but yeah so elliot does this

not for the fun and kicks of it

he's doing this to murder poor barney and

barney seems like he's like

Yeah, murder, murder.

Barney seems like he's okay at first.

He's got the wind knocked out of him

because luckily there was a footstool

there to kind of catch some of the

weight of that last bookshelf that was

going to fall on poor Barney.

Barney is hurt,

but he's still alive in this moment.

He's just like, hey, Elliot, help me,

help me.

And Ellie's like, hmm.

Yeah, I don't think so.

And he takes a footstool that was propping

up that last bookcase,

takes the footstool out, and the bookcase,

all the weight,

falls onto Barney and kills poor Barney.

Hmm.

Barney, we hardly knew he.

Cousin Larry.

So, yeah.

Elliot Knox kills Barney,

takes his manuscript,

and beats it out of there.

Like, just heads out.

So, then...

Eighteen months later.

It's been over a year since this murder.

I don't have a good sound effect for

that one.

I wish I did.

So Elliot is once again doing another

reading.

This time he's reading from a book and

it's about the death of a friend.

in the book.

And he says,

the friend was like a mirror showing the

person who he was.

But again, this is not autobiographical.

It's a character in a book.

This is not Elliot.

This is not Barney.

This is a different situation.

Because he sits down with this new

moderator.

Fred Harrison, who we have seen before.

Apparently.

In the Elspeth universe.

And so I looked it up because,

of course,

we've had so many witnesses and experts

running around the Elspeth universe.

I was like, okay,

because we get the feeling later that

Elspeth knows this man.

Okay,

where did Fred Harrison come in before?

So apparently he was in,

he was in earlier this season from the

poetry episode where the guy from The Good

Place, Chidi from The Good Place,

was a owner of a poetry magazine.

And he killed one of the writers of

the poetry or the lady that was going

to leave him in an endowment for the

magazine, but she actually didn't.

He was in that episode.

I forgot what he contributed to the case.

He probably was just someone that was

talking to Elton and was like, hey,

you know, this person, this, this,

and that.

She's like, oh, really?

So that's probably where he gave his

contribution.

But yeah,

so this is the new person moderating.

And the moderator points out, you know,

that passage you just read is almost kind

of like the same situation that your

friend was in.

This one is from an avalanche of snow,

but your friend died from kind of an

avalanche of books.

It's like, no, that's ridiculous.

Like, yes, there's like some similarities,

but I assure you,

all of my material is thought up right

up here in my head.

It's not from any real life situations at

all.

jason i we did talk a little bit

about this uh before the pod but i

really wanted this guy to be belky like

i really wanted like the next interview

like for it to just go through the

characters from perfect strangers if we

were gonna continue this this trend um it

was a cool callback i will say like

it was nice i mean that we don't

know about it yet in the episode but

um it would have been even more of

a nod to perfect strangers land if it

felt yeah

And I feel like we kind of got

away from that thing of random people from

other episodes popping up for here and

there for a minute or so.

Yeah,

we came back to it because I feel

like we've gone a while without that.

I remember we were talking about it

before.

Why did the random girl from the bar

episode pop back up in this other episode?

But we got away from it for a

while and we're back to it a few

different times in this episode because we

see in the audience of this book reading

is both elsbeth and her friend cheryl from

the yoga retreat episode that she kind of

rescued from this retreat this i don't

know if it was yoga spiritual retreat

slash almost cult recruitment yes exactly

So Cheryl and Ellsworth are in the

audience, which is,

it's interesting because I don't know if

we do this a lot.

We're like,

we're still kind of in the murder part

of the episode and Ellsworth comes in.

It's like, oh,

Ellsworth is here before the investigation

starts in earnest.

So it's like,

I know we've had that a few times,

but now Ellsworth is here.

It's like,

Oh, okay.

Else what's in the audience.

So we take questions from the audience and

Cheryl gets up and says, you know, hey,

just so you all know,

I also wrote a book called Unwell about,

because I remember the last time Cheryl

was here,

we didn't know that she wrote a book

about her retreat experiences.

well like because she was in the first

episode of the season with the colbert

episode like she went with elspeth to yes

yes the fake colbert but with colbert show

yeah they're like cheryl like we don't

care about your book do you have any

other questions like no i don't really but

here's my friend elspeth she probably

asked some questions

so elspeth gets on the mic and fred's

like she's like hey fred and fred's like

oh yeah it's it's you oh okay and

so elspeth points out the fact that you

know it's funny that the character in the

book marty died via avalanche

in the book but he was really an

athletic person so why would he be out

skiing in a place where they get crushed

by snow also you put in the book

that the protagonist their eyes met before

marty died how could their eyes meet if

the protagonist wasn't like if the

protagonist eddie wasn't also in that same

avalanche wouldn't eddie also be dead and

and elliot's like you're thinking too much

about it you're you're you're digging too

much into it it's not that big of

a deal

Relax.

If Ellsbeth was not involved in the law

or law enforcement,

she would make a fantastic editor for

murder books.

Yes, for sure.

For sure.

So Ellie kind of is like,

don't worry about it.

You're just a stupid lady.

Who cares?

So later we get Cheryl and Ellsbeth in

line getting their books signed.

Elliot is, of course, being a jerk.

He doesn't, Cheryl offers to like,

you know,

in an exchange of authorly ideas,

why don't you take my book and maybe,

you know, you'd like it.

He's like, ah, I'm good.

I don't want to just do a little

book.

It's like, okay, cool, cool, cool.

Ellsworth gets in line also.

She's like, hey,

sorry about my outburst earlier.

It's just kind of what I do.

And she pokes more holes into Elliot's

story.

And it's like, also,

I know that your friend Barney died.

And it's funny because, you know,

were you there with him that night?

You just got poking holes in the whole

thing about how Elliot found out.

Because Elliot did mention that he found

out from Barney's widow.

But then when he's talking to Elizabeth,

he's like, oh, yeah,

when I read about it in the paper,

she's like...

But you told us earlier that the widow

called you.

So which one is it?

He's like, I don't know, whatever.

And he's like,

it's not like any of these murder

mysteries that you read.

She's like, Elizabeth says,

who's this thing called murder?

You didn't want to call it murder.

That's weird.

and so well and he also like in

this is like you pay attention to like

the tiniest details like don't even don't

even think about that and and this is

like this is elspeth's core right like

this is who she is she's like i

okay but yes then she she points out

like i didn't say anything about murder

you said murder i didn't say murder you

did

So Elizabeth's radar is officially up.

She's like, something's funky about this.

And before we leave the bookstore,

Fred does say, you know, that lady,

she's real kooky.

And you know something else?

She works for the police.

And so now Elliot is freaked out as

well.

So it seems like we've got the cat

and mouse all ready to be in the

trap here.

So let's move on officially to the

investigation.

Dun, dun, dun.

We start in the precinct, of course,

of all places,

and Elizabeth has gotten all of Elliot

Pope's books,

and she is presenting them to Wagner and

Connor.

Yes, I know.

Also, before we get into the,

oh my gosh, Connor is here,

but she presents it as an avalanche of

books.

She has them all stacked up,

and then they all fall like an avalanche

onto Wagner's desk.

But yeah, apparently,

Lieutenant Connor's back.

Look at that.

yeah i just who knows who will pop

up at any given moment who knows we

might see cameron again before this before

this season oh my god oh my god

yeah god we have to see kaya at

least one more time before the season is

out

But yeah,

I honestly thought they had just kind of

written off Connor and were just like, ah,

let's just say he's poking around at some

point.

But Connor's actually here in a big part

of the episode.

Yeah, and so Elizabeth tells him, like,

hey,

something is really off about this new

book.

The death of the character Marty in the

book is way too close to Barney's death.

It's just really weird.

It's kind of like, you know,

the avalanche of snow is kind of like

the avalanche of bookshelves that killed

Barney.

So something's weird about this.

And also...

The character Eddie in all of Elliot's

books never really feels bad about his

friend's deaths.

So this kind of feels like he's writing

about his own experience in these books.

And it seems like he's really trying to

distance himself from Barney's death.

you know,

but he couldn't resist writing about it.

So he had to put it down in

pen form, but he couldn't just,

he couldn't admit that it was him.

It's like, okay, all right.

So we got something.

We got something here.

I don't want to say like typical man,

but yep.

You didn't say it though.

So then we shift over to Grace.

you know, Officer Grace, again,

we haven't seen her in a minute.

Grace is back.

Officer Haha.

Officer Funny.

Officer Stand Up.

And she's using her corkboard skills to

kind of illustrate the life of Barney,

the review writer, the bookstore owner,

the critic.

And she talks a little bit about it.

She says, you know,

the original police report from Barney's

death ruled it an accident.

So that's where we,

so the file is pretty thin because we,

I mean,

obviously Ellsworth was not around at this

specific case.

So whoever the detective was,

probably Smolin,

came in there and was like,

Accidental death.

Done deal.

Let's wrap it up.

So Ellsworth knows the fact that,

you know,

Elliot did try to really dissuade her from

thinking about the facts of the case.

And so she asked Magnuson Wagner,

it's kind of a slow time in New

York homicide right now.

Can I just pick this up?

Like, again, like Ellsworth is once again,

making a case for herself.

Like,

do we not have enough homicides in New

York to, to investigate and be like, Hey,

I'm just, I'm bored.

Why don't I do this instead?

Yeah.

Wagner, of course, is hesitant.

He's like, I don't know.

It seems really thin here.

I don't know.

And so Ellsworth is trying to convince

him.

She's like, come on.

Wagner says,

your consent decree does not include

making cases where none exist.

Ellsworth's like, well,

it does include me possibly picking up

something that was missed,

and that's what this would be.

yeah exactly it was like more consent

decree clarification even though we don't

know maybe it's still happening i guess

it's still happening i don't know you know

what i mean like it's yeah they're trying

so hard to justify this thing and so

wagner's like well i don't know and he

says lieutenant connor what do you have to

say like i'm tired of making all decisions

it's up to connor yeah

yeah i thought it was like a little

unfair for in that situation like first of

all uh welcome back you're gonna have to

make this call connor says well i agree

with well that's good yeah there is not

enough evidence to make to reopen this

case

Yet.

Ellsworth takes this as a full go of

like, yes,

I can investigate and I can find more

evidence.

Thank you, Connor.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

Let's do it.

So with the go-ahead from Connor,

Elizabeth decides to hassle poor Barney's

widow.

Yes, I was going to say, Barney's widow,

who is a legend in her own right.

The character's name is Bev,

but the actress's name is Didi Khan.

Didi Khan,

I don't know if you grew up watching

Grease.

Like I did.

Apparently.

She's in Greece.

She's Frankie in Greece.

She's also hanging out with Josh Charles

on his new show, Best Medicine,

playing this lady named Geneva.

Kind of like Gilmore Girls-y.

And then Jason.

Yeah.

Shining Time Station.

You really rocked my world in the

pre-show.

You were like, hey,

you remember her from Shining Time

Station?

Which, Lord, that was such a blast.

Deep cut.

For those that don't remember,

Shining Time Station.

But it was such a wacky show.

Ringo Starr and George Carlin, come on.

Wow.

I forgot about it.

Cause I mean, I think for me,

it was, it was this,

and now that I know more about TV

and all that,

it was a framing device for the Thomas,

the tank show,

which I don't know how Marissa knew this,

but it was a part of my childhood.

We're both elder millennials.

So the fact that when she said shining

time station,

it just transported me back to like five

years old watching,

watching sign time station.

There was crazy.

Because once she said that,

it immediately brought me back to this

woman, Barney's wife in the show,

in her like train station uniform getup.

I was like, oh my God,

I remember that.

But her voice,

isn't her voice also like ingrained in

your brain somewhere?

Because like anytime, like I literally,

anytime I hear her on TV, I'm like,

wow.

I must pay attention.

The way that it just shot me back

into time.

And do you remember the little jukebox

characters that were in Shining Time

Station?

Whenever they put a quarter into the

machine,

the little jukebox animals would play.

Marissa,

you know what you're missing out on,

not having a mind's eye.

I'm like,

I'm going to need to rewatch YouTube from

Shining Time Station.

Because also, like, I'll never forget,

I grew up,

my parents were really into stand-up,

and so, like, we'd watch a lot of,

like,

HBO specials that I probably shouldn't

have watched.

And then I was like, um...

George Carlin,

the guy who just told me there's seven

words he can't say on television is here.

And then also like Rico Star is also

here.

Wacky show, wacky show.

Good part of my childhood as well though.

So I'm glad I could remind you of

the legend of GD Khan because it was

so fun to see her show up here.

Yeah, love it, love it.

So yeah, in this universe,

she is the widow of Barney.

She's taken over the bookstore.

Elizabeth is asking her questions.

She says, listen,

I just want to know all I can

about the case in case something was

missed.

And Barney's wife goes, oh,

so I knew there was something weird about

this whole thing.

Like,

and they just told me it was an

accident.

She says, and she says, yeah,

you can go back there and look if

you're not afraid of rats.

Cause there's a lot of rats going on

in this back room that Barney's got.

And I was just like, oh no.

And apparently there was a rat friend.

A rat friend.

Barney was alone in that storeroom and his

only friend was this rat.

So Ellsworth says, no, I don't like rats,

but I know some people that do like

rats.

so she calls the rat catchers the rat

people from a different episode which this

episode episode yeah this was the one

where elspeth was investigating a psychic

who was like taking this like older older

rich woman's money and pretending she was

talking to her husband or i think the

woman was like uh uh she had a

snack company left to her by her husband

and yes

The husband from the grave was telling her

what to do with the snack company.

It was actually benefiting the psychic

through some different way.

I forgot how the Rat Catchers came into

this.

I wonder if this was meant to be

like...

Did they think they were getting sixteen

episodes and then they got an additional

four?

This is what I'm saying.

I think the first couple episodes and the

last couple episodes...

are like how elspeth should be but then

like the middle ones were like oh we're

gonna put in this formulaic something to

like spread things out because this

episode like it's very stefan this episode

has everything we've got callbacks we've

got guest stars we've got relationship

news we've got you know like all of

the stuff happening in this one episode

which is what we sort of came to

expect from

episode in the first two first season at

least for sure of the show and so

I think I don't know if it's part

of their playbook or whatever but and I

know this season was like a kind of

like will they won't they what's gonna

happen to the show type of season

production wise so maybe they had to like

buffer in those episodes in the middle but

I really liked this episode and hopefully

the next one also continues this momentum

and we, you know,

get some Kaya stuff going on in it

as well.

But it's definitely like two different

styles of television that we're watching.

It definitely has season finale vibes.

Yeah.

Because it wraps up a lot.

There's a lot of callbacks.

There's a lot of cameos.

So I had to wonder, like,

did they think they were getting...

Like they were getting ten episodes like

usual or like the first two seasons or

the first season.

And it was like, no,

you're actually getting twenty.

So there's like, you know,

there's more on the front,

More episodes

Chapters

Creators and Guests

What is The Good Pod?