Backstrom: Episode 9, Season 1
“Inescapable Truth”
Synopsis:
The chief put Backstrom and his team on the case of a popular musician that went missing.
At the same time Backstrom is trying to find out about the truth of his roommate Valentine.
Review:
This episode was very unexpected. It started off very typical for Backstrom; something
weird happens to start the episode, they get the case, Backstrom makes fun of it, and there
may be a subplot or two in there. The weird event at the beginning of the show was an
encounter between Backstrom and Valentine while they were both naked. While I just
thought this was a typical weird Backstrom scene, it turned out to be very important to the
episode. This lead Backstrom on a mission to find out if Valentine is in anyway related to
him since his nose and his penis look the same as Valentine’s. This really caught my
attention for this episode because for the whole season I have been wondering if that could
be a possibility. For most of the episode Backstrom thought that he could be his son from a
previous relationship with a prostitute. This caused one of if not the best scene so far this
season. After Valentine got beat up, Backstrom threatens and boarder-line tortures the
assailant to never harm Valentine again. It was a moment of pure intensity that the
audience never sees out of Backstrom that is very needed in this show. Then to follow it up,
Backstrom faces the tough decision to kick Valentine out of his house until Valentine’s
mother, the prostitute that Backstrom had a relationship with, reveals that they are halfbrothers. The scene up until the reveal was very dramatic and sorrowful for this show and
another good scene.
The case was pretty typical for a Backstrom episode. The team was having difficulties
solving the case, but in the last five minutes they miraculously figure out who did it. I hope
that in an episode towards the end of the season that they cannot solve a case and it has to
carry over. The worst part of the episode was that the relationship between Neidermeyer
and Nadia is shown with a very random kiss but not really brought up again. This was the
first real sign in weeks and they did not expand on it.
This was my favorite episode of the series. The writing was good, even though it was weird
how they got Backstrom to question if him and Valentine were related. There were
uncharacteristic scenes that sucked me into the show, which has not happened for a while.
I am excited to see how the dynamic between Backstrom and Valentine changes now that
they know they are related. I just hope that the relationship between Neidermeyer and
Nadia is expanded upon because they push it really hard in an episode or two and then
pretend it does not exist.
My Grade: A
Reviewer’s Quote:
Mark Trammell: “Though I got a kick out of all of this, for me, the best things in the episode
were what was going on in the fringes of the show, as Backstrom tried to figure out once
and for all if Valentine was really his son.”
Share/Ratings: 0.8/3
Viewers: 3.16 million