AUS Television: City Homicide, Episode 4.14 "Twilight Zone"

City Homicide
Season Four, Episode Fourteen, Twilight Zone
Original Air Date:  October 6, 2010

An elderly man is pushed down the stairs in his wheelchair at the retirement home where he lives.  The suspects include his son, his fiance, her daughter, the nursing home manager and a resident who disliked the victim.  Meanwhile, a bit of mystery surfaces regarding Jen and Nick.

When Matt and Allie interview some of the residents of the retirement home they come to realize that life at this retirement home is more than meets the eye.  The victims fiance, Posy Pollard, takes quite the liking to Matt and does a fair bit of flirting with him while Allie speaks with Peter Marsh, a man who didn't get along with Branco.

The autopsy reveals Branco was still alive after the fall and his killer followed him down the stairs and kicked his head with a heavy-toed boot.

There is absolutely no love lost between Branco and his son, Andrew.  Andrew claims the hatred between the two was mutual.  He blames Posy for his fathers death saying she must have been after his money.

When the detectives talk about a love triangle between Branco, Marsh and Posy, I had to laugh when Jarvis so eloquently stated:  "Please tell me you've got more than the plot from a B-grade geriatric porno.  Because the thought of 80 year-olds bumping uglies just does not do it for me."  Comments like this is why I love Jarvis.  He's clearly very uncomfortable with the entire notion of older people having a sex life and it's amusing to watch him skirt the issue that creeps him out the entire episode.

The team have little evidence to go on.  Matt remembers seeing a garbage truck at the retirement village that morning but he didn't stop or impound it.  Uniforms must be coordinated to do a search for any evidence the garbage truck may have taken away.  Matt asks Jennifer and Rhys to be there to coordinate the search.  Rhys ends up finding loads of things that he starts selling on eBay.  "One man's junk is another man's treasure" he says.

Posy Pollard's daughter, Michaela arrives at the office angry that the police questioned her mother without her being there.  She says her mother had a mild stroke four years ago and lost all her inhibitions and has no control over what she does.  Her daughter insists Posy never would have hurt Branco because of how she loved him.

At the retirement home, Matt and Allie meet Wendy, the wife of Branco's best mate, Bill.  The woman is clearly suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.  She believes Allie is her daughter, Susan.  She strikes up a conversation with her and answers all of Allie's questions about Branco and Posy.  She tells Allie of an incident where Posy had fallen in her bathroom and Branco had marched into Penelope McVeigh's office and "read her the riot act" threatening to sue her.

Evidence is found that the retirement home manager, Penelope McVeigh has been doing a bit of creative bookkeeping.  She has been taking unpaid shifts herself to cover for a staff shortage and was on duty the previous night.  She gives Matt Branco's personal effects that the home kept in safe storage for him, including his will.  His son, Andrew was left nothing and Posy got everything. 

During her interview at the police station with Matt and Duncan, Posy is very excited to be at the police station and even talks about old cop shows with them.  She knows she will be getting a lot of money from her fiance's will and says it is because he wasn't a well man and he wanted her cared for.  Allie and Nick talk with Bill and he says he never told them about witnessing Branco's will because he witnessed a legal document he believed to be confidential.  She asks him about Posy now that she is 'back on the market'.  He is offended by the suggestion that he was having an affair with Posy.

Michaela and Andrew are pulled in for questioning as the focus turns to them.  Andrew reveals that his father thought the Serbs who killed his nephew in 1991 were coming after him.  Neither was aware that Branco had changed his will.  Andrew was angry over the change and Michaela was happy. 

Duncan finds an article about a nursing home managed by McVeigh in Scotland eight years previous that was closed down for fraud, systematic abuse and misappropriation of funds.  She denies all the allegations and claims the allegations were made because she blew the whistle on the owners.  There was a one paragraph retraction published at a later date but it did no good to help her reputation.

When Matt and Allie go to speak with Peter Marsh the next morning he cannot be found anywhere.  They go to Posy's room to speak with her and find the two of them in bed together.  Posy feels that Branco avoided Marsh because he was afraid of losing her to him.  Marsh denies killing Branco and says his stint in the Serbian army was as a non-combatant which proves to be true.

While Jennifer and Rhys are walking along the street after getting a coffee and talking about his garbage finds, a woman waves to Jennifer calling her "Trish".  Jennifer goes to speak with the woman who asks her how Wesley is and if Rhys is a friend of Wesley's.  The two women clearly have some kind of history but Jennifer doesn't go into any details when she goes back to Rhys.  Once back at the office, Jen goes immediately to Nick and tells him what happened.

Matt and Allie head back to the retirement home to question the residents again and arrive as an altercation between Andrew and Michaela turns ugly when Andrew hits Wendy with his car as he is backing out to follow Michaela because he didn't see Wendy.  As she is dying, she asks for her husband and Susan.  Allie kneals next to her and says "I'm here".  It's heartbreaking to watch as Wendy tells the woman she believes is her daughter that she has missed her so much then dies.

While talking with Bill after his wife's death, he mentions that "it was all for nothing".  Posy enters his home and Bill is angry to see her.  Posy leaves and Matt follows her while Allie stays with Bill who agrees to tell Allie everything. 

Marsh contacted Bill with a plan to get Branco's money.  They used Posy to get him to change his will then got Branco out of the way.  Marsh then intended to marry Posy to get the money she'd been left in the will and he would split the inheritance with Bill.  Bill took Branco out of bed and to the stairwell where Marsh appeared.  Bill watched as Marsh pushed Branco down the stairs then went down and kicked him.  The boots were finally found and they had Branco's blood on them.

I do hope that at some point we get more details about why Jen is known as "Trish" and what Nick has to do with it.  We all know Jennifer and Nick have a past together but, until now, we haven't gotten any real details about it.  Jen is worried that everyone will find out and I most certainly want to find out!  Since Jen and Nick will be a focus of next weeks episode maybe we'll get the details I know we're all wanting to hear!

Music From This Episode:
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For more information:
City Homicide Official Site:  http://au.tv.yahoo.com/city-homicide/
Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024932/
TV Rage:  http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-17228