The second season of Without a Trace aired in 2003 and concluded in 2004. This season like the last focused a lot on Jack Malone played by Anthony LaPaglia, but it did a decent job of trying to explore the other characters. With Jack, we got some good story progression with an exploration of his relationship with his father and the struggles he deals with in his marriage. This season there were a couple episodes that gave Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano) and Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) the spotlight. We didn’t get that much with Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery), which was unfortunate, but Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close) had some interesting stories that I hope they continue to explore next season.
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I really appreciated the focus that was shown to the characters. The storyline of Danny’s relationship with his brother not only did a great job of exploring Danny’s character, but gave us some much needed backstory for Danny. They also did a good job of showing how good of a leader Vivian can be when she covers for Martin after he kills a coyote who they suspected of kidnapping a kid. I do hope in later seasons they show us more of Vivian’s life at home because it’s been mentioned that she has a child, but I’d like to learn more about Vivian outside of her at work. More good character work was how Martin was dealing with PTSD from past cases from the episodes “In Extremis”, “A Tree Falls”, and “Gung Ho”. I do wish they would have explored it more because I feel like it was touched on in a surface level way.
There were 24 episodes this season and here are, in my opinion, the best and worst of the season.
Best Episodes: “Copy Cat”, “Hawks and Handsaws”, “Wannabe”, “Legacy”, and “Doppelganger”
These episodes have a lot of stuff I love. With “Copy Cat”, we have a continuation of last seasons episodes “Suspect” and “Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been….” with Jack having a confrontation with the main suspect, Graham Spaulding, of those cases. The psychological mind games played in this episode were so intense and well done. Spaulding using an old case to draw Jack in and then their final confrontation was just so well done, from the writing to the acting, it was an amazing episode and a great conclusion to the previous two.
The episode “Hawks and Handsaws” was interesting in that the missing man was actually trying to solve a cold case, but the problem was that he had Schizophrenia. The way the show depicted Schizophrenia was interesting and honestly, I don’t know how accurate of a depiction it was, but I still found it a fascinating case. The acting by Jerry O’Connell, who played the missing man Joe, was great and the fact that there was a happy ending when so many stories that I have watched that have dealt with a Schizophrenic character usually end in tragedy was refreshing to see.
“Wannabe” is such a tough episode. It believe it handles the reality of bullying very well and how being bullied can send young people into such a depression that the only way they can think to end their pain is by ending their life. I had forgotten that Jake Thomas, who played Lizzie’s younger brother Matt in the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire, played the missing boy Eric Miller. I was shocked that they not only showed Eric hanging himself, but how long they kept the shot on him hanging. It was hard to watch, but I do think it’s an important episode.
What makes “Legacy” so good is the complex missing person case, that involves some dark family secrets and a unreported rape and Danny’s backstory being more fully explored. The twists and turns of this case were shocking and made it completely unpredictable. The fact that the man went missing because he was trying to avenge his wife who had been raped years ago was not something I was expecting when the episode started, but the story was told so well. Also, finally getting to learn more about Danny was so refreshing since him and Vivian got the least development in the last season. Learning some things about Danny’s hard childhood and the difficult relationship he has with his brother actually made a lot of the way Danny has reacted or just acted in general make a lot more sense.
With “Doppelganger”, it purely stands out because of Tony Goldwyn’s acting as the twin brothers Rick and Greg. The way Tony Goldwyn played one twin basically as this scared little boy and the other as this cold, calculating killer was just so great to watch. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending of this episode, but even that couldn’t didn’t taint my opinion of this episode. They picked the perfect actor to portray these twins.
Worst Episodes: “Revelations”, “Trip Box”, “Exposure”, and “Life Rules”
These episodes were either just not good, or were missing something to make it compelling. With “Revelations”, it just felt forgettable. The only thing I clearly remember is that Sam is on desk duty still after the shooting at the end of season one. It’s just quite forgettable episode. With “Trip Box” my main issues is that it didn’t feel like it really had a resolution. You have these three men who have ruined their lives for what felt like nothing. I just wasn’t satisfied at all with this episode and think if the story was better fleshed out, it could have been decent. “Exposure” wasn’t bad, but just wasn’t memorable, also the editors had a weird obsession with playing “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence throughout the episode.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the song, I actually love the song, but it was just such a weird song choice for the episode and the scenes they choose to play it over just didn’t match. “Life Rules” was just stupid. It’s probably the worst episode of the show, so far. The whole premise was about a self help guru who gets kidnapped, only the team finds out that it’s just one giant con. I just couldn’t stand this episode and hope they all went to jail for all the time and resources that were wasted looking for the guru.
The rest of the episodes in this season aren’t bad. Some that stick out to me are “Sons and Daughters” “Risen” “Gung Ho” “Shadows” “Two Families” and “Bait”. “Sons and Daughters” is such a sad episode. This poor kid is killed because his girlfriend let people think he raped her because she didn’t want to tell anyone about the sex parties that were happening. Also, this officer who has a bad relationship with his own daughter, thinks he’s somehow saving the girl who the missing kid was dating by killing him, it’s just really sad.
“Risen” was such an interesting episode and helped to give Vivian more development since the case was one she originally worked on. It was also interesting that Vivian decided against telling the missing person that people were looking for them. It’s not very often that they leave the person their looking for alone and don’t reunite them with their loved ones. I did like that Vivian let the mother at least know where her daughter was and let it be possible for the mother and daughter to reconnect.
So, the episode “Gung Ho” I did like, but if I’m being honest the only part that is compelling is the ending. A soldier that returns home, then helps a friend rob a bank, and accidently kills someone is fascinating, but it wasn’t compelling. The end of the episode when he decides to commit suicide via SWAT was so heartbreaking to watch and just made everything leading up to that moment more impactful.
“Shadow” was a good exploration of Martin’s character with the missing person being his aunt who was dying of cancer. It also was a good character exploration for Jack as well because we got to see his dad and learn more about Jack’s relationship with him.
What stands out with “Two Families” is the ending and how frustrating it is. The whole episode is a race against time to save a man who is on death row and the episode ends without the viewer finding out if all the work the team did was an enough to save this innocent man from dying. I understand the point, but oh my goodness, was I angry when this episode ended and I was left with no resolution.
The finale, “Bait” was only interesting because of Jack’s story. This was supposed to be Jack’s last case because he was going to be moving to Chicago with his wife and children, but he’s thrown a curveball when his wife tells him that she not only doesn’t want him to come with them, but also wants a divorce. This was a good way to end the season because it leaves so many questions about what that means for Jack next season and his team. Vivian gets promoted to Jack’s position in this episode, so what does that mean for Vivian if Jack comes back? Also, in this episode Sam and Martin begin a relationship, so it begs the question how will Sam react to the fact that Jack isn’t leaving like she thought he was?
Overall, there was a lot of good character stuff this season that I really appreciated and just makes my connection to these characters stronger. I do hope that in the future seasons that development continues because it still does need work. As for the episodes, this was a good season, but I feel like there were a lot of episodes that could have been stronger and could have made this season great. I can’t wait to watch more and review the future seasons.
The Random Musings of a Munchkin 