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Beanie Feldstein Dons Her Bridesmaid Dress in the CBS Procedural
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Elsbeth Season 3, Episode 15.Last week’s episode of Elsbeth, “Deadutante,” with J. Smith-Cameron as guest star, marked a high point in the season, placing this week’s “Otherwise Enraged” in the rather unenviable position of following it up. Thankfully, Carrie Preston and company, along with guest star Beanie Feldstein, are up for the challenge, and while “Otherwise Enraged” doesn’t quite hit the high-bar set last week, it comes pretty darn close. How close? Read on.
Beanie Feldstein is a Foul Friend in Elsbeth’s “Otherwise Enraged”
“Hey friends, I’m getting married!” starts Rachel Withers in voiceover, admitting she’s kidding. She’s reading from the email invitation to her friends for a party, a guilt trip of the highest degree, with Rachel reminding them of the countless hours coordinating events and the thousands spent on gifts for them, without asking for anything in return. Now it’s her turn, choosing to throw a party to celebrate the villa in southern France that her aunt left her in her will. “Come celebrate with me,” she adds before laying out expectations: no cellphones, no children, toasts in her honor are required, gifts of French pre-war pieces, and the dress code is “Regency chic.”
Rachel comes down the stairs at the Brooklyn Carriage House, where her party is in final preparations before guests arrive. But as time wears on, it’s evident that no guests are coming. She retrieves her phone, only to see a host of lame excuses from her friends for not coming. She tells everyone to go home and begins pounding back her cocktails. Finally, she leaves, only for a cyclist to accidentally brush against her on the bridge, leading to her breaking a heel. The cyclist, a barista named Carson (Pierre Marais), assumes she’s jumping off the bridge and, smitten with her, begs Rachel to reconsider. She’s not, despite it all, and, unable to take his number because she left her phone at the venue, grabs his business card.
‘Elsbeth’s Carrie Preston Wants a Crossover with This ‘Evil’ Character
Carrie Preston also shares a story about overcoming her nerves while shooting a scene with Julia Roberts for the 2009 flick ‘Duplicity.’
She promised she’d let Carson know when she got home, but instead she stormed into her friend Kimberly’s apartment, demanding to know why she and her other friends weren’t at her party. It turns into a heated argument, with Kimberly unwilling to indulge in Rachel’s pity party about being a bridesmaid 16 times, yet with no appreciation. “We all appreciate you,” Kimberly adds, “but you could have said no.” The words incite Rachel further, as she rattles off all the gifts Kimberly would never have received if she had said no. But Kimberly’s admission that she told everyone to change their RSVPs, noting that inheriting a house isn’t a true milestone, pushes Rachel over the edge. She knocks Kimberly in the head with the heavy pot she was holding, killing her. Panicked, Rachel puts the pot in the dishwasher and starts it, just as Kimberly’s husband, Howie (Lionel Leede), walks in, drunk as a skunk, and passes out on the couch, oblivious. Sensing an opportunity, Rachel takes an identical pot and places it beside Howie, making it appear that he’s holding it, and runs off.
Rachel Lands on Elsbeth’s Radar in ‘Elsbeth’s “Otherwise Enraged”
Elsbeth is at the station, rewatching Alec Bloom’s (Ivan Hernandez) press conference yet again (the one the last episode teased), where a (seemingly) very penitent Bloom does come clean, urging New Yorkers to look past his transgression and vote not for him, but for the movement to have an affordable city for all. And when asked why he came forward, he explains that “someone very important to me” made him realize that without truth and honesty, he has nothing. Very sweet, but as Elsbeth tells Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce), “It’s complicated.” What isn’t complicated is the case Wagner has for her: Kimberly’s murder. Howie, her third husband, called the cops on himself, claiming he did it.
Might have done it, that is, and although he can’t recall, Howie believes he must have, simply because of the heave Le Potique pot in his hands. Elsbeth believes he simply wants to find out what happened, but squirrels when she notices strange marks on the floor, which Howie attributes to their elderly neighbor’s cane. That would explain some of the marks, but not all. For that matter, neither is the color of the pot in Howie’s hand, buttercream yellow, and the lid found near the body, lemon daffodil. What does match is the pot in the dishwasher. Only Howie is adamant that he would never put a Le Potique pot in the dishwasher, no matter how drunk he was. The discussion is cut short by Kimberly’s nearby phone going off, with someone named Rachel texting to check in on her after she wasn’t at the party.
‘Elsbeth’ Enters the High Class World of a ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Star in New First Look [Exclusive]
Carrie Preston will have “High Class Problems” on CBS in three weeks.
Back at Wagner’s office, they start reading through Rachel’s party invitation, with both Wagner and Donnelly taken aback at the requests being made to celebrate something that barely qualifies as a milestone. Elsbeth, of course, thinks the party sounded fun, and offers to question her about what she knows regarding Kimberly and Howie’s marriage or, as Wagner astutely notes, to ask about the party. Rachel is at a Western-themed gender reveal party she’s put together for another friend when Elsbeth, in a pink cowboy hat, moseys on up beside her. Elsbeth is surprised to hear that Rachel isn’t a party planner, given her talent, but Rachel chalks it up to just a part of being a maid of honor and a good friend.
But when the topic turns to her emailed invite, Rachel denies the resentful tone, saying it was a joke email that reflected their sense of humor, and that even Kimberly thought it was funny. That piques Elsbeth’s curiosity, and she asks why, if Kimberly loved it, she didn’t come to the party since she was alone and just waiting for Howie to come home from the bar. That provides Rachel with an opportunity to avoid the question, saying how that isn’t unusual, and adding that she checked in after not hearing from her. That, too, is curious, with Elsbeth questioning why she wouldn’t have done so that night, not the next morning. Of course, Rachel couldn’t, with the phone at the venue all night, and she walks away, leaving Elsbeth looking quizzical.
The Party’s Over for Rachel in ‘Elsbeth’s “Otherwise Enraged”
Back at the station, Donnelly and Elsbeth interview three more of Rachel’s friends, who assert she’s a control freak who gives gifts not out of love, but rather to show off or expecting something in return. Turns out, no one thought Rachel’s email was funny, either, and they disclose how Kimberly pushed them to change their RSVPs. Motive? Perhaps, but from the evidence they have, Rachel couldn’t have known about it. The neighbors never heard anyone buzz at 2:00 am, meaning whoever killed Kimberly had a key. Say Howie, for example, who’s already confessed. Elsbeth still has her eye on Rachel, but her phone records confirm that the phone, and presumably her, were at the Carriage House all night.
Elsbeth confronts Rachel at another party, dropping the information about Kimberly’s email, but doesn’t get the hoped-for reaction that would seal the deal, nor does adding that the lid and pot colors didn’t match. Elsbeth does note that for a party no one attended, there should have been a lot of food left over, but there were only two boxes. A look of panic crosses her face, but Rachel simply says she has no idea how that happened. But one of the catering staff knows, as he came by around 2:00 am to pick up the remaining food for a charity organization. And he didn’t see Rachel at all.
Elsbeth’s got bite in the best episode of the season to date.
Donnelly informs Elsbeth that forensics found Kimberly’s blood on the pot in the dishwasher, and in the filter, freeing Howie and seemingly justifying Elsbeth’s theory. One problem: Carson. Carson, who arrived at the station in a Cybertruck, is lovingly holding hands with Rachel, explaining how they met that night, with “teardrops raining down her alabaster cheeks,” and confirming that she was with him all night at his apartment. They walk away, leaving more questions. How does a barista afford a Cybertruck? Why are all the pictures of them on social media posted only recently? And why is Rachel wearing shoes at her party that weren’t accurate for the period, as Donnelly points out?
It’s Donnelly’s factoid that cracks the case for Elsbeth, and they approach Rachel, who is at Kimberly’s apartment. Inside, thanks to her key. Rachel was at the apartment at 2:00 am, when something Kimberly said must have triggered her. Desperate to wash away the blood, she threw the pot in the dishwasher and planted another on Howie. As for her alibi, the dealership confirmed that she bought the Cybertruck for Carson so he’d back up her alibi, and the last piece of the puzzle is Rachel’s shoe, the one with the broken heel that created a unique, semi-circle imprint on the floor that matches perfectly. Party’s over, Rachel.
“Otherwise Enraged” has two smaller plotlines, one involving Wagner’s plans for his 30th anniversary that his daughter throws a wrench into, and, of course, Alec Bloom, who apologizes to Elsbeth and asks for only one thing: that she watch E.T. with him, trying to right his previous wrong. He appears honest again, but is he? Stay tuned for next week’s episode.
- Release Date
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February 29, 2024
- Directors
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Nancy Hower, Robert King, Lionel Coleman, Rob Hardy, Robin Givens, Ron Underwood, Rosemary Rodriguez, Aisha Tyler, Bille Woodruff, James Whitmore Jr., Joe Menendez, Kevin Rodney Sullivan, Lily Mariye, Nick Gomez, Peter Sollett, Sam Hoffman, Tyne Rafaeli, Darren Grant, Fong-Yee Yap, Mary Lou Belli
- Writers
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Jonathan Tolins, Erica Shelton Kodish, Bryan Goluboff, Sarah Beckett, Michelle King
- Beanie Feldstein is wonderful as Rachel, creating an antagonist with a mild demeanor that hides the crazy.
- The writers have thrown in lot of amusing nuggets in the script, including a custom cocktail called the “Guess my Gender Gimlet” at the gender reveal party.
- Carrie Preston’s energy never fails to impress.
- The storyline about Wagner’s daughter threatening to avoid his 30th Anniversary party, because Detective Rivers will be there, misses.
- A perfect opportunity to bring viewers up to speed on Kaya comes and goes without being seized. Grr.
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