Scarlett Fever - Keeping up with the Joneses

Season 1 episode 15: The wife of a real estate developer falls to her death at their party. Could it be that one of her community rivals is responsible?

Sep 05, 2023

In a luxury gated community filled with McMansions, all different but somehow all the same, there is one property - the Marquesa home, fully lit up for a cocktail party this particular evening. The party, situated in the homes’ foyer, is definitely in full swing suggesting an enjoyable evening for everyone in attendance. While the hors d’oevres are making the rounds for the guests, a beautifully dressed Scarlett Marquesa struggles down a hallway clutching her throat as she tries to scream and falls over the bannister above the foyer, landing on a table of hors d’oevres below. As the guests respond in shock and horror, a boy comes out of his room and looks over the bannister to see his mother’s crumpled body below.

Meanwhile, back at CBI HQ Jane is helping out the Organized Crime Unit to get information from a murder suspect.

The team arrives at the crime scene where Jane examines the victim’s face and notices that one eye is heavily made up while the other eye isn’t. He hurries up stairs with Rigsby in tow to locate the huge, ostentatious bathroom where Scarlett was applying her makeup. They find her mascara by the bathroom sink and a half empty cocktail glass next to a cocktail napkin with “Now we’re even” written on it in lipstick.

As usual, there will be no spoilers shared in this post so it can enjoyed by fans and new viewers alike. This is on purpose so I hope you approve. At the least it’s hoped to act as a reminder to rewatch the show, or to encourage others to check it out for the first time.

Context

Jane and Lisbon drive through what looks like an upscale neighborhood but in truth things aren’t going so well - it seems there are symptoms of money troubles behind the immaculately manicured lawns. For Sale and Open House signs are scattered throughout and a moving truck sits in a nearby driveway. As they approach the Marquesa home a shell-shocked and weary Victor Marquesa (played by Yancey Arias) is trying to keep it together as he says goodbye with an almost theatrical hug from a dark haired woman dressed in a dark business suit and a more sedate hug with woman dressed in tennis gear.

Jane moves through the main room as Lisbon tells the new widower that Scarlett was killed with rat poison. Jane accuses Victor of having an affair with the dark haired Asra Hadami (played by Meera Simhan) based on the strange hugging he’d observed a few minutes earlier. An accusation Victor vehemently denies, giving Jane an opportunity to reconsider what he saw. It dawns on Jane that it wasn’t an affair he picked up on, but something else that brings a new dimension to the interview.

Jane and Lisbon interview Victor Marquesa at his home.

Victor is a real estate developer and admits business has been off lately due to the widespread financial downturn, while his wife makes jewelry or “trinkets” as he calls them bringing in a small income. The party was Scarlett’s idea - a move to let the guests mostly from the country club where Scarlett (played by Patty Handbelt) is head of the women’s committee know that they’re still doing well financially.

Recap

When Jane and Rigsby arrive at the country club to talk to other committee members they find a tennis tournament and a silent auction in progress. When they approach the coordinator, Heather Prentiss (Marguerite MacIntyre) uses her microphone to announce that the police want to speak to Patience Broadbent (Andrea Bogart), Mandy Rijek (Jolie Jenkins) and Jackie Shaper (Lisa Arturo) immediately. The three women plus Heather explain that they are required to attend all committee chair parties, then the group descends into petty sniping and catty behaviour as they speculate that Victor probably killed his wife based on sketchy statistics. Alone, each member gives their view of the committee chair - not a lot of what they say is flattering.

Van Pelt reports that Asra has cleared out her bank accounts that morning and the estate based security team reports that her house has been cleared out but Asra is easy to find based on Jane’s observation at the auction the previous day. Van Pelt takes the lead when she interviews Asra to her confesses to stealing from Victor’s company’s reserve fund to cover her bad investments amongst other things. Lisbon and Van Pelt return to the Marquesa home t where they learn that Scarlett has been covering some debts with her jewelry sales and that she recently made a deal with some boutiques in Marysville to sell her jewelry line. During the interview Victor’s 9 year old son Oscar (Brandon Waters) is running through house playing a pirate. Meanwhile, Cho calls to confirm they have been able to identify the lipstick used on the note - it is an expensive brand sold at high-end stores that can be found in Marysville. Cho agrees to meet Lisbon at a location in Marysville as soon as possible.

Rigsby and Jane return to the country club, where Heather speaks to Jane about losing her 16-year-old daughter in a car accident last year and that living on the estate is a painful thing since the accident. It turns out they couldn’t afford to move away because they are seriously underwater on their home and so she has to stay around the painful reminder of the life she has lost. Meanwhile in Marysville, at a dirt bike race, not exactly a jewelry market, Cho grabs a drug dealer in dramatic take down and at the club, Jane and Rigsby lay in wait in the committee chair’s office in the dark for whoever tries to open the safe.

The dealer was the person meeting Scarlett. Looking through his van Cho and Lisbon find it is loaded with pills. It turns out that Scarlett is one of his biggest customers, buying prescription and diet pills - not “tacky” jewelry. Lately Scarlett had been talking about quitting and since then another woman he doesn’t know has been calling. He has her number in his cellphone. That number rings as someone is breaking into Scarlett’s safe - and Patience Broadbent is caught red-handed.

When Jane and Lisbon confront Victor about his wife’s dealing he seems genuinely surprised to find out what she’s been doing and that many others in the neighborhood knew what was going on right under his nose. Jane notices the young boy Oscar and approaches him to express his sympathy for what Oscar and his dad are going through. Oscar shares that he really misses his mom while Jane gently admits he can understand what they’re going through having lost his wife (he doesn’t mention his daughter to Oscar). Jane notes that Oscar’s make-believe skills can help when he’s feeling sad as he can talk to his mom, just the as Jane talks to his wife, even though she’s gone. The two then have a sword fight with Oscar coming out the clear winner.

Jane and Oscar bring their sword fight to an end. Jane loses.

The investigation moves forward even faster after Patience is found stabbed to death at the club’s spa. So many moving parts can mean it’s time for some out of the box thinking.

This episode has a number of moving parts that are exposed to the light of day; the “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality that can force people to be what they’re not by having to keep up appearances. The lies, jealousy and covetous activities that on the surface don’t seem too bad but that devastate others like ripples in a stream all appear here and it is quite distasteful to witness. The silent screams of rage that happen behind closed doors and that can turn good people into something else - we could be just one soul crushing event away from losing who we really are. It’s a shocking reminder to appreciate what we have while we have it, and to recognize what and how we can cope with things we cannot readily understand. As Jane takes the young Oscar under his wing to help him sort out how he’s going to cope with the loss of his mother, he encourages the boy to use what he knows to help him through. No one can change that his mother is gone, but he helps the boy get some comfort from doing what he loves and making her a part of it.