This week’s Vegas seemed to stress the face that everyone, Sheriff and mobster alike, has a heart. Tuesday night we finally got to meet Vincent Savino’s wife Laura, and saw what happens in Vegas when greed gets out of hand.
After speaking to a local, Mormon banker regarding funding for The Tumbleweed, Savino welcomed his wife to The Savoy, where she got the royal treatment and greeting from every staff member. It’s obvious that the Savinos’ marriage is less than perfect, with the lingering looks and tentative suggestions. Vincent, under pressure from the banker to present a good family image, pushes for Laura to move out to Las Vegas, but she’s no fool. Clearly, Laura knows of her husband’s questionable business practices and isn’t quite comfortable breaking the “arrangement” that they have. She points out his hand injury, not looking like she believes his story of a broken champagne bottle, muses over the feeling of being courted, and honestly adds, “there are things that you have to do and things that I don’t need to see.”
Over on the Sheriff’s end of town, he gets a very similar greeting at the station that Laura Savino does at the casino — everyone likes Ralph. Well, everyone in law enforcement likes Ralph. So much so that the Mayor comes straight to him, pushing for Ralph to formally run for Sheriff when the term of his replacement is over. Fortunately for Ralph, he catches a case. But unlike the past weeks, this time it’s a kidnapping to investigate — of 9 year-old Tim Larson, taken from his backyard as his mother made his lunch.
When it’s learned that Tim is the son of a member of the Gaming Commission, Lamb turns to Savino, questioning any ties he may have to the case because of his need to appear in front of the Commission to secure a license for the Tumbleweed. A bribery, perhaps? But as Savino tells him, why would you snatch a kid when you could just pay someone off? With one line of investigation shot down, Lamb is forced to reassure the boy’s parents while they wait for the ransom call — a price of eighty thousand dollars for Tim’s life. Thanks to a trace on the call and Dixon’s research into the car that drove away with Tim, the Lambs and buddy Don Simmons (whom I don’t believe we’ve seen since the premiere) head to a motel…and right into a shootout.
Just as the road twists for Lamb’s investigation, things get more complicated for Savino when a mysterious hitman from Milwaukee shows up looking for Davey Cornaro — who Savino had killed two weeks ago. When Savino runs into the man, going by the name ‘Jones’ alone, he tries to push him off the trail, making him think that maybe Cornaro skipped town after the ADA started pushing on him about the bombing at The Tumbleweed. In a panic, Savino turns to Anthony to make sure it looks exactly as if that happened, and when they find Cornaro’s secretary dead in a staged murder-suicide, Cornaro’s car missing for their plan, the panic grows. Thankfully, by the time the episode ends, it appears that Jones has taken the bait.
Again the Mayor visits Ralph, this time with the sentiment that he chose him for a reason, and just as it’s obvious to the mayor, it’s obvious to the audience; when somebody does something wrong, Ralph takes it personally, makes it a commitment, not just a job. But Ralph solemnly explains to the Mayor that the job changes a man, and the people he brings with him. It goes without saying after Ralph’s tenacity with the case that he worries for his own son, Dixon.
The lawmen soon discover that the kidnapping plot was the result of borrowed money gone wrong and a plan to get the loaner a gaming license, orchestrated by Tim’s own uncle. Ralph heads to the drop with the wanted cash in guise as the uncle, and even gets in a crack at the kidnappers when they accuse him of sounding younger on the phone — “You sounded prettier.” Coordinating with Jack, the Sheriff takes down the kidnapper and finds Tim hiding underneath a panel in a shed floor.
Even though Lamb is successful with the Larson case, he doesn’t come out so well with Dixon. Rightfully so, Dixon is angry over the fact that his father brought him into the station, and into police work, only to chain him to the desk, but as Ralph explains, even though Dixon successfully shot the man who almost killed him several weeks ago, he shouldn’t have been there. The regret is clear in Ralph’s eyes as he stresses that he wants Dixon out of the line of fire, and wants him to stay out of the Savino-Cornaro case, too — which Dixon is persistent in pursuing with Katherine.
The episode comes to a close with a more classic Western standoff – Sheriff Lamb and Savino staring each other down beside the cornfield where the Cornaro’s body may be hidden. Savino, cocky from his proved innocence in the kidnapping case, believes that Ralph invited him out to apologize, and claims that he is a law-abiding man. However, the sheriff’s not so convinced, tossing it in Savino’s face that his time will come, because secrets and bodies don’t stay buried.
As far as I’m concerned, Vegas just keeps getting better and better. There’s clearly room to grow, more conflict to be had, and more to learn about the characters, but this episode showed the versatility of the show. Right off the bat, the show broke its formula in the procedural side by not giving us another murder case. While it seems simple enough, it suggests that the show can effectively utilize different types of cases while still delivering on the action and twists in the story.
And of course, I have to applaud the work that Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis have been doing. Sheriff Ralph Lamb is a dedicated, devoted man in every aspect of his life, but after this week, with his blatant worry for his son and his spat with his brother, there are cracks in the wall that I’m very interested in learning about. With Vincent Savino, I’m enjoying the complexity of the character and his struggle to walk the line between good and bad, to keep his family and his bosses happy while being successful on his own. I’m looking forward to upcoming storylines that explore more of this great cast.
Are you enjoying Vegas as much as I am?
Vegas airs Tuesdays on CBS at 10/9c.
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