Jim Bower and his wife Melissa have been fighting. In a rage, he strikes and kills her, and in a panic, he hides her body by burying it in a nearby forest. He figures that the story is over, but then she begins to call him on the phone – "You weren't going to leave me out there, were you?" – and to leave gift-wrapped packages of burial dirt in his home.
Deeply confused, because he is certain that he killed her, Mr. Bower hires David and Maddie to find his wife. They trace the phone calls, and find a woman matching Melissa's description at a nearby motel – but before they can talk to her, the woman drives off a cliff and her car explodes. Dental records prove that the body was Melissa's, leaving Mr. Bower even more confused than before. He is certain that he killed Melissa, so how can she have died twice?
In my opinion, the story line is pretty straightforward stuff, and what is actually more interesting is the argument that goes on between David and Maddie about spontaneity. Office worker MacGilicuddy (whom we meet in this episode for the first time, but who appears as a recurring guest star from now through the end of the series) met and married a woman in the same weekend. Maddie will not celebrate his wedding, because she thinks he has been irresponsible, while David thinks being so spontaneous is a wonderfully romantic thing, and that the alternative – carefully weighing pros and cons – is just an excuse for not taking action, and for not living one's life.
This dovetails nicely with Mr. Bower's case: Maddie will have nothing to do with a man who strikes his wife, while David recognizes that people sometimes do unjustifiable acts on spontaneous impulse. Maddie furiously asks if this means that David approves of Mr. Bower's act, and David must confess that he does not, but he wants to take the case anyway. In her fury, she strikes him – and finds herself, somewhat contritely, sympathizing a little more with Mr. Bower, and returning to work with David on Mr. Bower's case.
And so, as David confesses to Maddie that spontaneous impulse is not always a good thing, and as Maddie confesses to David that he may have been right and she may have been wrong ("about MacGilicuddy, about spontaneity, about a lot of things"), they come to see each other's point of view. And as they discuss this change of heart, we see in their fantasies their desire to kiss one another – spontaneously and passionately. The fact that they each want to, and that they each elect not to do so, serves as a final, symbolic commentary on the question they've been debating.
Guest Starring:
Co-Starring:
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