His first attempt is a failure as he accuses Charlie of faking the phone call to keep the media's attention. Charlie's outraged denials pass Cal's test, but the incident sows some doubts about Cal's objectivity about the current situation, which gets even more dire when the Sheridan's oldest son, Oliver, is reported missing from university. The case goes from bad to worse when Jason's brother, Kevin (David Rees Snell), arrives at the firm threatening to sue Cal for wrongful death. As Cal's professional competence is questioned, his firm's viability hangs on the question of his colleagues' loyalty to him.
Loker reacts to the news by polishing up his resume for a position at rival Rader's firm, while Torres decides to try and manipulate Kevin into dropping the lawsuit. Foster makes her position clear when she chastises both Loker and Torres for their disloyalty to Cal, since in her opinion, they both owe him. In the midst of all these roiling emotions, Loker notes that Cal is pretty well business as usual. He wonders whether Cal is quite mentally healthy. Torres' take is Cal is wearing a mask. The exploration of both of these positions dominates the rest of the episode.
Reynolds is so doubtful about Cal's work on the case, he refuses to follow up Cal's hunch that an old girlfriend of Jason's may hold a clue. After a visit to a sleazy photographer (Kenny Johnson) turns out to be a red herring, he insists Cal back away from the case or lose the firm's FBI account. I found Reynolds' position a bit odd, given they have no clues and a missing boy. Cal's contention that Jason Wilkie had been deliberately trying to sound insane when he talked about Beth is reasonable, especially given that Beth (Cathy Cahlin Ryan) checked herself into a psychiatric hospital the day her old boyfriend was executed. But I forgive the writers, because Cal's infiltration of the hospital is worth the set up.
Roth's physical style of acting makes the hospital scenes a hoot to watch, especially as one can't help but notice for the most part he just has to intensify his usual behaviour. And though the situation allows Roth to take a big performance even bigger, the actor always maintains control, modulating the levels so we follow Cal's process as he convinces the staff he is mentally ill while showing Beth that not only is he playing a game, he knows she is, too. His gambit pays off with another clue, as Beth admits she got a threatening call from someone she knows only as the Pied Piper, a guy Jason knew from the time he was a child.
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