In many ways, these two episodes represent both the best and the worst of the criminal procedural genre for me. Predators was directed by Fred Berner and written by Elizabeth Rinehart. Ghosts is by far the superior episode for me. It starts out fairly typical with a crazy man shooting a police officer serving an eviction notice, but by the time the episode ended, I felt like I had run the whole gamut of emotions.
The wanted killer this time is Reg Waters, a member of the Mohawk tribe and general rage-o-holic, or at least it seems that way at first as he kills and assaults anyone in his way. However, as the show progresses, it peels off layers to reveal what is behind his rage.
While I can never feel sorry for someone who takes their rage out indiscriminately on people, he has good cause to be angry. In a 6-month investigation, the file is at the bare minimum and little effort was made. A private investigator Reg hired was even less useful, basically taking his money to go on vacation under the guise of working.
Reg is a man defeated by the system and ready to take things into his own violent hands. He had a poor relationship with his daughter because of his poor relationship with his father, which led to alcoholism. For many, their boarding school days were filled with systematic abuse on all levels.
This episode was a brutal reminder of how long the scars of cultural abuse remain. It also gave them time to focus on Clinton.
