Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 5: Poetic Justice

Elsbeth meets mayoral candidate Alec Bloom (Ivan Hernandez) at a benefit, on the courtly arm of her old acquaintance Dr. Yablonski, and the two discover a shared love of New York, down to singing the opening lines of Rodgers and Hart's "Manhattan" together. At the same event, Yablonski recalls the death of his friend Delores Feinn (Lois Smith), a poet and donor to struggling literary nonprofits who died the previous week when her cigarette ignited the oxygen-rich air in her writing nook.

Yablonski admits he had always taken her portable oxygen tank for a prop she used to get the best restaurant tables, because its pressure gauge never went below full — a detail that leads Elsbeth to seek Captain Wagner's approval to re-investigate.

Suspicion settles on Gary Pidgeon (William Jackson Harper), founder of the poetry journal Pigeon Print, whose mournful tributes to Delores pour out nonstop while his fundraising fortunes depended on her. Elsbeth is paired with Detective Rivers, who is on unusually good behavior, taking her opinions seriously and collaborating well. Gary's money troubles are everywhere: donors are drying up, his rival editor Fred notes nobody buys books, and his associate director Hannah refuses to ask her dental-floss-magnate parents for help.

Delores, meanwhile, dangled her supposed $200 million fortune but would not commit the bequest unless Gary published an annotated version of her epic poem "Quest for Eternal Spring, Or: The Blood Circus."

Elsbeth builds her trap out of cheerful questioning across several friendly interrogations, with assists from Alec, doorman Steve, and dry cleaner May. She then confronts Gary with an authoritative-sounding claim: oxygen from Delores's tank stained the tweed jacket he wore the day he tampered with it. The bluff only works because Delores never actually used or cleaned the tank, so no such discoloration could exist — but Gary, cornered, confesses while Rivers records, and states that he does not regret killing her.

The motive is inheritance: Gary killed Delores before she could update her will, only to learn she was virtually broke and left Pigeon Print less than $500. Delores's unpublished poem "Nipples of the Sea," submitted to rival magazine Tumbleweed, ends with the line "BOTH THINGS CAN BE TRUE," covering both Gary's grief and his relief.

On the personal track, Marissa Gold (Sarah Steele), Elsbeth's friend from her old legal days and now Alec's campaign manager, confesses at the precinct that she leaked the photos that led the New York Post's View column to dub Elsbeth Alec's "mystery redhead" — and asks Elsbeth to tell no one unless Marissa herself says so. The episode closes on a lighter beat: Elsbeth reads Gary the clunky limerick she wrote about the murder, and he criticizes that poem too.

The case closes on a bluff. Elsbeth tells Gary that oxygen from Delores's tank discolored the tweed jacket he wore when he loosened the valve, and the claim is authoritative enough that Gary confesses with Rivers recording. The bluff holds precisely because Delores never used or cleaned the tank — no discoloration would exist — so the recording, together with Gary's own statement that he does not regret the killing, is what takes him down. The motive was money: Delores kept the bequest conditional and was weighing rival magazine Tumbleweed, so Gary killed her before she could update her will, only to learn she was broke and left his journal less than $500.

Unresolved within the episode: Marissa Gold's request that Elsbeth keep her leak a secret stands, and the episode does not show whether Elsbeth agrees, forgives her, or what the "mystery redhead" story does next.