Directed by Roxann Dawson
Written by Veena Sud
The remains of four-year-old Vivian Mulvaney are found at the bottom of the river, having been there since 1965.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Maura Mulvaney.
- Asshole Victim: Roger was murdered some time before the case was reopened. It is revealed that he was an abusive alcoholic husband and father who killed one of his daughters.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Cindy left her surviving daughter in a church to be found after her husband killed their other daughter. Due to having no other living relatives, Roger getting away with his abuse, and the lack of concept of child abuse back in the early '60s, she felt that Maura would be better off without her.
- The Dead Guy Did It: The remains of a four-year-old girl are found under a bridge, from where she was thrown in 1965. It's revealed that her father was a Domestic Abuser and a police officer who threw her off to destroy her mother after she tried to leave him. However, the father was murdered years previously.
- Domestic Abuse: Roger regularly beat his wife and got away with it because he was a decorated police officer.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Shortly after Vivian's death, Art went looking for Cindy but never found her. Fearing her abusive husband Roger coming back, Cindy gave her surviving daughter Maura to a church, and as she never found out about Roger's subsequent death, she lived in fear of his return for decades. Thanks to the detectives however, after decades of being separated, Art, Cindy, and Maura finally reunite at the beach they were at in the 60s.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Even though his crimes were never exposed or convicted, Roger was murdered some years before the reinvestigation. After his abuse came to light, his pictures were removed from the local police hangout.
- Let Off by the Detective: It's implied that Art had a hand in Roger's death. Nick and Will suggest this, but Art, who's a cop, neither confirms or denies his involvement. He instead gives them Cindy's new name, "Cindy Balducci". Will and Nick decide that that's all they needed to know before letting him go.
- Once More, with Clarity: The beginning of the episode appears to be just a normal family on a beach trip. When the scene is revisited later, it's become clear how unordinary this day really was for them and why Vivian didn't want to return home.
- Papa Wolf: Horribly averted by Roger Mulvaney who killed poor Vivian just to punish Cindy! Played straight with Art who after falling for Cindy, has no problem accepting the twins as his own and is all but stated to have killed Roger after (correctly) suspecting that he had something to do with the abrupt disappearance of all three.
- Sadistic Choice: Averted. Roger dangled both girls off the bridge, threatening to drop them both. Cindy only had time to grab one of them out of death's reach before Roger let go of the other.
- Shipper on Deck: Vivian and Maura were very enthusiastic about their mother potentially marrying Art.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Cindy fell in love with Art, who tried to protect her and her daughters from Roger, and planned to start a new life with him so she, Vivian, and Maura could escape their troubled home life.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Cindy and the girls drove home to grab the family cat, but a battered Roger appears and takes the car. Vivian then accidentally slipped that Cindy is seeing Art, which drove Roger into a rage and he attempted to throw the kids over a bridge.
