When an old inmate offers new information on a case in exchange for leniency, the team looks back into the shooting of Dexter Collins (played by Chadwick Boseman), who was shot during his 2005 campaign for City Council.
Tropes:
- Dark and Troubled Past: Dexter was caught dealing drugs in his youth along with his friend Victor, but his sentence was suspended due to his academic record, whereas Victor was given the full punishment and sent to juvenile detention. Unfortunately, this detail was leaked to Dexter's opponent Boone, and after his murder he was smeared as the "Crackhead Councilman" for years.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Dexter's opponent in the race, Grover Boone, a Corrupt Politician who uses the police force to intimidate his political opponents. The original case ground to a halt because he used his power to stop them from investigating him. Everyone's pretty bummed when it turns out he was not the killer.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: After the idealistic Dexter was found murdered under suspicious, drug-related circumstances, a lot of his constituents and other locals turned their backs on him, with the press even calling him the "Crackhead Councilman". As the investigation unfolds, however, it's eventually revealed that he was trying his best to stop the drug-dealing and like-minded conditions, only for an acquaintance of his to become disillusioned by everything and kill him anyway. At the episode's end, with his good name renewed, a basketball court is being opened in Dexter's name and a headline in the paper about him reads "Faith Restored".
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Add "Political Power" to the list. Dexter refused to take bribes to fuel his campaign, or use blackmail against his shady opponent, who even came to view him as a Worthy Opponent.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Dexter was educated at Yale and gave up opportunities to run for city councilman in a poor district. Unfortunately, his refusal to play dirty and a visit to his political opponent to stop such tactics was being seen by a jaded supporter as selling out.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Restaurant owner Warren Wilson, a Dexter supporter who was harassed by Boone, desperately wanted Dexter to win so he took compromising pictures of Boone to be used as blackmail material. When Dexter told him that he has no plans to use blackmail and instead compromised with Boone to stop playing dirty, Warren misconstrued this as him being in cahoots with Boone to screw over the locals, and shot him in anger.
- Villain Respect: Boone admits that he admired Dexter's idealism, since it made him different from the other politicians and thus more "interesting".
