A so-called time traveler warns Major Crimes about a bomb threat, Charlie and Rex are enlisted to protect a prominent political figure at risk of assassination.
Tropes:
- Batman Gambit: After having a bomb strapped to him against his will, Charlie manages to foil the bomber's plan by sneakily instructing Rex to track their location instead of Fulford's, their intended bombing target.
- The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: While the Major Crimes team is rightfully skeptical of Ted Keczmerek's claim of there being an upcoming bombing attempt on Fulford without any sources for that intel, they nonetheless decide to have Charlie and Rex act as bodyguards for Fulford. Sure enough, Fulford narrowly survives being killed by a time bomb, and Ted is taken a bit more seriously from then on, putting aside his claims of time travel through tunnels. He is also proven correct about there having been a listening device in Reilly's hotel room.
- Cuteness Proximity: Karla Fulford is very fond of Rex, as she dotes over when he's nearby. After the case is solved, the Major Crimes team even muses over the possibility of Fulford adding dogs into her political campaign.
- Death by Falling Over: When Charlie hurriedly warns Fulford and her supporters to get away from a car carrying a time bomb, he has to help Reilly as she stumbles while she is running. As a result, Reilly and Charlie are sent flying into gravel by the explosion blowback, but Reilly died from the impact.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The bomber eventually turns out to be Carina Wheeler, Brendan's mother-in-law who infiltrated the hotel as a janitor. The only hint that she was involved at all is the possibility of Brendan having any living relatives outside of his daughter, and wasn't among the established suspects.
- Doing In the Wizard: At the end of the episode, it's revealed that Ted isn't a time traveler, but actually affected by the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. His supposed ability to see future events is the result of him having pieced together various rumors and interpreted them as facts.
- Morality Pet: Exploited by Charlie in regards to Carina's granddaughter, whom she earnestly cares about. Charlie brings her up to Carina in order to calm the latter down and get her to drop her guard, so that he can have Rex disarm her into dropping her detonator.
- No Party Given: It's not explicitly mentioned what parties Karla Fulford and her opponent Arthur Charland represent.
- Red Herring Suspect: Brendan, Cameron, and Arthur are set up as potential suspects, who all seem like they would have good reason to want Fulford dead for political reasons. But it turns out that none of them is the bomber. The actual culprit is Carina, who wasn't shown prior to the climax and is one of Brendan's relatives, seeking revenge for her daughter's death as a result of his negligence.
- Sadistic Choice: After Charlie has a bomb strapped to his chest by the bomber, the latter tells him of the following outcomes: a) he ends the bomber's call, he gets blown up, b) people leave the hotel, he gets blown up c) he calls the bomb squad, he gets blown up, and d) he leaves the bomb where Fulford will make her speech, she gets blown up.
- Sinister Surveillance: Justified example. The bomber is depicted as able to keep a close eye on Charlie's movements, because they tapped into the camera system of the hotel they're currently at.
- Strapped to a Bomb: The main source of this episode's tension occurs when Charlie is knocked unconscious, and sees that someone strapped a bomb to his chest when he comes to.
- Tap on the Head: While in the middle of a call to Sarah, as Charlie and Rex are looking for a listening device that was removed from Reilly's hotel room, Charlie is knocked out via a hit to the head with a lead pipe. He recovers quickly enough to see that someone strapped a bomb to his chest.
- Two-Act Structure: Most of the episode involves investigating a political assassination attempt, due to a tip given from a supposed time traveler. A little odd, but otherwise business as usual...Until Charlie gets hit at the back of his head with a pipe roughly midway through. When he wakes up, he has a bomb strapped to his chest, and the bomber forces him to follow their instructions, otherwise said bomb will be detonated. From that point onwards, the initial subplot is almost entirely dropped as the team must safely remove the bomb and stop the culprit.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Stephanie Reilly, Fulford's assistant, is killed by the blowback of a time bomb explosion by the end of the Cold Open, and she is mourned after the fact.
