Ballard 1.03

BYOB

Ballard continues to work the Pearlman case but is forced to spend most of her time on another cold case. The victim was a fraternity pledge who died falling off a second floor balcony in 2006. There was an inconsistency in the injuries which seem to indicate to Ballard that Nick, the cold case victim, might have been involved in an altercation before falling off the balcony. The trail leads them first to some of the other pledges from that year and then to a couple women that Nick slept with.

Samira gets angry with Ballard over how she's handling the disappearance of a piece of evidence. Parker turns to her grandfather, who was also a police officer for advice. Ballard eventually admits she was wrong and that there are signs of a cover up.

Ken Chastain, Ballard's ex-partner, tries calling her but she won't pick up. He eventually confronts her in person but he's been drinking. She tells him to go away and shoves him to the ground when he starts to embrace her and apologize for not trusting her when she filed a complaint against Olivas, another member of RHD.

The episode ends with the cop was following Ballard around (in the previous episode) approaching Martina, the intern, in a bar.

Thoughts

The title of this episode is a reference to a gift that Ballard receives from Tutu, her grandmother. The letter presumably stand for Build Your Own Board, surf board.

I don't recall if there were any hints dropped before but it became clear to me early in this episode that Laffont is gay.

The cop who approached Martina in this episode was probably sent sent by Olivas.

I thought this was a very good episode. It has it's own little arc, with the resolution of the fraternity case, plus there are other bits and pieces of story that tie into the other cases that Ballard and her team are working.