ROSEWOOD: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The pilot of this drama series about a Miami pathologist who frequently consults the police department.
Dr. Beaumont Rosewood Jr., a private pathologist, comes upon a crime scene; it appears that a man was pushed out of his hotel room by a prostitute and fell to his death. After a cursory examination (in spite of the investigator’s objections), Rosewood theorizes that the victim was suffering from pancreatic cancer and committed suicide. He returns to his office, where he works alongside his sister Pippy and her fiancée Tara. There he and Pippy are confronted by his mother Donna, who asks for their help involving the death of Nora Grayson, one of her former college choir students. She was killed the day before in an automobile accident and both Donna and Nora’s mother are grieved. Despite the fact that the county has already given Nora’s body an autopsy, Donna is suspicious due to Nora’s long-standing fear of driving and believes there may be extenuating circumstances involving her death. Rosewood and his staff examine Nora’s body themselves using Rosewood’s state-of-the-art equipment, and he decides to visit the police department to speak to them about his findings.
At the police station Rosewood meets Detective Annalise Villa, a new transfer from New York who has taken over Nora’s case. He attempts to report his findings on Nora, but Detective Villa believes the prior reports are sufficient and is annoyed by Rosewood’s attempts to flirt with her. However, Rosewood gets her to listen when he says he has found physical evidence that Nora was unconscious at the time of her death, believing that she was knocked out prior to her death and that her foot was weighted to the gas pedal. Detective Villa does not believe him, but he believes she will contact him in time. Rosewood examines x-rays of Nora’s foot and comes up with a reasonable explanation of how her foot was held to the gas pedal without any apparent evidence. He visits Detective Villa again and explains that he believes the killer placed dry ice on Nora’s foot to weigh it down. This convinces Detective Villa to re-open the case, although she does not inform Rosewood of the identity of her prime suspect.
This does not stop Rosewood from determining the identity of the suspect, Nora’s ex-boyfriend Carlos Gomez, himself. He then intercepts Detective Villa on her way to question him. Carlos attempts to flee but Detective Villa chases him down and apprehends him. Carlos claims that he did not kill Nora; he says he has not seen her in weeks and only fled because he is on probation for drug possession. Detective Villa gets Carlos to confess that he believed Nora was cheating on him and became angry, but Carlos still insists that he did not kill her. Rosewood reveals that his equipment determined what Nora ingested a few hours before her death, and that all the items she consumed are in Carlos’s kitchen. Carlos admits he saw Nora on the night of her death and Detective Villa places him under arrest. Tests indicate that Nora was drugged before her death, and Rosewood conjectures that Carlos had drugs slipped into his drink based on some of his physical symptoms. This leads him to believe that Carlos is not the murderer and Detective Villa releases him. Carlos says he does not know who drugged him, nor does he know the identity of the other man in Nora’s life beyond being “an older dude.”
Donna becomes concerned that Nora’s case will be forgotten soon, but Rosewood promises her otherwise. While making further examinations at his lab, Rosewood discovers that Nora’s hair has changed colors in the 24 hours since the body was transferred. He, Pippy, and Tara call in Detective Villa and inform her of this, concluding that it is due to exposure to meclizine hydrochloride, found in motion-sickness medicine. They determine that Nora spent a great deal of time at a local marina, and believe they may be able to find out more from the marina’s security logs. They find out the name of the boat she was visiting and its owner, an older ex-convict named Arthur Briggs. However, they discover Arthur’s dead, bloody corpse within the cabin of his boat, apparently killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They also discover large quantities of cocaine on Arthur’s boat and the police theorize that Nora was killed to prevent her from telling the police about his drug operation. However, Detective Villa points out several inconsistencies with this story and still believes Nora was murdered.
Rosewood conducts an autopsy of Arthur’s body, and Detective Villa discovers that Arthur had an active captain’s license, suggesting that he was captaining another ship in addition to his own. She also discovers that Arthur had a daughter around Nora’s age who died from cancer. However, Rosewood is unwilling to put this information into use until he finishes the autopsy, and suggests that Detective Villa leave to go see her husband, whom she mentioned earlier. Detective Villa takes umbrage with his attitude and explains that she dedicates herself fully to her job. She asks Rosewood why he shows similar dedication to his work, and notices that he seems to be taking a number of different medications. Rosewood reveals that he has a congenital heart defect due to being born prematurely, which has caused a number of health problems throughout his life; he believes that he will die sometime in the next decade. He says this situation gives him “a unique relationship with death” and that he almost constantly expects to suffer some sort of catastrophe to occur, thus giving him an appreciation for life. Suddenly Rosewood is struck with inspiration and he and Pippy discover that Arthur suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, and that if he had shot himself there would have been physical evidence of his having pulled the gun trigger. They also discover a mark on his skin matching a beach club where Nora used to work.
Rosewood and Detective Villa go to the beach club together and speak to one of Rosewood’s friends, “Ju Ju,” who works there. He claims to know nothing about Nora or Arthur, but Detective Villa intimidates him into revealing that Arthur arrived looking for Prince Mendez, aka “DJ Prince 305,” the owner of a yacht. She believes that Prince was responsible for running drugs, as Arthur was captaining his yacht and Nora worked as a hostess on the boat at one time. She intends to visit the boat during a party the following night, and reluctantly allows Rosewood to accompany her. During the party, Detective Villa attempts to win over Prince and inspects his hand, revealing a noticeably discoloration. She gets him to dance with her and slips a listening device into his pocket. Rosewood arrives and Detective Villa slips off to tell him to leave. She says she discovered that Prince has armed guards within the main cabin of his boat protecting something, and intends to call in the police on a bogus noise complaint in order to conduct a formal search. However, Rosewood believes that Prince will merely get rid of any incriminating evidence and flee, and decides to enact another plan. He approaches Prince claiming to be a potential customer, but Prince becomes annoyed and shoves him aside. Rosewood apparently starts suffering from a heart attack and asks them to call an ambulance. This distracts several of the guards, allowing Detective Villa to knock out the remaining one and infiltrate the main cabin.
Prince discovers Detective Villa and holds her at gunpoint. Detective Villa points out the evidence linking Prince to Nora’s murder, including the dry ice burn on his hand and evidence that he is smuggling cocaine from Mexico. She attempts to subdue him and he flees the boat with Detective Villa chasing him. He takes a hostage and attempts to get Detective Villa to back down, but Rosewood sneaks up behind him and holds a needle to his throat, threatening to inject him with a pain-inducing medication unless he surrenders. Together they disarm him and he is arrested. The next day, Rosewood informs his mother that Nora’s killer was apprehended. Rosewood encounters Detective Villa again and deduces that her husband is dead; she explains that he died suddenly from a pulmonary embolism, and Rosewood apologizes for his behavior towards her. He offers her a “discount” on autopsies for her cases, as he has taken a special interest in her. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: FOX
- DATE: 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:45:21
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 124041
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; Drama, police/detective; Drama, medical
- SERIES RUN: Fox - TV series, 2015-2017
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Marty Bowen … Executive Producer
- Wyck Godfrey … Executive Producer
- Richard Shepard … Executive Producer, Director
- Todd Harthan … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Vahan Moosekian … Co-Executive Producer
- Cathy Mickel Gibson … Co-Producer
- Desiree Cardena … Associate Producer
- Gabriel Mann … Music by
- Morris Chestnut … Cast, Dr. Beaumont Rosewood Jr.
- Jaina Lee Ortiz … Cast, Detective Annelise Villa
- Gabrielle Dennis … Cast, Pippy Rosewood
- Anna Konkle … Cast, Tara Milly Izikoff
- Lorraine Toussaint … Cast, Donna Rosewood
- Anthony Michael Hall … Cast, Detective Willett
- Glenn Stanton … Cast, DJ Prince 305
- Christian Navarro … Cast, Carlos Gomez
- Kamal Angelo Bolden … Cast, Julius Beeman
- Patrick Michael Buckley … Cast, Chester Bly
- Brianne Bailey … Cast, Nora Grayson
- Victoria Vodar … Cast, Jen the Masseuse
- Owen Harn … Cast, Hanz the Bodyguard