Carrie Preston’s Hero Finally Finds Surprising Closure After Crawford’s Death

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Elsbeth Season 3, Episode 6.In last week’s Elsbeth episode “Poetic Justice,” guest star (and fellow The Good Wife alum) Sarah Steele’s Marissa Gold told Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) that the future of New York is “in her hands.” Well, “Bunker Down,” the sixth episode of Season 3, doesn’t have much to say about the future, but the past pops up unexpectedly. I promise it’s big, but it’s way too early in the recap here to drop that already, so hang on. But we digress. This week Elsbeth is up against Buster Bluth himself, Tony Hale, as paranoid billionaire Craig Hollis, a man she believes is behind the disappearance and untimely death of a crisis manager, in a story that asks the question: “How long does it take to nuke a human being?”

Tony Hale Nukes the Fixer in ‘Elsbeth’s “Bunker Down”

The episode starts on a phone screen, with Nell (Yuko Torihara), a social media personality, talking about how billionaire Craig Hollis (Hale) dragged her into an “apocalyptic dungeon room” for four hours when some ne’er-do-wells tried breaking into his home. The camera moves away from the screen to show Craig Hollis and “crisis manager” Anders Whitman talking about the post. Craig is in full-panic mode, and Anders, despite assurances that the post has been taken down, can’t placate him. Craig is sure that the post has already been disseminated throughout the internet, threatening his fortune and reputation, and demands to know what more Anders can do. Ander’s first instinct is to ask about what actually happened that night, looking to see if he can salvage his client’s reputation with an explanation and get ahead of the story.

Craig begins to explain that when he believed their lives were in danger, he brought her to the “dungeon” Nell talked about in her post. He approaches the bookcase, where a retinal scan is done via a scanner within a display copy of The Great Gatsby. Anders follows him in, where he’s greeted not by a medieval chamber, but a state-of-the-art, fully stocked safe room, replete with television, a wine rack, and other trappings of the wealthy. Craig talks more about the room and its security features, including a microwave that can nuke a human, located between the safe room and the bookcase. He admits that they stayed in the room for four hours, but hardly a torture by any stretch.

But as they step out of the room, Anders says something that sets the paranoid Craig off. “You’re diabolical,” Craig raves, “That’s the look of a traitor. You didn’t come here to help me. You’re reporting back to the board about me!” Craig forces Anders back and locks him in the tunnel, sealing off both ends before turning on the microwave. Only, to Anders’ great relief, the microwave stops working. Instead, Craig grabs a hammer, opens the bookcase door, and attacks Anders, but unable to gain the upper hand, Craig pushes Anders back into the safe room and locks him in.

It’s Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire in ‘Elsbeth’s “Bunker Down”

Elsbeth is at the precinct as mayoral candidate — and possible beau — Alec Bloom (Ivan Hernandez) comes in to invite her to a fundraising event. There won’t be any press, so Elsbeth’s concerns about adding oil to the “mysterious redhead” gossip fire won’t be a problem, and it’s him that’s asking, not Marissa as part of a PR stunt. Plus he’s charming as all get-out, and it works, with Elsbeth agreeing to meet him there. Alec leaves, and Elsbeth walks in to a meeting room where Officer Nikki Reynolds (b) is talking with Stu (Ari Barkan). He works for Meridian Group, who assist in providing damage control through their crisis managers, through whatever means necessary: paying off officials, discrediting ex-employees, deleting posts, and so on. Stu has been unable to contact Anders, whose phone has gone dead and whose dog has been left at home, barking. After getting Anders’ phone records, they are able to track Anders’ last location to Craig’s home.

Elsbeth, accompanied by Reynolds and Lieutenant Steve Connor (Daniel K. Isaac), makes her way to see Craig, who grants them entry. As Connor and Reynolds ask Craig about Anders, Elsbeth starts looking around, stopping at a box of imported Swiss chocolates, asking if they’re for guests. They are, or at least Craig doesn’t say they aren’t, so she helps herself to one or two, and continues to look around until she comes to the bookcase, marveling at The Great Gatsby original edition. Craig snaps, demanding she not touch it, and refuses to disclose what business Anders was cleaning up for him, saying only that it’s another case of rich people being vilified, and pushes them out the door. Stymied by Craig, they turn to the head of Meridian for help. She’s unconcerned, believing he simply had to “go deep,” and will surface when the job is done. Note that this season’s clever writers could be making an allusion to our dear missing friend Kaya (Carra Patterson), too, whose whereabouts are infuriatingly unknown. But upon hearing that the dog was left alone in the apartment, she spills the details.

They bring Nell in for questioning, who explains that Anders, contacting her from Switzerland on business for Craig, had demanded that her post about Craig be taken down, and launched a smear campaign to discredit her claims. She then explains her side of the encounter with Craig, who she calls a “paranoid freak,” a man who fired all his staff and had them replaced with AI robots. Nell says that there was no one trying to break in, but rather a smoke alarm had gone off, prompting Craig to believe that “the socialists were attacking.” He then told her about the security measures he had in place to keep them safe, including the ability to “nuke anyone that came in after them.” Apocalyptic dungeon room? Check. Elsbeth posits to Wagner (Wendell Pierce) that Anders could be in the bunker, but she’s going to need more — he can’t get a warrant based on Swiss chocolates — and he highly doubts that Craig will let her back in to his house again.

Why does anyone doubt Elsbeth? She goes back to Craig’s with a plate of homemade butterscotch and gets in under the ruse that they know what happened to Anders. She explains to the recluse that they believe Nell may be involved in Anders’ disappearance, given the trouble her post stirred up. As she’s talking, she’s drawn back to The Great Gatsby book which, again, earns a warning not to touch it. Elsbeth knows there’s something about it he doesn’t want her to see, and pokes at him, talking about the book’s theme of the corrupting influence of money, and how the rich shield themselves with it. Craig walks menacingly towards her, forcing her back as he rails about the poor people always trying to scorch the rich. Elsbeth excuses herself, promising to come back when she has something more. The encounter motivates Craig to finish what he started with Anders, so he approaches the designer of his safe room, asking if there’s a way of rerouting carbon monoxide into the room. There is, he does, and he goes in to recover the body. Only, there’s no body. Anders found a way out, through a ventilation shaft, and is next seen pushing open a manhole cover and poking his head out. It’s a short-lived freedom, however, as he gets hit by a car on the way up.

A Ghost From the Past Chills Elsbeth in “Bunker Down”

Image via CBS

The investigation is put on pause, though, as Elsbeth has that fundraising event to go to. She arrives at the event, late, and apologizes, but Alec assures her it’s alright, the event is just about to start. With that, a woman approaches the front of the room, and thanks everyone for attending the fundraising event for a law library, in memory of her late husband, Judge Milton Crawford (MIchael Emerson). Yep. The diabolical Crawford has reared his head again to send chills down Elsbeth’s spine, filling her head with flashbacks. She tries to hide behind Alec, but his widow, Winnie Crawford (Henny Russell), sees her and approaches. “I know who you are, Ms. Tascioni,” she says, “And I think it’s time we had a talk.” As she walks away, Elsbeth explains that Judge Crawford killed innocent people, and if you can’t say anything nice, you, well, you know the rest. She wants to leave, but Alec won’t let her do so by herself, and takes her arm as they walk out, together. It’s a very sweet moment, with Alec there to pick Elsbeth up after being thrown for a loop.

The next day, Elsbeth arrives at the precinct where the results from Anders’ autopsy have been delivered. A strange chemical substance was found under his fingernails, and his face and hands had second-degree electrical burns, consistent with, say, nuking. They consult the same bunker designer and ask if it’s possible for someone to, hypothetically, get out of Craig’s bunker through a tunnel and up through a manhole. He says it is, and talks more about Craig’s bunker, with the luxury of a penthouse, a self-sanitizing feature, specially coated fruits that stay ripe longer, and the electric doorknobs of a madman. When he’s asked about the bunker’s ability to nuke someone, the man gets quiet and says that Craig specifically asked for that feature, only he capped the power so it would be unable to actually carry out the nefarious deed. That’s all they need for a warrant, so the police storm into Craig’s home and scour the bunker for clues, but all they can find, curiously, are fruit flies. Craig, who initially believed they were there to plant evidence that would indict him, smugly laughs as the police leave, empty-handed.

Elsbeth, accompanied by Connor and Reynolds, goes to an escape room in an effort to “put herself in Anders’ shoes.” The escape room host welcomes them, warning that they only have one hour to find the clues before “the doctor” returns. As they look around, Connor finds a clue left behind by previous players, where “the doctor” wouldn’t find it. Inadvertently, Connor has given Elsbeth her “gotcha.” She returns to Craig’s with a flyswatter in her hand. His curiosity piqued, Craig lets her in, only she’s followed by the NYPD’s finest, who storm Craig’s bunker again. “It didn’t make sense that there were fruit flies in here,” Elsbeth explains, given that the fruit was covered in the aforementioned coating. A self-sanitizing safe room would have washed the coating away, but that coating was found in Anders’ fingernails, which means he, too, may have left a clue behind. Sure enough he did, etching “DRAC 125,” the NYPD call code for murder, on a banana, and Craig Harris is arrested.

Just prior to that, Elsbeth eventually relented and agreed to meet up with Winnie Crawford. That meeting opened with Winnie asking if Elsbeth is sure about her accusations. She explains that they were achingly close to proving it, but fell short. Winnie then stuns Elsbeth by saying she’s sorry for what Elsbeth has gone through, and says that she won’t go through with the law library. Cut to the end, where Winnie finds Elsbeth at the precinct, saying she’s had second thoughts about abandoning the library, instead hoping that some good could come from the tragic events of the past. She then asks what the proof was, with Elsbeth replying that the evidence had disappeared from the lab, with Judge Crawford behind it. Winnie, again, apologizes and promises that next time they talk, it will be about something pleasant. Elsbeth agrees, saying she’s always looking to make new friends, and suggests they have lunch soon. Crawford remains the one that got away, but at least Elsbeth has a degree of closure. Only Winnie definitively ends it, finding the box in the closet that has the fanny pack evidence that would have implicated her husband, and throws it in the fire. It doesn’t seem malicious; just a grieving widow who wants to allow her husband some grace, albeit undeserved, in death.

Release Date

February 29, 2024

Directors

Nancy Hower, Robert King, Lionel Coleman, Rob Hardy, Robin Givens, Ron Underwood, Rosemary Rodriguez, Aisha Tyler, Bille Woodruff, James Whitmore Jr., Joe Menendez, Kevin Rodney Sullivan, Lily Mariye, Nick Gomez, Peter Sollett, Sam Hoffman, Tyne Rafaeli, Darren Grant, Fong-Yee Yap, Mary Lou Belli

Writers

Jonathan Tolins, Erica Shelton Kodish, Bryan Goluboff, Sarah Beckett, Michelle King

Pros & Cons

• Of the partners Elsbeth has had so far this season, the trio of Elsbeth, Connor, and Reynolds is arguably the best.
• The reveal of the Judge Crawford connection was a legitimate, and engaging, surprise.

• The use of title cards, this time “Twelve Minutes Later”, was funny the first time around, but it’s wearing thin.
• Of all the villains so far this season, Tony Hale’s Craig Hollis is one, the least interesting so far.