Dog Day Afternoons is the 14th case of the third season of the series and is the 60th overall.
Description[]
The case of a female bank teller shot to death in her work in 2000 is reopened when the same bank is robbed again by perpetrators wearing identical masks and equipped with identical weapons as six years earlier.
Synopsis[]
January 6, 2000. Roween Ryan celebrates her 30th birthday with her mom Mary and her sister Terri. Roween blows out the candles and makes her wish: to win the lottery. That way she can take a cruise, travel the world. Terri gives her sister a pair of boots and asks for her to come out tonight but Roween has to be at work first thing tomorrow. Three men wearing Johnny Cash masks break into a bank and chaos ensues. The men spray paint the security cameras and order the manager to open the vault. One man orders Roween and another teller to back away from the alarms with their hands up. Roween is seen slumped against a set of file cabinets, shot in the stomach. Vera files away her cold case box.
Present Day. Vera and Jeffries receive word of a robbery at the Southeast Branch of the Emerson Bank that happened that morning. The two of them worked on a case six years ago where a lady teller was shot and killed at the same branch by a group of men wearing Johnny Cash masks. Scotty shows up and tells Lilly some guy named Ray with a Harley is looking for her. Lilly asks Scotty if Ray comes back again, tell him she’s dead.
Roll Intro
The team go over the case file in the vault. Roween Ryan had just turned 30 when she was shot and killed by one of the Johnny Cash bank robbers. They were never identified, but apparently one of them had the nickname of ”The Hat”. Roween and another teller, Darla Dunaway, were warned not to press the silent alarm but Roween did anyway.
Jeffries and Vera pay a visit to Darla at the bank. She had started at the window next to Roween’s and spent five years working her way up to branch manager. Today was her one-month anniversary and they were supposed to have cake, but instead they got robbed. There’s nothing really useful she can tell the detectives except the Johnny Cash who held a gun on her had a skull ring on his pinky finger. Two weeks before the first robbery, he showed up at the bank and had gone to Roween’s window instead of hers. The guy and Roween really seemed to hit it off, talking about books and the best place to eat lunch when Darla intervened and invites Roween out later that night, along with her cute friend, noticing a skull ring on his pinky finger. All she learned about that guy was his first name, Julius. She hadn’t cared about anything else, excepting for beating Roween. Darla admits she had been really awful back then, but perhaps she’s making amends for it now.
Scotty and Lilly visit Roween's mother Mary Ryan, who shows them Roween's room, just the way she left it. Roween and her sister Terri were opposites: Terri was the glamour girl while Roween was the shy bookworm. Mary always thought the timing of Roween’s death was tragic, because she felt her daughter had finally found love. She heard Roween gushing over the phone one night talking about Johnny Cash’s autobiography and assuring the voice on the other end that everything was still on, Friday, 8:30. Mary admitted it took some doing to get the two girls to tell who Roween’s mystery man was, but she finally found out Roween had been talking to a man named Julius. Scotty and Lilly suddenly realize the so-called coincidences: Johnny Cash had been Roween’s favorite artist, and the bank had been robbed at exactly 8:30. Terri still can’t believe Roween would have done something like that. Yes, they shared secrets, but never anything about bank robbers. Terri can’t believe everything Jeffries and Miller are saying, because she met Julius a few weeks before Roween died. The two of them had run into each other during lunch and he had invited her for drinks that night. He was the perfect gentleman. His ”friend”, however, only succeeds in scaring off Terri and having Julius tease him by saying ”the Hat strikes again.” According to Terri, ”The Hat” was a bouncer at the Wayback club.
The owner of the club doesn’t know who ”The Hat” is, but the description sounds a lot like Rick Carver. He had his retirement party at the club the previous night, buying drinks for everyone. The owner said he was suspicious at how Rick was going to pay for the tab, until Rick flashed him a lot of hundreds in his pocket and said he got a big inheritance from his grandmother. However, Rick’s brother Julius had been furious with Rick. Vera leaves the club with the stolen money to check it against the bills that were stolen from the bank.
Scotty, Lilly, and a team of police bust into Rick’s apartment. However, Rick insists that neither he or Julius shot Roween, he was straight with her before they hit the bank. A few days before the big bust, Roween and Julius shared a drink at Julius’ apartment while Rick and another guy, Phil, played monopoly in the background. Julius asks Roween to go to Tahiti with him, but he needs her help: he wants to rob her bank. He softens Roween up with a story about how an elderly woman advised him to grab life by the horns as long as he doesn’t hurt anyone. Julius also assures Roween not to worry about his other friend Phil: he may stare at her like he wants to kill her, but Julius can handle him. Roween finally relents and asks Julius how it would all work. As far as Rick knew, Phil was an old time friend of Julius’ and Julius himself would have never hurt Roween: she was his girl.
Late that night as Scotty and Lilly are leaving the station, Ray pulls up on his motorcycle. Scotty offers to take care of the matter, but Lilly insists she’s good: she had to deal with him sooner or later. She exchanges a quick hello with Ray before leaving with him on his motorcycle.
The next morning after retrieving Rick’s cell phone from the FBI, Stillman makes a call to Julius, who insists that he fell head over heels for Roween. He was so much in love with her that he felt he could turn away from his old life and start a new one. One night when Roween was standing outside in the fire escape trying to break her new boots in, Julius comes and tells her they should call the robbery off; it doesn’t feel right. Forget about Tahitti, Julius wants him and Roween to have their own adventure in Philly. With Roween relieved, Julius shares a kiss with her out on the fire escape. Julius tells Stillman that he tried calling off the robbery, but Phil still wanted to go through with it.
Lilly arrives at the office, only to find Ray talking to Scotty. Finding a private place to talk, Lilly asks Ray if Scotty asked what happened between them last night. Ray admits that Scotty did ask, but he didn’t say anything. He came to see Lilly this time because he’s the owner of the custom bike shop. Ray can see Lilly’s done everything she said she was going to do, and he’s proud of her.
When Vera and Jeffries find Phil, he insists that yes, he did hate Roween for a while but Julius didn’t want to stop the robbery - that was all a lie. According to Phil, Julius had said Roween would be too scared to be a problem, and if she was, shoot her. That was why Phil had to warn her. He told Roween that Julius was lying to her about the robbery, about the two of them. Julius already had someone else and Roween wasn’t his type, but Phil still thought she was something. He warned Roween that Julius has a way with people, spots their weaknesses. Phil's was booze, but after the robbery, he’s going to be his own man because Phil knows he’s good for someone. Finally believing him, Roween asked Phil who the other girl was. The two detectives are shocked to find out Julius’ other girl was Darla Dunaway.
Darla admits it was her idea to get Roween involved with the robbery, because she was the head teller. But Darla wasn’t a part of the robbery this time around because Julius had dumped her after the first robbery. The morning of the heist, Roween had gone into the bathroom to confront Darla about everything. She now knows Julius sees both of them in the same light but Darla had refused to believe her until she found out that Roween really was right. Darla reveals Julius’ favourite hideout but all she knew about the first heist was that Julius was at the vaults and Rick was covering the doors, leaving Phil at the teller window, where Roween was shot.
With the new information, Phil finally breaks down. For the first robbery, his alcoholism had put him into debt, but this time around, his finances were in order and he should've had no reason to go along. Only this time, Julius had somehow talked him into it after finding out Darla was now branch manager. Phil could have been a good car salesman but in the end, he figured he’d go along with the robbery because he felt empty anyways, knowing in the end the person he loved would never have loved him back. In the end, Roween had opened the door for him, offered him a way out. He should have taken it.
Flashback. The three men break into the bank, overpower the security guard, and spray-paint the security cameras. Julius gets Roween to open the vaults and the two enter. Roween confronts him about Darla and the robbery, but she didn’t tip off the police because a tiny part of her had hoped their kiss on the fire escape was real. Julius smiles and tells her he was just joking. As he clears out the vault, Phil takes Roween out to the teller window. She tells him she’s going to push the silent alarm; it’s time for them to stand up. Roween begs Phil to stay with her; he can be his own man starting now. She pushes the alarm just as Julius exits the vault. Rick scrambles and Julius orders Phil to shoot Roween. Unable to resist Julius’ words, Phil turns the shotgun on Roween and fires.
Lilly and Vera walk out of jail with Phil and Rick/The Hat behind bars. Scotty finishes writing down Darla’s statement. Stillman, Kat, and a FBI team bust Julius at his hideaway. Jeffries files away the closed case file. As Mary and Terri sit down to dinner, Mary looks over to the couch and "sees" Roween curled up with a book. Ray shows up at Lilly’s house and she lets him in.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Kathryn Morris as Lilly Rush
- Danny Pino as Scotty Valens
- John Finn as John Stillman
- Jeremy Ratchford as Nick Vera
- Thom Barry as Will Jeffries
- Tracie Thoms as Kat Miller
Guest Cast[]
- Tina Holmes as Roween Ryan
- Veronica Cartwright as Mary Ryan
- Jeremy Davidson as JC #2 / Julius Carver
- Eddie Driscoll as JC #1 / "The Hat" / Rick Carver
- Brennan Elliott as Ray Williams
- Kate Levering as Darla Dunaway
- Paul Schulze as JC #3 / Phil Jorgensen
- Shana Sosin as Terri Ryan
Co-Starring[]
- George Tasudis as Ivan Fonseca
Notes[]
- First appearance of Ray Williams, Lilly's bike-riding old flame.
- Kat mentions "that shooting in New York. Black guy reached into his coat, pulled out a wallet instead of a gun," a reference to the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo, who was shot 19 times during an incident with four NYPD plainclothes officers who thought Diallo pulling a gun from his jacket pocket when he was reaching for his wallet.
- Veronica Cartwright and Tina Holmes also played mother and daughter in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Holmes' character also fell for a handsome, charming, but dangerous man in that episode, with tragic results.
- This episode is loosely based on the film Dog Day Afternoon.
- This was Paul Schulze's guest appearance in the series, after his well-known character in 24, Ryan Chapelle was killed.
- The episode was remade as the fifteenth episode of Cold Case - Door of Truth.
Music[]
- Chris Isaak "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing"
- Dixie Chicks "Cowboy Take Me Away"
- Jo Linder "Nothing But Your Lovin' Will Do"
- Train "Meet Virginia"
- Everclear "Wonderful"
- Faith Hill "Breathe"
- Tim McGraw "All We Ever Find"
- Closing Song: Lee Ann Womack "I Hope You Dance"
