Picket Fences - S1E17

Be My Valentine
First Aired: Friday February 12, 1993

It's near Valentine's day, it the episode starts with a twang as Jimmy is shot in the ass with an arrow. It turns out that the serial killer known as Cupid has apparently come to Rome.

After Jimmy is shot with a bow and arrow, Maxine realizes that it might be the serial killer known as Cupid. She worries that she may be a target due to her specific personal ad which mentions liking poetry. She and Kenny decide to stake out a date where they nope to lure out the killer, whom the FBI believes they already killed. In the process, they meet Barry Jennings, the man who lead the case for the FBI. Unfortunately, he went a bit crazy after the killer killed his wife and was fired from the FBI. The FBI and the Rome Sheriffs station believes that he is in fact the killer and set up a sting using Maxine. Playing on Jenkins' trust, Maxine agrees to go out with Ben, who Jenkins seems to be trying to use as a suspect for when he kills Maxine. Chaos ensues during the sting, with the police actually thinking the killer is Ben. It turns out that both Ben and Jennings are accomplices. Maxine barely survives with the help of her illegal pen gun. The episode ends with the FBI capturing the men and Maxine being fine.

This was a very good whodunit and a mystery episode. There are multiple twists, with none of them being easy to figure out, IMO. I liked the fact that it was a Maxine centric episode and she really shined in this one more than the recent others. Also, Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show) as Special Agent Jennings played a good villain, as is typical for him to do. A very interesting and original Valentine's episode.

Score: 8.4 / 10