Original air date: November 6, 1999

Written by: Andrew Dettmann & Daniel Truly

Directed by: Terrence O’Hara

Jarod poses as a sex therapist to investigate a brutal attack on a young female psychologist.

Jarod’s Discoveries:

Jarod’s Occupations: Sex Therapist

Jarod’s Aliases: Jarod Kinse

Behind the scenes insights and the Creator’s Take

Official Synopsis

Jarod poses as a sex therapist to investigate a brutal attack on a young female psychologist.

Miss Parker, Sydney and Broots trace Jarod’s trail to a zoo.  The zookeeper informs the trio that Jarod, disguised as an animal behaviorist, spent most of his time in the chimpanzees’ cages studying their mating habits.  In scouring personal effects left behind by Jarod, Parker, Sydney and Broots uncover sexual paraphernalia and a shipping receipt with no return address from the Internet website LustyFun.com.  Contrary to Lyle’s orders to report all findings on Jarod to Cox, Parker sends Broots on a secret mission to find the return address.

Jarod, now posing as a sex therapist, replaces psychologist Melissa Blass at the Arnett Center.  Allegedly, a convicted sexual offender and patient of Melissa’s, Luke Carlo, physically attacked and handcuffed Melissa at a motel called the “Eros Inn.”  Now, a traumatized Melissa imprisons herself in her home.  Jarod’s important first-patient encounter is with the seductive Monique, who suffers from excessive sexual role-playing.  Jarod questions other sex therapists at the clinic, the jokester Dr. Alan Covney, and the clinic boss, Dr. Paul Arnett, about the patient attack on Melissa.  Dr. Arnett states that Carlo was a predator who took advantage of Melissa’s caring nature and transformed her into a shell of her former self.  Later, Jarod views a video of Arnett effectively treating a patient’s phobias by revealing his own fear of water.

That night, Jarod pays Melissa an unannounced visit.  He persuades the weak, wary young woman to let him enter her house.  The home décor reflects a love of water and the ocean.  However, Melissa’s anxious demeanor is anything but peaceful.  Jarod gently prods Melissa to recount the night of the attack.  As a trembling Melissa reaches for a bottle of pills and her vodka, she suffers a panic attack and orders Jarod out of her home.

After studying videos of therapy sessions between Melissa and Carlo, Jarod locates Carlo in an area of sex shops and adult theaters.  Carlo vehemently insists that he had nothing to do with the attack on Melissa and escapes before Jarod can press for more information.

In a quiet suburban neighborhood, Parker and Broots follow their lead to the home of a “swinging” couple, Roy and Linda, who run their sex toy business through the Internet.  They reveal that Jarod placed a large order.  Roy gives Broots and Parker Jarod’s mailing address.

Jarod returns to Melissa’s house bearing gifts of sand, seashells and a CD of ocean sounds to create a sensory relaxation exercise.  In recounting the attack, Melissa remembers that Carlo lured her to the hotel.  However, Melissa never saw who actually attacked, handcuffed her and put a dog collar around her neck.  As Melissa reaches for vodka, it spills on her pills, causing them to fizz red.  Melissa tells Jarod that Dr. Covney prescribed the medication.

At the clinic, Jarod confronts Dr. Covney about his discovery that Melissa’s medications marked Pronil, a sedative, are actually Darvonex, which heightens anxiety. Dr. Covney explains that Dr. Arnett prescribed all of Melissa’s meds personally, and it would be inconceivable that Dr. Arnett made such an error.

Jarod snoops around Arnett’s office and examines his extensive Marretta University paraphernalia.  He discovers a secret compartment in one of the trophies.  Inside, he finds a stack of articles chronicling a series of coed rapes on the Marietta campus.  Under the photo of a young Melissa Blass, the headline reads, “Rape Victim Courageously Comes Forward.”

Back at Melissa’s home, Jarod questions a less anxious, unmedicated Melissa, who has stopped taking the Darvonex.  In contrast with her recent attack, Melissa states that, after the campus rape she refused to crumple, and developed a steely resolve to go on with her life.  Dr. Arnett, the Maretta alum, recruited her to work in his clinic.

Jarod now knows the identity of the attacker but needs to squeeze the last piece of the puzzle from Carlo.  He locates a reluctant, frightened Carlo on a park bench.  Carlo reveals that Dr. Arnett blackmailed him.  If he had refused to lure Melissa to the hotel, Arnett would have reported his probation violations of missed appointments, sending him back to prison.

With Monique’s help, Jarod sets a trap for Dr. Arnett.  He jabs him with a syringe of sedatives and, hours later, Dr. Arnett awakens in the Eros Inn handcuffed and dog-collared, lying on his back in a bathtub.  Dr. Arnett, the hydrophobic, begins to unravel.  Jarod spins the water tap until Dr. Arnett confesses.  Arnett reveals that Melissa’s resilience after the rape angered him, because it meant that what he did to her had no meaning.  Arnett believed Melissa needed to “learn a lesson.”  Consequently, his second assault, coupled with medication, would prevent her from fighting back and finally break her.  Eventually, water swallows up the struggling Arnett.  Jarod yanks the gagging Arnett out of the water.

Jarod and Melissa sit on her sun-filled porch. Melissa faces more recovery, but plans eventually to return to her practice. Jarod suggests that if she wants to open her own clinic, he knows of a big cooperation that might be persuaded to provide the seed money.