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Rating: ★★★★★

With only two more episodes left in the season, The Glades starts turning up the Florida heat and taking the relationship they’ve been dangling before us like the proverbial carrot to the next level…or, at least, giving it a legitimate chance to level up. Detective Jim Longworth (Matt Passmore) is a bit cranky about investigating the body of a “well-coiffed executive” found on a popular stretch of beach, but the interruption of his golf game is only partially to blame.

"You're only a stranger once." But you're a murderer for life.

During the entire investigation, Jim is like a high school kid, asking the M.E., Carlos Sanchez (Carlos Gomez) if they are going to call Callie (Kiele Sanchez) in as forensic nurse on this case, or if he’s heard from Callie, or if Callie’s checked in, or if she’s passed him a note in study hall. Okay, I’m kidding about the study hall part, but Jim is uncharacteristically distracted during the case, and it’s not because of Maggie (Kayla Ewell), the bikini-clad bartender who turns out to be a murder suspect. If this episode had not ended on the note it did, my heart would have indeed gone out to our love-struck detective.

Carlos is more than happy to lend Jim a hand with the investigation once the clues lead them to one of the local beach bars called Dwight’s Dockside, where “you’re only a stranger once.” Dwight (Matthew Glave), owner, proprietor, and all-around-nice-guy offers little resistance to Jim’s normal blitz approach to questioning.  And apparently Carlos isn’t the only one who enjoys the relaxed ambience of the bar—did you see Jim pick up the bowl of peanuts to nosh on while looking at the bulletin board filled with bar patron photos?  It made me laugh.

I have to admit, both Carlos and Jim paying attention to Dwight’s exotic fish tank felt not only a bit random but waved a ‘clue’ flag for what was to come later in the episode. As Jim is following the breadcrumbs of this case, he’s also trying to maintain a grip on his focus because the minute Callie shows up at the station to take a DNA swab of one suspect, his grin turns soft, his face flushes, and he can’t keep his eyes off her. In true Callie form, though, she doesn’t come clean with him about the ‘issues’ she and teenage son, Jeff (Uriah Shelton), had been apparently dealing with all week, and this avoidance triggers Jim’s internal alarm bells. She does, however, get a bit clued in to the current investigation, which comes in handy later in the episode.

Gotcha.

Following the leads in “Beached” feels a bit like making spaghetti: Jim and the FDLE start throwing theories at the wall to see if any of them stick. One theory follows Maggie’s dream of one day owning and running the bar. Another follows Maggie’s Spicoli-esque former surfer boyfriend’s (Johann Urb) desire to win Maggie back. But it turns out to be a third theory involving the bar owner, Dwight, that digs its claws into Jim’s quick mind, and also manages to get him into trouble fairly quickly.

The moment Jim realizes his prime murder suspect is hiding out in the open, his overconfidence in apprehending the suspect becomes his downfall. While exposing Dwight’s true identity (and revealing why the fish tank was such a ginormous clue), Jim is totally taken off-guard by the old sand-in-the-eyes distraction technique. What follows is probably the most physical and bloody fight Jim has been in thus far this season. A tree branch to Jim’s head opens up a bloody gash, seriously dazing him, and Dwight nearly gains the upper hand by practically drowning Jim in the scuffle.

Thanks to Callie’s quick thinking—and to her finally deciding she needs to talk to Jim about what she’s been dealing with all week—the Coast Guard gets to Jim’s rather remote location in time to assist in the exhausted and wounded detective’s arrest of the murderer. Although, following Callie’s ‘this must be where Jim is confronting the bad guy’ logic involved a tiny bit of a leap.

Callie figures out where Jim is in the nick of time.

With Dwight in custody, and amidst a flurry of EMT activity loading a rather bloody Jim onto a stretcher and into an ambulance, Callie comes clean about having ‘the conversation’ with her husband (who is currently in Witness Protection). She finally asked him for a divorce, a step that gives this viewer a bit of relief when it comes to allowing the obvious chemistry between these two characters to ignite.

“Beached” closes on Jim’s stunned expression with Callie near tears after sharing a monumental piece of news. However, as we approach the season finale, I can’t help but wonder what other roadblocks these two might be forced to overcome.

Tune in to The Glades, Sundays at 10/9c on A&E. For more information on the show, visit http://www.aetv.com/the-glades/.

All photos © 2011 A&E. All rights reserved.