Cracked

Inspector Diane Caligra of the Toronto Police Department is in somewhat of a conundrum. Detective Aidan Black, who currently is assigned to the SWAT team, is one of her best and most seasoned members, but she realizes based on his recent professional history and behavior, that he may be suffering from some mental illness, most likely post traumatic stress syndrome. She reassigns him to the newly formed Psych Crimes & Crises unit, which will deal with cases which involve some sort of emotional disturbance at its core. The unit was created by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Daniella Ridley, who will become his partner despite she not being a trained police officer. The other two members of the unit are the eager but inexperienced Detective Poppy Wisnefski, and tough but caring psychiatric nurse Leo Beckett. The two teams are to patrol when not working on a specific case. That first case is of Toby Burke, an aspiring hockey player who was murdered in the bedroom that he shared with his younger brother, Wyatt Burke, who was also in the room at the time of the incident. Toby died of a stab wound to his mid-section, but had a light bulb sticking out of that wound. Beyond the differences in opinions and approaches between Aidan and Daniella, they have to figure out if Toby's seemingly distraught father, Garrett Burke, knows more than he is disclosing, and figure out if there is some significance to the light bulb. Through this case, Aidan realizes that Diane had ulterior motives for placing him on this assignment despite the less than obvious fit: she wants Daniella to watch over him and provide her with a medical diagnosis of his mental condition.

Psych Crimes and Crises is sent to the De Soto home, where single father, bipolar lawyer Mike De Soto, is outside wielding a collection of weapons. On a manic and seemingly psychotic rampage, he believes that someone is out to kill him and his teen-aged son, Nick. Mike's shirt is blood soaked, and Nick is eventually found inside unconscious from an apparent fall down the stairs. Nick is otherwise unharmed meaning that they have to find the probable dead body associated with that blood. They eventually do find the body, that of college student Sophie Ann Wells, a girl with a troubled past but who was turning her life around. Her wounds are consistent with the range of weapons Mike was wielding, but her body was placed in such a way showing that her killer had affection for her. The unit has to discover Mike's connection to Sophie to determine if he or someone else killed her. It is made all the more difficult as Mike is unable to provide any information until he comes down from his extreme manic state. Through this case, Daniella discovers where she is on the career spectrum between her psychiatrist past and police officer future.

Psych Crimes and Crises is sent to an elementary school where eleven year old Blessing Byers, constantly bullied by her classmates, has just beaten several of them with a baseball bat in a manic rage after their latest torment. On this day, she has scrawled several words on herself, most with religious overtones, the most prominent being the word "truth" on her forehead. As she seems to have a fear of the police, Aidan and Daniella try to portray themselves as anything but. They want to do a psychological assessment as something is obviously troubling her, but her single mother, Marcy Byers, also seems suspicious of authority in general and does not allow it. The team finds that the Byers, which also includes a younger daughter Eve (Marcy's older daughter Shauna, apparently died a few years earlier) have led a nomadic life the past five years, moving from motel to motel after selling their house. An incident that evening leads the team to believe that Marcy has passed onto Blessing whatever emotional issue she herself is facing, as that incident on the surface is a shared psychotic delusion between mother and daughter. One person may be able to assist in uncovering what Marcy and Blessing are facing, which in turn they hope will lead to salvation most specifically for Blessing. Meanwhile, Aidan speaks to an in-house psychologist about his own emotional issues. And Daniella reconsiders her agreement with Diane regarding reporting to her about Aidan.

Aidan and Daniella are called to investigate the case of a delusional homeless man named Jeremy who believes he was attacked by a werewolf. At the scene, they come across another man, who they believe is Jeremy's attacker, violently beating on a car with a crowbar, with a dead man next to the car and a scared young woman inside. But whatever emotional issue Aidan is facing makes him lose focus for a few seconds, leading to the attacker being able to escape. Because of Aidan's lapse at the scene, Caligra brings in Liz, Aidan's old girlfriend who he still loves, to work on the case, which may be an issue mostly for Aidan. The young woman in the car is realtor Erin Laswell, whose boss was the dead man next to the car. Although she didn't know the man attacking her car, a later incident at her house leads to Aidan and Daniella believing there must be some connection between the two. They have to find the attacker to find out what that connection is. Meanwhile, Erin pursues Aidan romantically. He is attracted to her in return, and finds it difficult to resist her romantic pursuit, especially in his emotional state, despite he knowing that it is not the best idea from a professional perspective. But further evidence Daniella uncovers could lead to the case taking on a whole new dimension.

Psychiatrist Dr. Karl Karzik is seriously injured when he is involved in a hit and run. He, who survives, believes it was no accident as he was scheduled to speak at a hearing involving his client, Mandar Kush, who was deemed not mentally fit to stand trial into the brutal murder eleven years earlier of Peter Fong, but he who admitted to the killing. Dr. Karzik had received a death threat not to appear at the hearing, especially if that hearing resulted in Kush being released. Daniella, who knows of the case but not Kush himself, volunteers to take over that psychiatric assessment of Kush for the hearing which is to determine if Kush is indeed now mentally well and if he can be released if the murder was due to his mental illness. Many of her colleagues want to see Kush remain in custody, as they believe Kush is playing the system. They however still need to find who tried to kill Dr. Karzik, that perpetrator with who they can sympathize. The leading suspects seem to be: Sal Lenza, the arresting officer; Roman Fong, Peter Fong's brother; Arun Kush, Mandar Kush's son who doesn't want his father to "come home"; and Joseph Podolski, a vigilante crusader. Through this case, Aidan has to deal with his emotions due to his most recent sexual encounter with Liz.

Psych Crimes and Crises is brought in to investigate a seemingly schizophrenic homeless teenager who has with him who he has mentioned was an abandoned baby girl. He, who is covered in blood due to fighting injuries, will not give her up and he is wielding a makeshift razor-type weapon to ensure no one takes the baby away from him. Aidan and Daniella want to provide some medical attention to the boy both for his physical and mental issues, while securing the baby and returning her to her family, where ever they may be. Upon closer inspection, the boy is not schizophrenic, but has Tourette Syndrome, which he appears not to know or therefore understand. Aidan and Daniella have to make him understand the nature of Tourette's, which hopefully will ease his mind about giving up the baby. In the team's investigation of finding the family, they are led to a fifteen year old cold case. The mother contacts them via telephone, her nature which Daniella diagnoses as post-partum psychosis, which means she could harm both herself and the baby in her current state. They too have to convince her that medical treatment could help her over her current issues, as she has threatened to abscond with the baby. This case touches both Aidan and Daniella personally, but in different ways.

Psych Crimes and Crises investigates a young black man seemingly high wandering the streets clad only in his boxer shorts. Aidan recognizes him as Billy Russell, one half of the famed band, Saturn 66. They are able to coax him into custody. When Billy comes down from his high, Billy admits to Daniella that he is bipolar, and that he sometimes goes off his meds, but that his Saturn 66 band mate, Max Graves, and his doctor, Evandra Lewis, who travels with the band, keep him in check from hurting himself or others. This relationship with Max is despite their very public and often contentious professional feuds. After they release Billy into Dr. Lewis' care, Aidan and Daniella are called to a disturbance, that disturbance which involves Max as the target. A now missing Billy is pegged as one of the prime suspects in what happened to Max. Beyond the incident with Max, Psych Crimes have to find Billy, whose disappearance may be linked to threatening emails he has been receiving of late, to Dr. Lewis, who may not be all she appears on the surface, and/or to the unknown woman who is believed to be Billy's muse and one true love.

Aidan still isn't sleeping, which may be affecting his reasoning. He and Daniella are called to the ice rink to deal with Terry Dwyer, an ex-NHL-er whose hockey career ended because of his violent tendencies, which have just resurfaced during a pick-up game where he violently beat an opposing player. Terry is in slight denial about his problem despite he realizing it is negatively affecting his life, especially his marriage. That's why Aidan and Daniella aren't happy when they later learn that he is working as a snitch for Organized Crime Detective Rachel Fenton in return for making a stolen property charge go away. Specifically, Terry is working as an enforcer for low level but rising organized crime boss Joe Lucas, who is Fenton's target. Aidan and Daniella are unsure if Terry is emotionally equipped to handle the dichotomy between his generally humane nature against the intentional violence associated with his work with Joe. If he's not equipped to handle it, it could lead to tragic consequences for Terry and those around him. Meanwhile, Caligra and Liette ask Leo, whose job is already negatively affecting his marriage, to do something against his personal nature: go undercover as a prisoner to see if another prisoner who possibly committed a murder is faking his psychiatric problems.

Psych Crimes and Crises is sent to investigate a crazed gun-wielding woman. It turns out that woman is Beth Croxton, a police officer, who is mourning the just occurred suicide death of her teen-aged daughter, Lindsay Croxton. Once Aidan and Daniella are able to disarm Beth and get Beth to let Lindsay go, they focus their investigation on Lindsay's suicide, she a young woman who they find was being bullied. Aidan and Daniella find a suicide video shot by Lindsay with some coded messages, which they try to decipher. After having had trouble fitting into her new school, Lindsay got the lead in the school's play. But a wardrobe malfunction on stage led to that bullying going on-line and viral via a video of that wardrobe malfunction. Psych Crimes' main focus is finding out who posted the initial video on-line, they believe it being done and actually orchestrated by Jessica O'Donnell, who they learn controls much of what happens amongst her classmates. Aidan believes Jessica is or will become psychopathic as she becomes an adult. But as Psych Crimes digs deeper, they learn the extent of bullying in general amongst the high school set, and the veil of secrecy that belies it all in an effort to fit in.

The coroner's inquest into the school bus incident where Aidan shot the perpetrator Dominik Laszlo dead, Laszlo's knife in the process which in turn killed student Jason Beckmire, is approaching, the inquest despite Aidan having been previously absolved of any wrongdoing in the incident. Aidan's cavalier attitude toward the inquest, including refusing to have any meaningful dialogue with his police association appointed lawyer Juvina Kapoor, is his way of trying to put the incident behind him emotionally. Kapoor is worried because the crown attorney, Marcela Houseman, seems to be using tactics of an ambush against Aidan, despite Aidan not being on trial. Those tactics include providing a revised and unusual witness list at the last moment. Kapoor is correct in her assumption as Houseman proceeds to try and discredit Aidan, which if she succeeds may mean his career. Through the process, the relationship between Aidan and Daniella as well their relationship with others in their professional life may be forever altered. Meanwhile, Poppy is concerned about her police officer father, who has become increasingly confused of late, which Leo implies may be the onset of Alzheimer's. While she tries to figure out what is going on with her father, which she does against his wishes, she struggles with trying to protect him and his career against the possible danger to the public if he continues to work as a cop.

Aidan is having trust issues with both Caligra but most specifically Daniella following the revelation during the inquest that Daniella was reporting to Caligra on his on-the-job behavior. Daniella knows what she did was wrong, especially as she respects her partner, but doesn't know how to rectify the situation, nor does she know how to deal with Sean, for who she has lost all respect and who will probably continue to work with the unit. The Aidan/Daniella situation affects the entire unit as they partner with Sex Crimes in trying to apprehend who has been coined the Riverdale Rapist, a serial rapist with four known victims, each attacked while they were sleeping in their own home. Included among the rapist's MO is the fact that he leaves a set of plush toys at the crime scene. The latest victim is able to provide key information as this incident is the first time the rapist has spoken to any of his victims during the act. This information leads to the units focusing their investigation on neighborhood contractors, who can blend into the background without much notice. But when a fifth victim emerges, the units believe they may be dealing with two different rapists, as the key suspect in that fifth rape doesn't mesh with the profile of the other four.

Psych Crimes and Crises is asked to assist on the case of a $1.5 million diamond heist at a small jewelry store, the diamonds which were part of a regular shipment and which were yet as uninsured by the jeweler. They are involved because an eyewitness, who encountered the four balaclava clad robbers, stated that she was assaulted by one of them, who acted like something had spooked him which resulted him shooting randomly in the air. Based on the surveillance footage of the actual robbery and the eyewitness statement, they believe the robbery was conducted by ex-military men, while Daniella and Daniella alone believes the one spooked man suffers from PTSD from his time in combat. Their initial suspect is the one and only ex-military personnel with who the jeweler had regular contact, Jesse Powell, a former driver with the armored car company the jeweler used. Upon meeting Powell, they can see that he does suffer from an extreme case of PTSD, probably too advanced a case to function in a robbery of this nature, and he does have an airtight alibi, but he probably knows more about the robbery than he lets on. Aidan decides to use an unethical method to find out more information on this case, which in turn could benefit his own issue with what he has thus far refused to acknowledge as his own PTSD. The unit hopes they will be able to convince Jesse to access medical help in the process. Aidan's problems have thus far prevented him from pursuing a personal relationship with Detective Fenton. And Daniella, without telling her colleagues even about the issue, goes on a secret mission to find out what happened to the child she gave up for adoption.

The police are alerted to the murder of college professor Oscar Wallace after his nine year old daughter Olivia Wallace is spotted in a near comatose state in her pajamas hiding under a bench in the subway station. Oscar is found in the Wallace home with both his arms snapped, presumably done pre-mortem to inflict as much pain as possible. At the time of the murder, Oscar's wife and Olivia's mother, Esme Belk-Wallace, a high profile global human rights lawyer, was away on an extended business trip to Africa, she who returned the day Oscar is found. With Oscar and Esme's respective busy schedules, Esme's brother, Elliott Belk, who recently reentered their lives, often acted as Olivia's caregiver. Esme believes the murder was because of her work, as she and the family have received many death threats over the years because of it. But when Psych Crimes and Crises discovers that Oscar had hired a private detective, they believe that Esme's personal life as opposed to her professional life resulted in Oscar's death, and that she isn't disclosing everything she knows about the murder. They have to find out the exact nature of the P.I.'s work to support their theory. But as they get closer to discovering the identity of the killer and the motive, they may all be in danger. This case marks the first time since the inquest that Aidan may again trust Daniella, which she in return may need more than ever.