Memphis Beat, “Love Me Tender”
Originally Aired July 6, 2010
Episode Named After: The Elvis song, which hit #1 on the Billboard charts in November 1956. The song also lends its name to the film featuring Elvis’ acting debut. Presley debuted the song on his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in September 1956.
Rowdy Memphis (Plot Synopsis): A man wants to kill himself by jumping off the top of a building downtown. Officer Sutton (DJ Qualls) tries to talk him down, and Dwight Hendricks (Jason Lee) reasons with the man, who has woman troubles. Dwight gets some breakfast to go at The Arcade. Lightfoot (Abraham Benrubi) has wife troubles.
This week’s mystery surrounds a missing Miss Southern Appeal. Ivy is a 17-year-old beauty contestant who has been working toward the Miss Southern Appeal pageant “all her life.” Whitehead (Sam Hennings) says, “A rich girl lost in this city: never a good thing.” The pageant owner’s son Jimmy Masterson is a creepy guy and a suspect. Dwight’s ex-wife Alex (Sunny Mabrey) is working toward opening a catering business, and Dwight helps out by getting her a gig at the police station. Masterson turns out to just be a drunk. The investigation leads to Kate Caldwell, Miss Bluff City, an enemy of Ivy’s. Caldwell says Ivy had been fighting with her parents. When confronted, the Hatchers tell an unlikely story. Ivy’s been hanging out at a biker bar called Bic’s. Ivy’s sister decodes Ivy’s diary, which reveals abuses her parents inflicted on her. Caldwell is interrogated for more information; Caldwell quotes Ovid, and Whitehead quotes back Johnny Cash. Dwight figures out Ivy is pregnant. Her boyfriend is an employee at Bic’s. Dwight does the right thing again. Ivy and her boyfriend were just getting set to run off together, to escape Ivy’s parents. Dwight helps that happen. Lightfoot presses charges against his wife because she stabbed him.
