There's no doubt that Det. Jack Roth (Jeremy Sisto) on Wicked City is a talented cop, but he seems to have some issues with his other half — his partner. Last week, Jack and the audience met his new partner on the beat, Paco Contreras (Gabriel Luna). On Wednesday night's episode, Jack mentioned his old partner, but what happened to Roth's partner Vince on Wicked City ? When Jack and his wife Allison talked about Vince at home, it sounded like they don't want what happened to Vince to happen to Jack. Yikes. In this world, could Vince have been one of the Hillside Stranglers that Roth busted before the series began? Or was Vince merely just a bad seed?
Sisto and Luna have actually talked about this on Access Hollywood, so if you don't want to be spoiled, turn back now. SPOILERS START HERE: According to the Access Hollywood interview, Contreras is the cop who was responsible for Vince getting caught as a crooked cop. So naturally, Jack must be feeling a lot of mixed feelings. On the one hand, he may be feeling betrayed by someone who he trusted on the beat, but on the other, Roth must miss someone who he considered to be a close friend and co-worker. And that explains why he probably hasn't exactly warmed up to Paco just yet.
But even with that spoiler, we don't know what Vince did to be considered crooked. I still think maybe he had something to do with Jack's investigation of the Hillside Stranglers. In real life, Kenneth Bianchi (one of the real Hillside Stranglers) applied for a job with the Los Angeles Police Department and went on several ride-alongs with LAPD officers as they searched for the killers, according to several sources. Could Vince have been doing the same thing, but actually have made it into the LAPD?
Since Roth seems to be based on the real detective who arrested the Hillside Stranglers, I don't see why Vince couldn't be based on either Strangler. It would be a crazy twist, wouldn't it? And this show seems to love great twists.
Image: Eric McCandless, Vivian Zink/ABC