WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Clarice Season 1, Episode 1, "The Silence Is Over."

In CBS' Clarice, Agent Starling (Rebecca Breeds) is back two years after the events of The Silence of the Lambs, returning home to Appalachia. She's still suffering PTSD after killing Buffalo Bill, but former senator Ruth Martin believes Clarice is the right woman to solve the new spate of murders taking place.

However, as much as her colleagues press her to make it clear there's a serial killer on the loose, Clarice breaks protocol and reveals this isn't the case. Sadly, it's something just as evil and could truly shatter her faith in the system and humanity in general.

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Ruth is playing optics and politics because she's now attorney general in Washington. Sure, she wants Clarice to shine in the FBI, but she does seem to have ulterior motives. After all, Clarice was a rookie during the Bill case, but Ruth is pushing her a bit too hard to show everyone that the Behavioral Science Unit, profilers and women can get the job done.

Clarice starts to feel the pressure when the case reveals three murdered women who have been maimed and marked all over. It brings back traumatic memories of Buffalo Bill. Her superior, Paul, wants her to parade it to the press as a serial killer, but her partner, Esquivel, buys into Clarice's ideas instead.

Clarice thinks the murders don't fit the pattern of a serial killer. Eventually, she and Esquivel discover that these women all had children with disabilities. They were involved in clinical drug trials, and were about to speak publicly about the side effects before they were murdered.

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These women are being killed by special ops to cover the trail. Clarice and Esquivel rescue a reporter the women were going to rat to, while also shooting and arresting the assassin. He was going to make it look like the reporter committed suicide, which sells Clarice and Esquivel on the conspiracy.

Paul still wants her to tell the press it's a serial killer, and it may be because the trail leads back to Washington. However, Clarice makes it clear on the news this isn't a serial killer and she's going to stay on to find the real villains of the story.

It shocks her comrades and angers Paul, but Esquivel's glad she made her stand. The clues are very suspicious and while Paul wants Esquivel to keep eye on Clarice, it seems she's won Esquivel over. Now, with the hitman in custody, she'll get to dig deeper to find out the truth, but it does appear internal forces will be working against her.

Starring Rebecca Breeds, Michael Cudlitz, Kal Penn, Nick Sandow, Lucca De Oliveira, Devyn A. Tyler and Marnee Carpenter, Clarice airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

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