WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Clarice Season 1, Episode 3, "Are You Alright?"
CBS' Clarice has found Agent Starling (Rebecca Breeds) in an uphill battle in the ViCAP unit of the FBI as she ran afoul of her own teammates and her boss, the attorney general, Ruth Martin. They want the public to think there's a serial killer out there, but she's adamant there's a political conspiracy over a drug trial going on.
However, just when it seems like Clarice is making progress in her quest, the sinister villain that could help her unlock all the answers gets murdered in brutal fashion.
Clarice has Karl Wellig (Kris Holden-Ried) in custody, a special ops agent who's no longer with the military and someone she believes is a freelancer. She's convinced he's covering up a conspiracy, mostly because she tracked down three murdered women to a clinical trial with disastrous side effects. Clarice thinks someone in Washington is hiding their tracks, and the fact she caught Wellig trying to kill the reporter the women were talking to is the smoking gun.
Sadly, the reporter left her safe house, and despite wanting a deal, Wellig is now claiming innocence. He also doesn't want a lawyer because he knows the current evidence will just get him a couple of years for assault. All he did was go after the reporter, which Clarice's team won't even believe until DNA details come back. Clarice, however, is still adamant the whole thing is being perpetrated by Wellig. She knows he's not into sexual assault, though, so there has to be more, leaving her to dig up dirt on his employers.
Unfortunately, just as Clarice is about to get Wellig to crack, the unthinkable happens when he pops a can of soda and takes a swig. He begins to cough and keels over, and Clarice quickly deduces he's been poisoned. He eventually dies, leaving Clarice's partner, Esquivel, feeling guilty because he gave the food to him without double-checking. However, there's one silver lining because Paul and Co. are now on her side. They heard Wellig almost confess, and when they roll through surveillance footage, they spot the fake lawyer and cop who brought the food up. And as Clarice makes it clear, they can't trust anyone, leaving the team wondering if there are killers within their own department.
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.