Second Swell Summary: AJ's  past comes back to haunt him when a routine serving of a summons goes terribly wrong. Bracken, a murderer convicted by AJ's testimony 17 years ago, has returned and wants revenge on both him and his ex-girlfriend, Kristen. The beating he gives AJ leaves the young Simon in the  hospital. AJ doesn't tell  anyone who attacked him, and as soon as he can stand, he leaves the  hospital and goes in search of the girl he used to love. Once he finds  her, he convinces her to let him stay while her husband's gone to protect  her from Bracken. Meanwhile, Rick  is beside himself with worry. AJ has gone off without telling him where he  was going, and Rick knew it had something to do with the attack. Many hours of research later, he finds out about the old murder case AJ was involved in that happened while Rick was in Vietnam. Convinced more than  ever that AJ's in real trouble, he starts tracking Kristen  down. AJ and Kristen find themselves attracted to each other after all these years, but AJ  refuses to give in to the temptation to get involved with a married woman. Bracken finds  AJ and Kristen and manages to get hold of Kristen. As he's trying to force AJ to drop his gun, Rick appears with his gun leveled at Bracken's head.  Bracken forces AJ to admit that he lied in his statement about the murder  so long ago. AJ hadn't seen anything, he had taken Kristen's word for what  she had seen and been too scared to report herself. Bracken was indeed guilty, but AJ had been eaten up inside all these years by the fact that he had lied to the police. They manage to distract the Bracken's attention enough to get the gun away from him, after which AJ administers a severe beating. After they take Bracken in,  Rick tries to reassure AJ that what he'd done back then hadn't been so bad, but AJ ends the episode still struggling with the memory that he'd  lied. Review I liked this one. Not so much for AJ's complete shut-out of Rick, but for Rick's deep concern and fear for his younger brother. It's a tough episode for Rick -  first AJ gets severely beaten, then he leaves abruptly telling Rick in no  uncertain terms that it's none of his business, after which he finds out AJ's been keeping a secret from him all of these years. Not easy on a brother's heart. I applaud Mac -  it's amazing the tales he can tell with just his eyes, such as here, where  he's dealing with AJ's secrecy: One thing I  noticed was the brothers' same driving desire to help someone else against  their wishes. AJ is moving in with Kristen to keep her safe, despite her  protests. Rick is going to track AJ down whether he likes it or not. It's  kind of cute, actually. I can't say I  was all that impressed with Kristen. She seems  to be nothing more than a weak, self-centered person. She abandons AJ after the trial long ago and she tries to seduce him when she decides she wants him, despite the fact that she's now married. She begs AJ to drop his gun when she has to know that Bracken's just going to kill them both. I agree with Cecilia, Kristen's not good enough for AJ. I have to assume AJ's attraction to her is based on something he saw in her long ago. The episode is directed wonderfully by Gerald McRaney. I can't help but wonder, though,  if he kept AJ half-naked so much just to make JP uncomfortable and how  much teasing went on behind the scenes. ;) It was a great show for pictures, the rest of mine are here. 4  out of 5 Camaros   ©"Simon & Simon" and all of its characters'  copyrights are held by Universal City Studios, as are all pictures and quotes on this site unless otherwise noted. This site is completely  nonprofit - I don't get a dime. On the contrary, it is my hope that  the copyright holders will make more items available for sale so  others and I can spend more money!