JJ is a juvenile delinquent, but also the son of the deputy mayor. His mother doesn't want him to have a criminal record, so her boss the mayor has asked Karen to straighten him out. Since Lassiter and Juliet have a "light(ish)" caseload, Karen assigns them to the task and wants them to "spend a little time with him, take him on a ride-along, nurture him, show him what a life of crime leads to." They reluctantly agree to the job, and meanwhile JJ has tripped an officer while waiting in the hallway.
On the ride-along, JJ tries to flirt with Juliet and makes it clear to Lassiter that he envies him for getting to "hang out with this amazingly hot woman all day long." Lassiter is annoyed and tells him to respect Juliet as an officer of the law.
When Shawn, Gus and Jervis Kent are at the station in an attempt to convince Karen, Lassiter and Juliet that there's something going on at Glorious Pines, JJ is also present. He doesn't interfere, and when the discussion is over Lassiter tells JJ that Shawn is the kind of "buffoon" he is destined to become if he doesn't clean up his act. Lassiter is glad when JJ says that he doesn't like Shawn, although since he had just seen him talk to Juliet he might have said this out of jealousy or simply as a lie to conceal the fact he would very much like to become someone as socially adept as Shawn.
Later that day Lassiter tries to scare JJ straight by sitting him down opposite prisoner Darryl Jablonsky. This seems very effective at first, but Darryl soon reveals that he was only pretending to be a hardened criminal and doesn't want to keep lying as it goes against his rehabilitation. To Lassiter's frustration, Darryl explains that he actually has a pretty decent life behind bars and basically befriends JJ. Once he tells JJ that he will "have a blast" in prison, Lassiter has seen enough and leads the relaxed JJ away.
A little while later, Lassiter calls JJ "demon spawn" while telling Karen that he cannot help JJ as his threats, scares and bribes all had no effect. Juliet then decides to talk to JJ alone in Karen's office as Shawn, Gus and Karen look on. Although they can't hear what she is saying, it's clear from her body language that she is not holding back. When she is through, JJ emerges visibly intimidated and sheepishly apologizes to Lassiter before sitting down to await his next instruction.
Trivia[]
- Karen says that the "penny ante vandal stuff" he would otherwise be written up for includes "taking down street signs, crazy gluing parking meter slots, removing hood ornaments."
- He could have been named after filmmaker J. J. Abrams, given that the action film Cloverfield (co-produced by Abrams) had its wide release in the US on the exact same day that "The Old and the Restless" was originally broadcast. This would be especially likely considering a character called Meredith Cloverfield appears in the same episode.