Where is the dividing line between authenticity and scammer behavior? It seems like it should be a stark one, but “Poetic Justice” argues for something fuzzier. Is Alec Bloom’s seemingly sincere political schmoozing meaningfully different from arts nonprofit director Gary Pidgeon debasing himself to coax money from donors? Does it matter if Detective Rivers is in earnest or being phony when he parrots talking points from HR training about women in the workplace, when it leads to a better working relationship with Elsbeth? Will his and Elsbeth’s little confession-yielding deception of their own at Gary’s dry cleaner hold up in court?

When Elsbeth meets Alec (Ivan Hernandez) at a benefit (on the courtly arm of Dr. Yablonski, who has now popped up in each of Elsbeth ’s three seasons to

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