Stupid,stupid,stupid!

[Patrick]

The Maris plot in The Ann Who Came To Dinner :

Instead of putting the anklet in the crate containing the painting and provoking that dramatic pursuit by the police, why not simply quietly leave the anklet at home where she was expected to be and it would have been days before they discovered that she had left?

[Forever Jung]

I'd have to watch the episode again to see if this theory floats, but perhaps she thought the house was being watched so it was harder for her to slip out of the house without a diversion?

If the police watching the house thought Maris was on the move there would be no reason to leave anyone standing guard, they'd just all rush off chasing "her" while she was able to escape for real.

The only problem with this (off the top of my head) is that if she thought the police were watching the house would she not have thought that the police would stop Niles' car as soon as it left and discover her little ploy?

Perhaps she knew the police were not right outside and she thought it would still make a good diversion to attract cops that may have been otherwise more inclined to notice her.

[CatNamedRudy]

The Maris plot in The Ann Who Came To Dinner :

Instead of putting the anklet in the crate containing the painting and provoking that dramatic pursuit by the police, why not simply quietly leave the anklet at home where she was expected to be and it would have been days before they discovered that she had left?

In truth, the second that bracelet was removed from her the monitoring center would have gotten a "tamper" alert. They may not have checked on her before she was able to flee but they would have known she removed the bracelet. Those bracelets are such that they have to remain in contact with the skin in order for them to work propertly. Also, if she was on a GPS style monitoring bracelet, those have to be plugged in on a daily basis in order to remain charged. They stop working and again, an alert is generated. And, the "old school" GPS monitors required the person to carry a tracking system with them. It was not a small thing either and the GPS would not work without it.

If she was simply on regular Electronic Monitoring, those systems don't track where you are at any given moment. They only show if you are "in range" our "out of range" of the monitoring box which is usually placed in your residence. The bracelet in that case isn't what is being tracked, it's the signal the bracelet gives to the monitoring box which is hooked up through your phone.

Electronic monitoring and GPS of offenders is a huge part of my job and whenever I see ridiculous stuff regarding monitoring on TV shows it tends to drive me nuts!

[hansenkd]

It doesn't really matter. The whole point of that subplot was to provide finality and closure for Maris and to reveal a most excellent prop (the painting of Niles as Pan), which was a wonderful payoff.