In the previous episode of Graceland, Charlie was forced to make a deal with Amber in order to find Germaine, the guy who almost beat her to death in last season’s finale. Meanwhile, Paige received an award for her work in the Lena case, Mike developed a predictable addiction to painkillers, and Briggs decided to use Ari’s girlfriend against him. And in the storyline that refuses to end, Johnny killed Sid to protect Carlito because he is still holding Lucia hostage.
In the third episode of season 3, “Sense Memory,” Mike goes back into the field, but his pill-popping ways almost get him shot his first time out. Meanwhile, Charlie takes Amber down to Miami, Jakes gets involved with Johnny’s mess and in his quest to bring down Ari, Briggs seeks help from a retired agent.
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Mike Almost Gets Killed (Again)
Mike gets word that Sid is dead and decides that it is time to shut Carlito down and call it a win. Johnny objects, but everyone else backs Mike up. Unfortunately, when they go to make the bust, Carlito’s shipment turns out to be 29 chickens, not drugs. Someone gave him the heads-up that they were coming for him.
Things gets worse when one of Carlito’s men pulls his gun and fires at Mike and Paige. Paige takes cover, but Mike just stands there counting the chickens and mumbling to himself. (I guess what we can take away from this scene is that if you go into the field high on something other than life, you end up counting chickens in the desert.)
Paige tells Briggs about Mike’s chicken-counting incident, but Briggs is not overly concerned. He does keep his word and checks in on Mike later, but their conversation is confusing, at best. Mike tells Briggs about an experience he had during those few minutes he was technically dead and it involved lots of odd things, including 47 red birds. Briggs’ only advice is to not count birds when the bullets are flying.
Prior to his conversation with Briggs, Mike hits up a known drug dealer for more painkillers. When the guy tries to rip him off, Mike attacks him, reveals he is a cop and basically steals the guy’s entire stash. Is the show just recycling some of Briggs’ back-story for Mike? Is Mike about to create a false identity and become the next Odin Rossi?
Amber Puts Charlie in Jeopardy
Charlie takes Amber to Miami to locate a guy named Reggie because he can lead them to Germaine. Alas, Amber’s memory is terrible and she cannot find Reggie’s place. She does, however, know that Reggie is connected to a dirty doctor who acts as his dealer. Charlie uses her connections to find this doctor, but the guy claims he has never heard of Reggie. Just as Charlie is certain that Amber has been playing her the whole time, they are arrested by a local cop. Only, it turns out the man is not a cop at all.
He takes Charlie and Amber to his partners and prepares to torture them until he gets answers. Charlie swears they are not cops and she has no idea who this Reggie person is, but then “Reggie” shows up. He recognizes Amber right away and corrects her that his name is actually Rodney. Surprisingly, Amber then does Charlie a solid by vouching for her with Rodney. They make a deal with Rodney’s people to buy their drugs wholesale and everything is settled.
(I am confused about how this drug situation is going to lead back to Germaine and I expect Amber to screw Charlie over at the first opportunity, but at least Charlie is getting to do something this season. One of my major complaints about season 2 is that Charlie was sidelined from most of the action.)
Johnny and Jakes Take a Ride
Johnny, worried for Lucia, warns Carlito about the bust. With his planes shut down, Carlito orders Johnny to move his drugs via boat. (Thankfully, all of this occurs off-screen so we do not have to see Carlito in this episode.) Jakes follows Johnny down to Tijuana and gets Johnny to admit all of this. Knowing Johnny is determined to play this out, Jakes decides to tag along as backup.
This gives the men an opportunity to chat. Johnny waxes poetic about Lucia and confesses to killing Sid. Johnny tells Jakes that even though he has had to kill people before on the job, this time felt different. Johnny thinks this was more of an execution and he is struggling with what he did. But given that Sid tried to kill Mike and Paige, I think Johnny should cut himself some slack. At least now there is one less bad guy putting the team in danger.
One good thing about Jakes and Johnny’s trip is that Johnny comes away from it knowing he needs Briggs to help him sort everything out. If you are going to take down someone as crazy as Carlito, you need someone who will go as far as Briggs.
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Briggs Goes After Ari
Instead of kidnapping Ari’s girlfriend, Briggs just steals her stuff so he can get her phone. He uses her phone to track down the last agent who was undercover with Ari. This agent, Colby, tells Briggs that he quit even though Logan claimed he was taken out of the field due to illness. Colby does not want anything to do with Ari after what his former boss put him through, but Briggs convinces him to help out, promising him that he does not need to go anywhere near Ari.
Briggs and Colby work out the details of Briggs’ plan to take down Ari. Yet we do not get to see that plan in action just yet. What we do see is Briggs getting Ari drunk — and probably drugged — so when he wakes up covered in blood in a wrecked car, he freaks out and calls Briggs for help. I assume this storyline will make more sense once we learn the details of Briggs and Colby’s plan.
What did you think of this episode of Graceland? How long do you think it will be before Amber double-crosses Charlie? Is Briggs foolish to trust Colby? Something about his story seems off to me. Is it possible he’s still working for Ari? Is Mike’s vision of the red birds and the numbers really some kind of warning sign or is Mike just going crazy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Graceland airs Thursdays at 10pm on USA.
(Image courtesy of USA)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
