Shades of Blue - Eye of the Hurricane - Review: Downward Spiral

"A lot of things can happen when you go to sleep."


So, this comes in a bit late, but things are a bit crazy right now. The good news is it comes right in time to celebrate the fact that Shades of Blue has been renewed for a third season, which is amazing. This probably has something to do with J.Lo but it's not like this show doesn't deserve it, I for one I'm ecstatic about getting more crazy turns and some more of Ray Liotta's charm and acting chops. So, let's get to it.

Eye of the Hurricane

With Sia's "Alive" playing on the background Harlee remembers everything Woz said to her, his mistrust, his hatred for her, and we can see how it weighs on her. She's also a bit paranoid about the evidence of Miguel's death. She meets with Woz at a diner thinking they can get a little bit better, but he only asked her because he was meeting with Stahl.

Wozniak: I asked you hear so you could translate. I don't speak rat.

Stahl is angry because Woz didn't deliver Julia Woz keeps talking about anything else and Harlee translates his insults to Stahl who threatens to put them all in jail but Wozniak hold his own acting a lot like a mafia boss again, he even threatens Stahl's child since he knows he's fighting for custody.

Harlee: Stahl doesn't bluff.
Wozniak: Neither do I.

Harlee and Nava seem to be getting along again, no hiccups, she testifies to finding the weapon on Bianchi and seems to be getting away with it until the judge interrupts and grants the motion to suppress the leather sap from evidence in a very sketchy way, so Harlee decides to investigate. When she takes the elevator he gets in last minute and threatens her, he's very creepy.

Bianchi: A lot of things can happen when you go to sleep.

Harlee finds out Judge Fowler had been arrested around the time of hurricane Sandy, which is when Bianchi's murder case evidence got lost. Harlee goes in search of the arresting officer and finds him working for Julia in one of her events, connecting the dots she plays dumb and goes to Woz but he tells her to leave it alone.

We also see a flashback to hurricane Sandy, when Julia was captain but still got along with the team, Sap was still alive and Woz and Harlee were at their best moment, I have to say this made me feel a little nostalgic, I really miss Sap, which is surprising since he didn't have much time on my screen, and I miss Woz and Harlee's father-daughter like relationship, this is one of the great things about this show, in so little time I have come to really care about the characters. Woz was sad about his daughter, apparently it was the anniversary of her death.

Wozniak: There used to be nothing but sun, now I think God got the idea.

Loman has an ecounter with Tom Verco, from Internal Affairs and starts freaking out, but Woz calms him down, he says Donnie was one of their own and it's logical that they go looking for him now that he's missing, that they're looking to rattle the cage and tat's the last thing they need to do, get rattled. He gets interrupted by a call from his wife telling him their accounts have been frozen, by Stahl of course. Woz retaliates by making public a video of him with the prostitute right when his custody hearing was taking place. This also alerts him to the cameras.

Tess seems to be in need of money and is still recovering from the gunshot wound, she takes some money she shouldn't and it weighs on her so she tells Harlee and she urges her to come clean, knowing right now Woz wouldn't react well to any kind of betrayal. When Tess tells him he says he already knew, that she should've told him right away but he tells her to keep the money if she needs it. When he gets home he find Stahl's revenge, Linda with a recording on her phone of Donnie and Woz talking about their relationship. This war with Stahl seems to be escalating really fast, and recording of the events that transpired last season seem to be creating all kinds of mayhem.

Harlee gets a late night visit from Stahl angry about the cameras, he tells her he's lost the only reason he had to behave, and now the game is gonna change. But when he's leaving her apartment Woz grabs him and starts hitting and choking him, he says when he finds him in hell he's going to do it all over again. When he's about to kill him, Harlee stops him by pointing a gun at his head and telling him Cristina is inside, she tells him if he kills Stahl the world will come crushing down on them.

Wozniak: It's too late, Harlee, the world's already crashing down.

The first season was its own downward spiral but this seems to be on a whole new lever of crazy, I mean, this is only episode two and Stahl almost ends up dead in the middle of the street, I do wonder if there's a way to go back to "normal" somehow, though that is one of the great things about this show, it's not even close to a procedural, so there's never really that innert state they hold until season finale's but, I don't think they can keep up the level of crazy every single episode and every single season (because now there'll be three!! Yay!).

There's also the matter of Ray Liotta's character, I don't think I remember Woz being like that the first season, I'm not sure if that was because he had to hide himself from Harlee before and is more relaxed now, if the betrayal changed him, or if it's a bit of not bad, but not great writing either. I mean he had these moments of darkness last season, like when he pushed Sap, but he usually tried to balance them out with some "good guy" moments, now he just seems like he's been settled in a place of corruption with no self-indulging speech, which he did use to have, it was something like "we do a little bad so we can do a lot of good". But now it all seems about family and loyalty, and the "right" thing doesn't even come up. I hope there's another reason for this we haven't seen yet, or maybe for him to explain his process to someone. I just think he's too good a character and actor to turn him into this mob boss caricature without the proper development.

What did you guys think of this episode? Where do you see this coming? Am I the only one who misses Sap so much? I'd love to read your thoughts.