We all have things we’ve said and done that we wish we had done differently. Regrets come back to haunt us from time to time. In yet another solid episode of Training Day, Kyle Craig (Justin Cornwell) learns that some of our ghosts of the past can be deadly in Tunnel Vision, Episode 1 X 11.
A tip from Frank’s (Bill Paxton) informant, the affable Moreno (Noel Gugliemi), Frank and Kyle learn of a new, virulent shipment of heroin that’s hitting the streets. Acting on Moreno’s tip they bust a buy, only to have the supplier not only kill the buyer but also commit suicide to keep from being arrested.
As the team tries to ID the supplier they’re paid a visit from their old FBI “friend” Special Agent Boudreau (Alex Quijano) accompanied by Homeland Security agent, Jack Ivers (the always interesting Max Martini). From them, they learn the supplier is from Kabul, Afghanistan and is believed to be in the U.S. selling the drugs to finance a terrorist operation. When they show an airport security photo of the terrorist and his partner, Kyle thinks he’s seen a ghost, a ghost named Sadiq (Karan Oberoi).
Kyle shares his fears with his paraplegic Marine Corps buddy, Sherman (Anthony Jennings). The two have shared regrets of a botched mission in Afghanistan that resulted in Sherman being paralyzed and Kyle killing most of an Afghan family in a friendly fire incident. He tells Sherman he can’t shake the feeling that this Sadiq is the grown-up child that was the only survivor of that incident and that he’s coming after him for revenge.Kyle has a reason to be worried, as the man in the Homeland Security photograph shows up at the hospital where Kyle’s wife, Alyse (Lex Scott Davis) works posing as a new lab tech and trying to make friends.
After over-reacting to an open door when he gets home, Kyle tells Alyse she’s in danger and in a far too long in coming act of trust, calls Frank and his team, including Holly (Julie Benz) for help. He sends Alyse off with Holly which affords the opportunity for a nice little scene between Davis and Benz. I like that they are allowing Holly and Alyse to bond in a fashion because of the dangerous jobs the men they love pursue.
The investigation into who has helped Sadiq in the states leads Frank’s team and the FBI to an anarchist minded couple, whom they determine are helping Sadiq go after drones at an electronics show to use with cluster bombs they’ve purchased with the drug money.
Another positive step in this episode, as has been the case in the last several episodes is the increased involvement of Detective Chavez (Christina Vidal). When the FBI and Homeland Security bench Kyle after he tells them about his believed connection to Sadiq, Chavez becomes Frank’s partner in taking down the couple at the show. This led to some nice moments from the underused Vidal.
Two significant plot twists happen during the action at the electronics show. First FBI Agents Boudreau confronts Ivers, telling him he knows he’s not Homeland Security and suspects he’s CIA operating on U.S. soil illegally and that he’s using Kyle as bait to draw out Sadiq and ultimately the terrorist mastermind Sadiq works for. Ivers coldly kills Boudreau and later passes off his murder as the work of other jihadists.
Meanwhile, Tommy (Drew Van Acker) and Rebecca (Katrina Law) have found a way to involve Kyle and they rush to the show, believing they have cornered Sadiq who was trying to escape in a van. Only, their plan literally backfires on them when the man escaping in the van chooses to blow himself up rather than surrender.
This sets up what I’d consider the only misstep in the plot of this episode. Without waiting for positive ID of the man in the van, Kyle tells Frank that he’s called Alyse and told her it was safe to go home. So, then it should come as no surprise that when Kyle goes home to tell Alyse the truth about what was going on, he finds Sadiq has beaten him there and fitted Alyse with a bomb vest. He taunts Kyle and Alyse. He compares his mission to the files he’s found on Kyle’s investigation of his father’s murder, telling him they are not so different, that he suspects Kyle would do the same thing when he finds the man who murdered his father. Just as Sadiq is about to kill Alyse, he’s felled by a sniper bullet that we learn was fired by Kyle’s Marine Corp buddy, Sherman.
Kyle later wonders aloud to Frank and the team, who have gathered at the Craig home, what will they do when they find the person who killed his father. Frank tells him he honestly doesn’t know. Later Frank gets a visit from Ivers with a cryptic warning that is he and his team don’t back off their investigation of the murder of Kyle’s father it won’t end well for him or anyone he cares about. What does/did the CIA have to do with the murder of Kyle’s father?Just two episodes to go! Share your thoughts in the comments below.
