Shooter - The Dark End of the Street - Review: "Just Like Old Times"

Well, looks like I was thoughtful again this week! My goal for the next episode is to be utterly thoughtless, but I'm already so thoughtful that it's hard to tone it down, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Trust me, I'm as clueless about my future actions as you are!

Character Catch-Up

Solotov: Solotov met pretty much every member of the 8113 face-to face, except for Bob Lee, of course. Posing as a member of the UN transport for Waheed's mother, he rode along with the convoy until they were "ambushed", at which point he stabbed her in the neck and tried to pass it off as a stray bullet. He did his best to disguise the wound's origins my shoving his fingers in and moving them around to make it impossible to tell exactly where the wound came from. The flaw in his plan? He did it right out in the open where Donny caught him red-handed (pun intended). Donny rushed over when he saw what was happening and declared to the man we know as Solotov that he killed her. After the gun fight ended, Isaac tried to figure out exactly what happened. Donny told him everything, but "Not Solotov" denied it. They ended up taking his badge (with his picture on it) and had him ride with someone else while they headed back to camp.

The 8113: Back at the camp, Isaac and Donny argued about what Donny wanted to write on his report. Isaac didn't believe any of his accusations would hold up, and told him he'd redact everything. When Bob Lee and Isaac had a chat later, Bob Lee tried to go to bat for Donny, calling him the best spotter he's ever seen. He insisted that if Donny he claimed to see something, it had to be real. Isaac told him he believed Donny, but that there was no way they could accuse a member of the UN of murdering a key witness without sufficient evidence, and the man had disappeared before he could be questioned. But, Isaac still kept the ID with him, because I guess you never know.

Isaac Johnson: With a completely expunged record (Courtesy of Gregson), Isaac met up with an unhappy Bob Lee and Dobbs. The three eventually began working together out of necessity to try and find Solotov.

The Swagger Family: While Julie continued to try and handle her PTSD, Bob Lee tried to handle the Solotov situation. He was attempting to do so in secret, but Julie was sneaky and heard part of a conversation with Dobbs. She quickly confronted Bob Lee, and they were in the middle of an argument about the situation when they were interrupted by the police delivering some awful news.

Agent Memphis: Nadine spent most of her time searching for answers about the Golden Crescent. Her main forms of investigation were searching for reporter Jeffrey Denning, and spouting Gregson's name to try to get leeway. The latter earned her a meeting with Gregson, who searched her apartment and sufficiently frightened Memphis's boyfriend. Gregson implored her to steer clear of Swagger, but Memphis received a text shortly after from Jeffrey asking to meet.

Dobbs: He died.

Debriefing

Our present-day adventure starts with Solotov once again cooking and watching a soccer match. This one is also interrupted, but by a poor signal instead of people coming to kill him. Later, as he's finishing a pressure-cooker bomb thing, he gets a call. He tells whoever is on the other end that he'll be done soon and "It shouldn't take them long to find me." He's clearly got some fun plans all set up.

The Swagger family prepares for their day, and as Julie is getting ready to take Mary to school, Estella graciously offers to take her. Julie, though slightly hesitant, allows it, and she and Bob Lee begin a discussion about how safe they are. As Bob Lee begins to get more detailed, he gets a motion-cam alert on his phone that shows Isaac in the barn. He tells Julie he has to fix a latch and goes to handle the situation. Isaac is there to tell Swagger that they need to keep working together to track down Solotov, even though Bob Lee hates the idea. Julie pops in the check on the "latch" and is thoroughly peeved to see Isaac. Bob Lee assures her that he's handling it, and that after everything is over they'll never have to see Isaac again.

Bob Lee and Isaac head to the police station where Bob Lee tries to get a little more information about the death of Dobbs. The cop says that it is basically a closed case, so they aren't looking into it any further, though he clearly knows something else is up. Bob Lee asks where the cop would look if was looking, and he is pointed to a neighborhood. Swagger and Isaac head over, and Swagger sets himself up in a sniper position while Isaac goes to talk to a group of men to get some information. When the men stand up to threaten him, Bob Lee fires several warning shots in the vicinity, and they back down until Isaac pulls a gun on their leader, forcing Bob Lee to shoot some hands. The men give up the address to a trailer, and our boys head out.

Julie is spending this time checking out Bob Lee's guns and practicing how to hold them until Estella walks in. She suggests that Julie may need to talk to somebody, obviously implying Julie has PTSD. Julie insists that they don't get PTSD in that house, but I beg to differ. She's clearly got some problems, Mary has had a few concerning moments, and I'm sure Bob Lee would have something going on if didn't already have something going on. Julie jumps a bit when a delivery driver calls her from the gate, further proving Estella's point. Julie tells the man to leave the box on the porch, and the West Rapid Delivery truck pulls up and drops off the package. Totally not suspicious/concerning.

Nadine's day has been pretty interesting so far. After walking into her apartment to find a break-up note from her boy thing, she gets a text form Jeffrey Denning ready to meet. At the meeting, Nadine tells Jeffrey she'll share her information as long as he keeps Bob Lee's name out of the story, but as she reveals what she knows, including the Meachum's operation is over after his death, Jeffrey tells her she doesn't know anything. He brings up a company called Gravity Metals and shows her a picture of Waheed, who was transferred to Gravity Metals Headquarters. Nadine tells him it sounds like something Meachum did to keep him quiet, but then she learns he was just transferred two months ago. He agrees to give her more information if she can find out why Waheed was transferred.

She heads to the Gravity Metals office to investigate and comes across a very unprofessional office. She attempts to get Waheed's file, but is told she'll need a warrant. Before she leaves, she asks what the company does and receives a well-rehearsed company pitch about the company mining minerals. When she asks what specific metals, and other questions about the company, she is promptly told to return with a warrant. She brings Denning back later to show him the offices, only to find that everything has been cleaned out. She tells him she needs to know his source so she can figure out what they've gotten into, and he complies

Julie spends some quality time with a gun at a gun range, where we see she's quite good at it. When she heads out, the man at the counter bids her farewell, by name, and tells her he'll see her next week, so clearly she's been spending some time here. When she gets home, she finally gets around to that suspicious looking package. As the intensity builds, she cuts open the package to find...some paper towels. Whew! She later lights some candles at church, where the priest makes sure to let her know she can talk to him if she needs it. He also said it might make her feel better than the candles do.

But where's the bomb? Good question. Isaac and Bob Lee steak out that trailer and wait for movement. From inside, Solotov instigates a shoot-out before abandoning the trailer. Isaac tires to charge the trailer, but Bob Lee knows something is up and shoots it, detonating the bomb before Isaac could be harmed. Isaac is thrown back by the blast, and momentarily out of commission, but Bob Lee takes off running after Solotov. When he catches up, they get into a very physical fight, where Bob Lee finally sees the face of Solotov. Even though Bob Lee completely broke Solotov's arm, he still manages to get away, despite Isaac's best efforts to shoot Solotov's car with a crowd of people around. Solotov races to a motel where he fixes his arm, then calls back the number from earlier and says he's still going to be here a while longer.

Bob Lee and Isaac drive past Solotov's motel on their way back to Casa de Swagger, where they find Julie and Memphis waiting for them. Isaac, Bob Lee, and Memphis have a meeting in the barn where she reveals everything she's learned, including the name of his source, Kirk Zehnder, who we earlier saw in the episode in a flashback saying they never should have burned the heroin after Solotov killed the woman. He apparently committed suicide shortly after promising to send Denning a file that never came. Additionally, he has a storage unit under a false name that she and Denning are going to look into. Finally, she shows them a sketch of the man she encountered in Bob Lee's room in Germany, and Isaac instantly recognizes him as the UN doc from Afghanistan. Bob Lee confirms that was the man he fought earlier, and now everyone finally knows what Solotov looks like! Now, it's off to find him and question the motives and reasons.

Outcome

They finally know who Solotov is! That makes me so happy. I'm really liking the way their search for answers keeps leading to more questions. Every time they figure out one layer, they discover another which gives us some great mystery. I'm glad Estella started calling Julie out on how she's been handling things. I hope she starts talking to that priest, or someone else, so she can begin really healing. In a perfect world, she would have her husband to turn to, but he's got a homicidal sniper and a government conspiracy to take care of, so he's already got a pretty full plate. I'd also like to see them get Mary someone to talk to. I know she was fine this week, but hiding in the tub with a baby doll last week clearly shows that she's trying to work through some things. It was fun to see our original characters coming back together again to figure out what's going. I think Julie should have at least been present for their conversation, because she has every right to know what's going on and where they are in their investigations. Especially now that she knows about the situation anyways. She'll figure something out, though, she's a smart one.

How excited are you for the rest of the season? Do you think Julie will find someone to talk to? Will Solotov watch another soccer game next episode? Sound off in the comments below!