Shooter - The Man Called Noon/Across the Rio Grande - Double Review: "Julie Meets the Devil, Swagger Goes Hunting"

I'm not behind, you guys were just ahead! Have you given up on me yet? I hope so. That way if I ever do come through, you'll be extra excited since all hope was lost. Big "if" there. I won't promise to try to be a better human, but I'll promise to try and be a better me, so I'm still setting a pretty low bar. Now, let's take a look at what's been happening in my absence!

Character Catch-Up

Two weeks ago, Memphis, Isaac, and Bob Lee finally put a face to Solotov's name (Julie, unfortunately, was not present for this). Armed with this new info, Memphis was ready to check out a storage unit rented by Kirk Zehnder, a former member of the 8113 who tragically "took his life" not long ago; Bob Lee and Isaac were prepared to meet Alex, a Russian man Bob Lee met during his brief stint in prison. Julie was working on caring for Mary while handling her PTSD, which going to a shooting range seemed to help.

In the first of these two episodes, we learned about the events leading up to Donny's tragic death. Solotov, in his evil genius, crafted a fictional narrative in which Solotov was out to collect a bounty that was on Bob Lee's head. In actuality, he was gunning for Donny the whole time because Donny is the one who called him out for murdering the Mullah's wife. Solotov killed a man and set him up in a sniper position, far away from where he planned to position himself. While the 8113 scanned the area via satellite, the came upon the dummy set-up and believed it to be Solotov. With this assumption, they fired some heavy artillery at the position and waited to see if there would be any movement. Assuming Solotov to be dead, Bob Lee and Donny went out to check the following day, which is when Donny met his end.

Debriefing

The Man Called Noon

Bob Lee argues with Julie, telling her she needs to take Mary to Chicago for a few weeks until this is all settled. Julie insists that she isn't running this time, and Bob Lee reluctantly agrees to let her stay. He promises to set up some extra security before his upcoming trek to Seattle. Outside, Memphis and Isaac discuss their current positions in life, mostly regarding Gregson, until Bob Lee comes out to start up the day. Memphis splits off to check out Zehnder's storage unit, while Bob Lee and Isaac head to Seattle to meet up with a Russian contact Bob Lee gained during his brief prison stint last year. Meanwhile, Solotov is spending his morning in an interesting manner: wrapping his arm and imitating the Texan accent of a man he hears on the radio.

When Memphis arrives at the storage unit, she breaks in and starts looking around. During her search, she stumbles upon a man who attacks her. After a struggle, Memphis wins the fight and knocks the man out, discovering that her attacker is Zehnder. When he comes to, Memphis tells him that she is working with Bob Lee, and the ever paranoid Zehnder forces her to prove it through a phone call with Bob Lee. Memphis tries to get some more answers out of him, but he insists that they have to leave because if she found him, so can "they".

In Seattle, Bob Lee Attempts to get them in to see his contact, while Yusuf basically tells Isaac to tread carefully or he'll take care of it. Once they get up to the room, they meet with Alex, and, after a series of unsettling events, they are able to come to the conclusion that Solotov's crusade is to take down all the members of the 8113 who saw his face. Armed with this, they head back home to meet up with Memphis and Zehnder.

Meanwhile, Julie has been spending some time at the gun range again, and does so well that she earns the unwanted attention of the man shooting next to her. When she turns down his attempts, he starts to get a little more of a temper until a nice man steps in and handles the situation. He's not really a nice man, though. He's Solotov, the viscous sniper who is trying to kill her husband. They talk for a while, and Solotov (who is calling himself Travis) uses some old-fashioned false Texan charm the whole time. He claims to be new to the area and looking for a nice church to attend, and wonders if she can send him the details of an upcoming event at the church she attends. She happily agrees, and his plan is set in motion. Before their conversation is over, "Travis" imparts upon her that they key to a good relationship is communication, and the lock is trust.

When Bob Lee gets home, he and Julie chat for minute about what is going on. We see their phones light up as Solotov activates some listening software he was able to implant through Julie's email. While listening, Solotov hears Julie repeat his relationship mantra to Bob Lee, and he knows for sure that he is in. After Memphis calls with concerns of being followed, Bob Lee comes up with a strategy to lead the tail into a trap. Solotov is able to hear this entire plan and makes a call of his own, setting up an ambush to counter Bob Lee's ambush.

At the ambush, Bob Lee, Memphis, Isaac, and Yusuf are able to take down all of their attackers, but Zehnder peels out in Memphis's car alone, feeling he is safer that way. He is wrong. he returns to his storage unit to gather some items he's kept with him: Solotov's fake UN badge and Donny's original report on the murder on the Mullah's wife. While on the phone with Bob Lee, documents in hand, Solotov approaches and kills him, with Bob Lee listening to the loss of another friend. Solotov picks up the phone to have a brief conversation with Bob Lee, saying that he will be done when everyone that knows his face is dead.

Across the Rio Grande
Bob lee attempts to deal with his problems by punching them out on a punching bag while every single awful thing that has happened plays in his head. During his session, he is called down to the police station to answer some questions about the shooting of a bunch of cartel guys at a nearby refinery. Having been involved in killing them, Bob Lee knows exactly what the woman asking the questions is talking about, but he plays it off effortlessly. When she implies he may have been involved, he acts incredulous and walks out. Classic Bob Lee. On the way out, the sheriff tells him that the men at the refinery were Fantasmas, a group Memphis recently learned was connected to Solotov and Atlas. Knowing that Solotov will use the same banker as these guys, Bob Lee plans to take the banker down in order to hurt Solotov

While Bob Lee, Isaac, and Yusuf follow some trails that lead them to Solotov's Baker, Memphis and our reporter friend, Jeffrey, attempt to learn more about Atlas. Memphis tires calling on her ex-boy-thing, Harris, for answers, but when he meets them, he insists that there is no story to follow. Sensing that Harris was scared, Memphis decides it's time to climb higher up the chain and call the marshals. As the two of them wait at Memphis's apartment, however, some men sent by the marshals enter the apartment ready to kill them. Luckily, they are called back down before they can find Memphis and Jeffrey. Memphis decides that they now must always be on the move and be in a different place every night in order to stay safe. Before they leave, she stops by to make sure Harris wasn't the reason she is being hunted, then warns him that he's probably also being watched now.

When the boys make it to the banker, Yusuf keeps a lookout while Isaac and Bob Lee force the banker to drain all of Solotov's funds. Sure that Solotov will now be on his way, Bob Lee goes to cover a vantage point separate from Yusuf's to prepare for his arrival. Of course, it's not that easy. When Bob Lee spots a truck pulling up, he attempts to check in with Yusuf, only to get Solotov's voice in response. Yusuf was apparently attacked, and Solotov is forcing Yusuf to drive him up to the house. Shortly after Solotov exits the car, the bomb attached to Yusuf's seat goes off, and the 8113 gets smaller once again. Solotov attempts to make an attack on Isaac, but Isaac is holding the banker at gunpoint, causing Solotov to back down and run away before Bob Lee can get to him. They have the banker open his safe, then Isaac quickly shoots him, garnering much protest from Bob Lee. Fed up with everything, Bob Lee tells him that when they get back home, they are officially done. They will be taking a bit of a detour though as they are stopped by a police blockade on their way out of Mexico.

Now, my favorite story line of the episode had very little action and revolved around Julie and Mary. Mary quickly became my favorite character this week after telling Isaac, "Mommy says you're a bad man." She also made sure that her daddy knew her clay bunny was a female bunny after he accidentally referred to it as "he", and promises to keep where Bob Lee is going a secret from anyone else. Julie, Mary and Estella then go to a food drive for their church, where who else but "Travis" should show up. He is momentarily alone with Mary and asks where her daddy is. She says it's a secret, and he laughs and says that her daddy told him he would be in Dallas. Mary then quips, "Well, why don't you go there and find him?" and my heart melted. If I have a daughter I want her to be 100% like this. "Travis" gains some ground with her, though, when a boy steals her teddy bear. He tells her to go stand up for herself and she does, returning to the table looking very proud of herself. Julie later takes this same advice when she is once again harassed at the shooting range by the man from last week. She decides to stand up for herself by shooting at the target while holding her gun directly next to the man's ear. He probably won't be messing with her again. Julie later talks to her priest about this moment while Solotov listens in, and if I didn't know any better I'd think he's developing a crush on Julie. Hooray for him having human feelings, but also, no. Stay away. Be murdered.

Outcome
We are moving right along! With the episode count being cut due to Ryan Phillipe's broken leg, we only have two episodes to go before our season ends. I'm worried not enough will be wrapped up/revealed by then to make it feel like a proper finale, but there's only so much they can do with their situation. I really enjoyed learning more about Donny's demise, and the revelations Bob Lee made during that episode were such a relief since we have known most of that information for a few episodes now. I do have to say that I much preferred this week's adventure. Bob Lee saw plenty of action, and we got to see Memphis's situation get deeper and darker. Their biggest win this week was definitely the decision to let Mary express her thoughts. She's always been an adorable child that we care about, but I am now completely on her side and am ready to follow Bob Lee to the ends of the Earth to make sure she is safe. I really hope we continue to hear more from her in these last few episodes.

It's too bad Julie wasn't present for the meeting where everyone saw Solotov's face. It would have been a really nice thing for her to know. Why would Bob Lee not show her the picture just in case? Good question! Answer: because plot. It makes too much sense, so they can't do it. Classic TV move! There's always the classic "I wanted to keep you safe" argument, but that really doesn't fly here for me. If my family is potentially going to be murdered by a man whose face I can easily show them, you better believe they are going to see that face. Poor decision, Bob Lee.

Did Mary steal the show for you this week? Can you believe we lost another member of 8113? Are you extremely frustrated that Julie doesn't know what her potential murderer looks like? Sound off in the comments below!