Shooter - Someplace Like Bolivia - Review: "Prison Break"

Hello, friends! Today is the day our beloved Shooter ends its second season, due to Ryan Phillippe's recent leg injury. The good news? For the first Tuesday in months, I will not be working at night and will be able to watch the finale live, bringing you a review sooner than usual! Yes, I know, this was the missing piece in your life, and now you will finally be able to be whole. I'm just thrilled to be able to bring you such peace of mind, and I look forward to the Nobel Peace Prize I will surely receive for such a feat. Before I begin working on my acceptance speech, however, let's take a look at last week's adventures!

Character Catch-Up

After losing Zehnder to Solotov, Bob Lee, Isaac, and Yusuf set out to take down Solotov's banker to cut of Solotov's resources. Once there, they forced the banker to empty all of Solotov's accounts, then they waited for his arrival at the banker's estate. In a classic case of "be careful what you wish for", Solotov showed up at the estate, but managed to kidnap and kill Yusuf on his way up to the house. Much to Bob Lee's disapproval, Isaac shot the banker after a brief standoff with Solotov, then Bob Lee and Isaac fled the scene, only to be intercepted by the police. Bob Lee stashed a few things inside his seat, and the two got out of the car with their hands raised. They clearly have a tough situation ahead of them.

Nadine Memphis and Jeffrey Denning spent their time attempting to wrangle up more information on Atlas, which turned out to be fairly dangerous. Someone was clearly unhappy with their digging, though, as men were sent to Memphis's apartment to kill her and Denning. Luckily, the would-be killers were called out before locating their targets, which prompted Memphis and Denning to go on the run.

Also noteworthy: in order to deal with her PTSD in a way that didn't involve snapping at Mary, Julie began spending a good amount of time at a shooting range, where she met "Travis", a nice man who has been helping her stand up for herself a bit. He even helped Mary stand up for herself a bit at a church gathering. The only problem is that "Travis" is actually Solotov, so while we might find that we enjoy certain aspects of "Travis" we have to remember that he is Solotov and Julie has no idea she's chumming it up with an international sniper. Also, Julie took standing up for herself just a tad too far when she fired her gun next to the unprotected ear of a man who had been harassing her at the range.

Debriefing

Our week opens with Solotov searching his banker's house while Bob Lee and Isaac are transported to prison. Neither party was exactly in high spirits as Solotov couldn't locate anything he was looking for, and Bob Lee learned that he wouldn't be seeing his truck again, which of course includes the items stashed in his seat. Things are not looking bright. Once inside, the two begin discussing life and their situation, and Isaac ends up butting heads with another inmate, causing an entire prison faction to hate them right from the beginning. As they continue to talk, Bob Lee prevents Isaac from getting sneakily shived, giving everyone cause to stand down for the moment. As they continue to acclimate to life in prison, they talk a bit about Isaac's role in Bob Lee's set-up last year, and the fact that he murdered Donny's mother. Isaac admits that he's going to be living with what he did for the rest of his life, and that he's not looking for redemption. They are later brought in to the warden's office and offered their freedom if they hand over the contents of the banker's safe. Of course, they refuse and are sent back out to the yard. Back in the yard, they start a fight with each other to create mini riot and attempt an escape, but they are stopped by the men Isaac fought with earlier.

In the meantime, Julie decides to head to the shooting range before picking up Mary from school, but is told she is no longer allowed in due to her recent disregard for the rules/the law. On her way back to the car, she conveniently runs into "Travis", and after a brief chat she invites him to Mary's First Communion, commenting that Bob Lee would love to see him there. If only she knew how right/wrong she really was. Later, at home, Julie is searching for some juice boxes for a picnic Mary wants to have when she and Estella begin discussing Bob Lee's whereabouts. She admits that she only knows he is in Mexico, but has no idea where. This is big news to Solotov, who is still using his bug in her phone to listen in on the happenings at the Swagger home. Solotov is then sent down a path to find his targets in Mexico. This isn't the only pot Julie starts boiling today, though. As she's shopping at a store later, she is harassed by two men who are friends of the man whose ear Julie ruined by standing up for herself. When she moves around them, she runs right into the man, whose name is Bo Winnick. Bo starts mentally poking away at her, telling her about all the money he's going to receive when he sues her for what she did to him. Riled up, Julie tells him that he'll never see a cent of their money because her husband is a world-class sniper and can take him out at any minute. She walks away feeling satisfied, as Bo turns of his phone's voice recorder, feeling equally satisfied.

Bob Lee and Isaac are later punished and put into wooden solitary confinement cells. The cells are tiny boxes that are barely large enough for them to turn around in, but they are put next to each other so at least they have someone to talk to while they stand in the heat. They again discuss what Isaac has done to Bob Lee, with Isaac saying he fought Bob Lee's involvement until he came to start thinking of it like a mission. They talk a bit longer, and even though Isaac says that this isn't an apology, it's definitely some sort of apology. Bob Lee is later dragged into the warden's office, where he reveals that Isaac has agreed to give up the contents of the safe, but only once he knows Bob Lee has been released. Bob Lee puts up a quick fight and is slammed onto the desk, where he steals a coin that he sneaks to Isaac when they cross paths as Bob Lee is escorted out of the prison. Of course, it is not that simple, and Bob Lee listens to the conversation the men driving him out of prison are having. He learns that they plan to kill him, so he takes actions and busts down the barrier between the front and back seats before besting the cops and leaving to retrieve the documents from his truck and head back home.

Isaac is also dealing with a murder possibility, though he has no idea. Solotov has located a wanted poster of Isaac online and now knows exactly where to find him. Isaac has been using his new coin to slowly undo the bolt on the lock to his wooden cell, but it is terribly difficult, as you can imagine. Solotov arrives at the warden's office claiming to be an ATF agent who has come to retrieve Isaac. After some skepticism, the warden is convinced to take Solotov to Isaac's cell, but they discover that he has already broken out. Unfortunately, the warden has now seen Solotov's face, so Solotov must rectify that. He tells the warden there's a note inside, and then shoots him in the back of the head while a yard full of prisoners watch. Solotov turns to look at them, and they all quickly avert their eyes. Shortly after Solotov leaves, Isaac emerges from his hiding spot in the wooden cell directly next to the one he was supposed to be in. Smart man. He steals the gun from the warden, then heads out on his journey.

Memphis and Denning have been spending their day digging further into their investigation. After discovering that a report Denning retrieved on Zehnder came with a redacted psych report, Memphis's alert bells go off, and she reveals to Denning that the only reason the psych report would have been included in the information he requested would be to discredit anything Zehnder claimed. With this new piece of the conspiracy, the two of them set out to get a little help from our old friend Tio, who is back in the U.S. after the strange occurrences in Germany. Tio reluctantly agrees to help them get the information, but when they drop her off at the building and are left waiting longer than expected, they realize she has run away and disappeared. They search her room on base and find nothing helpful in the room, except for a photo of Tio and a man. Luckily, it's just enough information for Memphis. They surprise Tio at her brother's house with a mortgage that recently paid off and discuss the reduction of her brother's prison sentence. Both of these events occurred shortly after she learned about Hugh Meacham, so Memphis and Denning know something is going on. Memphis pressures Tio into talking, and she agrees to tell them everything, but not at that house, because if Memphis and Denning could find her there, so could "they".

After ditching his retrieved documents and burying them in a safe location, Bob Lee returns home to warn Julie that he is in a very messy situation. He's in the process of telling her she needs to run with Mary and Estella when the sheriff pulls into their driveway. Bob Lee tells her that as far as she knows he's been on a hunting trip, then heads out to greet the sheriff, only to find out that he's looking for Julie. Bo is filing charges against her for threatening to have Bob Lee kill him and Bob Lee has absolutely no idea what to do with this situation.

Outcome
I'd like to say that this episode set up one heck of a season finale, but being as it was not intended or written that way, it sadly did not. It did, however, set up a very interesting next episode that I am more than looking forward to watching in a few hours. Despite claims from the writers and producers that the end of episode 8 comes to a natural season finale cliffhanger, I am skeptical. I can almost guarantee that this next episode will have a decent amount of action that will ultimately move a lot of pieces into place in order to set up a payoff that is fitting of a season finale. I hope I'm wrong, but time will tell.

That is not to say I did not enjoy this episode. This may have been one of the strongest episodes of the season, really. I'm very excited about Julie's choice coming back to haunt her. In many shows today, people make a decision like firing their gun next to a man's unprotected ear, and because we agree with their decision and cheer the character on, the show moves forward as though no legal action would really be taken in the real world. I was ready for that incident to just get swept under the rug, and it's so great that they are doing the exact opposite.

I was also very happy to see Tio again. She's been notably absent since the beginning of the season, even in the flashbacks, so I'm glad we're seeing a bit more of her now. I just hope she's able to give Memphis and Denning the information they need in order to further pursue their investigation. Side note, and potential spoiler if I'm right: is anyone thinking that Denning may have something to do with all of this? Or that perhaps Denning isn't really Denning? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Denning was nowhere to be seen when Memphis was dealing with Zehnder, the only person who would be able to confirm Denning's appearance. And for an investigative reporter, he sure has been letting Memphis lead absolutely everything thus far. Yes, she's a federal agent, but what investigative journalist have you seen who isn't trying to put their hands in the pot when it comes to information. Perhaps that will be the big cliffhanger tonight? We shall see.

Are you ready for tonight's finale? Any thoughts on my theory? Would any of you like to be thanked when I accept my Nobel Peace Prize? Sound off in the comments below!