Shooter - That'll be the Day - Review: "Wishing for Episode Nine"

There it is. Season two is officially, prematurely, over. Sorry I couldn't keep my promise to get this out sooner, but mother nature decided it was going to send a storm of historic proportions in my direction. This review may be a bit choppier than usual as I'm writing it in the midst of preparations for Hurricane Irma. I'm in the Tampa area, and my family and I will be attempting to ride out the storm, so hopefully this won't be my last review! I'll respond to comments as soon as I have data and/or Wi-Fi after Irma passes. Hopefully I'll be in touch with you all soon, but in the meantime, let's take a quick look at our finale!

Character Catch-Up

Solotov: This week, we got a glimpse into Solotov's creation. During a conflict in Russia in 2005, Solotov collapsed after fighting his way out of a room full of sarin gas. Though he appeared to be dead, our friend Addison Hayes removed him from the room and gave him a nice injection in the chest, bringing him back to life. As he took his renewed breaths, Hayes greeted him with "Welcome home." Later, as he pours a drink, Hayes reminded Solotov that he has given Solotov the gift of life. He then went on to offer a Solotov a deal, where he would work for Atlas (led by Hayes) for a while, and Hayes would then give him the revolution he wants so badly. Solotov observed that there was really only one answer he was allowed to give, and so began Solotov's journey.

Memphis: She and Denning dug further into Atlas when they discovered a redacted psych report in some files Denning had acquired on Zehnder. Convinced Isaac must have issued the report, they attempt to get some help from Tio, but she suddenly goes on the run. They discover that Tio was actually responsible for the report, working out of fear of our favorite baddie, Meacham, who has apparently been able to reduce her brother's prison sentence and pay off a mortgage on his house. They meet Tio at the house and demand answers, and she agrees, as long as they don't do it there.

Bob Lee and Isaac: They were taken to prison after stealing some documents from the home of Solotov's banker. Said documents were hidden inside a seat in Bob Lee's impounded truck, and the prison warden attempted to exchange their freedom for the documents. Isaac made a deal to tell him about the documents as long as he saw Bob Lee released. While being driven away by cops, Bob Lee overhead that they plan on killing him and took matters into his own hands, taking out the cops and stealing their car. He headed to find his truck and retrieve the documents, then buried them in a remote location and returned home to Julie. Isaac, meanwhile, narrowly avoided being murdered by Solotov (the warden took the bullet instead), and began his journey back to the US.

Julie: She decided to have her own adventure, inspired by "Travis"(Solotov) talking Mary into sticking up for herself. When a man named Bo gave her a hard time at the gun range, Julie fired her gun next to his unprotected ear. Because consequences exist, she has not been allowed back at the gun range, and Bo threatened legal action against her. After he initiated some mild harassment in a store, Julie basically threatened Bo, saying that her husband, Bob Lee, and take him out from miles away. He recorded the entire exchange, and the Swagger household was later visited by the cops with a heads up for Julie.

Debriefing

At the Swagger home, Julie and Bob Lee are in the midst of an argument regarding Julie's behavior. Julie tries to defend her actions, saying he was harassing her and her gun "just went off", but Bob Lee quickly points out that guns don't just go off. She then admits that she hasn't felt like herself for some time now due to everything they have been through, and Bob Lee assures her that she is still who she always was, and they are still a family. Julie brings up the fact that Solotov is still after them, but Bob Lee insists he'll take care of it, as long as he knows Mary, Julie, and Estella are gone and out of harm's way. Julie, however, insists that they need to stay, at least until Mary's First Communion is over. You know, that event Julie invited "Travis" to. Bob Lee reluctantly concedes.

At a diner, Memphis and Denning get Tio to start talking a bit. She confirms that everything Zehnder told them (the heroine, Atlas sending Solotov to kill the mullah's wife) was true, and that the only reason she is still alive is because she took their money in exchange for her silence. Atlas used her to fake a psych report on Zehnder in order to discredit him to the papers, but she claims she was completely unaware that they were going to kill him. Later, Memphis and Denning attempt to transport Tio to a secure location so they can chat more, but things don't go according to plan when they come across a too-clean-looking homeless person with an upturned cart in the middle of the road. Despite Memphis insisting that Tio shouldn't freak out, Tio freaks out and flees from the car onto a bus. Memphis follows her, but finds her collapsed on the bus after a woman exiting the bus stealthily injected her with something that doesn't look too fun. Before she dies, Memphis pleads for Tio to reveal a name, and she does: Hayes.

In his bunker, Bob Lee makes a call on a sat phone that we learn is to our friend Addison Hayes (though Bob Lee has no idea). The banker also happened to be Addison's banker as well, and Bob Lee says he'll give the money back in exchange for Solotov. Hayes says he'll talk to Solotov, who will then be Bob Lee's problem to deal with. Later that night, Bob Lee packs up in the kitchen, getting ready to head out for a quick trip. An argument sparks regarding the two of them hiding things from each other to protect the other, but Bob Lee ultimately ends by saying he'll be back tomorrow. Bob Lee sets up a sniper nest a few miles away from his actual home and scans the area for Solotov, who is doing the exact same thing from farther away and decides to chat with Bob Lee on the sat-phone for a bit. Bob Lee tries to get a name out of Solotov (he wants Hayes, but he doesn't know he wants Hayes) but Solotov refuses, and tells him he has no idea what he's in the middle of or who he's dealing with. Solotov promises Bob Lee that he will let him live (again) if Bob Lee just hands over his money. Of course, Bob Lee doesn't agree. Especially after Solotov brings up Julie. Solotov promises that all of this will end the way he wants it to end, but Bob Lee says that will not be the case as long as he has Solotov's money. They end their conversation at an impasse.

Isaac is making his journey back to the US, swimming through a stream undetected. Once he's back on American soil, he begins his trek home. He is stopped, however, by a group of gun-toting Americans who are self-patrolling the border and believe Isaac to be crossing illegally. I mean, technically he is, but they're also far too aggressive about the whole thing. Luckily, the police show up to disband the men, but they still take Isaac into custody. Once detained, he tries to use his Gregson card again, but apparently now nobody has ever heard of her. He is later released into the custody of some black cars, the owner of which turns out to be Hayes. In the car, Hayes speaks to Isaac about the difference between now and their first meeting, and enlists Isaac to once again help him. He says that Atlas's job is to control the chaos in the world with an invisible hand, but Solotov has forgotten the invisible part. He also reveals that Solotov was not ordered to kill Isaac's wife, meaning Solotov took it upon himself to do that, breaking Atlas's rule of not killing indiscriminately. Truth or manipulation? You decide! What it comes down to is this: Hayes sends Isaac off to kill Solotov.

After Bob Lee does some investigation to discover where Solotov was set up during their phone call the night before, he is able to come up with a confident assumption of the type of weapon Solotov was using. On his way to Mary's First Communion, Bob Lee stops by Julie's shooting range to ask about the owner about the weapon. The man reveals to Bob Lee that he hasn't sold that particular weapon, but sold a very similar one to Julie's friend, Travis. At this point, Bob Lee knows exactly what is about to happen and races to the church. "Travis" is sitting in one of the back pews watching the ceremony, and Bob Lee joins him, nearly ready to kill him. Solotov predicted this anger of course, and reveals that he is wearing a bomb that will go off if he dies, and he has hooked up a similar bomb at the front of the church. Bob Lee tells Solotov he'll hand everything over if they just walk out of the church without issue. He agrees to the terms, but as they are walking to the truck, Isaac shows up, fully prepared to kill Solotov. Bob Lee realizes what's about to happen and throws himself in the line of fire, taking a bullet for his family. Bob Lee yells to Isaac about the bombs as Solotov drags him to the car and drives away. With the ceremony ruined, Julie and Mary run outside to see what happened, and race home when they can't figure it out.

As the episode season ends, Memphis is on a mission to get some answers. She bursts into Harris's office, and as he begins to yell at her for coming to see him again, she say's "I'm here for your boss" and heads in to have talk with U.S. Senator Addison Hayes, who tells Memphis they have a lot to talk about. At the Swagger household, Julie draws a gun and goes to investigate some movement in the barn and is very shocked to find Isaac. He reveals that Solotov took Bob Lee, and Julie finally realizes she's been making friends with the man trying to kill her husband. Julie and Isaac then prepare to team up to take down Solotov. We then watch as Solotov crudely attends to Bob Lee's wounds, telling him that until Bob Lee gives up what he needs, they will be bound to together.

Outcome
I'm terribly upset our season had to be cut here. As it is, this does indeed work as a last-minute season finale, but you can clearly tell that Shooter was ramping up for an exciting final two hours. I almost wish they'd just film these last two hours in couple months and release them as a special, because I'm not sure how they plan on extending these threads for an entire season. We shall see what happens, though.

Regardless, this was a great episode that moved us forward in a lot of ways. A senator in charge of Atlas, yet another 8113 loss, a wounded Bob Lee, and JULIE AND ISAAC TEAMING UP! I still don't trust Denning, either, mainly because he continued to be absolutely useless in all of their investigating. He's got to be a planted agent tasked with leading making sure Memphis doesn't learn too many things too quickly. Otherwise, he's just a random body floating around Memphis that will surely be murdered. That's all I've got for now, though! I'm going to make sure my bottles of wine are nice and chilled so I can start downing them when my power goes!

How did you like the finale? Are you as excited as I am to see the Isaac/Julie team-up? Can someone start a petition to get us those two episodes in, like, December? Sound off in the comments below, and hopefully I'll see you all on the other side of this hurricane!