"A couple of wrong turns on your way to the greater good."
A Walking Shadow
A Walking Shadow is definitely a change of pace before things trully heat up, it's directed by Leslie Libman who has directed episodes for NCIS, The Vampire Diaries and the double finale of Sweet/Vicious. This episode is all about Stahl, at least in the beginning, we get to see what happened after he called an ambulance for Harlee and where he's been since.
I have to say the psycho-narration was creepy as fuck, and Warren Kole does a wonderful job, but he does such a good job I don't want to see him again in my life, because he's not just insane and dangerous, he downright disgusting. He goes to Gina and he convinces her to call the FBI and tell them Harlee was just as obsessed with Stahl as he was with her, and I'm very disappointed that they actually believed it.
What did bother me about this episode is that Stahl didn't seem subtle at all and yet he got everything he wanted I get he knows psychology as a profiler but I feel this should've been handled better, make him actually believable. I feel like Cole, who he was following, should've known immediately there was something fishy about him, and that girl at the bar (honey, you have to know better), that whole I-am-a-man-to-be-respected is the stereotypical speech said or inferred pretty much by every abuser ever, it was filled with red flags and all she did was swoon.
Now to the main story, we learn Intelligence killed Cesar Molina's father and this means Nate is in more danger that ever so Woz gets him to back off and tell him who the other witness is, it turns out he's a priest. Woz is willing to kill him for Ramsay but luckily he decides against it, though that scene was intense as fuck. Woz does seem to be on a self destructive path and even hallucinating with his dead daughter, I'm sure this will be revisited soon enough.
We don't get a lot of movement with Harlee, only that Cristina is finally okay with being in the dark about some things, and that she seems to be considering going to Verco for help at some point. I have to say I really hope she does, because I really like him and I want him around, he's just so charismatic and hilarious, especially with the rapport he has with pretty much everyone on Woz's "unit".
By the end of the episode Tufo finally finds out what Wallace has been doing, he tries to get him to quit but his brother wants to help and be the "good guy". After an honest conversation, Tufo conceded only to find out a little too late that it was a trap and things might not end well for Wallace.
The Blue Wall
They take Wallace to the hospital and thankfully it looks like he’ll be okay but Harlee has a panic attack remembering the last time she was there. It seems almost everyone on the team (except Tess, of course) is doubting Woz, Espada wonders if the mess they’re in, is not about Woz being out for a while and being unable to keep the neighborhood in check, or if it’s about him coming back, and Tufo blames Woz for what happened to Wallace, Woz insists he made a choice, but now Tufo is determined to keep his brother safe and he tells Harlee to stop poking the bear or they will al pay the price.
At the hospital, a woman approaches Loman but it’s clear it’s not coincidence, I laughed when later Woz and Espada say he should’ve known only on the bases that she was too pretty for him, but still he shouldn’t be so easy to trick, she wasn’t really that subtle. Anyway, things with her get steamy fast and they go to a hotel where she tries to kill him. Luckily he manages to avoid that and he invites his partners in crime to help him get information out of her.
After getting spooked by Stahl Cole is laying low, but luckily Harlee finds him at the pool, and he wants to make sure there are no listening devices so… We get a backstory to how Cole got in with Ramsay and we get a little taste of the chemistry between these two. And Harlee continues to realize they have a lot in common, she can definitely relate to getting roped in with someone who claims to work for the greater good and how that line gets blurrier and blurrier by the day.
Cristina is stopped by the Intelligence unit minions with pills in her car and taken to their precinct, so Woz goes to get her and let Ramsay know family is off limits. There he realizes the mastermind is not on top of everything but Ramsay makes a comment about Cristina’s pills and reminds Woz young girls OD all the time (that was a very low blow). Later, Cristina admits to Harlee that with all the stress school wasn’t doing great and she started taking Adderall.
Harlee is understanding and she realizes it was Ramsay’s doing so she goes after one of the minions, Bennet. She finds Cole there doing the same thing as her and she informs him of the intel they got from Loman’s girlfriend, that the domestic abuser is the son of a Kingpin, Ortiz, and the Intelligence unit is just armed muscle for the cartel, which seems to be news to him, but then he admits deep down he knew and that Bennet was the one who chose to kill Nava.
Harlee goes to confront Bennet and Woz tries to stop her but then the idiot makes a comment about Nava crying before he died and they both decide to go all in, they arrest him in front of a lot of police officers, and things are sure to get even more complicated now, so we can’t expect any breather until the series finale. And I have to say I can’t wait, now Stahl who continues to creepily stalk Harlee and get rid of anyone else doing the same is getting quite annoying, I know he’ll play a big role when things get heated, but for now I don’t think he needs that much screen time.
"As a rule I’m not a fan of half measures."
What did you think of these episodes? How do you think this will end? Let me know in the comments.
