Somehow Whiskey Cavalier manages to have some of the funniest moments of the series in between some of the saddest. Good Will Hunting is a roller coaster of an episode and one of the show’s best yet.
Jai and Standish have the dorkiest handshake ever. But look at Jai bonding and having fun with Standish. Such growth.
Tina sees the handshake and cringes a little. It’s important to note that she and Standish haven’t slept together yet. Very, very important.
The episode opens as the team take part in a successful mission. It’s light-hearted and fun, with Will and Frankie bantering and competing the whole time. Keep these happy, warm fuzzy feelings, folks because things are about to get messy. Long-distance relationships are tough but that might be the last thing Emma and Will needed to be concerned about.
While on a mission in Germany, Emma is shot – and killed. One minute she’s chatting with Will on the phone and the next she’s bleeding out on the pavement. The gun used to kill her is familiar too. It’s the same red-handled one we saw in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. So the suspiciously feminine sniper isn’t Emma. I think I may have judged Lady Bubblewrap a little hard. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, Emma. RIP.
Ray and Susan show up at Will’s front door to break the news. The scene has no dialogue; an exceptional music choice and Scott Foley’s expressive face make us feel every single emotion Will goes through in those few seconds.
Fast-forward to a week later and Jai’s been affected by Emma’s death and her funeral. Everyone was touched by it in some way, but it’s given Jai a lot to think about.
Standish sniffs week old beer and regrets it. And then does it a second time.
“I’m not good at learning lessons the first time,” Standish says, and when we consider the big reveal at the end that’s a line that feels important moving forward.
Ray is a jerk who stole his best friend’s girlfriend – yet he’s also a cinnamon roll who needs to be protected. There aren’t a lot of characters on TV that I’ll say that about. He’s so needy, and so hopelessly amused by himself, that his sins are almost forgivable.
Standish and Susan hugging Will after he returns to work is the sweetest moment ever. Even Jai gives him a reassuring pat. Frankie doesn’t hug him, although it looks like she really wants to, and when she sends Susan to hug Will a second time it’s like Susan is hugging him for Frankie.
Frankie will get there.
Baby steps.
And it's off to Germany we go, to take down Emma’s killer.
Frankie’s growth is one of the best things about this show. Yes, “Friskey” is great too, but watching how Will has helped her claw her way out of the darkness has been the loveliest of journeys. Rather than shooting someone, she bribes them.
“But you wanted to shoot him,” Will says. Sure she did, but the point is, Will, she didn’t. Because of you. Such beautiful baby steps.
Instead of going out to dinner together, Tina tells Standish to stay and help Jai through his mini-crisis. She kisses the side of his mouth in goodbye. She’s making (really good) excuses not to spend time with him, and kissing him so impersonally the red flags are smacking this reviewer in the face.
Wanna talk tropes? Everyone Is Gay. Whiskey Cavalier has always made everyone either super comfortable with their sexuality, or made their sexuality super fluid. Because the ease at which these characters talk about hitting on people of the same sex, getting their numbers, or mention sharing a bath with them, is beautiful and something I need more of. In my opinion they’re all bi or pansexual and this helps the show avoid the Bury Your Gays trope.
Unable to sleep, Will drops by Susan’s hotel room to talk. Susan is suspiciously hesitant about letting Will into her room, but relents. They talk and on his way out Will says, “I love that we tell each other everything. It’s important to me. Thank you.” It’s an accidental guilt trip because once Will is out the door we discover Ray has been hiding under the blankets. Oh, Susan, honey, no, WHY? This little friends-with-benefits thing started after the funeral and despite trying to stop it Susan just keeps letting herself go back to Ray.
M E S S Y.
At the casino, Will goes after the man he thinks is responsible for Emma’s death. Frankie gets separated from Will when two of Will’s leftovers recover from the butt-kicking he had dealt them and she takes them out. It’s an epic parallel to Will’s own fight in another room with Griffin – Emma’s killer(?).
One thing to note is how dark Will becomes in this episode. From the moment of Emma’s death he only has one thing on his mind: vengeance. He kills with an ease we’ve never seen Will use before. It’s very Frankie-inspired. Of course Frankie LOVES this version of Will. She loves the bad boys, the reckless ones, after all.
His own life become a second thought in his personal quest and he almost follows Griffin off the edge of a building.
Usually it’s Will pulling Frankie back, here we get to see her do the same for Will. She stops him from jumping, reminding him that just because Griffin survived the jump doesn’t mean he will. He isn’t happy with her logic, but relents.
Jai’s still struggling and he wants to talk. He needs to talk. But he isn’t quite there yet. Standish lets him know, “When you’re ready, I’m here.”
Frankie noticed something off about Susan and Rays behavior earlier but it’s when she goes to talk to them about loving Edgy Will that she calls them on it. And Susan and Ray fool no one with their denial.
“How many times?” Frankie asks when they admit to sleeping together.
“Just once,” Susan says at the same time Ray proudly says, “Seventeen and a half!” Comedy gold.
The tone shifts as the discussion turns to whether or not Will knows (he doesn’t). It’s here Susan brings up something really important: Will and Frankie work best when they balance each other out. So as much as Frankie’s enjoying this darker Will, it can’t continue.
Susan: “If we don’t get through to Will now he might do something that he can’t come back from.”
Frankie finds Will just before he sets Nikolai on fire for information. She catches the lighter before it hits the gasoline and stops Will from torching a man. Frankie won’t help Will with his vengeance and she walks away.
Ollerman has a bloodied Nikolai in his office. He calls Will to taunt him about Emma’s death. He “helpfully” offers to give Will Griffin’s location. Either way one of them is going to die and Griffin’s made a mess of things so cold, calculating Ollerman won’t be sad to have this loose end tied up.
Speaking of, once Ollerman ends the call he kills Nikolai. Tying everything up in bloodied bows.
Jai tracks Will’s location and sends Frankie and Susan to intercept before Will can kill Griffin. It’s now, alone with Standish, that he’s ready to talk. “Sometimes I feel invisible," Jai admits.
Jai’s never lost anyone close to him before, and a lot of this has to do with the fact he tries to avoid making connections with people.
“When I die, will anyone turn up?” Jai ponders.
Standish speaks the words Jai’s been needing for a while: “You’ve got a family here, man. We love you.”
Will catches up with Griffin and puts a bullet in his leg. With Will’s gun pointed at him he plants seeds of doubt in Will’s head over who actually killed Emma.
Still, with the gun to Griffin’s head Will’s about to take him out when Susan and Frankie arrive.
When Susan’s words don’t break through Will’s vengeance haze, it’s up to Frankie.
Frankie: “Will, you’re right about me. I’ve lived most of my life consumed by revenge. It’s who I was. Who I still am sometimes. I can’t judge you but I can say this: The only thing that got me out of that deep, dark rabbit hole is you. Your kindness, your decency, honestly they’re the worst. Still, as annoying as you are you’ve rubbed off on me and I’m grateful. And I know that you think that pulling that trigger is going to give you payback but it’s just going to cost you everything.”
Will steps away. While his back is turned, Griffin pulls a gun from his ankle, and it’s Susan who reacts and kills Griffin before he can shoot Will.
Back at The Dead Drop Standish gets a cheek kiss from Tina for helping Jai. So. Many. Red. Flags.
Ray and Susan are never, ever happening again. It’s over. Done. But he’ll be waiting outside for her in his car. At least make it an even eighteen, right?
The team raise their glasses to Emma, but before they drink Tina stops them. She pulls out a star to put on the wall. “No name,” she tells them. “Just a star to honor their service.”
It’s a touching moment. It’s a shame it’s ruined by the fact TINA KILLED EMMA.
The reveal comes when she pulls her gun out and places it on the bar, so she can sit without it poking into Standish. It’s the same red-handled gun we saw the sniper use, and the same gun used to kill Emma. Told you she was suspiciously absent from that last Ollerman mission. Also, it’s interesting how she spoke of seducing someone for information as her excuse for being away. Poor Standish. Just when you think things can’t get messier, it’s revealed Standish’s girlfriend killed Will’s girlfriend.
Ollerman wanted to fracture the team. He’s going about it the right way.
