Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: C+ | 24 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Playing House
By Tippi Blevins | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 08.18.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The main difference between gangsters and cops – at least on this show – is that the cops carry badges. Also, the gangsters seem a little more civilized. Sure, they kill and steal and deal drugs, but they seem to look out for each other. The cops, on the other hand, are all at each other's throats while they investigate Brendan McCann's death.
The M.E. soon discovers that although Brendan did drown, it was in tap water and not in the river. Which, you know, duh. It was dumb of Frank and Joe not to think of that, but whatever. Boyd from Internal Affairs reveals to Frank that the headless body in Brendan's trunk belonged to an informant who was going to testify against both Brendan and Joe. Frank realizes Joe has played him, and so confronts him about Katia's supposed death. After Frank turns his kidneys into pâté, Joe confesses that Katia fled from the country, deep in hiding but very much alive. Joe swears he had no choice because Brendan threatened to kill him. Frank probably doesn't believe him, but he can't do anything without also incriminating himself.
Meanwhile, Damon and the International gang are trying to figure out what to do with their garbage baggie of coke. Sensible Michael thinks they should bury it and lay low for a while, lest they draw the Old Man's ire. Damon's wife Maya convinces them all to go along with her hubby's plan, which is to start up a brothel in an abandoned house with pilfered electricity. To do this, Damon has to pay off the leader from a rival gang. He does so with all the polite respect of a man asking a father for permission to date his daughter. He gets the permission he's seeking, but will now be in the gangster's debt.
In the end, Frank and Joe do finally work together -- to burn down Katia's house and destroy any traces of evidence that could lead back to the headless informant. If only they'd been as thorough about the tap water thing. Stay tuned for the full recap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Last week, Detroit detectives Frank Agnew and Joe Geddes drowned a crooked cop named Brendan McCann. Everything seemed to be going pretty well until Simon Boyd from Internal Affairs showed up about a minute later. Frank immediately began to suspect that Joe talked him into the murder in order to cover up his own dirty tracks. Not that McCann was innocent, by any means; two street thugs were in cahoots with him to steal and sell drugs. The thugs got impatient waiting for McCann, who was busy being dead and all, and decided to go on without him. This ended with head thug Damon killing a black man in cold blood and absconding with his garbage bag of coke.
Now we pick up shortly after McCann's car was pulled up from the river. Frank stands around inside some kind of white privacy tent, listening to a distorted thumping sound coming from somewhere overhead. He seems completely entranced, lost in thought until others come bustling into the tent. One of the bodies from the crime scene is wheeled in on a gurney. Lieutenant Dawson follows behind. "D.P.D. won't even pay overtime and the local news hacks have a damn helicopter," Frank says, looking up with disdain towards the thumping sound. To be fair, the Detroit Police Department is probably expecting the cops to supplement their incomes with drug money and/or bribes.
While they grumble over who may have leaked to the press, they have a look at the body. It looks like a thawed Butterball turkey with chest hair. "What are we looking at?" Boyd asks. (A dead body, duh). "In my expert opinion, I'd say it's a homicide," Joe smart-asses. Dani looks at him like she can't believe his sass. "The cuts are definitely post-mortem," she says, also noting the crudeness of the cuts. "It was a hacksaw," Joe pulls out of thin air.
He says it took half an hour or more, which he probably knows because he timed himself. Frank takes charge of the situation, assigning everyone their roles in the investigation, then reminds them to keep cool around the press. Lieutenant Dawson chimes in so that we know where the episode gets its title: "This is a grade-A goat rodeo; stonewall and keep moving." Frank also reminds them that they're all going to start snapping at each other and tells them not to take anything personally. Well, unless someone tries to drown them, or something.
Frank follows Joe out of the tent. "Tell me who that piece of meat back there is," he says. "Tell me how the hell should I know," Joe shoots back, skillful as ever at not answering questions. Although the bulk of the press is currently engaged with Lieutenant Dawson, it seems unwise to have this conversation within two city blocks of a microphone or camera. Or anywhere that Boyd could come running up to them at a moment's notice, which is what he does. He seems not to have overheard Frank's accusatory question, but still seems suspicious for some reason. "You two drove together?" he asks, as if it would be weird for two detectives in the same department to carpool. Frank sets him straight, then stomps off with a scowl, which just makes Boyd even more suspicious.