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After a successful field operation in which the team has to split up, circumstances conspire to get Gary arrested. They conspire with Gary, but still. While picking Gary up at the precinct, Bill catches wind of a high-profile kidnapping case currently in progress, and figures that if he and Gary can solve it on their own, using their Alpha abilities, it could mean Bill's long-hoped-for return to the FBI. Of course that's complicated by the fact that the agent in charge of the case is the very man Bill bounced against a wall in the incident that got him booted from the Bureau in the first place, but does Bill care? He does not. He also blithely leads Gary through some shady places long past his curfew, but doesn't feel guilty until they almost catch one of the kidnappers, only to scare him off and potentially screw up the case and get the kidnapped girl killed. Not to mention getting himself arrested, and Gary for the second time that day.
The only way to save the situation is for Bill to convince an uncharacteristically angry Rosen to let the team help him save the girl. Which he does, and after following the clues (and Rachel's nose, and Cameron's parkour), they discover that the kidnapping is an inside job, initiated by the kidnapped girl's own bodyguard. Nina Pushes her to lead them to the girl, where for the first time in this show's history, the bad guy is actually caught in an interesting way. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that there's no Evil Alpha Of The Week for once. Anyway, the girl is safe, her powerful father is grateful, and it looks like Bill might get back into the FBI after all, but of course he decides he prefers working with the fake DCIS that his team is fakely faking that they're part of.
In other news, Nina's been avoiding a cop who wants to talk to her about the ex-boyfriend on whose death she blames her own Super-Bossiness. On Cameron's advice, Nina talks to the cop, who was asking about something totally different. And Cameron's advice wasn't the only thing of his she would have acted on, if you know what I mean, but it turns out that Rachel's secondary Alpha abilities include Super-Cockblocking. At least for now.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Nighttime in Manhattan. A college girl complains about her classes to her blonde bodyguard, but when they get to their car, a tear gas canister rolls toward them on the sidewalk and masked figures run up and tase them both. End of teaser. If the whole episode is like this it's going to be the easiest weecap ever!
After the ads, we catch up with Bill at home early in the morning, wearing an old FBI T-shirt and watching some security camera footage. Since the footage is of Bill himself bouncing some suit off a wall after said suit poked him in the back, I think we now know why he's an ex-FBI agent. His wife comes downstairs so he can make some lame excuse about why he didn't come to bed last night. He's actually saying that things are pretty good with Rosen and the fake DCIS, but she's being all "supportive" about getting him back into the FBI, ignoring his signals entirely. Clearly whatever she does at the Bureau, it isn't investigation.
At work, Bill hotly pursues a backpacked fugitive through Manhattan on foot, while Cameron and the other Alphas are battling through traffic to catch up in the minivan. Finally Cameron gives up and hoofs it, Nina backing him up. Rachel takes over driving while Gary tries to track the quarry using his usual methods of mentally tapping into traffic, ATM, and security cameras, but loses him in a camera-free park. Rachel gets out and runs, reluctantly leaving Gary alone in the van. Meanwhile, Cameron parkours straight across a zigzag pedestrian ramp, cutting off the fugitive right before Nina gets there and Pushes, "Relax." The immediate crisis resolved, Gary finds himself getting braced by a cop who doesn't like the way the van is parked. He also doesn't care for Gary trying to flash his DCIS badge and pull rank on him. Bill has caught up with the others, and he downloads the contents of the fugitive's tablet computer onto a flash drive, and then they let the dude go. We may or may not be learning more about that mission in a later episode, but for now the Alphas (and we) are on a need-to-know basis from their DoD overlords. Rachel shows up just in time to tell them that Gary's alone in the van, so that's a whole new crisis in motion. Especially when they get back to the van and find no sign of Gary, other than a parking ticket on the windshield and the phone he left behind for plot reasons.
Gary's at the police station, explaining that he promised not to get out of the van, and idly surfing through some passing transmission that includes video of a bound and gagged woman crying. "That means that she's sad," Gary explains. Good thing the Alphas are on the case.
Back at HQ, Bill gets off the phone to explain to the others (including Rosen) that Gary got himself arrested for illegal parking, resisting arrest, and impersonating a federal officer. After joking that Gary will be out in about fifteen years, Bill heads out to take care of it, but not without some extra snark about the "amateurs" he's working with.
At the police station, while picking up Gary, Bill makes conversation with one of the cops about a kidnapping case in progress, the victim being the daughter of someone who's supposedly being targeted by some drug cartel. And wouldn't you know it? Not only is she the girl from the opening scene, but also the cell phone video transmission Gary picked up and traced to Fourth and Broadway. Bill's on the case, just like that.
Gary has led Bill to a sewer grate, which Bill super-strengths open to get at the phone inside. While Bill de-jackets and gloves up, he explains to Gary that he's about to get kicked out of the FBI for good (which explains why he was trying to sell the DCIS angle to his wife earlier), but if he can solve this high-profile case to save the daughter of one of the richest men in New York, he might get back in. I'm sure the Feds will be thrilled with how he kept vital information to himself. Even more unwisely, Bill nominates Gary as his "partner" on this, which means he'll be taking even more shit from Gary than he just fished that cell phone out of.
At the elevators, Nina is accosted by a Detective Kellerman, who she's so keen to avoid that she Pushes him out of there, right in front of Cameron. Naturally Cameron is curious, so Nina tells him that Kellerman thinks she killed someone. "That enough information for you?" Since he doesn't seem to have any follow-up questions, I guess so.
Bill has brought the cell phone (and Gary) to the FBI's operations center to try to horn in on the investigation. Wouldn't you know it -- the agent in charge, Persky, is the same dude Bill used as a handball in the first place, not that the show goes out of its way to make that clear right away. Bill also meets Collier, the kidnapped girl's father, who I recognize from Season Seven of 24; and her bodyguard, who I recognize from the opening scene, and would probably also recognize from one of those Stargate shows if I knew from Stargate. Gary is of course doing all he can to derail the scene (although we do learn that he's a .32 on the CARS scale, so there's that). Collier decides that even though the phone is technically untraceable, Bill and "Agent Bell" (which Gary really digs being called) are in, so they're in.
In some tenement apartment, the kidnappers (army war vets, as we learn from their heavy-handed dialogue) bicker about the found phone while the kidnapped girl lies half-conscious on a cot, hooked up to an IV. Their dialogue also indicates that they're doing this for pay, so that's another clue. I have a clue for them: don't kidnap people.
It's getting dark as Rosen makes excuses (read: lies) on the phone to Gary's mom. Apparently Bill and Gary haven't checked in, so now Rachel and Rosen have to go find them. That should go well.
Bill and Gary are apparently busy shaking down a snitch at a Mexican restaurant in one of the more Grand Theft Auto areas of town. He's not cooperative, until Gary's babbling about "the compound" and Bill's Vadering of him clear off the deck seems to loosen his tongue.
Cameron goes all the way over to Nina to apologize to her in person. She doesn't seem too keen to get rid of him.
Over a Mexican dinner, Bill and Gary discuss how the snitch said the cartel wasn't behind the kidnapping at all, but it's not enough yet to take to the FBI. Fortunately, Gary intercepts a call from the kidnappers to the Feds, scheduling a $10 million drop in nine hours. They'll call back in an hour with a location, but hang up before the Feds have time trace the call. As Bill points out, Gary can trace it himself. They'll just have to rush back to the precinct so Gary can get a better signal. Bill packs up their food (which Gary just painstakingly separated) and they're off.
We see them on a street corner at 11:14, Gary sorting through the streaming signals while Bill stresses out about whether they missed the call. "If you find that phone I'm going to let you drive," Bill promises. (By the way, Gary's been agitating to drive since the pilot, I just haven't gotten into it. There's only so many details you can fit in a weecap, after all.) So Gary's good and motivated now, and seconds later he finds the call, which was made late. But of course Bill isn't about to let Gary drive without lessons. If Gary knew the phrase "dick move," he'd be using it now. Unfortunately he just uses a lot more words.
Nina's showing Cameron around her apartment, which contains such items as Bill Murray's hat from Caddyshack. Apparently Nina used to be quite the indiscriminate wild Pusher before Rosen met her, which is how she got the hat. She couldn't have Pushed him into not making Garfield? Unfortunately for her, this topic gives Cameron an opening to bring up the cop she Pushed earlier. Cameron keeps pressing (probably because he feels an affinity for a cop who clearly uses the same kind of razor that Cameron does) until Nina admits that she once told an asshole ex-boyfriend in a fight, "Why don't you do me a favor and kill yourself?" Which, of course, he did and even though this was before Nina knew what she could do, she still feels pretty rotten about it. Cameron advises telling Kellerman the truth. They have a moment, and the thing we know they're making out. Wow, unsolicited advice never works that way for me.
Gary has led Bill to some dive bar and despite Bill's warnings to "keep a low profile," Gary loudly points out the kidnapper with the phone. Who, of course, makes a run for it, barring the back door behind him. Bill busts through, but the kidnapper shoots back at him before running away. And Gary's on the floor moaning. Out past his bedtime and shot? Oh, man, is his mom going to be pissed.
But first, the Feds are. At least Gary's wound is from Bill pushing him down, not from a bullet. Persky yells at Bill for scaring off the suspect, and the bodyguard adds that the ransom's now been jacked up to $15 million. And with that, Persky orders Bill and Gary arrested, and the girl's father threatens them that he'll hold them responsible if anything bad happens to his daughter. Smooth move, Bill.
Looks like Rosen and Rachel gave up on the search for Bill and Gary, because Rachel's back home. In fact, she walks in on a half-naked Nina and Cameron making out on the living room couch, so it looks like those two are giving up on what they were after as well. Cameron takes off, with a last word to Nina to think about what he said about Kellerman. That's what he wants her to remember?
Bill and Gary are locked in the drunk tank and Bill's beating himself up for screwing this up. Too bad he isn't using his super strength to do it. He's upset about what this means for his chance to get back in the bureau (now gone) and his wife (who's going to find out he's been lying to her), but in more immediate news, Rosen has finally shown up. In the parking garage, Rosen is giving Bill a dressing-down and when Bill asks for his help, it makes it even worse. From inside Rosen's car, Gary reminds Bill that it's 5:07 and the drop's at eight, so they have to go. Bill and Gary make the case that they're the only ones who can help, and if they don't the girl's going to die. Rosen seems convinced, probably because that "only we can do this" thing is pretty much the argument he's been making since day one.
At the kidnappers' apartment, meanwhile, one of them gets off the phone with their very angry boss and shoots the one who keeps dumping phones and almost getting caught in bars. The kidnapped girl looks pretty upset at seeing this. She should probably be glad there aren't a lot of wood chippers in Manhattan.
The rest of the Alphas are all back at the office with horizontal morning sunlight streaming through the window as Bill briefs the team, but more importantly, humbly thanks them for their help. They all exchange glances at this complete reversal in Bill's character, even though it's still delivered in his standard blank-faced monotone. Gary reports that, according to a call he just picked up, Persky the bouncy FBI boss and Sarah the sucky bodyguard are going to make the drop. What could go wrong? Later, Gary has tapped into the FBI's GPS system and traced the drop to the Bronx Zoo, which, as Bill and Cameron point out, is a shitty place for kidnappers to set up a drop what with all the people around. At eight in the morning?
The surviving kidnapper and his victim are in a new apartment, and he's getting kind of chatty while he spreads plastic on the floor and explains that he can't let her go. He promises to make it painless for her, as long as she agrees to send him a message from the other side. You know, after she's dead. She sobs through her gag, but nods. Shouldn't an evil Alpha be showing up some time soon?
Bill and Cameron and Gary are still nowhere with the drop map, until Gary says something that reminds them that the route will take them past the bar where they picked up the phone and almost the kidnapper -- Fourth and Broadway. Bill gets on the phone to get lease agreements for a ten-block radius from there. Should be plenty of time to check them all!
Bill and Rachel are searching places, and fortunately they're only on the fourth one when Rachel smells decay and explosive thermite coming through the door. Fortunately Cameron's in the alley and able to parkour up to the fire escape so he can enter through the window. He does lose his footing for a second, but thing we know he lets them in, the (presumably) disarmed bomb in his hand. Once inside, they find the dead kidnapper on the floor, but no live kidnapper or live girl. Bill figures that the bad guy must have known they were coming. He checks in with Gary, who reports that Sarah the bodyguard and Persky are on their way to the drop with the cash. However, Gary probably can't overhear their conversation, in which Sarah's asking Persky about the temptation involved with all that money. He answers blandly, but then he gets a text from Bill warning that the kidnappers have someone on the inside. Apparently Persky suddenly trusts Bill, because he pretends the text was from his wife, but Sarah -- who it turns out was the inside man all along -- is onto him and tases him. Lucky for her, he let her drive. she tases the GPS unit Gary was using to track them from the moving Alpha minivan, so Gary's effectively gone blind. Also, Sarah just ditched the FBI follow cars and their helicopter, which tells me the FBI can't really afford to be firing any remotely competent people at all. She texts the remaining kidnapper a very short message: "#." "Good news, it's almost over," he tells his victim. Just one good pounding away.
Luckily, Gary's able to track Persky's cell phone, and he sends Cameron on a merry spin through the streets. "Nice moves," Nina says from the back seat, making her presence on this outing known for the first time. Cameron says it's all in the reflexes. Are they still talking about last night? Luckily, they catch up with Sarah as she's dumping the car with the unconscious Persky in it. They're able to grab her before she can draw on Bill, and Nina Pushes her to tell them where the kidnapped girl is.
Cut to Sarah walking into the new apartment, telling the remaining kidnapper, "Plans have changed, we have to move the girl." She's saying it robotically, almost as if she's under mind control. The kidnapper protests and even draws on her, but luckily for her, Bill bursts right through the damn wall and grabs him. He probably should have gone ahead and let him shoot her, because while he's grappling with that dude, Sarah's free to take a pot shot at Cameron when he walks in. But Cameron's so hyperkinetic he dodges the bullet, and bounces around the room while her bullet pierces the IV back and a wall sconce before Cameron bounces back, grabs her gun arm, and twists her to the floor. Gary and Nina come in to help secure the scene and free the girl. I'm glad this show finally realized that nabbing the bad guy is supposed to be an actual dramatic moment.
Outside, the girl's being loaded into an ambulance. Her dad, Collier, thanks Bill and Gary, who's awkward about it, but then goes to wait in the van when Bill tells him to after a protest that trails off. Collier also offers to make a call to the FBI on Bill's behalf. Bill thanks him and steps over towards the other Feds, including a very uptight Persky. Bill apologizes and offers to let them take the credit, which confuses Persky, who thought Bill wanted back in. "So did I," Bill says. That's okay, we didn't.
Walking back to the minivan with Rosen, Bill tells the doctor what he said in a roundabout way, doing a really bad Rosen impression that includes the quavering voice and ends in "Blah blah blah...science." He invites Rosen to respond, but Rosen just says, "I'm a professional. I can gloat in private."
Back at home. Bill tells his wife that the FBI cut him loose. She's disappointed on his behalf, but it glad he's happy. Or, at least, he says he is, which with Bill you kind of have to take his word on it. Plus he's still lying to his wife, so everything's back to normal. Yay!
At HQ, Nina explains to Cameron that Kellerman was only looking into a financial scam her dead boyfriend was involved in and not his death at all. "All that worrying over nothing," Cameron says. She makes excuses for the other night, which he accepts, but asks her out for dinner some time. "Some time," Nina says. Maybe after sex.
Bill is in the van with Gary, praising him on what a good job he did, but Gary knows he's just stalling before letting Gary drive. Finally Bill switches seats and lets him drive. So the last image is of Bill's terror-stricken face as Gary hits the gas. Well, at least if they pancake into the side of a building Bill won't get killed by Gary's mom.
M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter , or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.
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