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After accidentally killing Juan, who he thought was Jangles, Briggs buries the body in the desert and goes surfing -- relaxed and Zen -- because he thinks he's drunkenly rid the world of a sadistic torture-killer.
Charlie has a brilliant idea of how to break Bello and get him to tell them who Odin Rossi is: they'll threaten Mike with tons of jail time, thinking Bello is so fond of him that he'll talk to the feds to spare Mike. So they send Mike, who still has an oozing belly wound, into prison. But Briggs wants Charlie to drop it, so he arranges for Bello to see Mike meeting with Charlie (who Bello knows is a fed), thus blowing Mike's cover and earning him some really unpleasant-looking gut punches. Dick move, Briggs.
Mike gets hauled into FBI HQ without even a how-do-you-do Vicodin. An agent named Clarke tells Mike that Juan has been missing for three days, and they think Briggs had something to do with the disappearance. Mike goes back to the house and spills his guts (not literally this week) first to Paige, about Briggs's addiction and Mike's investigation, and then to Briggs, about the investigation. Mike tells Briggs Juan's name, which Briggs didn't know, but then Briggs looks Juan up and realizes he's the man he shot. Which means Jangles is still alive and stabbing.
Johnny throws Jakes the worst birthday party ever, mostly because Jakes adamantly does not want a birthday party. As Jakes drunkenly tells the new husband of his ex (Derek and Cassie, respectively) at a bar, birthdays remind him of how badly he messed up his life and the relationships he's lost. Jakes tries to reconcile with Cassie after Derek tells him they're having problems, but drunk and weepy isn't the best way to win a lady back, and she bans him from ever seeing his son.
Johnny soldiers on with Worst Party Ever, because he wants to distract everyone from the shitty, crack- and murder-infested realities of their jobs. And then Charlie pops the bouncy castle and the strippers leave and everything sucks.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Graceland: Okay, so it turns out that Charlie's new Mexican cop pal, Cortez, is the Jangles who stabbed Mike. Thanks for the tip, commenters. In my defense, that scene was really dark. In other news, Juan is certifiably crazy and Mike is freaked out. And Jakes has a son who doesn't know him.
Flashback to 18 months ago. Bar. Jakes, Johnny, Donnie, and Briggs are throwing darts and drinking until the lambs stop screaming. They talk about Klein, a DEA pal of Donnie's, who killed a meth dealer while high on painkillers and is being charged with involuntary manslaughter, even though the agents all agree it was self-defense and he should go free. (And here's another place where this show is the highest of fantasy, because in real life, the FBI has found its agents completely faultless in all of their shootings since 1993! So really, Klein has nothing to worry about.) Johnny, who's clearly the new guy in the house, asks if he should be drinking. Jakes and Donnie laugh, but Briggs reminds him to know his limits.
Present day, on the beach, where Briggs has just shot and killed Juangles. Briggs goes to his truck and brings back hiding-the-body supplies. You know, the things every federal agent has in his trunk at all times. He pulls down Juan's bandanna and doesn't recognize him, obviously. He rolls Juan up in a tarp, finds the shell casing in the sand, and drags the body to the truck. Briggs drives away (remember how Briggs is completely wasted while all this is happening? Yeah) and we see the recording device in Juan's car, still capturing everything.
FBI building. A couple of lawyers list all the charges Bello is facing while Charlie watches on the other side of a two-way mirror. Bello asks what the feds are offering him to give them Odin Rossi. They offer witness protection for his family and special treatment in prison if he's convicted. Bello wants immunity, but the lawyer reminds him that he's a murderous drug kingpin.
Charlie throws the deal makers out of the room and starts threatening Bello with going to jail, surrounded by Mexican inmates the Caza cartel can hire to kill him. Bello knows that his silence is valuable, because the government will want him to stay alive in case he ever changes his mind and wants to testify. Charlie threatens him with rape again, some more, and Jesus Christ, am I tired of prison-rape tropes. TV, you must come up with a new prison-is-bad marker. Like how Jax Teller got his beautiful torso ventilated in the joint. That was pretty bad, huh?
Mike gets a call from Agent Clarke at HQ. They want him to come in. Everyone thinks he's getting an award for the Bello bust. Mike hauls his battered body off the couch. At the federal building, Agent Clarke, who we haven't met before, and who thank god isn't Agent Kohn from Sons of Anarchy, opens a file and pulls out an essay Mike wrote at age nine about why he wanted to be an FBI agent. Mike is all, that's sweet, but I'm kind of bleeding everywhere right now? And when did my mom send you that shoebox full of childhood memorabilia?
Mike says he didn't expect a commendation, but Clarke corrects him: this is about how Juan's reports lately have said Mike is insubordinate. Mike brings up the bug in his room, which Clarke already knew about, and says Juan is increasingly paranoid and unstable. Clarke asks if Mike has fallen under Briggs' sway. Mike denies it, and asks what Clarke really wants. Clarke says Juan hasn't been seen for three days, and asks if Mike knows where Briggs has been lately.
Mike can't believe what they're accusing Briggs of. He says Briggs doesn't even know Juan exists (well…). Clarke mentions the recorder Juan checked out on the last day he was at work, and Mike confirms it, saying Juan thought Briggs was working with Caza. (And we're supposed to believe the FBI isn't into cloud storage? Eh, I can believe that.) Mike catches on that Juan's disappearance would be on tape if he met with Briggs. Clarke says they don't know where Juan's car is, and tells Mike to start looking for it—and looking at Briggs.
Johnny has erected a bounce house in the living room. It is very bright, but somehow it looks right. I can't believe none of the Real World houses have had one (or maybe they have recently. I fell off the wagon some time around Paris). Charlie is going through logs from the jail, trying to find out who put in the request to visit Bello and then never showed. Johnny is wearing a jaunty bow tie and a shirt with terrible Gordon Gecko collar and cuffs. When the doorbell rings, he answers and escorts a pack of ladies into the house. Paige puts in the decoy call to lure Jakes home.
At a bar, Jakes orders another drink and says, "Nice try." His old buddy, Derek (the new husband of Jakes's ex, Cassandra, and therefore stepfather to Jakes's son, Daniel), greets him and sits down at the bar to him. Jakes bitches about the birthday party he's skipping out on.
House. Mike comes to Briggs's room and tells him about the investigation. Briggs is all, huh. He's not surprised, since Mike was top of his class at Quantico and got stuck with an assignment he didn't want. He asks what Mike found other than the heroin. Mike says he just found that, but the investigation isn't over. He brings up Juan's disappearance and Clarke's suspicions. He tells Briggs about Juan's wire, then gives Briggs Juan's name. Briggs is all, "Who?" Mike says he's going to start looking for the car, and would appreciate Briggs's help. But Briggs smartly points out that it would look like a cover-up if he helped. Mike apologizes, and Briggs thanks him for his belated honesty.
Diner. Charlie tells Cortez she thinks Rossi is an FBI agent. She shows him the smoke detector she took from the hotel room, and says if Jangles got to the hotel room before they did, then Odin Rossi knows who Jangles is. Cortez speculates that they can follow the corrupt agent to Jangles, and asks his name. Charlie lies that she doesn't have a name to give him.
Mike and Paige walk on the beach and discuss the investigation. Mike says he wanted to see the look on Briggs' face when he gave him Juan's name, but Briggs had no idea who Juan was. At the house, Briggs is logging in to the FBI's server and looking up Juan. He sees the picture and recognizes him.
time: Lies! Betrayals! Shouting and ski masks for Briggs and Mike! Well, that just takes away 90 percent of the reason I watch this show.