Bonnie Goetz Murdered

S02E04

By Keckler

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OH MY GOD! TELL ME THAT THEY DIDN'T JUST KILL BONNIE WHAT THE HELL YOU CAN'T KILL A DEAF GIRL WITH ONLY THREE EPISODES LEFT IN THE SEASON SOMEONE GET ME A DRINK!

Pant, pant. Okay. Trying to calm down here. Yeah. So, Frodale's smuggling business is getting thwarted by both military checkpoints and J&R business registration requirements, and he's not the only business suffering in Jericho. However, when Stanley is asked if Frodale can use the Richmond farm as a way to thwart the checkpoints, Stanley will have none of it. (You can't blame him, though, because he definitely thinks the Boston Tea Party is a bunch of old ladies with Wedgewood and furnished souls. Poor Stanley.) So, instead of going through Stanley, Mary sort of seduces a checkpoint soldier into looking the other way. However, before Frodale can even take advantage of this, Goetz arrests him; but he's later rescued by Jake, Eric, and Stanley, with a little help from Beck.

Upon learning from his Mystery Cellphone Man that information will reach Beck exposing the location of the bomb, Hawkins tells Jake it's up to him to get and destroy that information. Because Beck's office is in the process of being turned into a SCIF, accepting only eight privileged thumbs, Jake is in a pickle. However, since Heather's little thumb is one of the few and the proud, Jake convinces Hawkins she's their only hope. Heather takes some convincing herself before she slips into Beck's office and removes the necessary information.

In J&R news, Mimi discovers that SOMEONE is embezzling money from J&R, and when Trish confronts Goetz with the discovery, Goetz first menaces Mimi at the office and then shows up at the Richmond Farmhouse to get into a shootout with Bonnie. By the end of the episode, Bonnie is dead, Mimi is critical, and I am stunned. This is an unbelievably wicked show. Want more? The full recap starts right below!

In the dark, dark night, some thuggish types fix a tire rather loudly, bringing Stanley and his flashlight rifle out of the house to demand what they're doing on his property. It's sort of interesting how this episode begins and ends with a Richmond rifle. It also proves Chekhov's old literary technique about guns being introduced in the first act and going off in the third. The thuggish types pull out guns as well until Frodale squirms his short way in and holds everyone off from murdering each other. He explains to Stanley that they're just fixing a flat. Stanley asks what the hell Frodale's doing out there in the first place. "You know," Frodale tosses off, "importing." He hands Stanley a bottle of whisky, "For looking the other way," he says. Do you think Frodale has a Napoleon complex? I mean, I don't know how old he's supposed to be -- high school, I assume -- but is the guy ever going to have a growth spurt? Stanley flips the bottle on its side and sees a Jennings & Rall barcode. Heh, maybe Jennings & Rall started off as two old farts on a porch, selling their whisky but then developed into a national defense conglomerate. Maybe we should all stop drinking Bartles & Jaymes; supporting them will only encourage them to future evil heights.

day, Jake places the barcoded bottle on Frodale's counter and tells him the bribes aren't appreciated. "Find another way into town. Quit using his property," Jake instructs. Frodale starts to argue about it being the safest way in, but the Sheriff of Jakingham says, "It's not a suggestion, Dale." Skyler pipes up in her annoyingly elfin voice about how hard Jake is making their lives. Frodale then tells Jake that it's not just booze they're bringing in. See, the farmers, clinics, and merchants of Jericho all depend on him to keep them out of J&R debt. Speaking of the devil in blue shirts, a J&R rep sticks something up on Frodale's store window. It's a big fat notice that his business hasn't registered with J&R. On hand to offer up threats in the form of explanations, Goetz says that all businesses have to register with J&R to make sure no one is trafficking in stolen goods. Ooh, how very Dolores Umbridge! thing you know, they won't be able to play exploding snap in groups larger than three. Goetz says that once Frodale has registered, they'll kindly remove the notice, and Frodale will allow J&R to bugger him and his inventory weekly. "And if he doesn't?" Jake demands. "Then I'll shut him down," Goetz snaps and evils off.

Hawkins' Happy Hunting Hut. Hawkins stares at a vibrating cell phone before finally answering it with a simple, "Yeah." On second thought, a "yeah," is never simple with Hawkins, because he turns it into three syllables. "Yee-aw-uh." His mystery friend is on the other end of the line, and the time has come for some partial explanations as demanded by Hawkins. Mystery Man will only say that his name is "John Smith," which makes me suspect that his middle name could very possibly be: "Jacob Jingle-Heimer." Ironically, that's my name, too. More explanations are that Hawkins doesn't know Jingle-Heimer, but Jingle-Heimer knows Hawkins and proves it by talking about the betrayal of Sarah Mason and project Red Bell and Valente and Chavez and Cheung. Jingle-Heimer has info for Hawkins but he needs to be assured that Hawkins won't try to find him. Hawkins just snaps the phone shut in response. The phone vibrates. Hawkins answers and awesomes, "Let's agree on this: YOU don't make the terms. I do. And if you have information to share, then you just share it. But if you lie to me, know that I will find out and the time we speak, it will not be on the phone." That's because the time they speak Jingle-Heimer will be dead! Jingle-Heimer agrees and then tells Hawkins he's a day away from being caught.

Tonight's Morse code message is: "Keckler is being held hostage and couldn't transmit last week's message, which was: 'I'm being held hostage. Send help. Wait, no, send Jake and Hawkins.'"

Exercising their right to assemble and have a bitchfest, a gaggle of Jerichoians complains about how J&R is thwarting all their efforts to turn a profit. For instance, buying from Frodale is the only way Mary can keep her lushes lubricated without going out of business. Apparently, J&R changes a buttload for merchandise and supplies, but won't let anyone raise their prices because there's a price freeze handed down by Cheyenne. There are a few other hard luck stories via whining farmers and so forth. Stanley interjects that it's not that big of a deal, "We're talking about booze and cows, here!" "And the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act," Emily illustrates. "What are you talking about?" Stanley demands, in hysterically suspicious tones. He's all, "Wait, what's going on with sugar now? Because I need it for my Cheerios." Emily asks him, "The Boston Tea Party -- was it just about tea?" It is clear from the furrowed brow that that's exactly what Stanley thinks, so help him out a little. The boy clearly slept through the better part of U.S. History. They all start arguing about revolution, well, you know. Despite Eric and Jake's best efforts to calm things down, there's still a lot of argumentation and finally Stanley walks out, wanting no part of it; he won't let them use his land to bring in illegal supplies. Jake tells everyone to calm down and Eric promises they will find another way to get supplies into town. Just then, Darcy walks into the bar and looks at Jake pointedly.

Out at the 4H, Hawkins greets Jake with instant news. Tomorrow, a three-ring binder will arrive in Beck's hands with an aerial radiation scan of Jericho. "The bomb," Jake realizes, because he's rather quick, "I thought the lead made it undetectable." "Well, this is an advance system," Hawkins explains. Of course it is. Rather than moving the bomb, they need to destroy the page with the radiation scan results. (J&R would only send the hard copy, Hawkins explains, rather than take chances with the Internet.) Jake guesses the page retrieval is his job. "Within twenty-four hours, Jake, forty-eight at the most," is Hawkins' response. Jake asks, "Well, you gotta plan for getting Beck out of his office?" Of course he does, Jake, don't be silly. Hawkins moves towards his door, asking Darcy if she got gas. "Where are you going?" Jake boggles. "I gotta burn down a house," Hawkins explains. Hee!

At J&R, people stand in lines with their Social Security cards to register and exchange currency. I guess Cheyenne's getting into the counterfeit biz. Wait, did they have to build new mints? Because the coin mints west of the Mississippi are San Francisco and Denver, which are by all reports, compete toast. Also, the Bureau of Engraving is in D.C., so...yeah. People of Jericho -- hear me now! You need to be asking these questions! In the middle of all this disturbing red tape, Mimi approaches Trish to report that her independent records indicate a ten thousand dollar discrepancy. It started showing up when the new currency arrived. Mimi offers up that maybe J&R didn't deliver as much currency as they claimed. Trish looks worried and says that J&R is meticulous about accounting and wouldn't make a mistake like that. "Then someone took it," Mimi says with a strained smile. "How? I mean, it came off the armored truck, checked into Jennings and Rall, and has been under armed guard ever since," Trish puzzles. "Well, then I guess you have to figure out who had access," Mimi says with forced pleasantness. Trish smiles and tells Mimi not to worry about it. She'll get to the bottom of it.

Arriving at the police department, Jake sees Beck's office being turned into a SCIF. Bill looks over at Jake and says, "It's Fort Knox back there." They're installing a thumbprint scanner and all other sorts of cool stuff, and the list of approved thumbs is short. Jake guesses correctly that he's not on it. Bill cheers him up, "If it's any consolation, you now hold the distinction of being the first Jericho sheriff in history who doesn't have a key to the sheriff's office." He grins and slaps Jake's back. It's nice how quickly Bill has recovered his sense of humor since he was locked in a trunk by escaped convicts after his boss was murdered. Bill shows the approved list to Jake, and among all the military personnel is Heather. Jake looks up and sees the lady herself already in the Very Special Very Secret Office. Yep, Beck would definitely want her to have access. A soldier walks into Beck's SCIF and presents him with a briefcase. As Beck unlocks the handcuffs securing the briefcase to the solider, I realize that with this new regime, it's sort of comforting to know that they're still using the handcuffs/briefcase shtick. Like, they're still in touch with their roots and old world top secret traditions. Meanwhile, does anyone do that in the non-Hollywood world? I think if I ever saw a guy on a plane with that sort of stuff going on, I'd get off the plane and as get as far away from him as possible. Because, frankly, I doubt we're talking about orange crop reports any more.

Once the soldier is excused, Beck turns his attention back to Heather and asks how many curfew violations they're talking about. Heather looks at her folder and explains that New Bern has had twelve in recent days, but it's not the amount of violations that bothers her, it's who the violators are. The violators all worked in the munitions factory, and Heather is worried they're getting organized for a revolution. Beck says they'll monitor it. As Heather leaves, Beck calls her back to specifically say, "Thank you." He so wants her. Once Heather is gone, Beck opens his steel briefcase and pulls out a maroon leather binder with the report "Aerial Radiation Survey Data" inside. Cheyenne is into some weird fonts these days. Both the fonts on this report and on the list of approved SCIFfers are odd. Cheyenne is probably inventing their very own fonts because Helvetica is just so United States.

At the bar, Mary, Emily, and Eric go over which soldiers guard what areas of Jericho. Mary has opinions on all of them. "How do you know all this?" Emily asks. "Soldiers at many of these checkpoints hang out at her bar," Eric explains, totally proud of his girlfriend's flirty ways. "Making friends is my business," Mary shrugs with a smile. Frodale and Skyler show up as summoned and are briefed that they might be able to drive right through the checkpoints rather than avoid them.

At J&R, one of the farmers has a meeting with Goetz where he squeals on Frodale as being the Jericho Smuggler. Farmer Fred wants an assurance that he will be able to keep his farm, and Goetz, promising nothing, says they will probably be able to work something out. Something evil.

Back at the old 4H, Jake tells a very busy Hawkins that he can't get the binder. Hawkins really has no patience with Jake's apparent lameness. All he says is, "What do you mean?" Jake sort of complains that short of cutting off someone's thumb, he can't get into Beck's office. "Plan is in motion, Jake, things change in the field you just gotta adapt," Hawkins mentors calmly. By which he means, "Cut off someone's thumb already!" Jake admits, "There is someone. Beck trusts her; she's been monitoring his field reports from New Bern. She can get close to the data without being detected but she's smart, we're gonna have to tell her." See, that's using your gourd, Jake. Hawkins, however, is not thrilled with letting another person in on the plan and sort of dresses Jake down for always defaulting to that. Hawkins reminds the whelp that he said they could trust Utley. "You think I don't know that?" Jake demands, "Look, I care about this person." "I don't," Hawkins retorts, "And you see this? This is not some secret club where we invite people in when it is convenient!" Jake gets all loud and yelly and tells Hawkins he needs to just tell him what to do because eight people have access to that room and seven of them are military. Can't they just summon another EMP to knock the security offline? It worked in Ocean's Eleven. It would totally work! You know why? Because again, it was a total fallacious use of an EMP AND it was another black guy faking an accent! The music and camera get all intense on Hawkins' face before we fade to black and are left to wonder if Hawkins was about to beat the tar out of Jake.

Jake has brought Heather to his house but clearly hasn't told her anything. She's seated on the couch when Jake opens the front door and lets Hawkins in. Hawkins gives Jake a sidelong look before honing in on a nervous Heather. Jake gives Heather a look that says, "Yeah, I know it's weird, just hear him out. Don't worry, I'm not leaving you." Yes, I got all of that from a look because Jake hasn't shaved in about three days and he's wearing a black tee-shirt and looking weary and hot. Hawkins calmly says, "I'm going to ask for your help today and that requires that you be told some very dangerous [he throws a pointed look at Jake] information." Hawkins has been going on that only five people outside of the Cheyenne government know what he's about to tell her and there are also those who will kill to keep it from coming to light. "Will kill"? Try "have killed." Heather's jaw drops slightly and she wonders, "Why would I agree to that?" in the tone of "Why the HELL would I EVER agree to that?!" Because Jake is hot and you secretly still love him, even though Beck has recently caught your fancy? Jake sits intimately down to Heather and says she's already put her life on the line for Jericho and the last thing he wants to do is ask her to do the same thing again. However, Jake knows that if she knew what was at stake, she'd want to help. When Heather asks what is at stake, it's Hawkins who answers, "I believe it's the future of our country." Heather snaps her head to look at Hawkins and then back at Jake, who doesn't deny it. Hawkins pulls up an end table and sits down. He asks, "Do you want me to keep talking?" Heather thinks, Jake stares, Hawkins glares. Finally, Heather says, "I'm listening." Jake sort of smiles and nods at Hawkins, who gives him the dirtiest look imaginable -- causing me to laugh-choke on my tortilla -- and turns back to Heather.

J&R. Trish and Bonnie are signing about going to Cheyenne when Goetz interrupts that Trish wanted to see him. After Goetz makes a creepy point of meeting her, Bonnie takes off. Trish explains to Goetz about the missing ten thousand dollars and hands over her incident report for him start a formal investigation. Goetz doesn't take the report and instead asks where she got the information. Trish says, "The accountant we hired locally. She found the discrepancy." Goetz sneers that local hires don't always have the whole picture. This goads Trish into telling Goetz that Mimi keeps her own books to herself so she can check them against the J&R books and Mimi believes the J&R books have been altered. Goetz just says, "I see." Trish leans in to Goetz and points out that they both know how seriously J&R takes embezzling. J&R has zero tolerance and for the sake of both their jobs, she thinks it's vital they take the situation very seriously. Goetz suddenly agrees and thanks her for bringing it to his attention. He's going to look into it right away. Oh, shit.

Mary proceeds to don an elaborate Southern accent in order to flirt with a checkpoint soldier and convinces him to look the other way when a shipment of booze comes through. In yet another Gone with the Wind parallel, Mary is the Belle Watling of Jericho. Not that I'm calling her a whore or anything...

Frodale has just finished loading a truck when Goetz arrives to arrest him.

Back at the Greenhouse, Heather reels from the news about the evil Cheyenne government and the lying media. "And you're telling the truth?" Heather demands of Hawkins. He admits that he is. "Who are you?" Heather sneers. Doesn't she know that she's about to be indoctrinated into Awesomeness? Probably to keep from belting both Heather and Jake across the face, Hawkins jumps up and starts to walk out. "Okay! Okay!" Heather backs off. She'll agree to whatever they want her to do. Jake explains about the binder and the page. Heather immediately gets upset, "Beck's involved in this too? Beck's a GOOD man!" Hawkins agrees that Beck is a good man but he's taking orders from very bad people. Heather freaks some more when she hears about the radiation survey, so Jake finally stands up and asks, "Do you trust me?" Heather looks deep into his scruff and admits that she does. Jake is sorry for dragging her into this, but there is no other way. Heather finally whispers, "Okay." Jake and Hawkins exchange looks.

Hawkins walks into Beck's office and Beck immediately dismisses a soldier. Not beating around the bush, Hawkins asks Beck how quickly he can deploy men to Nebraska. Hawkins has an informant from an I-80 road gang that Sarah Mason has been spotted at a farmhouse. Beck puts up a slight fight, but Hawkins quickly wears him down and they move instantly. Heather watches them go.

As they walk though town, Bonnie tells Stanley about going to California for J&R. It's where Trish says they need the most people. Stanley says, "Yeah, well, I'll expect a postcard at least once a week. Preferably with girls in bikinis. And if they're naked, that's even better!" Bonnie tells him not to be sick, but both Richmonds get distracted by the sight of Frodale being escorted into J&R in plastic handcuffs. Stanley decides, "This isn't right -- let's go!"

Heather finally casuals her way into Beck's office and fiddles with files.

Out in Nebraska -- probably not far from Ogallala -- Hawkins, Beck, and Beck's men find a smoking ruin of a house. Beck looks at Hawkins who pretends to be disappointed.

Heather finds the binder, looks at the office outside Beck's SCIF, and puts the binder on Beck's desk. OH MY GOD JUST DO IT ALREADY!

Nebraska. Beck radios to overhead helicopters and tells them to keep making passes over the state. A soldier reports that the fire was definitely an arson job, but they also found bullet casings from two different weapons. Beck asks about the body they found. The solider confirms that the body was "burned to a crisp," and was a male. They're sending off a DNA sample to be scanned. "Another dead-end, I'm sure," Beck snarks. The soldier goes on that the fire melted all the computer equipment in the house. However, they found a hard drive that appears salvageable. Beck looks at the hard drive and asks Hawkins what he makes of all this. Hawkins spouts, "I think Mason came here to tie up a loose end. I think this fire was supposed to be thorough and I think she missed something." Beck orders the soldier to take the hard drive to the techs.

Heather flips to the necessary page and matches some numbers. She rips out the page and quickly folds it up, putting it in her back pocket. She slides the binder back in place and is about to be home free when a soldier walks in and demands to know what she's doing in there.

J&R. Jake, Eric, Stanley, Bill, and a few others storm in. Jake demands the release of Frodale. Goetz refuses to do it. Eric argues that the sheriff is the one who investigates crime, not J&R. Goetz smilingly explains that a truck of contraband is his burden of proof. Jake insists, "You can't keep him here!" Goetz agrees and says he's already turned the hobbit over to MPs. Frodale's on his way to a cozy home under a misty mountain in Loomer Ridge. Eric blusters, "You sent him to prison?" "The kid is guilty, the authority is mine, I'm sending a message: there's no place for thieves in Jericho." Yes, but there's plenty of room for anvils, eh, Embezzlnezer Scrooge?

Frodale rides with the MPs in a military truck.

Outside of J&R, Stanley bitches about all the crap J&R is pulling. "We're losing this town," Jake says and announces they have to catch up with the MPs. He orders Eric to find Beck and relay a message. Eric protests that Beck will just say he doesn't have authority. "We're going to give him the authority," Jake argues back. Seriously, just shut up and do what your brother says, Eric.

Back in his SCIF, Beck asks why the soldier holding Heather captive, given his secret crush was cleared for all access, all the time. The soldier tells Beck he believes Heather was accessing info she had no business accessing. Beck asks Heather if she was looking at anything other than the New Bern stuff. Heather barely pauses before telling him she wasn't. She just needed to check something in his inbox. Beck glances back at the soldier, "Problem solved. Thanks for all your help, Sergeant." With all due respect, the soldier thinks Heather's pants are on fire. Beck gets all challenging and asks if this peon is questioning his judgment. "No, SIR!" the soldier announces, so Beck sends him out. Her throbbing heart in her shining eyes, Heather gazes up at Beck and appears to put her entire soul into saying, "Thank you." "Thank you?" Beck repeats and then emphasizes, "My apologies. I hope the Sergeant's actions haven't colored your faith in this office. I'd consider that a crime." Without another word, Heather leaves the office, looking sick at the wool she just pulled over Beck's hot eyes.

Frodale sits in the jouncing prison transport and considers the actions that brought him so far from his hobbit-hole and pipe-weed. The transport stops at a Jake barricade. With his sheriff-mobile slapped against the road, Jake has his hands and badge raised above his head in surrender and mutters, "Let me do the talking" to his posse. An MP gets out and starts yelling at them to get out of the way or he'll shoot all of them where they stand. Jake bleats, "All right, there's been a mistake. I'm the sheriff. The kid should be in my custody." But see, the MP doesn't want to know and doesn't care. Jake yells out that he has orders from Beck. The MP still doesn't care. "Radio Major Beck, 10th Mountain Division --" Jake implores. "This is NOT how I get orders," the MP yells back, all frustrated. Jake keeps pleading, and the MP keeps threatening to open fire. Finally, another MP scampers around the transport with one of those military phone-in-a-bag things. It's Beck. The yelling MP lowers his gun and takes the call. After a few brief "sir, yessirs," the MP holds out the phone and says, "He wants to talk to you." His hands still up, Jake walks around Bill and talks to Beck. Beck is PISSED. "You mind telling me what the hell you're doing?!" he demands. Jake calmly says he needs his help. Beck goes on, "Your brother tells me you want me to identify a sixteen-year-old kid with no discernable values as a confidential terror informant?" Hee -- Beck thinks Frodale has no discernable values as well. Jake explains that if Frodale is considered part of Beck's investigation, J&R has no jurisdiction over him. Beck starts to ask if Jake's out of his mind, but Jake interrupts, "He's a kid! He's a sixteen-year-old kid, and Goetz is sending him to prison with no judge, no trial, nothing. It's a mistake. You have the ability to do something about it, so I'm asking you to help." There's a short silence before Beck orders Jake to put the MP back on. Jake protests but Beck insists. Loudly. (And probably hotly.) Jake hands the phone back and glares at the MP. The MP just says, "Yes, sir." Before hanging up and yelling that Frodale be brought out. Frodale stumbles out and with a very, very sharp knife, the MP slices through Frodale's plastic handcuffs. He shoves him at Jake. Heh. Jake puts him in the car and they all drive off.

J&R. Goetz approaches Mimi and tries to play Mr. Nice Guy about how she found the accounting "error." He'd really like to see her math on the subject. Mimi has no problem with that and explains that Trish has the ledger with the discrepancy. "I saw her book -- the numbers look fine," Goetz says calmly. "Well, they do unless you compare them with my ledger, in which case the numbers are different entirely," Mimi smiles back. Goetz would like to see her ledger. Mimi explains that she keeps that at home but she did make notations in the margin of the J&R book where he can see that the numbers started to diverge when the new currency arrived. Goetz takes a deep breath and evils, "Please don't take this the wrong way, Mimi, but I can't just take your word for it. I need to see your ledger." "Well, please don't take this the wrong way," Miss IRS returns, "But in order to provide independent oversight, I need to be independent." "You are accusing someone in this company of embezzlement -- that's a very serious charge," Goetz menaces. Mimi retorts that she's not accusing anyone of embezzling. Goetz sort of realizes that he just exposed his cheating hand but bolsters himself up with a condescending power play, "I'm the Chief Administer of this town and I want your ledger. Valuable information like that should be kept in a safe place, not at home where practically anything can happen to it." Mimi, angered to tears, whispers hoarsely that she will bring the ledger tomorrow. Goetz thanks her. Mimi stands up but Goetz doesn't move. "Excuse me, please," Mimi whispers, just barely keeping her rage in check. Goetz stares her down and slowly moves out of her way. Mimi edges around him and out of the office. Goetz stares after her. She should have kneed him on her way out.

In the SCIF, Beck learns that the military techs managed to get transcripts of secure communications between Sarah Mason and an unidentified boss. Beck frowns down at the transcript and reads, "'Target successfully terminated'? She was an assassin?" The lieutenant reports that Mason and the boss discussed five murders before it got interesting. He points to the place on the transcript where it looks like she turned against the boss, "Here she and her boss discussed a sale of a 'package' in her possession." "Mason sold the bomb," Beck clarifies. The lieutenant goes on that she almost did, and a meet was arranged in Nebraska but she backed out at the last second. Her reasons for doing so were unclear but she apparently used the meet to track her buyer back to his base of operations. "Sir, there's even surveillance," the lieutenant reveals and hits a button on the computer. Up pops the video Hawkins took of Valente walking around with his cane, reacting to the Sarah Mason no-show. Beck squints at the cane and excuses the lieutenant. Surprised, the lieutenant is all, "Sir?" "Leave the room, now," Beck orders. The lieutenant beats a hasty retreat, annoyed that he doesn't get to do any more snooping. Beck replays the surveillance tape and looks closely at Valente.

Time has passed, and Hawkins is now in Beck's office. Evidently, Beck has presented Hawkins with the new info because Hawkins says it just confirms his hunch that Sarah Mason was BlackOps. "And these murders look like a clean up to me," Hawkins goes on, "Like some kind of top secret operation gone bad, so anyone connected to it has to die." Beck is silent through all of Hawkins' divining. Too silent. "So, the question is: what exactly were they cleaning up?" Hawkins finishes. Beck, impassive, sort of gives a casual shrug and says, "We might have missed this entirely if it wasn't for your info." Hawkins snorts and sits down. "There was no informant, was there?" Beck says, coming in for the kill. Oh, SHIT! Hawkins looks up, his face betraying zero emotion, "Sorry, excuse me?" Beck goes on that he did some research of his own and his field commanders reported that there was a nasty road gang in the I-80 area but the operation had been smashed up weeks ago and the area has been quiet ever since. "So what are you saying?" Hawkins smiles. To me, his smile is nervous, and if Hawkins is nervous, I'M nervous! Beck stares him down and tells him to think twice before he says another word. "Ever since you waltzed into my office, you know everything I know. Every question I had, you had an answer." Isn't that called "being FBI"? "And then today," Beck goes on, "The tip from your CI, the fire, the hard drive -- you think I'm an idiot?" Hawkins just sort of rolls his eyes. "It was too easy," Beck says, leveling his face dangerously with Hawkins', "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kick in the door to your house right now." I don't know if it's good, but here's a reason: BECAUSE HAWKINS WILL KILL YOU. They have a stare-off. Hawkins doesn't blink. He just says calmly -- CALMLY! The man is so cool, he makes cucumbers look like blithering basket cases! -- "What else did you find on that hard drive?" Again! The offensive defense! "You know what's there," Beck says, not blinking either. "No, I don't," Hawkins says simply, "I think you found something that you don't want to believe, though." Beck doesn't blink, but he certainly seems to retreat a bit. "Is that what this is, huh?" Hawkins persists, digging at the sore spot he always knew to exist. "This is a test, Major?" Hawkins asks. They have another stare-off before Beck backs up completely and breaks the gaze. He spins the computer around to show Hawkins the freeze-framed shot of Valente. Hawkins just says, "What am I looking at?" Beck explains grimly, "That's Thomas Valente on the right." Hawkins arranges his face to have a look of concern as he dramatically gets up and bend over the computer for a closer look. "As in the Department of Homeland Security?" he asks. Yes, and also as in the guy you heard Beck order up a conference with last week. Don't overplay your dumbness, Hawkins. "He lied to me," Beck suggests sternly, still watching Hawkins' reactions, "Sarah Mason did work for the government. She worked for him." Hawkins continues to look at the computer. Beck turns away and looks out his window. Hawkins glances up at Beck's back, knowing he's still in control.

Richmond Farmhouse. Crap, are we here already? Bonnie is setting the table for dinner as Mimi runs in. She grabs her ledger and explains to Bonnie that someone at J&R is stealing money. Looking at her ledger, she announces, "And I think that they know that I'm on to them." We hear tires squeal outside. Still looking at her ledger, Mimi walks over to the window and looks out. It's Goetz and his Goons. Mimi turns to Bonnie and just says, "Oh my god." GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!

After the commercial break that lasts forever and ever and ever, Mimi signs to Bonnie that they have to be quiet. She explains Ravenwood is out there. Goetz calls out, "Anybody in there? If you are, you need to come out here and talk to me!" Mimi tells Bonnie they want her ledger. Bonnie breathes back that she saw them take Frodale away, "What if they don't just want the ledger?" Bonnie decides, "I'll tell them you're not here." She walks away and of course can't hear Mimi's entreaties that she not go outside. Too late.

Bonnie goes outside and smiles at Goetz. "Ma'am," Goetz nods pleasantly, "It's Bonnie, right?" Bonnie nods, still smiling. Goetz says they need to talk to Mimi Clark. Bonnie shakes her head and says, "Sorry, she's not here." Goetz drops his smile and nods to his Goons. They start to walk forward, and Goetz says they need to take a look inside. Bonnie tears back to the house and slams the door behind her, "They're coming!" Mimi motions to her to come with her as she runs to the pantry to hide. Inside the pantry, Mimi turns to see that Bonnie isn't behind her. Goddammit!

A Goon kicks the door in, his gun entering before he does. However, one step over the threshold, and he's blasted back by a shotgun. His gun goes off as he falls and the bullet goes through the wall, striking Mimi in the pantry. Mimi gives a shriek and falls against the shelves to the floor. As the Goon falls, we see Bonnie wielding a shotgun at her hip. A spent casing drops smoking to the floor, and from here on out, all sound is muffled. We hear Bonnie's heartbeat and breathing and we hear the gunfire almost as vibrations. Everything feels slo-mo but it's not really. Another Goon enters firing. Bonnie takes cover, pumps the shotgun, and blasts the Goon to the ground. Her eyes wide and her remaining senses peaking, Bonnie looks around at the windows. She sees a shadow and blasts fire through a window. A body dives out of the way or falls to the ground. Bonnie catches another shadow crossing the stream of sunlight behind her and fires at another window. Another Goon falls. Goetz now enters the house, his gun raised. He sees Bonnie.

In the pantry, Mimi is bleeding on the floor. There's complete silence before we go back to full sound. There are three more blasts. I'm not a ballistics expert, but it's possible at least one came from the shotgun. Another bullet pierces the pantry, so that was Goetz. Then there's silence. Shaking, Mimi fights unconsciousness as her body goes into shock and she drags herself up to look out the blasted hole, but all she can see is an empty living room. She collapses on the floor. That entire scene was incredible.

And now they take us back to the 4H. Okay, screw this -- get us back to the cursed Richmond Farmhouse where no one should live ever, ever again! As sad as I am to give Hawkins short shrift, I can't plod through this scene fast enough! Hawkins calls his Mystery Man and tells him that the bomb is secure. He thanks Mystery Man for the heads-up but wonders why he's helping him. Mystery Man says he wants the truth to come out about "this government, or should [he] say, 'this company.'" Hawkins plays dumb and asks if he means J&R has something to do with the attacks. "Naw, that doesn't compute," Hawkins says, drawing him out, "Companies don't overthrow governments, they enrich them." Mystery Man drops the name "Project Boxcar," and says that it's the covert operation run by the Cheyenne government to eliminate any and all evidence of the nuclear bomb attacks. That evidence being, of course, Hawkins, his bomb, and his team. Oh, and one more thing, "This report." Hawkins looks at his SPRINT phone and sees he has picture mail. He gets to his computer and downloads the scanned images of a 1993 Continuity of Government Report from the DOD. Being lazy about reading, Hawkins puts the phone back to his ear and asks, "What is this?" It's a classified disaster plan commissioned by the government and prepared by J&R. It proposes a scenario of twenty-five cities destroyed by nuclear weapons and ferrets out targets, specs, contingencies -- all the chinks in the U.S. armor. J&R had it all in that report. It was supposed to be a plan of protection but someone got hold of it, took their worst nightmare and made it come true. "Okay," Hawkins says, trying to take this all in, "How do you know about this?" "Because I helped write it," Mystery Man reports. While we let Hawkins deal with all that, we're going back to Richmond Farm where THEY KILLED BONNIE I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY KILLED BONNIE.

Well, with music comes tears, and here we have Damien Rice's "9 Crimes" talking about loaded guns and leaving me out with the waste. The sheriff-mobile screeches up -- at least, I think it screeches but we're in music-time, so we can't hear it -- with lights flashing. Jake's not the driver, because it allows him to be effectively urgent by opening the car door before the car even stops. I'd like to believe Jake couldn't drive because he was too upset, but I really can't imagine him sitting there twiddling angsty thumbs while yokel-yukker Bill took the wheel. However, I'll shut up, because the shot is so beautifully effective, it trounces any character quibble. Jake slowly but determinedly walks up to the farmhouse. Eric is already there, standing to a van. It's hard to see if it's the coroner or an ambulance. Eric's face just says, "I'm so sorry," as he shakes his head. We're in Jake's vision as he passes Eric by and goes up the steps. His head is slightly turned to the side as he walks forward, like he's trying to deflect what he's going to find inside. He walks into the house where his dad died and he looks from the bullet holes in the wall down to Mimi on a stretcher with an oxygen mask being held to her face. His gaze lingers on her briefly before he tears it away to look elsewhere. His eyes widen. Stanley is on the floor cradling Bonnie's lifeless body in his lap. Stanley has one hand on Bonnie's forehead, the other under her back. He slowly looks up at Jake. The camera gives Jake a tragic close-up and his eyes intensify when he realizes that Bonnie is dead. His lower lip slightly shudders, as his horrified expression tries to retreat into itself rather than deal with the reality. Behind him, Bill sees Bonnie and looks like he's going to throw up. Emily runs in as well, but we don't really care about her. Stanley's eyes are red and raw. He shakes his head, his mouth tightly closed to keep from screaming. His body quakes over his deaf baby sister and he smoothes her hair back. Bonnie's blood makes patterns on her pink shirt.