Since helping Darren Richmond perform everyday tasks for the rest of his life pretty much already defines Jamie's sex life, it's no wonder he calls Gwen up in DC for more details on the Councilman's daily routine. The heartbreaking moment that follows pretty much sets Jamie up for a huge disappointment, especially when some well-placed barbs during the Mayor's goodwill visit convince Darren his political career is over. One intimate embrace and a hell of a shit-fit later, Darren fires Jamie, the better to concentrate on going as insane as possible.
Terry realizes she's losing control of the domestic situation, and possibly starts digging into her own sex-worker past? Meanwhile, Stan convinces Tommy to become a thug, buries Belko, and -- once he realizes Yanik was the one that burned down Beau Soleil, using his own vans for pete's sake -- alienates the Mob pretty impressively...
With whom his history does not disappoint. As we learn from Sarah's friend Corey -- a flamboyant FBI agent with a penchant for RICO cases and a case of the mutual flirts with Linden -- the price for leaving Yanik's service was the murder of another junior member, Piotr Mikhailski, who was getting a little too wiseguy for his britches. A visit to his widow, Monica, yields some crazy behavior (by episode's end, Monica's dropping by Stan's house in the middle of the night to tell him he deserved what he got, is how crazy).
Keeping mum about the fact that Jack's father is suing for custody, Sarah otherwise lets Linden back into her prickly confidence -- especially for Sarah, it's pretty smoothly done -- and they follow the tattoo lead, things start to get complex. After working the tattoo artist in juvie with her firsthand knowledge of the System, Sarah's able to convince Tattoo Kid's social worker to illegally hand over his file the same way:
He's a 20-year-old who has fallen in with the Yanik gang, who had some kind of negative attachment to Rosie that seemed to creep her out, and who's also been working for Stan this whole time. His name is Alexei Giffords, but that's just the name of his last foster family: His birth parents are Monica and Piotr Mikhailski: Rosie's father killed Tattoo Kid's father, and among his Ogi Jun memorabilia is a hand-drawn picture of Rosie that's been scribbled up all to hell... Making Stan the sensei that Alexei's doing all his father-avenging on.
All in all a pretty fast-paced hour, with some solid "please trust us" dog-whistles for whatever backlashers are still watching the show, that don't really detract from the story. I mean, it's one thing to have an entirely new can of worms opened after a season and a third... But seventeen days into a murder investigation? Why not. The eternal dilemma with this show.
week: Stan's past sins continue to rain down on his family, as Mitch returns and Yanik exacts more of the price for Stan's ambivalence. Jamie takes Darren to a cabin in Maine to write his final book about Misery Chastain and/or turn him gay. The entire casts of both Battlestar Galactica and Caprica cameo simultaneously, as part of Vancouver's annual Our Local Economy Depends Entirely Upon American Cable Dramas celebration. I'm guessing a bunch of sour-pussed crummy little teenagers come back into the picture. Holder continues to charm his way back into Sarah's disdain.
PREVIOUSLY
Old Holder was just losing it after realizing his responsibility for betrayals both diagetic and extradiagetic. Linden's Mom abandoned her when she was five, mostly because of her personality and now even Jack's deadbeat dad is alarmed by her continuing erratic behavior. Belko went on a killing spree that ended with himself. Gwen left for DC, meaning Jamie finally had Richmond to himself. Stan's old mob boss secretly owned a Russian escort service, which got burned down -- as most things are, in cases of arson -- by somebody with a tattoo.
BLOOD IN/BLOOD OUT: A STORY OF THE UNDERWORLD
Once upon a time there was a burgeoning Mob Boss named Janek, who was pretty sure he was fated to be the most glorious scumbag in the entire land. But one day, he looked into his magic mirror and saw he was fated to be overcome by a young street tough named Piotr Michaelsky, who had lips as red as blood and hair as black as night and skin as white as snow.
A young huntsman named Stanley A. Larsen came to Janek then, and said to him, "I liked it when we were illegal-betting mobsters, but this stuff with drugs and hookers, I dunno. It's a little too real."
And Janek smiled to himself, and offered Stan an apple: "All you must do is go out into the forest and kill a boy with lips as red as blood, hair black as the night, and skin as white as snow."
"Should I bring you his heart?" Stan asked, and Janek replied, "No, you idiot, you should bind his hands and feet, stuff him in the trunk of a car, and deliver a single gunshot to his brainpan. And then you will be free. But let me ask you something. Why is it so important that you get out now?"
"Because I am marrying the happiest, most winsome princess in all the land, Mitch Marek! I want to make her my wife, and give her three charming children," Stan replied.
"Her joy is contagious."
STAKEOUT: LARSEN'S MOVING VANS, PARENTING & MISERY SERVICES
Holder: "I guess I didn't do a bunch of drugs. I guess sometimes people just act like that, on this show."
Linden: "A human person would only leave this backpack on a porch if they were continuing to avenge, or to otherwise torture. I read about this in a book on human persons."
Holder: "Or maybe it's a sign of remorse."
Linden: "I have not yet reached that chapter in my book."
Question One: How could the tattooed person be both a friend to Rosie, and the posthumous arsonist of her prostitution concern.
Question Two: Why did Rosie's backpack contain so relatively few items of clothing, books about humans, or tools for survival.
Question Two: Why did Rosie's backpack contain so relatively few items of clothing, books about humans, or tools for survival.
Holder: "Like everyone on this show, I have a secret evidence person that I give my secret evidence to. The entire Medical Examiner's office and Morgue are just double agents for other people on this show."
Linden: "Who is yours. Wait, it is a secret. Never mind."
Holder: "Listen, I'm sorry about the finale last year. I honestly thought that fake photograph was real, because I loved Gil and thought he was my fairy godmother after he saved me from drugs."
Linden: "Your reasons are irrelevant. What matters is that you contributed to the ongoing shitstorm that is my life."
Holder: "I guess I just trusted the wrong guy."
Linden: "We could all say that, I suppose. Especially me, if you see what I am implying with my words."
Holder: "...So those vans that just pulled out contain nobody in a Larsen uniform, and it's the middle of the night."
Linden: "A clue."
STAKEOUT: BABKA'S HOUSE OF POLISH FOOD, RUSSIAN WHORES & RICO ARRAIGNMENTS
Linden: "Of all places, for those vans to come here. I thought Stan was done being in the Mob but that seems to have been incorrect."
Holder: "Nobody is creepy enough to think it's cool that the trucks of his own small business helped cover up a huge part of his daughter's murder."
Linden: "Not even Stan Larsen, a man who has accidentally arranged more murders in the last two weeks than Janek himself in a lifetime of infamy."
DAY SEVENTEEN
Stan: "Hello? Oh nothing, just sitting here staring at nothing. Ever since my wife left me I figure somebody has to do that at least a couple hours a day."
Morgue: "Cool. I was just calling to tell you we're cremating Belko today."
Stan: "I won't have it!"
Denny creepters around, listening to them talk about dead Belko whom he still doesn't know is dead. Tommy sits there, sullenly acting like a little shit.
Terry: "Tommy, get some pants on. I have to take you guys to school before I begin my busy day of hooking."
Tommy: "Eat a dick, Aunt Terry."
Stan: "Hey! That puts food on your table, don't knock it. Now get dressed before I go domestic on you."
Terry: "Thanks. I know your concept of fatherhood extends basically to threats of violence even when you're being sweet to them, so I appreciate you stepping in and doing your one thing. Hey, have you noticed that Tommy is going crazy?"
Stan: "Haven't noticed, don't care. I have to go deal with Belko's gorgeous corpse now."
Stan: "Hello? Nothing much, just making sure my other two kids go as nuts as my first one."
Cops: "Cool, we were just calling to see if you wanted some cop cars around to protect you from the killer that is targeting your family. Like you screamed continually about for the last four episodes."
Stan: "No thanks, we're good."
Radio: "That dead girl nobody will shut up about possibly worked for this whorehouse that burned down."
Stan: "I know Janek said she didn't work there, but I still feel like she did."
Terry: "Those women are probably really well-adjusted and classy. I heard sometimes they even get paid in priceless crystal goblets."
Denny: "Where's Belko? People keep disappearing from my life without explanation, and I'm like six."
Stan: "He's sick, don't worry about it. Sick with having a hole blown through the back of his head."
Tommy: "You should check the trunk of Dad's car, just to be sure."
DOWNSTAIRS
Terry: "Boys? BOYS! Oh my God, more Killings. Just what we needed. This show will go on forever."
Denny: "No, I'm just locked in this trunk."
Tommy: "You're welcome, world."
Tommy's head starts spinning around on its axis and green pea soup flies everywhere and smoke rises from shady corners and the sound of ghostly laughter hisses from beyond. It is a bad scene in that garage this morning, overall.
Terry: "Tommy, that is severely fucked up! I haven't even had my coffee yet and you're already a trainwreck."
Tommy: "Go eat another dick! I am the Maker and the Preparer of the Way! Our Dark Lord rises from primordial shadows! You're not my mom! Bleaahh!"
Terry: "...I should really treat you with more tenderness."
Tommy: "That would be a start. I'm just a little kid."
OR IS HE?
Linden: "I know a Mob expert of the FBI named Cory Petersen. He looks and acts like somebody who would be friends with David Byrne in a Pee-Wee Herman movie."
Holder: "Why do you even know him?"
Linden: "I know everybody. Absolutely everybody. But this one I know particularly well, because he is even more of a weirdo than I am."
Cory: "I'm adorable! But I also seem like I have secrets. Like I play the clarinet alone in my house at night, or have a secret love of '90s boy bands. Or a tattoo of an Ogi Jun maybe."
Linden: "This is Holder. We hate him, but we also love him. Duplicate your Stan Larsen information into our mind boxes, through saying it."
HOSPITAL
When Darren Richmond wakes up, he is usually still sleepy. He knocks around, looking for things -- his car keys, a glass of water, his life -- and eventually things clear up. This time, though, he knocks the water on the floor and can't retrieve it, being paralyzed, which is a bad way to wake up any way you slice it. And so it is, when his adorable OT Josh arrives full of good cheer, Darren calls into question his entire life and bedside manner, which causes Josh to flee, leaving behind a very fancy wheelchair and an air of regret.
MONICA KROL-MICHAELSKI-KROL
Linden: "Coworker, here is your badge back. It symbolizes that we are going to be okay. No congratulations on becoming a detective, though."
Holder: "Thass fair."
Monica: "I still look super dicey even though my husband died and I abandoned our son about a hundred years ago. What can I do for you?"
Linden: "I want to talk about your husband's brutal murder. From which you still have not recovered, being as you are a character on this show."
Monica: "I am glad that Stan Larsen's daughter died. I hope they never find the killer."
Holder: "Oh, rest assured."
PD
Holder: "That widow is a 'menthol-sucking bag of bones.' No way could she kill a healthy young girl with Rosie's ability to multitask."
Linden: "Coworker, address me regarding your eating habits."
Holder: "Does that mean you love me again?"
Linden: "It means I am demonstrating interest in your life. I hardly ever even talk, so take it as you will."
Holder: "One of the Janek corruptions was contract work for the City. Perhaps we should talk to the Mayor."
Linden: "Not this early in the season*, no."
Holder: "Michael Ames, the land developer? We haven't dealt with him in a while, but we're about to see his kid, so... Or maybe your FBI friend knows Ogi Jun?"
Linden: "I have to answer a telephone call. Stop talking, Coworker."
*(Can you believe it's already a third over? Double-episodes in a cable-length short season always throws off my internal clock on these things. Point being, we're entering Act II according to Jacob's Essential Rules For Watching Television Without Going Crazy, which means we won't even touch those guys until at least four leads from now: That's four days for Sarah, and at least a month for you and me.)
Lawyer: "Sarah Linden? This is your babydaddy's lawyer. We are suing you for custody."
Linden: "I absolutely cannot imagine why."
Lawyer: "...Really?"
Linden: "Oh wait, is it because I am homeless and mentally ill and cannot take care of my son's basic needs? Or because I am constantly only one clue away from moving him out of state."
HIGH SCHOOL OF THE CANADIAN DAMNED
Linden: "Sterling, you still look as if you are dying of tuberculosis, like everybody else that knew Rosie Larsen. Can we reopen some old wounds."
Jasper Ames: "Only if I can creepily watch and flagrantly signal that I have yet more secrets, besides that time I gang-raped a witch or the fact that Rosie's aunt is in love with my dad."
Sterling: "All I know about Ogi Jun is that he worked for her dad, and she acted like he was stalking her."
Linden: "Why."
Sterling: "Because he was totally stalking her. Other than that, I don't know. She was going pretty Laura Palmer at that point and we didn't talk much, so I'm not all that reliable. Like how I thought Jasper was dating her, and he didn't even like her enough to gang-bang her with his best friend. Anyway, say hi to her crazy mom for me? She really doesn't get enough credit on this show."
WAITING RM
Jamie: "Gwen, I need you."
Gwen: "Is this an apology from when you called me a whore just for sleeping with an unmarried man that we're both in love with?"
Jamie: "Don't be ridiculous. Now, I need you to tell me everything about Darren's daily routine. It's for a hospital worksheet they give family to keep them busy while they do their jobs."
Gwen: "Daily routine?"
Jamie: "Yeah, like his morning rituals, things that may be impacted by this life change. You should remember them from when you were being a whore with him."
Gwen: "He sleeps facing away from you, because of his Orpheus metaphor. Oh, and when he wakes up he is usually still sleepy. He knocks around, looking for things. His car keys, sunglasses..."
They both start crying, first Gwen and then Jamie because Gwen's crying. I've always loved their relationship so much, it's so complicated and real. I like Holder and I get that dynamic too, but speaking personally -- as a bodyguard and bully from birth -- there is just something very special to me about old Jamie.
Jamie: "This was a mistake, I'm going to let you off the hook."
Gwen: "Jamie, it's not going to be his breakfast or the wheelchair that will destroy him. The only thing that gets him out of bed is being Darren Richmond, City Councilmember and future Governor."
Jamie: "Then I guess I'll have to make those things be true again. Guess that's my job now. No pay, no benefits."
JAIL
Holder: "You're getting snacks from a vending machine! Just like when you're being a terrible mother to your son! It's hilarious!"
Linden: "I am just bored of being at this jail with no productivity. And I needed to stock up on one hundred million packs of gum."
Holder goes off to hassle the desk again, while Linden stares at a little girl in the depressing jail waiting room, and thinks about her horrible childhood plus various dead girls. Inside, they meet with a young tattoo artist, and Linden slickly slips him a candy bar so he'll talk.
Tattoo Artist: "Ogi Jun, of course. I gave that to a boy named Giffs. Thanks for this candy bar. You really understand the barter network of jail."
Linden: "I understand all networks -- but for the human one. And occasionally how email works. Was this Giffs a product of the social work system? Like us?"
Tattoo Kid: "That's a very private and painful subject. You should learn about boundaries some time."
Linden: "That is chapter eleven in the book I'm reading."
HOSPITAL
Jamie: "Cream puff delivery! And I brought you some eclairs, too. That's my little joke. Are we in love yet?"
Darren: "Jamie, I have something weird to ask you."
Jamie: "The answer is going to be yes."
Darren: "I need you to put your arms around me..."
Jamie: "-- Done."
Darren: "And hoist me into that wheelchair that my sister sent instead of coming to visit because we're white people."
(The hunched grunting of one tiny man attempting to physically carry a much larger, stronger man who has been repeatedly depleted and disastrously destroyed by fickle Fate.)
Jamie: "In one way, you smell awful because you've been in a hospital bed for four days. But in another way, you smell wonderful."
Darren: "Let's just stay like this forever."
Jamie: "-- Done."
(The lonely thud of one man landing on another, wheelchair just out of reach.)
Jamie: "You say you're entirely insensate from the waist down?"
Darren: "Utterly. Why?"
Jamie: "No reason."
The way Darren's mind works, though, is that this is two things happening at once: Number one, the hits and shame just keep coming. But number two, tiny sweet Jamie would happily carry him physically through the rest of his life, and it would crush him just as easily as Darren's dead weight is even now crushing down on Jamie's internal organs. Not to mention his plausibly deniable erection.
PD
Holder: "Giffs. Alexi Gifford, twenty years of age, five foster homes in the ten years he was in the system. Guess he's a runner."
Linden: "If you catch a bad one, two years can be a lifetime."
Holder: "Um, whoa."
Linden: "Where can we find him."
Holder: "Uh... Oh, hey! He lives three blocks from the Larsens' house. How convenient for his job."
Linden: "And his second job, the stalking. And his third job, the Killing."
MORGUE/CHURCH
Stan walks through an interminably long, unbearably shadowy corridor, and when he reaches the Morgue the guy says Belko's body -- and funeral -- have already been taken care of.
Janek's alone at the church -- A big picture of Belko up front, lonely funeral in progress -- when Stan arrives. Man, I still miss that kid so much. Rosie seems pretty sucky but I guess in a show entirely about grief there would eventually be one death that affected me in some way.
Janek: "I wish Belko had been more like you. With that promise you showed early on, before you got yourself jumped out and turned your back on our immigrant culture."
Stan: "It ended up okay. Or at least better than it did for him."
Janek: "How's that clean American living going for you? Lost your secret house, lost your wife, one kid dead and the other two already following in their crazy mother's footsteps..."
Stan: "Yeah, because it would be better for me to die like Belko, settling scores in the way you prefer. And the way I prefer to let him -- and you -- do for me, to keep my crumbling self-image intact."
Janek: "At least he went out like a man and not an ungrateful whiner like you. Oh, and PS, our thugs noticed Tommy getting beat up and teased about his dumb dead sister. Later!"
EXT JAIL
Linden: "I am actually a little pleased to report that I am with Holder, and will tell him that you said hello. Good day, Progeny."
Darren: "I can't help but wonder what it was that made the PD so very sure that I killed that girl. Almost like there was irrefutable, but then it turned out fake, evidence of my involvement."
Mayor: "Are you threatening me?"
Jamie: "No, he's just babbling. But I am threatening you. Get the fuck out."
Mayor: "Puppy mad! Little puppy growling. Listen, puppy. There's nothing here for you to save or defend. You'll leave just like Gwen did."
Darren: "He's right. It's almost as if that parting shot were actually aimed at me, and not Jamie at all. This, plus the recent humiliating falling-down (and catheter) situations, has shown me that I must become the Eurydice to Jamie's Orpheus. He must walk away, leaving me here down amongst the dead men. The Mayor has given me clarity without even meaning to."
Mayor: "Uh derr, I totally meant to. That's the only reason I came."
ALEXEI STAKEOUT
Holder: "I couldn't help noticing a sort of sex vibe between you and that Tom Waits-wannabe Fed."
Linden, coyly: "Who, Corey? (Giggle.)"
Holder: "Did you fuck him? Oh my God, did you 'rock a booty call'?"
Linden, delighted: "Hee, hee."
Holder: "Call 1-900-LINDEN!"
Linden, abruptly: "There are seven digits in a telephone number."
Holder: "And just like that, the Aspie Vacation comes to an end."
But secretly, she is still loving it, and it is delightful. She's very appealing somehow, when it comes down to it, which is the genius of this casting choice: That even with all her bullshit, people will still do incredible things for her. They play it as professional respect, they play it as "she grew up a survivor who can get what she needs," they play it any way they have to in justifying the plot... But honestly I think I wouldn't even care how off she is either, because of this lovely quality she has. Dignified, I think, is the word or the through-line for Mireille Enos's character work: She gives these women dignity.
And that's awesome, because she plays the most depressing-lifed people, people who would seem utterly desperate with most other actors playing them, but there's a solitary and stern dignity underneath that just makes her magnetic. Actually, I guess that's how Holder gets away with it too. Not exactly the same thing, but they downplay his beauty so much to get to kind of the same spot: He's like a lonely monk or something, all these rules he sets and the utter silence inside of him, but dressed up like a person without any self-control. Like any addict, or anybody grieving: Your fervent wish that the normal you is the secret you, and you're just wearing an out-of-control costume of somebody else.
Holder: "Nice move with the candy bar, by the way. You palmed it to him so fast you'd have to be watching to even see it happen."
Linden: "The chocolate-centered barter system is universal, especially among incarcerated children. I worked Juvie my first job out of the Academy. Those two sentences may or may not be connected."
(More gum? Thought so.)
Holder: "Weren't you a runner back then, too? You ran away every six months?"
Linden: "I am not very complicated, honestly."
Holder: "Makes sense. I mean, your ambivalence about Sonoma, your predilection for homelessness..."
Linden: "--This interview is over!"
Holder: "Sorry! I don't even know about this new thing with Jack's dad, I was just trying to demonstrate our emotional bond."
Linden: "There is not enough chewing gum in the world to get me through this conversation. You can hit more of my buttons with one sentence than even people who aren't completely oblivious could hit all year. Get out of the car get the fuck out of the car."
...Yep. She just leaves him there, drives off looking insane and rude as usual, and tells him to radio for a car and keep his eye on Alexi's house. Even Holder is like, "We are officially back to normal."
LARSEN
Stan: "Tommy! Come away from those boys teasing you about your dead sister. First of all, you know they're just being stupid. Right?"
Tommy: "Quoting from the Parents' Handbook again, mortal? Really?"
Stan: "Second of all, I want you to do something that is really more about me than it is about you."
Tommy: "What, walk away when they're teasing me? Good Lord, mortal."
Stan: "No. I want you to pick the biggest guy in the group, and break his nose. Okay?"
Tommy, staring: "Being a Larsen is a neverending treasure trove of more and more horrible revelations."
"And if that doesn't work, murder his father. It's the only way these people learn. Or occasionally they'll get a tattoo and come kill your own children and leave their bloody belongings on your doorstep. The important thing is that It Gets Better, son."
AMES
Terry: "Man, I'm depressed. And I think my nephew might be the Antichrist. I should call that married guy I'm in love with, whose son rapes witches. Maybe he can give me some parenting tips."
Sally Ames: "Hello? This better not be any of my husband's prostitutes, or my son's rape or kidnapping victims."
Terry: "...Wrong number, sorry."
HOSPITAL Jamie: "We got a Get Well card from some random person,
remember her? Remember last week when everything was awesome? Remember before you met your dead wife? Remember civics class and being a politician and how I'm always by your side? Remember government?"
Darren: "I see what you are doing."
Jamie: "Hey, remember kissing babies and shaking hands and how Gwen's gone and I'm the only person you have left?"
Darren: "Withdraw me from the gubernatorial race, Jamie."
Jamie: "Yesterday you said..."
Darren: "Yesterday I thought I could feel sunlight on my dead legs. Today is a new and vastly shittier day."
Jamie: "So what will this speech..."
Darren: "-- Statement. Which you'll be delivering."
Jamie: "-- Statement will say. 'I know Councilman Richmond said he would always fight for you, and protect you from Adams, and I know his hair always looks perfect and when he holds you it feels like you're safe from the world, and I know that he could probably lead our country into a bright new age of enlightment, but sorry. He just doesn't give a shit about you anymore. Sorry you believed in him, sorry you fought for him, sorry he's leaving you with nothing.'"
Darren: "Jamie, that speech needs work."
Jamie: "Statement. And fuck you."
My favorite line of the night, because seriously: "That's right, let it out. Let's hear what really goes on up there."
Jamie: "No, this isn't about my job or the time I wasted on you, or anything. That I've lived my last ten years out of a car, neglecting my child and flaking on my fiance, just to help you get closure on this, fighting 24/7 for you because I believe in you and I believe in our future..."
Darren: "So save the eloquence for your candidate and put that service on your resume, because you're a talented and selfless campaigner."
Jamie: "And you're a fucking coward."
Darren: "And you are fired."
Jamie: "If you don't run there's nothing to fire me from!"
Darren: "And what, you're just going to chill here for free?"
Jamie: "Yes that is the plan!"
Second favorite: "Get a life, Jamie! I am not it!"
Darren: "I'm doing you a favor. Go, get laid! Call Gwen, I hear she's available."
Jamie: "Oh my God, Mr. Rockbottom."
Darren: "Yes. That was, for obscure reasons, my best shot."
Jamie: "Jamie OUT!"
Darren: "Good!"
(Jamie, I bet: "... To buy you presents, silly! I'm coming right back.")
REGI'S BOAT, THE HUDDLED MASSES
Regi: "Ah, coffee and that thing you think is smiling. I sense an illegal favor in the offing."
Regi: "Where's home these days, Sarah?"
Sarah: "I am fine. It is technically covered. Do not worry about me."
Regi: "We've been having this conversation since you first started speaking. Or at least, since you learned to speak and then refused to do so. How is your child?"
Sarah: "The progeny thrives. He eats and sleeps."
Regi: "How about you? Doing either of those things?"
Sarah: "...I am here to talk about business. The business of that Killing."
Regi: "Presumably, yes. What ludicrous request will I be resisting and then immediately indulging this week?"
Sarah: "I need the CPS file on an Alexi Giffords."
Regi: "Uh, no. Jesus, you are the worst cop."
Sarah: "He's twenty now! There's no Child to Protectively Service!"
Regi: "Imagine it was your file, and I betrayed your trust that way, as your social worker. And before you answer, consider how you just kicked fragile little Holder out of your car -- onto the literal street, outside a psychopath's house -- for asking banal questions about exactly that."
Sarah: "-- If it solved a murder, I would not take offense."
Regi: "Yeah, I guess that was an obvious answer considering how all you are is solving murders or going nuts when you can't solve murders. But I mean, your file? Whoever read it would probably end up in the loony bin."
Sarah: "My life has been eventful. It has contained events. Some large, some small, but each of them touched by meaning ... or meaninglessness."
LARSEN
Stan's mopping out his van when he notes a weird slippery spot on the floor, which he quickly identifies as gasoline before feeling around at the edge of the steel flooring for a detonator or two, because he knows how to arson and what it requires.
Therefore, Stan comes in shouting about how Janek used his truck, not to mention his Ogi Jun -- who is right now creeping the fuck out of Babka's before the shit hits the fan, is Alexi -- to blow up a whorehouse that he was assured had nothing to do with his family, his tragedy, or his Family. Before you know it he's flipping tables and getting his shit restrained by materializing toughs, screaming over and over, "What did you do to Rosie?"
Janek: "That was regrettable in many ways. I didn't kill your daughter, but I would watch out for your sons."
Stan: "I suppose I could have handled that better, yeah."
ALEXEI
...comes running from the scene -- I love when they take the time to do this, but especially when it goes beyond accounting for Holder and Linden's separate investigative duties, which this is both -- into Holder, who is pissing outside his apartment, three blocks from Rosie's house. Spotting Holder, he bolts, and Holder takes the time to put his dick away before giving chase. Lacking the health of even a twenty year old meth addicted lacto-ovo-bacon vegetarian, however, he soons loses the boy and calls it in.
CPS
Giff's Social Worker: "Are you Regi's friend? I saw you out here in your car looking haunted, so I just figured. Have any trouble finding the place?"
Linden: "I am more than familiar. That kid walking out with his new parents had a yellow balloon."
Social Worker: "Er, that's right. Good!"
Linden: "They used to be red."
Social Worker: "Oh, I see what you're saying."
Linden: "You should give them to the kids that don't get adopted."
Social Worker: "They're too busy scrubbing the floors and singing chipper songs while the grownups drink bathtub gin and create elaborate moneymaking schemes that never work out."
BLOOD IN/BLOOD OUT II: THE BLEAKQUEL
Once there was a secret prince with hair dark as night, skin white as snow, and lips red as blood. He was left on the church steps at the age of four -- after his young mother suffered a loss, at the hands of an evil Huntsman -- and commended to the state. He moved from house to house -- some made of straw, some made of gingerbread -- always learning to plan, always ready to run, until he was sixteen. And met the Huntsman's daughter.
YIKES
Darren shoves Josh out of his way and wheels himself into the bathroom, to look at his gams in the very lonely mirror.
Monica Krol appears to Stan, all her memories stirred up, and watches him through the garage glass until he notices her: "Do you know who I am?" He nods. "You got what you deserved." He nods, again.
Linden links Alexi to Monica, and Monica to Piotr, and Piotr to Stan, and Ogi Jun to Alexi, and sets off running to his house, which Holder's already canvassed. The irony, of course, being that Janek is the sensei in this story, for Alexi and Piotr and Stan: Stan was just a soldier, just a hunstman, not the evil King at all.
But I'm guessing Alexi didn't know that, because on this show revenge is a no-go, it only creates more revenge, because blood calls for blood. A Killing makes a Killing makes a Killing. I wasn't entirely joking when I made my House of Atreus joke: That's what you're looking at.
And but moreso, I'm basing this guess on the fact that, folded between the pages of one of the comics, Linden finds a beautifully rendered ink drawing of Rosie Larsen, with her face scribbled and obliterated into nearly nothing.
WEEK
Linden somehow gets a message from Rosie herself, Jamie immediately returns to Darren's side I assume, Mitch hauls her gorgeous ass back home to get involved in Stan's History of Violence, Sketchy Jasper Ames and Sketchy Terry Marek team up for a storyline of untrammeled sketchiness, and we learn all about the boy they call "Ogi Jun" or "Giffs" or "Alexi Gifford" or "Alexi Michaelsky."
The one they'll someday call "Red Herring #12,567."
JACOB CLIFTON is a freelance writer and critic based in Austin, Texas. He currently recaps Gossip Girl, The Good Wife, Pretty Little Liars and True Blood for TWoP. Jacob can be found online at jacobclifton.com, on Twitter, and on Facebook. IRL work appears in BenBella's SmartPop series of anthologies, most recently A Friday Night Lights Companion and Fringe Science.