The season finale decides to start us off in a setting I know nothing about, but here's what I can figure. A man arrives at a jeweler; he works for a company, Madison and Beezley, that takes the sweepings from the floor and refines them to get the leftover gold. The dude at the gold place had taken his business elsewhere that got a 2% gold yield (this seems to be a good thing, and clearly, I don't wear a lot of gold because this is all super foreign to me), but they act all buddy-buddy and the jeweler gives the barrels of sweepings back to who I assume is Madison. Madison then heads back to his place and orders a guy named Henry there not to keep a giant fiery furnace over 1000 degrees. Madison then answers a call from his wife or daughter, because we need to know that he was a loving family man and therefore will be the one who ends up dead momentarily. He wishes whoever it is a sticky sweet good night while he shows off the monogram on his sleeve to the camera. All the better to identify said sleeve when it's found later in said oven!
Henry tells Lupo that he left Madison there finishing up in his office the night before, and adds that the furnace was cooling down or else his body would have just been ash, not the clawing charred remains that we're treated to. Bernard comes up and lets him know that they found Madison's keys in the lock on the outside of the door, implying that he'd gone outside and then come back in again. His theory is that it happened at gunpoint for some gold.
The boys are shown the safe with some bricks of gold inside but they won't know if any is missing until the woman there runs an audit. They're interrupted by the arrival of the grieving widow and her father. It turns out she and her father are Beezleys, as in "Madison and Beezley" -- when the two married, the families merged. The tone of his voice and his lack of any emotion over the death seem to imply that he wasn't a big Madison fan. Mrs. M. tells the boys that she last spoke to her husband when he said he was going to finish up some paperwork, and then she went to her father's house. There were no problems between them at home, and Beezley tells them that though the price of gold made things more competitive, the company had good relationships with its customers. Just like the one we saw in the first scene, I'm sure.
Back at the office, Anita reports that Madison was killed with a blow to the head before he was baked in the oven. Lupo is going through their financials and confirms that business was good. But he then notices they made a payment to 7Q Partners, which rings a bell since it doesn't sound like a jeweler. Madison made a $5,000 payment to them the day before he died, so Anita puts on her Captain Obvious hat and tells them to investigate. Turns out the company has no physical address, and the account was opened with money wired from the Cayman Islands and had other deposits from New York, Miami and the Middle East from names like George Smith and Fred Miller. I have heard that generic American names are all the rage over there right now. All signs point to money laundering, and Lupo points out that both drug dealers and terrorists like gold.
They go to see the widow, Suzanne, who tells them she hasn't been involved with the company since their daughter was born. Also present is her brother, Frank, who is figuratively "allergic to gold dust." He and the daughter leave so that Suzanne can be totally unhelpful and claim to not know much at all. All of their customers were domestic, and anyone could buy the gold after it was refined. She guesses what they mean and straight-out says they didn't do business with terrorists or criminals, and also is fine with them going through her husband's office. There, they find a lot of cash and cashier's checks without the customer names, but the woman (the same one who showed them the vault before) -- who has no name, so based on her hair I'll call her Red -- Red tells them that was the customer's choice. She shows Lupo the datebook, and he sees that Madison met with George Smith (same name as one of the 7Q deposits) the Tuesday at the Park Hotel.
Guess where they are now. George Smith had no address listed and paid in cash, but luckily he's registered there for that night, so they head to his room. They knock and the door whines open; they find the room empty. Once they leave, a woman walks past them and goes to the door -- and then turns and gets back on the elevator, citing the wrong floor. She looks uncomfortable enough that they know they've found George. She doesn't want to show them a room key, but they finally force some ID out of her. "Sarah" glares at them as Lupo wishes her a good night and the doors close. Once out of earshot, Lupo guesses her rate to be $1,000/night and Bernard notes that George Smith is, "First class all the way."
At the office, Bernard reports that Sarah Shipley is 24. We're back to "b-friends" again as well -- her page says that she's an aspiring performance artist. Back when I was on Friendster, I was a Psychic Stripping Holistic Healer -- everyone calls it something, right? She actually works for an escort service called "Excalibur Exclusives," and Lupo explains it's "for guys with really big swords!" He looks quite proud of that, but I say he earned it. It turns out that Excalibur Exclusives is 7Q Partners and Madison wasn't into terrorists, he was just into having an extramarital good time. This makes Suzanne a suspect, so they head to her father's house, where she supposedly was the night of the murder.Edgar Beezley, Suzanne's father, is potting plants and can't be bothered to turn around to answer the boys' questions. He reiterates that Suzanne was there with Isobel that night until midnight when he put them in a cab. He and Suzanne spoke about the business and that Frank, her brother, was interested in joining. He must have found a gold dust inhaler somewhere. When told about Excalibur they ask him what Suzanne would have done to her husband if she found out -- and naturally, the answer is, "She'd kill him. Figuratively." I'd say her father might do it literally, but we'll see. Madison had asked his father-in-law a few weeks previously if he knew what 7Q Partners was since they had come up in the course of business. So, he was a marginally smart pervert. Edgar had never heard of them, which I imagined made Madison's day. Walking out, the boys wonder why Madison would ask his father-in-law if he knew of an escort service, given that if he did, he might kill Madison himself. Lupo wonders if he really didn't know what it was. They don't reach any conclusions, but decide to tap Excalibur's phones.
Anita and Bernard enjoy listening to a meek-sounding guy ask for a light-skinned black girl with "nice features," when Lupo comes in to break up the party. Around the time Madison asked Edgar about 7Q, a check that Madison wrote to a company called Gali (Golly?) Marketing was signed over to 7Q. Anita sends them to find out who Gali Marketing is and why Madison even gave a crap who they gave their money to.
Gali Marketing is an overpriced, underdesigned bar full of twenty-somethings? Alas, no. The boys break up some guys trying to buy two girls a drink -- the girls request Michelangelo Vodka. "It's the best!" Turns out they're promoters for the brand doing a little guerilla marketing -- that would be Gali Marketing. They point the boys to their boss, who turns out to be none other than Frank Beezley. He first tries to schmooze the guys, who mention that his dad said he was thinking about going into the family business, where presumably he'd make a lot more money. He then defends that he got money from Madison and Beezley because he gets a share of the family trust. Frank plays dumb when they ask him why the money was turned over to an escort service, so they tell him that Madison was looking into it and hypothesize that he could have threatened to tell Frank's dad about it, who would have then hit the roof. That, or maybe Madison just didn't like the idea of Frank going into business with him so he was trying to make him look bad? Frank is entirely unamused and tells the guys they're looking at a lawsuit if they keep this up, then goes back to work.
Anita plays a tape for Connie, that's of a girl being asked to work an extra shift, so to speak. She can't do it and asks if there is anyone else, so the other girl tells her she'll have to check with Frank about that. Connie reminds them that Frank is a common name, so their theory that Madison tried to keep Frank out of the business by threatening to blow the whistle, leading to Frank then killing Madison to keep him quiet, is nothing until they can prove it's the same Frank. Lupo thinks they could get the answer from Sarah but when they go to see her, she plays dumb and then tells them to go to hell when they note her specialties from the website. Just then, a cab pulls up and a little girl gets out and runs to her mommy Sarah, telling her what fun she's just had. Sarah thanks the woman who had been watching her daughter and glares at the boys, but Bernard isn't intimidated and turns the tables, commenting, "Nice kid." That appeared to have the desired effect -- Sarah goes into the "office" -- three people in a kitchen with a single telephone -- and gets them all on video with a camera cleverly hidden in her purse. The boys get enough evidence, so they bust in and arrest everyone, including Frank Beezley and the woman who'd been on the phone, Mona, who has started to sob.
In court Frank and his two cohorts all plead not guilty; Connie does her thing and tries to get the two nameless defendants on $1 million bail and Frank on $4 million. She figures he's a flight risk, part of a murder investigation, and has access to family money, but that last statement gives his father a chance to stand up and promise he'll get none of the family money and can instead rot in jail. The judge very drily notes, "How refreshing." Cutter shows up to remind Connie they need to figure out if Morgan really was trying to bust Frank, and that they need to talk to the girl he hired to find out why he hired her -- work or play, so to speak.
They meet with Mona, who claims she thought the girls just modeled swimsuits. Not giving an indication of their opinions one way or another, Connie tells them that they need her to decode a record to see who it was that Madison was meeting. Cutter tells her lawyer that they'll take Mona's cooperation into consideration, but doesn't agree to drop all charges off the bat. While she looks, she tells them that Thursday nights were staff meetings, and on the Thursday night that Madison died Frank showed up sweaty and with a torn short, supposedly from a fight with a cab driver. She then identifies Madison's escort as Shanelle, one of their "exotic" models -- Brazilian. I'm sure in more ways than one. Shanelle lives with her boyfriend, and Mona thinks he's with organized crime. They go arrest the boyfriend, Richie, who has a federal warrant out for his arrest, but then inform Shanelle that she's the real reason they're there and pull her in, too.
Shanelle remembers her date with Madison because she thought he was a cop, asking all sorts of questions about Frank and his connection with the organization rather than having sex. Shanelle texted Frank about it, who called back and demanded to know the details even though she was already on her "date." He seemed to guess that it was Madison when she told him about the monogram on his shirt cuff. The lawyers also find out that her "date," Al, would have heard her whole conversation, as he was feeling her up the whole time. Didn't Al's mama ever teach him manners for when his call girl is on the phone? She mentions that Richie saw Al in the hotel when he came to pick her up, clearly angling for a deal.
Jack, meanwhile, is in a meeting with a U.S. Attorney and an FBI agent who thank him for nabbing Richie. He guesses, though, that they aren't just there for that and they admit that they want the wiretaps that have to do with the various men who went out with Shanelle. He asks why, but they stay mum, so he tells them to put the request in writing and he'll let them know.
Connie reports that Shanelle was really popular, and begins to play the calls they've got for Jack and Cutter. The second one they hear is Al, and the ominous music starts up so we know something's important here. He sets up an appointment and while they listen to him talk with Mona, Jack declares abruptly that he's heard enough and leaves, much to Connie and Cutter's confusion. And here's where my waiting to see when Tom Everett Scott would show up comes into play. Because of that, I totally recognized the good Governor's voice on the phone.
Jack goes and delivers a letter to Governor Tom, whose voice is very suspiciously similar to Al's. It tells him that he's a person of interest in an investigation, but not the suspect. Jack goes on to explain that a key piece of evidence in the murder trial is a call made from Frank to Shanelle while she was on a "date" with "Al." Man, my quotation mark key is getting a workout tonight. Jack tells him that they might need Al to cooperate, and though Tom has the very worst poker face in the history of faces -- looking too stern but with eyes too wide -- he asks Jack why he's there. Jack tells him that he thought he recognized a voice, and that there's a chance this could become public so anyone who has any connection might want to talk to their families beforehand. Ah, so Tom does get it, and he thanks Jack. But that's not all -- Jack asks if he has enemies in the Justice Department. Well, of course he does, or this wouldn't be very interesting, would it? He put a couple of guys in jail when he was on the anti-corruption force. Tom asks how he answered the request for the tapes and Jack tells him there's legitimate grounds to oppose it. Tom is happy with the answer and tells Jack he likes his fire -- that he'll need that when he runs for a full term as D.A. Jack asks, "I'm running for D.A.?" Tom just smirks and tells him to stay in touch.
Frank and his lawyer meet with Connie and Cutter, and Frank denies ever having the conversation with Shanelle. They take off and C&C tell Jack that they need to find Al, so that it's not just Frank versus Shanelle (junkies don't garner much confidence) on the stand. Jack asks how it's coming, and so far they have nothing. Connie's on her computer and notices that a blog is reporting that Jack is being investigated -- someone is claiming he used taxpayer money to fly to California and see his daughter. He tells them it was a conference and that his daughter drove up from San Diego for dinner. Cutter believes him, but Connie cuts in to tell them that it says the Attorney General might get a grand jury to investigate.
Cutter goes to see Jack in his office, who gets off the phone and reports that it's nothing, but that they have to order an audit. Cutter tells him he has a friend "in the blogosphere" -- yes, because any of us with blogs all hang out and have secret handshakes and everything! -- and she traced the post to a PR firm, Swan & Poltek. Jack knows them -- they handle the Governor's campaign. Cutter is surprised that they would put this out without the Guv's knowledge, and then comments that he thought Jack was the Guv's "fair-haired boy." Finally, he asks what's going on. Jack says that someone is sending him a message, and has Cutter close the door. He tells him everything while Cutter gapes, and says that this is clearly Tom warning Jack that if he doesn't protect him, he can forget about running for D.A. Cutter asks if he's running, then, and Jack tells him he hadn't decided not to run. Funny, because when he asked that in Tom's office, it sounded like he was getting blackmailed IN to running and wasn't that keen on the idea. Cutter starts having a hissyfit, mad that Jack practically committed witness tampering by not telling Cutter about his conversation with and letter to Tom, and that now he might not even be able to use him as a witness if he wanted to. Jack tells him to get mad tomorrow, because "I can't fight you and the governor at the same time." Cutter tells him he could win that fight by handing over Tom to the feds, but Jack explains that the feds made a deal with a violent criminal just to get to Tom, that it's personal, and that he won't do their dirty work. Cutter adds, "And jeopardize your job." Jack asks him for a little credit, but Cutter is all up on his high horse and shoots off that he's not the one getting his nuts squeezed, before flouncing out the door in a self-righteous huff.
Jack goes to see Tom, who acts all dumb and mildly outraged, but Jack tells him to cut the crap, reminding him that he came to do the decent thing and to allow Tom to settle things with his family before the shit hit the fan. Tom promises that's not going to happen, and threatens that Jack can't keep being D.A. without his support before ordering him to keep protecting him.
Jack seems to have accepted that, and tells the feds they can't have the paperwork. They have a very polite pissing match until one of them tells Jack they've read the blogs and know what's up, that he's the governor's puppet. He just sends them on their way. But...they aren't wrong. He then goes to make things right, and gives Cutter and Connie Tom's name for their witness list, just telling them not to give it to the defense until they know it will help the case. Connie goggles at the guv's name, and Cutter tells him "apology accepted." Jack is just sick that he tried to talk to him and let sentiment cloud his judgment. Cutter's confused, though, since Jack wouldn't give the feds the tapes. Jack goes vengeful -- he tells Cutter he wants to be the one to take Tom down.
That night, Tom follows Jack home to demand to know why he just got a subpoena. Jack tells him that he told Cutter to do it, and that he gave Tom a chance to talk to his family. Tom starts to sound a little psycho as he growls that his private life is no one's business, but Jack just tells him he has ten days. He also won't listen to Tom's threats about how he's only D.A. now because of his support: "I would rather be an unemployed lawyer than a well-fed pet." Tom turns to leave and says he had high hopes for Jack, which makes Jack snap. He yells that he had high hopes for Tom, he trusted him, and how could he do this to the people that worked for him? He tells him sadly, losing his fire, that he respected him. Suddenly this has the slightly uncomfortable air of a lover's quarrel.
At the trial, Suzanne testifies that Frank had come to her about coming into the family business, and that he was afraid to tell their father. She agreed to speak to Edgar with him, but Edgar was really hard on him. Eventually, though, he said Frank could do it if it was okay with Madison. Frank's lawyer has her admit that Madison wasn't thrilled but he didn't object, and throws out that the idea he was sabotaging Frank is pure speculation, withdrawing it but driving it into the jury's mind like any good lawyer. Cutter then gets her to say that she wouldn't have welcomed Frank back if she knew he was running an escort service.
Rita, Tom's wife, shows up at Jack's office and asks Jack to lay off for the sake of their young sons. She promises Tom won't run for reelection and that they'll retire from public life, but Jack tells her he can't. Rita admits she wants to punch Tom, but that she won't be the wife who publicly stands by her man while he grovels for forgiveness: "I won't be humiliated." Jack feels for her, but the show still hasn't changed his mind. The ominous music says that this might be a bad move on his part.
Shanelle is on the stand ineloquently telling them how Frank threatened to hurt her if she had said anything about Frank to Madison. Frank's lawyer gets up, however, and gets her to admit that she sold drugs to some of the customers for extra cash and had her pay docked as a result. He suggests her testimony here is just to punish Frank. This poor actress has to work too hard to sound like an airhead and just winds up overpronouncing her words clumsily. It's rather awkward as she yells that she's not a bad person.
Cutter and Connie tell Jack that the spectacle was ugly and that they have to have Tom testify about what he heard. They'll file that night and give Tom the weekend to prepare for his testimony Monday. But before the sentence is fully out of his mouth, Connie gets an e-mail that Frank's lawyer wants a meeting immediately. Oh my, whatever could this be? Incredibly, Frank wants to plead guilty, but he'll only do it if they offer a sentence that moment. C&C are confused, but Cutter offers 20 to life and they accept. Cutter reminds Frank's lawyer that he just demolished Cutter's witness, but he replies that juries can be so unpredictable. Ah, but a cornered governor can offer pardons so easily, can't he? Seriously, how can this occur to me, with all of my legal experience being a single, shortened season of this show, and not to a supposedly very intelligent district attorney? They tell Jack, and he orders them to find out how Tom's people got to Frank.
They bring in Edgar, who apparently visited Frank in jail for the first time in three months. He tries to pass it off that he was telling Frank that he'll support him, but it doesn't hold as much water when their last exchange was Edgar telling a judge that Frank could rot in prison. Apparently Edgar is back running Madison & Beezley because Suzanne didn't want to, and he tells them that the company always passes from father to son. Cutter reminds him that his son is now busy for the 20 years, so Edgar just tries to sound fatherly as he says that no matter the age, a boy needs to know his dad loves him. "It took a mother with sons to remind me of that." Oh, COME ON, show! Are you extra clunky because it's like the last hour of school before summer vacation? Cutter repeats the line to Connie.
Jack then goes to visit Rita at their home, and asks her straight-up if she went to Edgar. Rita will only tell him that he got what he wanted and a murderer is in jail, and Jack asks if that's only until Tom commute's Frank's sentence. She'll only tell him that family and public service are the most important things, saying "we" have a lot more to accomplish. Jack notes that, and asks if it's about her ambitions, too. Tom comes merrily down the stairs and Rita straightens his tie and says Jack just told her the case ended in a plea bargain. It's always so strange to see this weird, genteel fighting where no one wants to speak the truth even behind closed doors. Tom uses the same words as Frank's lawyer about juries being unpredictable, and Jack angrily calls him a son of a bitch. Tom offers that he can threaten, resign or just move on. Tom then tells him to be his guest when the feds break ground on a new building, the land being leased to them by the state for only a dollar. And just as I was about to make my own righteous comment about the tapes still existing! Both Jack and I have been foiled.
Cutter gets off the phone and tells Jack that the feds withdrew the request for the tapes, and Jack tells him about the deal. Connie then comes in and announces that Shanelle's been deported back to Brazil and Richie is in witness protection. It looks like Tom tied up all the loose ends -- he paid for everything in cash and used assumed names. Jack asks, if he only used assumed names, how they're sure it was even him? Cutter tells Connie to show Jack the name he used to book a room -- John McCoy. Jack drily notes Tom's sense of humor. Cutter, extremely contrite, tells Jack he's Tom's enemy now, and to let Cutter know what he can do. He then walks out the door while Jack kicks back with a big sigh. And with that, another season is over and Dick Wolf celebrates with a vacation on a private island, in a villa with a roof thatched with Benjamins.