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This week starts with a murder -- with Carter and Fusco at the scene before we even know who the episode's Number is. Turns out the Number is the witness to the murder at a Brighton Beach bodega, so JC and Bench immediately assume they need to protect him. NYPD assumes the same thing. And, soon enough, it's clear the guy, a teacher played by Enrico Colantoni, is being chased by both the Russian gangs and Elias and his henchmen (did you know he goes by Elias? And that he has henchmen? I didn't either). JC does a lot of kicking people's butts and saving the teacher, eluding all the mobsters and gangsters and everyone else. They get a little help from a school kid, too, who saves the teacher because he's the best teacher the kid's ever had. Just so you know how awesome the teacher is, this after-school special stuff goes on and on and on. I wonder if this could be foreshadowing anything? Hmmm.
Anyway, with the help of the school kid, JC and the teacher eventually escape, with Enver Gjokaj as a hostage. They're headed to a ferry, and Bench calls Fusco to send him to meet them at Pier 11, so he can take in Enver and protect the witness. But Elias quickly learns about the meet-up, and Bench overhears his bad cop sending someone that way. He automatically assumes Fusco's a rat, but Elias's guy shows up and punches Fusco out. On the ferry ride, meanwhile, Enver wonders why JC is protecting such a bad dude. JC wonders what he's talking about, but before Enver can reveal too much, Enrico pulls the gun on JC and asks him not to make him shoot him. You see, he's Elias, and he's been undercover as a teacher to learn about his enemies -- La Costa Nostra -- so he can take over their turf (and resume his rightful place as the rightful son of mob boss Don Moretti). He's not all bad, though. He only shoots Enver in the leg, and doesn't shoot JC at all (instead, he offers him a job). He gets away, though, and JC's all torn up about not just letting him go, but saving his life -- putting probably many more Numbers on their list. (I must admit, it is a little weird that in all of New York City, half the Numbers so far have somehow pertained to the whole Elias scenario. Not that any of this is "realistic," but that tests even the limits of the show's premise.)
Want more? The full recap starts right below!You know the drill: You're being watched, thanks to Bench's brilliant invention and the Patriot Act. This episode once again starts with a surveillance recording that should mean something to us later. This one is a conversation between two guys. One says, "The call came in. We have a location on the target." The other, with a thick accent: "Get a team and I'll meet you there." First guy says, "We can handle this," then Accent says, "No. I want to be there in person. I want to kill him myself." Surveillance footage shows said murder in a convenience store. Then the episode starts on Carter, watching said surveillance footage in the store when Fusco comes in and snarks about mopping up a bodega shooting. But Carter tells him this was intentional homicide. And there's a witness on the video, too, whom the victim says something to before dying. They figure he'll make himself scarce instead of coming up against the gang who murdered this guy. Carter introduces Fusco to the Geico ad guy, whose name is Detective Szymanski. He's from organized crime, and he fills them in that the victim was a La Costa Nostra lieutenant named Benny who'd been out of the game for a couple years. Sound familiar? Apparently La Costa Nostra had been ordering hits on Russian mob lately (this is Brighton Beach, their territory), and word is this is retribution. And all they know about Benny's boss is his name: Elias. Carter says one of his guys took a shot at her last week (hey, I wonder how that DNA evidence is going?). Is anyone else confused about the fact that last week Elias's guys supposedly killed a La Costa Nostra guy, and this week, he's supposedly their boss? Szymanski says no one even knows what Elias looks like. And back to the witness? No one's been able to find him, and the owner seems to be in on it with the Russians. We all know who the witness is, though: Enrico Colantoni. Carter wants to get to this witness before the Russians do.
Meanwhile, JC's on a roof spying on Enrico and listening as Bench fills him in on who Enrico is. He's the latest Number, of course. His name's Charlie Burton. JC says he can see through his super binoculars that the guy's worried, but he doesn't see a threat. Bench keeps going: Burton's a high school history teacher in the Brighton Beach school district. He lives alone and has never been married. There's not much to go on. JC says maybe a student's after him, since teaching can be dangerous. Bench jokes that espionage must be much safer. JC's phone ring then. It's Fusco. Bench somehow listens in as Fusco tells JC about the witness they're looking for. JC thinks he's already found him, and Fusco says whoever did this hit is going to come looking for him. Cue black cars screeching up to the building, completely inconspicuous. Bench suggests leaving this to the authorities, but JC's already on his way in.
As the Russians organize out front, JC takes a side entrance and winds up in Burton's place just as he puts on a kettle to make some tea. He immediately assumes JC's one of the Russian mobsters, but JC reminds him that JC's standing right there and Burton's still alive. So Burton follows JC down the hall just in the nick of time. The Russians burst in to Burton's place as the teakettle starts to whistle. JC helps Burton out the side entrance, manhandling a Russian guard on the way. JC's iPhone got smashed in the fight, so he doesn't have one to get help from Bench. And Burton doesn't have one because he doesn't believe in them. They sit in a car, which JC takes forever to hotwire (mostly because they're chit-chatting), so the Russians come around the corner and start shooting. Burton gets shot in the shoulder, so JC leads him into a scary building called "The Double B's" that even the Russians won't go into.
They pass some guys cooking meth on the way in, and Burton's like, "See?!" JC refrains from returning that with a "See?! How you're still alive?" They head upstairs into a green-lit room with holes in every wall. Burton thinks this is crazy and really wants to know who JC is. JC just says he helps people, and Burton needs help. He checks out the wound; the bullet went straight through but he'd still like to get it cleaned up. First, though, he wants to know everything about the men Burton saw at the bodega. "I guess I like to know a little about the guys who are shooting at me." Burton says he stopped at the store on his way home -- he worked late, grading papers -- then he saw the guys with guns. They had masks on, though one guy lifted his, like he wanted the victim to see it. Then Burton tells JC the victim told him he had a message for someone named Elias, but he doesn't know any Elias (this whole scenario rings false to me, knowing how this ends, because why would he make this part up -- and cite the name "Elias"?) Burton says the message was something about Vinnie, who was going to finish the job for him. JC asks why Burton didn't go to the cops, but JC says the cops in this neighborhood are pretty corrupt, so he doesn't know who to trust. JC says he'll get him to a detective he can trust. Burton says he'll keep his mouth shut, because if he testifies he can't come back here and this is his home. He says he can't leave his students, who need him. JC tells him his name is John, and they shake hands as Burton thanks him for saving his ass.
NYPD. Benny's wife, Patty's being questioned by Szymanski, Fusco, and Carter. She says it doesn't matter if they find the men who did this, because Elias will and he'll kill each and every one of them. Carter tells Patty that a lot of innocent people are going to die if this continues, but she seems to be cool with that. They ask where Elias is, but she says she's never met him and his crew doesn't socialize, which is why the cops will never find him. Fusco wonders why Elias wants Brighton Beach so bad anyway. Patty says Brighton Beach is just the beginning of Elias's goal to "reunite the five families and take out the Russian trash." She tells them that "you people" will be answering to Elias after that. Real classy lady right there.
Bench breaks into an ATM across from Burton's building using his brain (and a keycard), and scans some data. The cops show up at the scene again as he's leaving, because some witnesses saw five or six heavily armed men chasing their witness, whose name they know by now is Charlie Burton. He had groceries delivered from the bodega twice a week. And he wasn't alone when he fled. He had a tall guy in a suit with him, who shot one guy in the knee before they got away. Carter says the suit is someone she's been tracking, who's former military and a pain in the ass. I guess all JC would have to do to keep Carter from knowing his whereabouts is stop wearing a suit? Szymanski says they can use the ATM footage across the street to find out who might have been there, but that will take two weeks and a warrant to get the footage. Szymanski says a bystander got some, though, and they spotted a guy named Peter Yogarov, whose father, Ivan, is a big bad in the Russian mob. Carter calls over a cop and asks him to pull everything he can find.
Bench works quicker than a warrant, though, because he's back at the Library watching the ATM camera footage, looking for JC. Instead, he watches an unmarked SUV pull up, and the cop Carter just sent to pull information on Ivan Yogarov gets in with some shady-looking suits. Bench calls Fusco to talk about "our mutual friend." He says he's lost contact and wonders where he and the witness are. Fusco only knows they're in Brighton Beach. Uh, yeah, Fusco, Bench knows that much. Bench asks Fusco to run a listen plate for him, and gives him the SUV plate. He tells him all he needs to know is it pertains the case. And Fusco can't contact Bench; he'll contact him.
Peter Yogarov and Enver Gjokaj (named Laszlo) debate about whether to go in and find their guy or regroup. (Peter's the cautious one, FYI, especially since they made a deal to stay out of the Bulgarian tweakers' territory.) Instead, they block the exits.
Inside, Burton's about to pass out from blood loss, but JC tells him to stay awake so he doesn't go into shock. Burton asks how JC winded up in this profession. JC says it's complicated and asks if Burton's always been a teacher. Burton says it was a career shift, but he really has come to like the kids. He likes offering them a life outside of their parents' lives in the Russian mob. He likes to get some of them out of that and into college. But the ones he doesn't get through to? Are probably some of the guys shooting at them. JC tells Burton to stay put while he goes to find a pharmacy.
Fusco orders a hot dog at a cart when Bench walks up and warns him to be careful about his cholesterol (though Bench wouldn't really know that, since "cholesterol" wouldn't be a risk factor the Numbers would send his way). Bench asks for the information on the plates he ran. The car's registered to a shell corp., so is a dead-end. Fusco asks who Bench is trying to track down, and Bench tells him that he thinks the Russians aren't the only ones looking for Burton. He thinks Elias is after him, too. Bench quotes Fusco's report to him, but brushes aside Fusco's questions about how he read a report. Fusco pieces it together: The Russians want Burton dead because he witnessed the murder, and Elias wants him dead because he thinks Burton has crucial information from talking to the victim. Bench tells Fusco to report that car stolen, then to email the report number to an address he's given him. Fusco asks if Bench has heard from JC, and Bench asks if Fusco's worried. Fusco insists he's just curious. Bench says there's no word yet. They should just admit they're both worried about our guy.
JC heads to the "pharmacy," by which he means the meth lab they walked by on their way in the building. He sort of John Waynes it up in this scene, using the term "fella" twice and calmly threatening the guys. I would be annoyed, but JC can sort of pull that off. The guys don't believe he's as tough as he says, though, and they come after him. He obviously takes them out one by on. Then he takes some of their drugs and heads back to his new boyfriend in their seedy room. He does turn to politely thank the still knocked-out guys on his way out. He must have checked Emily Post for the proper etiquette in such a situation.
Szymanski fills Carter in on what's been going on between Elias and the Russians. I guess Elias took out Ivan Yogarov's brother last week, so this Benny killing was surely payback, and Ivan may have even been there. Carter thought the Russians were untouchable in Brighton Beach, and Szymanski says they were/ but no one knows where Elias is getting his information, so he's one step ahead of them -- and of the cops. What Szymanski doesn't get is why Elias is making a move for Brighton Beach. Carter fills him on what she learned last week about Marlene Elias's son being the bastard of Don Moretti. So Elias is coming back to clean up and claim his birthright.
Seedy hotel room. JC fills Burton's wound with cocaine, and Burton says there's a first time for everything. Then JC glues the wound closed. Burton asks if JC learned all this in hero training, and JC says "Something like that." Then Burton gives him a heartfelt thanks, and tells him if it weren't for JC, he'd be dead right now (note: This is foreshadowing). JC asks Burton if he's ever used a gun. Burton resists and thinks JC should keep it, but JC shows him how simple it is to use and convinces him to keep it on him. Burton asks if JC thinks they'll get out of here, and JC says their chances are better since the cocaine.
Outside, the Bulgarian drug dealers are pissed at JC's thieving and beating, so they make a deal with the Russians to let them in the building to take out the guys hiding out in their building. They all get out their guns to work together, I guess, and the head Bulgarian tells the Russians they're in a room on the fourth floor. Back in that room, JC's found a landline phone, and bangs through the wall to find a phone wine to connect it to (hasn't he heard of a phone jack?). Burton thanks JC again, and tells him he's made a dangerous career choice. JC says it's the second time today he's heard that, and that Burton reminds him of Bench (note: also foreshadowing). JC gets the phone connected and calls Bench. He sweetly tells him he was just talking about him, and Bench is equally adorably worried about his boy toy. JC gives them their location and asks Bench to find him a way out that no one else will use. Bench gets to work on his super computers as JC says that Burton's stubborn and will pull through. Bench tells JC that the Russians aren't the only ones after him anymore; Elias's people are too. Bench gives JC a way out of the building, and JC tells Bench to let Fusco know they'll meet him at Pier 11 on the East River Ferry. Bench tells JC to be careful. Cute!
At the Library, Bench gets the stolen vehicle report, and calls someone (at the shell corp.? At the cops?), pretends he's Fusco, and asks for the guy to turn on the car's GPS locator and the microphone. Then he follows the car and notices the cop, in plain clothes, is with them. Someone inside the vehicle says the Bulgarians let the Russians inside The Double Bs, and they need to get to him first. Bench wonders if one of these guys is the Elias.
They run into trouble on their way to the service stairs, and have to hide out. Luckily, one of Burton's students lets them into his place, since his dad's not home. They make cute talk about homework ("The Count of Monte Cristo," which is a nice shoutout to JC's past), and how much Burton likes having this kid in class, and zombies ("They're taking over the universe," says the kid). JC sits back and smiles, taking in all the after-school special bonding going on. Soon enough, though, they hear the Russians coming down the hall. They bang on the kid's door, and he opens it to let them in (being careful to keep the chain locked). They ask if he's alone (JC's pointing a gun through the door), and the kid says he is. Peter Yogarov wants to come in and look around, but the kid says his papa told him not to let strangers in, especially punks. Peter gets threatening, and JC cocks his gun. The kid goes on that his papa also told him that Vory are supposed to show respect to each other. That's enough for Peter, who tells him his papa's a smart man, and leaves. Burton thanks Will, and Will tells him it's all good, because Burton's the best teacher he's got. He tells them about a closed entrance to the building, with rotted stairs, that's back the way they came. JC thanks Will, and they head out. But not before the foreshadowing fairies give us a final touching moment between Will and Burton, in which they say they'll see each other tomorrow.
JC and Burton make their way back to the room they've been in. They hide in the wall as a couple Russians come in looking for them. One guy leaves, but when Laszlo hesitates, JC takes him hostage. Though it's not totally clear why, considering Laszlo didn't see them and seemed to be on his way out.
Szymanski and Carter head to Yogarov's crazy fancy office to question him about Benny's murder. They ask where his son was, and Ivan says he was here working all day. Carter's not so sure Yogarov's the best alibi for his son, however. "With all due respect." Yogarov suggests they come back with a warrant. Szymanski tells Ivan there are no winners in this war, only dead soldiers. But Ivan says this war was started by Elias, who came into the neighborhood and started killing and stealing. Ivan excuses them both so he can host an event. But when they leave, he just sits back down at his desk. What a good host.
Burton and JC head out with their hostage, Laszlo. JC calls Bench to ask him to get word to Carter that their bodega shooters are inside The Double Bs. Bench is on it, and he'll also make sure Fusco meets them at the ferry. They exit the building entirely too easily, and tell Laszlo they're crossing the river. Bench listens in as someone in the SUV says he got a text that they're heading to Pier 11, and they need to get over there now.
Carter and Szymanski have arrested Peter Yogarov and the others. Szymanski asks if she knows who called it in, and she says he has an idea. Yeah, that guy who keeps handing you criminals? What a pain in the ass. Fusco's waiting on the pier when Bench calls him to scold him for not being trustworthy, since he's clearly the leak to the guys in the SUV, right? But Fusco protests -- and then one of Elias's men comes up and beats him up, and hangs up his phone call. Bench hasn't quite put together out Usual Suspects ending quite yet -- but maybe you have. (I hadn't when I first watched, but my husband did. I thought he was such a genius, but it all seems so obvious now.)
On the ferry, JC tells Burton he's going to hand him off to a detective he can trust when they get to the pier. He calls Burton "Charlie," because they're becoming such good friends, and tells him he needs him to testify. Laszlo, handcuffed to the ferry (do they let you do this on a ferry ride on the East River? It's nothing like the Staten Island, I guess) glares at them as they talk. Burton tells JC he doesn't want to see these "cretins" in his town anymore, which makes it seem like he just agreed to testify.
NYPD. Carter and Szymanski question Peter, and she says he's on camera, plus witnesses say he and his brother were shooting up the streets in Brighton Beach. She tells him she knows Elias killed his uncle, and that he and his father and brother (is Laszlo his brother?) went to the bodega for revenge and killed Benny, the best thing to Elias. She says that now he's trying to rub out the witness, who saw his father's face. Peter tells her they'd heard from a source that Elias was supposed to be at the bodega to meet Benny, but when they showed up they only saw Benny. The owner called and told them there was another guy.
Cut back to the boat, where Laszlo asks if JC's a corrupt cop or what. He wonders what kind of guy takes money to protect a scumbag like "your boss here." He asks JC if he really thinks he's going to testify after everything he's done. "He's tearing the town apart!" JC asks what he's talking about, and walks toward Laszlo, who realizes JC doesn't know who Burton is, or what he's capable of.
Back at NYPD, Peter tells Carter she doesn't get it. "You honestly think we'd go to all this trouble for a witness." Boat. Laszlo says JC's in the middle of a situation he doesn't understand. Burton (or whoever he is, JC's thinking) pulls a gun on JC and tells him not to make him shoot him. He tells him to drop his gun and kick it to him. JC shakes his head, ashamed and disappointed in himself. But here's what I don't get: Why doesn't he turn and kick his ass. We can see Burton's a bit of a soft guy compared to some of the other ARMED MEN JC's taken out, right? So why back down now? But JC does what Burton says, although he does it with a little of his trademark snark: "I thought you didn't like guns?" Burton says sometimes you have to do things you don't like. JC: "Like teaching history to the children of your enemies?" He turns and looks at Burton, who says that he watched those kids for three years, which was a good amount of time to learn about your enemies, what makes them tick. He tells Laszlo that he learned all about the secrets he and his family tried to hide from their own flesh and blood. "Your children hate you almost as much as I do." He tells JC to tie himself to the railing, nice and tight, since he knows how capable he is of getting out of tough situations. JC realizes Burton ... oh, what the hell, I'll just call him who we all know he is now: Elias was meeting Benny at the bodega that day, and Elias says the benefit of no one knowing what he looks like is probably gone now. "It's time to evolve. I'm ready for the step."
He points his gun at Laszlo, and tells him that Benny said, "Veni, Vidi, Vici" to him before he died. Because he knew the Russians were already crumbling, and they'd already won. JC tells Elias that if he kills him... Elias shoots him in the leg, and says he's just sending a message. He tells him to tell his father (so he is the brother) that if he gets out of town tonight, he'll let him live, because Brighton Beach belongs to him now. Elias tells JC he thought about killing him, but that would seem ungrateful. Besides, he can't take the life of someone so talented. And then he offers him a job. He knows JC's not taking it, though, and tells him to stay out of his way and he'll stay out of his. JC wonders what if he doesn't, and Elias says they'll meet again under less pleasant circumstances. Less pleasant than hiding in a drug hovel, shoving cocaine in a wound, getting tied up, realizing you helped the wrong guy, and watching another guy get shot? Not bloody likely.
Nina Simone's Sinner Man kicks up as Elias leaves the ferry and greets his guy. They get into the SUV together and drive off. Fusco gets up off the ground finally, all bloody, as Bench walks up and apologizes for not trusting him. He gives him a handkerchief as Bench spots JC exiting the ferry (I guess he can get out of impossible situations). JC tells Lionel his suspect's tied to the railing, and Fusco snits at Bench, "Tell him 'You're welcome.' " Bench tells JC he couldn't have known about Charlie, but JC says it's his fault that Elias is out there, alive, since he saved him. Bench says they only get limited information, so of course they'll make mistakes. Still, I mean, I love JC as much as the living, breathing woman, but this is a pretty grand mistake. Bench tells him they have to go now, to help more people, more Numbers. JC wonders how many will come up because they saved this one life. He storms off, leaving Bench to ponder the difficult question. I'd say that, given the Machine's propensity to spit out numbers pertaining to this case so far, that the answer is going to be somewhere in the range of... a lot.
Nina keeps singing as someone storms into Ivan Yogarov's office, and shoots him. Before Laszlo even had time to deliver the message? Not cool, man. Not cool. What ever happened to honor among thieves. The killer, by the way, is that same cop Bench saw getting into the SUV. He seems to be Elias's right-hand man. He finds Elias and tells him it's done. But Elias tells him it's just beginning. "Veni, vidi vici." The camera pans back to show Elias is leading a whole group of men. Which is exactly the opposite of what we learned from Patty earlier in the episode: that they don't socialize with one another. Hey, I'm not complaining, though. At least we know who Elias is, and we'll get to see more Enrico.
A couple side notes: First, someone emailed to ask me who sang that cool version of New York, New York that played at the end of last week's episode, and I realized I should have put that in the weecap. It's the amazing Cat Power's version. Listen to if you've already forgotten how great it is. Secondly, I'm still sticking to my silly nicknames: JC and Bench. But, I got a fun email from a reader who goes by Pickwick12 that I had to share:
I don't know if you've ever heard of a set of cartoons called Veggie Tales, but it has a recurring character who is a peach who wears glasses and works for the IRS. Well, the upshot is that my sister pointed out that Harold Finch looks EXACTLY like this peach ... same hairstyle, same glasses, same vertically challenged height... So, she's taken to calling the stars "James and the Tiny Peach." I hope that's one tenth as funny in this email as it was when she told me.
It really was, Pickwick12. Thanks for the chuckle. It seems there's not a new episode week, so I'll see you all back here in a couple weeks.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, is glad to see cast additions the likes of Enrico Colantoni. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.
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