Episode Report Card Daniel: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
By Daniel | Season 2 | Episode 17 | Aired on 03.06.2009
to Derek after asking if it's taken. "You buying?" she says. "Nope," he says. Since he's turning her down, she offers to introduce him to the man-whore (is that the phrase? 'man-whore'?) at the end of the bar. "I'm here for business, not pleasure. Thanks," says Derek. She sees him look over at the lawyer, who's surrounded by women and bodyguards. "What's he do?" she asks. Lawyer, Derek tells her, adding, "He ever buy you a drink?" "Once or twice," she says, smiling. Derek asks what the "muscle" thought of that. "They very much enjoyed the show. It's nice having an audience." Derek looks at her, almost like maybe now he is buying, but then the lawyer gets up to leave, and Derek signals to the bartender for his tab.John's on the phone, at the Connor Compound with, presumably, Riley, saying they'll watch a movie or something when she comes over later. He hangs up when his mom comes in. She sits at the table and says she had an "interesting" conversation with the guidance counselor at his old school. He tells her he forgot to send in that "quarterly home schooling thing," but she says the conversation wasn't about that. It was about the Connors and what they do and trips to Mexico. John can't believe she was talking to a counselor about this. "From a stranger's lips to my own ears, John," she says. He says that doesn't make any sense. She tells him she also talked to Riley's foster dad. She would have talked to him longer, but he asked her to leave, she says (which didn't really happen, but probably would have). "He thinks we're the reason she tried to kill herself." Because of Mexico, asks John, incredulous. "Because she had a violent breakdown over bleached skulls and the end of the world," says Sarah. Shit, hasn't everybody in this damn family had that happen? John says he hasn't told Riley anything. "I don't believe you," she says, coldly. John looks hurt by that. In Sarah's defence, I wouldn't believe John either. "Well, I swear to god I've said nothing." Well, if you swear to God, John. He says he'll talk to her, but Sarah says she thinks it might be too late for that. John asks her what she means. "I want you to prepare yourself for what's going to happen when Cameron finds out," she says. Damn. God, I hope terminators are available for home purchase by the time my daughter's old enough to date.
John's in the kitchen when Cameron walks in. John asks her if it's possible he knows something that Future John doesn't know. Cameron says it seems unlikely. So he asks another question: "Do you think it's possible for me to know something you don't know?" She asks if he's asking her if Future John kept secrets from her. John nods. "I'm sure he did," says Cameron.
Sarah answers the knock at the front door to find Riley. She comes in to see John, but Sarah's not letting her go by that easily. "You owe him an explanation for the things you said," she said. Riley's all, "things I said?" "To your foster dad, your guidance counselor," says Sarah, and Riley, again, is all, "guidance counselor?" Sarah says she's a terrible liar. "You don't owe me. It's him who's put his trust in you."
Speak of the devil, here's John himself: "People know things, Riley. True things," he says. Riley denies telling anybody anything: "What would I even say?" she says. Oh, and here's Cameron to join the party. Riley asks if they can go somewhere more private, and John agrees, but there's a knock at the door. Sarah asks if they're expecting anybody, and nobody is, so John scopes it out -- "someone with a clipboard" -- and Sarah motions for Riley to go hide while she jams a gun down the back of her jeans and opens the door.
"I'm Molly Malloy, I'm with the department of child and family services," she says, handing over a card. In Dublin's fair city, where girls are so pretty, I first laid my eyes on sweet Molly Malloy... what's that? That's "Molly Malone"? Damn. Anyway, she wants to talk about Riley. "She's not here, by any chance, is she?" asks Molly. John quickly answers that she isn't, and Molly's all, "John, is it?" and then Molly invites herself in for a little chat.
Having a little chat of their own out in the shed are Riley and Cameron. "This is your fault," says Cameron. "What's my fault?" asks Cameron. "You're the reason that person is here," is the answer. Riley stares at Cameron's arm. Her hand seems to be involuntarily tensing and clenching. Yeah, nice repair job, John. Maybe he's not as "ahead of schedule" as Cameron thinks he is. "You're his sister. You can't keep me here," says Riley. "They don't always like the way I do things," says Cameron. So flat. So chilling. Riley stares at her, not really able to disguise the fear.
Things aren't going so great in the house, either. "I've heard you keep guns in the home," says the social worker, before hastily adding, "which, of course, is every American's right." Yeah, THANKS, Fox Network. "For security," says Sarah, adding that they were robbed. Molly asks if they've ever carried guns outside the home. Instead of saying no, or maybe shooting Molly, Sarah says, "Can I ask again what this is about?" Molly says she's just trying to determine what kind of environment she's got here for Riley or even John. Oh, and she's searched, and wasn't able to find any record of a concealed weapons permit. John tells her to try New Mexico, and Molly's a little surprised, but not so much that she says they would still need to transfer it, and John rattles off a regulation about having sixty days to do so, and I can't say I think John's lightning-quick retrieval of firearms legalities is likely to mollify Molly.
Back in the shed, Cameron is asking what she should do with Riley. Probably not exactly what Riley wants to hear. "Child and family services respond to complaints. Are you a complainer?" asks Cameron. Riley protests, again asking what she'd even tell anybody. She's getting a little more frantic, as she can see Cameron trying to suss things out. Cameron says Riley's unreliable: "I don't know what you'd do." And it's like Cameron's making notes while trying to come to a decision: "You can't be John's girlfriend. You're a threat. You can't be here anymore, but I can't let you leave." So again, Riley, what is Cameron going to do with you? "Nothing," says a terrified Riley, who then elects to try to cling to Cameron's cover story for all it's worth: "You're his sister. Get it through your head. You're just his sister!" she says. John comes in, and takes in the scene, then asks Riley to come over. Riley's all, gladly! and comes over to give him a hug. He tells her to wait outside, and she leaves, and he turns to Cameron.
"Were you going to kill her?" he says. "I don't know what I was going to do," she says. John's all since when do you not know what you're going to do, but she doesn't know the answer to that either. She knows she SHOULD have killed her. John tells her it's not her decision to make. "It's usually not a decision," says Cameron, sounding a mixture of perturbed and perplexed. John says it is this time, but not hers. He asks what's happening to her. She doesn't know that, either.
With the social worker gone (or, let's face it, possibly DEAD), Sarah sashays through the house. She looks outside, looks pissed, pulls her gun out. Then she appears to think better of something. So she takes out the cartridge and ejects the bullet from the chamber and puts it all on the table. I wonder what made her draw her gun?
Oh, here we go: Riley, still alive. She's outside, talking to John. "I didn't make that call," she says. He says he knows; he believes her. Then he asks if there's anything she wants to tell him. About what, she asks. About anything, he says: "Because today is the day. Today is the day where you tell me whatever it is you wanna tell me. Today." Over his shoulder, Riley sees Sarah come out on the porch. John follows her line of vision, and Riley's face kinda crumples for a moment, and you think she might say something, but it passes. She says there's nothing she wants to tell him, and then asks if there's anyt