S03E02: Guts

[mledawn]

Quote

Anchor Bay receives a new inmate, Mike investigates a series of mysterious deaths that occur within and beyond the prison walls.

 

[dwmarch]

I liked Mike's monologue at the beginning. Sums up this show nicely.

I couldn't figure out what Iris' problem is in this episode but on rewatching the beginning, I think she's seeing Kyle's family home life and realizing she'll never have that so she's intentionally doing self-destructive things. She did a lot of stuff in this episode that would have resulted in death by cop, especially on this show where they shoot first and maybe sometimes eventually get around to the asking questions part.

Loved how Mike's ears perked up when he heard about Kareem getting revenge. I can't see Mike doing anything positive with this information but it is an intriguing development. Mike also learned about new developments with the Russians and I am surprised he hasn't been keeping better tabs on them. But since Iris killed the shit out of that one snitch he used to go beat up all the time it must be harder to get reliable intel now.

The random lady's revenge quest was interesting. Was she hoping Mike would arrange for something bad to happen to her son's murderer? Or was she trying to secure his services before doing her vigilante thing?

We also get a random mention of a serial killer who is looking to get in touch with Ian so I guess Charlie is coming back. Seemed like a good idea at the time, didn't it Ian?

Robert is rightfully concerned about Kyle's self-destructive impulses and says no thank you to Kyle bringing that to SWAT. But hey, guess what Robert? Since you already know what Kyle's weaknesses are you can train them out of him!

Laugh line of the episode is courtesy of Ian: "What asshole? You've gotta be specific."

The music over the ending makes me wonder if Mike and Evelyn have a plot going. She said she needed his help so his late-night visit could be more than just a booty call.

 

 

 

[Dave586]

Very much enjoyed this episode, really excited for Paula Malcomson's storyline, she's a cool actress. Jeremy Renner's Mayor is so fun to watch.

[mledawn]

The contrivance that is the Iris storyline... Pulled over by an (older) cop with no ID, no license, refusing to be printed - gee, let's check if there is any information in the car she was driving. Problem solved, plot complete.

Kyle is really going through some things. Thinking he can do SWAT? I like how Robert shut him down - directly, with facts and no coddling. 

Ian is always eating. "8 sticks of butter in the crock pot!" no wonder that stew was good! I also like how he's sort of a jackass (not stopping to investigate the brother's house because "I said it LOOKED abandoned") but still has a heart (comforting Sharon's brother after not unkindly breaking the news of her death). Ian and Mike knew they couldn't do anything about the brother shooting up in grief, so they just left. Where was Stevie - we saw him at the station earlier, you think he'd be with Ian, eating.

It took Evelyn describing what had happened to the inmate who died to understand what happened (that Raphael had literally cut him open to get the baggies). Frigging yikes. No wonder Carney puked.

The AB guy talking to his daughter was one of the leaders who negotiated with Mike to get order back in the prison in S2, right? I'm guessing that's why the new guy put a hit on him? Was he still lying to his daughter that he was getting out, I wonder or if that was also related. 

How does the new Russian play into things? How does this tainted drug supply play into things? What does Bunny do all day? I have many questions.

[TheCathedral]

3 hours ago, mledawn said:

 

The AB guy talking to his daughter was one of the leaders who negotiated with Mike to get order back in the prison in S2, right? I'm guessing that's why the new guy put a hit on him? Was he still lying to his daughter that he was getting out, I wonder or if that was also related. 

 

Man that scene was brutal even for this show standards. I don't think he was lying because he was supposed to be in prison for a little bit.

It was good episode, Bunny's line about having flashbacks gave me flashbacks about that awful season 2 storyline.

What's the point of Iris' character now? Is she going to ruin her life again just to be rescued by Mike?

[Dowel Jones]

On 6/9/2024 at 6:40 PM, dwmarch said:

The random lady's revenge quest was interesting.

Mike's narration at the beginning, with its mention of "Sometimes you're only safe when you're locked up" (or words to that effect) didn't become clear to me until that moment at the bus stop. 

That bus driver was probably thinking "I didn't see nothin'.  I gotta schedule to keep.  Bye."

[Orbert]

Good episode.  Things are moving along.  Half the time I don't know why people are doing what they're doing, but it usually becomes clear later, and sometimes it doesn't, at least to me, ha ha.

Sometimes I feel like I'm watching misery porn, but as mledawn pointed out last episode, there's some great one-liners and they often come up so unexpectedly that I just laugh.  But yeah, if they'd run the plates on the car Iris was driving (which should have been SOP), they see that it was Mariam McLusky's, so that was kinda dumb.  At the very least, Mike or someone at the house would have been contacted since the car could have been stolen, but that didn't even happen.

I think Anna (random revenge lady) tried to see if Mike could do anything to keep Greg behind bars, and when that failed, she just decided to take things into her own hands.  After five years, she's still grieving her son, and the news of his killer's impending release got her wound up.  I did laugh when the bus just pulled away.  Yep, gotta keep on schedule.

When Mike pulled up to the house and saw Kyle and Tracy dealing with the baby, I thought that was so sweet, but this show doesn't do sweet, so he pulled back out and went to visit Evelyn.  Nice wordless exchange there at the door.  Yeah, maybe Mike's going to help her out with something, but they're going to take care of some business first.

Edit: Oh yeah, the episode title, "Guts".  Wow.

Edited June 11 by Orbert