S02.E12: Betrayal

[Tara Ariano]

Joe chooses a new target; Ryan is confronted with news of Claire's reappearance; Mandy makes a decision that could undo everything Joe's been working for.

[mertensia]

Yes Emma, you are a big chunk of why Mandy left. Please. You all but told her "go away little girl."

Claire, exactly how stupid are you? (Rhetorical question; you don't really need to answer). You didn't see through Ryan's "oh sure; I'll just create a diversion " lie? My cat saw through that.

Love how no one cared that they might just be putting an entire frat house in jeopardy. Let them all die as long as they get a lead on Joe!

[fauxphysician]

Probably THE worst episode yet!! (And that's quite the achievement, given the dreck we've been subjected to to date.) No surprise that Ryan and Mike were late to the frat party. The twist would be if he/they ever got there in time! And was that a hint of cannibalism at the 'Mandy Dinner Party'? If so, at least it gave the actors something to chew on besides scenery .

[Johnny Dollar]

This show is getting hard to take. It's not the implausibly silly plots, where Ryan and Mike thinks it's best if they try to take down Joe and his followers all by their lonesome, only to see them get away at the last minute due to lack of backup. It's not the weekly slasher porn of stabby stabby and slit throats. It's not the apparently untraceable financial empire of Lily Grey, who could teach Al Qaeda a thing or two about running a terrorist organization in your targets' backyard. It's not even the fact that Ryan isn't thrown in Gitmo for the seemingly hundreds of times his dopey actions have let the bad guys get away. It's that it's becoming so boring and repetitive that i can't wait for it to end. Are they really going to be able to sustain another whole season of this Bizarro Groundhog Day? I may have to start hanging around Manhattan coffee shops and book stores, hoping for a mercy throat slashing of my own.

[Enigma X]

This episode exhibited a whole lot of stupid from a whole lot of people, especially from Ryan and Claire.

I will say that I never understood the point of Mandy, but there was something psychotically saddening by Joe's reaction to her demise that made me think that we will understand what was her whole point for creation yet, and it might tell us something about Joe's damage.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Enigma X

[Portia]

What with Ryan's new romance with Carrie and the recent reappearance of Claire, I was expecting this episode to culminate with a wacky "two dates to the prom" type scenario. Only at least one woman would wind up dead because RYAN HARDY DEATH CURSE!

Disappointed.

[ramble]

I still don't care for Emma but I'd be willing to give up my "Kill Emma" refrain if they'll kill Claire first. Ugh, she's a downer. I was liking Ryan not being all mopey all the time.

And we're back to only having two people in the whole of U.S. law enforcement available to work the Joe Carroll case. Seriously it's hard not to think of this show as a comedy. The nation is on edge & a region of the country is terrorized, but there's just no manpower to spare. Good luck Hardy Boys, hope you can catch Joe as well as Lily, with some gum & a paper clip.

I found myself a bit sad that the evil Scooby boyfriend got killed. I was almost enjoying the freaky love story unfolding with the duo of death. I love that they literally drive a van. It's the Scooby van. Zoinks!

[Frisco]

Bye bye Mandy...Joe actually 'cared' about her..I think...LOL  Great episode.

Kill Claire please!

[Sarah D. Bunting]

 

I still don't care for Emma but I'd be willing to give up my "Kill Emma" refrain if they'll kill Claire first. 

Ay-men.

 

And here's what I wrote about the episode (with Poe Head).

[ramble]

Sarah I love reading the dialogue between you & Poe Head. And y'all filled me in on something I didn't know: Tilda. I had no clue that was her name. Now that I know it I'm sure she's on the short list to die, which is too bad because I think she would be more effective as a Joe enforcer than Emma.

[Snookums]

You guys, I could not stop with this one. Seriously, three parter coming up:

Well, pour one out for little Mandy. This one's for her.

Ooookay, picking up from last week, Claire apparently is in charge of all law enforcement now, since she orders the head of the FBI to clear the room so she and Ryan can catch up. Okay, everybody out! Mike, that means you too. Mike. MIKE. Mike displays the kind of body language reading skills that got him on a top task force as he begs a clearly seconds-from-just-fucking-dying-of-stress Ryan to not be mad at him (this will be a theme throughout this episode.) Ryan flexes his razor cheekbones and growls out that if Mike doesn't mind, perhaps the whole "groveling for forgiveness" thing might come after the whole "OMFG MY DEAD GIRLFRIEND" thing. Mike clues in with the speed of one of Joe's less successful Pinkwashers and finally leaves.

Well! The show now proves it's reading my posts as Claire points out that it takes a lot of work to make her hair look that bad. Don't be modest, Claire, that hair takes real talent. Some hugs and blah blah sorry I let you think I died but I did it all for Joey the child I've just abandoned for the uppity-umpth time but it's okay, he's got specialists. (Who do you suppose specializes in "helping children whose dads turn out to be viciously prolific serial killers and run cults and break out of prison and hold me and my mom hostage and now I've got new hair and a new name and living with my Grandma in a silver mine in Arizona with five hundred guards in my bathroom"? What do you think they charge an hour?)

But enough of stroke-inducing emotional revelations, Claire's here on business, and she's CEO of Fucking Kill Joe Already, Inc. Can't really blame her for that, honestly, but lighten up, Claire! It's not like Ryan's been drinking like Foster Brook's protege and banging reporters and letting Joe slip through his fingers over and over and over again when Lily Grey isn't tearing up public hospitals to rescue her son...oh, wait, that's EXACTLY what it's like.

But that's okay! Claire has a plan! Remember last week? When she told the head of WitSec and everybody that she's not just hungry for Ryan Hardy's wiry embrace and bloated liver, she could help him? Sounded pretty specific?

Well, here's Claire's plan! Wait for it, it's... Put a bullet in Joe's head!

Um, okay. Even Ryan is a bit I am super glad you're back from the dead and everything but that sounds a little sketchy. Claire's all, wait, there's more, see, he thinks I'm dead, so I'll show up, he'll like freak out or something and then you can kill him and we'll all go to Disneyland! Understandably, Ryan is not super convinced by this furtherance of Claire's master plan, but hey, why the hell not, right? What could possibly go wrong?

Carrie never shows up for dinner, so that's one problem off the table. For NOW.

Okay, off to Joe mocking Preacher Guy With Improbable Name That I Can't Remember and ranting about religion in general because he's never brought any of this up until now but fuck it, everybody needs an Act Two, and Emma's all hey, have you seen Mandy? And Joe's who? Oh, she's around somewhere, anyway, I just cannot wait for the Evil Scoobies to drop off my latest recording and then kidnap this guy's kid! I'm  just so excited to have a new project! Emma has the same look I do when my husband is showing me the latest round of sketches for his current comic that he abandons and comes back to three times a year.

Carrie and Preacher Man come out of the studio and she thanks him for showing up and hey, in case you were wondering Joe is insanely dangerous so you might want some crack bodyguards like I have! Hah, kidding, the guy just heads on down the street but it turns out that he's the smart one, since Carrie's bodyguards apparently got their experience guarding dog shows. Her car gets stopped, a  clearly crazy woman steps in front of the car, and (my favorite part) one of the bodyguards gets out of the car trying to fumble his gun out of his coat and gets clobbered, while the driver is similarly treated. Tilda or Hilda or whatever the hell her name is pops in and hands off Joe's latest with the usual "run this or we'll kill you and everybody who loves you" and Carrie's all I'm a reporter, nobody loves me but fine.

Let's see, blah blah blah, Ryan comes to talk to Carrie and she tells him Joe's thing, and I made a copy and can I come over tonight? I feel safest in your apartment where you never lock the door, and Ryan kinda sidesteps and says don't do anything 'til I call you and I really like you as a friend. Carrie frowns but agrees.

Emma is running the security footage and shows Joe that little Mandy has absconded, taking with her the ability to scale a twelve foot fence topped with barbed wire. I don't blame Joe for being upset, that there is a skill. Emma seems more worried about this then Joe is.

Ryan and Claire watch Joe's video and dear GOD, the man may have lost a lot of ground but his Pretentious Blowhard Without An Original Thought In His Giant Bloated Head adroitness has done nothing but grow like a magical beanstalk. He says nothing, but absolutely nothing, that any newly empowered college freshman hasn't spouted to their family over Thanksgiving break. Claire, who has a lot of experience filtering Joe's crap, gets all rewindy with his whole "I came not to bring peace but a sword" quoting and says that that's new, Joe's family was super religious (Nice to know his half-brother siring doggy dad was a believer, I guess) and he "always had a lot of anger about religion." So if he's been pissed off about religion this whole time why is any of this new? But anyway, she looks up the quote and says there's something about son against father and does Preacher Man have any children? Why, yes! And he's luckily going to school just up in Connecticut! What a break!

Claire is all Ryan, this is it! Our way in! This is going down today! (Why she knows that when they haven't finished watching the video is anybody's guess.) We need to head out to Connecticut RIGHT NOW! This is our in to Joe! Ryan points out that the Marshalls are not going to let her go haring off to Connecticut or anywhere else on such a dangerous errand but Claire goes Ryan, just ditch them, GOD! Ryan pauses, then says sure, okay, give me ten and I'll text you. Claire's cool with that and Ryan heads out. So, either of you wanna finish watching that video or hand it over to the FBI or...? No? I am shocked.


See next post for part two!

Part Two! Where everything works out fine. Hah! Got yer nose!

So Ryan goes down to the street where Max is apparently hanging out with Mike just chillin, thinking about getting a coffee maybe when Ryan hugs her and tells Max to go up and keep an eye on his Not Dead Girlfriend because he and MIke (and ONLY he and Mike) have to drive fifteen hours to Connecticut and rescue Son of a Preacher Man. Max is what? She doesn't even know me, and Ryan's all yeah, drag but just I dunno, play some Words With Friends or something and he and Mike drive off for some awkward silences and stilted conversation.

I think it's around here that Emma realizes Mandy must have called Lily before she took off. Well, shit, this complicates things. Mandy is so dumb! Not wanting to hang around with the Pinkwashers and learning to strangle cats and wander around in the snow wearing a puffy red jacket! Even Joe is kind of stalled on what to do. He just can't believe one of his toys would run off like that.

Mandy had the nice lady who picked her up drop her off at a deserted bus station so she can meet Mark. He shows up with Luke and some random muscle and asks her where Joe is but she's all I can't tell you that! I just want to go see Lily! Mark's all fine, sure, chocolate cake here put this bag on your head. This is going to turn out well.

Claire washes her face and finds a lipstick. Wow, Ryan must have been lonelier then she thought. She goes to Max, who's in Ryan's room of String Art And Revenge, and they have one of those awkward convos where you don't know the other person at all but know all about them, and Claire can't quite ask about the whole lipstick thing and finally Max says look, I have to make a call so if you could go watch TV or something? Claire leaves and Max rings Ryan, breaking the World's Most Uncomfortable Silence, to tell him that Son of a Preacher Man is a C student legacy at some rando little college  (Dude, he's not even a legacy at Yale? LAME.) And he's in a frat (of course he is. Of course he is.) And Ryan's all great, could you call every law enforcement officer on the eastern seaboard and send them out there?

Psych! He doesn't say that. He says NOTHING about trying to set up a dragnet or calling the guy's family or ANYTHING about trying to protect this kid, because he's too busy having a not conversation with Mike, whose people reading skills have not improved even a smidge as he babbles on and on about how it was so crazy and What'shername had just died and Ryan was in surgery and Ryan has to tell him three times to shut the hell up before it sinks in. Don't worry, we're good. Wow, so that's all it takes to get over the fact that the love of your life and one of the only men you trust lied to you for over a year? Ryan's AA group must be AMAZEBALLS.

In the meantime the Evil Scoobies (still in the same grey van that must have been shot by half a million cameras at five different crime scenes but apparently has attracted no suspicion) pulls up outside the frat in broad daylight. The ES's discussion of how they're going to totally kill everybody is interrupted by the only man in law enforcement/security who has any interest in doing his job, for all the good it's going to do him, a campus security guard. He asks their business and is summarily gutted. People Who Can Blame Their Deaths Directly On Ryan Hardy Not Calling For Backup This Episode Score: one. Don't worry, it'll go up.

Lily greets Mandy warmly and brings her inside. Mandy is thrilled to finally, finally get the parental attention she's always craved. Oh, dear.

The ESs walk straight into the frat and ask for Son of a Preacher Man. They're directed to his room. Heading up, they walk right on in to find Son's roomie and a girl about to get it on TV style (she's in her bra) and they quite rightly are all um, we said we were busy? Too busy to lock the door, apparently. Hilda/Tilda asks sarcastically if they can wait and the guy's all NO, fatty fatty fat fat, get out! H/T's fellow Scoobie, I think his name's Issac, holds her back at first but when the guy busts out the fat shit again he decides to just start things up. He stabs the guy and the girl freaks and runs for the door, which would have been a good idea except that H/T's standing in front of it with a knife. Damn, that poor girl, dying on a musty, disgusting bong water soaked frat bedroom carpet. Makes Joe's stainless steel table seem quite appealing.

(That's also two more for the Ryan Hardy Death Count.)

Mandy and Lily have a nice talk about Lily's dozens of secret houses, none of which have been found by the thousands of agents putting hundreds of thousands of manhours into tracing her assets. Personally I think the place looks clinical and icy, not to mention a bitch and half to heat, but I'm no crazy billionaire. They eat cake batter and giggle and everything seems peachy, until Lily presses for Joe's location and Mandy's all don't make me choose between you and Daddy! And Lily's all oh, honey, I'm so sorry but my crazy sons are going to get really evil with you now. Damn, Lily, you didn't even get the cake in the oven yet. You were NEVER going to give Mandy any cake, you liar.

After driving for hours and calling no one, Ryan and Mike pull up outside the frat house, interrupting H/T and Issac kinda halfheartedly taping Son of a P and his girlfriend (Issac kept demanding S of a P say something or other about religion being fake into the camera, but the full face mask he's wearing muffled him so much I can't really blame S of a P for not understanding what the hell's going on) and then they cut poor Girlfriend's throat (RHDC: 4), but then H/T notices Ryan's car and panics. Issac's all no worries, time to put our awesome plan into action a little sooner, that's all.

You all, I can't stop! Part Three coming up!

AND PART THREE!


Ryan and Mike, with NO BACKUP OF ANY KIND, stroll to the front door of the frat house and walk in. It's totes dark and they can't understand where everybody is until they spot their very, very favorite thing; a dark staircase! Oh, boy! They bound right on up and check one random door before a sound attracts Mike's attention and long story short, all the people in the frat house are in there with masks glued on their faces and Ryan shoots one of them before he realizes what's going on. Luckily the one he shot was actually Issac (seriously, it was nothing but luck) and he turns to see H/T freaking out about her champion! dead! not thirty feet away and doesn't even raise his gun as the trio haul S of a P down the stairs and into the van. I suppose we're meant to think he didn't want to hit the hostage but COME ON. Ryan's demonstrated lack of care for any and all civilian life is pretty well documented by now.

Ryan runs down another staircase (must be his birthday) just in time to see the van driving off. He does not shoot a tire. He stands there and watches. Ryan has certain patterns in his life.

Joe's bent over a chair when Emma comes into report, but he doesn't respond until she asks if they're supposed to send someone to New York to deal with Carrie. Then he reveals what he's been doing--figuring a way to make this all Emma's fault! Emma's all Nu-UH, no way, and hey, I think she used this laptop and called Lily. Joe can't believe his life right now.

Various cops are FINALLY at the frat house and the same cop as last week demands to talk to Ryan. Mike's all okay, I'll find him and it turns out Ryan is following the van! He's like fifty feet back and if the ESs don't realize they've got a tail they deserve to get caught and Mike's all where are you I'll send air support (oh, NOW YOU CARE) and Ryan gets the crazy eyes again and says no, this all me I will fix all of this and throws his phone out the window. There is no way in hell he will ever have cause to regret that decision.

Mandy's playing the worst version of Spin the Bottle ever with the boys telling each other "you're my favorite brother!" and Mandy's thinking okay, seriously kill me now, but the her wish comes true and she's shrieking for Lily to help her. Um, Mandy, Lily hit you in the face and handed you over to Evil Dumb and Evil Dee here, that dog won't hunt.

Emma and Joe play keepaway with the phone until he calls Lily. Lily demands Joe come get her, it's his weekend, dammit, or Mandy dies. Joe's all that is a bummer, love you mouse. Mandy's sobs as she realizes that everybody she's ever trusted has betrayed her are truly heartbreaking.

More Ryan shit as Mike arrives at the apartment and he and Max have a little moment of cute before he announces the results of the day (horrible) and that Ryan's on his own tracking Joe. Too bad we never had anybody checking out those seventy two cults from last week to try to narrow down an area or anything. Honestly, I don't know why Max even tries anymore. Claire and her hair are freaking about Ryan's idiocy. Oh, Claire, I know it's been a year, but you honestly should have expected this by now.

Lily serves her sons cake and has them toast poor Mandy. She's tied to a chair and I can't tell if she's dead or just next to it, but either way, the girl has had no breaks at all. Just, can someone rescue this child and buy her some New Direction tickets or something? Because it's been shit all the way down.

The Pinkwashers are taking their nightly random wander through the icy dark compound when the Evil Scooby van pulls up. Emma rushes to comfort H/T about Issac and Son of a Preacher Man is dumped at Joe's feet. He looks rightly terrified as Joe threatens him, but that's not the point of this scene! The point is Ryan managed to follow the van not only all the way here, but right through the heavily guarded gate! Ryan, I take it all back! This can only end well!

Edited April 9, 2014 by Snookums

[Johnny Dollar]

Thanks, Snookums. I fell better about watching this crap now. My only request is that Preacher Man be forever called Preacher Ed, because he was Ed, after all. Well, until he gets stabbed anyway.

[SherriAnt]

Snookums that recap was amazeballs!

[glowlights]

 

And here's what I wrote about the episode (with Poe Head).

I am awarding you every prize in the universe for having Poe say stugots.

[alexvillage]

I am (trying to really hard) to watch the show on Netflix. I know, I hate myself, so I hate-watch.

What a waste of Kevin Bacon! I do like him and I think he is doing a decent job considering all the terrible writing of this show.

The FBI is completely inept, and they are supposedly the "best". The spree killings are pathetic. All the "bad" guys have total access to all technology, while the NSA (the NSA!) cannot get a ping on nobody's cellphone. 

I have no idea of who the actress who plays Emma and I hope I don't have to see her ever again. 

The psychopaths are so over the top, don't people do their jobs researching before writing such crap? The ones in the show are so black and white, when they try to put some shades of personality in them they just come out as comics villains (those I can take because that's what is expected of them)

I didn't like season one but decided to keep going. Then RESURRECTION! The oldest trick of writers who cannot write.