Graceland 1.10: "King's Castle"

“I wanted to be an FBI agent my entire life. I finally made it and then I got this assignment.”
- Mike

In the aftermath of Briggs’ tussle with Juan, we see him flash back to a night in the bar a while back when Johnny was new and another agent was doing hard time for killing a dealer while hopped up on pain meds. It would appear Briggs is now in that predicament. However, we see him dispose of Juan’s body in the desert while Charlie tries to scare Bello into giving up Odin. She promises lots of raping bunk mates, solitary confinement and angry shiv-wielding Mexicans but he isn’t moved. I really hope she doesn’t regret digging into Odin like this.

Mike has checked himself out of the hospital early and finds Johnny and Charlie home planning a surprise party for Jakes. This is kind of funny since they both know Jakes is going to be pissed about it like the year before. Paige is still extra prickly with Mike and he is worried she spilled the beans to the others. But it looks like his secret is safe for now. Charlie abandons the boys to go meet her Federale friend (aka Jangles). He gives her a little advice on how to get Bello to squeal and she races home just as Briggs gets in from surfing. She wants to put Mike back under with Bello in prison to see if that dislodges some loyalty in Bello. Briggs is against it but ultimately it’s Mike’s choice.

Mike gets booked in and he and Bello share a little chat in the yard where it looks like Bello may be considering rolling to get Mike a deal. Back at Graceland, Johnny gets Paige into a better mood by bringing up the surprise party from the year before and they reminisce about Jakes being afraid of clowns. She tells Johnny to order the King’s Castle bounce house (I haven’t been in one of those probably since high school…kind of not fair it’s usually only for little kids). Jakes snoops through Johnny’s room and tries to cancel the order while Charlie is grabbing Mike’s meds to go see him in the morning. Briggs catches her and after she leaves, makes a call of his own to see Bello. I’m guessing this has the desired effect because as Bello is being escorted to the visitation room (Briggs is nowhere to be seen0, she sees Charlie and Mike talking and Bello attacks Mike. Not a good situation for him given his injuries at the moment.

Charlie gets Mike home and starts shouting for Briggs. She doesn’t suspect him but she’s kind of freaking out and Paige seems have lost her anger with him because she rushes to his side. No sooner as Mike lain on the couch in pain than the Bureau calls for a meeting. Mike goes thinking it’s about the Bello arrest but finds out it’s about his original assignment in Graceland. He learns Juan is missing and has orders to look into where Briggs was the last few days to see if he had anything to do with it. Mike is so clearly off the Briggs-is-dirty train he even calls the investigation insane. But I’m assuming he doesn’t have any choice in the matter if he wants to stay on assignment or maybe even in the Bureau. But the show can’t go on much longer with only Paige knowing the reason he’s there. I shudder to think what Briggs will do when he learns the truth.

Everyone but Mike and Jakes are home awaiting the strippers (who arrive shortly and are showing off by bouncing in the bounce house). Jakes as it turns out is at a bar talking to his ex-wife’s boyfriend. Which is really weird, to be honest. Mike gets home and Paige almost immediately pulls him away from the festivities for a private chat about the nerve he has calling Briggs a friend and lying to everyone. Mike spills the beans on Briggs’ heroin habit and also dishes on Juan’s disappearance. It seems that after showing Paige his “why I want to be an FBI Agent” essay from when he was 9, they’re on the same team again and they are going to tell Briggs the truth. Charlie is being a total party pooper by going through prison call logs to see if she can find who called and arranged for Bello to see her and Mike meeting together.

Everybody’s night is about to go explosive. Jakes works up some courage (of the liquid variety) to try and reconnect with his ex-wife but it falls apart because he’s drunk and admits he’s been talking to her current boyfriend. Charlie knifes the bounce house, sending it toppling all over the strippers. Johnny and one of the girls are all that’s left in the living room when Jakes gets in and instead of saying thanks Jakes punches Johnny in the face. They’ve been coming to this for weeks now and Johnny ends up shouting at everyone that they act like they aren’t family but they are and that sometimes he just wants to forget about all the crazy stuff they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis and just chill with each other.

We end with a bunch of two-offs sharing information and positioning pieces of plans into place. Mike visits Bello in prison and I hope that’s the last we see of Bello. I’m tired of his storyline. Though I’m not entirely sure where they’ll go for a second season (provided USA grants them one). Next Mike fills Briggs in on his original investigation assignment as well as Juan’s disappearance. He tells Charlie on the beach (while we see Briggs checking the FBI database to confirm the guy he shot was indeed Juan) that Mike told Briggs the truth to gauge his reaction. Briggs had no clue who he was talking about. I’m guessing the fact that Briggs shot an FBI agent instead of a Mexican mercenary is going to screw things up a lot. And Charlie fills in her Federale buddy that she thinks Odin is really a Fed. She explains about the smoke alarm cam but when he presses her for a name of the agent, she withholds. I know there was some criticism about whether Charlie was just naïve to trust this guy but I don’t think she’s stupid of gullible. I think she’s got some suspicions as to Jangles too and she’s testing to see if she’s right. I just worry that she and Briggs are going to come to some nasty blows if and when she learns his double identity.