Warning: Spoiler Alert
The USA Network has yet to decide if they will bring back their Original Series “Graceland,” for a third season, but if they do the dynamic of the house and the show would be dramatically different, due to the fact that one of the two lead characters seemingly died in the finale of the second season. Former FBI “Golden Boy” Mike Warren, (Aaron Tveit) whose reputation tarnished throughout the second season, had flat-lined in his hospital bed after corrupt LAPD Detective Sid Markham cut off his oxygen tube long enough to suffocate the agent who had tried to take him down all season. Although Warren could be revived conceivably in the first episode of season three, Series Creator and Executive Producer Jeff Eastin, told “TV Guide,” “Let’s put it this way: He looks pretty dead to me. I’m not supposed to say officially yes or no, but I’ll just say he looks pretty dead to me.”
The move would be far from unprecedented in TV series, as Sean Bean, now stars on “Legends” on TNT, due to his character’s death in the first season of HBO series “Game Of Thrones.” However, it took a character that embodied the “All-American Boy,” in the show’s first season, to a man that got so driven to get a conviction, his former girlfriend and housemate Paige Arkin gave the agent up to Markham. The move however was not unexpected given the chain of events throughout the season and in the final episode.
We knew the housemates would be facing trouble in this episode due the ending of the previous installment. Charlie got kidnapped by Amber and some of her henchmen, Markham found out that the officer in his charge named Paul West, was actually working undercover trying to arrest the detective. Johnny met by Lucia at the motel they arranged to rendezvous at, but she stole a briefcase filled with marked bills meant for Markham. The money marked so that the FBI could prove he got the cash from Carlos Solano.
Lucia realizes by Johnny’s reaction that he’s with some branch of law enforcement and he tells her he’s with the FBI and is about to arrest her brother and her father, but he needs to get the money back to the Solanos. Lucia tells him he can’t enter her house with a briefcase of money, but she can so Johnny reluctantly takes her back to her father’s house.
Lucia goes inside the house and seconds later Carlito comes out to Johnny’s car and asks if he can get a lift into town. After refusing at first, Johnny agrees and the two head off to the nearby town. Carlito makes small talk, but ends it abruptly when he informs the driver he knows he’s an FBI Agent. Johnny swerves the car to the side of the road and attempts to grab his pistol out of his console, but Carlito’s packing and draws first. He tells Johnny he figured it out the previous night when he saw Jakes change the money from the briefcase to the marked bills.
Shortly, another car pulls up this one containing two of Carlito’s hoods and Lucia, after making them perform like puppets for him on their knees, he tells the agent that he realizes the FBI is orchestrating the drops of his family’s contraband across the border to the United States. He tells Johnny to tell his superiors that the operation has to continue to get enough evidence on the Solanos. He then says that if the shipments stop, so will Lucia’s life.
We see a beaten and bloodied Charlie being confronted by Amber and her British money-launderer, who believes that Charlie’s a cop. Charlie begs Amber to let her go, that she knows she’s not a police officer, but the stick-up artist walks away. Charlie screams out she’s pregnant and Amber tells the Brit, not to hit her in the stomach.
Briggs gets in the car with Markham and his crew to Mexico, unaware that Markham realizes he’s undercover. The conversation seems mundane on the surface, but realizing what Sid knows, it’s far more probing than Briggs realizes. They are 12-miles from the Mexican border and Warren sees them pass from where he and the crew of FBI Agents use as their look-out.
When the car pulls up to the Solanos, Briggs asks Sid if he can make one quick call about his baby on the way before joining Markham and the others inside and Sid tells him that’s fine. He actually calls Mike to check in and while the two are speaking, Warren asks Briggs if he’d heard from Charlie as she never met the backup team she was to engage with the previous evening. Briggs assumes that Charlie’s in imminent danger and he tells Warren he’s driving the vehicle the cops drove down in back to Los Angeles to find her, then hangs up the phone.
The FBI mission’s disbanded as the Bureau Chief got word that a package possibly containing a bomb arrived at their building and they’ve all been called back to Los Angeles. Warren tells his supervisor that Briggs just left the Solanos and he’s heading there to catch Markham, the superior tries to talk him out of it but to no avail.
Mike drives to the Solanos, but he realizes something’s wrong from the moment he arrives, as he enters the house he sees bloodied corpses strewn throughout the house including Carlos Solano. Some of Markham’s crew are dead, but there are still four gunmen patrolling the house. Warren takes out all four, but gets shot in the lung in his last encounter. He finds Markham on the ground, bloody but conscious, we never find out how he ended up in that position. Warren pulls out his pistol and aims the weapon at Markham, as he’s going to take advantage of the situation and kill him. However, police sirens start approaching and Warren takes off before the police arrive.
Briggs finds the warehouse where Charlie’s held captive and proceeds to take out all three gunmen up front, he calls for Charlie and she responds, but Amber knocks her out with the butt end of her pistol. She then fires twice at Briggs and misses, but Briggs hits her, she falls to the ground and he saves Charlie. After a trip to the hospital where she’s given some major pain medication, Paul brings her home and tucks her into bed.
Seconds later his cellphone rings and Mike’s on the other end. Briggs tells Warren that Markham blamed Mike for all the killings at the Solanos and the authorities are looking for him. Warren tells Paul, he’s been shot but if he checks into a hospital under his name he’ll be immediately arrested. Briggs tells him he’ll be over in the morning with a fake identity.
Mike’s woken the next morning by Paige, who’s arrived in lieu of Briggs with his new identity Mike Richards. She then apologizes to Mike for thinking that he had disposed of Lena’s body, as she knows Lena’s alive and somewhere in Arizona, as she wrote to her sister in the Ukraine and the postmark was from Scottsdale, Arizona. Warren’s delirious at this point and says to Paige that he’s glad that Lena’s family believes she’s alive, Arkin immediately realizes that Mike did incinerate Lena’s body.
Paige heads down to Markham’s station and tells the detective where to find Warren and gives the officer the name he’s checked in under. Paige heads back to the house and admits to Briggs that she gave Warren up to Markham. Briggs drives to the hospital as fast as he can.
Markham finds Warren and notices the agent’s suffering from lead poisoning and a collapsed lung. He then takes the heart monitor off Mike’s finger and puts it on his own, then bunches up the cord supplying Warren oxygen, cutting off his supply and suffocating him. He tells Warren during his final seconds that he knows all his roommates and will kill each one of them, so they’ll all reunite at the pearly gates. Warren’s eyes glaze over and Markham puts the heart monitor back on Mike’s finger and he’s flat-lined and the machine calls out code blue. Briggs heads into the room to see Mike lying there lifeless, Markham had already left. Medical personnel tell Paul he needs to leave the room and tears pour down Briggs face.
