Graceland - Episode 4 - Recap - Pizza Box

Graceland - Episode 4 - Recap - Pizza Box

This episode of USA Network's Graceland is framed by an event in the eponymous federal undercover agent clubhouse: Sauce Night. Agent Charlie DeMarco makes pasta sauce with dubious claims of ancient secret recipe status, and the sauce takes three days to cook (a clever way to show us exactly how much time passes in the episode's events). While Charlie recounts the tall tale of her special spaghetti sauce, we're caught up on some house status quo; Paul Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) and Mike Warren (Aaron Tveit) are working a big gang case, Mike is dating a lady called Abby, and Paige found some super fancy weed at a suspiciously low price.

Thanks to Paige's weed find, agents Johnny and DJ go to have a meeting with a grower who is suspected of perhaps letting a little extra out onto the streets. Johnny's undercover character of a Mexican gangster nearly blows the deal, but DJ manages to snag a tour of the lady's growhouse. They show up the next day, but in a hilarious twist, the grower starts, erm, growing on Johnny. DJ takes his leave, and Johnny wakes up early the next morning, fake gang tattoos smeared on the grower's sheet. She catches Johnny snapping pics in the growhouse, and her henchmen take him hostage. DJ and Paige show up to get Johnny, who has of course not been answering his phone. DJ gets taken hostage, has his cover blown, and is almost immediately rescued by Paige (via crashing a truck through the growhouse). This storyline was great. Fun, action-oriented, humorous. Considering the heaviness elsewhere in the episode, it was welcome.

Briggs gets a sit-down for him and Mike (undercover as the previously seen bullet-dealing Marine) with SoCal's primary heroin supplier. The dude is a hard Nigerian ex-military called Bello, the sort of guy who blinds his own man in one eye over suspicion of working with another gang. Bello wants Mike to teach the gang guys to shoot. Mike agrees. The Bureau hands down orders that Mike has to fake the training, which is bonkers. He stalls the first class, beginning with a lesson on gun anatomy and cleaning. Bello's cyclopic lieutenant, Eddie, isn't pleased with this at all, and follows Mike one night. This proves to be a mistake, as Mike shows his badass side in disarming Eddie.  The feds bring Eddie in the next day, and threaten him with a bunch of nonsense about telling Bello he's been cooperative. Only Briggs reveals that it isn't nonsense; Eddie could really be in big trouble if he goes back to Bello. When we get back to sauce night, Briggs gets a text from Bello; Mike and Bello are to meet right away. At this little meeting, Eddie is beaten and on his knees. There's some back and forth, Mike and Eddie each accusing the other of working with the FBI, until Bello asks Mike for Mike to hand over his gun. Mike complies. Bello gives the gun to Eddie, whispers something that is not meant for our ears to Eddie, then lets go of the gun. Eddie points it at Mike, then after a moment, puts it in his own mouth and fires.

This bit of trauma makes Mike's date with Abby after a troubling experience, but the real emotional core of the episode comes after, as Mike stands over the dirty dishes from the Sauce Night he just missed. It's here where Aaron Tveit really stretches his acting muscles, spending most of the scene wordless and alone but still conveying the sort of emotional intensity the show has been sorely lacking up until this week. We're even shown, briefly, a well-guarded sympathetic side to Daniel Sunjata's Paul Briggs. He never breaks his cool demeanor, but we're still able to see that he really cares. If the show stays this level of good, then I'm excited to see what we've got for the rest of the summer. I'll be back here in two weeks with the next recap (Graceland takes a week off for the holiday). In the meantime, check out the preview for this week.