Graceland Season 3 Episode 4 Review: Aha
Jennifer Knutson
at
.
Updated at
.
Framing someone for murder is no easy task. In fact, it's downright deadly.
Briggs sets his daring plan into motion in Graceland Season 3 Episode 4 and the whole team is in on the ruse. The questions is, will Briggs' plan succeed?
Briggs is setting Ari Adamain up for Layla Sarkissian's murder. Why? So Martun Sarkissian, Layla's father, will kill him. It's a simple case of two birds and one stone. If Martun kills Ari, it means Briggs doesn't have to. If Ari is dead, then Briggs is out from under Logan's boot.
Ari battles a serious case of memory loss and tries to piece together the previous night's activities. Briggs leads Ari along like a confused puppy on a leash through each step of his carefully constructed plan.
Meanwhile, the audience is given backstage access with a series of flashbacks. We watched as Team Graceland set Ari up for murder. The flashbacks set a new tone. The episode feels like a classic caper.
The flashbacks are even filmed in black and white, giving an almost noir like feel to the entire episode. The black and white flashbacks serve a symbolic purpose, as well. For too long, Team Graceland has languished in the grey, blurring the moral lines. The grey tone of the flashbacks is a physical manifestation of their struggle.
The lines seem less blurred tonight. In "Aha," there is a clear delineation between the good guys and bad guys. For once, the agents are the good guys. They may continue to straddle the moral line, but it's leaning more towards white versus black.
Johnny is uncomfortable with Briggs putting a plan in motion which will ultimately cost Ari his life. Dale isn't overly impressed with Johnny's crisis of conscience because he killed a man less than 48 hours earlier.
I understood Johnny's point. He didn't plan for Sid to die. It just happened. Ari's death is premeditated. Briggs may not be pulling the trigger, but he's loading the gun.
Dale disagrees. He believes Logan backed Briggs into a corner. He's simply boxing his way out. But that reason is secondary. For Dale, Ari Adamain set this all into motion.
This might not be the best way to get justice, but these are the cards we've been dealt man. I think we all can agree-- Ari Adamain has got to go.
Dale
Dale isn't confused about the moral lines this time. Except for Johnny, nobody on the team is. For Team Graceland, Ari is evil. This may not be their preferred brand of justice, but it is justice nonetheless.
The real fun is watching the agents work together as a team. Can you remember the last time Team Graceland worked a case together? As a unit? It's been a very long time.
As the ruse unfolded, the agents pop up in various places to play their roles. Mike as the convenience clerk, Dale as the bartender, Charlie as the maid and Paige posing as Layla. The team works seamlessly together. Toss in some GHB, Layla's ring Briggs stole, a few monkey bones and a whole bunch of animal blood, you have the ingredients for a perfect frame job.
It is going so well. Ari believes he killed Layla. The evidence is building and pointing directly to him. Martun will be hot on his heels soon. The agents are winning. It has been so long since any of them got the best of the bad guys.
Then the other shoe drops. Paige makes a mistake. She burns the wrong fingers. Seriously? The girl doesn't have enough red ink in her ledger? We couldn't let her burn the right fingers?
I've always been a lucky man. Gypsy woman once told me, something to do with my stars. Today, my stars are in line.
Ari
When Ari figured it out, I audibly groaned and then yelled, "COME ON!" There may have been a pillow thrown in the general vicinity of my television as well. Is it too much to ask for Team Graceland to win once?
Apparently so. Martun finds Colby keeping a drugged Layla safe in a hotel room. Ari leads Briggs to the hotel. He opens the bathroom and there lies Colby in the bathtub – skinned. It's a horrific death.
It's so horrific, Briggs drops his cover immediately. He falls to the ground completely overwhelmed in grief. The agent he pulled into his grand plan is now dead.
Keep in mind, Colby was out. He came back to help Briggs. If Briggs never asked, or if Colby said no, he'd still be alive. It will haunt Briggs for the rest of his life.
Graceland Season 3 Episode 5 will be a life and death race to save Briggs or he'll end up like Colby or worse. It's a frustrating end to an overall great episode. No matter how hard the agents try to do the right thing, it seems the odds are always stacked against them.
You can watch Graceland online and catch up on the agents' soaring successes and devastating losses.
