The thought that "Nothing ever ends!" undoubtedly was driving Michael's obvious melancholy as he sat on a secluded beach with Fiona and resignedly told her: "do you ever wonder what it would be like to actually get to enjoy an afternoon like this?" "I'm sorry," she replied looking astonished "who are you? I came here with my boyfriend Michael Westen." They were in the middle of discussing that they had been getting as much sleep as a POW when Tyler Grey appeared on the path through the trees. Then, he was startled too by Jesse following after him, weapon drawn, as "backup." Grey said that he wanted to meet because Card was thinking the F-18 had incinerated their bodies and had just ordered him to search the loft and incinerate it too. After viewers endured Fiona's usual tirade, Michael finally asked: "do you want to hold on to all our old stuff or do you want to nail Card to the wall?" She capitulated but demanded they, not Grey, be the ones to torch their apartment. They put together fake documents which made it look like Michael had almost tied Anson to Card (?) and had Grey phone Card with the news. Then, as if their lives weren't in enough turmoil, their midnight arson foray was interrupted by… Ayn Reeds, Fiona's prison buddy with another log to add to Michael's armload.
Ayn said that:
one, she had just gotten out of prison, in no small part due to Fiona;
two, she paid some neighborhood kids to watch the building; and,
three she had a
"dirty detective named Garza" after her. She said the cop was intent on putting her back in prison no matter what, because he was angry that she had killed his confidential informant. He apparently didn't give a crap that his CI actually was a wife beater who he had let nearly kill Ayn's sister; but, only that now his case against drug kingpin
Sherrod Washington was blown.
"It's just that right now is not a good time," Michael told her.
"But, we're going to help you anyway," Fiona broke in, then arranged to meet with her in the morning. Michael and Fiona pushed the detonator button together then calmly walked out as the camera went into slow motion and melancholy music played. The next log on Michael's pile was Madeline and her usual arrogant demands. She surmised that, even though Michael hadn't told her, they were now working with Tyler Grey who was the one who had shot Nate and she demanded a meeting with him –
"so, set it up!" she declared to Michael. The next day, Fiona continued her ranting and backbiting and
Sam had to back her down by saying:
"Hell, the only reason I'm here is to keep you from blowing up a police station and blowing our cover." They met
Amari, Ayn's son, and were just being told that the reason Garza was so angry was that Washington had killed his former partner, when Garza showed up with her parole officer. Sam and Fiona escaped with Amari before Garza blustered in and planted fake evidence in her apartment to have her arrested.
Sam befriended Amari who was staying with them all in their
"world's nicest safe house." Michael and even Jesse now got involved with a plan to neutralize Garza's power, short of blowing him up like Fiona wanted to do, by entrapping him into something they could then blackmail him with. Jesse was involved because he was the most likely to pass as a drug dealer – Jace Robinson, A.K.A. "J-train." He convinced Garza that he was number-two to Washington and wanted to be his new CI
"because the only thing between me and the top is the boss." The only problem was that Garza wanted to have Jesse get a photo of the inside of Washington's office on a
"scavenger hunt" to prove he was
"tight with Washington." Fiona was able to help him do it but not before he got beat nearly senseless by the gangster's thugs. As Fiona bandaged Jesse's ribs she advised
"the hard part's over, you're in. Now all you have to do is convince Garza to steal a gun from police lockup, we'll get him on tape and Ayn gets her life back." Jesse met Garza and, under the guise of scanning for bugs, took the guys phone apart and was able to switch battery packs containing a bug. It took some doing but Garza did agree to get a gun from an unsolved case that could be planted on Washington. Meanwhile… Mike and Sam listened in as Grey met with Card. Their first words were a dialog about the weather which Mike recognized as Card's favorite recognition codes. It was all Sam could do to keep Michael in the car he was so angry that Grey
"was soft selling this." Card tried to placate Grey by claiming it was
"need to know" and Grey sternly shot back that there was blood on his hands now so
"read… me… in!" Card did agree to show him the
"whole lid" on Friday, then left. Michael shot out like a light and manhandled Grey for deviating from the script. Grey excused that Card had wanted to know if he was being followed so he used a recognition code. Then angrily shot back that he knew what he was doing and Card would have been spooked if he had handled it any other way.
To Grey's credit, he did agree and Madeline got her meeting. She ignored Michaels warning that victim-criminal meetings never help and said
"trust me… it's not possible" that it could make it worse. She interrupted and brushed off Grey's apology then began by asking
"what goes on in the mind of people like you… do you have trouble getting close to people… bad childhood… is that why Card picked you? Do you like hurting people?" He replied that he was chosen because was good at what he does.
"Then why did my son die, if you're so good?" He explained that because of the wind and trajectory he switched to a higher caliber bullet and
"took the shot anyway. It was my job." He replied
"no" when she asked if he even knew Nate. She revealed
"he was my baby boy. He liked cars, action movies and graphic design. He loved his family. His name was Nathaniel Elias Westen. The next time you fire a bullet that could end someone's life – you know their name!" Grey merely stood penitently and whispered
"I'm sorry" as Madeline walked away.
In a huge change of events, instead of bringing the stolen gun to their meeting, Garza appeared all decked out in his fancy dress blue uniform. He said that he had changed his mind and that he was
"not stealing evidence from any case to close mine. I'm not screwing cops, I'm not screwing victim's. That's not who I am." [I guess to anybody except Ayn's sister] He said he was on his way to Garden Terrace (Washington's house) and that when it was done
"If I'm still alive" he was going to come after Jesse as well. So… if he gets killed, Sam said
"Ayn rots in prison," "Amari goes to foster care," "and we got a cop killed!" Sam and Jesse were already doing surveillance as Garza pulled up to Washington's place. Fiona was on her way with Michael and a trunk load of weapons. Garza stood in the street and called Washington out. The hundreds of people in the street immediately began vanishing. Washington came down and as Garza was telling him the charges, and getting slugged to the ground, Fiona and Mike arrived. Mike immediately assessed the situation, gave Fiona some C-4 and said
"that car," Jesse some too and said
"that car" and told Sam to join in firing with tracer rounds. Just as Washington was going to shoot Garza, Mike radioed that he should back away. From a hiding place so that none of them would be seen, Mike told the gang
"I'm (huge car explosion) from the department of (another car explosion) do you want to back away?" They tried to give up but Mike began firing with Sam and told them to surrender their weapons to Garza – just as the "real" police Jesse had called showed up. Completely flummoxed, Garza radioed:
"whoever you are, thank you."
Ayn later told them that when they released her that morning she thought
"that girl is stone-cold magic!" Fiona replied that she had a lot of help, even from Garza himself, and explained that the guy had turned himself around. Sam said
"sometimes when you push people past their limits they realize they have no business standing so close to the line." Ayn replied
"good for him. He learned something that it took me six years to realize. Some choices we make, you want to take 'em back but you can't. I'm just glad to have a second chance." Then Michael caught Madeline packing up her belongings and saying that she was leaving "for good." He tried to convince her that they were getting the evidence on Card and
"he is going to pay for what he did." She said she couldn't keep
"watching you turn your soul inside out," and that she couldn't go on living
"in a place where everything reminds me of the son's I've lost." She said that she needed a new beginning and asked him for the favor of
"starting over too." So, that's where they all stood the next day when they watched Grey meet Card and discovered that Card had brought a team and was using a frequency jammer against surveillance. Mike realized that Card was going to frame Grey for all of it: Anson, Panama, Nate – and the only way they had now was to haul Card out in handcuffs before his team was in place. Sam was dispatched as lookout down the hall and Mike broke in at gunpoint and revealed Card's plan. Card pointed his gun at Grey and, amazingly, it seemed as though Mike went into a complete stupor while he watched first Grey get shot and then Card coolly move around the room changing all the evidence: shooting at the wall with the dead Grey's gun and putting the gun back in his hand. All the while unabashedly and deceitfully lying to Michael.
C: Listen to me Michael. Grey killed Anson, Grey shot your brother – he murdered Nate. He did that. Right there, he did that!
M: You ordered him to, you're responsible.
C: I never wanted Nate dead. I would have never taken that shot.
M: You tried to have me killed.
C: And that is my own personal Hell. It wasn't supposed to go like that. You were like a son to me.
M: You are out of your mind
C: We both know that it is a big bad world out there Michael and guys like you and me we make calls. We get up in the morning and we know the ends justify the means. Why do you think Anson had to go? I'll tell you why, because he knew what I had goin' on in Yemen, in China, in Pakistan. Someone has to carry the bag on the front line. So… I pull the trigger on a couple of really bad guys… or we roll the dice on a couple of really bad conflicts.
M: You're talking about treason Tom.
C: Michael, it might be time for you to grow up my friend.
M: You're not my friend.
C: But I was, and I damn sure can be again. We can do things Michael, great things, necessary things. And there's a long to-do list and there's nobody left to do 'em. You wiped out that last batch. It's just you and me now. Clocks tickin'. What do you think? Can we put all this behind us now, huh? Can we move into the future?
Still looking like a boob, Mike put down his gun and nodded assent. Card said "I'm so proud of you son" and Mike immediately shot him in the head!
