Shades of Blue – A Walking Shadow

By starrymag | July 15, 2018

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

 

 

Robert Stahl (Warren Kole) has been watching Harlee (Jennifer Lopez) for a long time, both in person and through his mind’s eye. His obsession with Harlee has only intensified since their last official encounter; the one that was doused in blood and gasoline. Though he can’t get her off of his mind, he’s desperate to liberate himself from his own perverted version of love. He’s stalked the traumatized detective through her most recent professional engagements and some personal. Harlee may hate him, but he hates that he loves her. To Stahl, the only way to writhe away from Harlee’s allure is to completely destroy her – professionally, personally and everywhere in between. But first, he wants to give an unknowing bartender his side of the story without sharing the full story.

 

Stahl’s injured from his tango with Harlee, as evidenced by his new limp and member card into the Broken Hearts Club. His goal is to rewrite the narrative that Harlee allegedly created for him; the one that paints him out to be a monster. Of course, his attempts at garnering sympathy are futile, having witnessed the atrocities he committed out of this bastardized thing he calls love. Of course, just down a few stools down from the bar he’s sitting at, is a familiar face who goes by the name of Cole (Nick Wechsler). Stahl turns his attention away from the bartender and over to Cole, where he casts a smile and raises his glass. It quickly becomes clear that Stahl is planning his next move and it definitely involves the cop he watched Harlee argue with during one of his off-the-books reconnaissance missions.

 

In the back alley behind his former favorite gay bar, Wozniak (Ray Liotta) conjures up blurry visions of his daughter. His face is bleeding, his vision blurry – until Harlee’s face comes into focus. His real daughter couldn’t save him, but his adopted daughter still can. Harlee surveys the area for his gun, retrieves it and picks up the shell of her boss before either of them gets made.

 

The next day, Stahl arranges a meet-cute with Cole at a local newsstand. He begins their interaction by reminding Cole that they met at the bar a few nights prior. When Cole isn’t receptive to this tactic, Stahl quickly changes his tune and pretends to be an Internal Affairs officer. Stahl warns Cole that he should not be making any new friends given his position in the police department, which immediately raises a red flag in Cole’s mind about Harlee – the very woman who has set out to dismantle the intelligence unit. They part ways and Cole flies across the city to confront Harlee about her engagement with Internal Affairs. Cole, unfortunately, is completely unaware of Stahl’s identity and the fact that a fake target has been put upon Harlee’s back.

 

Harlee provides Cole with her assurances that she hasn’t been speaking with Internal Affairs, but he isn’t convinced. The paranoia has set in. Ramsey (Bruce McGill) has connections across the entire NYPD, making him too formidable an enemy for a small fish like Cole. Conceding, he tells Harlee to forget that they even know each other. It’ll be safer for the both of them if they stop exchanging intel. Across the city, nothing gets past Wozniak, even after he’s taken a brutal beating. When he appears at the scene of Tomas Molina’s (Juan Carlos Hernandez) murder, he confronts Loman (Dayo Okeniyi) about his exchange with Theo (Christopher James Baker). Loman denies having a positive relationship with Theo, a wise move considering Theo’s homicidal inclinations. Tess (Drea de Matteo) and Tufo (Hampton Fluker) observe from the sidelines until Wozniak enlists them to keep an eye on Nate (Cameron Scoggins). Mr. Molina is dead because he knew too much about a class NYPD cover-up and his murder is a warning to Nate and the others to back off and bury their heads in the sand.

 

After her quarrel with Cole, Harlee makes it a point to meet with IA Detective Vero (Dov Davidoff). He probes him to determine where the IA leak is coming from, but he wants nothing to do with her. He flips the line of questioning onto her until she has no choice but the stand down. Harlee is once again on her own, all by Stahl’s design. She retreats to meet up with Loman for a good old-fashioned stakeout. A new weapon has been planted and processed into evidence from the Sunrise Diner Massacre and it’s not the weapon that Loman planted to cover for Harlee. She reveals that the entire crime scene has been rewritten – the ballistics and autopsy reports have been doctored to align with this new weapon. The corruption runs deep; the ultimate power move.

 

With Harlee and Loman distracted with their task of tailing Cole and Theo, Woz pays a visit to Ramsey. Woz knows that Ramsey is behind Mr. Molina’s murder, but that’s the least of their worries. Nate has become more than just a little blip on Ramsey’s radar, thanks to his upcoming story on Mr. Molina’s son, and the associated coverups. In a laughable move, Wozniak challenges Ramsey’s ethics, but Ramsey isn’t fazed by it. He threatens Wozniak with the Internet of Things; how accessible data is in the world of smart technology. Nothing is unreachable with the proper surveillance. Ramsey seeks Wozniak’s word that the story will be snuffed out and that people will stop digging where Intelligence has hidden all the bodies they’re responsible for burying. He gets it.

 

Gina (Vanessa Vander Pluym) is back on her own, or so we think, until we see that Stahl has taken it upon himself to squat in her apartment. He informs her that he is free of his affections for Harlee and will no longer need Gina to wear the wig. However, he still wants to use her. He uses his subtle, silent fear tactics to get Gina onboard with feeding him information on Harlee. He paints Harlee as a narcissistic murderer while using adjectives that could very well be used to describe him. Nevertheless, Gina is powerless against him. Like Harlee, she just wishes to be free of him. This is the only way she knows how.

 

Wozniak relieves Tess and Tufo of their Nate-tailing duties to speak with his son one-on-one. He wastes no time in telling Nate about Mr. Molina’s murder and warns Nate that he cannot proceed with telling this story. No matter how passionately he feels about the story reporting it will lead to his demise. In typical reporter fashion, Nate can’t make any promises that he’ll stay away. And speaking of an inability to follow instructions…Harlee and Loman have found themselves tailing the Intelligence Unit to the scene of a “standard domestic dispute” – not the type of crime Intelligence should be meddling with. Harlee pulls a woman, the presumed victim, aside to discuss her potential abuse when Theo attempts to approach. Loman steps in front of him, but it doesn’t slow them down. Cole tells Harlee to move along. This call is Intelligence business and it’s in Harlee’s best interest to forget it ever happened.

 

Wallace (Samuel Smith) gives Carlos (Vincent Laresca) a call when he is unable to locate Wozniak, who is late for a meeting with him. Tufo gets an inkling that Carlos is speaking with his brother, but the detective lies and tells him otherwise. Tufo knows that Carlos is lying to him and the charade is broken. Carlos and Tufo leave the station together to meet up with Woz and Wallace. Tufo isn’t thrilled with the prospect of using his brother as bait, but the wheels have turned too many times to stop now. Someone needs to sit in. After some deliberation, Woz agrees to swap Wallace out for his brother. The two brothers step aside to have a family moment, cop-to ex con, and they discuss Wallace’s decision to endanger himself by helping Wozniak. Tufo knows it’s only a matter of time before Wallace’s lack of training gets him hurt; but Wallace loves being able to serve a purpose. It’s enough for them to come to a compromise.

 

Loman and Harlee eventually let Intelligence handle the domestic dispute call, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t plan on doing the follow up. As soon as the victim and her abuser leave the station, Loman and Harlee pull them over. The man attempts to bribe the detectives with a wad of cash, a deed that only serves to escalate Harlee’s anger. With Harlee distracted, Gina makes a call to the FBI. Stahl watches Gina contentedly as she fabricates a story about Harlee’s obsession with Stahl. Gina claims that Harlee attempted to drug Stahl and discussed her wishes to kill him. As a final nail in the coffin against Harlee, Gina’s says that she’s afraid of the detective. Unfortunately for Harlee, the FBI have no choice but to believe her. Stahl has been clandestinely discrediting Harlee from the moment she got out of the hospital.

 

Cole confronts Harlee about her antagonistic behavior and warns her and her unit to back off. He’s too afraid of being put down himself to defy his boss so the most he can do is warn Harlee about poking the hornet’s nest. Needless to say, she doesn’t listen. Loman and Harlee have conspired enough to keep the domestic abuser in a holding cell. While they celebrate their victory, they notice that Carlos has a guilty conscience. He breaks and tells them that Wozniak has orchestrated a mission to shut down a crime ring involving the hair salon from the beginning of the season. Harlee’s face falls at the mention of Tufo’s brother. Cole mentioned that Intelligence planned on tying up such loose ends with force. No one would make it out alive.

 

Lots of hornet’s nests are being poked. Wozniak, Wallace and Tufo sit in the back of a vehicle, planning their drug bust, completely unaware of the trouble they’re about to encounter. Wallace approaches, still posing as the muscle, walking directly into the ambush. Carlos attempts to call Wozniak to warn him, but it’s too late. Intelligence has set the trap and they’ve begun to execute. By the time Wozniak and Tufo catch wind of what’s happening, Wallace’s screams ring through the air.