Shades of Blue – The Reckoning

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

Even though Theo Bennett (Christopher James Baker) is peering through the iron bars of his holding cell, Harlee (Jennifer Lopez) and Wozniak (Ray Liotta) are still swimming against the current. Their captain is too busy chastising the two detectives for facing the Blue Wall to care about the dirty detective’s crimes and Internal Affairs’ Detective Verco (Dov Davidoff) is trying to balance maintaining his own integrity while avoiding interdepartmental conflict. It doesn’t take long for Wozniak to realize that Ramsey (Bruce McGill) had already planted seeds of doubt in the captain’s mind – discrediting Harlee and reframing Theo’s arrest as a misguided act of vengeance. The captain threatens to release Bennett but is overruled by Verco. He is willing to hear Harlee’s side of the story and ready to dispense justice where justice is due. Verco gives Harlee and Wozniak twenty-four hours to find evidence that links the Intelligence Unit to the cartel and to Nava’s murder. They have to do it by the book. Harlee and Wozniak cannot stoop to the level of Ramsey to take him down. They need to take the high road.

Harlee and Wozniak proceed to interrogate Bennett. They’ve acquired some information regarding his troubled past and mental illness from his military records. His service records are detailed to an extent, after which they become dark and difficult to decipher. It’s safe to assume that the ambiguity marks the beginning of his downfall. Harlee takes this information and baits Bennett, poking at the wounds in his psyche that are yet to heal. Bennett pleads the fifth, but his body language suggests that he’s anxious – guilty, even. The dirty detective refuses to talk. Ramsey pays a call to Wozniak to check on the loyalty of his team and is not surprised when Wozniak refuses to back down. The call was more of a last chance warning than a professional courtesy. When Wozniak makes it clear that he will be standing by Harlee’s side, Ramsey proceeds to host a press conference where he declares treason within the police department and declares Bennett’s detainment the product of false accusations. Time is running out.

During roll call and assignment Tess (Drea de Matteo) and Tufo (Hampton Fluker) are overlooked. It seems as though the Blue Wall is already declaring their allegiance to the Intelligence Unit. This does little to silence Tufo’s nerves, as he is already on edge from his brother’s injury and the target that’s been placed on their back from the set-up they were involved in. In fact, his shortened fuse nearly results in a catastrophe when he nearly shoots a deaf man who fails to comply with his verbal orders. Luckily, Loman (Dayo Okeniyi) disarms Tufo before the innocent is shot. Loman understands Tufo’s trigger-happiness given the recent attempts on their lives, but the choices of a police officer are always life or death. In a world where their enemies are now dressed both like them and like civilians – they need to be calculated and strategic in every movement they make.

Wozniak gives Harlee eleven of their twenty-two remaining hours to uncover evidence by-the-book. The remaining time will be his and they’ll do things the bloody way if they have to. Detective Santos, on a newfound mission to maintain her integrity, takes to the streets. Her first stop is by the track of confer with Cole. Cole, despite his declarations of having a conscience, is the one responsible for destroying the evidence Harlee had found at Bennett’s home. Cole (Nick Wechsler) is still indebted to Ramsey, but is eternally conflicting and full of fear at the prospect of fighting that big Blue Wall. At the same time, Wozniak runs to the FBI to discuss the Intelligence Unit’s relationship with the cartel. The FBI drops a name though they are unable to provide him with any more information. Both Harlee and Wozniak have hit dead-ends, but they’re not ready to back down yet. Unfortunately, they’re not the only unstoppable forces in the city. Robert Stahl has decided to add another layer of complexity to Harlee’s life by sending her newspaper clippings of the man he killed protecting her – with a small message scribbled over the print: It was him or you. Healed yet? Harlee isn’t sure who sent her the message, but she quickly understands that the cartel sent out multiple sicarios.

Harlee decides that the note was in fact a message from Stahl (Warren Kole) and delivers it to the desk of the less gracious of the two FBI agents she has spoken with. The agent, having spoken with Gina (Vanessa Vander Pluym), is reluctant to believe a word Harlee says. Her opinion of the detective has been severely swayed – and she will no longer be willing to skip steps to accommodate Harlee’s needs. Gina has completely retracted her statement, placing all of the doubt back on Harlee. While Harlee strikes out with the FBI, and later with Gina (who is being held captive in her own apartment by Stahl), Wozniak and Carlos (Vincent Laresca) are busy following up on the name that was given to Woz. They pay a visit to a lawyer who is in bed with Ramsey and Ortiz. He can’t tell them anything – his family has been threatened. Wozniak offers the lawyer his protection, but the attorney is too desperate – too afraid of Ramsey and his crew. He flings himself out of the window and plummets to his death, convinced that nothing and no one else could save him.

There is no way for Wozniak or Carlos to avoid interaction with their fellow NYPD officers after this exchange and word has spread rather quickly that Wozniak cannot be trusted. The detectives called to the scene of the suicide question Wozniak as though he is to blame for the man’s death – a product of the impending battle. Harlee shows up and urges them to search the office for some answers on what the lawyer was doing for Ramsey, but the looming investigation will make it nearly impossible. In the middle of this discussion, Cole texts Harlee and tells her not to leave the scene. He might be able to help her. Harlee leaves to meet with Cole. Wozniak leaves to have a gentlemen’s drink with Ramsey. Wozniak offers a deal. Bennett pleads out and Ramsey cuts his losses on one officer – everyone walks out alive. Ramsey declines.

Back at the station, Tufo and Tess discuss the division amongst police officers. Tess is aggravated that they are paying for Harlee’s decisions, but Tufo is also extremely anti-Intelligence Unit given their attempts on Wallace’s life. Their conversation is interrupted by some fellow patrol officers keen on starting a fight. A lanky officer taunts Tufo with mention of Wallace and he react in anger. A small altercation takes place, but it broken up by a superior officer. They disband and disperse. Tufo is dismissed for the day, leaving Tess in a patrol car with the very officer that antagonized her partner. They sit outside of Cristina’s school, ensuring her safe passage. The man asks her what their purpose is, but Tess knows that loose lips sinks ships. They go to get some food and have a more civil conversation. Now is the time to make alliances.

Harlee meets Cole in a parking garage attached to the now deceased lawyer’s office. He informs Harlee that there is something in the office that Ramsey needs to maintain his upstanding image. They have a narrow window to search the office, which will only be empty for a few minutes so they quickly make their way up. Unbeknownst to them, Harlee was followed by Stahl, who breaks into Harlee’s car and plants a bloody knife inside of it. The knife it appears is one that he threatened Gina with back at her apartment. As Harlee works to convict a bad man, a different bad man is working to ensure her own conviction. But…that’s an issue for another time. Harlee and Cole are now inside the lawyer’s office and are looking for evidence that connects the cartel to Intelligence. The fumble through his belongings until they find a formation document for an offshore LLC. The offshore belongs to Ramsey. Harlee also finds a purchasing agreement for a bonded warehouse that opens into the river. More incriminating evidence. Harlee snaps a picture when they realize they’re out of time. Two Intelligence Unit officers enter the office. Cole and Harlee hide in a closet. They make it out without being made, but the original documents were collected by the dirty cops.

Harlee connects the dots. Ramsey is bringing in another shipment. She takes this information to Wozniak, who appears to be on the verge of a mental breakdown. Together, they rally the troops. They’re determined to raid the warehouse, which should (in theory) be full of evidence. Carlos is hesitant, but the others are ready to go in, despite their unanswered requests for backup. Harlee enters the warehouse first. The warehouse is empty, sans a few dumpster bins. An eerie silence fills the massive space. Something isn’t right. The shipment is late and no one is there. Another trap. Gunshots ring out. Harlee receives a text from Cole instructing her to take cover immediately. Harlee makes a call for backup, knowing there’s a slip chance any will come. Fortunately, Tess receives the call for back up from dispatch. She and her temporary partner speed up, ready to answer it.

Wozniak and the rest of the crew have been cornered and they’re at Harlee’s throat. Cole has set her up for failure once again and the crew recognizes it. Choices will need to be made throughout the department. Lines are being drawn in the sand. Tess watches as the backup headed towards the warehouse turns around, realizing that the call was made by Harlee. Her disgust is palpable, but she’s not the one driving. The man who criticized them for breaking the blue line is behind the wheel and he needs to make a choice as well. He cuts the wheel to turn around. Tess makes a decision. When he doesn’t listen to her pleas, Tess pulls her gun on him and orders him to get out of the car. If he won’t help her unit, she will…and they desperately need it. Cole, Jessica Phelps (Elia Monte-Brown) and another Intelligence Officer are closing in on Harlee and her crew – guns drawn just outside the room they barricaded themselves within. Cole looks conflicted, but the other looks ready to kill.