Shades Of Blue - Whoever Fights Monsters - Review: No Mercy

"We're fresh out of good cops."

Whoever Fights Monsters

Tensions run high as Harlee is interviewed by the investigators at the crime scene and Stahl digs up, Miguel's body isn't there, but he does find a tooth, that's one hell of a lucky break for him. He asks a favor of someone at the bureau to see if the tooth is a match, but since Miguel's conviction was overturned, his records were deleted. In his disciplinary hearing he gets suspended indefinitely, even after begging them not to take away the last thing he has. He seems to be quickly loosing his mind, he even ends up breaking into Harlee's house at night and stealing some hair from Cristina's brush to compare with the tooth, once inside he even listens in on Harlee and Nava in bed. That's one creepy ass psycho.

The doctors tell Woz and Linda Nate will be fine, and that the quickness with which he was brought to the hospital, is what made all the difference. Linda wants Matt to rest but he says he owes Nate so much, she says they might give him grief, but they both understand how important his job is and they're proud of him. Later Woz tells Nate he's prouder of him than anything else he's ever done and he'd pay any price to make everything right again, including his marriage, Linda overhears and is touched by his words.

Harlee wants to make sure Stahl doesn't find Miguel but Woz tells her it's handled and he still has her back, so they get ready to go after the people who shot Nate and Harlee asks Nava to take care of Cristina, she says she's not going to her aunt's and that Harlee should stop saying she wants her to be safe and just do something about it. Ouch.

Julia shows up, Woz tells her she should stay clear because, as soon as he can, he'll go after Bianci and she shouldn't be on the way, she says she understands but she encourages him to relocate his little black book since she heard IA might be about to search his office. Indeed Verco shows up right when Woz is grabbing the book. He tells Woz it's suspicious that he's at the office instead of the hospital, and that wearing the badge and being dirty makes him the worst kind of bad guy, he assures him he's gonna get him on the frame job on Quince, at least.

Woz: Your poker face is as bad as your actual face.
Verco: You may not like my face, that's okay, we're not dating.

The crew finds one of the shooters, who was also shot, and questions him under the promise he'll bleed out otherwise, and they won't help. He says the plan was to go inside, but one of the guys was high and jumpy and started shooting early, he also tells them where they were going to meet after, but when they get to the hotel room, they find them all dead.

Harlee: That's one way to make a trail go cold.

Harlee and Woz still find a way to cleverly con Bianci's assassin into going to the wrong room to kill their lead, confirming it's definitely Bianci the one behind the attack, and they take the "cleaner" on a trip. There's a very funny scene where Harlee is talking to the "cleaner", who's locked in the trunk, and Nava shows up telling her he loves her, it's less sweet with a guy moving in the trunk, isn't it?

Cleaner: Is good cop/bad cop still a thing?
Woz: The bad news is, we're fresh out of good cops.

Woz tells Loman to talk to Karen, Adrian's mom, to make her go on record saying she was their CI all along, and that the guns and drugs were Quince's from the start. Verco is out for blood, no matter the explanation, but the investigator says he doesn't care about paperwork as long as Karen confirms their story, and Woz convinces her, telling her the only way to keep the monster from coming, is doing something about it, so she helps them keep Quince in jail. I enjoy this war with Verco so much, I honestly hope he doesn't die this season, I want to keep him around, at least so the crew can keep insulting him in new and original ways.

Tufo: You could've used a few more hugs when you were a kid.

They pick up Bianci's girlfriend too, apparently she was the one executing Bianci's orders, including the shootout. So Woz plays an awfully close game of Russian Roulette with the cleaner and Bianci's girlfriend, to get her to tell them where Bianci is, he even pulls the trigger on himself before the cleaner looses. That sure as hell should convince her (and us) he's crazy as hell. She tells them Bianci's in a safe-house and he has a dead man's switch in his office, a box full of dirt on anyone who's anyone in the city, ready to be published if anything happens to him. So they agree to take out the insurance first and then take Bianci out. Harlee knows what comes next for Bianci's girlfriend and reluctantly walks away, knowing this is not a fight she wants to have with Woz. We hear the gunshot and then Woz walks out taking her dog with him, he did always like that dog.

What did you guys think of this episode? Are you as excited for what comes next as I am? I, for one, can't get enough of this show. I'd love to read your thoughts as well.