Graceland

[Hunter Rider]

So I was mistaken, there's 13 eps this season, not 10.

That final scene between Briggs and Charlie! Briggs and Mike have spiraled so far that I'm not sure how they get back on track and the trust at Graceland is all but gone.

This weeks episode was very tense, from the double talk at sauce night to the bank robbery sequence, this show has had one of the best sophomore seasons I've ever seen.

 

[E-Man]

I'm thinking that it's going to be either Charlie or Briggs that dies. After what happened last episode I don't think that they both can go on, and it's going to tear everything down. With Charlie [BLACKOUT]knowing about the tape where Briggs kills Padillo[/BLACKOUT] they can't possibly stick together the same. The look on both of their faces too was priceless. That was some damn good acting.

Spoiler

I don't think that the baby is going to last either. Charlie might kill Briggs, or not save him while she thinks that she can't have the baby of the monster that she feels she doesn't really know, so she might get an abortion. That's if she doesn't die either because the heat is going to be on everyone, and I have a feeling that the writers are twirling their mustaches and thinking who to kill off to make people cry.

I don't think this will end well for Graceland. The house has fallen apart, and there's no turning back.

 

[jaymes_e06]

Agreement with the
That Charlie and Briggs scene was heart breaking. Charls is the mother hen of the group so she is the first to console and nurture any of her housemates but **** with her and she turns into a beast. (btw didn't she look extra hot this ep? THAT BLACK DRESS! )

And E-Man I don't want either to die but you're all right this can't end well. I think at the very least Briggs will have to go on the run and become more of a criminal for hire that Mike and Charlie and the rest of the the Graceland house have to find.

 

[Charlie Boy]

This last episode was a ****ing trip. I never thought I'd see such an experimental episode come from a show like this. That's not to say I didn't think Graceland was capable of such things, just that I always figured this show would more or less be a paint by numbers action packed, thriller of sorts.

I'm not sure I understand why Mike is lying about Lina. Is it because he doesn't wanna hurt Paige? It seems as though that ship has sailed. So why keep up the charade? I'm beginning to think it's simply because he can't stand to be wrong? Mike can't show the house that he failed, in any way. In order to keep whatever foothold of respect he thinks he has, he can't appear to be fallible.

While this season has been fantastic, I feel like a few things have fallen by the wayside that I hope they pick up eventually. Jakes' hooker love interest/issues with his son and sons mother. Jakes' strenuous relationship with most of the people in Graceland... What, he gets Paige a dancing ballerina and all of a sudden all's forgiven?

Juan Padillo's widow.. She got name dropped during that dinner scene, will there be any more fall out with that storyline? I mean, at the very least she knows he's connected to her husbands disappearance. You'd think she'd take her suspicions to the FBI.

It looks like Mike is becoming everything he stood against just a year ago. His self-righteous nature leads him to believe that what he's doing is right and just... I'm not sure it's the same for Briggs, who I think is just in so deep right now that everything he does is to keep his ass out of the fire.

 

[E-Man]

Watching the season finale now, and man Lucia has a nice ass. I noticed it before, but those white pants really do her well.

But I'm hoping like hell that Johnny doesn't die. *crosses fingers*

 

[E-Man]

Wow!

**** [BLACKOUT]Paige.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Charlie Boy]

Damn man. This season didn't pull any damn punches. ****. I've been waiting all damn season for Johnny to stand up to Jakes, I just wish Lucia wasn't the catalyst for it.

I'm really at a loss for words right now... Last season was tied up with a nice little neat bow... This season, everyone is just ****ed by the end of the episode. Johnny's now in Carlito's pocket if he ever wants to see Lucia again. Paige has just about lost all faith in the entire concept of Graceland, and on top of that, basically had a hand in [blackout] Mike's apparent death [/blackout]. Briggs and Charlie are barley afloat as a couple... I mean, tragedy has brought them closer together, but there's no way that lasts...

Let's talk about Paige's betrayal here. What Mike did was *****d. He went above and beyond in order to cover his tracks, made Paige look like a straight up fool for ever doubting him. Fine. But for her to give up Mike to Markom, after knowing that Markom is responsible for the deaths of every person at the Solano estate. Dirty cops and henchmen, sure... But people none the less. She knows that Markom is straight up evil. She knows Mike is close to honing in on busting him... What was she thinking? Paige dun goofed.

That being said, I'm glad they ended the whole Paige vs. Mike plot. It came off as a rehash of season 1's Charlie/Mike vs. Briggs storyline. I'm not really sure how the house recovers from this though... This season alone, two of the Graceland agents have tried to kill Mike, Briggs, directly trying to shoot him in the back... And Paige, indirectly, by tipping off Markom.

 

[E-Man]

Paige's short sightedness on the trafficking issue really made her hard to like this season. At first I felt for her because it's a noble cause to get caught up in, but she got to the point where she just wouldn't accept that there was a bigger picture to shutting that operation down. It's like to her there is only one group of women sold as slaves instead of the international sex slave ring that's tied to all the drugs. If she were a cop that just found them I'd understand, but she's a damn federal agent that has to see the big picture.

 

[dreammaster]

amazing finale damn there got to be a season 3 if Mike is not dead I think Briggs will help mike keep is death faked in season 3

 

[Hunter Rider]

What a finale to a great and bold season!

Paige has been obsessive with the Lena situation and completely lost sight of her job and the other lives she affects with her obsession, but what she did to Mike was unforgivable.

She didn't give him a chance with a proper conversation, she took a mumbled sentence from a shot up guy as her proof, but the real crime that makes her as bad as a guy she was wrongly judging, is that instead of turning Mike in as a suspected killer, she goes and tells a total psycho where he is knowing exactly what would happen. So not only is she every bit as corrupt but she is a coward that is using someone else to do her dirty work.

Poor Johnny, he's in deeper than ever now. I was surprised that Carlito was in with Sid and that Sid killed his entire team, pretty insane plan that counted on Mike's ego.

The stuff with Charlie was intense and I was sure she was going to lose the baby, glad she didn't. From her conversation with Briggs on the bed afterwards it seems clear she thinks Mike was going to/has turned the tape over to the FBI.

Despite Mike looking dead I don't think he will be, my guess is that he is kept alive but Briggs fakes his death and keeps it from the house, then helps Mike who'll be working from the shadows find a way to bring down Sid, who has turned into a formidable villain.

Another possibility is that Mike is saved, tried and sentenced, then Briggs, Charlie and Jakes help him escape and he spends the season on the run as a fugitive trying to clear his name.

Either way this has been the best show of the summer for me and has set things up perfectly for an exciting 3rd season.

 

[Charlie Boy]

Despite Mike looking dead I don't think he will be, my guess is that he is kept alive but Briggs fakes his death and keeps it from the house, then helps Mike who'll be working from the shadows find a way to bring down Sid, who has turned into a formidable villain.

Another possibility is that Mike is saved, tried and sentenced, then Briggs, Charlie and Jakes help him escape and he spends the season on the run as a fugitive trying to clear his name.

I'd be on board with either of these ideas.

 

[Jordacar]

Finally finished the second season, and I gotta say...grrrrr

I don't mind the writers love tormenting the characters, a lot of great shows have pulled off that sort of thing beautifully. Maybe I'm only saying this because the abyss this show's become is still fresh in my mind, but I'm starting to feel like this show is pushing its torments beyond any kind of sense.

The theme of this season has pretty much been "The bad guys win". It got to the point, especially in the finale, where Sid seemed to be throwing around super Moriarty-levels of Xanatos speed chess. He grabbed Mike's gun, but no matter what bomb threats he arranged, there's no way in hell he could be sure Mike would show up when the s**t went down. And then Paige...come on. I get that she's pissed that Mike lied to her and went to such ridiculous lengths to throw her off his trail. But when she went to see Sid, I figured she'd just plug him right there since he's arguably more responsible for Lena being dead than anybody still living on the show.

And nobody's shot Carlito yet, which also bugs me. I suppose we'll get to that next year. Time for the long wait for another season of everyone getting their teeth kicked in.

Okay, got that out of my system. Now I can sleep.

 

[E-Man]

Good news. It's been renewed for season 3! Hopefully they can iron out the kinks to get it back on track to how great the show has been. Maybe have less plots this season.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/11/11/graceland-renewed-for-13-episode-season-3-by-usa/326395/

 

[Incrediblejeff]

Can't wait for season 3 after that crazy ending of 2.

 

[Elevator Man]

I was worried it was canceled as long as it took to announce the 3rd season. And that cliffhanger needed to be resolved anyway. USA doesn't seem as optimistic about this show compared to their others for some reason. I got a bad feeling they might cancel it after next season.

 

[E-Man]

I also get the feeling that USA isn't as optimistic about this series, but I do think they want it to succeed. Hopefully the producers behind the show understand that a season 4 might not be a guarantee, and they have the season finale of this upcoming season set so that it could be a good series finale if this is the end. I think there's still a lot of story to tell though, so I'm glad they're coming back again.

 

[E-Man]

Things have really gone south with Paige's character from season one. Her and Mike had a nice relationship going, but they are really doing their damnedest to make Paige really hateable.

Spoiler

Here you have a character that tries to kill her boyfriend after he covered up something that was a result of her constant tunnel vision on the girls in the house, then she won't go see him in the hospital, and then gets mad at him for trying to keep her from practically committing suicide and forgiving her.

This is usually how writers end up ruining and character that they intend for someone to sympathize with and love. They have them act like an ass to their friends and family, then have them betray someone in a heinous way, and after that they give them a redemption plot that results in them suffering no consequences from their actions that made us start hating them in the first place. Everyone just forgives them for some strange reason, and we're expected to just love them. I hate that they're doing this with Paige because I really liked her early on.

At least Briggs' new subplot is interesting. He's actually paying for some of his crimes, and I want to see how he's going to end up handling this now that everyone knows the truth. I wonder what happened with him and Charlie's [BLACKOUT]baby. Did she get an abortion or have a miscarriage? She was not showing her pregnancy at all.[/BLACKOUT] Hopefully that'll be something they address.

 

[Elevator Man]

Yeah hopefully Paige redeems herself after betraying Mike and gets out of this guilt trip or whatever it is she's going through b/c she's causing a lot of unnecessary drama between her, Mike and Graceland .

[BLACKOUT]I wonder what happened with him and Charlie's baby. Did she get an abortion or have a miscarriage? She was not showing her pregnancy at all.[/BLACKOUT] Hopefully that'll be something they address.

Spoiler

I figured b/c season 3 opens ten days later from when season 2(where Charlie was only a few weeks pregnant) ended. That (unless they do a bigger time in the upcoming episodes) it might take a little while before her baby bump shows up. But Charlie also told Jakes (during the season 3 premiere) that Briggs and her aren't a couple. If I remember correctly last season she was telling Mike about how she couldn't raise her child without Paul, when she and Mike were contemplating about turning that tape (that incriminates Paul) in to the FBI. So maybe something did happened to the baby. Maybe she and Paul agreed to not have the baby. Even Briggs hasn't mentioned the baby in the premiere.

But hopefully it'll be addressed like you said.

 

[E-Man]

Ah. I see. I didn't realize that season 3 was only ten days after the finale of season 2. It makes more sense now with Charlie.

Spoiler

Mike did say to her, "We can't drink in our condition," when she brought the apple juice in the liquor glass to the hospital.

Hopefully they still do address it enough so that it's just an ignored plot point this year. Last year it was a huge deal.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I have finally caught up on all of the season 3 eps and I think it's been a jumbled mess mostly with way too much going on.

Briggs storyline is decent enough but Ari is such a caricature, it's like he stepped straight out of a GTA game. The ep with the black and white flashbacks has been the highlight so far IMO.

Mike's weird spiritual stuff is just an odd fit in this show and has now conveniently led him to a case.

The fact neither Briggs or Mike were involved in taking out of Sid, and he was taken out in such a low key manner, seemed a poor choice after the way he was built up last season.

Charlie is directionless, jetting backwards and forwards to Miami and not really advancing her case at all from last seasons left over plot thread.

Then there's Johnny, the guy with the biggest left over plot thread and one they seemed to not know what to do with. It's a shame as I enjoyed his progress as an agent last season.

Finally we have Paige, after what she did there should be no way back, yet only Briggs is holding it against her and even then he's softening. Yet she is walking around with a chip on her shoulder and some kamikaze mindset as she wallows in self pity, which is mainly just annoying.

Jakes seems happier though, so that's a plus.

 

[Elevator Man]

[BLACKOUT]Poor Charlie I think we all expected her too lose the baby at some point when she tricked everyone about the abortion and so she could go to FL with Amber. Once they drugged her drink and it started taking affect on her I knew that was it for the baby. I was even concerned about Charlie OD-ing b/c she was given a high dosage of an untested drug. [/BLACKOUT]I hope Charlie gets her revenge on those redneck scumbags.

When Paul and co. had an emotional sit down with Mike about his addiction was another powerful moment. Every time the group has a moment together is a plus.

It was also very heartbreaking seeing Mike and Charlie having a heart to heart. I really hope Mike breaks from his addiction b/c it’s pathetic seeing him going down that path. Especially after what Paul told him about his own experience with drug addiction during season 1.

Before this season I never thought “Mike” and “junkie” would share the same sentence. I know some are mixed on this season, but I’m digging the direction the season is heading. Definitely one of the more emotional episodes of Graceland.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Loved the scene with Charlie and Mike but damn has she been through the ringer.

Mike getting clean through the house was good but he'd only been clean 5 minutes and he was back in self righteous mode.

I am guessing that Paige is so super hot that the plan is just for gradually everyone including her to forget she tried to have Mike killed.

Briggs has been back at his intriguing best this season, I really have no idea what he is up to but he seems to be juggling a lot of balls at once.

 

[E-Man]

This show has devolved from the end of last season until now. The whole thing with Briggs being secretive with Logan made no sense at all besides to advance the narrative of Briggs being someone not to trust. But it was one of those things that only served to force that drama when Briggs could have easily just told Mike, "Hey man. I'm doing this thing with Logan's knowledge. [BLACKOUT]We're going to burn Paige to get me closer to the ladder, so keep Paige in your sights so that nothing happens to her.[/BLACKOUT]"

It feels like this show is dying a slow death now where the creators are just looking for something to bring back that magic that they had in the first and second seasons before the end arc where they ruined Paige's character permanently. It seems like they have been too quick to just end key storylines in order to move on to the next step. The Odin Rossi thing just vanished into thin air with all the house members just seeming like they shrugged and accepted it. Then there was the issue with Carlito and the Solanas. They spent all that time last season building them up, having Carlito and Sid get one over on the team, and then it's all ended with a phone call and no fallout for Johnny. Jakes' kid problems and potential love interest also seem like a thing in the past too. That just went nowhere and ended up flat. This thing with the [BLACKOUT]WMD[/BLACKOUT] in that trunk also just seemed to be forgotten until they needed a way to make Briggs out to be a villain again.

It's a shame where this show has gone because I enjoy the characters and cast. I was hoping that this show would ascend into greatness last season, but I think that they have spent too much time making unnecessary drama within the house instead of on the good investigations of seasons past. Despite how I feel I wouldn't mind another season to see if the writers fix things, but the low ratings and disappointment will probably mean this is the last season.

 

[Hunter Rider]

^^ Agreed, they are having Briggs not act mysteriously but act unreasonably to manufacture drama around the distrust of him, where I think we are past the point of doubting Briggs overall, his methods will always skate the line, but the notion he's corrupt or whatever was gone after season 1 IMO.

They have swept a lot under the rug, the whole Solano's and Sid stuff especially as they were huge characters and threats they spent all of last season buildingup, and then rushed it all to a weak pay-off so they could move on to the story of Briggs and the Armenian mob and Mike's drug addiction.

 

[E-Man]

I get the feeling that last night's season finale was the last episode of the series. It ended in a way that wasn't a cliffhanger, but it did leave open the door for some more possibilities if they were renewed. The episode in a way shows the frustrations with the show, but also why I keep on watching. Here we have characters doing things at the end of the episode that blatantly went against what they were saying earlier. Paige is certainly the one that stands out the most. Earlier in the episode she is ready and willing to deal with any transgressions that the house has done coming to light. She sees that they have been acting too above the law for the longest, and that it's time to end that and face the music with Mike's real report if he decides not to sign Briggs' report. Later on she's all gung-ho with breaking the law and letting Briggs kill a guy so that the house stays in tact. Really? Your ass was ready to watch them go down in flames in the same damn episode, now you're like, "Nope. This guy has to die. We can't go to jail. We've done some bad things, and we need to be protected." Notice how her trying to get Mike killed still hasn't been brought up. It's funny how Mike forgave her for nearly killing him and blowing his investigation within two seconds, but Briggs is so evil that Mike has to not let him "win." What's worse is that this time Briggs' plan wasn't even so bad. He should have told them about it, but he actually was putting away a very dangerous gun runner this time. If there was something to see Briggs burn over it was being Odin Rossi, but they all just treated that like, "Eh. He was a notorious drug dealer that we were chasing after, but whatcha gonna do? That's our Briggs!"

At the same time things with Jakes were so damn great. When he was asking his girl what was important to her that was one of the best scenes in the series. His frustration with being an agent and not getting the life he wants was well done. The storyline with him not being able to see his son came back around to his decision, and the fight and fallout with Johnny was really great. Then Charlie's reaction to it in the final scene was amazing. They really felt like a family, and that's what this show is good at. But they've spent too much time going for unnecessary drama and poorly ending major conflicts that I think that was their last leg. If it gets renewed, which I doubt, then there's still enough to like here. If this is the end then the writers have to look at themselves and wonder why this show wasn't as great as it had all the potential to be.