It seems like last week’s episode was a bad dream. Mike (Aaron Tveit) is starting to feel the repercussions of this job and is still disturbed by Eddie’s suicide. Johnny (Manny Montana) tries to cheer him up by inviting him to play football on the beach with Paige (Serinda Swan). Johnny mentions that Paige has a new bikini that will make it worth his while. Paige wears a leopard print bikini with turquoise accents. Victoria’s Secret has a similar bikini for $52.50:

As Mike comes back into the house he is shocked to see Charlie (Vanessa Ferlito) shooting up. It turns out that Charlie and Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) are going undercover and they have to practice at pretending to shoot up and acting high so they can keep their cover.

Once Charlie and Briggs are undercover things seem to be going fine until Charlie’s old contact Whistler shows up. Since he isn’t on the FBI’s payroll anymore she’s not sure how he will respond if he sees her. To try to keep her face hidden she starts making out with Briggs and they are able to get out of there without being made.

Mike and Johnny head up to the bar for a drink and run into Mike’s girlfriend, Abby (Jenn Proske). Mike never gave her a cover job so Johnny decides to tell her that he’s a pilot.

Charlie and Briggs need to find out if Whistler blew their cover, so Charlie meets with him. He didn’t, but he is still using drugs and lies to Charlie about it. It is sad to see that he can’t get his life together.

Mike’s handler at the FBI finally reveals to him why he needs to investigate Briggs. Apparently, every time the FBI makes a bust they have an idea of how much heroin they will recover. With Briggs it is always less than the expected amount. Enough that make them question whether he is skimming off the top.

Mike is still training Bello’s army to shoot, but he isn’t moving up further in Bello’s ranks. He asks Briggs for advice and they decide that Mike could take over Bello’s number two position since Eddie is gone. Mike is able to bond with Bello over a movie, “City of Bad Men,” an old western. Mike is able to prove to Bello that he can be loyal and trustworthy so he agrees to let Mike be his bodyguard.

Charlie and Briggs are waiting in a hotel room for their meetup. Apparently, they used to date back in the day and Paige and Johnny have a bet as to whether or not they are going to sleep together. They almost sleep together, but then back out. Instead they still decide to give Paige the win and let Johnny think that they slept together.

Mike gets a look at Bello’s calendar and is able to bring back some big information to Briggs about a high profile drug deal Bello is planning.

Charlie’s deal isn’t working out so she has to work with Whistler to get him to vouch for her. The only problem is that he is unpredictable when he is using drugs. He vouches for them, but he is a little too eager. He ends up overdosing and dying in the bathroom before they can make the bust. Their mark doesn’t trust them and wants them to use his drugs with his needles. Since cops can’t use real drugs undercover it is one way for him to know if they are telling the truth. Briggs tries to leave, but Charlie goes ahead and shoots up with the dealer’s needle.

Charlie wears a vintage lips sweatshirt. I found a similar one on Etsy for $38:

Wow! I can’t believe this is how the episode ended. I’m not sure how I feel about this show. It is a lot darker than I expected, but it definitely keeps you in suspense.

What did you think about this week’s Graceland?

For more Graceland recaps click here.

If you missed this episode you can still watch it online here.

This week’s episode begins with Paige (Serinda Swan) going undercover to make a drug bust. She gets arrested to keep up appearances and finds a new strain of marijuana on her bust. I smell a new case coming on. Paige wears a fur vest as part of her undercover persona. I found a similar one at QVC for $94.32:

Wendy Williams Fur Vest

Back at Graceland, Charlie (Vanessa Ferlito) is telling the house the story behind her great-great-grandmother Francesca’s famous spaghetti sauce. It apparently takes three days to make and is amazing.

Francesca’s Sauce

Paige can’t get the DEA to approve her case so she needs to bring Jakes (Brandon Jay McLaren) and Johnny (Manny Montana) in to meet with the potential mark. Because they are working his angle with Latin gang contacts Charlie has to give Johnny some fake gang tattoos to look the part.

Mike (Aaron Tveit) is still flirting with Abby (Jenn Proske), his new love interest but Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) interrupts with a call and new assignment from Bello (Gbenga Akinnagbe). When they meet with Eddie (Sheaun McKinney) they find that he is seriously injured from the last encounter they had with Bello. The good new is that Bello still trusts them, the bad news is that he wants to speak with Mike alone. After his demonstration with the bears last week Bello wants Mike to teach his men how to shoot.

Jakes brings Johnny to meet his old contact, Ashika Pearl (Mia Kirshner). The initial introduction was a little dicey – Johnny almost blew it by going overboard on his Latin gang member impersonation. Ashika invites Jakes to come out the “the farm” where it is their job to get eyes on the illegal plants that she is growing.

Mike goes to teach Bello’s men how to handle and shoot their guns. The government has instructed him to stall, not really teaching them anything valuable. He has to convince them that they aren’t actually going to be shooting anything, but learn to understand their weapons.

Jakes, Johnny and Ashika meet at the farm to have dinner. Unfortunately, Ashika won’t show them the plants until the morning. Paige tries to call the sting off and Jakes wants to leave. Johnny insists on staying (mostly because he is trying to get laid) and stays for dinner with Ashika.

Eddie assaults Mike because he doesn’t trust him, but Mike is able to take him down. Eddie suspects that Mike and Briggs are the reason he got double-crossed in the last episode. They decide to bring Eddie in and play upon Bello’s trust issues. Charlie meets with Eddie and lays it out as if they are setting Eddie up to take the fall with Bello. They give Eddie the chance to walk away, we will see if he takes it.

Meanwhile at the farm, Johnny ends up sleeping with Ashika. She figures out he is a fake because his henna tattoos run off on the sheets.

Ashika launches a shootout in the barn, but Paige ends up saving the day.

Finally, Francesca’s sauce is ready, but before Mike can enjoy it he gets called away by Bello. Bello brings Eddie out to teach the rest of his men not to betray him. The irony is that Eddie was right all along but Bello doesn’t believe him. He gives Eddie Mike’s gun and Eddie takes his own life. Mike is so shaken up by this that he ends up bailing on his date with Abby. He tells her that he saw someone die in a car accident and she is sweet and tells him to go home.

When he gets back home all of the sauce night dishes are waiting for him. He is visibly upset by what he witnessed and doing the dishes almost seems therapeutic.

This was an interesting episode. It really highlighted the differences between Mike and Briggs. Mike showed concern for Eddie’s life and Briggs said that he signed up for it and didn’t seem to care. I hope that Mike continues to keep that vulnerable side of his personality because that’s what will keep him human throughout all of this.

What did you think about this week’s Graceland?

For more Graceland recaps click here.

If you missed this episode you can still watch it online here.

We last left off with Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) holding a gun to Mike’s (Aaron Tveit) head. This situation is quickly resolved and the boys are confronted by Bello(Gbenga Akinnagbe)  and his men. Briggs was just playing along with Bello  and pretending like he thought Mike sold them out to place suspicion on Eddie (Sheaun McKinney). Their plan works and Bello blames Eddie for their misfortune by sealing his eye with lead (gross!). Mike takes this all in stride and ends up impressing Briggs with his cool head and ability to go with the flow.

Briggs confronting Mike

Back at Graceland, Briggs and Lauren (Scottie Thompson) catch up and we find out that her partner, Donnie, got transferred to Miami. Lauren is still dead set on taking down the Russians and tries to get Briggs to help her. Lauren wears an all black look complete with a leather sleeved jacket. I found a similar one at Forever 21 for $22.80:

Forever 21 Faux Leather Sleeve Moto Jacket

Charlie (Vanessa Ferlito) goes to visit a contact of hers, a former meth addict/dealer, who has information on a big score coming their way. This was a side storyline – the contact almost ruins her deal and she ends up having to cut ties with him. Charlie gives him the final payout and tries to get him into a house, but he doesn’t take it and most likely blows the money on drugs.

Charlie & Whistler

The team assembles early in the morning to take down a shipment of Lamborghinis that the Russians are expecting. Lauren got played and Briggs aborts the mission. She doesn’t listen and blows her cover when she pulls over the decoy trucker.

After the mission, the group goes to a local bar to decompress and teach Mike about the rules of undercover dating. I didn’t even notice this on the first watch but when Mike goes back to the table, he presses his hand into Briggs’ credit card and takes a picture of the numbers imprinted into his hand. This was so fast I almost missed it.

Lauren doesn’t listen to Briggs and risks her life going back to the Russians to get more information. She comes back to Graceland with a black eye which seemed suspicious to me since we never saw it happen. She lies to Briggs and tells him that she saw the low-jacked cars in a warehouse.

Briggs assembles the team again and they go to take down the warehouse. Lauren has on a black leather moto jacket. Victoria’s Secret has a cute one for $298:

Victoria’s Secret Leather Moto Jacket

There were a lot more men at the warehouse than Lauren said and when Briggs confronts the Russian boss he realizes that he never hit Lauren. At first he talks to Paige (Serinda Swan) and they think that the Russians might be tracking her and they check her car for a tracking device. Paige wears a tiger tank top. I found a similar top at Go Jane in salmon and black ($19.50):

Go Jane Strappy Tiger Tank

Paige wears a green & white striped bikini to search for the tracking device.

Paige and Mike find the tracking device

I found a similar green and white striped bikini from Shoshanna for $23.37:

Shoshanna Green & White Bikini

Back at the bar, everyone is celebrating and Mike ends up meeting Abby (Jenn Proske), a girl that he actually has something in common with. He ends up hanging out with her all night and walking on the beach (so cute!).

Briggs puts it together that Lauren never went to the warehouse. Briggs tells her she is done and reported her to the DEA because she put the team in danger. Lauren will get reassigned out of Graceland.

At the end of the episode, Mike is able to access Briggs’ credit card information. He discovers that Briggs bought a GPS tracker and planted it on Lauren’s car. Briggs is impressed that Mike figures it out and lets him know that Lauren got out of control, which is why he had to get her out of the house.

This episode was important because it let us know not to mess with Briggs, which could be foreshadowing upcoming storylines. What did you think about Heat Run?

For more Graceland recaps click here.

If you missed this episode you can still watch it online here.