Read Me My Rights. Review: Graceland - “Smoke Alarm”

Season 1, Episode 9

Air Date: Thursday, August 15, 2013, 10/9c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

“Jangles is here.” – Briggs

Looks like Jangles is in town

As the game of cat and mouse continues in “Smoke Alarm,” the stakes increase when Jangles, a masked Caza Cartel boogeyman, leaves behind a trail of blood when hunting down Odin (aka Briggs (Daniel Sunjuta)). The question is who is the cat and who is the mouse because Briggs sets up a few traps of his own. Adding to the complexity is Charlie (Vanessa Ferlito), who continues her investigation into Briggs, as well as the hunt for Odin. Will she get caught up in one of the traps Odin and Jangles have set for each other?

I am not convinced Odin is what he seems to be, and I wonder if he is a Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects) type of character Briggs created to draw out Jangles. For the longest time Odin was simply a myth; it wasn’t until recently that Briggs stepped into Odin’s shoes out of necessity. I think Briggs’ line to Mike (Aaron Tveit) supports this theory in many ways: “Sometimes, it’s all about using one monster as bait to get the others.”

“Smoke Alarm” can be summed up with one word: obsession. We see the lengths people will go to in order to get answers or resolve an issue. Briggs clearly wants to take down Jangles, which is why he has been reluctant to move in on Bello (Gbenga Akinnagbe) despite having plenty of chances. Plus, we learn the reason for Juan’s (Pedro Pascal) investigation into Briggs may be more personal than professional.

Charlie teaming up with a suspicious Mexican “federale”

Meanwhile, Charlie’s desire to take down Odin starts to cloud her judgment. Ferlito and Sunjata do an excellent job playing off each other, especially when both realize the other is lying about what they know. The manipulation and lies are fascinating to watch, particularly as Charlie gets closer to tracking down Odin. The look of shock and horror on Briggs’ face when Charlie walks into a trap set for Jangles is spot on. Kudos to Sunjata for pulling that off as intensely as he does. But Charlie isn’t the only one to walk into the trap; we meet Rafael Cortes (Vincent Laresca), a suspicious Mexican “federale” on Odin’s trail. While their goals are similar, I wonder whether their motives are also.

The climax of “Smoke Alarm” is Jangles’ assault on Bello’s safe house. Who knew a shot of Briggs running would look so damn cool? Not only that, the scene shows us Briggs in full FBI mode. Pretending to be Odin is one thing but when it comes down to it, Briggs’ job is to make sure the agents working with him are safe. I’m not sure a traitorous Briggs/Odin would react that way. Does he want to catch Jangles? Sure, but at that moment, the FBI comes first. This also marks the second time in two weeks that an opponent has gotten the best of Mike. Maybe he needs a few more combat lessons.

Was anyone else surprised about the way Paige (Serinda Swan) reacts to what Mike tells her in the hospital? She has been working so hard to get close to Mike that I thought she would be more willing to listen. I understand the whole mentality about not ratting on a fellow officer but I sensed there was something more to her reaction. Almost as if her learning the truth about Mike’s reason for being in Graceland puts something she is doing in jeopardy. She doesn’t want to get out of that room, she needs to get out. “I can’t be here right now.”

Juan’s investigation into Briggs reaches a level of insanity with tragic results I did not see coming. It is like wearing a bear suit in the woods during hunting season. It also opens up many questions. Was there ever really an investigation into Briggs? What really happened when Briggs left the first house? Will Briggs’ actions have any consequences? Perhaps the biggest question of all is does Juan survive? And what the hell was he thinking?

I think we’re about to get a lot of answers as the dust of the events settles. While some of the other twists in “Smoke Alarm” failed to grab me, this one did and I am very anxious to see the fallout in the next Graceland episode.

For more information on Graceland, visit the official website.

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.