In Shades of Blue things are moving on at a rapid pace in episode 104; Who Is It That Can Tell Me Who I Am. While Harlee tries to sit on the fence and not give up Woz as she attempts to keep Stahl appeased, Loman proves he has not learned anything after his colleagues stage an intervention and his folly may get him killed.
A number of things are revealed in this episode. Woz is apparently in over his head with Donny, who is keeping a lot of things secret from his lover. Wozniak is also promiscuous when stressed and after a quickie in the alley, wrecks his car and gets injured severely enough to be put in hospital.
After Harlee leaves James’ apartment and returns Stahl’s wire, she comes across a robbery taking place and once she calls for backup, intervenes. The shop owner is stabbed and the two robbers escape.
Loman goes to the funeral service of the drug dealer he killed and starts to speak to the mourners. His fellow officers drag him away from the podium and their actions almost start a riot. The neighborhood becomes violent and the police barely get Loman out, although not before being attacked.
Michael’s colleagues take him to a vacant lot and hand him a gun, telling him to shoot himself if he is really suicidal. (Earlier, Loman tried to throw his service weapon in the river and it fell short. Police came by as he stood on the railing, they brought him in thinking he was attempting to kill himself.) Loman fights and his fellow cops think he has learned his lesson.
Woz sends Harlee to collect that van needed for Donny’s big job, the one he was hesitant to included Santos in, and she discovers C4 and counting machines hidden in a false floor. Harlee then calls Stahl but hides the incriminating evidence before he and his assistant Molly (Annie Chang) arrive.
The two robbers, one of whom stabbed the shop’s owner, are tracked down and Harlee shows that she still bends the rules wherever possible. The second suspect, who abuses his spouse is at home is given up by the one robber in custody. (an amusing scene where Tess comes in as bad cop) Bernard, the man who stabbed the shopkeeper is protected by his battered wife who will not let the police in. As they begin to leave, Loman and Harlee can hear him beating on the woman.
Loman is upset and Santos tells him that they can go in if he heard the woman cry for help. Michael says that he did hear her and the two enter the apartment.
After tricking Stahl, Harlee gives Woz the C4 and cash counting machines. Much later the FBI agent finds them in Matt’s lock-up.
After the hospital visit from Harlee, where Wozniak learns of the C4, he punches Donny and demands to know what is going on and what his partner in crime is not telling him.
Ray Liotta delivers in this episode as the cop with many layers. A married man who is secretly gay, a crooked cop and a man consumed with his daughter’s suicide, so much so that he has built a shrine to her in his lock-up. Liotta’s Wozniak is a man of many secrets and issues.
Warren Kole keeps Stahl in the role of unlikeable and stalker-ish douche. Molly, who is the bipartisan observer to her boss’ behavior, learns that Agent Stahl is focussed completely on himself and his goals on the case.
Dayo Okeniyi is consistent with his portrayal of the guilt ridden cop who feels pressure to be a good guy while trying to cope with his murder of an unarmed suspect. At the end to the episode, his character shows up once more where he has no business being.
Jennifer Lopez still manages to look that bit too glamorous to be a homicide cop, but she pulls it off with a committed performance. As Harlee Santos she convinces as the woman and mother desperate to not rat on her friend and protector Woz while trying to keep Stahl at bay.
Shades of Blue, episode 104 continues to keep up the tension. Santos is still fighting her handler every step of the way and Stahl is beginning to look more like the stalker that Harlee accuses him of being. Nava and Santos take a step back after their amorous evening while Nazario and Espada get too close.
Sidenote: The reason that Woz wrecks his car is because of a stray dog that he first sees while receiving oral sex in the alley behind a bar. As he drives off, Woz spots the dog again and become distracted. Later in the show, as Loman gets his hand treated and Harlee and Nava talk, Woz brings the dog a scrap of food. It seemed that, for one moment at least, the crooked cop was going to poison the dog, but it seems that Woz is not as bad as Stahl believes him to be. Although it was surprising that there was not a shot of a dead stray at the end of the show.
Shades of Blue airs Thursdays on NBC. The show seems to have found its feet and, in this episode at least, creator Adi Hasak prevented any further disconnects that detract from this interesting story line. Tune in and see how much longer Harlee can keep Stahl at bay and how long Loman can hide who he is.
