In Shades of Blue: Live Wire Act, Woz is out of the closet when Donny declares his love for the cop in front of Harlee’s wire. The title of the episode could also have been “Hell Hath no Fury as an Agent Ignored.” A pissed-off Agent Chen (Annie Chang) goes behind Stahl’s back to release Miguel Zepeda from prison after he repeatedly ignores her request to followup on Santos’ ex.
Not only does Harlee’s abusive ex get released but his charges are all exonerated. Zepeda (Antonio Jaramillo) is now a free man, not a parolee so he is free to do what he wants. Chen’s motivation appears to be a combination of Stahl (Warren Kole) ignoring her concerns about Woz framing the man for murder. It also seems that she distrusts the senior agents obvious attraction to Santos which does border on obsession.
Before Zepeda is let loose to go after the object of his obsession, Harlee (Jennifer Lopez) Sap is buried and emotions run deep. Woz (Ray Liotta) is a wreck, guilt and grief clashing in his mind. There is an announcement, similar to the one used in The Mysteries of Laura season finale. Although Detective Saperstein is not pronounced to be at the end of watch, but 10-7.
Sidenote: In police, and CB, parlance 10-7 means “out of service” however not all police departments are created equal in terms of “code 10” definitions and usage. In the NYPD 10-7 stands for “verify address/location.” In essence when control states that Saperstein is 10-7, the deceased cop is verifying an address or location and not out of service. Oops.
Despite more errors slipping past editors/writers, than should be allowed, Shades of Blue: Live Wire Act continues to create layers of depth to the plot line and to characters in the series. This week Tufo (Hampton Fluker) is allowed to show shades and nuances not seen before.
Marcus, who sat across from Saperstein at the precinct, has been hit hard not only by Sap’s death, but his colleague and friend’s apparent partnership with the FBI as informant. The set up of Tufo’s hidden depth comes the day after Saperstein’s funeral. As Woz’s team stand watching Tufo tossing jelly beans into Sap’s coffee cup, the dead cop’s direct line rings.
Marcus and Harlee take the call and find a bloodied man with a gun, Isaiah, the one who called for Saperstein. Tufo believes the man is a dealer and they later learn he helps those in the neighborhood who have no health insurance. Saperstein helped.
During the major storyline of Santos getting the goods on Woz and her boss getting in deeper with Donnie Pomp’s larger theft plans, Tufo learns about Saint Anthony and becomes the new Detective Saperstein to Isaiah. The scene in the church with the Father is a tear jerker and Fluker knocks it out of the park.
Woz, and Harlee with her new “wire,” go to a “face-to-face” set up by Pomp (Michael Esper) that turns out to be the transfer of a kidnap victim. Wozniak is furious and he tells Santos to take the “package” to the marina while he storms off to see Donnie.
As the enraged cop arrives at the Internal Affairs meeting being chaired by Pomp, he grabs the other man and drags him into a storage room. Donnie tells Woz that he can explain everything in ten minutes, “max.”
Later, Pomp approaches Woz in his office and Harlee is told to leave. Stahl tells her they need to hear what is being said, she goes back in and leaves her necklace cam in the rubbish bin. Santos goes out with Stahl to hear Donnie and Woz talk and discovers the gay affair the two men have had for a year.
Woz has been turfed out of the closet and Harlee looks beyond upset. Not, presumably because Woz is at the very least bisexual but because she realizes how little she really knows him.
By the end of the episode Woz learns that the kidnapping incident was a “test of faith” and Chen forces the hand of the prosecuting attorney in order to get the abusive Zepeda out of prison . Stahl is closer than ever to gaining the personal trust of Harlee and in so doing has widened the rift between himself and Agent Chen (Annie Chang) and Chen has placed Santos and her daughter in harm’s way.
Shades of Blue airs Thursdays on NBC. Tune in and be entertained by the subterfuge and try to ignore the random “boo-boos.”
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