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That was the whole point. We thought he was home free, only to get shot the second he makes it out the door. More heartbreaking that way.

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I completely agree. But the method that they used was BS. It should have been killing him after a visit to his mom and fiance or something after they tracked them down. Being behind the one door he comes out of is lazy.

Either way, loved the episode, especially VV.

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I agree, thought it was stupid to have him shoot his way through 5 guys then only to be shot climbing out a random ladder after running for God knows how far.

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I've been avoiding this thread because I was a few episodes behind but I am happy to see this show is finishing strong.

So was it implied that Frank's wife was bought off? They said the Russians got to everyone but Nails. Does that include her?

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Pieced together from other recaps I've read any my own observations (for what it's worth):

Frank is a local gangster that has done well for himself through various organized crime, which included a company dumping toxic waste to make land super cheap. There's also the whole history between Frank and Ray....but that seems pretty clear and we just found out it was Blake that gave the wrong name, so Frank wasn't using Ray. Also Blake killed Stan because Stan found out about Blake's side business with the Russians. (Also, best line from the entire show so far, "Look me in the eyes, I want to watch your lights go out").

Now, it seems Frank is hoping to go legit and make a lot of money, so he gives $5 million to Casper, who is supposed to give it to Catalyst (who owns all the parcels of land by the soon to be built rail line). Meanwhile Casper was in league with the Chessani's son, Blake and the Russians to run an prostitute ring and gather blackmail on a lot of powerful people. It seems like the Mayor's son is trying to overthrow his dad by playing ball with the new power in California, the Russians.

Now it seems that Russians said yes to a never before mentioned deal between them and Frank...but have seemingly been behind all of Frank's recent downfalls, like taking over the clubs, and now they were going to kill Frank. However Osip had a change of heart and asked him to work for them. Frank says sure, but then proceeds to get all his money together to jump town and sets fire to everything in an act of reckless abandon.

Back to Casper, someone killed him and took his hardrive of blackmail. He's also tied to the diamonds somehow but the people who stole them are now a mystery. The first time the case closes, it was because Buress (my birdman prediction) may have given some of Casper's stuff to a Mexican girl. The Mexican girl was the one Frank was looking for, and the one the Mexican gang found and murdered for double dipping with the police. Anyways that girl pawns that ****, which leads the cops to the Mexican meth lab or whatever it was. Then we have our shoot-out.

However....No one believes the Mexican meth cooks killed Casper. The asian guy running the investigation doesn't care because he's been bought and is running for governor. So our DA lady starts a special unit while recruiting our 3 main law enforcement characters to run it. So they start investigating again - on the down low. They find out about parties and diamonds and all that. Ani kills the security guard at the party and is now wanted for murder. They use one of Ray's guns to kill the DA who had their back, so now Ray wanted for murder. Paul is now dead, so there's that.

My understanding of the whole blue diamonds business: back in the 80/90s, specifically during the '92 riots, Halloway (Police Chief in Vinci), Burress (white police guy under Halloway), Dixon (guy that got domed in the shootout), and Casper all worked in the same department, as Casper was the accountant at the time. They use the riots as a distraction to murder a couple that owned a jewelry store, and steal the rare blue diamonds. The couple that was murdered left behind two kids who are now vital to the plot, which hopefully unravels next week.

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This is a shot in the dark, but I think the birdman is the young boy from the '92 robbery. We already know who the sister is, and she just happens to be working for Caspere, the man who at the time was in possession of the diamonds that would incriminate him in her parents murder. I think she somehow found out Caspere had the diamonds, and got the job to keep tabs on him, and maybe find out more info. I think the brother might have been the guy they talked to at the movie set, who would have had access to the car used in the murder, or more likely, he's some guy that hasn't been shown yet.

Edit: stupid mistakes

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I've been avoiding this thread because I was a few episodes behind but I am happy to see this show is finishing strong.

So was it implied that Frank's wife was bought off? They said the Russians got to everyone but Nails. Does that include her?

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I didn't see it that way since he brought his wife in after that conversation.

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I agree. The assistant showed up to the movie set as well, did she not?

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Great episode and VV was markedly better (as was the directing), but man are they trying to squeeze a lot of plot in, it's almost too much. This is the downside to the 8 episode format.

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• Are we supposed to know the meaning of Frank's meeting with the Jewish jeweler? If so, it alluded me.
• No way did I think Woodrugh was going to double-cross Ray and Ani. I really wish he would've put one in the dome of good hair police chief instead of just hitting him.
• The scene with Ani and her former partner was good. Nice to see there was someone she could trust. "Three in one day. That's gotta be a record for you."