Truths Come Out, Graceland “Sense Memory” 

I have to start by saying how much I LOVE this show! I don’t know what’s going on most of the time (shout out to Briggs’ crazy 24-hr plan) and I don’t like what’s going on a lot of the time (shout out to Mike’s shady drug deal in the alley) but there is so much twisty, compelling, mind-bending drama and awesome character development that I just can’t get enough. This week brought us plenty of in-the-moment drama, but it also brought us two more subtle and revealing conversations that felt particularly important for weeks to come.

The first was Johnny’s conversation with Jakes. I have to say, I loved everything about the adventure these two had together this week. Jakes calling out Johnny and then joining him as he smuggled drugs across the border in a boat (even though Jakes gets seasick) — so good. Like Briggs said last week, Graceland isn’t just a house, it’s a place where when you get in too deep, you have 5 people to help pull you back out. Granted, Johnny should’ve accepted help earlier, but now he’s in too deep and despite the fact that he may not approve, Jakes sees that, which is why he has Johnny’s back. And let’s not forget, with a boat full of drugs and Lucia’s life on the line, there isn’t much they can do to fix it right now. So they set sail. However, it was the conversation mid-ocean that really got me, starting with Johnny’s description of Lucia.

Johnny: You know those two masks? One’s smiling and one’s sad or something?
Jakes: Tragedy, comedy, yeah.
Johnny: Yea, that’s what Lucia remind me of.
Jakes: She don’t seem all that funny.
Johnny: She’s not. She’s got this side to her that’s like hard as iron. Like her brother and her dad and generations of the messed up Solano blood line. I feel like she was forced to wear the frowny one her whole life. You know, if somebody let her wear the happy one, she’d be pretty awesome.

I think the reason I loved this so much was not because of what it says about Lucia, but because of what it says about Johnny.  He doesn’t just see what Lucia is, he sees what she could be and I find that so incredibly sweet. Despite all that he’s been through and all that he’s seen, he can still see the good in people and the potential that they have. Let’s be honest, this whole situation has been a nightmare from the beginning and Lucia’s stubborn attempts to stand-up to her brother haven’t made matters any easier. And yet, Johnny loves her and can envision how awesome she could be without her family, so he’s willing to do anything to fight for her. Even killing Sid and allowing her monstrous brother live. Which brings us back to his conversation with Jakes and his confession.

Jakes: We’re gonna get her back, Johnny.
Johnny: Yea, right.
Jakes: Don’t get all defeatist on me Johnny. We’re actually running a bunch of dope up from Mexico, it can’t get much worse.
Johnny: Actually, it kind of does. I’m the one who killed Sid.
Jakes: What?
Johnny: He was helping me get Lucia back.
Jakes: Hold on, Sid was helping you?
Johnny: Not like that, man. Carlito made me smuggle him down to Mexico, so me and him busted in to get Lucia out. We got her then all hell broke loose. Sid was gonna kill Carlito, man, I had to make a choice. Sid’s head busted open like a blown out tire. I mean, I’ve shot guys before, we all have…..
Jakes: Hey, things get hairy….
Johnny: Shit happens, right? I never lost a minute of sleep over it, but this was different, man. This was like execution.

First off, I’m SO glad that Johnny confessed and got this weight off his chest and also that Jakes handled it so well. Watching Johnny hold it in while everyone discussed Sid’s death in the kitchen made me tense so I can’t even imagine how he felt.

That being said, while I’m glad its out, part of me still fears that Sid’s death will haunt Johnny moving forward. Granted, Sid was an awful person and deserved to go down, but the way Johnny did it clearly didn’t sit right with him. And once again, he did it all for Lucia.  That being said, even though it’s bad (potentially really really bad), I love that Jakes still had his back. He could easily have let Johnny continue to face this alone, but once he decided to join in, he was all in. Obviously, Jakes is just one of 6 people in the house, so I’m interested to see how everyone else reacts when the truth comes out…like Briggs said, they’ll move heaven and earth to help him and I have no doubt that they’ll support him eventually, but that doesn’t mean telling them will be a walk in the park. However, I’m hoping it’ll be at least a little easier for Johnny now that he has Jakes on his side.

The other conversation I have to touch on is the one between Briggs and Mike. After Mike goes on to the field (again, MUCH too soon in my opinion…especially since he’s mixing pills in an attempt to quell his pain), he literally freezes at the sight of 29 red chickens. Even being sprayed with machine gun bullets doesn’t break the trance he’s in when he sees these birds. Fortunately, he ends up without a physical scrape, but it’s clear he wasn’t so lucky mentally.

A visit from Briggs later reveals why these birds were so important as Mike reveals his “walk to the light” moment and what he saw as he was knocking on death’s door at the end of last season.

Mike: I was home, the foothills of the Adirondacks . I could smell the trees, feel the spring chill. I had this sense that I needed to get to the tree lines and so I started running, but before I got there, these birds just took off.
Briggs: Red ones?
Mike: Yea, I didn’t even have to count, I just knew how many there were.
Briggs: 47?
Mike: Yea.  When the birds cleared, I was at the tree line. There wasn’t a path, there was a tunnel. At the mouth of it, there was a grandfather clock. 10:10, that was the time. And then I saw you, the doctors, I was back. These birds and the numbers, they mean something and I was sent back here to figure out what.

I can’t even begin to guess what any of this means, but the fact that Mike’s near death experience potentially ties in to the case definitely adds an interesting twist and I’m eager to see how it all comes back in to play…provided Mike can stay out of life-threatening trances and avoid back-alley drug deals long enough for us to find out.

Be sure to catch next week’s Graceland Thursday at 10/9c on USA.