Home On The Range – Episode 9 opens with several brief scenes. In the first, Merle Callahan (Richard Brake) is being evacuated to the nearest emergency room. In the second, Raphael Johnson (D Smoke) is being loaded onto a prison transport bus with several other inmates. In another scene, Stevie (Derek Webster) and Ian Ferguson (Hugh Dillon) process Charlie out for what appears to be a field trip (Kenny Johnson).
Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) is stewing at the office when Iris (Emma Laird) shows up in a panic with the news that Konstantin Noskov (Yorick Van Wageningen) suspects that Milo Sunter (Aidan Gillen) is still alive. Mike assures her that Milo isn’t alive and promises that he is going to make everything right.
Kevin Jackson (Denny Love) briefly meets with Warden Kareem Moore (Michael Beach) at Anchor Bay to plant the seed that the motorcycle driver was white. Although Kareem is completely shocked and almost unbelieving, he promises to arrange for Kevin to change his statement with the proper prison authorities and KPD.
Mike speaks briefly with Carney (Lane Garrison) to learn that Merle has been evacuated and the Aryans are up in a roar over it. There are some brief jokes about Merle dying on the table before the call ends. Rebecca (Nichole Galicia) attempts to offer Iris some unheeded advice when she covertly drops her back off at the motel.
Mike briefly visits Tracy McLusky (Nishi Munshi) to tell her about CO William Breen’s (Matthew Del Negro) transfer. Despite this and although Tracy does thank him, she appears a bit ungrateful when she tells him that there are others. At the same time, it is revealed that Raphael’s transport bus was headed for court. Once there, he finds an opportunity to escape and takes it.
Mike updates Merle on his accomplishments with the Russians and Crips while Evelyn Foley (Necar Zadegan) meets with Leticia Marks (Sakina Jaffrey) to briefly discuss her performance and progress as District Attorney. It is not long after this that Mike learns about Raphael’s escape. Upon learning this, he phones Ian to encourage him not to put much effort into finding Raphael. Being that Ian and Stevie are out of town, this does little good.
After speaking with Ian, Mike surprises Deverin ‘Bunny’ Washington (Tobi Bamtefa) while he waits for his takeout order. They both briefly express their displeasure with their situations before agreeing on an arrangement to put Bunny back in control.
Kareem is called to a meeting with Ken Nimmo (Matt Pascua) where he learns that he’s being asked to quietly step down from his post. As expected, this doesn’t go so well and Kareem refuses, but Ken practically gives him two weeks and tells him that he will be terminated should he refuse to comply. When Mike meets with Robert (Hamish Allan-Headley) and Kyle McLusky (Taylor Handly) to tell them that he will be gift-wrapping Raphael, things don’t go much better. Although Robert agrees to take Mike at his word, he clearly leaves the meeting unhappy.
Charlie leads Ian and Stevie to a forest outside Bridgewater while Mike makes an arrangement with Konstantin to ambush Bunny and steal his rather impressive military armory. Raphael meets with Roe (Mystie Smith) and Trey (Brandon Faison) at his childhood home. Bunny also joins them later and promises that Raphael will have a soft landing should he surrender himself. Raphael appears content with the arrangement and thanks Bunny for looking out for his family. Tracy is very briefly called into Warden Tanya Michaels’ (Tara Karsian) office where she is given a not-so-subtle warning about causing problems in her own backyard.
Konstantin reproaches his offer to give Iris a new life. This doesn’t go so well once she becomes affronted and tells him that he’s only offering as a power play against Milo. It is also revealed during this brief dispute that it was Konstantin who initially turned Iris out, as he has apparently thousands of girls.
Raphael and Trey bond over their love for piano while Mike meets with Evelyn to arrange for his ‘soft landing.’ Although she has yet to hear of the escape, she agrees to eventually wipe about the charges should he quietly surrender.
Tracy just happens to be leaving her shift as Breen loads the last of his gear into his vehicle. They both get into their vehicles and it appears there isn’t going to be a confrontation. This is until he pulls in behind her, lays on the horns, and shoots her the middle finger. She throws her car in reverse and rams his driver’s door several times.
When Charlie has some difficulty remembering the location of his Bridgewater victim, he mentions the victim on the porch. This immediately causes Ian to become uncomfortable and tells Charlie to close that door. Stevie doesn’t allude to being suspicious, but their attention is soon turned back to Charlie, who has now remembered the location of his victim’s legs.
While Ian and Stevie call in the experts to dig up the remains, Roman (Mark Ivanir) briefly meets with Konstantin to confirm that arrangements for Iris have been made. It’s suggested that they are plotting to have Iris sent away, it’s merely just a matter of choosing the location. As for them, it appears there will be no return to New York. Later that evening Ian realizes that Charlie isn’t going to let the victim on the porch go so he shoots and kills him.
Elsewhere, Mike takes Raphael to the emergency room where Merle is being held. It doesn’t take Raphael long to disguise himself as a nurse and get into Merle’s room. He is, however, surprised to learn that Merle isn’t there. Instead, there is a dead guard handcuffed to the bed, but Merle from the condition Merle is in, it doesn’t appear that he’ll be around much longer. Before Mike calls Ian to arrange for Raphael’s surrender, he admits that he underestimated Merle.
It is merely minutes later when Raphael is apprehended without incident. There are a few squirrelly moments with Robert, but Stevie, Ian, and Kyle manage to keep the situation contained. As Raphael is being escorted to the transport vehicle, Mike phones Evelyn with the good news.
Later that evening, Kyle returns home to discover the damage to Tracy’s vehicle. She initially tries to pawn the incident off as an accident at a red light, but when Kyle shows interest in using his resources to look into the matter, she has no choice but to own up to the truth. She tells him about everything from going to Mike to the rapes. He takes this much better than expected but tells her there is no point in his existence if he can’t protect her.
The episode ends with Roman trying to make final arrangements with Stout (Melissa Gilleece) for Iris’s transport. This is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Milo who shoots Roman in the leg. Milo tells him that he can’t kill him just yet because he has plans for him.
Mayor Of Kingstown Review
With the extra 10 minutes or so, the episode felt entirely drawn out. The whole Charlie debacle as well as Tracy’s confrontation with Breen and the Warden felt needlessly long. Other than that, this is not a bad way to go into the finale. At least we now know that the Charlie storyline is practically finished. Although the rest of the episode was Mike running around here and there making false promises, I enjoyed it. I won’t go as far as to say that it was great but it wasn’t bad.
The whole Robert and Swat situation was a bit confusing. If you promise Robert the collar and then give it to Ian, why even get Robert involved at all? Would Swat automatically be called in on a situation like that? I also like the prospect of Kareem losing his job. It’ll be interesting to see where this leads, who will be the new warden, and if Mike can work with them. Milo’s return was only shocking because it had been so long that I couldn’t actually remember what happened to him until Mike mentioned seeing him die in the boat explosion. I’d give the episode a 5.5 out of 10.
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