Con In 60 Seconds – The episode opens amid a street race. Max Mitchell (Vanessa Morgan) fires up her engine. Ryan pulls up beside her. She nods at him. The countdown begins. Toni shifts gears when she hears approaching sirens. She alerts Ryan. They both step on the accelerator and speed down the street with several police cruisers in tow.

24 Hours Prior – Max and Cole Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) listen to a recording of a man confessing to the random killing of Cole’s brother, Daniel. Sniggering, the man boasts of there being nothing to connect him to the murder. Max says it was on Albert’s recordings. Ellis reminds her that she said the recordings were gone. She assures him that this is something she would never lie about. Unsure to believe her, he says nothing about her is real. She suggests they work together to find Daniel’s killer. He insists on taking her in. En route to the police station, Ellis admits to smashing the fake egg to prove it was fake. She tries to make him see reason and warns that her arrest will have negative consequences for him. After more back and forth, Max offers to give him the real egg in exchange for her freedom. He reluctantly accepts and adds another stipulation, they will never see each other again. He makes a U-turn. A short time later, Max and Ellis meet Ricky Wilson (Fletcher Donovan) in a remote parking lot. Wearing a stained shirt, Ricky hands over a case and asks how he can be sure he won’t arrest Max. Max says he gave his word. Ellis sarcastically says unlike them, his word means something. On a serious note, Ricky hopes he finds Daniel’s killer.

After listening to the recording, Chief Li (Terry Chen)  Max recalls Max reported the USB stick missing. She claims it was in the sofa cushions and suggests it slipped from Albert’s pocket. Not completely sold on her claim, Li dismisses her. Detective Simmons (Michael Xavier) informs her that Graves’ security team will pick up the imperial egg in 15 minutes. Grabbing an evidence bag from the desk, she claims to have evidence to file for Ellis. Toni gives her a paper to sign and unlocks the door. Max adds the egg to the Graves evidence box. Upon leaving, Max encounters Detective Yates (Amy Goodmurphy) who asks why she is there. Max claims to have filed evidence for Ellis. Yates puts money on John Cougar Mellencamp and explains how they bet on the names of John Does coming into the morgue. She says Uriah Heep was brought in last night. After receiving an alert that Graves’ team arrived, Yates leaves to collect the egg. Max calls George Graham (Jason Priestley) in jail to tell him about Uriah Heep. After the call ends, he calls Ricky to ask about the egg. Elsewhere, Li informs Ellis that it will take a long time to go through the mob conversations stored on the USB stick. Ellis pleads with him to speak with the director to prevent any delay in solving Daniel’s case. Li says he cannot be involved in the case because it is a conflict of interest but promises to stay on top of it. Ellis tells Max that he needs the egg back. She says it has already been added in evidence.

Commissioner Russo (Karin Konoval) informs Li, Ellis, and Max of her decision to run for mayor. She voices concern about a robbery gang that lost its getaway driver in a crash. Li says they have been unable to identify the driver. Russo delegates the task to Ellis and Max. Ellis asks to be put back on normal duty. Russo warns him against violating a direct order. Max says she is busy. Russo threatens her with probation revocation for withholding evidence. Max argues there is no evidence and asks for a six-month sentence reduction for George. Russo agrees to a two-week reduction. Max accepts. A short time later, Li goes over the gang robbery case with Yates, Simmons, Max, and Ellis. Simmons explains how the suspects utilized infrared strobes on their hats to bling the security cameras. With their faces blurred, detectives cannot identify them. The gang stole sheet metal, a high-intensity magnet, and an electromagnetic pulse generator. Simmons urges Ellis to let the organized task force do their job and focus on his case. At the morgue, Max looks through Heep’s things while Maddy (Katie Findlay) tells Ellis nitromethane, a fuel additive, was found on the getaway driver’s skin. A short time later, Ellis tells Li about the nitromethane, utilized by street racers. Max assures him that she can get them in but they need a racecar.

Ellis signs for the sports car. Max insists on driving. She calls Ricky and asks him to pick them up some racing gear. Ellis grabs her phone and asks Ricky to find Daniel’s killer. Ricky sarcastically asks if anyone says please when the line goes dead. Max warns that he could lose everything. He accuses her of pretending to care about what happens to him. She steps on the accelerator. At Elite Drive Automotive, they arrive at a garage run by Nadia Evans (Marie Avgeropoulos) and Ryan Stelgan who spent five years in prison for robbery. Utilizing aliases, Danny and Ted, try to get a get but are immediately turned down. Ellis says the high methanol alcohol content will keep the adhesive from sticking to fiberglass. He claims to have patched a lot of bullet holes. Ryan tells them to leave their number. Later, Ryan challenges Max to a street race. Ellis tells her that Ryan’s car has a nitro mod. She boasts of working on a Formula One crew. He questions her claim. As the countdown begins, the police arrive. Ellis jumps in the car with Max and Nadia gets in the car with Ryan. Both cars speed down the road with the police in hurt pursuit. Max takes the lead. Ryan pulls up beside them. Ellis orders Ryan to veer left and they will stall the police. Nadia appears relieved when they lose the police. Max does donuts in the road and takes the police on another high-speed chase. She veers off the road and the cops speed past them. Ryan and Nadia send them a text to say they are in.

Li tells Max and Ellis that a tactical team will remain on standby for Ryan and Nadia’s next job. Max admits to buying two pairs of racing gloves at the department’s expense. Later at the garage, Ellis and Max see Ryan and one of his men with the stolen EMP device. Ryan claims orders come from Jaws, he and Nadia oversee the crew. Jaws offers them $1m each. They readily accept. Ryan and Nadia speak to Jaws in private. Seeing Nadia is upset, Max insists on finding out more. Ellis gets in the car and calls Li to tell him about Jaws. Max eavesdrops on Ryan and Nadia’s phone conversation with their son, Jacob (William Kosovic), who is being held hostage. A masked man approaches him and the screen goes black. Ryan assures Nadia that they will get him back. Ellis receives a call from Ricky who tells him the clicking in the audio recording is a Zippo lighter. Deleting the dialogue, Ricky determines the audio was recorded at a pool hall. He identifies the killer as Billy “Zippo” O’Brien, a mob enforcer. Ellie orders him to find out where Zippo is staying. Max tells Max about Jacob. He calls in the tactical team. When Li and the tactical team arrive, the garage is empty. Li calls Ellis but he doesn’t answer.

At another garage, Jaws demands to know who alerted the police. Nadia says they heard it on a scanner. Ryan assures him that it wasn’t Ellis and Max. Tommy warns that it is a sign and they should lay low for a while. Jaws insists it is the only chance. Ryan, Nadia, Max, and Ellis say they are in. After Jaws leaves, Ryan says if Jaws finds out they are cops, they will lose Jacob. Ellis assures him they had no other choice. Ryan claims to have worked for Jaws until he got arrested. When he got out, they started a legit business. Jaws propositioned them to set up a first-class crew. They refused and Jaws abducted Jacob. Later, Ryan explains how the heist will go down.

Jaws presents each of the crew members with a briefcase containing $500k. Nadia sends a photo of Jacob to Max. Jaws shows them a high-end offset printer. Ellis suggests it prints money and stocks that look like the real deal. Jaws says he’s about to become the answer to all the underworld’s counterfeiting needs. Max admits that genius. Ryan asks where their son is. Nadia says they’ve done everything he’s asked. Nevertheless, Jaws still won’t give up their son. Max begins using her phone. Jaws says he’ll send the other half of the payment once he’s safe on his way. Then, he’ll drop a pin to the kid’s location. Ellis says they signed up for a heist and not a kidnapping.

Jaws pulls a gun on him and reminds him he’s nobody. Max asks Jaws to do the same thing and go on his way. In the car, Max tells Ellis that Jacob is wearing glasses in the screenshot. He has a reflection of a rusted old radio tower in his glasses. She looked it up online and learned it is near an abandoned transmitter building. Ellis just happens to know where the tower is. Ricky calls to say he found Daniel’s killer. His last ping puts him at a motel. Max and Ellis have to decide whether to save the boy or capture Daniel’s killer. Moments later, Ellis shoots a man inside the radio tower. He carries the boy outside just before Ryan and Nadia arrive. Other officers arrive. Ellis gets a call and learns that they missed Zippo. He stole a prop plane at gunpoint. Detective Simmons says Yates picked up Jaws on the run. Max tells Ellis he did the right thing. Although he knows, he is worried it will cost him his job. Chief Li questions Ellis when he gets back to the office.

Max covers for him by saying she called Simmons and Ellis didn’t even know about it. Simmons comes into the room and confirms it. He says the transponder stopped sending a signal about five miles outside the airport. Ellis worries that Zippo could be anywhere by now. In private, Chief Li tells Ellis that Max just saved him and they know she’s lying. Later, Russo congratulates them on catching the gang and confiscating six million in cash. She confirms that will reduce the sentence of Max’s father by two weeks. Russo is happy that Max and Ellis are going to be working together for a while. In private, Ellis thanks Max. She asks for the Mustang but he refuses. George speaks to Max about the egg. He questions why she’s sticking around. Max shows him a watch she took from Uriah Heep. She says 33 million is nothing compared to what this can get them.

 

Wild Cards Review

The series two premiere is right on par with the series one finale. There are lots of illogical choices along the way that hurt the believability of the story. The female lead’s performance is over-the-top and corny. The investigators are supposed to be the best in the industry but they can’t arrange for Jacob and Zippo to be detained simultaneously. It’s cliché for Ellis to make the decision anyway.

All last season, the investigation team couldn’t identify Daniel’s killer. Remarkably, Ricky conducts an analysis of the audio recording and pinpoints it down to Zippo which is revealed in the season two premiere.

The story is clunky and drags on for what seems like forever. The dialogue is too in-depth and complex at times. The series could have been good but as it is, it is forgettable. The episode deserves a 4.8 out of 10.

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