Wanted
Shoot to Thrill
Episode 1.9 - Dec. 5, 2005
This episode was the first of two episodes
airing Dec. 5 to mark the "winter season" premiere of
"Wanted."
"Shoot to Thrill" originally had been
on TNT's schedule as the fourth episode in the series. Not sure why
the show was delayed, but it was a lively choice to open the second
round of "Wanted" episodes. The show opens with
Eddie
and Carla walking through a scenic upscale neighborhood lined with
canals and lush gardens. Eddie pauses to
admire a scene inside a particularly beautiful home where they can
see a mom serving her family at the dinner table. Eddie gushes,
"Aw, that is righteous!" But Carla
scoffs about it being "Norman Rockwell's wet
dream." Eddie scolds her for knocking it
and launches into a riff on how
women's lib killed the American family: "Working mothers lead
to day care and day care leads to latchkey kids. And latchkey kids
start munching mom's Vicodin, cruising Internet porn and hanging out
at the mall, which we know is society's sexual Petri dish. If I had
more time I could prove that working mothers are responsible for
higher street crime." Carla's not buying
it. "Blow me," she suggests. "Rain
check," Eddie snarks. Moments later, Eddie and
Carla come upon the perp's house -- the very opposite of a Norman
Rockwell scene. Carla mentions he's number 90 on the list. Which
leads Eddie to voice a thought I'm sure many watchers of
"Wanted" have had: "Ninety on the list. Who made this list anyway? What's the criteria? "The
worst of the worst," Carla reminds him. The guy they're after
is a homicidal rapist and a drug dealer. The chase is on, and they
catch him when the perp tries to hide under one of
the little scenic bridges over the neighborhood's canal. But
this lively little scene is just the warm-up
to the real crime. No. 89 on the list is Esteban
Soledad, wanted for murder, drug sales, extortion, etc. His latest
crime rocketed him to the top 10 on the list. After running through
a school zone in an SUV loaded with cocaine, Soledad killed a rookie cop
who pulled him over for the traffic violation. To
add another note of poignancy, it turns out that the dead rookie is the son of Lt. Rose's favorite
training officer. The pursuit of the wanted man
starts with a shootout at his former address, and the team winds up
killing a bad guy -- the wrong bad guy. Next,
the chase leads them to San Diego. Eddie is dismayed. He had other
plans. "I was hoping to close a deal with a waitress I met in
Santa Monica," he explains. Soledad's trail
eventually leads them to a village in Mexico. Eddie and Jimmy are
sent, with orders to get in touch with the local authorities and
bring Soledad back to face U.S. justice. An NO GUNS. Yes sir. We'll
keep it clean sir, Jimmy promises. As soon as
they get to town, Eddie's plan is to take care of business, go to
the local authorities, grab a beer. Jimmy's plan is to go to church.
Eddie goes with him but complains, "You can't pray every day.
It makes Sunday less special." But apparently there was more to
Jimmy's plan than prayer because after an hour in the church, a
villager shows up with guns, which Jimmy has somehow arranged to
buy. So much for keeping it clean. A gun deal in church. Against
orders. And Jimmy disparages Eddie for his sins? Eddie
and Jimmy next head to the hotel and bar that Soledad is known to
frequent. Eddie orders tequila and beer -- in Spanish -- explaining
to Jimmy, "I can order booze in eight languages." Next,
two charming ladies approach the gringos. Eddie lays on the charm.
Then his lips. But Soledad enters and the lawmen swing back into
business. They chase him into the street, but they're quickly
stopped as local authorities arrest
Eddie and Jimmy for waving their illegal guns around and endangering
the public. The two wake up in the open sewer
that is the local jail. One brawl later, they are let out the back
door to join up with Rose and Rodriguez, who had ridden into town to
try to spring Eddie and Jimmy from jail. The
foursome finally capture Soledad and pop him in the trunk for the
ride back to the States. But with just a few miles to the border, the
Mexican Federales pull them over. It looks grim, but the local
police captain arrives on the scene. He's on the gringos' side, but
has to put on a show to save face among the locals. He orders
Eddie, Jimmy and Tommy off into the scrub and shoots them one by
one. Impressed, the Federales depart. After they drive off, the
shooting is revealed to be a terrific fake-out. Eddie,
Jimmy and Tommy stride out of the brush, and the team resumes the extradition
of Soledad. Back at headquarters,
Tommy starts a replay of their experience in the desert, but Eddie
objects. "That's thinking with the volume up. Turn it
down!" Tommy calls Eddie an asshole. Eddie calls Tommy a whiner, and worse. Jimmy tells them both
to shut up. Etc. The near-death experience
certainly wasn't a bonding one.
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