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June 14th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
While Mike’s investigation into Briggs is the most important — and thrilling — story of the night, there’s still plenty of other characters to keep track of, starting with DJ (Brandon Jay McLaren). While working his exotic bird contacts, DJ stumbles across 1,000 bullets of armor piercing bullets. And then yet another undercover operative, Paige (Serinda Swan, is introduced. She’s in deep with a low-life named Bobby, and she’s sick of being his “girlfriend” — even if she’s somehow never slept with him. That, and Mike is smitten with her, clearly, from the first moment he sees her in the bar.
But that romance will have to wait, because Mike has a job to do on “Graceland” “Guadalajara Dog.” Under the guise of an “after-action evaluation,” Mike meets his new control officer, Juan Badillo (Pedro Pascal), and Badillo has one assignment for Mike so far: just get close to Briggs and be his friend. And if Mike keeps it up, he just might get to go back to DC like he wants (or, at least wanted, because now he’s making friends with the ops in the house).
Despite Briggs saying that Mike has a “new car smell,” Mike manages to give Briggs an idea on how to get in with Bella, a big player in town who Briggs still hasn’t met. But Mike doesn’t know how all the pieces of the plan go together, and it leads to one very tense encounter.
Mike and Briggs offer the bullets DJ collected to one of Bella’s men, Eddie. Mike shows his mad skills when he shoots up some teddy bears (seriously, and that’s really the only thing better than the chore wheel jokes). And then Briggs doesn’t chase Eddie. Rather, he waits for Eddie to lose any tail he thinks he might have — and then Briggs stages it so Bobby’s men (the one Paige is trying to take down) steal the bullets. And then Briggs buys back the bullets, effectively taking down Bobby and getting Paige finally off of the case. Complicated, yes. But also brilliant.
Yet the whole thing made one Mike Warren a bit nervous, and when they stopped for a guadalajara dog before the takedown, he even tried to call Juan. And of course Brigg knows that Mike tried to call someone. Mike’s training officer may act all happy after the operation goes according to plan, telling Mike “Today is a good day. Accept it, revel in it,” but he’s a suspicious character.
After Mike meets with Juan, Briggs calls Mike to him — and then aims a gun at the back of his head. “Who’ve you been talking to?” Briggs demands, and just like that, the show ends.
The “Graceland” season one premiere last week might have had more drama, but the setup in episode two “Guadalajara Dog” is nothing short of amazing. Each of the undercover ops already have their own personalities, even the newly introduced Paige, and the drama unfolding around Briggs and Mike is unrivaled. The only question is: where does it all go from here? What are Briggs’ secrets? And will Mike continue his investigation? So far, it’s anyone’s guess.
“Graceland” airs on USA Network Thursday nights at 10 p.m. EDT.
© Elizabeth SanFilippo 2013
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