Episode Title: “True Enough”
Writer: Dee Johnson
Director: Jean de Segonac
Previously on “Boss”:
Story:
Mayor Tom Kane (Kelsey Grammer) swears in his wife, Meredith (Connie Nielsen) in as Alderman of the eleventh ward. Kitty (Kathleen Robertson) shows up at City Hall for an impromptu meeting with the mayor. She tells Kane she wanted out of the Walsh camp for some time and asks Kane to consider taking her back. Afterwards, she calls Doyle and tells him that she doesn't want to do what he's asking.
Later that day, Kane has lunch with the owner of the Sentinel and Sam Miller (Try Garity). While Bane is in the restroom, he tells Miller to "stop." Miller, in turn, tells Kane he was work to do and leaves the table.
Ian (Jonathan Groff) tells Kane that the State's Attorney found the man responsible for shooting Meredith. It turns out the suspect, Francis Bedecker, was a friend of Langley's and also white supremacist. Police found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
After learning from her parole officer that Darius was the one who paid him off, Emma (Hannah Ware) finds him in a car, after shooting up. She thanks him for what he did, but Darius tells her to leave.
Sam meets with Detective Dinovos and pays him to talk about what really happened in the Ezra Stone case. The detective tells him that Ezra's murder was staged to look like a robbery. Sam quickly writes up the story to run the next day.
Meredith meets with casino investor, Vacarro on his yacht to discuss contractors for the project, but the two ultimately end up having sex. While Sam awaits the reaction to his story on the murder of Ezra Stone, Doyle (John Hoogenakker) holds a press conference in which he informs the press that the same man who shot Meredith was also responsible for the murder of Ezra Stone. In a panic, Sam attempts to have the paper recalled.
After spotting Kane's shaky hand during an encounter with the press, Jackie tells Sam who sends her to get footage of the moment from a local news team. Meanwhile, Kitty meets with Kane again and lets him know that Doyle has her wearing a wire. He asks Kitty to meet her privately later that day.
Doyle tells Zajac (Jeff Hephner) of his plans to run for mayor and the two men form a partnership to get Kane out of office. Video of Sam's meeting with Dinovo hits the news and he's promptly fired from the Sentinel, with his old boss, Jack Bentley taking over.
Emma convinces Ian's landlord to let her into his apartment. She rifles through his bookshelf and finds a shoebox containing his birth certificate as well as her arrest record.
During her meeting with Kane, Kitty learns that Langley was supposed to take the fall for the shooting of Meredith, but his glaucoma foiled Kane's plain. Therefore, the real shooter, Kane's enforcer, had to go down for the crime. He explains to Kitty that no one was supposed to get hurt. The shooting was merely an attempt to earn sympathy from voters.
After finding hidden camera equipment in her home, a horrified Mona (Sanna Lathan) sends it to Kane, who merely laughs it off. She and her husband make plans to move out of Chicago, since they can't afford to risk taking Kane on.
Jackie gives Sam the footage of Kane and he tells her to bring it to a friend of his at a local station. After a run in with Sam, who advises her to watch the seven o'clock news, Kitty prepares Kane to deal with the possibility that his medical condition might be exposed. However, Jackie tells Sam she couldn't risk her career by going against Kane.
Seeing her estranged husband is a shoe-in for governor, Maggie (Nicole Forester) stops by Ben's office to tell him that an unmarried and unwidowed man has little hope of becoming president.
Ian questions Kane about his choice to re-hire Kitty instead of promoting him. Kane warns Ian that his proximity doesn't mean he's entitled to anything. That night, Ian returns home to find Emma in his apartment. She tells him she knows who he is and he asks her if it matters. Meanwhile, Kane finds Meredith in bed, apparently suffering from pain as a result of her shooting. She asks him for her oxygen mask, but instead of giving it to her, he watches her struggle to breathe and reminds Meredith that her mortality is forever tied to his. He then gives her the mask as she's gasping for air.
Breakdown:
Tom Kane is an evil man, sometimes unbelievably so. But it's not so much what he does, but what Kane gets away with that makes his crimes against so-called friends, determined enemies and the unwitting citizens of Chicago so hard to fathom.
In “True Enough,” we saw Kane set 'em up and knock 'em down again. And this time it was whistle blowing Sentinel editor Sam Miller who took the fall. We're to assume Kane paid Detective Dinovo to entrap Miller by offering him details on Ezra Stone's murder for pay, all of which was caught on camera with audio.
The problem here is that Ezra Stone was murdered at Kane's request and CPD did cover it up, which is why the ballistics were a match in Meredith's shooting. Which means Dinovo was telling the truth yet Kane risked exposing potentially damaging information to ruin Miller? If I'm missing something here, please straighten this out for me in the comments.
Up until now, I've been on board with all the crazy sh*t that goes down on “Boss.” And because it's so damn fun to watch, I'll probably be back on board next season. But this finale asked me to buy that not only is Tom Kane a power hungry sick bastard, but just about everyone within three degrees of separation from the Mayor of Chicago is also totally insane in the membrane.
We've got Ian Todd, who doesn't think "it matters" that he's screwing his half-sister. And despite discovering his shoebox full of secrets, Emma also doesn't seem to mind. She also cares little for Darius, though she did bother to make a trip to the hood to thank him for bailing her out. Unfortunately, it's a case of too little, too much heroin.
There's Kitty O'Neill who doesn't balk when Kane tells her he paid "the grey-haired man" to fire shots at the crowded O'Hare groundbreaking ceremony, let alone all the other heinous behavior she's been privy to. In all fairness, we still don't know what Kitty's angle is with Kane and Doyle.
And speaking of the pervy District Attorney, Jeff Doyle used his underling, Claire to get to Zajac on a very personal level. Then he refused to share the spotlight with her when taking credit for nabbing Meredith Kane's shooter.
I could keep going, but the point is that on top of believing how reprehensible Tom Kane is (which I'm fine with) we're also asked to believe that everyone else is also a total scumbag. Granted, they're all in bed with Kane to some degree, but it's still hard to believe how compliant some of these very intelligent people can be.
Putting that aside, “True Enough” was certainly an exciting finale with lots of edge-of-your-seat moments, like Sam awaiting the seven o'clock news only to see a story on the investigation into the death of Senator Walsh's aide. Which is something he might actually want to pay attention to.
The closing scene, in which Kane nearly lets his wife die wasn't as shocking to me as it might have been to some. He wanted sympathy so he staged a shooting so why wouldn't he let his wife die? Well, because she's a "place holder" as he so eloquently put it. But she also got the city involved with a control freak investor who's allegedly tied to the mob. And she slept with him. Tom Kane has killed many for much less.
Heading into season three, I'm most looking forward to seeing where Ian Todd's family reunion gets him, what move Sam Miller makes next and if anything comes of the death of Walsh's aide/partner. I'm not quite sure what will become of Darius. His storyline feels like a loose thread that will be tied up soon with his drug-addicted demise. I'm happy to see Maggie Zajac back by her husband's side as she's one of the most fascinating characters on the show, as smart as she is sleazy. As for Kane, he's got to know that Ian is his son. Kane's stern warning to him on the City Hall rooftop about "proximity" and having to earn his place all but confirmed it.
At times, it felt like season two of “Boss” relied heavily on shock value (generally sexual) rather than good storytelling. I can't find fault with the acting or direction, which were both top notch. Really it comes down to is what all this murder, incest and conspiracy amounts to next season.
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