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Bloodline: Part 25

"If you move, I can't guarantee where the bullet will strike. So just stand still."

So begins our descent into hell.

This episode mostly centers around Kevin's sad, pathetic yet darkly hilarious attempts to cover up his murder of Marco Diaz. We get a very interesting examination of a crime scene in all of its minute details, and we finally get to see Kevin receive some much-deserved karmic punishment.

We are also introduced to a new and nefarious character: Jim Shakowski, the guy Roy Gilbert tasks with helping Kevin clean up his mess. And I thought Gilbert was a shady character. In spite of his calm, helpful attitude, this is one of the sketchiest guys ever. He and Kevin spend the episode trying to decide how to spin Marco's killing so that Kevin gets away with it. Kevin is forced to retrace his steps, vividly reliving his vicious crime that he was already struggling to deal with. Shakowski determines that Kevin left far too much evidence behind to make up a scenario in which he was never at Marco's place, so they start coming up with ideas on who to frame.

Although it doesn't shy away from the parts of his life that we can empathize with, this episode does a great job at reminding me exactly why I hate Kevin. This guy is incapable of taking the blame for anything, unless he's caught red-handed as we've seen in the past. He continues acting as if Marco's death was his fault (Marco's, not Kevin's) for provoking him. And when he finally gets a hold of John while retrieving the murder weapon, he can't help but deny responsibility and blame John's murder of Danny for putting him in this situation; maybe there is some weight to that one, but even that is no excuse for what he did to Marco.

Anyway, Kevin's phone call finally snaps John out of blindly running away from his problems, forcing him to return home. Before that, he was distracting himself by conversing with a flirty college girl. You could tell he was wishing he could just throw caution to the wind and go party with her and her friends, desperate to return to a time when he was young and carefree. No such luck.

Compounding my hatred of Kevin, he completely ignores John after he ordered Kevin about a dozen times to stay put and not talk to anyone. He brings the murder weapon to Shakowski at Marco's house, and the two of them eventually decide to make it appear as if Eric O'Bannon is the killer, and that Kevin's arrival scared him off, which would in turn make him look rather heroic. Kevin is totally on board with this. Until Shakowski decides that the story would be easier to sell if Kevin were to have been shot in the act of discovering the murder. Kevin is obviously not on board with this, and tries to delay it, hoping John will arrive and solve everything. Shakowski eventually loses patience and ends up shooting Kevin twice. He calls in an ambulance, fires off a couple more rounds to get the dispatcher's attention, then leaves with the gun and the murder weapon. All in all, both the murder and the clean-up were shoddily done.

It appears to work out, though. Police and paramedics arrive, rushing Kevin to the ER. John shows up, caught off guard by news of Kevin's shooting and devastated by Marco's death. Even though they weren't on the best of terms recently, Marco was still John's partner who he had been very close to. In some ways, Marco was more of a brother to him than even Kevin. Now he's not only got to cover up his brother's crime, but must find the man who shot him. Which is when we discover, that the shooter/cleaner is hiding in plain sight. Jim Shakowski is a member of Monroe County police's CSI unit, who gives nothing away as he offers John his condolences; I guess this explains how Roy Gilbert was able to steal Danny's incriminating tape recording from the evidence locker last season.

John is thrust back into his own personal hell, immediately shouldering all of his family's burdens. Of course, he is very dispassionate about the whole thing. John orders a recovering Kevin to claim he doesn't remember anything so that he can figure out how to help him without any hindrances, only for Sheriff Aguirre to tell him that Kevin already named Eric as the culprit, creating a whole new problem for John to deal with. Belle and Sally demand he find Kevin's shooter, even as Sally looks down on John and Kevin for their crimes (while outright admitting to working with Gilbert to have someone else framed for Marco's murder). John has to go fetch Meg so she can give Kevin her blood, only to find her drunk out of her mind and unable to do anything; can't very well give Kevin intoxicated blood. So, in the very end, John is forced to give his own blood to help Kevin. And this definitely counts as the episode's Most Obvious Symbolism.

Bits and Pieces:

* Adding to the black comedy vibe this season began with, the episode soundtrack includes some upbeat tunes that are oddly appropriate to the situation, such as "Escape (the Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes and "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed.

* I also thought it was funny that Kevin literally can't even imagine getting away with murder on his own.

* Have to give credit to Eric for being smart enough to realize that he's going to be blamed for Marco's murder and desperately tries to get in touch with Ozzy Delvecchio so they can figure out how to get back at John and the Rayburns. Although, he does lose some points when he robs his sister and mother in order to support himself, and basically leaves his ailing mother to suffocate.

* Ozzy meanwhile is recovering from his altercation with Luis, whom he killed; it's implied that he killed Luis' driver offscreen as well, despite initially letting him go. He spends the rest of the episode staggering around covered in blood, buying a blue slushie and going to Miami to hide out at Beth Mackey's, who we met in season one. Ozzy sends Eric a text, telling him to meet him in Miami.

Quotes:

Fantasy Kevin: I have never been as happy as I am right now. I have never felt more alive, more honest, than I do right now. I've never felt this free to be who I am.
I'm so glad this was just in his head.

Jim Shakowski: Look you come in here, you're sweating, you're jittery, you got open-toed shoes, shorts, t-shirt. Zero containment! Then you touch the door, the dolphin, god knows what else, and then you piss all over the floor. I mean, the upshot? We're standing knee-deep in a swamp of Kevin Rayburn.

Eric O'Bannon: (to Chelsea) Look, whatever they fuckin' tell you, don't believe a word. It's lies. Like it always fuckin' is!

Shakowski: Did he have a girlfriend?
Kevin: I dunno.
Shakowski: A pissed-off ex?
Kevin: N-no, that's my sister. I don't think she was pissed off at him, though.
Shakowski: Well that doesn't matter, we can get her DNA easy enough.
Kevin: Are you... no fuckin' way.
Shakowski: You know, it's probably already all around here.
Kevin: Fuck that! No way, man. That's my sister. Come on now!

Belle: (to an unconscious Kevin) You're stronger than you think. You're stronger than your family thinks. We're gonna get through this. And we're gonna have our baby. And we're gonna love him. And we're gonna keep him safe. And you're gonna watch him grow up. I love you. I love you.
Seriously, girl. Love someone else.

Three out of four literal bloodlines.

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