Season 3, Episode 8:
Endgame
"It's a brave new world, boys. Don't you read the papers? Anyone can listen in on your phone — even when it's turned off."
— Carter
At a clandestine meeting, Simmons tells Peter Yogorov that HR is increasing its "safe conduct fee"—the protection money Yogorov pays HR to allow Yogorov's drug shipments into the city—by 10%. Yogorov refuses to pay the increased price and says he'll take his chances.
That night, one of Yogorov's drug shipments is hijacked by a mysterious figure in a gas mask with a grenade launcher—and open war breaks out between HR and the Russians.
Tropes present in this episode include
- Arc Words: "You're not alone."
- The Bard on Board: Elias and Carter are Iago to Quinn and Yogorov's Othello. Quinn even tries to invoke Wrong Genre Savvy when confronting Carter, accusing her of seeing herself as a protagonist in a Shakespearian tragedy.
- Best Served Cold: It's taken seven episodes but finally, all that preparation Carter's been doing pays off in a big way as she starts her operation to destroy HR and get revenge for her demotion and the murders of Beecher and Szymanski.
- Blatant Lies: Everything Carter says to Quinn, Reese and Fusco at the start of the episode.
- Call-Back:
- Carter used the "Force Pair" blue tooth hack which Finch taught her in the Season 2 episode "In Extremis" to compromise Quinn's cell phone.
- The infamous "Plan B" bag makes its triumphant return.
- Carter disables a vehicle with a 37mm tear gas grenade just as Reese did in "Pilot". The same music that also played in that scene also returns, slightly modified for Carter.
- Reese once more uses Detective Stills' badge as a cover ID—which is an uncomfortable surprise to Fusco.
- Character Development: Compare Carter in this episode to the Carter in Season 1 who was terrified about a gang war happening.
- The Chessmaster: Carter transforms into this, and it's glorious.
- Cliffhanger: The last line of the episode sets up "The Crossing".Simmons: The Man in the Suit dies tonight.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Carter
- Et Tu, Brute?: Carter makes a reference to this trope when the judge betrays her to HR.Carter: I'll spare you the Shakespeare quote.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Yogorov is only convinced to talk to save his brother, who is still in prison as HR 'leverage'.
- False Flag Operation: Carter assembles a truly epic one of Finch-level proportions. She decides to goad HR and the Russian Mafia into declaring war on each other, let them rip each other apart while she sits back and waits till the dust settles before moving in on Quinn.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Multiple examples.
- From Bad to Worse: Team Machine have to cope with the numbers of 38 members of HR who've come up. Then when HR decides to retaliate, the Russian mobsters are added to them. Fortunately, HR rounds up the Russians for an impromptu Firing Squad, putting them all in the same place for them. Ironically, it's the FBI who ultimately intervenes.
- Grenade Launcher: Shaw admires Carter's use of a 37mm tear gas launcher.
- Guns Akimbo: The camera angle doesn't show it, but when Reese makes his Dynamic Entry in the climax, he's using a second handgun with his usual SIG-Sauer. Once both are empty, he drops the second weapon so he can reload the SIG.
- Guns Do Not Work That Way: Carter fires several shots from a bolt-action sniper rifle, without working the bolt.
- Have You Told Anyone Else?: The judge wants to know if Carter has told the DA about her evidence yet, then calls Quinn on finding she hasn't.
- How We Got Here
- If I Do Not Return: Subverted with Fusco, played straight with Carter's phone call to her son and ex-husband.
- If I Wanted You Dead...: Elias to Yogorov. He later says to Carter he did want him dead, but has agreed to let Carter handle things.Elias: Relax. If I wanted to kill you, I'd be a little more creative than this.
- Implied Death Threat: A bullet in Yogorov's meal is used to lure him into the kitchen, where the real ambush is. Fortunately, Elias only wants to talk.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Reese and Finch naturally suspect Shaw is the mysterious woman who attacked the van. Cue Shaw walking in the door.
- I Work Alone: Carter. She comes to her senses for the final act.
- Mid-Season Twist: The first of a three-episode arc.
- "No More Holding Back" Speech: Carter launches into a superb one just before she has John forcibly extract the head of HR, finally coming to terms with her dilemma of To Be Lawful or Good.
- Oh, Crap!: Simmons when he realizes that Carter's "friends" are about to burst in with guns blazing to get to Quinn.
- Removing the Earpiece: Knowing Team Machine has her phone bugged, Carter smashes it before going on her Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Shout-Out: To Shakespeare's "Othello", "Julius Caesar" and "Hamlet". The story arc is even divided into a classic three acts structure. There's also the Wham Line Carter uses which refers to the 1931 novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (which itself got its title from a line in one of Shakespeare's plays).
- Skewed Priorities: Reese, on discovering that Carter used his equipment to initiate the conflict between the Russians and HR.Reese: [watching the security footage] Wait, that's my grenade launcher?
- Snipe Hunt: Carter does the If I Do Not Return trope to get Fusco out of the way, but when he insists on coming, sends him to get his Bulletproof Vest and shotgun, then drives off.
- Tempting Fate: Quinn says that the Russians don't have the stones to come after him. Cue someone shooting out his window. It's actually Carter, but he doesn't know that.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: Not quite, but the trailer
, suggested otherwise. Said death actually occurs in the next episode. - Took A Level In Bad Ass: Carter. Dear God, Carter. Having thrown of the usual legal quandaries which constrained her in previous Seasons, without the usual support from Team Machine (except for Shaw stealing the Plan B bag), she systematically ruins the lives of all her enemies and burns down their organizations by making them conduct a gang war against each other.
- Translation Convention: Fusco translating the Russian driver's statement.
- Trespassing to Talk: Reese, because there's a HR cop who has Carter's home under surveillance.
- Wham Line: See the quote at the top of this entry. Also Truth in Television: see here.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Quinn claims that Carter is this, believing herself to be a protagonist of some great tragedy.
