Lewis struggles with the ramifications of his actions. Frank and Micro pursue another face from the past. Madani and Sam go bug hunting.
Tropes
- And Some Other Stuff: We see Lewis in a hardware store, shopping for bomb supplies, but we never see exactly what he gets. The scene cuts to him completing the bomb with some unknown substance with only a few items clearly visible.
- Ate His Gun: Lewis attempts to kill himself, but he hesitates at the last minute.
- Batman Gambit: Micro and Frank know that the conspirators will be waiting for Frank to show up at Colonel Bennett's place, so Frank breaks into his house and clones Bennett's phone while pretending to be there to interrogate and assassinate him. They then follow the phone to where Agent Orange is.
- Big Eater: Billy spends the meeting with Colonel Bennett in Rawlins' mansion eating cashews.
- Blatant Lies: Colonel Bennett is not impressed when Rawlins claims they discovered intelligence that Castle was alive and rushed to save his life. He points out that the swiftness with which Russo and his men arrived in response to the hooker yelling "He's here!" the moment Frank appeared makes it obvious he was The Bait.Colonel Bennett: You staked me out like a goat. And you think I'm stupid enough to fall for your shit?
- Bondage Is Bad: Frank enters Colonel Bennett's headquarters while he's in the midst of BDSM.Frank Castle: Well shit, Morty. Looks like I got here just in time.
- Crazy-Prepared: Rawlins, being that he's a high-ranking official in the CIA, likely faces assassination attempts on a routine basis. So it stands to reason that he has several ways of countering them, such as bulletproof windows to protect against snipers. Not only that, but he outright states they're in a CIA safehouse, which would obviously have such precautions.
- Dirty Coward:
- Russo calls Rawlins one to his face.Billy Russo: You know, I always thought of you as more of a hands-on kinda guy. Your face when you were working over those Afghans. They would talk and talk, scared shitless. Terrified and you'd just...keep on hitting them. And there would come this moment always, sometimes sooner, sometimes later where they knew that they were gonna die. And you knew it, too. You'd see it, and I swear, you would get about as hard as a man could get. Is that your thing, Rawlins? [leans back] I mean, I'm not judging. Every man's got a thing.
William Rawlins: Stay on point, Lieutenant.
Billy Russo: Oh, I am right on point. I saw that same look on your face once, that fear, when Frank gave you that milky eye. He was gonna keep right on going, too. And you knew it then. All of your grand ambitions choked out of you in a shitty tent. And who was it—remind me, who was it who pulled him off you again? Oh, yeah. I did.
William Rawlins: For which I'm eternally grateful. Is that what you want, Billy? My gratitude? You were protecting your own meal ticket, that's all. I made you.
Billy Russo: You know what I think? I think that maybe the only reason that you ever wanted Frank dead was so that you could pretend that he never made you feel like a man about to die. - This is imemediately followed by Rawlins declaring that they will not give Colonel Bennett a heads-up that Frank is going to attack him because he's just this kind of person.Billy Russo: So, are we gonna warn Morty Bennett that Frank Castle might be coming for him?
William Rawlins: Morty has the instincts of a rat and the courage of a rabbit. We tell him Castle is still living, one of two things happen: he runs or he talks.
- Russo calls Rawlins one to his face.
- Disposable Sex Worker: The agent that doubles as a Dominatrix is murdered by Russo along with Bennett to keep her quiet, and allow him to stage Bennett's murder as a sordid sex-related incident.
- Evil Feels Good: Russo comments that Rawlins seemed to get a bit of a hard-on from his torture and execution of prisoners.
- Evil Is Petty: In the same conversation, Russo concludes that the real reason Rawlins wants Frank dead is because Frank's a walking reminder of a time that Rawlins feared for his own life.
- It's All About Me: It's implied that Rawlins was once a Well-Intentioned Extremist, but has morphed into believing that he is more important than anyone else, so anything that benefits him is justified.Rawlins: The country has too much to lose for Frank Castle to expose me.
- Laser Sight: These show up once Frank sets off some smoke grenades in Morty's house. Realizing they make their locations obvious, Russo turns his laser sight off to try and get the drop on Frank; however Frank uses his own laser sight to lure Russo into a trap.
- Meaningful Echo: Rawlins asking Billy if Billy is seeking his gratitude echoes Curtis's remarks in the previous episodes to O'Connor.
- Mook Horror Show: For Russo, the attempt to get Frank in Bennett's quarters plays out like one.
- Mouth of Sauron: Bennett isn't too happy with Rawlins and Russo for locking him out of the loop and not warning him about Frank earlier, and also calls Russo one of these when ordering him to cover up Frank's break-in as a secret training exercise gone wrong.William Rawlins: What'd you say?
Col. Morty Bennett: What he [Billy] told me to say! I mean, his lips were moving, but I assume you were the one that was talking. "Secret training exercise, unit readiness" and all that shit. I reamed out the whole damn battalion for their "shitty performance" and letting the intruder get away. Although thank Christ, they didn't catch him! - My God, What Have I Done?: Frank feels terrible after having to shoot and wound a young soldier who was just doing his duty.
- Mythology Gag: Billy Russo says to Colonel Bennett, "You know, without us, Frank Castle would have your balls wired to a car battery by now. You'd probably love that though, would you?" as a snide jab at Bennett's choices of BDSM. It's also what Frank did to Barracuda in the comics.
- Nerves of Steel: Rawlins doesn't flinch when Frank tries to snipe him, the bullet stopped only by the bulletproof glass in the windows.
- No-Sell: Frank tries to headshot Rawlins with an anti-material rifle, only for the .50 bullet to be stopped by the bullet-resistant glass in the CIA safehouse.
- Nothing Up My Sleeve: Russo uses a retractable blade hidden in his wrist to murder Morty.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Lewis' father assures him that he was only doing his duty when he killed people, not knowing his son has just committed a murder.
- Oh, Crap!: Stunningly averted when Frank's bullet is stopped inches from Rawlins' head. He's startled, but doesn't show any fear or concern. He just puts his hands on his hips and steps up to the window.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Frank recites "One batch, two batch, penny and dime" as he lines up his shot on Rawlins.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Russo gives one to Rawlins as he suggests that Rawlins' interest in getting rid of Frank is simply because he'd rather not accept that Frank made him genuinely fear for his life.
- Sanity Slippage: Lewis is now building bombs with household objects in O'Connor's house.
- Spotting the Thread: Dinah deduces from the timing of Gunner's death that her office has been bugged.
- SWAT Team: Russo and his men act like one when responding to Frank's intrusion on the base.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Russo, Rawlins and Bennett clearly don't like each other much (Bennett was never a fan of the smug and superior attitude Russo and his Special Forces colleagues liked to throw around; Russo views Rawlins as a weak coward; Rawlins views Russo as a useful grunt rather than as an equal), and it's even discussed right before Russo murders Bennett.Billy Russo: You don't like me much, huh, Morty?
Col. Morty Bennett: Nope. You Special Forces types always pissed me off. Superior sons-of-bitches, swanning around like your shit doesn't stink. - You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once they've finished using him as The Bait, Russo kills Colonel Bennett to make him "disappear" completely now that Frank knows of him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Colonel Bennett uses the excuse of a surprise infiltration exercise to explain what happened, but that would not explain away the soldier that Frank wounded.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Frank struggles with the idea of killing innocent soldiers who are just following orders out of duty and have no knowledge of Bennett's war crimes. He settles for just injuring them instead of killing them.
- What You Are in the Dark: Frank tries to invoke this on a soldier he finds in the tunnel in order convince him to let him leave. It fails and ends up having to shoot him. But in the soldier's mind, he probably passed this test of character by staying loyal to his duty and what he believed was the right thing to do. So it wasn't exactly the most effective ploy on Frank's part, since it depended on the kid's loyalty being low.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Rawlins points out that Russo could have assassinated Frank during their meeting at the docks, using a sniper if he didn't want to do it himself. Russo does shoot at Frank during the ambush at Morty's house, but the comment makes it ambiguous whether he's reluctant to kill his former friend.
