We were almost tempted to feel sorry for Volchek this week, until those final seconds of “The Nail in the Chair” when suddenly, we really really didn’t.
The hour kicks off with a flashback to 2021, where a sad and depressed Volcheck (no doubt missing the wife he murdered earlier), drinks alone at a bar, and tells a tired Dad joke to the bartender about Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. A scientist tells each man to sit on a chair with a nail sticking out of it. The Russian sits, is pricked by the nail, becomes enraged, and smashes the chair to pieces. The clever Ukrainian learns from the painful experience and elects to use the nail on his farm, while the beaten down Belarusian sits on the nail, gets comfortable, and meekly accepts his new position of pain and humiliation.
Volchek may feel like the meek Belarusian test subject now, but it’s not until several flashbacks later that we really begin to see where his hatred of all things American stems from. It’s not just a single nail in the chair of his American dream, but several nails — his dead brother, his dead wife (that one’s actually on you, Boris!), his thwarted plans, and a series of other setbacks and disappointments we’ll get to in a moment — that finally convinces Volchek to smash the whole chair to pieces. And of course, by smash we mean detonate enough fissile material to blow up an entire city, and by chair we mean Los Angeles.
Back in the present day, Meachum is tipped off from a buddy in the LAPD about the explosion at Volchek’s house, and the dead Belarusians belonging to Consul General Astapov found at the scene. He combs through the crime scene, and pieces together how Volchek used his safe as a safe room, and detonated the bombs remotely. It’s a small but neat moment that reminds the audience just how valuable an asset Meachum really is to the team, and how intertwined both he and Volchek’s story arcs actually are, with both men counting down to an unthinkable yet inevitable end.
At the office, Oliveras and Meachum trade a series of adorable flirtatious exchanges. Ever the eagle eye though, she’s noticed how he stumbled over his words in a debrief of the house explosion — even going so far as to forget the word “Forensics.” Oliveras is deadly serious that he should tell Blythe about his condition, preferably before the day is out. Meachum expresses his fears about being benched, and jokes he’ll find a way to work the case from the outside if Blythe chooses to release him from the Task Force. We don’t doubt it for a moment.
In a frank exchange, the ever blunt Amber tells Meachum the team “deserves to know they have a ticking time bomb working next to them when their lives are on the line.”
Ouch!
Meachum takes a glance at Damon Drew’s plaque on the wall nearby and decides she’s right.
Meanwhile, with new evidence against Volchek that directly implicates the Belarusians, Blythe decides to ask/persuade/convince Consul General Astapov once again for help locating Volchek. The meeting doesn’t go well, with the ever-slimy Astapov booting Blythe from his office in fit of rage. Blythe leaves, but ever a man with a card up his sleeve, informs the Consul General that Washington will be reaching out to Astapov’s ambassador in due course. Astapov’s days of playing both sides are over. In fact, Astapov’s days are over period, but more on that in a moment.
Back in the past, poor sad, rich, depressed Volcheck takes on a new identity as Barry Vuso, and a new shady lawyer, Piskun, who advises him on the best way to spend his ill-gotten (read embezzled) gains on a series of legal purchases that won’t make the IRS suspicious. Volchek makes a deal to buy 10 parking lots in downtown LA for 30 Million. A clever move. If he parks his car there for a year he’ll probably recoup most of his parking fees? Or whatever I don’t know I take the Metro.
Volchek is initially happy. He’s finally living his American dream, doing shady business deals, hiding his assets, and burying his past. What could go wrong? A lot actually. Boris arrives into work one morning to discover a strange man waiting in his office with some devastating news. It seems the city of Los Angeles has requisitioned his newly acquired parking lots for the use of municipal vehicles under the 30/21 act. Now Volchek won’t be able to turn a profit on the 30 mil he just shelled out. But it gets worse. Attempting to bribe the City official, Volcheck discovers it’s a sting operation, and is promptly arrested. (There’s a cute scene in which we see 2021 Meachum and Finau, without a care in the world, breezing past Volchek in cuffs in a corridor). Volchek is tossed into a cell, and promptly beaten up by a gang of lowlifes who take issue with his fancy tailoring and sad emo villain demeanour.
Out on bail, Volcheck meets with his shady lawyer in his car at night in a deserted parking lot. Always a bad sign. Piskun tells him the City wants to make an example of him by throwing the whole book at him. Volchek is looking at 30 years prison time! Boris decides he’s mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. He brings up the nail in the chair story, and tells poor Piskun it’s time to start smashing the chair to pieces. But first he needs Piskun’s car keys real quick. He also needs to jump out of the car for a minute. And lock Piskun inside. But he’ll be back in a jiffy. Promise. Sit tight, Piskun. He then steals Piskun’s car and detonates a bomb, killing his own shady lawyer and sending a firm message to the City about the exorbitant cost of parking a vehicle in LA. Which is how I chose to interpret this scene.
Back in the present day, Bell gets a lead on a parked postal service truck sitting outside of a Federal building. The truck, bearing the Gallagher Freight logo, has tinted windows and no plates. This could be it! Blythe decides he’s heading out to the scene.
At the Federal building in question Blythe and Jerry, the friendly bomb disposal guy, take stock of the situation, but Meachum is reluctant to leave the scene when instructed to do so. We get the feeling he would happily wrestle Jerry out of his bomb disposal gear and put it on himself if he could get away with it. He can’t get away with it, and Blythe is irritated by his behavior. The gang soon discovers the truck is empty, but rigged with cameras to record the investigation. Elsewhere Volchek, stopwatch in hand, makes studious notes about how long it took to evacuate the building, how long it took the bomb unit to arrive on scene, and how many minutes it took them to ascertain the truck was safe. It’s all part of Volchek’s plan to cause maximum damage when the time comes.
Back in the office, Bell makes a huge discovery: VKN, the company Volchek used to buy the tongs used to transfer the fissile material, also purchased a tract of land large enough to hide Volchek’s operations behind the guise of a fruit farm. Blythe praises Bell for his efforts. OMG! Finally!
When they check it out, the team discovers the emptied remains of a series of fertilizer bags — enough for 20 Oklahoma cities, as Oliveras notes. Judging by the tire tracks, and the radiation levels in the area, Volchek’s Gallagher Freight trucks have been and gone with their deadly cargo. Blythe does the math. That’s over 45,000 lbs of ammonium nitrate in each vehicle. He tells the gang to get some sleep. This thing is in its end stages. the next 48 hours are going to be crucial in stopping Volchek for good.
Oliveras drives Meachum home. But it’s late and they’re both tired. With just 5 hours to go-time he offers to let her take his bed while he naps on the couch, but we all know that’s not what would happen if she elected to stay. She jokes about needing to sleep in her own bed due to her specific bedtime routine. Meachum elects to make ocean noises to help her sleep. She tells him she needs white noise instead.
“I can make white noise,” he suggests.
“You ARE white noise” she tells him, in what is the best line of the entire hour.
The show creators then choose this moment to insert a seven minute pause where both characters stare into each other’s eyes and the filling falls out of my sandwich and lands on my keyboard. Thanks Countdown! Then as as suddenly as it began Amber is all “Rachel and Melinda Bates!” and retreating hurriedly down the front drive to her car like she can’t trust herself.
In a second disappointing character moment, Evan Shepherd’s sister Molly arrives in town. Show writer Derek Haas could have written a lengthy exposition on who Molly is, and how she and her little sister click, but instead instantly nails the character of this this unpredictable wild-child by letting us know she went to Fyre Festival. And now we know all we need to know.
Molly wants to go to a nightclub but Evan has to get 5 hours of sleep if she wants to save all of Los Angeles in a neatly pressed pants suit. Molly still wants to go nightclubbing. Evan goes to bed. Molly goes to the club. I’m all for backstory, but I can’t help wonder what purpose Molly serves creatively, introduced as late as she is, into this 13 episode first season? Not now, Molly! You feel like an uncomfortable distraction.
After an eventful hour of TV filled with flashbacks, set ups and set backs, romance, frustration, anger, and determination, there’s only one loose thread remaining. Astapov. Remember how Blythe threatened to get Washington involved? Well it seems that was just the shot across his bow that the Consul General needed. He calls Blythe and offers to give up everything he has on Volchek. Blythe agrees to a late night solo meet up in a darkened alley on the edge of town. Oh dear.
When Blythe reaches the alley he discovers Astapov dead in his car with his throat slit. But where is his murderer? Right behind you, Nathan. And where is the murder weapon? Right between your ribs, Nathan.
“The Nail in the Chair” ends with our beloved Task Force leader slumping to the ground, bleeding out, fate uncertain.
Well, the chair is well and truly smashed now.
In next Wednesday’s “10-33” the clock ticks down as the team races to stop Volchek in time.
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