It's Just Sauce. Review: Graceland - "Pizza Box"

Season 1, Episode 4

Air Date: Thursday, June 27, 2013, 10/9c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

Things are not looking good for Jakes and Tuturro

For months, Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) has been trying to meet with Bello (Gbenga Akinnagbe), the Nigerian crime lord. Once he does, Bello is more interested in Mike’s (Aaron Tveit) shooting skills and tells Briggs to get lost. Mike is then faced with the difficult task of having to teach Bello’s men how to shoot better without actually helping them get better. It was fun seeing Briggs, who usually has to be in control of everything, out of his element and having a hard time sitting on the sidelines as Mike takes the lead.

Briggs may be the quarterback at Graceland but Charlie (Vanessa Ferlito) is the mom of the house. I really like the scenes between the two, especially when they talk about Mike almost as if he were their kid attending his first day of school. Their conversation helps set up a touching scene between Briggs and Mike, which I address later in my review.

Charlie: “You know what your problem is?”

Briggs: “What is my problem, Charlie?”

Charlie: “You got quarterback syndrome. You don’t think any of us can win unless you’re leading the charge.”

Paige saving the boys

“Pizza Box” is the first Graceland episode that gives everyone in the house an active role. Jakes (Brandon McLaren) finally plays a much bigger role, and we also learn more about him when Ashika (Mia Kirshner), a woman from his past, resurfaces. Paige (Serinda Swan) gets to see some action too when she rescues Jakes and Tuturro (Manny Montana) after a bust goes bad. It was a welcome change to see Jakes as more of a mature, team player as opposed to the grumpy, seemingly loaner of the group I had become accustomed to.

Scenes with the Graceland roommates getting together usually involve heavy drinking so it is nice to see something different with Charlie’s ‘family sauce’ subplot and how the agents embrace the story, almost like school children hearing their favorite adventure. With such a diverse cast, I hope to see more of how each agent brings a piece of their own culture or family heritage into the mix.

One thing that bugs me about “Pizza Box” is Mike’s budding relationship with Abby (Jenn Proske). While I think it provides for an interesting dynamic (since Abby only knows the fictitious version of Mike), Graceland is already bloated with characters that often get pushed into the background. Even Abby is reduced to brief text message mentions and quick dinner dates because Mike can’t stay. I think it hurts individual character growth to have so many characters, especially as we’re still getting to know the major players.

Ashika is not happy about her sheets.

If anyone needs a girlfriend, it’s Tuturro because his brain isn’t the body part doing the thinking in “Pizza Box,” and it almost gets Jakes, Paige and him killed. It’s not all the fault of Tuturro’s hormones, though. How was he supposed to know that after getting airbrush tattoos all over his body, it might be a bad idea to sleep shirtless with Ashika, the crazy pot farmer they are trying to bust, on her white bed with white sheets?

The agents of Graceland use lies to catch criminals but it isn’t until “Pizza Box” where we see the real consequences of telling those lies. Given the chance, bad guy Eddie (Sheaun McKinney), Bello’s right hand man, would have killed Mike, but that doesn’t change how shaken up Mike gets watching Eddie die. Right or wrong, Mike’s lies are what put into motion the events that lead to Eddie’s death. It will be interesting to see if this changes Mike at all or if he will be able to simply brush it off.

There is a scene at the end of “Pizza Box” between Briggs and Mike where they talk about leftover sauce. What makes the conversation so powerful is that while the words being spoken are about sauce, they have a completely different meaning. There are so many levels to their conversation, thanks to great writing and acting, I had to watch it twice. I also enjoyed how Charlie subtly becomes the mom again without her even being there. It is a touching moment as they deal with the events of the night, yet on paper, it is simply a scene about sauce.

For more information on Graceland, visit the official website.

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Follow the stars of Graceland on Twitter: @DanielGRACELAND, @MannyMontana, @SwanSerinda, and @brandojay.

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.