BOOTH FOR BELLA | Devlin wants to trade Isabella for Ryan, aka the man who killed his son. The team plans to just shoot the heck out of Devlin and his men, in the hopes that they won’t actually have to make the exchange. Andrea is resolute in his desire to accompany them, and even though it’s the worst idea ever, Alex says OK.
Andrea is really great at being sexy and Italian, but really bad at being rational when his daughter is in danger. So during the tense situation, he rushes out to try to reason with Devlin, which prompts the older man to shoot him. Alex cries out and rushes to pull her former love into her arms, but it’s too late: As his blood exits his body at a rapid rate, Alex promises Andrea she’ll bring his daughter home, then he dies.
The only option left, then, is for Ryan to surrender to ensure Isabella’s safety. “I love you,” he calls out to a shocked Shelby as he’s manhandled into a car with Devlin. Bella then is released safely. She runs to Alex, who gently cautions her to close her eyes so she won’t see her dad’s corpse on the cobblestones behind her.
RIDING TO RYAN’S RESCUE | While the FBI brokers a new power deal between Little Bobby and another high-powered Irish criminal, a quick-thinking Ryan surreptitiously manages to activate a tracker he had on him. That action doesn’t stop Devlin from beating the snot out of Booth, but it does eventually lead to his rescue while Devlin is out of the room. While Ryan is comatose in the ICU, Little Bobby lures his boss to a bar, where he’s ambushed by Owen and his team. “It ends here,” Little Bobby says, shooting Devlin in the throat and killing him while the agents do nothing to stop him.
After the bad guy’s death, we see the members of the team getting to relax just a little bit for the first time in weeks. (Well, not Shelby, who’s crying her eyes out by Ryan’s bedside, but pretty much everyone else.) Owen kisses Jocelyn, who seems a) unsurprised and b) totally into it. Alex and Harry discuss how Ryan’s probably going to be fine, thanks to the lack of brain trauma. And Alex gets some wisdom from Shelby, who reminds her that “truly loving someone” is the real deal in life: “As your best friend, I’m telling you: Stop running.”
And the next time we see Alex, she’s sitting down next to Bella. When the little girl wonders aloud what will happen to her, Alex asks if she’d like to accompany her to America. (Side note: That’s sweet and all, but is relocating a grieving and traumatized child to a country where she has no roots and/or family — speaking of family, doesn’t she have relatives in Italy who’d be better-suited to taking her in? — really the best idea?)
Anyway, that’s how it all shakes out. Grade the episode via the poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
