The Catch finale recap: 'The Mockingbird'

Now that was a season finale. The episode’s perfect blend of humor, thrill, twists, and turns was a great way to end The Catch‘s sophomore season. Unfortunately, the loose ends we’re left with won’t get a chance to be tied up, as ABC sacked the Shondaland drama earlier today.

So, unless I suddenly develop telepathic powers with which to urge ABC execs to reconsider their decision, we’ll have to use our imaginations to envision where our favorite investigators and criminals wind up after that monster of a cliffhanger. (Though you can catch a few of executive producer Allan Heinberg’s thoughts here.) But hey, if The Catch was gonna go out, at least it went out with a bang, right?

“The Mockingbird” finally brought everyone’s season-long arcs together into one juicy, sensational story. Let’s get into it… for the last time. *insert sad-face emoji here*

When we last saw Mockingbird (a.k.a. Tommy), he had just sat down with Margot to inquire after his stolen drugs. Margot initially tries to strike a deal, but any hope of a negotiation fades when Alice’s brother reveals he’s absorbed every other crime family in town. With no allies to speak of, the head of the Kensington firm really has no choice but to return the shipment and join his payroll (or, you know, die). Margot has 24 hours to decide which way she wants to go, at which point he’ll call with a delivery location.

Once he’s made his exit, Margot finally answers her phone and finds out about Tessa’s kidnapping. After briefly arguing with Alice, Ben, and Rhys about whose fault it is that Tessa was nabbed by Felicity — who, they presume, wants the Kensington firm all to herself — she confesses the firm no longer exists, thanks to Mockingbird. But the priority right now is getting Tessa back, so when Felicity calls and sets up a trade (Tessa for Margot and Rhys), they agree to the terms. While the brother-sister duo want to show up guns blazing, Ben insists on doing it his way. They’ll arrive unarmed (with Alice and Val surveilling the scene from a safe distance and Danny in place as an amateur sniper), do the exchange, and shoot out the getaway car’s tires to save Margot and Rhys at the last moment.

If you’re thinking the plan won’t work, that’s because it doesn’t. Turns out Tessa and Felicity have been in cahoots the whole time, a bit of intel Val and Alice stumble upon a little too late. Just as they tell Ben via earpiece that they’ve been set up, the 15-year-old con artist pulls a gun and threatens to kill Ben if Alice doesn’t let them slip away unscathed. That’s way harsh, Tessa.

With no other options, Alice heads to Rhys’ place to enlist the help of Justine (and Ethan, who’s there for a reason I can’t remember) and ends up spilling the beans about Ben’s love child with would-be FBI target Margot Bishop. Unsurprisingly, Agent Diaz is less than thrilled about her CI cavorting with the enemy but agrees to help with an eye on taking down Margot in the process. Thinking Felicity’s working with the mysterious Mockingbird, Alice says the Mockingbird Trust — the fund Ethan’s employee used to launder money through his company — is their only lead.

At the group’s behest, the hilariously clueless Carol requests an in-person meeting with Mockingbird and brings along an undercover Justine and Val as her “team.” When Tommy starts descending the stairs at the rendezvous point, Val looks up and asks what viewers have been thinking since last week: “Are you kidding me?” After Justine asks how Val knows Mockingbird, Alice comes around the corner, draws her gun on Tommy, and responds, “He’s not Mockingbird. He’s my idiot little brother.”

Though part of me hoped Tommy somehow did have the brains and balls to put together a crime syndicate, I’m happier the showrunners decided to make him a patsy instead. Back at AVI, he quickly breaks character, returning to his babbling, awkward, and somehow endearing self. He admits he’s been posing as Mockingbird for a friend, and, eager to avoid arrest, agrees to contact Margot ahead of the 24-hour deadline — even though it will make him (er, the real Mockingbird) look a bit weak.

Margot answers the call and informs Mockingbird (er, Tommy) that an associate has assumed leadership of the Kensington firm. She hands her phone off to Felicity, at which point a guilty Tessa offers up a weak explanation for her betrayal. “For what it’s worth, we had this plan laid out before I even met you,” she tells her parents. “It’s not personal. The only thing I knew about you is that you had abandoned me.” Sensing her daughter’s hesitation to go through with the coup, Margot asks, “So, whose child are you? Ours, or hers?”

Now that Felicity has the means (i.e. the delivery address) to find Mockingbird, kill him, and resume control of his territory, she decides it’s time for her prisoners to die. After placing Margot, Rhys, and Ben in strategic locations, she announces her plan to make it look like the warring siblings killed each other and Ben got caught in the crossfire. When Rhys mouths off, Felicity decides he’ll be the first to go — but when she pulls the trigger, we get Tessa’s answer to Margot’s earlier question. She’s their daughter… and she’s chosen her family over the possibility of ruling a criminal empire.

With the tables turned, the gang subdues their captors, giving Margot and Tessa a chance to escape before the FBI arrives. Rhys wants to seize the opportunity to kill Felicity once and for all, but Ben tries to talk him out of it. Amid their bickering, Felicity comes to after being Tased and puts a bullet in her former lover. (If she really was the firm’s “top assassin,” I doubt she’d mess up a kill shot at such a close range.) But when Felicity runs from the room to do the same thing to Tessa, she instead encounters a much-deserved kick in the face from Alice.

Even with Felicity in handcuffs, no one’s in the clear just yet. An incensed Justine wants to go after Margot and Tessa; the FBI’s arrest of Tommy back at AVI turns out to be a ruse; and Alice and Ben decide that finding the real Mockingbird is the only way to regain Justine’s trust and protect Ben’s immunity deal. Luckily for them, Tommy’s conveniently left-behind (bespoke) jacket is just what they need to do it — all it takes is a quick phone call to the retailer to get their hands on Tommy’s credit card number. (Yeah, suspend your disbelief a bit here.) As they’re combing through his statements, Ben realizes Tommy’s been swiping the credit card at locations eerily close to where his FBI jobs went down. Once those jobs were over and the criminals behind bars, Tommy/Mockingbird would step in and fill the power gap.

The problem? There’s only one other person who knew about those operations and could have passed the info on to Tommy… and that’s Rhys. (Say it ain’t so, Rhys! You’ve been one of my favorite characters all season.) After he lost control of the Kensington firm to Margot in season 1, Rhys wanted back in the game — and when Tommy lost his $3 million to gambling, Rhys offered him a job as the face of his operation so he could rule and remain hidden from the FBI in plain sight.

Once informed of the situation, an even more pissed off Justine is worried the FBI will think they’ve all been working for Kensington, herself included. She tells Ben it’s not enough to put Rhys away; they’ll need Margot and Tessa, too, and she’ll need his help to do it. He doesn’t know where they are, but Danny does — Margot called him earlier from Alice’s house, requesting access to a jet that will take her and Tessa far away. While his own call to Margot suggests Ben is selling out his daughter/baby momma to his FBI handler, he was really warning her about the FBI army heading her way.

After a search of Alice’s house turns up no one — and Ben disappears from the scene to join a waiting Margot and Tessa — Agent Diaz returns to AVI to interrogate Alice and Val about their whereabouts, saying she’ll consider lessening the charges against them in exchange for their cooperation. Tommy, finally being the kind of brother Alice deserves, steps up and offers to help Justine take down Rhys’ entire operation if she’ll leave his sister alone. Although Alice might be safe, at least for now, there’s still an APB out for Rhys, Margot, Tessa, and Ben.

That’s when we see the latter three pull up to a tarmac with a waiting jet, courtesy of Ethan (whom Alice asked for help, of course). An unassuming Rhys calls Ben, who tells his now-former best friend and sort-of brother that once Margot and Tessa are safely out of the country, he’s coming for him. And while I can’t forgive Rhys for his treachery just yet, I did feel a twinge of something when I saw his face fall at Benji’s threat.

The celebratory mood turns sour when Alice urges her fiancé to get on the plane, too, because the FBI is coming for him and there’s no way to stop it. After promising each other they’ll figure things out — and Alice, to no one’s surprise, turns down Ben’s offer to join them abroad, probably in a country with no extradition — they kiss with the sound of approaching sirens in the air. Ben waves one last goodbye to his lady love, the door closes, and the plane heads for takeoff just in time.

Whew! I know I missed a few details here and there, but so much happened this episode that it was impossible to get to everything. Two quick side notes: Sophie’s expected to survive, and it seems Danny and Margot might be in it for the long haul.

Well, what did you think? Hit the comments with your reactions and what you would’ve liked to see in season 3. Until next time…

Odds and Ends

• “You’re a difficult man to get in touch with, Mr. Bird.” —Margot to Tommy, when he introduces himself as Mockingbird
• Tessa: “Do I strike you as a puppet?”
  Ben: “You strike me as young, and entitled, and not long for this world. The minute you decide to think for yourself, she’ll kill you.”
  Rhys: “Unless she kills Felicity first — that is, if Felicity can be killed. Try a wooden stake through the heart.”
• Tommy: “I am Mockingbird.”
  Justine: “Then I’m afraid that you’re going away for a very long time.”
  Tommy: “I am not Mockingbird.”
• Felicity: “The only question is, who to shoot first?”
  Rhys: “May I suggest yourself?”
• Tommy: “What if I can give you Rhys? Will you leave my sister alone?”
  Justine: “Can you? Get me Rhys?”
  Tommy: “Yeah, probably not…”