Surely I’m not the only one who saw Ishida, battered and bloody but still breathing at the top of this week’s episode, and thought: Hey, maybe my guy will pull through. Enter his Gandalf the White era, so to speak. But the gods of fate had other plans. Hayama, never the type to show grace under pressure, throws a tantrum when Sato brings the dying Ishida back to home base. “Why wasn’t I notified about this meeting?!†His primary concern. “You brought him to that shitty club without enough protection,†he faux-scolds Sato. “This is your fault.â€
With their Oyabun in tatters before them, Hayama is already positioning himself as the new big man on campus. Meanwhile, outside Club Polina (now an active crime scene), Jake gets the scoop on the whole thing from Katagiri. Two shooters, both masked, entered through the main elevator. Ishida was the target, struck multiple times, status unknown. Three confirmed casualties: two guests (including Ohno) and one Chihara-kai, with others seriously injured. Samantha is safe. For now, all they can do is look for the shooters and pray things don’t escalate.
Over at Police HQ, Nagata is questioning Samantha about the shoot-out. Sam’s playing things predictably cool, mixing smart lies with emotional truths. Her story: She doesn’t know why Ishida was at the club nor what he was doing with Masahiro Ohno. Ohno’s a regular, nothing more. Several witnesses saw her and Ohno in deep conversation moments before the shooting, counters Nagata. “That’s what hostesses do,†Sam replies. “I have no clue what they were after! It was my club! I was supposed to keep them safe.†It all tracks and seems to satisfy Nagata for the time being. And we all know Sam means it when she blames herself for the disruption of her safe, glittering homestead at the heart of Tokyo’s underground. Sam crosses paths with Tozawa in the hallway no sooner than getting clear of Nagata. He’s there of his own accord with a lawyer and all the necessary alibis lined up for himself and his crew. Very convenient and not at all suspicious. “Good evening, Ms. Porter,†he whispers. Yikes, welcome to the Tozawa Knows Your Name club.
On his way out, Tozawa slips into the bathroom to sneak up on Katagiri. “You were out awfully late tonight, Detective,†he says. “Give my regards to your family.†He finishes his not-so-veiled threat with a dig at Nagata. “A female detective? I hadn’t realized how desperate things were for you and your colleagues.â€
“You underestimate the police at your peril,†Katagiri responds. Tozawa shrugs it off, but Katagiri is right about one thing: No one in Tokyo can afford to underestimate their enemies right now.
The next day at Meicho, Emi establishes that they need an angle for second-day coverage of the shooting. For Jake, that means a race against the clock to find a Tozawa connection. At Tin Tin’s suggestion and Emi’s insistence, Jake goes to Sam for information first and learns of the tattoo on one of the shooter’s wrists. He takes a drawing of the tattoo to his old yakuza mag source, Ukai, now in recovery from his meth addiction and cut off from his old life. True to form, Jake apologizes for their previous encounter (the impromptu meth party/information heist in the season-one finale) and immediately asks him to open up the triggering yakuza-world part of his brain for information. Ukai knows the tattoo. Two brothers, both in Hishinuma-kai, wear the same one on their respective wrists. The police have already dismantled Hishinuma-kai, meaning these two brothers found themselves in need of a job, which they likely took up from Tozawa.
“I can connect them to Tozawa,†Jake tells Emi over the phone. “I just need more time.†Emi smells Jake avoiding his trip home for his dad’s 60th a mile away. “Life matters too,†she tells him. “This is my life,†he insists to Emi and himself. You can almost hear the spirit of Al Pacino’s Vincent Hanna in Heat whispering in Jake’s ear: “All I am is who I’m going after.â€
While they’re all still in the calm before the storm, Katagiri pays a visit to Chihara-kai and Hayama. Katagiri, in typical cool-as-ice fashion, makes it known that he’s aware of how fragile Hayama’s new position is. He can say “I am Chihara-kai†all he wants, but is this runt kid of the Chihara-kai who snarled and clawed and cheated and leered and killed (with extreme dishonor) to the top spot of the schoolyard prepared to face Tozawa and the police in the battle to come? “There will be no retaliation,†Katagiri admonishes. “Any further violence will be met with the most severe response.â€
And the longer we spend time with Hayama, the more his mustache-twirling, constant upping-the-villainy-ante reveals itself to be a lifelong case of “small man’s disease,†as my dad used to call it; the bully who’s a bully because he started out as the Über-bullied runt of the schoolyard. From day one of his return to Chihara-kai, he’s recognized Sato as the real leader in town; his only recourse is the one he’s known all his life: total chaos and obliteration. That’s why he sets up Katio to fail, fatally, in a ridiculous attempt to assassinate Tozawa under the auspices of “he’ll never see you coming.†Sato manages to catch Kaito in the act and puts a stop to it before his little brother gets anywhere near Tozawa. “You promised you’d stay away from him,†Sato tells Hayama later on in the Oyabun’s office. “Which makes you a liar. Kashira, leave him alone.†Sato knows he’s putting out the fire with gasoline here, but Hayama has left him no choice. When Hayama responds with a threat to kill everyone Sato cares about, including Sam, Erika, and Erika’s son, the warpath between these two is officially forged.
The following day, Samantha catches her photo, right next to Ohno’s, in the newspaper. “American Mama-San Tied to Yakuza,†it reads. Tin Tin ran with the story as their second-day coverage, clearly intending to slight Jake but also in a move that clearer heads, namely Emi’s, support as a reporter doing his job. Jake storms into the office and almost comes to blows with Tin Tin, but there’s not much he can say when Emi lays down the law. “This is about the Meicho doing its job,†she says. “If you have a problem with that, you need to work somewhere else.â€
That’s it. For now, the trail’s gone cold. Jake’s run out of excuses and it looks like he’s going to make that flight home after all. Meanwhile, Sato pays a visit to Erika, and they both agree it’s time they stopped seeing each other for everyone’s safety. He visits Sam to say pretty much the same thing, but the unspoken flame between them lights up. They’re both deep in it now, so there’s not really much sense in staying away from each other for safety’s sake. Might as well get closer (and naked). We end the night and the episode on a lone Katagiri, returning late to an empty house, popping open a can of Asahi only to raise a knife in the same subtle movement. Someone’s in his house. A scared young man emerges from the shadows, arms raised, revealing the tattoo on his wrist. The shadowy path to Tozawa may have just lightened up a little.
Off the Record
• A devastating blow this week for Emi and all of us who love her the most on Tokyo Vice and want the absolute best for her. (Which should be everyone watching this show.) Shingo has been an illuminating presence in Emi’s story, bridging the gap between her personal and professional life while accelerating the stakes of both. He’s not only encouraged her to reach higher at work, but to go somewhere where the higher-ups will appreciate her more. His presence in her life is also forcing her to rethink her situation with her brother. “I live in fear for him,†Emi confesses to Shingo. “But I’ve never once been afraid of him.†Emi’s dilemma as a sibling and caretaker to an adult man with dire mental-health issues is a deeply resonant one, and her determination to the highest ideals of her job is rooted in her intimate connection to the most vulnerable among us. But her brother seems to have been making progress the last few episodes, and Shingo’s been encouraging Emi to introduce him to Kei and let him be a bigger part of both of their lives. Things seem to be going relatively well at their introductory dinner at Emi’s, even when Kei asks Shingo about his divorce and son. The look on Emi’s face after Shingo leaves and Kei drops the emotional bomb of “that guy’s a loser who will abandon you†in her lap is absolutely heartbreaking.
• Things are on an upswing for Emi at work, though (minus having to play disciplinarian to her fighting reporters). Ozaki (Bokuzo Masana), the Meicho executive and supervisor to Baku, catches Emi in the hallway to inquire about Jake’s Tozawa beat. “Let him chase it,†he says. “I want you and your team to follow any lead that could help bring that monster down.†But what if someone is working for Tozawa at Meicho? “Follow any lead,†he reiterates. “No matter how small. Wherever it takes you, that’s your job.†At the very least, we’ve got a good chance of solving the mystery of the video fire before the season’s out.