Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 12 Review: ‘Clouds in My Eyes’

Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 12 ‘Clouds in My Eyes’ has the potential to be a game changer for this series. What will happen now that Max is out of excuses to stay with Ellis and simply chooses him instead? Well, if this penultimate episode is anything to go by, there’s a world out there that’s full of possibilities. Case in point: The hour begins with Max and her dad getting everything they’ve wanted all along. (That is, of course, George’s freedom.) But while George leaves prison thinking his daughter’s “off the hook,” at least as far as working with the police goes, he quickly finds himself also helping Detective Ellis. Interesting, to say the least.

The episode also teases us with the possibility of a new, improved (in a “gray area” sort of way) Detective Ellis. Here, he gets something he’s wanted for a very long time — his brother’s killer behind bars. But that turns out to not be anywhere near enough because circumstances make the so-called here both incomplete and hollow. This leads him to decide that, for the first time in his career, maybe it’s time to not play by the rules anymore. As long as he stays the storm cloud to Max’s sunshine, we’re totally here for a future in which Cole Ellis understands that sometimes, good guys gotta do bad things to make the bad guys pay (to borrow from a longtime fave).

…but, of course, before we can think about a future, we have to deal with some unfinished business. Our people have to get out of, uh, several jams before this season ends. Because obviously the episode had to end on a cliffhanger just to make sure we’re all seated for the season finale. (As if we wouldn’t have been regardless.)

MORE: Can’t believe this season is almost over? Revisit the very beginning with our Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 1 review.

“Sweet, sweet freedom”

Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 12 gives Jason Priestley some fascinating material to work with, and right from the start — literally the very first minute — Priestley delivers. As George lays it on thick with the parole board, there are moments when we can absolutely tell he’s being sincere, layering in plenty of emotion about tough times that pushed him toward this line of work. However, there are also plenty of places where we’re not quite as certain. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Priestley’s performance in that opening scene is how many times it makes us stop to say, “how can this be true but also not what the people sitting in front of George think he’s saying to them?”

Some key examples: George talks about “a lot of opportunity to reflect and…understand how [he] came to be here.” He’s sincere about this, but whatever’s underneath that sincerity speaks of some kind of clue — though we’re still not necessarily sure what — about whatever it is Ricky’s been collecting stuff for and lecturing Max about getting ready to skip town to do. Additionally, there’s the line about how he wants to “give back to people, not take from them.” We know, even before he agrees to help Max and Cole get some answers out of Billy O’Brien, that this isn’t at all a new philosophy for this particular family of con artists. But the folks George has to sell his “new” outlook on life to clearly don’t have that background knowledge. All they see is a con artist.

Another thing we know for sure, and what we hope means good things for when Max — at some inevitable point, hopefully sooner than later — realizes her place is by Ellis’ side, is that there is zero lying involved when George says he wants to be there for Max. “But most importantly, I want to be a proper father to my daughter. I wanna be the kind of father I never had. Nothing means more to me than that.” If we had any question, whatsoever, that this was true before Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 12, his choices here remove all doubts. Just watch him agree to make that trip back to prison to cash in his favor with Davis…immediately after he says he’ll “never set foot on those concrete floors or lay eyes on that barbed wire ever again.”

Later, another big scene for Priestley comes right before Max asks George for that favor. As ~~Brandon Walsh~~ George watches ~~President Bartlet’s~~ Jonathan Ashford’s Father’s Day video, his reaction can only be described as grief. Grief and, possibly, something like regret. Some portion of that response, especially initially, reads like just basic human empathy for that 16-year-old with only a bag and a note to remember his dad. But…a lot of it…points toward something bigger and more personal. That story George told the parole board about is own origin story comes into clearer focus. It means something.

Oh! And we are — once again — left to wonder what, exactly, everyone’s supposed to be leaving town to do.

MORE: Anyone else think the video Ricky was so nervous about showing George was from that time ElliMax made love eyeballs at each other on the set of a reality series?

“That is not good enough for me”

In Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 12, Giacomo Gianniotti gives us an emotional performance as a Cole Ellis who gets his hopes up…only to have them come crashing down. In the scene where Commissioner Russo tells Detective Ellis that both her department and her federal colleagues consider this case a done deal, Gianniotti makes Ellis’ desperation feel like it’s something we could reach through the TV and grasp. It’s a presence. As the character tries so hard to get through to Russo, he’s also able to bring such a level of frustration to the scene, right alongside this awful sense of dread. But what stands out more is the way he just gives us this betrayed, wounded, kicked puppy look — especially after multiple glances in Li’s direction, begging for him to step in…which Li does not do.

You can actually see the second Ellis’ very belief in the system, in “right” and wrong, and in the way his line of work seeks justice totally shatters. In that exact same breath, his own heart is shattering right along with all of those beliefs. And another heart that shatters right beside his (besides, you know, ours)? Max’s. She looks distinctly ill and is the personification of the phrase “worried about a loved one” while Russo shuts her partner down. After he leaves, the way she jumps right up to defend him, to remind everyone that we are so close — we because it’s her fight, too, now — is a beautiful thing. It’s like she’s picking up with the fight, and the emotion, and the passion right when Ellis has to put it down for a few moments.

In case you didn’t already know: ElliMax are partners in all of this. Period. End of story. In fact, Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 12 shows us how far both Ellis and Max have come, not through some grand gesture but through how naturally and easily they share the same feelings about Daniel’s case and how the system can’t — won’t — fully solve it. It reinforces that image of progress with Ellis admitting to Max that he doesn’t have some “overwhelming sense of closure.” She doesn’t even need to ask for the truth, not really – because he’s giving her his truth, on autopilot. Additionally, the hour continues to push them even more toward the only place where they can possibly end up after all of this.

That last part is, perhaps, about grand gestures. But even those big steps, like Max telling Cole “you’re our family now” just feel so…simple. And make no mistake: George, Ricky, and Max — especially Max, obviously — declaring they’re all family actually rings much more sincere than Russo’s comment about family earlier in the hour. Not only have we seen every ElliMax moment for what it is, but these people are willing to take risks for this man. Even if they don’t care about some cop, they care about Max, who does care about him. So, Max is the glue, the one who connects this improbable family. And it’s a strong family, at that — no cons needed. Or, eh. The con is at the club…and ends…with stress. But otherwise.

Whatever happens in the investigation, and no matter how personal this one is compared to every case of the week this series has given us, this episode isn’t just laying the groundwork for a big season finale. It’s also testing the waters for the “something new” Max talked about way back in Episode 2. And it involves the whole family, somehow or another. It just has to.

MORE: Let’s be real: Ricky was already part of the Ellis family the second he declared himself Marc the Cat’s uncle in Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 9.

More on Wild Cards Season 2 Episode 12

“So this parole board walks into a bar. Bartender says, ‘hey, guys. How about a round on the house?’ And they say, ‘sure! As long as nobody’s expecting any good behavior from us tonight.'” Punching up instead of down??? Give this man a Netflix special, honestly. He’s funnier than all the transphobes and serial assaulters who seem to always get gigs.
“I won’t bore you with the whole soap opera.” Sir. Your soap opera defined many of our childhoods. Please, bore us with a recounting of everything that happened in the OG 90210.
…what’s that? That’s not what he’s talking about? Oops.
“With no parents, no family, and no money, the streets will chew you up and spit you out unless you figure out how to survive.” “I knew it was wrong. But when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, you do what you have to do to just eat.” Ok, so. First of all, GO OFF. Y’all want to reduce crime? Reduce the desperation that leads to a bunch of it. And second, to be more specific to this series and this episode, it is brilliant how this sets up a possible reason why these kids, and even Elena Ramos, might have gotten mixed up in…whatever all this is.
“So now, after two years of tracking down every lead, turning over every stone, obsessing over every detail, when we are literally this close to getting the whole truth, you want me to just stop?” I would reach through the screen and kill her for him if it would help right now.
Marc’s little jingly collar! The MEOW about the boat! Yes, more of this!
He gets so quiet on the “Daniel would’ve loved this” part. Help.
“No attachments. Material, emotional, or otherwise.” Riiiiight.
If I listed every time I’m like “oh, she looks so sick and uncomfortable” about Max in this episode…Like, how do you tell your dad you do, in fact, have attachments? What do you do when you’re caught putting down roots, even though this “home” was supposed to be temporary until he got out of prison? How do you sit there and watch your partner lose all sense of hope? And how does one handle any of that, much less all of it? Not well if you’re Max — not well at all. Basically, just saying Vanessa Morgan kills this, as always. Even when it’s not technically a “Max” moment, if she’s there, it’s a moment.
“Tall, dark, and surly,”
“I GIVE YOU A NAME AND I GET SHIVVED IN THE SHOWER.” Somehow, I can’t find myself to care.
“All good things must come to an end.” The way she squints before the “must they?” I think Max is thinking what I’m thinking: Let’s not trust this woman. Especially with just the…completely uncaring and self-serving way she gives Max that campaign button on her way to do some show. Oof.
Love Karin Konoval, hate Russo, is what I’m saying here.
“Tell that to Ellis.” GET HER.
“Talk to me.” I love them.
“Because nothing — absolutely nothing — matters more than your own freedom.” And yet, George puts that freedom at risk to help family…and is at the scene of a murder by the end of it. He has to know things going sideways is possible, even if he doesn’t expect that outcome. But he jumps right on in, with both feet. Because he’s not like Ashford…and neither is Max.
“I was just following orders” is not a valid defense. Bye.
The whole scene where Cole goes to see Cynthia Smith is a gem. Excellent example of how to be so emotional, yet understated, from both Gianniotti and Marci T. House. The highlight is obviously the very end: “I once asked Daniel why he stuck it out with the difficult cases. He said because life wasn’t easy, but anything could be accomplished with a little tough love and a lot of hard work.” “Sounds like Daniel.” “He said he learned that from you.” Just…wow to that reaction. He is so struck by this, as someone who saw his brother as such a good person — which based on everything we learn here, he was! — but never quite understood his own value and how Daniel might have viewed him.
“No money” in police work? Check out some of those budgets, bro.
OH. MY. GOD. The shhhh!!!! exchange. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
(If George didn’t realize his daughter was basically married based on the laws of TV ships before then, he sure does now.)
Ricky told Cole to pay for his girl’s dress, and he didn’t even get to see her in it or hear her sing for him, huh? Rude.
The song choice. She’s in love. Confirmed.
Forget that the show airs on Wednesdays for a second, ok? It’s Friday. She’s. In. Love.
…but it’s almost sad instead of the upbeat version we’re used to? INTERESTING.
“Dad! You just got out of prison! You don’t even have a license!!!!!!” THE DELIVERY IS EXQUISITE.
This terrified kid, though. If something bad happens to him, I’m not sure anybody here is going to forgive themselves.
Max literally can’t stop herself from calling Ellis “a good man,” even when she’s pretending to be someone else. Amazing.
The melodrama over the vegan fridge.
“Get home fast, Ellis.”
…and now…
…oh no.
Seriously, get home fast, Ellis. Your girl needs you.