Rookie Blue recap: A traitor amongst them

Happy Canada Day!! I realize the national holiday has zero bearing on this episode, but on the whole, we’ve got a show filled with tremendous Canadian actors doing their –and my – country proud.

Oliver Shaw took front and centre this week, which is great because as you readers all know, I adore Matt Gordon and oft demand him to be in the spotlight. So before I continue to embarrassingly wax poetic about the man, let’s just get right down to business with this recap:

THE SHOE GAME!

I was sure this was made up when I witnessed it at a wedding reception three years ago. (Also, if you’ve already said “I do,” perhaps it’s too late to determine compatibility by raising shoes?) But apparently it’s a THING. And I’m totally on board with it.

Bromantical proposals

Don’t hate me but I squealed with delight more at Sam asking Oliver to be his best man than I did at the actual proposal last week.

Oh, to be on the receiving end of a hug from Oliver Shaw.

Lost: One Diamond Engagement Ring

Uh, oh.

Musical undertones suggest doom

Meet Duncan’s step dad and the police commissioner:

Not too scary, right? Wrong. Creepy optimist scary. And he’s been doing some digging about why Juliet Ward is at 15 Division, which Noelle quickly cops to doing. But now he wants reports about everything going on by the end of the day, and all she’s got is Oliver Shaw. Cue a hearty “DUN DUN DUNNNNN.” Seriously.

Nobody panic

Nope, looks like Sam’s going to panic. If Commissioner Santana is dirty and has the opportunity to pin it all on Oliver, Sam’s convinced he will. So what does he do?

Brings Andy into the mix, who then suggests the ever-trustworthy Dov be brought in, in an effort to make their 6 p.m. deadline.

Honestly I take issue with the precise time on that deadline. I feel no one’s day ends on time, especially in the police department, right?

Missing person or amber alert?

Case of the week: missing child (named Evan) with a side of possible abduction, if the cops can kind evidence of it. With apologies to Matt Murray (and Enuka Okuma, who wrote this week’s ep), but Duncan’s whole explanation of what makes a missing child an Amber Alert was clunky. Too much Johnny Exposition, not enough finesse.

Kitchener is so dismal that people are just up and vanishing

Vanishing into thin air! And apparently the local PD – Detective Norman to be precise – doesn’t think that’s totally insane: “We looked for them. They’re gone. Sometimes people just up and leave.”

Worst cop ever? Or a little too “Oh gee, gosh, the big city!” and therefore hiding something? DUN DUN DUNNNNN.

You can never go wrong with high gloss orange

Weird personal detail from my life: my grandmother has a high gloss orange dining room table and I have so many wonderful memories sitting around it. I DIGRESS. This man, who’s painting a headboard high gloss orange, is Reece Grey, neighbour to the aforementioned missing Evan and a registered sex offender which set off warning bells. But he explained the whole scenario that led to his record, and gave Traci permission to search his house, so moving on…

Tarzaaaaaan!

Self-proclaimed nosy neighbour Erin here was the only person who thought it was odd that her neighbour Chris and his daughter, Ava, vanished. And she had a valuable piece of information: namely that Chris and Detective Norman had a blowout before he vanished. DUN DUN DUNNNNN. (I’m having too much fun with this sound effect, guys.)

“On the spectrum”

To summarize, Evan the missing child, is “barely” on the autism spectrum – a key detail that Mom left out because she believed that the police wouldn’t issue an Amber Alert for him. Moms talk and word on the street is the cops are less likely to issue alerts for autistic children. However, suspect #1, Reece with the orange paint, checked out, so the team is without enough to issue an Amber Alert.

Pertinent details seem to be irrelevant

Apparently everything about Chris and Ava Klem’s disappearance is above Sam’s clearance level…according to Det. Norman of the Kitchener PD. SKETCHY. And all this causes Sam to SPIRAL out in regards to all things Oliver:

But at least he’s now looped in Andy about Oliver’s earlier woes with his daughter Izzie and her ecstasy possession.

Actually, I’m a muscular Orc

“We’re questing!” Major bright spot of the episode goes to Dov and Traci playing World of War Craft online. Oh, and finding Ava Klem via her IP issue as she played the game with them.

A mystical wardrobe (but not Narnia?)

Badass, and more importantly, kickass father Oliver Shaw knows his children’s literature enough to solve the case of the missing Evan. (He had climbed into a non-magical wardrobe that the junk collector picked up.)

Quack, quack, quack

Case closed on the missing engagement ring. Sam found it in their sheets and attached it to the best security system money can buy, from the dollar store.

These two are adorable.

Speaking of things that make unnecessary noise…

Ava Klem, equipped with whistle, finally cornered by Sam and Andy. She’s all kinds of paranoid about fake cops trying to kill her and her father who, bee-tee-dubs, also turned up at the library:

The long of the short of it: Chris gave explosive materials to who he thought was a cop, 15 Division explosion; Ava picked up by female cop and accused of cocaine possession; serious threats made; duo on the run ever since.

“His name was Oliver Shaw.”

What do you do when the guy who’s supposed to help clear your best friend’s name, actually names your best friend?

So what does this look like to Internal Affairs?

Swarek broke it down for us. In short, Shaw’s got financial troubles but still spending money while getting divorced, new “cushy” promotion, evidence key card used during the time of the bombing without cause, Izzy’s drug charge disappearing.

Oliver Shaw, hero and all ’round class act till the end

He looked part lost puppy and part angry-then-resolved man, as Oliver faced the trumped up, but very real laundry list of “facts” that Sam and Andy brought to him. His whole speech, turning into his badge with daughter Izzy to witness, was the exact moment your heart broke for him. Matty, you are a national treasure. A special Happy Canada Day to you, sir! (Oh, and Enuka, solid writing!)

And what if Oliver Shaw isn’t, in fact, Oliver Shaw?

You had to know it was someone else, right? Because it wasn’t actually Oliver who bought the bomb. So who used his name? Who could be behind Shaw’s demise? And while we’re asking questions, why does Tracy still have a sad, sad Blackberry?

Tracy cannot catch a break in her dating life

Leo’s dad…obviously not the one. Jerry, totally the one but so much of a hero that he died in action. (I still get teary-eyed thinking of the episodes where we said goodbye to Jerry.) And now, Peck #2: totally sweet until you realize he’s dirty.

And not dirty in a good, fun way. (Bravo to Adam for mastering the classic “Stephen Harper dead eyes” for this scene.)

DUN DUN DUNNNNN. Sorry, there needed to be one last one. Hit the comments with your thoughts on this week’s episode and theories about what Oliver’s fate might be.

Rookie Blue airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Global in Canada and in the US on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.