Now that Rebecca has been cleared of any involvement with Anson's killing and Nate's, that character presumably rides off into the sunset and the appropriate authorities look into the incident. Only the FBI don't seem to be progressing to Michael Westen's schedule. I was rather interested that the matter was being looked at by the FBI. Given that it happened during a CIA sanctioned operation, both Michael and Pearce are CIA agents, and they were overseeing it, I would have thought that any investigation should be undertaken by the CIA.
Michael approaches one of the FBI agents looking after it with a loaded gun and demands answers. The agent says that they were told not to look too hard and to shut down the investigation. Pearce, while scolding Michael over his approach, confirms that the FBI have shut down their investigation and that the order came from within the CIA, which explains why the Agency didn't handle it. Pearce seems to have become a default member of the team now. She hangs out at the loft eating Michael's yoghurt with Fi and watching Sam drink beer. She regularly teams up with Jesse (Coby Bell and Lauren Stamile really did make a great couple). She's pretty much one of the gang.
Sam uses one of his FBI contacts (I thought it may be one or both of the agents that they've dealt with in the past, but it wasn't) to find out a little more. He can get them the file, which has information that they can use, but he'll want a favour for it.
The favour involves keeping a witness who can put a major crime boss away, alive. To do that Michael has to pretend to be a Boston based criminal who has just been taken into custody by the FBI. The agents are the one they're doing the job for and Agent Finley, Sam in his Chuck Finley persona, he does get to slam Michael's head into the headrest of a car, personally I think that was payback for some of the things Michael has put Sam though so far this season. Fiona insists on being involved. She bigs up her hair, puts on an accent and comes across as a believable modern day gangster's moll. That particular storyline is very standard for the show. Michael and Fiona get in car chases. Fiona seems to have traded in her blue Hyundai for a newer red model. Obviously Hyundai still had a product placement contract with the show. They get separated, into dangerous situations, stuff blows up, and ultimately they deliver the bad guy into the hands of the FBI.
Jesse and Pearce get information from the report that has the make of bullet used to kill Anson. It's something that's only used in a particular rifle and normal civilians shouldn't have access to it. It's a government issue thing and that means they're looking for an unethical weapons supplier. It isn't one of Fi's people, it's someone higher than that. Everything points to a hard partying government supplier by the name of Wayne Myerson. Jesse puts on a sting, Pearce is meant to remain in the background. However when push comes to shave with Myerson and Jesse, the salesman calls Jesse's bluff and threatens to bring his politician father into the mix, until Pearce shows herself and uses a counter threat. They get what they want.
Pearce arrives at the loft, but can't really join in the celebrations. Myerson's father made a complaint, and when the CIA stacked that up against some other things Pearce had done since joining up with Michael (getting Max's killer aside), they decided that she was a liability as long as she was of use to Michael, she's been reassigned to a dead end job in Mumbai. She has no hard feelings about it all though and actually tells Michael that he can pay her back by getting Nate's killer. I'll miss Pearce, but she really was too ethical to be a CIA agent. She'd be better off going into law enforcement, maybe even the FBI, or customs, possibly private security. Be interesting to see if whoever takes over from her puts Michael on a tighter leash and it was a good way to mark the halfway point of the season.
