'Bulletproof' Season 2 Episode 4 Review: Gun-running marines and underground boxing with social commentary
Spoilers for 'Bulletproof' Season 2 Episode 4
As the boys continue to wade deeper into the Markides family's criminal dealings, 'Bulletproof' Season 2 Episode 4 brings up some interesting themes, including the treatment of soldiers after their service. It's a thorny subject, one that is an issue in practically every country and the show tackles it with a very interesting plotline that doesn't distract from the main story.
In the episode, Aaron Bishop (Noel Clarke) and Ronnie Pike (Ashley Walters) are tasked by Mikey Markides (Ben Tavssoli) with establishing contact with a dark web arms dealer who goes by Reppas (sapper spelled backward). The trail takes them through an underground boxing outfit and to a dog-racing stadium in Kent.
We get an intense fight scene early on when Pike throws down with a seriously built-up fighter so that Mikey can get the contact for Reppas. It's a really fun scene with just a hint of comedy, and you almost wonder if Pike might lose before he pulls a win out of his hat and proves himself to be the top boy.
Meanwhile, Cockridge (Lee Ross) is losing patience with the unit and their best hope is to get the captured hitman Yustmanov (Decca Heggie) to turn on Mikey. The boys push ahead with the Reppas case in the hopes that it'll give them some tangible evidence against the Markides family but it does not go the way they thought it would.
Turns out, "Reppas" is a former unit of marines who after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, became so disillusioned that they turned to crime. There's an intense shootout that leads to the capture of the ringleader Karen (Laura Hopper) who drops a scathing speech on how she gave everything for Queen and country only to get a leg full of shrapnel and an army pension she won't have access to until she turns 60. Every villain's got a backstory but Karen's still stings just a little bit.
In any case, the boys are now in good standing with Mikey who uses one of the 3D-printed guns that the marines were manufacturing to get Yustmanov killed in prison, tying up that loose end. But after finding out that Alex Markides (Stavros Zalmas) is taking Bishop with him to Cyprus, Mikey becomes jealous and gets his mother Eleanor Markides (Gina Bellman) to start digging into Bishop's background.
Looks like we're in for yet another thrilling episode when the show returns next week with yet another international episode.
'Bulletproof' Season 2 airs new episodes Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on The CW.