I've been thinking about why USA chose to shelve Episode 16 until the beginning of Season 3. What could be so "contemplative" and such a "sad postmortem" that it would be too much of a downer for us viewers to spend the next eight months brooding over? Not to mention whether it's more so than the limbo we're in already. (I think we could have handled it, fellas.) So, I've decided to speculate.

EPISODE 16 was to leave us pondering life and death, the nature of sacrifice, and the vagaries of fate.

The guy in the red car shot Mary because he did not want Francesca/Mary in the neighborhood because they would interfere with his drug dealing (or access to drugs for his own use), after he saw Mary observing his drug deal. Mr. Day takes advantage of the shooting to move Francesca to a safer location, having recognized his error in letting her move to the barrio in the first place.

So, on the surface, it looks like Mary was shot for a "localized" reason rather than something loftier such as our entire South American policy and strategy. She has "sacrificed" herself for nothing, as it were.

But as Mary's well-being hangs in the balance, Stan gets word that Francesca and three of her private security bodyguards have been found slain at her new "safe house" in another state and the fourth bodyguard is "in the wind". Later, he gets another call that the fourth bodyguard (an infiltrator of the security company or simply paid off by El Presidente) has been found dead elsewhere, and that El Presidente is behind all this for sure. By killing the assassin, he's eliminated his only tie to Francesca's murder, thus leaving himself free and clear of blame.

So, even while Mary was protecting Francesca, El Presidente's intelligence apparatus was at work. Whether they were at the nice house or in the barrio, over the next three months El Presidente would have tracked down Francesca, and Mary would definitely be as dead as Francesca right now.

Instead, Fate has intervened, and as bad as her injuries are -- physically, mentally, emotionally -- Mary's alive and has the opportunity to recover. She wasn't called on to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Her injuries are severe and she has to relearn just about everything, including accepting the help of family and friends and admitting that that is not a weakness. (And family and friends also have to learn to help her and not be intimidated by her or scared to tell her the truth - except for keeping Francesca's death from her, for awhile, so as not to interfere with her recovery; Mary would eat herself up thinking she somehow could have saved Francesca from the assassins).

SEASON THREE should allow us to observe the rebuilding of a life, actually of the many lives that touch Mary's. Mary gets to turn into the ultimate Witness -- changing, yet staying the same as she comes to terms with her new reality. How many times has Mary told a witness "you're still the same person" but have the chance to start over?

Here's hoping that in the storyline arc of Season Three, Mary emerges somewhat changed -- while still Mary (after all, her personality and character are what drive the series). I hope that there's a lot of humor in her recovery, as she adjusts to being helped, and being physically weaker for awhile as she relies on others (fighting that reliance all the way, no doubt). She'll have lots of time to search for her father, figure out her relationship with Raph and everybody else, and chomp at the bit to get back to the office.

Everyone else, too, will have to adapt to the reality of a weaker/altered Mary, and how their relationships with her will be affected. Will Jinx fall off the wagon? How long can Brandi be a caregiver without losing interest? While I don't see Raph leaving Mary in her hour of need, how can he balance finding a new career with helping her recover? He, too, is dealing with major changes in life and how he thought it would play out.

Meanwhile, we have the opportunity to learn more about Marshall -- and Eleanor, and watch Marshall handle his witnesses and even Mary's, ALONE (probably with Mary trying to direct him from her sick bed). I've often thought that Marshall is rather inflexible in interpreting his role with witnesses, while Mary employed more creativity. (It's why they are such good partners -- they complement each other.) What if WITSEC HQ sends in another inspector to cover for Mary while she's out, or with the idea that she'll never be able to return to full duty and that this is permanent? How will Marshall react to that? Or Stan and Eleanor?

Anyway, I'm probably spitting into the wind here, with the writers well along in crafting scripts for the new season. As I've said before, I just hope the series isn't changed too much. I watch very little television anymore, and I really look forward to each new IPS episode because it's so unconventional and non-formulaic. I'm invested in these characters.

You're doing better than me! I can't figure out any good reason for Mary to have been shot. I wonder if it was for no reason at all. "Hey, let's shoot some one". Or someone thought she was someone else or something weird like that. I don't think anyone knew she was any kind of a cop except maybe Lala. I think he's probably smart about that kind of thing. Derkowitz would have been the one to get shot, in my book. He's the one who showed up and started yelling "police" and getting everyone riled up.

I've been really curious about the 16th episode and where the show will head in season three, but I'm kinda at a loss. I think I could guess where the current producers were headed, but I don't know what kind of changes the new producers want to bring in.

If I had to guess, I don't think they would spend too much time on Mary's recovery. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the second episode of the season jumps ahead in time to where Mary is recovered and back to work. But it would be nice to see Brandi help her out. They've hinted a couple times that Brandi would be good in a "caretaker" kind of profession like nursing, so it would be interesting to see her flex those muscles with Mary.

I don't think Raph would leave Mary in her hour of need, either. But sooner or later they are going to have to face the problems in their relationship.

Again, I think they'll get Mary back to work pretty quickly, but I would love to see Marshall running the show by himself - well, with Mary calling him constantly to bark out a few orders. Actually, I really hope that we get more of Marshall and his witnesses this coming season. I really enjoyed the episodes that focused on him and his witnesses.

I agree that season three should be about Mary rebuilding some things and finding some stability. This past season she was in a lot of turmoil and seemed pretty unhappy. I think she was trying to make some changes, but I think she was often making the wrong changes and heading in the wrong direction. Maybe in this season she can really start to figure out who she is and what she wants.

I can't help but think that Mary getting shot is not just a random thing, but will tie into a bigger story somewhere down the road, like maybe the implications of her telling Raph about the job (oooh conspiracy!). It almost has an ambush quality to it and if it were the gang, why not take out both Mary and Bobby? It would have been just as easy to shoot them both. Besides, Bobby would have made a more appealing target to the gang. After all, they knew he was a cop. Mary was just an obnoxious gringa. Makes me think that Mary was the primary target from the start. I can see where if Ep. 16 was supposed to deal with the multiple consequences of her violating her's and Marshall's security by telling Raph, that could leave things in a weird place to leave the season.

I better adjust my tinfoil hat!

As I mentioned in another post, I'm hoping that this will be the catalyst for Mary to make some major changes to her life. I keep coming back to the rooftop scene in "Who's Bugging Mary?" where Marshall asks her "what about what YOU want?". She'll have a lot of time on her hands to evaluate this question. It's possible she'll decide that she's done running her family's lives, she doesn't want to marry Raph and she's going to focus her attention to her job, if for no other reason than to prove to herself and everyone else that she is OK and quite capable of resuming her duties. Marshall, for his part, will of course know better, but will be torn between being afraid to let her out of his sight and giving her the space she needs to get her head on straight.

I hope that next season brings some stability to Mary's life, but in turn, that will probably bring turbulence for everyone else. Particularly Raph and Marshall. And us, of course. We've got about eight months to drive ourselves nuts thinking about it!

It is sort of an odd situation. Stan said that hey found shell casings near a tree in the front yard. So that means it wasn't Mario (which they established) and it wasn't any of the gang members standing near Bobby. It sounds like there was someone else hiding behind that tree.

Was Mary the target? Was the person really trying to take a shot at Francesca, who had just come out onto the porch? I've thought maybe it was that La-La guy, but if it is him, I think it would have been more dramatic if he took Marshall up on his offer, then Marshall would have deal with the fact that he gave Mary's shooter a free ride to a new life in paradise. But he didn't. And presumably, he didn't disappear and went right back to his street where he could be found again. But why didn't he take Marshall up on his offer? Did someone else - someone after Francesca - make him a better offer?

It does feel like there should be some more consequences to Mary telling Raph about what she really does for a living, but I can't think what. After he didn't seem to understand initially, he did a good job of playing along and covering while at the hospital. But I guess if they broke up, there is the issue of Mary dealing with an ex who knows what she does.



Yeah, I guess that all depends on what Mary decides. If Mary decides she wants Brandi and Jinx to move out, that will have a big effect on them and they'll have to actually support themselves for once (unless Brandi just moves in with Peter). And of course, if Mary breaks it off with Raph, that will have quite an effect on them.

Hey! If both Brandi and Raph have to move out, maybe Brandi won't be ready to move in with Peter, so she and Raph become roomies. It will give them both something to do and they'll constantly have to tell Peter and Mary that nothing is going on between them and they are just friends/roommates all while they try to fight the chemistry between them and remain friends/roommates.

If the shooter was aiming for Francesca, he was a really bad shot! Unless he mistook Mary for Francesca. I don't believe Lala did it. I don't think he would have lied. If he'd done it, he'd have made himself scarce. I think he knows who did it, though. I think he declined Marshall's offer because he doesn't want to go anywhere. This probably isn't the worst trouble he's seen. We still have someone running around town with Mary's bullet in him, too. But they may or may not be the shooter.

I don't know about Mary being shot tying into something bigger, but I think we haven't seen the end of Francesca. This is an unusual situation for them -- protecting a politically important person, rather than a witness to a crime. They could have put Mary in a position to be shot in any number of situations. They picked something different. And why did the State Department approve the move? You know they checkout every neighbor in the mansion neighborhood before letting her move in. They had an alarm on the house. The only problem there was that she stood out. The neighbor assumed she was a maid. But if they wanted a neighborhood where Francesca would blend in, I'm sure there are some perfectly safe, normal middle-class, primarily Hispanic neighborhoods in Albuquerque where she would blend in.

Quick question--do you think La-La was Mary's shooter? B/c I was under the impression he simply knew who shot Mary and Marshall was trying to get that information from him. Which is what leads to my next thought . . .

Maybe that was how it was supposed to end. Marshall makes the offer, La-la takes it and Marshall has to explain to Mary when she wakes up what he did. Mary now gets to experience what a lot of her witnesses victims experience--the pain of knowing someone at least partially responsible for her injury gets away scott free (and in Hawaii no less). She also has to be looking at Marshall in a different light. Yes, La-la's information presumably led to the arrest of her shooter but there still the sense of justice undone and Marshall (that agent of order) helped that to happen. I'm pretty sure Mary would feel at least a little betrayed by that action. Perhaps they would even argue about it in the hospital. And I could just see the final scene--Marshall walks out in a huff leaving Mary alone in the hospital room. Talk about melancholy and contemplative.

I didn't really think that he was. It was just one of those thoughts I was sort of running through all the options out there. I had another thought that it was Bobby D in a case of "friendly fire" but I really don't know who is responsible.

I think that the really sad part is that they took away episode 16, and actually think that people will care long enough to come back and find out what is going on in 8 months.

I know that I don't care anymore. Its an intriguing show, but its also a MAJOR insult to cut the season short, with such a poorly done episode, and then walk away thinking "oh, everyone will want to know who shot Mary and what happens next"

Truth is, IPS is not close to Dallas, and as time goes by, more and more people will cease to care, and the next season will likely be the last because they won't be able to get the momentum back that they had going.

It shows the brain power of the execs, and reveals what they really think about most fans of the show. We have actual lives, and what happened to Mary is going to be completely off the radar in a few more months. Few will care, and fewer will even bother to come back.

People have short attention spans, and won't wait for things. IPS has shot itself in the foot, and will get what they deserve, while the fans who really liked the show, will suffer the same fate as those who enjoyed such shows as the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The parting question in the preview was "who shot Mary Shannon?" but I don't think anyone cares about that. It was some random character who we know nothing about and have no reason to care about. Now, if Marshall and Raphael had gotten into a fight over her and one of them shot her, we'd care. I think the big question is what is the fallout going to be?

Is Raphael going to give Mary a "me or the job" ultimatum? Is he going to turn to Brandi for comfort?

Is Marshall going to have a nervous breakdown? Now that he's nearly lost Mary, he is going to be more direct about how he feels?

Is Jinx going to hit the bottle again? Or is she going to redeem herself and take care of Mary?

Is Mary going to realize life is short and she needs to make some changes?

They could have shown episode 16 and we'd still have all those questions.

While the decision to hold off on episode 16 is still debatable on whether or not it was the smart thing to do, the 8 month wait is exactly the same as it was last year.

Last year the show ended in August, came back in April, and it still had a decent-sized audience. So I think USA is just planning that the results will be the same as last time (they are also holding off on "Royal Pains" until next summer. No split season). They'll just start advertising the heck out of it a few months before the new season starts. It worked last time. They usually release the DVD right before the new season starts, and I'm sure that helps too. I can only use myself as an example -- last season I just kinda-sorta watched the show, and when it was over I mostly forgot it. But when they started advertising for the second season, I noticed right away and it pulled me back in.



That is true. Unless the shooting somehow had something to do with something Mary did, like telling Raph about her job, but I don't see how that can be the case without a bunch of convoluted stuff happening off-screen.

I've noticed that the promo running on this website asks "What will happen to Mary Shannon?" and that isn't really the question either. We all know that she's going to recover and come back to work. There's no real question about that. The question is really "What will happen when Mary wakes up?" Will she dump Raph or want to marry him right away? Will she want to clean her family out of her life, or will she decide that she needs them now more than ever? Will this have an effect on how she does her job?

It does seem to be that it isn't so much events that are in question (Who shot Mary? Will Mary live?) but the relationships between the characters.

I'm suspecting they shorted the season by one episode (and also ran two episodes of Criminal Intent back-to-back) was because USA had to get out all of the "CI" episodes by when the last one aired so NBC could air ALL of those "CI" episodes "repurposed" before they went into five-day-a-week syndication and didn't want to have IPS air by itself as the season finale a week after the "CI" finale. That may have played a factor in why they didn't air episode 16 of IPS.

It would be interesting to see if Mary's father comes to visit her in the hospital. A sneak visit, perhaps, while she's still unconscious (or not quite fully awake) so she vaguely remembers. So fun to mess with the sedated patients!

Yup. I think if we're ever going to get to meet Daddy, it will be while she's in the hospital. Won't that be a fun family reunion!

If I were Daddy, I'd avoid Jinx. I think that reunion would be relatively unpleasant for all. I think a great scene would be for Mary's father to come see her and sit with her while she's sleeping/unconscious and tell her his story. That way, we'll all know. Maybe one of the other characters would appear in the doorway and hear everything without alerting Daddy to their presence (Marshall would be the likely choice). Interesting scenario, at least.

Jevafso did a good job of speculating. I just want to say I cannot wait til spring. I would like to see Mary soften a little from last season, she became a little to harsh for my liking. I absolutly love the comradarie between Marshall (wickedly funny for naming him this, by the way), and Mary and now extended to include Eleanor. Eleanor has great timing and the looks she has toward Mary are priceless. I do hope they never take it further with a "relationship" between Mary and Marshall, I think it is great just the way it is. Just a tiny spark every so often to pigue the interest, then bring it back in line to the professional people they are.

I think that Mary's cranked up attitude is due to the engagement. She had that occurring near the time of Brandi's incarceration and getting herself free of the FBI. As I've said in other discussions, Marshall's attitude has gotten sour too because he feeds off Mary like a remora fish. As she gets nastier, so does he. Of course, he's also fighting his own demons.

I don't think they should 'ship them either. Yes...Raph has to go...it wouldn't work for the show, I don't think, to have them get married. But if Mary and Marshall were to ever end up as romantic partners, it would have to be timed for the last few shows of the very last season...which I hope is many years down the road. The affection they show each other as friends, and the unstated emotions and feelings that are projected, keep the tension intact and that is what drives their interesting interactions.

Looking forward to March!

Mary did seem a smidge meaner this season. I think it is mostly because she was almost never happy. There were very few moments where she seemed to genuinely smile and didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders. The engagement and the FBI certainly didn't help, so I hope that now that the FBI thing seems over and I hope the engagement will be over soon (I agree in that I don't think the show would work with a married Mary) so maybe that will help things a bit. I don't mind Mary's snarkiness, but she just seemed so miserable. I'd like a few moments where she is genuinely happy.

As for Mary and Marshall, I don't mind them drawing out the tension as long as it doesn't get to the point where it's just ridiculous and the writers have to start making up silly stuff to keep them apart. TV critic Alan Sepinwall (and some others) wrote a good piece on why this kinda thing shouldn't be dragged on for too long and how the whole "Moonlighting" thing is really an inaccurate myth: Article

But they are no where near that right now. All we got is Marshall's obvious feelings for Mary, but we don't know if it is completely one-sided (I suspect that they really aren't completely one-sided. Mary gets a little too wiggy when another lady shows some interest in Marshall). And Mary's issues alone are a big enough obstacle. Actually, I hope that when the show comes back, they kinda cool it on Mary's love life. I've never really felt that her relationship with Raph added much to the show, other than to further illustrate how many issues Mary has.