533 – Bugs – Shotgun Wedding

Ross and the gang get embroiled in international political intrigue and assassinations when a guy who makes laser logos asks them to investigate industrial espionage.  Simon and Eugene discuss Shotgun Wedding. Episode Synopsis: The episode opens with a highly-implausible science fiction concept:  A political party that believes in honesty and stands against corruption.  We are introduced to Alberto and Anna, the rising stars and media darlings of the Italian Liberta Party.  A party that stands to win the Italian elections in just a few days. As always, the free press dig deep for the hard-hitting questions: “When are you two lovebirds getting married?”  Anna playfully avoids answering the question by deflecting it with another, “why is it that the more we deny that we’re a couple, the more you press believe that we are?” Meanwhile, an assassin is planting a bomb in Anna’s hotel room.  He’s interrupted by security forces, but he kills them.  He escapes and reports back to McKenzie, his contact person. Meanwhile, Team Bugs are called in by William Swift, laser-logo maker.  He thinks he’s being bugged.  Team Bugs think he’s lying to them.  Beckett spots someone monitoring the place and trails them back to their base.  He’s caught, but it turns out they’re the good guys – the security forces protecting Anna.  They let him go. Ros and Ed; however, not believing Swift, bug his office and find out he’s meeting a woman.  The assassin, Starkey, finds that out, too, and gets there first.   He plants a bomb under the ONLY PARK BENCH IN THE WHOLE PLACE. Ed fails to take the assassin down, but Ros does manage to save the intended victims’ lives.  For that, they expect the truth. Ok, here it is.  Swift and Anna are in love and going to get married someday, but the press are so in love with the idea of Anna and Alberto being in love, they are waiting until after the election before this info comes out… because they’re running on a platform of honesty. The people bankrolling the killing give Starkey one more chance.  Little do they know that Team Bugs have set them up in a trap involving lasers.  The decoy works, but before Ed can take down Starkey, the real security forces take Starkey down, hard.  Like multiple gunshots to the body hard. Ed stumbles across the killers’ getaway ride and bluffs his way into it by pretending to be Starkey.  Ed doesn’t know that the assassin’s employer was planning on killing Starkey.   The person calling the hit it, of course, Alberto, who wants to ride into office on a tide of sympathy.  He is, of course, thoroughly corrupt and knows Anna would eventually find out.  This is why he has cultivated the image that they are lovers. Ed manages to talk his way out of death, just as Anna and Swift pull one more fast one on everyone.  They’re getting married in the morning in a secret ceremony.  Not entirely secret, they want Alberto there, but they neglect to tell Team Bugs. Ed is sent in to kill them, and as insurance, he’s wired up to a bomb vest that can be remote detonated, and also detonates if he tries to take it off, and he’s given a special wrist bomb that goes off in 15 minutes anyway.  The sniper rifle also has a camera on it, so they can make sure he’s really aiming at his intended target. Beckett and Ros track him to the registrar’s office where, after a bit of a struggle, Beckett murders McKenzie and Ed murders Alberto.  The wedding concludes with two bodies lying on the floor.  It’s a happy ending for everyone!