We begin with Jane and Cho driving up to what I’m assuming is a crime scene, since there’s the telltale yellow tape. They’re at Student Housing, University of South Central, Texas. Jane is whistling, but his overconfidence that Lisbon is all-talk regarding her move to D.C., is about to be shattered. Cho assures him it’s a done deal. Paperwork went through and everything. As he’s telling this to Jane, we can see the color drain from his face. He’s not whistling any more. By the time Cho gets to how she’s leaving next Friday, Jane looks like he’s going to be sick.
A Captain Mueller greets Cho and Jane, who’s still reeling over the news, and walks them into the house. Out in the backyard is an unfortunate gentleman in a small inflatable pool with what looks like a sword firmly entrenched in his back. Mueller identifies him as Tyler Van Camp, a sophomore. Back-up squad linebacker. Jane, his head totally in the game, says to Cho, “You sure about Lisbon? He wants to know if Cho heard it from her or other people. Mueller looks a bit confused. Cho tells Jane he heard it from “other people,” namely, Abbott. As far as Jane is concerned, it’s all just gossip, then, and he won’t believe it until he hears it from Lisbon. Mueller tries to get them back to poor, stabbed Tyler. Jane says they’re on it and asks to see the housemates…
…Who are a bunch of bratty whiners. Apparently they’ve been sitting there for two hours and feel their human rights have been violated. Jane immediately checks out the room and notices a chair with a scratched-up leg, a thing that looks like it might have held a sword, and some play money on the floor. Jane asks who found Tyler, and a pretty brunette raises her hand. She found him at six a.m.
Jane asks if they have a deck of cards. There’s a lot of denial and everyone looks and sounds guilty, until someone admits they do and directs Jane a desk drawer. He acquires the deck but again questions Cho about Lisbon and notes her departure is only ten days away. When Cho confirms this, Jane just…sits there with his mouth hanging open. Wow. He is really shaken up. Realizing Jane has gone brain dead for the moment, Cho questions the kids as to the last time they saw Tyler alive. A nerdy guy saw him at two a.m., studying, “totally chill.”
Jane still looks in a daze then snaps out of it and tells Cho they need to go. Cho reminds him they have a job to do, but Jane has already solved the case. All of them did it. The knife was only plunged in an inch, not enough to kill him. Tyler drowned. Cho expresses doubt that he drowned in a kiddie pool, but Jane points out all of the kids helped. It was all the result of a drunken card game that took place the night before. They used play money for chips. Tyler knew how to play cards and won a bunch of money the other kids couldn’t afford to cough up. The nerd (Barry) accused him of cheating. Tyler, being an “angry steroid freak” smashed a chair (Jane points to the scuffed chair) and began throttling Barry, who’s wearing a turtle neck to cover up the marks, until the athletic guy of the group stepped in to help and got a black eye that he’s covering up with makeup. The brunette applied the makeup. Another girl, a redhead, wears her watch on her right hand, so she’s probably left-handed, and judging from the angle and depth of the wound, she was the one who stabbed Tyler in the back. This just got Tyler angrier. He chased the redhead outside and fell in the pool. That’s when knit-cap guy and athletic guy, who still have damp sneakers, held Tyler down until he drowned. Then they came back to the room and cleaned everything up. Jane pulls some vodka out of the trash and wants to know what self-respecting student would throw away perfectly good vodka. He gives the bottle to knit-cap guy and asks Cho if they can go now. Mueller places them all under arrest.
It’s “a few days later” and Wylie gives Lisbon a gift and says he’ll miss her so much. Jane walks by, sipping his tea with as much nonchalance as he can muster, and asks what all of the hugging is about, and is she leaving today. She tells him “tomorrow” which doesn’t sound like “ten days” to me. She asks if he’s still mad. He asks if he looks mad, she says he does, and he actually admits it. She wants him to be happy for her, and he is, but he feels slighted that he was the last to know. She says it was because of how hard it was to tell him, as they’d worked together for a really long time. He says not to go and “break up the team” but immediately says he’s joking and that he’s happy for her. Liar, liar pants on fire! He says she deserves Pike, and he’s a good man. Sigh.
At this point, Abbott calls everyone over to the audio/visual. A letter was received to Chief Agent Shultz. It reads:
Remember Greta De Jorio? That was me.
To honor Greta’s memory, I will start killing again very soon and very publicly.
And you FBI simpletons still won’t catch me.
Ask yourselves, do you understand.
752 598 H IS M key o.
Fischer takes over at this point to say Greta was killed five years ago in Miami Beach, Florida. Nobody was ever charged, and since Greta was a socialite, the bureau got beat up in the press. Her body was found in the Everglades in the trunk of her burned-out car. The reason the letter was sent to Austin and not Miami, is because the chief was running the Miami bureau at the time. Cho points out there’s nothing in the letter to prove it’s from the actual killer, but if the unsub kills again and brags about outwitting the bureau, it could be a PR nightmare. Oh, and the Chief has cancelled leaves and transfers. Yes, that means you, Lisbon. HA! Abbott tells Fischer and Cho to put a team together and go to Miami. First order of business is to find and debrief all of the original investigators. Abbott asks Jane if he has any ideas on the code. He doesn’t, so Abbott asks Wylie to start crunching it.
Abbott asks to see Jane in his office. Before he goes, he tries to console Lisbon with how fast they’ll solve the case, since the unsub wants to get caught, and how fun Miami is. Then he tells her it’s their last case together and to make it a “happy one.” When Lisbon points out it’s a murder investigation, Jane says how much fun they’ve had before. Lisbon says he’s right, and she’ll cheer up.
Abbott, who is the biggest shipper to ever ship, and I love him and his cute dimples all the more for it, tells Jane he’s acting “weird.” That he’s acting cool about stuff he knows Jane cannot possibly be cool about. When asked if there’s something he wants to talk about, Jane puts on his million-dollar smile and tells him there isn’t.
MIAMI! All of the color makes me wish they’d decided to film here. I miss all of the color of the CBI offices and how they used to be able to show us all of those lovely California beaches, before they had to pretend to be in Austin. Cho takes off in an SUV, which leaves Jane and Lisbon to drive around in the loooooongest classic convertible I’ve ever seen. I know nothing about cars, but you cannot possibly park this baby anywhere.
They pull up to the De Jorio residence, which I’d first assumed was a hotel. It’s not small, is all I’m saying. It’s right on the water, of course, and it’s a beautiful day with sailboats, as Jane points out. He also points out how she won’t see a view like that behind a desk in D.C. I don’t think she’ll get that view sitting behind a desk in Austin, either. Lisbon notes this is the third time he’s said something similar.
Don De Jorio, played by Vincent Spano, is not impressed they’re the FBI and immediately tells them he’s only got ten minutes. When told there’s a development in his wife’s case, he looks as interested as if he was just told his shirt is pink. He introduces them to Megan, wife number three (but who’s counting?). His lawyer, Ted Randolph, is present, because the last time the FBI was there, they tried to pin the murder on him. I can’t imagine why. He seems like such a kind and loving husband. Anyway, Don wants to know if this is more harassment, at which point Jane produces the letter. The lawyer says Don was exonerated. Jane at first jokes that Don wasn’t exonerated by him but says he doesn’t think Don killed his wife and has another theory. At this point, Jane spots a shy, scared girl watching from a distance. The look on wife number three’s face as she guzzles down more booze, says that this child is growing up in a house of love. Christie comes over to them without uttering a word, and loving dad shows her the letter some guy wrote about murdering people. Dad of the year!
Jane says he doesn’t think the note was written by the killer, but by someone who thinks they know who the killer is and wants revenge. Someone devilishly clever and patient. Lisbon, who forgets for a moment she’s an FBI agent and becomes fascinated with this little show Jane is putting on, says, “Really, why?” Jane says to imagine if she were the killer and read that letter. It would freak her out. Here’s the FBI. They’re on your trail again. Why? What’s it all about? Why are they pretending to be you? Why now? Lisbon points out it could also have been sent by the actual killer. Don pipes up to say he knows who the killer is. It’s Wes Baxter. Don’s lawyer tries to shut him up, but Don is insistent, even though, as Lisbon points out, he was investigated and cleared. He says Wes lived next door and was always stalking Greta. Christie has an “Are you kidding me?” look on her face.
Jane asks Christie what she thinks, and at first she’s all shy and says it doesn’t matter, but when pressed, Christie suddenly develops some spunk. She insists Wes didn’t do it and tells her dad he’s being a jerk as he tries to say how much Christie has gone through and how she doesn’t remember anything. When wifey number three tries to mother her about not talking that way in front of company, Christie tells her to be quiet then calls a witch and says she hates her before she walks away. Megan comes back with “That was beyond rude” which is just as ineffectual as it sounds and wants to know if Don is going to let Christie talk to her that way. She says she wants Christie out of the house, and Don needs to buy her that condo. Shoot, let me go and shoot my mouth off in that house, so I can get a condo, too!
As Jane and Lisbon leave, they agree they need to talk to Wes Baxter. A screaming argument can be heard from the house, and Jane makes a comment about “married life” then says he means no disrespect to Lisbon’s marriage. (I knew you heard him propose!) Jane says by her moving to a new state with a man, she’s basically getting married. He says she’s lucky she had all that time to get to know him. “Weeks and weeks.” I know, Jane, I know! Pike fast-tracked the hell out of that relationship.
To change the subject, Lisbon talks about the note and how Jane said it wasn’t written by the killer. She says it could have been written by Christie, who was only fourteen at the time her mom was killed. She was too young to take action till now. Jane agrees it’s a good idea. Then he asks her what the code is, but she thinks if he can’t solve it, she can’t. He says they can do it together
Cho and Fischer are also trying to figure out the code as they go up to another very fancy house and see two women doing yoga in the backyard. They approach Monica Giraldi, Greta’s business partner. She reads the note then tells them she and Greta were friends in college and started an interior design business together. The firm had started taking off as she died. She continued to run the firm but says it wasn’t the same, since Greta was such a joyous person. Fischer wants to know Greta’s state of mind leading up to her death. Did she have any anxieties, etc. Turns out that Greta was having an affair but didn’t tell Monica who with. Monica never told anyone, because she didn’t want to make Greta look bad. When Greta never mentioned him again, Monica figured the affair ended badly.
Jane and Lisbon. Boat car. Lisbon gets a call from Cho re: the affair, and Jane takes this opportunity to say that all relationships end in deceit and betrayal. Lisbon tells him not to try and make her stay, but Jane says he knows better, and once she’s made up her mind, it’s made up. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer. Oh, Jane.
They knock on a trailer door. It’s Wesley’s home. Ahhh…so the term “neighbor” I guess is loosely based, or he really means it when he says the FBI ruined his life. He says his own parents thought he was guilty. Boy, is this Wesley pretty. Like, really pretty. He sees the letter and swears it wasn’t him, but Jane says he believes it, since he can tell Wes had never seen the letter before. Also, he wasn’t spying on Greta, he was spying on Christie. But at the time, she was fifteen and he was eighteen. Okay, so maybe he lived with his parents at the time. They tell him Christie always thought he was innocent, and this seems to please him. Jane tells him to keep that copy of the letter, and if anything comes to him, to give them a call. After they leave and both agree Wes didn’t do it, Jane asks Lisbon to walk on the beach with him. It takes very little persuading before she agrees.
On the beach, Lisbon thinks they’re wasting time, so Jane decides to crack the code. He says the person wants to know “do we understand” but says it more like “Dewey” (and says it a couple of times) which leads Lisbon to realize the code has to do with the Dewey Decimal System. They come up with bluebird, and there’s a bluebird lodge on the Islamorada. The “o” is the astronomical symbol for the full moon. Lisbon says there happens to be one the next night. They’ve cracked the case! Jane says that if Lisbon asks nicely, he’s sure Abbott will allow her to leave. She’s not having any of that and says she’ll be on the Islamorada the next night and proceeds to merrily pat herself on the back for figuring out the code before Jane did.
Islamorada. The Bluebird Lodge. Lisbon and Jane have adjoining waterside suites, as Jane requested. Lisbon thinks it’s too expensive, but Jane says it could be their last…hurrah. Hmmm…Jane, you sly devil. What do you have up your sleeve? Jane tells the hotel manager that someone will call asking for Greta De Jorio, and Jane tells her to give his room number but not his name, and to tell the night staff to do the same. The manager asks if Jane wants her to confirm their r reservations for dinner. He does. They’re told eveningwear is required, and Lisbon says she’ll just grab a sandwich. Hold that thought, Lisbon…as she’s about to walk into her suite, which..oh man, if this is an advertisement for the lodge, sign me up! On the bed? Three dresses. Ah, that’s the plan Jane was cooking up.
Jane sits alone in his room at the edge of the bed, the phone dragged a mere foot away from him. He tries to be cool as he answers it when it rings. It’s Lisbon, who says it’s all “too nice.” Jane, in the saddest voice that splits my heart open, says it’s their last case together, so how could it be too nice? He says he’ll see her at dinner then hangs up with just the goofiest twelve-year-old kid with his first crush grin on his face. The phone rings again, and thinking it’s Lisbon, he picks up the phone, still grinning. Oh, no. It’s Cho and Abbott, there to rain on Jane’s seduction parade. He winds up sitting with them at a table, looking glum. Abbott says he wishes his wife were there, because “women love this kind of stuff.” Jane: “Yeah, they do.” Heh. Then Lisbon must be coming to greet them, because the way Jane looks at her…if that’s not a man in love, I don’t know what is.
Oh, no. Before she gets to the table, Lisbon goes to the front desk to say she wants to buy a robe for “her boyfriend,” and the front desk lady says Jane included the bathrobes when he booked the suite LAST WEEK. Lisbon’s happy face turns into one heck of a pissed-off face real quick. Jane wrote the note and steered Lisbon toward solving it. I’d thought Jane had figured out the code but let Lisbon figure it out first. I guess I was half right. I never dreamed he’d written the note. Let’s see what happens…
As Lisbon comes toward Jane, he’s smiling, until he sees her expression. She confronts him. He admits to writing the letter but says he’s sure this will smoke out the killer. She throws water in his face, calls him a son-of-a-bitch, and runs off. Jane wipes his face and concludes he should go and talk to her. Cho and Abbott are sitting at Awkward, table for two. Abbott decides he does need to see the wine list.
Jane knocks on Lisbon’s door, but she won’t open it. He won’t go away, even though she orders him to. He stays out in the hall and apologizes for writing the note, and as he breaks into tears, he tells her he doesn’t want her to leave. She accuses him of not caring about her feelings or what she wants. That it’s all about him. She accuses him of basically digging a woman’s corpse up “for this crap.” She says he’s so twisted up in his own dishonesty, he doesn’t know how to act with a decent human being. Ouch. Lisbon’s on a roll. Someone has had some pent-up feelings she’s finally able to unleash. He says he’s sorry, and she says if he’s really sorry, he should go away and leave her alone. He doesn’t. He just stands out in the hallway like his whole world is falling apart, because it is. She says she knows he’s still there, because she can hear him breathing. She tells him to go away again, and he does.
To completely rip my heart out of my chest, as Lisbon gets into her cab, she calls Pike and accepts his proposal. He says, “YES!” like his favorite team just scored a touchdown. He proceeds to tell her how awesome the neighborhood is, but Lisbon has removed the phone from her ear as she stares out the window at the lodge.
Abbott and Cho. Abbott says Jane stood in his office and lied to him, and he bought it. Then he guzzles the rest of his wine. Cho asks if they should check on him, but Abbott is firmly in the “no” camp on that. Cho is surprised by how pissed Lisbon was, since she didn’t get nearly as pissed when Jane buried a man alive. The look on Abbott’s face. Heh. He is astounded Cho doesn’t know why and pours himself more wine.
Airport. There’s a forty-five minute delay on Lisbon’s flight.
Jane is in his room having himself a nice pity party. He’s guzzling down the tiny bottles of alcohol and watching TV when Don’s lawyer, Ted Randolph, kicks in the door, gun in hand, like he’s Dirty Harry. He’s not the murderer. He was Greta’s secret lover, and he was there to kill the guy who killed Greta. Jane offers him a drink, and just as he’s tossing the mini bottle, Wes shows up, gun in hand, also to kill the killer. Jane tells himself he shouldn’t have made the clue so easy. Wes says that whoever killed Greta, ruined his life.
Later, they’re all sitting around drinking as Randolph tells the tale of how Greta was going to divorce Don and marry him, but he called it off, because he was afraid the scandal would ruin is business. He says he was a blind, stupid coward. He was so filled with fear and self-hatred, he destroyed the best thing that ever happened to him. And if you’re thinking this parallels someone else’s situation, I think Jane agrees with you, since he’s wearing his epiphany face. Randolph goes on to say that by the time he realized his mistake, it was too late. She was gone. Jane goes from sad to hyperventilating in a flash. He gets up and says, “I have to go to the airport.” YES! FINALLY! Oh, my dear Jane, if you’re too late, I’m going to be so upset.
OH NO! He walks back in as Monica and her YOGA INSTRUCTOR walk him back to the room, guns in hand. Only these people aren’t there to kill the killer. They are the killers. Finally. Monica recognizes all the players except Jane, who tells them he’s FBI (Cho and Fischer had interviewed Monica). He gets out his badge and intentionally drops it, and when they’re distracted, he pulls out his phone to text behind his back. While Monica and her friend are freaking out that he’s FBI and this is a setup, Cho and Abbott are downstairs, with Cho saying he doesn’t buy it (what Abbott probably told him about Jane and Lisbon) and that they’re like brother and sister. Someone has intentionally not been paying attention. Anyway, Abbott gets the text “SOZ,” and Cho picks up that it’s “SOS.” They make a dash for his room.
Jane is trying to talk the women down. He says all they’ve done is wave the gun around. Nobody is calling them killers. Randolph, who took an extra dose of stupid pills that morning, says he is. Jane says nobody can prove anything. That they should just walk away and let their lawyers fix it, but they have to hurry before his colleagues get there. They agree and go to leave and actually are headed for the door, when Wes pulls a gun on them. Then Randolph follows suit. As we head into the hallway to see Abbott and Cho making their way to the room, shots are fired. Monica makes it out, but they nab her.
They walk in to find Jane screaming about his ears, since the gunfire was so loud. Murdering Yoga Lady appears to be shot in the leg, Wes in the arm. Jane makes sure everyone is okay, including murdering Yoga Lady, before he asks Abbott for the keys to his car with the siren on it, because he has to get to the airport. Abbott asks where Lisbon is, and when Jane answers that she’s at the airport, Abbott is only too happy to hand him the keys but asks for some guidance. Jane points to the women and says they’re the bad guys, points to Wesley and Randolph and says they’re the good guys, says blondie is an embezzler, then he takes off.
Jane makes it to the airport, but when he tries to tell the airline employee he’s with the FBI, then realizes his badge is in the hotel room (he lies and says it’s in the car), he runs off and winds up on the tarmac. Not one to let a little gate get in the way, Jane hops it and sprains his ankle in the process (Simon Baker really did sprain his ankle, but the professional that he is, he just kept on going), and does the whole “FBI” and “routine check” to get on the plane. He gets on board, finds Lisbon, and says there’s something he needs to say. He has forgotten how to act like a normal human being. He plays games and he lies and he tricks people to avoid the truth of how he feels. And the idea of letting anyone close to him is terrifying for obvious reasons. But he can’t imagine waking up knowing he won’t see her. The truth is…he loves her. OMG! HE SAID IT! HE ACTUALLY SAID IT! He feels so good to say it. It scares him, and it’s the truth of what he feels. Lisbon says it’s too late. He understands. She just deserved to hear it. It makes him happy to say it. This is when they come to arrest him. As he’s being taken away, he says he loves the woman in 12B. Lisbon says she’s embarrassed, but the lady next to her tells her every woman on the plane was green with envy.
The next morning. Fischer is going to be taking care of processing, while Abbott has to go convince the TSA to let Jane go.
Jane is in TSA jail or whatever, his foot bandaged and propped on a chair. One of the agents is filling out a report and giving Jane his best “tsk tsk” face. He leaves, then the door opens and closes again. Lisbon sits down across from him. YAY! She thinks it’s another fine pickle he’s gotten himself in, but Jane says he’s seen worse, pickle-wise. Jane notices she didn’t go to D.C. She asks if he meant what he said, and Jane wonders if they’re talking about pickles, but Lisbon gets him to be serious. He says he meant what he said. Every word of it. She says it’s good, because she feels the same way. Oh, yes! Jane says, “Well, that’s lucky” then asks about Pike. Lisbon says, “He’ll understand.” I’m sure. I mean, the man only asked her to marry him after about a month together. She tells Jane to say it again. Jane plays dumb at first but instead of answering, he leans across the table, tilts her chin, and kisses her. I repeat, HE KISSES HER. They don’t even stop when the TSA guy knocks on the window and says to quit it. This is the BEST SEASON FINALE EVER! 
CJ Stevens falls asleep every night to the comforting flicker of her TV. Nothing makes her happier than the little red dot on her dv-r, notifying her one of her shows is taping. She edits books for a living and was even known among her editing comrades as “the grammar police.” Ending apostrophe abuse is her calling.