The two episodes which involve the return of former flame Maria (Leonor Varela) and the return of troublemaker Harry (Tony Hale) are tied together by the B-story involving the rapidly disintegrating relationship between Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) and Ilsa (Indira Varma) whose plane is shot down at the beginning of the second episode. “A Problem Like Maria” features Maria tricking Chance in the others into a kidnapping in South America to save the life of her husband. In doing so, they make themselves an enemy of a local criminal figure Hector Lopez (Jordi Caballero) who shoots their plane down in the jungle. Luckily, while attempting to avoid the blowup between Chance and , the others weren’t on the flight. Unluckily for them, the arrive home in time to get drawn into Harry’s latest trouble involving the Armenian mob who storms the offices shortly after he arrives.
“A Problem Like Maria” offers some fun moments with a bar shootout where Maria recruits Chance and a caper in South America. Tensions between Chance and Ilsa rise throughout the episode ending with the pair agreeing to terminate their partnership just before being shot out of the sky. “Communication Breakdown” splits the episode into two parts with Chance and Ilsa in the jungle hiding from the man out to kill them and Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) and Winston (Chi McBride) dealing with the dozen Armenians breaking into the building. We get a pair of running gags involving a misunderstanding years ago from Bangkok which Harry helps unravel and Ames (Janet Montgomery), in an attempt to get away from the others’ bickering, misses the start of the action while sunbathing on the roof.
The epilogue of “Communication Breakdown” offers some fun with Chance arriving just in time to shoot the last of the Armenians and get caught up with what has transpired in his absence. However, it also offers a far more serious sequence as well with Hector tracking Ilsa back to the United States, breaking into her apartment, and beating her leading to a fateful moment Chance is too late to save her from.
