This and the last episode were hopefully the culmination in a "graveyard spiral" of stupid people doing stupid things and getting their just deserts.
Ben's character has gradually been fleshed out as an uber-loose cannon with zero executive function, incapable of the basic adult self-control or forwards planning necessary to avoid getting himself and those close to him into a world of regret and vexation. It started out being portrayed as hot-headedness and passion, but by Season 3, his impulsivity has turned him into a liability of national security-level proportions, and it's grimly satisfying when Vance tells him to his face how recklessly idiotic he's been.
In this episode, sadly, Michaela takes a leaf out of her zero-executive-function-having brother, deciding to go against direct orders from, and promises to, her precinct boss and go running off upstate to deal with the unfinished business of an Egyptian mythology-inspired homicidal nutcase.
Michaela's original partner, Jared, is only dragged into the proceedings as an afterthought-and her new partner (probably the series' most likeable character) is nowhere to be seen. Instead, she runs off half-cocked with her ersatz brothusband Zeke, because, as one of New York's finest, solving cases with wholly untrained family members is obviously what you do.
Perhaps because, for the Stone family, rudimentary self-control and the following of due process are as incomprehensible as the Egyptian hieroglyph papyrus upon which this story arc is so brittly based, they inevitably end up reaping what they sow, and have now started invoking divine intervention to compensate for their lack of foresight and introspection.
It's hard to care about characters like this: To quote Hugo Weaving's Elrond in The Hobbit, "You should've stayed dead." But at nearly 3/4s the way through, I may as well stick with it till the bitter, irritating end.
What saves this from a lower rating are some touching performances from characters Zeke and Pete, as well as a solid performance from daughter Olive, who seems to be the only one in the family with her head properly screwed onto her shoulders.
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