“Shaking the Tree” is episode five of season two of Powers.
In the previous episode, “Stealing Fire”, Walker, with the assistance of Pilgrim and Kutter, had discovered that Heavy, the Power who brought down a building on Walker and Chaotic Chick, was a former black-ops FBI operative who had gone missing a decade ago and was still being looked for. Getting the information involved Walker distracting Agent Lange (who he had arrested at one point but who was released to join the FBI). She may have taken it badly; at the end of the episode, she, Schlag and a bunch of heavily armed FBI agents arrived at Powers Division and stated that they were closing it down.
This episode opens with a news report regarding Senator Bailey Brown, a Power once known as the Cobalt Knight, who has been attempting to get the use of superpowers made illegal for everyone. However, the news report is about a sex tape that has gone public. The reporter, Nicole, is the one who started a riot in “Hell Night”. The leaked tape has not done the Senator’s bill any favours. Patrick, or SuperShock, is watching the news on a really old-looking black and white television (how come it still works? It must be ancient!). The tape has probably not been leaked by accident.
Walker pulls up in his car outside Powers Division and gets hassled by reporters, one of whom tries to provoke Walker into hitting him. He, just, restrains himself, and then gets hassled by Nicole who really wants an interview regarding the FBI’s takeover of Powers Division and the Senator’s kinky video with a RetroGirl lookalike. In the office, Pilgrim is not happy about Kutter bringing their relationship to work. Walker is also trying to apologise to Agent Lange. She is not happy with him. Lange reassigns him to another case and states that the RetroGirl murder case is officially closed. She really seems to hold a grudge, more than she did for him arresting her.
Pilgrim takes Walker out of the station where they are privately investigating RetroGirl’s murder, and finding links between the Hacks and the FBI. Pilgrim’s father arrives and tells her she needs to stop investigating a case that was solved. Even though it wasn’t really. Her father doesn’t seem to be concerned about that bit. He does seem worried about his daughter’s safety though. Their relationship is a bit of a rocky one. It seems his fears may be justified. When Lange still refuses to do anything, Walker takes things further. And Lange reacts badly again.
Calista, the new RetroGirl, is meeting with Conrad Moody III (played by Wil Wheaton, perhaps best known for Star Trek: The Next Generation, but who has also appeared in Eureka), the CEO of ColossalFun, the company which makes the action figures for Powers.
Triphammer is meeting with Zora. He respects her for going up against Wolfe, even though she got stomped and good. Triphammer wants Zora’s help, as he says he’s getting a bit too old to go out in the field. Sergeant Martinez, who Harley has been creating replacement limbs for, and Zora do not take an instant liking to each other.