Jake (Ansel Elgort) has been away from Missouri for the entire series, but in Tokyo Vice season 2 episode 7, "The War at Home," he sets foot back on US soil for a much needed break after his recent string of frustrations. He immediately gets a pick-me-up with his younger sister Jess (Sarah Sawyer) greeting him at the airport.
The two's sibling bond is reignited instantaneously. Jess chides Jake for not calling enough and he checks in on how she is doing with her depression; she admits she has her ups and downs.
But Jake isn't the only one dealing with family issues. Plus, Samantha (Rachel Keller) finds herself in the spotlight and Katagiri (Ken Watanabe) hits a wall with his investigation.
Kaito joins the yakuza
After their night together, Sato (Sho Kasamatsu) and Samantha talk about Kaito (Atom Mizuishi). Sato has tried to keep Kaito out of the yakuza, but he won't listen. Samantha urges him to try again and not take no for an answer. Sato then asks what Samantha will do with her club following the shooting. She plans to start over and make sure her girls are taken care of. As Sato prepares to leave, Samantha asks if he's coming back. He asks if she wants him to? She does.
Sato then attends Ishida's funeral; Kaito is also there. In an exposition dump, we hear people are worried about Hayama (Yosuke Kubozuka) replacing Ishida, but they hope it's just until Tanaka (Toru Shinagawa), the figurehead of Chihara-kai, chooses a new oyabun. They also mention how Tozawa's forces are growing, which could force them to bow to him or end up like Ishida.
Tozawa (Ayumi Tanida) arrives at the funeral, giving his condolences directly to Hayama.
After the funeral, Hayama is livid. He tells Sato to prepare an attack against Tozawa. Sato advises they wait, saying it could alienate the other gangs. Hayama calls Sato a coward and directly asks Kaito what he thinks. Kaito simply says he'll follow Hayama's decision. Hayama is ready for vengeance.
One step forward, two steps back
Katagiri and Ngata (Miki Maya) continue their investigation into Ishida's shooters, following up with Samantha. They ask why she didn't mention the tattoos on the assailants or her relationship with Masa. Samantha wonders if she is under investigation. Katagiri says no, but advises her not to leave the city without notifying them.
Samantha is small potatoes though, as Katagiri interviews the assailant who surrendered himself at the end of episode 6. Not only was he involved in Ishida's shooting, but he was the same yakuza Katagiri chased during the raid earlier in the season. Katagiri asks why he didn't kill him then when he had the chance? The assailant says he's not a killer. He only attacked Ishida because after the police pressure he had nowhere to go and Tozawa, admitting the gang leader hired him, offered him a way out. Katagiri says in exchange for information, including where he hid his gun, they can work to get him 20 years in prison instead of the death penalty.
The assailant opts for the 20 years, and Katagiri finds the gun. With that and the assailant's expected testimony, Katagiri and Ngata feel confident, but they want to keep as tight a lid as possible on the fact they're taking the assailant to the courthouse.
However, stuck in traffic, a motorcycle pulls up alongside the car and shoots the assailant, killing him. Katagiri is sure there is a traitor in the police tipping Tozawa off, so Ngata tells him to not file the gun into evidence to avoid risking its disappearance. The only potential leads they have now are the phone taps.
Jake's taste of home
As Jake arrives back home, his mom (Jessica Hecht) is overly doting and struggles to call him Jake, while things are a bit awkward with his dad (Danny Burstein). But things go well at his dad's party, as Jake regales people with his Japan stories and later makes a lovely speech about his dad.
Jake also talks with an editor from the St. Louis Dispatch who has read Jake's work and offers him a job if he ever returns to the US. The editor tells Jake about his own experiences working abroad, saying there were two types of reporters: those who couldn't wait to go home and those who could never go home, saying the latter lost themselves abroad.
After the party, Jake and his dad share a beer. Jake says Jess seems better, but his dad reveals she recently received inpatient treatment. Jake then admits he's more relaxed than he's been in a while with the pressures of work and his personal life. His dad hopes he'll come home one day, believing he can be happy in the US, but Jake says he is happy "over there" in Japan. His dad notes that's the problem though, it's "over there."
Part of the story
Samantha is told it'll take three months to get her insurance money from the shooting, which is too long. Samantha may have a backup plan though, as she pulls a suitcase hidden in her office.
She also catches up with her old Onyx co-worker Luna (Noemie Nakai), asking if Samantha's girls can temporarily work at Onyx. Luna tells her no, as anyone associated with Samantha is caught up in the mess of the shooting. Proving her point, paparazzi soon appear and take photos of Samantha.
Later, Samantha watches TV when she sees a former male host on a talk show talking about how he became a personality and is now living the good life. Is Samantha seeing a new way forward for herself?
Back at the paper, Eimi (Rinko Kikuchi) tells Shingo (Soji Arai) there's a lot to handle with her investigation, so Shingo suggests she get help from someone she can trust. She opts for Tin Tin (Kosuke Tanaka), wanting him to pull old stories (we presume Baku's, but it's not explicit) and to tell no one.
Sato's chooses family
Sato once again tries to convince Kaito to leave Chihara-kai, telling his little brother Hayama has no honor. Kaito claims Sato just doesn't understand him. Sato tells Kaito what Hayama did in Nagato and that he lied about Sato being Tozawa's next target, using Kaito. Sato wants Kaito to promise he'll leave the gang if he finds him a way out, which Kaito nods yes to.
However, Kaito blabs to Hayama, who angrily confronts Sato. He whispers to Sato if he doesn't leave Chihara-kai, he'll kill Kaito. Hayama then proclaims to everyone that Ishida called Sato a liar and a coward (which is not true) and banishes him. Sato leaves, choosing his brother over his life with Chihara-kai.
Jake chooses work
Jake's time with his family is going well. His mother calls him Jake and Jess is excited for him to come to her school to talk about his job, which Jake tells her he loves because of its unpredictability. On cue, Jake gets a call from Katagiri.
While listening to Tozawa's taped phone calls, Katagiri found a message from a Minnesota hospital calling about payment. Katagiri believes Tozawa had his liver surgery there and wants Jake to go and investigate. Jake is reluctant, but there is no one else Katagiri can trust, so he says yes, but he promises his family he'll be back.
Jake speaks with a doctor, who is wearing a rare and expensive watch. When the doctor attempts to end their interview, Jake alleges the doctor got the watch as a bribe from Tozawa to skip the transplant waiting list. If the doctor doesn't give him info, Jake's story will focus on the doctor's malpractice as other patients desperately await transplants.
Tozawa did indeed receive a liver from the hospital, skipping the transplant list entirely. Jake still wonders how Tozawa could have gotten around his no-fly tag for entry into the US, but is excited about the potential story. Katagiri tells Jake he needs him back in Japan right away, which would require Jake to end his trip home early. If he doesn't, Katagiri warns many more people could die.
Jake calls home, telling his dad he's already at an airport on his way back to Japan. His dad is upset, saying work can always get in the way if he lets it, but Jake has made his choice.
No going back
The final moments of the episode see a yakuza attack on a club. One of the assailants is Kaito, who wore his stylish sneakers. Sato may be out, but his little brother is now fully in with Chihara-kai.
New episodes of Tokyo Vice arrive on Max on Thursdays, with all previous episodes also available on the streaming service.
