After a week off, it’s time for intensity.
As the episode opens, a gaggle of officers are joking around; as Julian leaves, the conversation turns to him and how he’s not being benched during his appeal period after being sent for transfer.
Vic talks with Ronnie and Lem about everything that went down with Shane (you know, the whole deal where Shane was supposed to kill him and all that). Back in the Strike Team room, Shane comes clean about everything that went on between himself and Antoine from start to finish. The plan is made with everyone to get Angie’s body — Lem is quite clearly not pleased with the situation dear Shane has placed them all in.
Danny and Julian respond to a domestic disturbance call as backup; apparently, officers showed up about a half hour beforehand. Danny radios for them with no reply. As Captain Rawling shows up, she calls in the code for two officers missing.
HELLO SHIELD, YOU HAVE RETURNED!
Vic and crew wonder if the missing cops wouldn’t happen to be Antoine payback, as Vic’s body certainly didn’t end up on the cement slab.
Dutch and Claudette are assigned as primaries on the case by Monica with Vic on gang detail. Aceveda shows up, wanting to be involved and to help in any way possible; he goes on duty with Danny. Julian is sent to deal with the cops’ families, to keep them calm. He’s not pleased, but Monica is more than blunt with her distrust of his ability to follow orders in any other situation.
According to the woman who called 911, she was being attacked by her former boyfriend’s son, Gideon. Danny and Aceveda go on the hunt for him while other cops hunt down a homeless man who was seen nearby prior to the call.
Ronnie and Shane make the move on the location of Angie’s body — under some porta-potties — and come up empty-handed.
In the interrogation room, Gideon has an iron-clad alibi: steroid trails on his ass. Nice.
Dutch brings the 911 caller into interrogation and calls her on her bullshit story. Apparently, her plan was to get him busted for “attacking” her, then trying to exchange letting him off the hook for a piece of tail. NICE.
The homeless guy is brought in. Yes, he saw the officers in question. But the conversation isn’t nearly that straightforward, as he clearly meanders with a cracked mind. He demands a badge for himself so he can tell his story “one peace officer to another.”
Visiting Mission Cross, Vic talks to Corrine about finding a gunshot victim. (You may remember him as Antoine’s henchman who Army pulled the brilliant accidental blast on last episode.) Pulling in a favor, Corrine has the guy sign a piece of paper for Vic. He’s all hopped up on morphine, but Vic goes in to badger info out of him anyway about the moved body. That piece of paper he signed? It’s a CI contract, and if he doesn’t cooperate, he’ll nail it to Antoine’s door. After a bit more conversation, he mentions Antoine never does the dirty work — he contracts out. Perhaps the El Salvadorans are the proper target for headhunting. Vic thanks him for his info by unplugging his phone and hitting his morphine button a good half dozen times.
Back at the barn, the homeless guy is given a badge and starts talking, slowly. He talks about the officers being approached by several people, insisting he had nothing to do with any of it. The conversation then changes to carrying on about foreign agents and 9/11 conspiracies.
Vic talks to an El Salvadoran busted by the INS, willing to deal with him for info on Antoine. The guy gives up his runner.
Julian talks with the wife of one of the missing officers. She’s distraught and not happy with the way the department is currently being run in Farmington and the increased danger.
Vic visits a hooker for some intel and comes back with an address; busting the house with Monica, Aceveda, and several others in tow, Aceveda finds the bodies of the two officers. They’re brought out among quite the crowd of press and civilians.
Commercial break.
Monica and Vic have a conversation about the bodies being planted in a house that was seized, and Monica quickly makes the Antoine Mitchell connection. Vic points her at the El Salvadoran involvement.
Vic busts a hideout looking for the supposed shooter, but nope, he has an alibi just like everyone else. However, he was doing work for Antoine, just not that particular job. He gives up the location where Angie’s body was moved, to a park by horses.
Dutch wanders past the cage in the barn and begins conversing a bit with the homeless guy again; he mentions a bit about the officers being taken down, and Dutch quizzes him again to put his thoughts together. It’s not so smooth.
Claudette talks to one of the area bangers, “his block,” so to speak. He knows nothing. NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING!
Back at the scene where the 911 call was made, Dutch talks to the officers about searching again to find how the officers went missing. He makes mention of “geological anomalies in the Earth’s crust,” as one of many meanderings made by the homeless guy.
Monica informs the officer’s wife that her husband has died. She snaps about the seizures and whatnot, then asks for the officers to leave.
Dutch, getting ready to leave his scene, is suddenly taken with a manhole.
Lem is in the Strike Team room doing footwork on Antoine and found his credit card had been run for a plane ticket back to LA after hanging out in Vegas. Monica walks in as he’s taking this information and arranges police to meet him at the airport.
In the manhole, Dutch et al find plenty of blood and some bling with the initials “JP.”
Danny and Aceveda cruise about, discussing the effectiveness of the new captain, when they hear something obnoxious in the back of their car and stop. What do you know… gunshots.
Commercial!
Dutch and Claudette discuss the found bling with the banger in custody. He not only claims no involvement still, but helpfully points the officers to check with jewelers to find who had the piece made.
Meanwhile, on the streets, a fight breaks out as cops lose their cool finding a poster of the missing police captioned, “TWO DOWN.”
Aceveda takes some time to give Monica friendly advice about acting with confidence so as to keep her officers in check.
Monica talks with Vic about squeezing Antoine. She also mentions finding someone to pin the murders on so that the public will feel more secure about their abilities (and perhaps to get the street talking). Talking to Shane, he mentions a kid whose street name is Urkel who also happens to have a carload of guns.
Dutch and Claudette bring in Jamal, the owner of the blingage. He says it was stolen months ago. And, yes, he filed a police report, but none of the cops really seemed interested in finding his jewelry… until now.
Monica brings in Dutch and Claudette to discuss all of the dead leads they’ve gotten. She mentions the uncontrollable anger on the streets (three other officers’ cars were fired upon) and in the force itself. She insists it would be best for them to convince the press that there is a suspect in custody.
Another commercial!
After talking with their friend in the hospital and convincing him to make a phone call, Vic ended up being the one to pick up Antoine from a different airport. He and Shane speak with him at great length. They want a truce. Vic talks about getting him a new heroin hookup through Jamaica and reiterates that he’s a dirty, dirty cop; he also volunteers to help Antoine through police questioning, hoping to steer certain questions away if possible.
Dutch speaks at the press conference as he is flooded with specific questions regarding the suspect in custody and the investigation in general; he avoided giving a straight answer like the kids who rocked at dodgeball.
Vic brings in Antoine.
Claudette and Dutch go back to chasing whatever tiny leads they have, including looking up any and all criminals with the initials “JP.”
And the remainder of the old Strike Team, including Lem, heads out to go digging for Angie’s body.
In the interrogation room, Vic stands in the corner while Antoine sits at the desk. Monica thanks him for coming in for questioning…
…and that’s it. Fade to black.
One heavy-as-hell episode in the can on this one. The plot has thickened to the consistency of Play-Doh.
NEXT WEEK: a special 90-minute episode. And by the looks of the previews, it’s going to be an ugly one. Due to time constraints on an episode running that long vs. my REAL LIFE JOB, I may not have a recap ready until next Wednesday evening. FYI!
Stupid anticipation.
–gloomchen
