Peppy Spanish music plays over several people, including a pregnant woman, doing a round of target practice at an indoor shooting range. The pregnant woman reels in her target to examine her handiwork. Somebody sneaks up and shoots one of the guy aiming downrange, then proceeds to shoot everyone else on the range. The killer walks out to the gun store the range is attached to. "You done already?" the clerk asks before he too is shot.
A black woman comes into the Barn and wants someone to listen to her. Dutch tries to pawn her off on one of the uniforms, but ha ha, nobody else is around. He asks if she's there to report a crime. "I've lost track of all the crimes," she sighs. The woman is a lifelong Farmington resident and is tired of keeping her complaints to herself. Her apartment has been broken into 7 times and nobody has ever been arrested. "Graffiti and cuss words" are on every outdoor wall. The woman's voice rises in volume, drawing out Vic and Shane.
The woman dumps a container of pencils on the floor, complaining about the needles on her sidewalk and beer cans on her lawn. Edgar-veda, smelling a campaign angle, listens from his customary perch on the balcony. "We can drop smart bombs down chimneys half a world away," the woman continues, "But some sicko gets released from jail because of a computer screwup and rapes my niece! How does this make sense?" Her eyes fill with tears. Everyone present looks somber. Mothers kill their own children, kids kill strangers, and "maniacs fly airplanes into buildings."
The woman asks Dutch, "What are you doing to make us feel safe?" I'm waiting for Edgar-veda to come bouncing down the stairs to tell her all about their great community-oriented policing programs, taking credit for things that were in place well before he became captain. But no, they just cut straight to the theme song.
At the shooting range, Vic wonders why Gilroy called him; Watts isn't their jurisdiction. Gilroy gives him the body count: 8 victims, 9 counting the fetus. If he's putting his ass on the line, he needs his best man to cover it. Vic is pretty sure Northwest Division won't like him being on their turf. Northwest's lead detective on the case is Carlos Zamora, who's in tune with the local gang scene. Enter Carlos. He informs them that the victims were all Toros, the biggest gang in the area. Unfortunately, the gun store's security cameras are just for show, so they won't be able to ID the shooter that way.
Lucy, the female victim was dating Train, the top guy in the Toros. Vic knows Train will want to retaliate big-time, what with his baby-mama being killed and all. Carlos will pay a visit to the Toros and try to talk them out of doing anything stupid; you see, Carlos used to be one back in the day. Up until now, he's kept a lid on them.
Outside, Shane tells Vic that a high school kid works at the gun store as a janitor. He wasn't one of the victims. According to the owner, the kid, Jaime, didn't call in sick. "You seeing this?" asks Vic. Across the way, Carlos is hugging the grieving Train. "Paging Dr. Phil," mutters Shane. It's no wonder Gilroy called; an ex-gangbanger detective working a gang war is a definite conflict of interest.
Train swears he doesn't know who would kill his friends and his baby-mama. Vic searches a Toro and comes up with an illegally concealed knife and a baggie of cocaine. "Do I have to search all your guys or do I get an answer?" asks Vic. The guy with the knife suspects Wet Willie, a black gangbanger on parole.
Vic goes back to his truck and is confronted by Carlos. He doesn't like Vic shaking down his old friends, insisting: "You treat 'em like people, it works." Vic tells Carlos to track down Jaime while he and Shane talk to Wet Willie.
Edgar-veda goes over Julien's statement. The rookie saw the Strike Team take 4 bricks of cocaine as evidence and hide 2 in their weapons bag. He thinks Vic gave it to Shane. Edgar-veda reminds him that "I think" is not the same thing as "I'm sure." Julien doesn't need to bother doing the right thing if his testimony is vague; Vic's lawyer will try to twist anything Julien says. Hopefully, he won't have to go to court. Nobody involved wants to be embarrassed, so Vic and Shane would probably take a plea bargain and lose their jobs.
Shane is fighting the urge to doze off in Vic's truck. He grabs a book off the console and inquires about the title: Facing Autism. Vic lies that Corrine wants to learn about autism because a classmate of Matthew's was just diagnosed. Shane thinks the kid's parents must be upset, adding, "I had a cousin who was retarded." Vic tells him autism isn't the same thing. Shane makes a Rain Man joke. Vic grabs the book and wants Shane to keep his mouth shut unless he's really interested in learning about autism.
Edgar-veda watches closed-circuit footage of Julien giving his statement to Frances from IAD. Downstairs, Danni is surprised to see her partner; it's Julien's day off. She has an idea about how to handle the situation with Vic, but he doesn't wanna hear it.
Wet Willie pulls up to his baby-mama's house, where Vic and Shane are waiting in the truck. Willie drops off some medicine for the baby. Afterward, Shane pats Willie's friend down. "I didn't do nothing!" the guy protests. Shane asks, "Ever? Or just in the last 10 minutes?" Willie's friend suggests Shane suck something of his. Shane kicks him in the crotch from behind.
Willie has an alibi: he's been home with his sick baby all night, just look at the puke on his shirt. It's not just his baby-mama who can vouch for him. Her sister is there and they took the baby to the free clinic earlier in the day. Vic is convinced. He hears Shane shouting, "Suck your what?" and hurries to see what's going on. Before Vic can do anything, Shane whips it out and starts peeing on Willie's friend. A couple of neighbors are outside, drawn by the commotion. One shouts for his wife to call the police. Just one problem, Shane and Vic are the police. Vic yells at Shane to get in his truck. "Get the license plate!" cries another neighbor.
Speeding away, Vic gives Shane a hard slap to the head. Shane yelps. "We're trying to prevent a war, not start one!" Vic bellows before slapping him again. Shane tries to justify his actions by saying Willie's friend was a pain in the ass. Vic tells Shane that he's been a pain in the ass. Should he pull over and pee on him too? Shane looks stunned. "You're out of control!" says Vic.
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| Image credit |
He and Claudette interview Gene, a black gentleman who says his mother and her friends are being defrauded by a psychic named Frida. Frida claims she can talk to the man's dead father. His mom took out a second mortgage to pay Frida and he's supposed to inherit the house. "Well, that's a problem," says Claudette in a neutral town. Gene asks what they intend to do about it.
Vic meets Carlos in a parking lot, Shane still sulking in Vic's passenger seat. The two drivers talk to each other through their open window. Vic struck out with Wet Willie. Carlos got a call from a gangbanger friend of the missing Jaime. Jaime's been bragging that he saw the shooter leaving the gun range. Carlos can handle it, but Vic is free to back him up.
Julien visits his lover Tomas, who doesn't understand why Julien wants to complicate his life by ratting on Vic. Julien takes personal responsibility and thinks Tomas should try it. Tomas is unemployed, has outstanding warrants, and does the old dine-and-dash scam. Tomas shrugs that he makes money here and there. Julien knows that translates to either dealing drugs or working as prostitute, neither of which Julien should be around. Tomas will be homeless after his current housesitting gig ends.
"Oh, whatever will I do?" Tom asks sarcastically, obviously planning to mooch off Julien. Julien wonders how long it's been since Tomas even applied for a job. Tom wants to know how long Julien will keep pretending to be straight and says, "I'll try if you'll try."
Vic, Carlos, and Shane talk to Jaime outside a liquor store. Carlos asks if the killer at the gun range was wearing colors. Jaime won't talk. Vic asks what gang the shooter was in. "The white people's gang," Jaime answers. There goes the gang war theory.
At the Barn, Gilroy says the shooter being white is a big problem. More unwanted headlines. A guy named Jiminez is stopping by for a progress report. In the captain's office, Jiminez immediately assumes the gun range murder spree was a hate crime. Carlos wants to release the shooter's sketch to the news, but Vic says even the artist won't vouch for it.
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| This gives you an idea how vague the sketch is. (Image credit) |
Despite the quality, Gilroy agrees to release the sketch. He doesn't want Jiminez screaming to the media that the department doesn't care about Hispanic lives. "We're dinosaurs, Vic. And make no mistake, the meteor's coming," Gilroy adds.
Claudette interviews two of Psychic Frida's clients. Frida predicted that Gene would go to the police. Gene's Mom was told by Frida that Gene is just waiting for her to die so he can get his hands on the house. Frida has been passing on messages from Gene's father Frank. "How do you think Frank would feel if you ended up losing the house you both lived in 'cause you had to keep paying this medium?" asks Claudette. Gene's Mom is willing to pay anything.
Frances from IAD gives Vic a folder, telling him they're investigating his actions on April 2nd. He should read over the evidence and decide if he's willing to be formally interviewed. Carlos comes in to tell Vic that 5 Latinos have been shot in a Farmington grocery store. Vic gives the folder back to Frances.
At the store, Danny tells Vic what happened. Everybody in the store was killed, except for the owner who was hiding in the back. He came out with a baseball bat when the gunfire stopped and ran off the killer. One of the dead employees happens to be the store owner's teenage son. Vic spots a baseball bat in the corner of the office. The owner chased the white shooter out of the store, didn't see a car, and doesn't remember what direction he went.
"There's blood on this bat," Vic observes, "Did you hit him with it?" The owner doesn't remember that either. Vic sends Shane off to run the license plates of the cars parked on the block so he doesn't have to deal with him. Carlos has roped off a 10-block perimeter. A news van arrives.
"There's blood on this bat," Vic observes, "Did you hit him with it?" The owner doesn't remember that either. Vic sends Shane off to run the license plates of the cars parked on the block so he doesn't have to deal with him. Carlos has roped off a 10-block perimeter. A news van arrives.
At Frida's house, Claudette and Dutch interview the medium. Frida claims she offers a money-back guarantee, but very few people ever ask for it. Dutch examines the price tag on a candle: $600. It looks like the ones he buys at the dollar store. Please, Dutch doesn't look like a candle person. Frida explains that the blessing ceremony is what drives up the price. I'm Catholic and I can get a dozen prayer candles for under $25.
Frida agrees to go to the police station for an interview. She fixes her gaze on Dutch: "You yearn for a young woman who doesn't yearn after you." Story of his life. Claudette chuckles. Dutch knows how she deduced that: he doesn't have a wedding ring, single people tend to shop at cheaper places, and most single guys have a thing for somebody out of their league. "Is now when I fork over a week's salary for a candle?" he asks. Frida predicts that the mystery woman is someone Dutch works with and warns that he's wasting his time.
Edgar-veda talks to Deena the car thief from two episodes ago. If Deena is honest with Frances about what she found in the stolen Navigator, they'll drop the charges against her. Deena asks how she should tell the story: as a sweet, innocent young thing or as a tough biker chick/master thief. "Don't get too cute with her," Edgar-veda advises. Deena says, "But I am cute." She seductively asks if the captain is involved with anyone. Deena's "sexually available" on account of her last boyfriend dying from an overdose of stolen cocaine.
Edgar-veda tells her he's happily married and has a 1-year-old daughter. Deena thinks she could get away with a lot if she was sleeping with a police captain. Edgar-veda wants her to stay out of trouble so they don't have to see each other again. "But you want to see me again," Deena says. Edgar-veda doesn't, but makes the mistake of telling her it would be a different story if he was single and 18.
Outside the grocery store, Danni reports to Vic that the nearby shop owners heard the gunfire but didn't see anything. Vic doesn't believe that. Given how close together the stores are, I don't either. Shane found a car whose owner hasn't been accounted for and there's an open box of bullets on a seat. The car is registered to a George Klassen.
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| "Is that a GERMAN name?!" (Photo credit) |
Vic, Carlos, and a SWAT team raid Klassen's house. It's a pretty nice, average suburban place...until they find the bodies of an elderly couple in the living room.
Deena tells Frances about finding the guns and coke. She watched Shane get out of the truck and go into his girlfriend's apartment. Nobody got in or out of the truck between when he got out and when Deena stole it. She sighs about how sad it is when people who are supposed to upload the law break it.
Vic talks to George's sister. The dead couple were George's in-laws, but George's wife and son aren't in the house. The sister doesn't know of anyplace George would hide if he'd gone on the run with his family or kidnapped them. She's sure George wouldn't hurt Myra or Brady. "Can you imagine him killing 15 people in cold blood?" asks Vic. Sis shrugs that it's different; this was a nice neighborhood until Latinos moved in.
At the Barn, Jiminez demands to know how Vic will prevent the next attack. That won't be easy, considering they didn't find any clues about when or where. Carlos assures him all bases are covered. They have police cars watching his family members and friends; George's own car was impounded. Vic says he has to go check on something.
Shane is outside the grocery store, relaxing in a lawn chair. Vic asks if he noticed any blood on the sidewalk. Shane hasn't, but there's blood inside that doesn't match any of the victims' DNA. When Vic looks at the puddle, he says it's impossible for the blood not to have dripped on the sidewalk. Shane suggests George went out the back. They check the alley, but it's clean. Too clean...almost like someone swept.
Meanwhile, Frida says everything she does is based on faith. "The church only takes you for 10%," Claudette points out, "You're wringing these ladies dry." Frida can't be arrested if the women don't complain. That's okay; there's plenty of other things to check on, such as fire code violations and parking tickets. It's time for Frida to find new prey.
Upstairs, Jiminez is angry that the shop owners are being questioned. Vic explains they have new information. "You don't drag a grieving father down here and stick him under the lights!" Carlos yells. Vic counters, "And you don't get answers from people by passin' around hugs." "You don't get them by pissing on people either," Carlos fires back. Jiminez can tell Vic how to do his job once he makes it through the police academy. Jiminez wants to sit in on the interviews, but Gilroy says no.
"If you're lying so you can get to your son's killer before us to get revenge, I can't let that happen," Vic says to Leon the grocery store owner. Leon insists he doesn't know anything. Vic asks why all the store owners are telling the same phony story and why someone swept the alley behind Leon's store. In the next room, Carlos doesn't get anywhere with his suspect either.
Gilroy asks if Edgar-veda ever planned to tell him about IAD going after the Strike Team again. "I didn't want to bother you with it until things were more definitive," says Edgar-veda. Gilroy is concerned that his best cop and the captain aren't getting along. If they don't make nice-nice, Gilroy has to make a choice, one Edgar-veda probably won't like. The captain gives Gilroy the report from Frances.
Frida tells Dutch she's been getting strong signals from his desk and they're coming from someone named Sarah. Dutch doesn't know any Sarahs. "Sally," Frida corrects herself. That gets Dutch's attention. He asks if she went through his desk. Frida's clients appear and hug her. Claudette herds the three women elsewhere. "She has a message for you," Frida says cryptically to Dutch.
Vic tells Leon it's not all about him; it's about an innocent woman and little boy. He takes his gun out and lays it on the table. Someone is holding one on George's family and Leon isn't telling the truth, so he might as well be pulling the trigger himself. Don't give him any suicidal ideas there, Vic. Carlos says Leon doesn't know anything.
"What if it was your son?" Vic challenges. Leon puts his face in his hands and mutters, "My son is dead." Vic says that's because the police didn't catch George in time and urges Leon not to be like him. Leon argues he's nothing like George. "Show me," says Vic.
Leon nods tearfully and starts to tell his story. When he heard the shots that killed his son, he came out of the office with the baseball bat. He hit George from behind, knocking him out. The other neighborhood store owners helped him drag George into the alley, but Leon didn't have the nerve to kill him. At least not directly. Leon handed George over to the Toros. Vic realizes what that means: Train has Myra and Brady. "God help you," Carlos says to Leon.
Vic and Carlos crash down the stairs and sprint to the motor pool lot. They shake down Lucas, one of the Toros from earlier. Lucas argues that George had it coming. Maybe, but his wife and son didn't. Vic asks where Train stashed them. Lucas won't talk. Vic draws back a fist: "You wanna tell me with teeth or without?" Lucas says Carlos was a Toro and wouldn't let Vic do that. Carlos punches the kid in the stomach.
In a rundown house, George is duct-taped to a chair. Brady plays on the floor while Myra pleads for her husband's life. Train has a gun to her head and grabs her. Brady charges the gang leader with a fierce "Don't touch my mom" and gets knocked to the floor. Vic bursts in with Carlos at his heels. "For Lucy," Train says before shooting George. Train is shot at almost the same moment. Myra and Brady start crying.
Carlos puts his gun in Train's mouth; racist scum or not, the gangbanger has to pay for killing George and George's in-laws. Vic talks him out of pulling the trigger with a 10-year-old in the room. He tenderly wraps his coat around the distraught widow.
"We've gotta get Vic Mackey off the streets," says Edgar-veda. Frances hasn't taken his statement yet, but it looks bad. I'd say it looks more than bad. Gilroy wants to keep this under control; he doesn't want the press getting hold of the story. He asks for a few days to figure out how to handle it.
Jiminez is angry that the shop owners are still in jail. Carlos points out that their actions resulted in the deaths of three people; additionally, George's wife Myra was raped in front of her 10-year-old. "They're victims," Jiminez insists. His community activists while make sure the shop owners don't spend more than a few days in jail. By Vic's expression, he probably has the connections to pull it off.
Danny approaches Edgar-veda in the breakroom. She thinks Julien would be better off with a different training officer. Edgar-veda says Julien is going through a lot and needs her, throwing in flattery: "You're as good as we have."
"How could you do this to me?" Gilroy hisses at Vic in his car. Vic insists this is all a big misunderstanding; they were going to use the coke for an undercover bust and didn't have time to do the paperwork. Besides, car thieves don't make reliable witnesses. Gilroy reminds him that cops do, but doesn't give Julien's name. This will land on Shane; he was the one who got the truck and drugs stolen and Gilroy can't keep covering for the whole Strike Team. It's that or being Shane's cellmate.
Dutch visits Frida at home and asks about Sally's message. Sally doesn't want Dutch to give up because he's the only person trying to find out what happened to her.
In the precinct parking lot, Edgar-veda gives Vic's IAD file to Jiminez. "If you leak it to the press, it'd look self-serving," Jiminez guesses. Also, Edgar-veda would lose his job. Gilroy is the deputy chief and specifically ordered him not to let the case go public. Of course, Jiminez takes the folder.
In the clubhouse, Vic admits to Shane that he's been reading up on autism because Matthew has it. Shane is sorry to hear that, but doesn't make any attempt to apologize for the Rain Man comment. Vic knows Matthew has problems, but there's no way he's giving up on him. He won't give up on his best friend, either. Shane looks genuinely touched.
In a candle-lit room, Julien and Tomas sit semi-clothed on a couch, the latter filling out a job application. He thinks he'll have to be creative with the employment history. Julien tells him not to lie. Tomas skips to the reference page, hinting it would be great to have one from a police officer. Julien can't; he knows too much about Tomas' criminal past.
Julien isn't ready to tell anyone that he's gay. They argue about how Julien promised to try if Tomas would look for a job. Julien tries to get Tomas to understand that he was brought up in a religious family and taught that homosexuality is a sin. Doing sexual things with another man is trying.
Julien isn't ready to tell anyone that he's gay. They argue about how Julien promised to try if Tomas would look for a job. Julien tries to get Tomas to understand that he was brought up in a religious family and taught that homosexuality is a sin. Doing sexual things with another man is trying.
Tomas starts kissing Julien's bare chest. Suddenly, Vic kicks down the door. "Police," he says softly, not quite believing what he just saw. He shows Tomas an arrest warrant and handcuffs him. Vic seems to know this isn't Tomas's place, because on the way out, he says, "Don't worry, your boyfriend'll lock up...won't you, Officer?" Vic puts a jacket over Tomas. Julien sighs. His secret is out and he knows Vic won't keep it. End of episode.
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