There Isn't Always a "Quick Fix" (Episode 2.1)

Last season: Assistant Chief Gilroy was arrested for corruption after a landgrab scheme resulted in a double homicide, a race riot, and three dead police officers. Vic's wife Corinne left him after she and the children were endangered by Gilroy. Vic himself shot and killed fellow officer Terry Crowley and stole some drugs, getting away with both. He also formed an alliance with a drug dealer named Tio. Julien started sexual-reorientation therapy. Captain Edgar-veda decided to run for city council and tried everything he could to bring Vic down for corruption.

Some gangbangers tag a wall and sledgehammer two wooden posts to the ground. They tie a man to each post and put a tire around him. This is going nowhere good. The gangbangers pour gas onto the men and set the first tire on fire. Season 2 is certainly off to a brutal start. The gang leader is played by Danny Pino, AKA Scotty from Cold Case. He turns up the music to muffled the first man's agony.
The second intended victim pleads for his life in Spanish.

Vic meets with a private investigator named Gordie in a hotel parking lot. The PI sent Corinne's photo to hotels with weekly or monthly rates; Corinne checked into this one last week as Jan Murphy. There's something else Vic needs to know: Corinne isn't by herself. Vic knows that; she took the kids too. The PI says the kids aren't with her. However, a guy named Steven is. He owns a local yoga studio.

Gordie isn't surprised. His own ex-wife started working out right after their divorce. The thing is, Corinne and Vic are still legally married. Steven's been visiting Corinne every night. Vic asks which room. "209," says Gordie. As Vic heads upstairs, Gordie half-heartedly tells him to stop.

Vic breaks down the door of Room 209, where a man and woman are having sex. Vic throws the man off the bed. "Who are you?!" screams the woman, who's definitely not Corinne.

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Vic none too gracefully removes himself from the situation and chews out Gordie in the parking lot: "You've been on this for a month. You can't find 3 kids and a housewife?" Gordie thinks they need to expand their search beyond Southern California. Matthew and Cassidy haven't been in school, Corinne isn't staying with a friend or relative, and there's no financial trail. Vic opposes the idea of checking accident reports and hospital records.

In a garage, a guy is about to pop open a crate that came from Mexico. Lem is the lookout, kneeling next to the partially unrolled door. "Come on, hurry up," he says anxiously. Mixed in with the Mexican blankets are bricks of drugs. Shane, sporting a stylish brown leather blazer, says two shipments in a week isn't too shabby.

Tio tests the merchandise with a police kit and nonsensically announces to Shane, "We're pregnant." Shane follows Tio home in his truck. Lem is riding shotgun and nervous: "You know, if we double up on shipments, sooner or later, someone's gonna notice." "Hey, Vic put me in charge," says Shane, "So just roll with it." A sheriff's car changes lanes, getting in between Shane's truck and Tio's car.

"What're we gonna do if they find that coke?" Ronnie pipes up from the backseat. Shane says they'll lose $50 K each. "Three black guys with a trunk full of coke can't drive the goddamn speed limit?" asks Ronnie. Apparently not. The deputy hits the lights and sirens. Lem mutters, "I knew this was a mistake." Shane tells him to shut up, then asks what they should do. Lem shrugs, "Hey, you're in charge." "Hey, we're in this together," Shane disagrees.

Cut to Tio and his crew facedown on the pavement while the car is searched. "Hey lookie here, Clark," says one of the cops, holding up the bag o' coke. Shane pulls over and the cop draws his gun. Lem holds up his badge and is all "It's cool, we're cops too." Shane takes over, saying the deputies just busted his informant and they're on their way to a bust; the coke is theirs.

"Who's in charge of the sting?" asks the deputy. Vic Mackey. Shane would be more than happy to call him and have him come down. The deputy wants to know who their CO is. Edgar-veda will be getting a phone call too. Shane hopes he doesn't mind waking up a captain.

"Burning necklaces have been gaining popularity in Central and South American drug cartels," Dutch informs his partner. She tells him they've also been used in South Africa to kill police informants. She learns that Dutch, who couldn't speak a lick last season, is now taking Spanish classes.

Vic arrives at the traffic stop in his shiny Dodge Ram. The patrolman asks if Vic knows Lem, Shane, and Ronnie. Vic unwisely attempts to lighten the mood: "Depends. What'd they do?" The patrolman explains how he pulled over Tio and found guns and cocaine; the rest of the Strike Team says it's for a buy-bust. Nobody notified the sheriff's office about the operation, so the deputies have to wait for Edgar-veda to give them the all-clear. Vic says it's not necessary; they're already late.

No sooner does he say that than Edgar-veda pulls up in a sedan with a cherry-drop light on the dash. For once, Edgar-veda's not wearing a shirt and tie. The deputy tells them about Tio's trunkload of blow. The captain owes Vic a favor; he got all the credit for taking down Gilroy and the cop-killers. Edgar-veda lies that it's his fault because he forgot to forward a form. He promises it won't happen again. The deputy apologizes for delaying them and goes back to his car.

Edgar-veda approaches the Strike Team: "You're on your way to a bust, right?" Shane says yes. The captain tells them to go arrest someone. Shane, Lem, and Ronnie get back in the truck. "You and I need to talk," Edgar-veda says to Vic.

In the captain's office, Vic thanks him for cutting them slack on the supposed paperwork snafu. The captain asks if something is wrong with Vic; he's been working fewer hours and his arrest numbers are down. "Bad guys must be hibernating," says Vic. Dude, nobody hibernates in Los Angeles. "Why don't you just give me a demerit and call it a night?"

Edgar-veda informs him a civilian auditor is coming to the Barn and will probably shut the place down if she sees what he sees. Vic shrugs that it's the captain's problem. "I don't think she'll be as understanding of your paperwork snafus as I am, which makes this our problem," Edgar-veda says, "This drug thing tonight--" Vic promises that Shane and the boys are totally arresting some people for that.

The burning necklace victims have been identified as Pablo Fernando and Christopher Reyes, street names Bang-Bang and Cucha. One was a Los Mag, the other a Toro, but both were high-ranking. Edgar-veda reminds everyone to be on their best behavior; Lanie the civilian auditor starts her observations today. Everyone groans. He can't help that the city council called her, given the recent public scandals.

By the cage, Shane mutters to Vic, "Say hello to Fall Guy #1 and Fall Guy #2." "Why are you turning in Tio's stash?" asks Vic, eyeing the cocaine brick on the counter. Turns out the drugs belong to the Spanish fall guys. Vic heard the dealers in the cage were small-time. Lem guesses they aren't anymore. Edgar-veda wanders over, praising the Strike Team for the arrests. Once he's gone, Shane says the fall guys bought their coke from Alvarez, another supposed small-timer.

Wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be THIS Alvarez.
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Vic wants to pay Alvarez a visit and find out why he's "moving from the minors to the majors." I'm not sure if this is an unintentional reference to another project Kenny Johnson and Walton Goggins worked on together: Major League: Back to the Minors. Vic's phone rings and he's all "what now?!"

The Strike Team arrives at Tio's and Vic asks what the problem is. Tio says, "That," indicating a guy on all fours throwing up blood. He jumps out of the way as the guy pukes again. "What'd you call us for?" Shane demands. Tio points out that he can't exactly have the paramedics stop by his stash spot. Tio's underling says the guy snorted a few lines of product to check the quality. Tio isn't happy about his "employees" giving out free samples.

"Shit, he's going into cardiac arrest," Lem says from the floor. He calls for a towel. When Shane hands one over, Lem wipes off the guy's face and starts giving him mouth-to-mouth. Shane and Vic groan in disgust as Lem continues CPR, managing to revive the guy. Vic tells Lem to drop him off at the ER door and not answer any questions. Two of Tio's guys pick up the overdose victim and carry him out.

"How much did he do?" Vic asks another of the "salesmen." He swears it was just a couple of lines and the guy isn't allergic to it or anything. Shane thinks he could've been mixing drugs. "Maybe the coke's bad," Lem suggests. Shane insists nothing is wrong with the cocaine except maybe that it's too pure. "You're so sure, do a line," Vic tells him, because Shane isn't nearly volatile enough. He asks Ronnie to take a sample to the lab.

Tio asks who'd contaminate his drugs. Vic surmises it was someone with enough coke of their own to put Tio out of business. They might as well forget about the hospital after spending all this time arguing.

Vic parks halfway on the sidewalk to Alvarez, out for a stroll with his angry pitbull. It's not the guy who played Kurt Sutter's other Alvarez either. He wants to know how a minor crack dealer got a hold of high-quality cocaine. Alvarez insists he's clean. Vic says they picked up some of his guys. Alvarez is all "I don't know what you mean." Lem grabs the pitbull's leash and as strong as he is, even he can barely hang onto the dog. He's lucky the thing didn't take his hand off. Vic tells Alvarez they're taking him for a little car ride.

They head down the street, Alvarez up front with Vic and Lem in the back with the dog. Vic is sure Alvarez doesn't visit One-Niner territory often; I'd say so too, what with the One-Niners being a rival gang and all. Vic stops and yells out an insult about the sister of a One-Niner named Mo, claiming Alvarez said it. Quickly rolling up the window, he asks if Alvarez messed with Tio's latest shipment. Alvarez won't say.

One-Niners have started to surround the car. Vic tells Alvarez he'll have to find another ride. Lemming, hugging the dog (yes, really) hopes Alvarez's expensive sneakers make him run faster. Alavrez says he got the coke from Navaro and Armadillo Quintero.

I know these little guys are cute, but naming your kid after one?
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The Quintero brothers are major coke dealers from Tijuana, trying to flood Farmington with their product. Alvarez nervously tells Vic to get him away from all the angry rival bangers.

Back at the Barn, Vic gives Claudette his lead about the Quinteros. He buzzes in Gordie the PI. Upstairs, Edgar-veda asks his secretary if she knows who Gordie is. She doesn't. Edgar-veda tells her to check the visitors' log. I'm surprised Corinne running out on Vic hasn't hit the precinct grapevine. In the clubhouse, Gordie explains that he's part of a PI network. He can give Corinne's information to all his friends (in exchange for a fee, of course). $20,000 will get Vic half of Gordie's contacts, $50 K for everyone.

Despite doing this for a living, Vic can't seem to tell he's being shaken down. Either that or he's so desperate to find his family he doesn't care what it costs. Given his reaction in the Season 1 finale, I'm going with the latter. There's just one snag: Gordie's contacts will want half the fee up front. Vic promises he'll have the money in an hour.

Claudette asks Cucha's family if they know of anyone who'd want to kill him. Cucha has a teenage brother, a female relative who could be a mom or aunt, and a little sister dressed up in a Catholic school uniform. Cucha's brother says he doesn't know anything and denies knowing the Quinteros. "Armadillo?" pipes up little sister Mayda. Cucha repeats that nobody knows nothing. Dutch leaves his pocket notebook on a side table, presumably for Mayda to find.

Vic meets Shane at a self-storage place, asking to make an emergency withdrawal from their retirement fund. Shane says there's nothing left in the storage locker, the remainder of the Strike Team pulled it out and invested it. A likely story. Vic is none too happy that he wasn't consulted. Shane shrugs that Vic put him in charge and that investing the money was supposed to be a surprise. "It is. A bad one," says Vic.

Shane thinks Vic should be more appreciative that his best buddy has increased shipments and assisted with distribution. "Distribution?" Vic cries. The Strike Team were supposed to be middlemen, not dealers. Shane insists that all he's doing is taking their game up a level. "What level is that? Prison?!" Vic demands. Shane says Vic's money is currently tied up in a cocaine investment, specifically the coke "that had Tio's guy bleeding from every orifice."

Vic needs his share of the money. Shane counters that they all do. Vic reminds Shane that he's trying to track down Corinne and his kids. Shane had no idea they were missing. Vic bellows that he needs $25 K to give to his PI. Shane screwed him. They argue back and forth. "What am I supposed to do?!" Vic screams in frustration. Shane has no answer.

Claudette asks a pretty white girl, Jessica, if she recently left her boyfriend Cucha to be with Armadillo. Jessica says no. She has an interesting tattoo on one cheek: a small white dove in flight. Jessica is not your typical gangbanger's girlfriend; she's a senior at the exclusive-sounding Whitney School For Girls and her father is a chiropractor-to-the-stars. Claudette wonders how Dad feels about her changing from "Westside cheerleader to barrio gang babe." Dutch makes a comment about the face tattoo. Jessica works hard not to cry.

She explains that two weeks before, she and Cucha were going for a walk when they were accosted by Armadillo and his homies. They asked if Cucha had changed his mind about something. When he said no, Armadillo took Jessica to his house and raped her. Afterward, he held her down while someone else gave her the dove tattoo. When Cucha saw the tattoo later, he called Jessica a puta (Spanish for slut). Crying, she asks them to have her dad pick her up.

Danny wakes up naked in bed. She checks the alarm clock, almost knocking over a glass of wine, and groans, "Oh God, I fell asleep." Vic stands nearby, getting dressed. She asks what they're gonna tell Corinne. Vic lies that she's out of town for the 5th time this month. Danny doesn't mind them having a thing; she just doesn't want them to "have a thing," a statement that makes no sense whatsoever. Before Vic leaves, he gives her a quick kiss.

At the stash spot, Vic informs Jasper that he got a batch of coke tainted with rosary pea. Rosary pea, a woodvine native to Florida, is also extremely toxic. They're lucky more cocaine didn't hit the street or they'd have a lot of dead bodies to explain. Tio is sure Jasper messed with the drugs. We learn Jasper isn't just a coke runner; he's a customs agent. Jasper insists the drugs must've been laced in Mexico. His supplier uses a store called Rosillian Imports in Tijuana as a front for Navaro Quintero.

In the Barn's back parking lot, Gordie asks for his fee. Vic explains he hit a snag getting it and asks Gordie to front the money. Gordie doesn't have an extra $25,000 sitting around, but thinks he can stall until that night. He gives Vic a deadline of 10:00.

Vic goes into the clubhouse. Ronnie is chilling on the couch and Lem is playing solitaire or something. Vic tells everyone to take off their guns so they can make a quick trip to Tijuana. Lem immediately stands up and heads for his locker. Shane is more reluctant, even though he always sucks up to Vic. Edgar-veda sticks his head in to introduce Lanie the civilian auditor. She has a few question for Vic, who replies that he's busy and leaves.

Edgar-veda follows him, asking where Vic is going. "Tijuana," he answers. Edgar-veda wants to know why. Vic tells him that someone has been smuggling poisoned cocaine into Farmington. The captain points out the Strike Team doesn't have jurisdiction in Mexico. Vic will take a personal day to go down there. Edgar-veda says he won't sign off on it. "If you want dozens of potential voters keelin' over, so be it." If the captain didn't know Vic so well, he'd think that tone was actually calm.

Vic drives the guys to the border in a generic sedan. The border patrol agent on the Mexico side asks about the nature of their visit. "Little bit of everything," Vic answers vaguely, somehow not throwing any red flags. The guy waves them through with a "Welcome to Mexico." Vic drives further down and stops the car in the middle of the street. He tells the guys to find guns. Shane looks around dubiously: "They got gun stores?" "It's Tijuana, use your imagination." Vic retorts. Lem and Shane get out. Next to Vic, Ronnie is studying a map. Vic asks if he knows how to get to Rosillian Imports.

Our boys on foot are immediately accosted by a chubby middle-aged Mexican man. "Nice girls, hot girls," he says. Lem absolutely towers over the guy and surprisingly doesn't tell him about his Latina girlfriend Tigre. Shane starts to drag him away.

Rosillian Imports looks closed. Ronnie tries to climb the metal security door. Vic swears. A plainclothes Mexican policeman appears and wants to know what they're doing. Ronnie jumps down. Vic tells the guy they're cops from the U.S. The Mexican offers says they should be more careful; this isn't a safe part of town for tourists. It doesn't look particularly safe for the residents either. Vic claims he's looking for a friend's sister who got kidnapped two days ago. His friend wants to pay the ransom and not fool with a police report.

Vic says they're looking for Navaro Quintero. "I'm not surprised," says Mexican Policeman, "He and his brother are our biggest problem." Navaro has an open federal warrant in the U.S., but he can't be arrested as long as he's in Tijuana.

Lem and Shane are following a different guy through the streets, a guy who says he knows where they can buy guns. Shane thinks it's sad Tijuana isn't living up to its potential as a community of friendly senoritas and white-sand beaches; instead, it's the "asshole of South America." "Mexico's in Central America," Lemming corrects. Shane asks where the guns are and finds out less than a second later.

The Mexican and his companions surround them with weapons drawn. "Where is your money?" asks the leader. Lem and Shane both have a can-you-believe-this-shit look on their faces. Lem gives up his wallet first, which also happens to have his big shiny badge in it. Shane shows them his own badge. The Mexicans are unimpressed.

Shane is reluctant to fork over his wallet. One of the muggers puts a gun to the base of Lem's skull. Surprisingly, Shane doesn't make some crack about how he never liked Lem anyway. I suppose he figures the Strike Team won't be able to explain yet another corpse of one of their own. He hands over his wallet. The Mexican muggers tell them to hit the road. Oh, explaining their missing badges to Edgar-veda is gonna be fun.

Back at the Barn, Lanie introduces herself to Dutch. She asks for his personal notes on Gilroy's land fraud case and the hit-and-run; his bail hearing is coming up and the D.A. doesn't want any surprises. Dutch promises to get it to her ASAP. Cucha's little sister Mayda shows up to return Dutch's notebook. She's changed out of her school uniform and into jeans and a yellow T-shirt with a matching barrette shaped like a butterfly.

Mayda asks if Dutch caught Armadillo, revealing "he's the one who killed my brother." Upstairs, Mayda takes off her barrette and plays with it. Armadillo apparently paid the family a visit and told Cucha that "he could join him or he could die." She's rather calm about this, even though it was said right in front of her. Mayda thinks Armadillo wants her to be scared of him, but she's not.

Claudette comes into the room and talks to Dutch just outside the door. Dutch explains that Mayda came forward on her own. "You're interviewing a minor without a guardian present," Claudette reminds him. Dutch tells her that Armadillo threatened Cucha in front of his little sister. Mayda could testify to the grand jury. However, her family objects. Claudette throws out the old "You'd understand if you had kids argument."

She walks Mayda downstairs and says she'll take her home. Claudette praises Mayda for being brave enough to tell them what she heard. Mayda notices she forgot her barrette. Claudette promises to buy another one.

In Tijuana, Navaro is eating lunch on a restaurant patio. Ronnie is surprised there are only two bodyguards with him. "Probably thinks nobody's crazy enough to mess with him," Vic says sagely. Shane and Lem walk up. Vic asks for one of their guns. Lem tells Vic they didn't get any, but doesn't mention the mugging.

Vic shrugs that they'll go after Navaro anyway, ignoring Lem and Ronnie's protests. He tells Ronnie to get the car; Lem and Shane will tackle the bodyguards and take their guns. When they get within shouting distance, Vic calls to Navaro: "Hey, can you tell me where the donkey shows are around here?" then punches the drug lord in the head. Shane and Lem disarm the bodyguards.

Ronnie drives up, the car's brakes screeching. Shane pushes Navaro into the backseat. Lem gets in on the other side and Vic rides up front.

Julien has a young boy named Randall in the cage. The kid's mother shows up and Julien explains that Randall was caught trying to shoplift spray paint from a hardware store. Randall's also been spotted tagging buildings. His mom Vanessa is upset and disappointed.

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Julien adds that it isn't normal procedure to arrest kids Randall's age, but they couldn't get a hold of Vanessa and the store owner wants to press charges. Vanessa doesn't know what else she can do to help her son be a good person; she cut back on her work hours so she can be home with him at night, is active in his PTA, and they go to church. Julien will see what he can do.

"She seems pretty upset," he mutters to Danny. She replies, "She should be." The kid's only 10 and he's stealing and tagging buildings and "before you know it, we'll be mopping him off a sidewalk." Julien thinks he can break the odds.

Down in Tijuana, the Strike Team has parked atop a deserted hill that looks like an illegal dump. Ronnie is siphoning some gas out of the sedan. "I ain't paying you nothing, ese," declares Navaro, who's played by Sons of Anarchy alum Emilio Rivera. If they let him go, they can go back to California alive.

There's a handy pile of tires nearby. Vic asks Lem to give him one. Vic puts the tire over Navaro's neck. Ronnie pours gas on him. Vic menacingly flicks a cigarette lighter. Navaro changes his tune and asks how much money they want. $350,000 American, plus another $50,000 for ruining Vic's day. Lem tells Vic not to push it. "Shut the hell up!" shouts Vic. Poor Lemming must get sick of hearing that.

When Claudette goes to Armadillo's house, the other half of the Quintero drug cartel answers the door holding a thick book, wearing nothing but a black Speedo, a watch, and a gold chain. Lovely. Dutch takes note of the bruises speckled across Armadillo's torso. The next time we see Armadillo, he's dressed and in the interrogation room. Dutch asks, "What brings you to Los Angeles, Armando?" He just can't take a guy named after a desert creature seriously. Nor could I.

Armadillo is looking for new opportunities, like many other immigrants. Claudette asks if that includes putting the Los Mags and Toros out of business. Armadillo thinks it's a little early in their chat for her to be showing her hand. He claims he has no idea who the gangs are.

Armadillo has also been reading up on American law; he has stacks of law books at home. He knows the longest they can detain him without charging him is 6 hours. Dutch informs him that they can hold murder suspects for 24 hours. Armadillo says he has multiple alibis. "You're not here to fight the Toros and the Los Mags. You're here to unite them," Claudette realizes.

In observation, the captain poo-poos the idea of rival gangs working together. "They stop pissing on each other and turn their guns on everyday folks, it's not good," says Claudette. Edgar-veda asks how they can hold him when Jessica won't testify about her rape. Dutch says Mayda will testify. Claudette isn't comfortable with putting a 12-year-old girl in the middle of this. 12? Mayda's 9 if she's a day. They'll find some other way to get at Armadillo.

Vic drives Ronnie's car to a cemetery. Navaro is sandwiched in the back between Ronnie and Lem, the latter holding a gun to his head. Ronnie has a bad feeling. "Keep it yourself," says Vic. Navaro talks to his men in Spanish, getting them to put their guns down. As soon as they put a duffel bag of cash in the trunk, Vic drives away. "What are you doing?!" asks Shane.

Navaro's guys start shooting at the car. The backseat is too cramped for Lem and Ronnie to force the drug dealer to the floorboards. "Let's toss him!" yelps Shane. Vic parks on a different trash-strewn hillside. Nobody's been shot. They get out to inspect the damage to the car. "Holy shit. I just leased this car!" cries Ronnie.

Pictured: the least of Ronnie's problems.
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Vic knows Navaro has a federal warrant and wants to turn him in on it. However, they can't arrest people in Mexico. Vic is sure that once they get Navaro to the States, nobody'll care too much how he got there. "This is insane!" shouts Shane. And if Shane Vendrell is questioning your sanity, you're doing something pretty damn stupid. He thinks they should just leave him on the side of the road somewhere.

Vic says that Navaro was willing to poison dozens of strangers with bad coke. If they leave him, he might come back for revenge. Lem wants to know how they're supposed to get him across the border. Oh, that's easy: in the trunk. "That's if we even make it to the border! Look at the car!" Shane is good and agitated now. All I see are some holes in the trunk and back windshield and broken taillights.

"How am I gonna pay for this?" moans Ronnie. Lem adds that Navaro will be kicking and screaming the whole trip.

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Vic has a solution: Stop by a shady drugstore for some roofies. "The date rape drug?" asks Shane. No, the breath mint. "Don't pretend like you don't know what they look like," says Vic. Wow, that was uncalled for.

Claudette has more background on Armadillo. He was an orphan who grew up on the streets. His social worker had his IQ tested when he was 11 and got Armadillo into a school for gifted children. Two weeks into the semester, he was expelled for raping and beating one of his teachers. I'm sure the social worker tried to claim he was still basically a good kid. Armadillo did two years in Mexican juvie hall and hasn't had so much as a parking ticket ever since.

Dutch will put in a call to INS to find out if rape is enough to get Armadillo's visa revoked. I certainly hope so, good Lord! Lanie comes over to ask for Gilroy's file. Dutch says he's busy and will give it to her later. Lanie snippily informs him that she asks politely the first time and is a lot less polite if she has to ask again.

Cue a major power trip. Lanie's bosses want to know why Farmington is the epicenter of corruption, lawsuits, and riots. She could get people fired or even have the whole precinct shut down. Dutch thinks she's hot, so he folds like a cheap suit, mumbling, "Yes, ma'am." He looks up and sees Edgar-veda looming from his office perch.

The Strike Team waits in a long line of cars to cross back into the United States. Lem fidgets, noticing the heavily armed Border Patrol agents and roving drug dogs. The back of the sedan has touristy new bumper stickers covering up some of the damage. "How do we explain 400 grand in cash and a doped-out drug lord in our trunk?" asks Shane. Vic says pointedly, "If nobody breaks a sweat, we won't have to."

Lanie asks Edgar-veda where Vic is. The captain vaguely answers, "Still in the field." Lanie wants to know if that's code for....

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Edgar-veda gives her a shark's smile: "You're not after Mackey, are you? You're after me." Lanie claims nobody is being persecuted, buuuuuut the captain has enemies on the city council. Despite the scandals and rioting, Edgar-veda currently has a point lead over opposing candidate Karen Mitchell: "They know I'll be fair, but they also know that if there's something to find, I'll find it."

Julien lets 10-year-old thief Randall out of the cage; the hardware store owner agreed not to press charges if Julien vouched for the kid. He takes Randall upstairs and asks why he should be let go. Randall says stealing the spray paint was his friend Henry's idea and promises he'll never do it again. Julien seems to believe him, but warns that Randall will have to answer to both Julien and his mom if he keeps being a little punk.

Vanessa is waiting outside the interview room and asks if her kid is on the fast track to nowhere. Julien is sure Randall will think twice next time; he knows Vanessa is doing her best. They discuss their respective churches. Julien awkwardly asks if he can stop by her house that night. It's against police regulations to ask someone out while on duty. Vanessa is flattered and flirts, "Come by. Maybe I'll be home." She leaves with her son.

Dutch puts Gilroy's file on Lanie's desk. He looks like he wants to say more, but walks away. Passing by the observation room, he sees Armadillo laughing to himself on CCTV. That's odd. He goes into the interrogation room and asks what's so amusing. Armadillo's like "nuthin'". It's been 6 hours, so he's free to leave. Armadillo says, "I guess what I did when I was 11 doesn't stop me from visiting your country."

It's the Strike Team's turn in the U.S. reentry line. A dog sniffs the car while another agents asks for their IDs and to pop the trunk. Vic flashes his license as well as his badge because there's no way to explain why Lem and Shane don't have their licenses. Everyone in the car looks sick and miserable, so the agent asks, "You guys have a rough time on the other side?" Vic lies that they've spent the last two days blackout drunk at a bachelor party.

"Pop the trunk, please," the agent repeats. Vic says the trunk latch doesn't work and starts to get out of the car. Bad move. The agent puts out his hand for the keys. Walking around to the trunk, which is held shut with some wire, he asks what happened to it. Vic laughs that they were at someplace called Rosarita, which sounds like a brothel and I'm even more sure of it when he mentions Madame Maria: "...came out this morning and it looked like that." Lem looks ready to throw up.

"You boys are lucky you got off with just a few stickers," says the agent. Lemming gives the guy his most earnest this-was-a-boys'-weekend-gone-bad smile. Vic thinks he has some pliers around if the agent needs to cut the wire. The agent tells Vic not to worry about it, then asks if they have anything to declare. "Just that it's great to be back in the States," says Vic. The agent waves them along with a cheery "Welcome home."

At the Barn, Vic puts Navaro in the cage and takes a Polaroid of him, saying, "Quesadilla!" It would've been hilarious if Lem had popped around a corner like "Where???" Seeing a Polaroid camera makes 2002 feel like forever ago.

Dutch tells Claudette about Armadillo laughing creepily to himself. Claudette is sure nothing happened; Dutch is equally sure he was reacting to something. Vic apologizes to Lanie for giving her the brush-off. He had a tip that a Mexican drug lord was in town and had to pick him up. According to Vic, they arrested Navaro as he was about to go back to Mexico. Lanie says her questions can wait another day.

Claudette asks if anyone talked to Armadillo when he was upstairs. Nobody was supposed to, but they'll go to the tapes. When Dutch goes back over the footage, he sees Armadillo pick something up off the floor. Mayda's barrette. Oh God no.

The Strike Team goes to the storage unit to deposit their bag o' cash. They came out ahead, even though Ronnie's car is now totaled. Ronnie has gotten over the ruined lease, high-fiving and shadowboxing with Lem. Vic comes out and Shane locks the storage unit. "Gimme your keys," Vic orders. He can't trust them anymore. Even Shane doesn't argue. I have a slight suspicion Vic is gonna clean out the storage unit to keep paying the PI.

Claudette knocks on Mayda's family's apartment door. Her older brother answers. Claudette asks where Mayda is; her brother says a friend's house. She tells him to call and check. Dutch lets him know that Mayda told them about Armadillo, even though her brother told her to shut up about it. They tell him Armadillo knows Mayda talked. Mom reports in Spanish that Mayda never got to her friend's house. Oh shit.

Understandably, her brother is angry and panicky. Dutch promises they'll find her. But in what condition? Claudette is about to jump in the car when she spots Mayda walking dazedly up the sidewalk. She asks if the girl is okay and notices she's wearing her yellow butterfly barrette again. When Claudette gets down to Mayda's level, she sees a Band-Aid on the little girl's cheek. Underneath it is a fresh dove tattoo. Fucking hell.

Her older brother starts crying, picks her up, and runs back into the house with her. "Topo, let us get her to a doctor!" calls Claudette. She thumps on the closed door. "Let us help her!"

Gordie has new information on Corinne. She was given a warning for blowing a stop sign in Colorado Springs. His Denver contact took a photo three hours ago of Corinne and the kids shopping for groceries. Gordie shows it to Vic and it's them all right. Vic asks to keep the picture and Gordie is like "whatever."

At home, Vic eats a disgusting-looking TV dinner while listening to "Blue On Black" by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, an underrated song of the early 2000s. Seriously, YouTube it. There's a knock on the door and it's Edgar-veda. "I didn't know you made house calls," Vic says in a faux-cheerful tone. The captain asks if Gordie has tracked down the rest of the Mackeys yet: "I assume if they were here, your place would be in slightly better condition." Rude.

Edgar-veda makes some bold predictions. Next year, he'll be a city councilman. In 6 years, he'll be mayor. He asks how they can solve the problem of Lanie: "As much as I'd love for her to take you down, I don't need a scandal right now." I think you mean another scandal. They need to reach an understanding. Vic says, "Yeah, right." Edgar-veda doesn't think Vic has a choice. He'll watch Vic's back until the election if Vic gets the boys under control and doesn't embarrass the captain.

I think Vic mostly has the first part done. Lem and Ronnie don't do anything without the boss's say-so. Shane, however, is a loose cannon. "How do I know I can trust you?" asks Vic. Edgar-veda tosses the question right back. Vic says they have a deal. "This doesn't mean I like you," says the captain. Vic's well aware of that. He leaves. End of episode.

Sometimes You Get So Busy Runnin' 'Round in "Circles" (Episode 1.13)

Previously on: Two black women were murdered in their apartment; they had called 911 during the break-in, but it took the police an hour to respond. The 911 tapes were leaked to the local news, sparking a race riot. Gilroy killed someone in a hit-and-run, then shot the only witness. Gilroy's mistress Sedona is the CEO of a dummy corporation that's been buying up property in the neighborhood where the double murder took place. Gilroy went to Vic's house and menaced his family.

The riot in the Grove is still going strong. A police car has been flipped over and set on fire. A riot squad officer with a megaphone orders them to disperse, but no one is listening. People throw bottles at the riot squad's shields. They start to jump on cars parked along the street.

At the command post, Claudette and Edgar-veda listen in. It's getting too dangerous out there for the riot squad. The captain has to decide whether to pull them back or tell them it's time to start arresting people. He says to send them in. It only takes one container of tear gas to send most of the crowd on their way. A young woman trips and falls on her face. A uniform relays this to Edgar-veda. Things just went from bad to worse.

Danny gets a radio call, but another female officer answers that she's responding to the same address; she and Julien may need back up. Danny tells the rookie to hit the lights so the other officers can't beat them there.

Vic seems to have set his family up in a very nice hotel suite. He instructs Lem to keep everybody calm. He has the best temperament out of the whole Strike Team, so he picked the right man for the job. The rest of the Mackeys have to lay low until someone finds Gilroy. Vic asks if Lem minds sleeping over on the couch. "I've had worse," says Lem, taking off his jacket and making himself comfortable.

Corinne reports that all the kids are asleep and turns to her husband, "You want to tell me why my children are in danger?" Vic assures her they're not. "Then why are we living like refugees?" Over on the couch, Lem looks awkward about witnessing this marital dispute. Vic just has to figure out some things, so they can't go home yet. Corinne knows this doesn't happen to other cops' families.

Vic and Julien arrive at their scene, but the other officers beat them there. The female officer driving is unconscious in the car, her head bleeding. Her partner is dead. Julien radios for help. "Up," groans Officer Paula. Another bullet hits the roof of the car. Danny and Julien drag Paula and Rudy out of the car and to the ground. More than one person is shooting at them from the balcony of a nearby apartment building. Julien manages to hit one suspect; the others flee. Danny holds Paula in her lap.

Cut to Paula being loaded into an ambulance. Vic and Shane arrive. Claudette tells them what happened: "Someone made a bogus 911 call. When the units responded, they opened fire." To anyone following current US news, this should be sickeningly familiar. Vic sees Danny's patrol car and asks anxiously, "Who got hit?" The captain says Rudy is dead and Paula is in bad shape; Danny and Julien are fine.

"Is this because of the dead women who got stood up by 911?" asks Shane. Edgar-veda thinks so. Vic wants a shot at whoever is responsible, the line forms behind him. Danny is shaken; Vic gives her a hug. Claudette traced the fake 911 call to a cell phone registered to a man named Cyrus. Vic, Claudette, and Edgar-veda go to Cyrus' apartment and take him into custody.

"Where's your cell phone?" asks Claudette. He doesn't know. Edgar-veda tells him that's a problem; two police officers were shot and his phone made the call that lured them there. Cyrus says losing your phone isn't a crime. If it was, I personally would have a pretty long rap sheet.

Vic asks if Dutch is still working the gangbanger hit-and-run. Dutch nods. Vic wants to know if he ever tracked down the driver's girlfriend. Dutch says Sedona used to work at police headquarters as an accountant. All her real estate purchases went through the same escrow company, but they won't release anything without a warrant. Vic thinks he might be able to convince them.

In the clubhouse, Shane tells Vic that Gilroy isn't at home or his office: "We gotta find him before he finds us." Vic suggests Gilroy is with Sedona, but Shane is sure the mistress is dead. Vic more or less tells Shane to stop bitching and start helping him look through files. You see, in order for Gilroy to collect money from the land sales, he needs Sedona's signature. She's more valuable to keep alive.

Danny comes into the locker room and apologizes for interrupting his prayer. "You're shaking," she observes. He says he's not scared, just grateful he didn't lose his partner.

"This isn't the first cell phone you've lost, is it?" Claudette asks Cyrus. She called 7 cell phone providers; he's lost or cloned all 7 of those phones and always on the first of the month, due date for the bill. She suspects he sells the phones to people and waits a few days to report them missing. Legally, the phones are still in his name, which makes him an accessory to Rudy's murder. Cyrus can tell them who he sold the phones to and swears he wouldn't "get mixed up in no cop killings."

One of his customers is named Igal and quote "one of those Jews."

"Jews? Where?"
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Cyrus means "he's not an American Jew...one of them real Jews, like from Jerusalem or somethin'." Dutch comes in with bad news. There's been another phony 911 call used as a setup to ambush police officers; both victims, Patrick and Chris, are dead. At the crime scene, Claudette and the captain find that both officers' badges have been taken as trophies.

Shane and Vic canvass the crowd for witnesses. Shane lies that they were told a woman was at the scene earlier; she didn't witness the shooting itself but remembers another witness being present. Mystery woman is supposedly on her way to ID that person. During the speech, a teenage black boy starts to slink away from the scene. Vic and Shane chase him through traffic, Vic yelling, "Don't make me shoot you, asshole!"

The boy tries to outwit the heavyset detective by climbing a wooden fence. Vic simply plows through it and lands on top of him. "I didn't do nothing, man!" the kid protests. Vic pulls a baggie of drugs out of his pocket, threatening to plant it on the kid if he doesn't start talking. The boy saw 3 people shoot the cops and "mess with the bodies a little," two black men and a black woman.

At the Barn, Shane brings in a stack of flyers with their suspects' sketches on them. Vic will see if his street contacts recognize them. "No one talks to the press but me," says Gilroy. Nice of you to join us. He wants every off-duty cop in Farmington here within 45 minutes. He demands to know why Dutch is just sitting at his desk. Dutch tells him about the hit-and-run.

"Well, stop," Gilroy orders, "We got cops bleeding out in the streets. Half the district's on fire. There is no other case. You and Claudette will be overseeing this investigation." Edgar-veda practically whines that this is his case. Gilroy explains why he's pulling Edgar-veda off. The captain was in charge of the riot squad and a woman got trampled to death during the rioting. Two more officers are dead and "I can't afford your leadership right now. If you wanna cry to the chief, do it downstairs 'cause I'm taking over your office."

Vic comes upstairs and is stunned to see Gilroy behind Edgar-veda's desk. "You threatened my family," says Vic. Gilroy says coolly, "If I wanted to hurt them, I could've. You kept digging into Sedona and our land deals. I was just refocusing you." Vic knows what Gilroy did, but the deputy chief is confident he won't do anything with that knowledge. Gilroy has something on Vic. I'm not sure if he's referring to Terry or something else. He tells him to find the cop killers and forget about Sedona.

In the bathroom, Edgar-veda splashes some cold water on his face. Vic sees this and plays on the captain's ego; Gilroy is unfairly blaming him for what happened in the Grove and Edgar-veda will be the goat even when they catch the cop killers. It could be bad news for him in the city council race. "What if I told you there was a way to flip things around, make you the hero?" All the captain has to do is help Vic catch a dirty cop.

"Gilroy diverted police units from that part of town so crime would rise and he could buy property at a profit?" asks Edgar-veda in the Strike Team clubhouse. These actions led, however indirectly, to the double homicide that sparked the race riots and the murders of police officers. Vic tells about Gilroy being afraid of this information coming out after he killed someone in a hit-and-run with his mistress riding shotgun.

Edgar-veda asks why Vic doesn't just arrest Gilroy. "Because I can't prove it," says Vic. He can't decipher all these complicated real-estate papers, but a smart guy like Edgar-veda could. "You're flattering me, so this must be a setup." Give the captain a cookie! Vic can't charge Gilroy for the hit-and-run because he had the car fixed and the only witness is dead. They need to find Sedona, Gilroy's passenger/mistress. She can give him up.

If Edgar-veda finds her, Vic will let him make the big arrest of the cop killers and Gilroy. It'd be a real pretty headline. There's more back-and-forth about how Edgar-veda doesn't trust Vic. The captain does agree to do it.

Dutch dumps out an evidence bag full of phones, asking Igal if he's trying to put AT&T out of business. Claudette tells him all the phones were cloned or stolen. Igal deadpans, "I am as shocked you are to discover that." Dutch shows him the sketches. Are any of these people his customers? Igal isn't sure and wants to know what the kids have done.

Claudette informs him they shot and killed three police officers and put a fourth in the hospital. They used these phones to lure the officers into harm's way. Igal admits to selling each of the kids a phone the day before. He asks what he can do to help. Claudette tells him to write down the numbers of the phones they bought.

Ronnie is upset about Patrick's death; the Strike Team just went to his kid's birthday party. Lem joins them, still in last night's Canadian tux and orange T-shirt. Vic will be giving out a reward to whoever IDs the cop killers. He asks how the kids are doing. Just fine, Uncle Lem rented them a PlayStation. Lem thinks Vic should call Corinne because she's not a happy camper. The guys head off in different directions.

Vic decides to take Lem's advice. "When are we going home?" asks Corinne without so much as a hello. Vic is sure it'll just be a day or two; he has a lot going on and doesn't need another problem. "What's happening to this family is a problem and you won't even tell me why!" says Corinne angrily. Vic retorts that all she needs to do is sit at the hotel and do nothing; is that so hard? He'll tell her when it's safe go home. "Don't bother," Corinne tells him, hanging up. I bet she pulls a Janet Gavin and moves everybody's stuff out while he's at work.

Vic and Shane find Tio the drug dealer on his usual corner. "Killing brain cells is fine, but killing cops ain't," Vic says, patting Tio down. Tio thinks the community should work for a better relationship with the police department. Vic tells Tio to be his eyes and ears on the street, his hands and feet too if he finds the shooters first. People tend to brag about these things.

At the Barn, Edgar-veda is trying to get someone at the real-estate office to give him some information. Gilroy apologizes for being hard on the captain. He thinks he knows how to make him feel better about being pushed off the cop killings. This interests Edgar-veda enough that he hangs up the phone. Until recently, Gilroy thought Vic meant well enough.

Now there's a dead kid named Jesus who's been written off as a gang hit. A source says Vic did it. Oh, that dirty bastard! Edgar-veda is the only person Gilroy can trust to look into it. Suddenly, a hail of gunfire takes out the Barn's stained-glass windows. Pity, they looked so nice. "Lock down the building!" Edgar-veda orders.

Inexplicably, he and a group of other officers then run out into the back of the station. The shooter's red car barely gets half a block before it's boxed in by police cars. One of the passengers is still holding what looks like a machine pistol. Edgar-veda orders them to throw their guns out the window. One of the suspects whines that the police will just shoot him anyway. A uniform has a clean shot, but the captain tells him not to fire and starts talking to the suspects in Spanish. The driver and passenger drop their guns on the ground.

"Everyone in the neighborhood feels like they can take a free shot now," says Edgar-veda as the suspects are put in the cage. Gilroy asks if Edgar-veda is still interested in taking down Vic, which, of course he is.

Vic and Shane meet Tio on his corner. The drug dealer "heard about some punk flashing a cop's badge as a souvenir." He knows where the kid lives; his dad is a regular customer. "Dad's busy mainlining and Junior's a cop killer. I doubt Mom's Betty Crocker," says Vic. They drive off with an address in hand. Not surprisingly, it's a sleazy apartment building.

When they open the door, Dad's sitting on the couch with two syringes sticking out of his arm. "We're looking for your boy," says Vic. Sonny isn't home and Dad has no idea where he could be. Also not a surprise. If he doesn't cooperate, he'll be going through withdrawal in a holding cell. Dad thinks he can get Sonny home, but what's in it for him? When Vic pushes him back onto the couch, we see two more syringes sticking out of the top of Dad's foot.

Danny and Julien get a radio call, a woman reporting that she's dying. Julien notes the address is only 3 blocks from where Paula and Rudy were killed. They walk up to the house with extreme caution. Danny raps on the metal security door with her baton. "In here!" a woman shouts.

An older black woman is lying in bed. She tells them her daughter left and she's in too much pain to get out of bed to get her arthritis medicine. "You called us for your arthritis medicine?" Danny is incredulous, "Ma'am, 911 is for emergencies." "Well, it's an emergency to me," the woman retorts. Danny checks the prescription label and shakes two pills into her hand. "Would it kill you to get me a glass of water?" asks the woman.

Junkie Dad answers a phone call from Sonny, lying that Mom just came home. She got religion and can't wait to see him. He tells Vic that Sonny is on his way and shoots up another syringe.

Claudette gets a tip. A cell phone Igal sold to one of the killers was just used to call an apartment in the Grove. She and Dutch leave.

Sonny arrives and instead of a kiss from Mama, he gets a bearhug from Vic. And not the fun kind. Vic finds a gun on the kid and asks, "This what you used to kill my friends?" Sonny also has a badge in his pocket. He won't tell Vic who his partners were. Vic stabs the kid with the pointy part of the badge. "Dad!" Sonny cries. Junkie Dad, already high, unconvincingly says, "Sorry."

Vic asks again who else was in on this. "Benji and Twanya," sobs Sonny. Their plan had been to all squat in an abandoned building in the Grove. Vic pulls the badge out and stabs the kid somewhere else. He's getting ready to poke him a third time when they hear: "Police! Search warrant!" "It's just us!" Shane calls back.

Enter Claudette with several uniforms. Vic holds up the badge, proving this is one of the cop-killers. Sonny whimpers that Vic stabbed him with it. "You look fine to me," says Claudette. In the interrogation room, one of Sonny's legs is shaking. Dutch asks why he did it. Claudette wants to know how many more lives he wants to ruin. "More the merrier," Sonny replies coldly. He makes a finger gun and "fires" it at Dutch. "It takes everything in me not to slap you silly," hisses Claudette.

Tio tells a crack whore he won't give her a freebie. Vic and Shane pull up, this time with Lem and Ronnie as reinforcement. Vic needs another favor from Tio, namely all the cash on him: "I need to grease a few wheels. I left my play money at home." Tio hands it over.

Vic divvies up the money, telling the guys to "talk to every Boxcar Willy and bag lady" they can find. He wants to know where Benji and Twanya are squatting. Ronnie says, "Looks like it's gonna be rainin' Jim Beam." "Make it Thunderbird; it'll go farther," Lem advises.

Sedona arrives at the real-estate office, saying, "I was told there was a problem with the closing on one of my properties." "Actually, there's not," the realtor admits. Edgar-veda says he's a police captain and wants to talk to her. They go to her house, which is a far cry from her place in Farmington. Sedona modestly says she's been successful lately. Edgar-veda knows about the shell corporation in the Caymans.

"If you were gonna arrest me, you would've taken me in, not back to my place," she says, offering him a drink. Edgar-veda wants to know how the land scheme works. Sedona speculates real estate and knows it's not illegal. "Unless your boyfriend is keeping police resources from that area so it stays a slum and you can buy it on the cheap," says Edgar-veda. She can then sell it at a profit when the police clean up the neighborhood again. Sedona thinks she should've thought of that. The captain is sure she did; "seems a bit too complicated for Gilroy." Ouch.

Sedona claims she doesn't know anyone named Gilroy. Edgar-veda can prove she worked in his office for 2 months. She must've showed him how to put police department pensions in her account long enough to buy the land. He wants to hear about the hit-and-run.

Dutch thinks he understands why Sonny's angry: Dad's a heroin addict and Mom ran away when Sonny was 9. Did he know the women across the street, the ones who were murdered? Was this for revenge or a sick way of getting kicks? Twanya knew the murder victims; they took care of her. Twanya, Sonny, and Benji couldn't let their deaths go unanswered.

"The police didn't kill those women. Wally Thornton did," Dutch points out. Sonny disagrees, "They called 911! You all took an hour to show up!" He killed the cops "just like you all killed those ladies." Claudette levels a finger at him: "I don't care how right you think you are. I don't care what kinda bad life you've had. What you did was wrong. It's as wrong as it gets."

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Edgar-veda introduces Vic to Sedona: "She has a lot of interesting things to say about our assistant chief." "So much for loyalty, huh?" Vic remarks. Ben may be in love, but Sedona has a future. The captain informs Vic that he's been implicated too: "You think I wouldn't find out about the murder?" I'm sure he was counting on it. Vic swears he had nothing to do with killing Jesus, which actually is true. Edgar-veda tells Vic he has a warrant to search his house for the murder weapon.

Vic looks worried: "Ben was at my house yesterday." He adds in a whisper, "He must've planted the gun there." "And why would Gilroy have a murder weapon to an unsolved gang hit?" the captain asks. Vic's answer is unexpected: "Because he killed Jesus. I was in the room when he did it." He looks at the paper: "This warrant is 6 hours old."

Edgar-veda hasn't searched Vic's house yet. Gilroy wanted Vic to be allowed to arrest the cop-killers first. Vic phone rings. When he answers it, he scribbles down an address. "That was Lem," he tells the captain, "They know where the other two shooters are. Are you gonna help Gilroy frame me, or are you gonna go with me and nail these bastards?"

At the abandoned building, Vic asks if they're sure the kids are inside. "Thunderbird did the trick," Ronnie confirms. Lem adds that a squatter said Benji waved a gun in his face. He and Ronnie are sitting in the back of the van, outfitted in their tactical gear. As usual, Lem has the shotgun with the flashlight mounted on it. Edgar-veda pulls a vest on over his shirt and tie.

Vic tells everyone to stay close. "I know what I'm doing," says Edgar-veda. The look that passes between Lem and Shane says otherwise. Vic gives a quick pep talk: "If they want to come peacefully, fine. If not, they killed Rudy, Patrick, and Chris." As they enter the building, the captain is at the very back of the line.

The first group of squatters they come across are all too old to be Benji and Twanya. The next squatter is an old white man. It's Vic who finds them. While talking to Benji, Vic doesn't notice Twanya raising a gun behind him. Edgar-veda calls out, "Vic!" and shoots Twanya.

Vic is pointing Benji's gun at him along with his own: "Put your hands on your hand! I'm not gonna tell you again!" The rest of the Strike Team arrives. Lem asks if they're okay. Edgar-veda says yes and rips a gold chain off the girl's neck; dangling from it is a dead officer's badge. And now Vic owes the captain for saving his life.

Dutch and Gilroy watch as Benji is brought in. "Great work, David," the assistant chief praises. In the office, he asks if Edgar-veda still has the warrant for Vic's house. The captain doesn't think it's fair for Vic to be stabbed in the back after cleaning up Gilroy's mess; he knows all about the land grab and the hit-and-run. "Last time. Don't play with fire," Gilroy warns. If Edgar-veda won't serve the warrant, he'll find someone else. He adds, "You're fired."

Meanwhile, Vic and Shane are tearing the Mackey's kitchen apart, Shane climbing on the counters to look in the cabinets. Oh, Corinne is gonna love finding those boot prints. "Check the den again," Vic barks. Ronnie didn't find anything in Matthew's room, so Vic sends him to the garage.

"Ah, this gun is nowhere!" gripes Shane, fumbling around a living room table. He knocks over a framed photo of the Mackeys and the glass breaks. "I found it!" Lem screams from somewhere in the house. He appears, carrying a revolver, informing Vic, "It was in the central air vent in Cassidy's room." Vic checks the cylinder and sees it's loaded.

Gilroy arrives at Sedona's, all "Honey, I'm home!" Vic is waiting on the couch and greets, "Hi, Ben" with just a hint of malice. Shane locks the door. Vic holds up the revolver Gilroy planted. Shane disarms the assistant chief. "You planted a murder weapon in my house? A loaded gun in my little girl's room?" rumbles Vic. Gilroy is sure Cassidy couldn't have reached it.

Shane looks forward to what's coming next: "Oh, you are so over, man." Gilroy is sure there's a way out. "Shut up, you goddamn drunk!" says Shane. Gilroy asks them to drop him and Sedona off somewhere in Mexico and they'll disappear. Vic can't do that. "Just kill me, Vic! Go ahead!" says Gilroy. Oh, don't tempt him.

Gilroy asks what makes Vic think he's really the better man. Vic cocks the revolver and holds it under Gilroy's chin: "I'm not like you." "Not yet," Gilroy amends before telling him to pull the trigger. Shane also encourages it. He knows it can't be easy with all the history Vic and Gilroy have. He volunteers to shoot Gilroy instead. Vic's hand shakes as he holds the gun. Eventually, he decides to just pistol-whip his old friend.

In the locker room, Danny thinks she and Julien are becoming a good team. She does wonder about something. She tries to get Julien to open up about his life outside work, but he never asks her personal questions. "You want to talk, we will," says Julien, which isn't really an answer.

The squadroom falls into a sudden hush when Vic frogmarches Gilroy in. The assistant chief is bloodied and handcuffed. Vic puts him in the cage. Enter Lem. Oh, sweetheart, go home and at least change your clothes. He has bad news for Vic: "I went by the hotel. Your family's gone."

Corinne comes home and finds the house still absolutely trashed. Edgar-veda has a press conference to announce the cop-killers were arrested and that Gilroy was arrested for choices that led to "tragic circumstances." Vic walks through the house, calling for his wife and Cassidy. The picture frame Shane knocked over crunches under his feet. He looks down at the picture.

The light on the answering machine is blinking. Remember when people still had those? Corinne doesn't know where they're going quite yet; if Vic still loves her, he won't try to look for her. Seriously, after all the trouble Vic went to so their son could go to the autism program, she's taking off before his first day? Not to mention her concerns about the kid being academically and socially behind. Vic starts breathing heavy. He can't believe this is happening.

At the Barn, Edgar-veda won't comment further on Gilroy's arrest. At the Mackeys, Vic is sweating. He strips off his leather jacket and holster. He collapses into a kitchen chair, clawing at his chest. He looks like he's having a heart attack.

A reporter asks if the high-profile arrests will make Edgar-veda the front-runner in the race for city council. In Edgar-veda's experience, people don't like being told who to vote for.

Vic kneels on the kitchen floor amidst the scattered pots and pans, weeping.

Edgar-veda sums up the day's events: "Three officers gave their lives in defense of an institution that their boss betrayed for personal gain. It's a scandal and an outrage."

Vic hurls his badge across the room and it bounces off the cookie jar. He gathers up his jacket, holster, and keys, then walks out the back door. Phenomenal acting in the last scene by Michael Chiklis, showing how even the biggest, toughest guy can be broken by losing his family. End of episode, end of Season 1.

"Two Days of Blood" Sounds a Lot Better in Spanish (Episode 1.12)

And here we've arrived at one of my favorite episodes of the first season (and actually, of all time).

Previously on: Julien tried to commit suicide by suspect because he's ashamed of being gay. Deputy Chief Gilroy knows Vic killed the Strike Team's rookie Terry Crowley. Vic was investigated for stealing cocaine and Edgar-veda leaked the story to the newspaper. Gilroy told Vic that he can't cover for him anymore.

A Latino man spits a mouthful of liquor onto the back of a rooster. Another Latino stands across from him, also holding a rooster. They throw the birds at each other. A guy who looks a lot like Carlos Mencia watches from a corner. A fourth man has a Glock tucked down the front of his pants. The roosters fight to the death. One of the men lifts the victorious bird aloft like so.

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The spectators cheer. The fun evening of animal abuse is brought to a screeching halt by the arrival of the Strike Team. Lem is in full ass-kicking mode: long sleeves, a shotgun, a tactical vest, and a backwards baseball cap with his spiky hair sticking out the front.

Vic scolds the Glock carrier, "Cethru, how many times do I gotta tell you? Firearms and alcohol are a dangerous combination." He looks through a duffel bag of weapons and remarks, "Some of these might actually shoot." "Hey, Vic," Shane tips his head toward where the chickens are being kept.

Lemming is sitting on the ground next to one of the cages, looking sad. "Wishing your cock was that big?" Vic chuckles. Lem shakes his head, "Man, these are beautiful animals. I can't believe they just let 'em rip each other apart like that." Carlos Mencia (screw whatever character this is, he's Carlos) nervously asks where they're taking his birds. "Three little letters: KFC," drawls Shane. Lem gives Carlos a Gibbs-slap for good measure as he's led to a waiting squad car.

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Carlos protests that they're his best birds. Besides, he can help the police; Cethru is just a small player in illegal arms dealing and Carlos knows Pazi Aranbula. The name seems to mean something to Vic. Pazi is in town for Dos Dias de Sangre (Two Days of Blood), a major summer cockfight. He can get them inside. Vic doesn't think that would work; most of the fighters he's seen are Filipino or Mexican. Carlos gets some of his best fighting birds from rednecks. And we know just where to find one...

In front of Tasso's Market, a Latino named Tony gets hit by a speeding blue Mercedes, then dragged behind the car. The car drives away. Tony's friend rushes to his side.

Vic has a file on Pazi, who's wanted by Mexican, federal, state, and local authorities for gunrunning. Lem sees that there's also a 3-million peso bounty on him. At the mention of money, Shane jumps off the clubhouse couch and snatches the file out of his hand. Lem gives him a brief look of dude-I-was-trying-to-read-that.

Shane wants to go undercover to find Pazi. Vic jogs his memory about the last time: "You got beaten up by a stripper." "I was jumped by her thug boyfriend and she was a dancer," Shane says irritably, snapping "Shut up" at a laughing Lem.

Enter Gilroy. The rest of the Strike Team takes this as their cue to exit. The deputy chief knows it's been a rough year, but 1 out of 20 years of friendship isn't bad: "With those percentages, I'd still be with my first wife." Vic, unsure where this is going, opines that Gilroy's better off with his current wife Nancy. Gilroy sits down and gets to the real reason he's here to see Vic: "I was in a hit-and-run tonight. I think I killed the guy." He planned on getting out of the car, but the victim's friend shot at him and he got scared.

Vic shrugs that anybody would run from a gun-wielding gangbanger. There are deeper problems than that for Gilroy; he's a 4-time DUI loser and managed to hush it up so he wouldn't get fired. If anyone finds out that he killed someone and ran, nobody will believe he was sober at the time. Vic knows what happens to cops in prison and he can't want that for his old pal Gilroy.

Vic collects Gilroy's keys. He tells Shane to give the Mercedes to the department's best mechanic to fix as a top-secret priority. Lem will drive Gilroy home. Vic will find out who caught the case and run interference.

Dutch reports that the impact dragged Tony 75 feet. "Maybe you should call Guinness," snarks Claudette. Dutch shakes his head; the record is 30+ miles. Witnesses say Tony was a drug dealer who worked a nearby corner. The car was a four-door blue Mercedes; a man was driving and there was "a hot little Latin number in the passenger seat." Dutch doesn't think the a Mercedes owner lives in the neighborhood. Claudette guesses he was in a big hurry to get home.

In the breakroom, Danny sits on the counter, peeling an orange. She asks if Julien is okay; she understands if he's not ready to tackle the streets again. Julien swears he's fine. "Yeah, well, it's my life too, ya know," Danny points out. Julien is getting counseling from his reverend and his head is in the game.

Vic has just started to find out what Dutch and Claudette know about Tony when Edgar-veda pulls Claudette to work a double homicide in the Grove. The captain is going with her. Vic tells Dutch that Tony was probably a Toro. Dutch describes the car and its attractive passenger; neighbors have seen the same blue Mercedes parked in the area, always at night. Judging from the look on Vic's face, Gilroy's wife is not Hispanic.

Vic fills him in on a Toro ritual known as a "toss-and-shoot," in which a rival gangbanger is thrown in front of a moving car and they shoot off rounds in the area to frighten the driver away. "Maybe the driver killed the guy, didn't wanna get caught," Dutch suggests. Vic offers to help Dutch; the office joke has become "the man" since arresting that serial killer.

Claudette and Edgar-veda arrive in what appears to be a mostly African-American part of town. A crowd of anxious neighbors have gathered outside an apartment building. Claudette asks them to remain patient; someone will give a statement after she determines what's going on. When Claudette walks into the apartment, there's blood on the walls and a dead woman on the floor. "Sweet Jesus, what's burning?" asks Claudette. Danny says, "The garbage disposal. Motor burned out."

There's a bloody meat tenderizing mallet on the floor. A second female victim is in the kitchen with her hand halfway down the disposal. Her name is Tanya Kramer; the victim in the living room is her sister, Violet Roosevelt. The neighbors heard the women screaming. Julien tells them that someone downstairs thinks they can identify the killer. Edgar-veda looks eager for the excuse to get out of there.

Karen Mitchell, a black community activist, is also on the sidewalk. She introduces the detectives to Maya, a neighbor who saw the killer. Maya says they should be looking for Wally Forton, a white man who used to date Tanya's daughter. "What happened?" asks Edgar-veda. Maya says testily, "What happened is they called 911 and it took you over an hour to show up." Claudette asks if she's sure.

Maya heard Tanya yelling at Wally. Tanya called 911. Wally left and hung around outside for about 20 minutes, then went back in and killed Tanya and Violet. "An hour. Can that be right?" asks Karen. Edgar-veda will have to review the 911 tapes. He looks horrified, no doubt imagining his political career swirling down the drain. He tries to reassure the neighbors that the department treats all races equally.

Gilroy meets Vic in the clubhouse again. He identifies the mugshot of Jesus Rosales as Tony's friend. Jesus has an open warrant for possession with intent. Vic is sure he can find him. "He got a good look at me. What if he gets picked up and decides that I'm his bargaining chip?" Gilroy asks worriedly. Vic will just offer a better deal.

"So...when were you gonna tell me you were shagging a Latina in the neighborhood?" asks Vic. Gilroy sighs that he doesn't want her to get involved. "She was in the car; she couldn't be more involved," says Vic. Gilroy maintains that he was driving, not Sedona. Vic tells him to send her away somewhere; Dutch is onto the Latina connection. "She's not just some lay. I love her," says Gilroy. Maybe the two of them can double-date with Tigre and Lem.

A neighbor of Tanya's daughter Melissa says her friend left for the gym 2 hours ago. She was alone. The neighbor hasn't seen Wally for a while, but he was a cutie pie. She used to hear Wally and Melissa having sex. She thought they broke up. Wally came by looking for Melissa and the neighbor told him where Melissa was.

Vic tells Dutch that Tony recently pissed off some Los Mags. Dutch has identified the mystery woman by talking to a local pizza delivery man; he sees the blue Benz parked at Sedona's house a few nights a week. Dutch went to her house, but she wasn't there. A neighbor told Dutch that Sedona had gotten in a cab with a bunch of suitcases. "Who knows if it's even the same Benz?" Vic says, "Maybe she just went on vacation." "Or maybe she and the boyfriend skipped town. Don't worry, I'll get 'em." That's exactly what Vic is afraid of.

Lem and Shane, in matching Canadian tuxedos, ask why Carlos is willing to risk his life to beat a misdemeanor cruelty rap. Carlos raises his own roosters and they're like family. Shane outlines the plan: Carlos introduces Pazi to Shane, then Shane offers to trade fighting cocks for guns. "Can I go home?" asks Carlos. Lem puts Carlos on notice that he's more or less on parole until they make a deal with Pazi. Carlos will take the two cops to his house and give them a crash course in cockfighting.

Next time we see the boys, they're down on the farm and it's kind of adorable.

"Howdy, Shane!"
"Shut up, Lem! I'm readin' this here magazine!"
(Photo credit)

Carlos' chickens only drink bottled water because "the stuff that comes outta my tap'll kill 'em." He has a Kelso tucked under his arm.

Not that Kelso...
(Photo credit)

Carlos proudly informs them that Kelso is a champion who's never been cut. He points out the other breeds around the yard: Boston Roundheads, Solabina, and a Johnny Jumper he refers to as a "blinker." Lem doesn't quite get it until Carlos makes an eye-gouging gesture. "Oh man, that's sick," Lem groans.

Shane flips through the magazine, asking if chickens really need all these supplements. Lem leans over to pet the Kelso, asking, "What's his name?" Carlos stopped naming them; it hurt too much. "They're all called Nugget," Shane fires back. Lemming isn't amused: "These are innocent creatures." Shane drops the magazine and reaches a tentative hand toward the bird, guessing they're beautiful "in a snack food sorta way." Lem glares. I guarantee he never eats a chicken nugget again.

Vic goes to a vacant lot and arrests Jesus on his open warrant, A girl protests that Jesus didn't do nothing. Another guy tries to block Vic's way to his car. Vic badges him, tells him to back off. The guy thinks that if it was a real arrest, there'd be more than just Vic. This may be California, but Vic embodies the Texas saying "One riot, one Ranger."

Vic says open warrants arrestees are only held for 12 hours. Jesus' friend decides it's a good time to flash the piece in his waistband. Vic pulls his own gun: "I don't wanna shoot anybody today." Now he sounds like Raylan Givens.

"You make me pull, I'll put you down."
(Photo credit)

Vic is able to escort Jesus to the car without any further interference.

Claudette reports Wally and Melissa were seen leaving her gym together. She isn't sure if Melissa was going along willingly. Edgar-veda says Karen Mitchell is stopping by and can Claudette get her to back off? Claudette gives him an "It's because I'm black too, isn't it?" look.

Rumor has it Karen Mitchell was handpicked to run for Councilman Morgan's seat, vacant now that he's a senator. This means she's running against the captain in the primary. "You want to catch the killer and cover your ass, but if you can't do both, this is about catching the killer," Claudette says firmly.

Karen wants a progress report. The 911 tapes haven't been delivered yet and they got a report that Melissa is still alive. They're trying to find her. Karen wants to listen to the tapes with them. When Edgar-veda hesitates, she hopes he isn't playing politics. Isn't he always?

Vic and Gilroy sit down with Jesus. Vic tells him that what happened to Tony was just a nasty accident. Gilroy knows they weren't saints. Vic tries to convince Jesus that he's a good friend to have. Jesus agrees to keep his mouth shut. When he turns around to write down his cell phone number, Gilroy shoots Jesus in the chest.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Vic demands. Gilroy says they don't have to worry now. Oh yes, I'm sure you can clear up the little misunderstanding about the two dead bodies. Vic repeats, "What did you do?" "Nothing you haven't done."

(Photo credit) 

Gilroy helped Vic out when he killed Terry; now it's time for Vic to return the favor. He points out: "His buddies saw you take this guy away and now he's dead. I picked you for a reason." He and Vic dump Jesus' body in Los Mags territory to make it look like gang retaliation. Gilroy rather disingenuously apologizes for how this all worked out. Now Vic just has to keep Dutch off the deputy chief's trail. They're still cool, right?

At a yard sale, the usual amalgamation of treasures is on display: candlesticks, vases, random mismatched dishes, a light-up plastic Santa. Danny tells the guy running the yard sale that there's been a complaint. It seems he's been burglarizing his neighbors and making them buy their things back. The complainant didn't leave their name because everyone's scared of this guy.

Julien asks, "You got any proof this stuff is yours?" "You got any proof that it ain't?" asks the proprietor. He's just trying to make a few bucks; he even has a permit from the city. "Dookie?" Danny says amusedly when she sees the name on it. Julien asks the crowd if anything for sale belongs to them. "If you speak up, you'll get your stuff back," Danny adds. Nobody opens their mouth.

In the Strike Team lounge, Shane is holding a rooster on his lap as he talks to Jojo, a heavily tattooed bounty hunter. He's not happy that he'll be doing all the work and only getting 10% of Pazi's bounty. The bounty hunter himself only gets to keep 20%, so it's more than fair.

Lem comes in and Shane introduces him to Jojo the bounty hunter. "Bail enforcement agent," Jojo corrects. Shane asks if Lem wants a piece of Pazi's bounty. "Cops can't collect bounty, dude," Lemming reminds him. Shane has figured out a way around that. Lem adamantly refuses.

Shane puts the rooster down next to its water dish and tells him that his share would be 400,000 pesos, which has to be about 100,000 American dollars. Lem, who's better at exchange rates, says, "Try $50,000." Jojo nods to confirm the math.

Shane insists it's still worth it. Lem asks, "For once, can't we just do what we're supposed to do, then stop?" Jojo has had enough of their bickering; they can beep him when they figure out who's wearing the pants. Oh, 2002. Lem looks insulted.

Jojo adds, "Oh, your cock's out." Both of them automatically look down at their zippers before realizing their feathered friend is indeed making a bid for freedom. I'd love to see a deleted scene of Walton Goggins chasing the chicken around the precinct.

Julien's pastor asks if Julien sees himself as a gay man. Julien doesn't, but he can't control his urges. The pastor thinks he knows someone Julien should meet.

Dutch has researched Gilroy's mistress Sedona. Vic tells him it was a waste of time; some taggers found Jesus' body in a Los Mag neighborhood. Dutch is suspicious that something other than gang involvement is a factor. He continues sharing his research findings. Sedona is listed as the CEO of a corporation based in the Grand Cayman Islands, a corporation that's been buying a lot of real estate, all of it in Farmington. Dutch still wants to talk to the Toros that Jesus ran with.

"And you found all this out since 4:00?" asks Vic. Dutch brags, "Pretty good, huh?" He has a reputation to maintain now, just like Vic. "You're gonna put me right out of a job," Vic says, not kidding at all.

At the cockfights, Shane looks every bit the part of a redneck: an unbuttoned sleeveless flannel shirt under a denim vest, tight jeans, a big belt buckle, and a trucker cap. Remember when those were the trend? "Go, birdie, go!" Shane cheers, hopping up and down. Shane's rooster is victorious. He hugs Carlos, holds the bird up high, and laughs.

Shane is still laughing when he wanders up to Lem. Predictably, our animal lover is far away from the bloodshed. "What a bad-ass!" crows Shane (pardon the pun). Lem mistakenly thinks Shane saw Pazi. The exchange is too good not to recount:

Shane: "No, man, Frank! I mean, he gets in there and it's like he's possessed! It was so goddamn cool! I won 700 bucks!"
Lem: (more than a little confused) "You named him?"
Shane: (proud as hell) "Frank. What? It's just a first name."

Is his last name Van Damme, by any chance? For those playing along at home who haven't watched Sons of Anarchy, that'll make sense soon. Apparently, Pazi isn't even at the fights. He should be there the next day, though. "You ready for round two, killer?" Shane coos to Frank. Lem is like "Dude, you're sick."

On the 911 tape, you can hear one of the Grove homicide victims pleading for help. "At this point, it's been 47 minutes since the initial call," says Claudette. Karen murmurs, "Unbelievable." "You did this, bitch!" a man's voice shouts on the tape. Claudette turns it off, unable to take anymore.

Karen wants to know how this happened. Only two cars were assigned to that block; both were responding to other calls when the 911 tape was recorded. Gilroy explains their new policy of assigning more police cars to more crime-ridden areas, known in the trade as saturation patrol. It can supposedly reduce crime in said area by 65%.

Karen is aghast that they let other areas go unprotected. Gilroy shrugs that today was a statistical anomaly. Karen responds much the way I would: "Tell that to the family of those two dead women."
Gilroy passes the buck, saying the captain has discretion on which areas receive more police cars. Edgar-veda's face briefly flashes an expression of don't-you-dare-bring-me-into-this.

When Karen is gone, Gilroy asks, "Payback's a bitch, huh?" Saturation patrols have been effect for 6 months and the captain didn't care as long as the extra patrol cars were assigned to Latino neighborhoods. The case is now effectively a racial powderkeg. Edgar-veda has the audacity to say this isn't his mess.

Dutch brings in Jesus' friend, the one who pulled a gun on Vic. Vic flags down Julien and asks for a favor. Julien refuses at first until Vic reminds him just who is keeping the rookie's biggest secret.

Upstairs, Dutch asks, "This guy just walks into the middle of you and your friends, pulls a gun, and walks off with Jesus? Any idea who it is?" Julien opens the door, claiming the captain needs Dutch for something important. Vic goes in to impress upon the kid the dangers of ID'ing him. Dutch comes back in and asks for a description. The kid didn't get a clear look, but the guy was wearing Los Mags colors.

"I told you it was boys in the 'hood," says Vic. Dutch the wannabe profiler noticed that the kid couldn't make eye contact. He must be covering for someone. Even if Vic's gang theory checks out, the guy in the blue Benz still witnessed a murder.

Edgar-veda orders the desk sergeant around: "I don't want anyone to be able to spit in the Grove without hitting a police car. And put the riot squad on tactical alert." Claudette has a location on Melissa. She, the captain, and some guys in tactical gear converge on a cheap motel. Edgar-veda wonders if Melissa was involved in the murders. "Let's just hope she's not halfway down the disposal," says Claudette. Like this place would have them anyway.

Wally brought Melissa and a bottle of champagne to the room 2 hours ago. "To celebrate?" says the captain. Claudette the eternal optimist says, "Or to tenderize." They break down the door and find Melissa and Wally in the aftermath of sex. They yank him, still naked, out of bed. Melissa covers herself with a sheet and asks what he's done. She's horrified when Claudette announces the murder victims' names. "They were just getting between us, sweetie," says Wally coldly.

Edgar-veda is in an especially foul mood at the Barn. Vic asks what happened, as if he doesn't know. Edgar-veda informs him that Gilroy is letting the captain take the heat for diverting police cars from the Grove. He leaves out the racist reason. Vic asks if there would be any incentive for someone to buy property in the Grove. "Crime's up, land's cheap," Edgar-veda replies. He saw Vic talking to Gilroy and wants to know what prompted the inquiry. "Just a stupid idea," says Vic.

In the pastor's office, a man tells Julien about his own struggles with homosexual feelings. He'd thought he was born gay and cursed God for doing it to him. The pastor tells Julien about a support group that meets at the church, a sexual-reorientation group for men. The other man went to the therapy program. He's now married with a pregnant wife. It will take hard work, but Julien too can go back to being straight. Julien wants to know when he can start.

Day two of the cockfights and Frank is losing. Shane desperately shouts encouragement from the sidelines, but Frank dies in the ring. Shane looks ready to cry. He picks up Frank's limp body and asks, "What the hell happened?" "You lost," says Carlos. Shane is still cradling the dead chicken when Carlos introduces him to Pazi. His heart is no longer in the case. Carlos and Pazi both assure him Frank's death was an honorable one. Carlos tosses the bird into a burn barrel and crosses himself.

Shane asks if Pazi can hook him up with guns. Pazi wants to see more of his birds first. Shane takes Pazi to an old green pickup. The tailgate is down, a few caged roosters in the back. He tells Pazi about the diet he gives the chickens. Pazi asks if there are more. Shane left the rest at the mo-tel, but he has Polaroids in the truck. Then he takes a rag out of his back pocket and presses it over Pazi's face.

(Photo credit)

They struggle. Pazi pushes Shane to the ground and draws a gun. Lem to the rescue! Pazi drops his gun. Shane grabs a handy 2x4 and clocks the arms dealer in the back of the head: "I thought chloroform was supposed to knock him out. Guess this works better." Lem tells Shane he was supposed to wait until Pazi showed him the guns to do that.

Shane knows Pazi's case would drag through American court for years; he'll be "properly hung by his balls" if he goes back to Mexico. Money from the bounty is just a bonus. "Thought we were gonna play this one straight, Shane," says Lem. Shane thought they changed their minds. In a word, no.

In addition to police, the Grove is now crawling with reporters and news vans. Vic confronts Gilroy with his newfound knowledge about the dummy real estate corporation. He asks if the next phase is sending the Strike Team to clean up the 'hood, then selling the properties for a nice profit. Two women are dead because of this scam, not to mention the escalating racial tension. Gilroy offers to cut Vic in. Vic is tempted; he needs money for Matthew's tuition at Glenridge.

Jojo has shown up to drive Pazi back across the border. "Different kinda cockfighting where you're headed," Shane says cheerily. Lem is still upset about Shane lying. Shane knows Vic would've done the same thing. Besides, they just made $25,000: 10 for Lem, 10 for Shane, and 5 for Vic. "What about Ronnie?" asks Lem. Shane responds, "Screw Ronnie. He's off the clock."

If Lem doesn't want his share, why, Vic and Shane could use an extra $2,500 each. Not so fast, pal. Lem snatches up the money and threatens, "Look, you do this to me again, I'm gonna kick your redneck ass!" An idea I fully support. "Don't gimme that look, bro," he adds as they get in the truck. I'm surprised when Shane doesn't retort "Bring it on, bitch" or something similar. It's probably not a good idea for him to be pissing off a guy who looks like he could dead-lift the back of a car.

Julien tells Danny about how he's starting sexual reorientation therapy at church. "God's gonna make you straight?" She's clearly skeptical.

An elderly woman shouts at Dookie that she wants her microwave back. "Bein' on welfare don't make you special," says Dookie, "You got to pay like err'body else." Julien asks if she has proof the microwave belongs to her. After the last time it was stolen, the woman carved her initials on it: EB for Emily Berry. Dookie tries to claim it stands for "excellent buy."

Emily Berry indicates a picture frame, also hers. Dookie tells her it can be hers for $10. "If that's your picture frame, how come that's me and my granddaughter?" asks Emily Berry. Dookie doesn't have an answer for that. This guy is an idiot. Julien arrests Dookie. Danny tells the neighbors to take what belongs to them and go home.

Edgar-veda needs Claudette. The 911 tapes were leaked to the media (probably his doing again) and now there's big trouble in the Grove. He needs her to do the talking: "Coming from you, a plea for peace will sound more--" "Black," she says archly.

Vic asks Lem and Shane about Sedona. She was supposedly hiding in a hotel she and Gilroy liked, but Lem found out she never checked in. Being a glass half full guy, he says, "Maybe he stashed her someplace else." "Or slashed her someplace else," Shane puts in darkly. Lem always thought of Gilroy as a quiet drunk. "It's the quiet ones you gotta worry about," says Shane. My grandma used to say the same thing.

Vic, more to himself than anyone else, mutters that Gilroy is spooked and needs to calm down and see a way out. Vic's phone rings. At home, Corinne drains spaghetti and says it's almost time for dinner. Vic doesn't think he can make it. "But Ben's already here," his wife informs him. Now Vic is the one who's spooked. In the background, Cassidy chirps at the deputy chief, "Come see the bowl I made in art class!"

Corinne passes the phone to Gilroy. He's all buddy-buddy, but Vic isn't fooled. He, Lem, and Shane head for the precinct parking lot. Vic wants to know why Gilroy is at his house. Gilroy tells him that Tony's case is a dead end. Vic should've left things alone and not gone looking for Sedona. "I'll leave it alone now, Ben," Vic promises, "This is between you and me. You leave my family out of this." When Lem and Shane hear this, they start running for the car.

"You gotta spend more time with your family, Vic." says the deputy chief. With a smile, Corrine says, "You tell him." Gilroy adds, "You'll lose 'em before you know it". Vic tells Gilroy to think about what he's doing. Gilroy hangs up. Vic hops in Shane's truck, Lem already in the backseat. "Sheriffs can get there faster 'n we can," Shane says.

In the Grove, the protesters are chanting: "911 for no one! Where were the cops?" It's taking everything for a few uniforms to hold back the crowd. Karen knows the situation is serious. In the political tradition of making promises you can't possibly keep, Edgar-veda swears there won't be another problem with slow response times again. Claudette implores for them to keep this peaceful. The crowd is unmoved.

Somewhere in the distance, shots are fired. The neighbors duck and scream. Edgar-veda herds himself, Claudette, and Karen to the nearest building and radios for the riot squad. A man breaks out a patrol car's windows with a baseball bat.

When Vic gets home, Matthew and Cassidy are in the living room with two sheriffs' deputies. Corinne is at the kitchen table, clearly scared: "What's going on, Vic? They practically broke in!" Gilroy, it seems, already left. Vic tells the deputies he'll take over, then instructs Corinne to pack suitcases for her and the kids. Their house isn't safe, but he can't explain why. He hugs Cassidy.

The protesters turn over a squad car. Claudette, Edgar-veda, and Karen hear the muffled noise of the continued riot from the basement they've holed up in. Members of the riot squad arrive to escort them to safety behind their shields. The overturned squad car has been set on fire. Edgar-veda is no doubt mentally calculating how much it'll cost to replace. The riot squad leader orders them to pull back. End of episode.