Original subtitles

Previously on SWAT...

I need to choose someone to take over SWAT Academy for me.

TAN: I'm honored. It means a lot, Deac.

You're gonna do an amazing job, Victor.

I get hiding what your dad did, that wasn't your fault,

but if you're still associating with criminals...

They're still my family, Tan.

I wasn't ready to tell the team, but after seeing you

side with some guy you just met over me,

maybe I was right to wait.

Is that my car?

- Wait, what? - Did your dad kill a cop?

Now that it's out, this kind of stuff's not gonna stop.

HONDO: Whoever put these out, you got one warning.

You mess with Gamble,

you mess with 20-Squad. That means you mess with me.

I just, I want you to know

I can handle the judgment that's coming my way.

It won't stop me from doing my job.

One thing I miss about Oakland,

summer ended when summer was over.

[CHUCKLES] Thanks for coming in early.

It is 100 degrees outside, and the AC broke in my apartment.

HQ feels heavenly in comparison.

Well, don't get too comfy.

Hicks needs us for a special protection detail.

Rest of 20-Squad en route?

No, they're all on standby today.

With any luck, the heat's gonna keep folks inside,

preventing anything too crazy from popping off.

But this detail's a good chance for you and me to catch up.

Commander.

Ah. Picked your teammate, I see.

Who's the principle on the protection job?

Everybody's favorite mayor.

Mayor Castro? Doesn't he have his own security team?

We're bolstering it.

The brass believes there's an imminent threat

against Mayor Castro's life.

- You got any idea who's behind it? - HICKS: Yep.

Suspect is Paul Kang. He's a resident of K-Town.

He took a few potshots at the mayor's car two days ago,

and then slipped patrol.

They haven't been able to locate him since.

What's his beef with Castro?

Kang's wife, Jessie, was stabbed to death

by a transient in Venice a few months back.

Random attack.

Kang blames the mayor's soft stance

on crime for what happened.

Now... [CHUCKLES]

Guy's a bit of a whack job,

but he's not entirely wrong.

All right. We better get moving.

Hondo, a word.

In private.

Gamble, really?

I mean, this isn't exactly

low-profile, covering the mayor.

Are you sure she's right for this?

I'm sure.

[GUNSHOTS]

Fire four mags, two per shooting hand, at ten, 20,

and 30 yard intervals. Then we'll move on to HKs.

I'll be evaluating you on accuracy and speed,

but it's not a race. Remember our golden rule?

RECRUITS: Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Good. First four, step up to the shooting bays.

Start on the beep.

[STOPWATCH BEEPS]

[GUNSHOTS]

- Sloppy groupings, - Ruiz.

Didn't come in on my day off to watch you whiff.

That's more like it.

Hold your positions.

Power outage. Generator should kick in.

Hey.

You won't always be shooting bad guys in broad daylight.

Treat this as low-visibility training.

Shooters ready!

[PHONE CHIMES]

Hold your fire.

[SIGHS]

Make your weapons safe.

We'll finish this exercise later.

All available officers

are to report to the Eagle's Nest, ASAP.

Was having coffee nearby when I got the alert.

Seems like most of the neighborhood lost power.

Power's out all over.

My family group chat's blowing up about it.

POWELL: Hey.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

The hell are you doing?

Uh, standing here?

Stevens and I have a game going.

POWELL: Oh, this piece was already off the board.

Your game is fine.

It's not about the game, Powell.

It's about SWAT superstition.

Never mess with the chess set during an active game.

Bad things happen when you do.

Did I summon the Chess Boogeyman?

Good luck today, Powell. You're gonna need it.

HICKS: Listen up!

There's a massive power outage

affecting the entire San Fernando Valley,

and given that it's roughly 500 degrees outside,

the rest of the grid is buckling under the strain.

The whole city could lose power today.

CABRERA: Sir, how long

until the power company is able to fix the issues?

Well, they're assessing the root cause.

Early indications show a cascading grid failure.

Best case scenario, it'll take hours.

I got here as soon as I could. It's a mess out there.

I'm executing the Sepulveda Protocol, effective immediately.

All available SWAT will be deployed on the streets to patrol,

along with every available officer from Metro.

Now, power outages like this bring spikes

in robbery, vandalism, arson.

People will be overheated, angry,

and desperate, so be ready for anything out there.

Sergeant Kay will assign patrol pairings and coverage areas.

All right. Powell, you're with me.

Espinoza and Thompson, you'll take Chatsworth.

Ruiz, you and Lambert, you've got Silver Lake.

- POWELL: Ugh, it's nasty out here. - [OTHERS GROANING]

Even warmer in NoHo, where Stevens and I are heading.

Hope the Los Profetas don't get trigger-happy in this heat.

Where'd you two get assigned?

- Studio City. - ALFARO: Jackpot, baby.

Should be a pretty easy patrol.

Wouldn't count on it, Miko.

No, it'll rough out there all over.

Not just crime. People are gonna need our help.

So keep your windows down, eyes on a swivel.

Let's roll.

Hey, we can still blast the AC, right?

As high as it'll go.

DISPATCH [OVER RADIO]: Multiple heat-related 507s

reported in Balboa Park near the playground

and at Ventura and Colfax.

Nearest available units respond Code 2.

[SCOFFS] People are already getting riled up.

Maybe we'll get lucky and Hollywood will stay quiet.

Not likely. I heard you touched the chess set this morning

during an active game.

What is with this damn chess set?

Edwards from 50-Squad

put away the chess pieces one night,

not realizing there was a game going on.

He got shot in the leg the next morning.

That's when the superstition began.

Whatever. I'm happy to take on

this so-called curse for the day.

[CHUCKLES] You didn't just bring it on yourself.

You put that curse on everybody.

You're gonna get blamed for anything that goes wrong today.

Probably shouldn't have swiped this, then.

- Powell, what are you doing? - [LAUGHING]

You know, th-there's a reason the superstition exists.

You don't poke the bear.

I grew up with Filipino titas who were convinced

that any bad thing that happened

was the result of our ancestors

cursing us from the grave. Know what I learned?

What's that?

That bad luck and superstitions are all in your head.

OFFICER: 15-Adam requesting additional units for traffic control.

24-David to Dispatch...

DISPATCH [OVER RADIO]: All units, we've got a 211

in Van Nuys, Calvert and Loma.24-David to...

[INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO][SIGHS] 24-David to...

[INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO]

You deal with that, I'll deal with that.

POWELL: 24-David to dispatch.

Have a TC on Main and Oak.

DISPATCH [OVER RADIO]: 24-David, please repeat.

[SIGHS]DISPATCH [OVER RADIO]: Possible 415

in Los Feliz near the Greek Theater...

Gonna be a long day.

Synced & corrected by -robtor- www.addic7ed.com

♪

Yes, sir. Copy that. Loud and clear.

Commander Hicks just instituted Sepulveda Protocol.

All available SWAT officers are out on patrol.

He thinks it'll get that bad?

Last time it happened, there were riots in Midtown and Boyle Heights.

City Hall's got backup generators

to keep the lights and AC running,

but there's a lot of folks out there

that ain't gonna have that same luxury today.

Hicks wanted you to pick someone else

for the assignment, didn't he?

I know the look when I see it. It's been pretty much

nonstop since I got here.

Hicks is fine. Don't worry about it.

USGS confirmed there were no earthquakes in the area.

Then find out what knocked the grid offline.

I want updates every 20 minutes.

People's lives depend on it, Nick.

Ah, my SWAT babysitters.

Sergeant Harrelson, I've seen you on the news a few times.

Just doing my job, sir. This is Officer Devin Gamble.

Now you I don't know. Been with LAPD long?

Started my career here,

then did a ten-year stint up in Oakland.

Bet you're glad you're back.

Now that you two are here, we can get to work.

I've told EMD I want to hand out water

and emergency supplies in the areas affected by the power outage.

Sir, there's an active threat on your life.

I think it's better you stay here in City Hall

where we know it's secure.

Angelenos need help today.

They also need their mayor alive.

I'll let you in on a dirty little political secret.

If someone isn't trying to hurt me,

I'm not doing my job properly.

Besides,

I've got SWAT at my side.

Can't get much safer than that.

Excuse me.

Real glad to be back.

DISPATCH: Reports of traffic collisions

in Tarzana at Ventura and Donna,

Tampa and Wells and Victory at Wilber.

Vandalized fire hydrant at Hillside and Manor.

We didn't get hit by that beamer,

so I'd argue that it was good luck.

Maybe it was a higher power that was looking out for us.

Or the lucky jade crystal I keep in my pocket at all times.

That's ridiculous. Crystals are nonsense.

You draw the line at crystals, but buy into chess pieces?

Explain your belief system right now, please.

Right now, I believe that I'm driving

for the rest of the day.

For safety.

We can't move three blocks

without responding to a radio call, anyway.

DISPATCH: All units, armed robbery reported

in the 1000 block of La Brea Avenue. Suspects are two Hispanic males.

Five feet, eight inches tall, carrying baseball bats.

One suspect wearing lime-green Jordan sneakers.

Lime-green Jordans?

Subtlety's a lost art.

All right. We'll head back towards La Brea,

roll the side streets. Maybe we'll get lucky.

God bless whoever invented the bikini top.

- TAN: Hey, watch out, watch out! - Hey, hey, hey!

You can't just run in front of the car like that.

Look, man. My baby's missing.

All right? I can't find Jimmy John.

Can you describe the child?

Wait. Jimmy John's a snake?

Yeah, he's a snake. Been together for ten years.

Sir, you need to call Animal Control, not LAPD.

Why can't y'all help?

One, it's not our department.

Two, I don't like snakes, especially big ones.

That's racist, man.

Man, how can you be racist against a reptile?

That's racist.

You weren't lying. Studio City is weird.

When people don't get their kombucha and wheatgrass shots,

- all bets are off. - [SCOFFS]

Excuse me. Officers, I think you need to do a wellness check

on my neighbor Travis.

His car hasn't moved in a few days,

and he's not answering his door.

Are you sure he's not traveling,

- or maybe at a friend's place? - No.

He's got a young son who stays with him.

I'm worried about them both, especially with this heat.

All right, we'll take a look. Which one's your building?

Right there.

Travis Brown, this is the LAPD.

Your neighbors are worried about you. If you're in there, open up.

Hey, you smell that?

Yeah. Meth.

Travis.

Hey, Travis. Hey, hey, can you hear me?

Got a real faint pulse.

Yeah, looks like he was doing goofballs.

25-David, requesting emergency transport

for an adult male at 1500 Moorpark.

Apparent drug overdose.

Gonna hit him with Narcan.

ALFARO: Hey, lady said he had a kid, right?

TAN: Yeah.

Police. Is there anybody in there?

[PANTING] No.

No, no, no, no, no.

25-David, I need an additional R/A

to the same address for a young child,

approximately four years old.

Very faint pulse. I need it ASAP!

Hey, hey, wake up, buddy. Hey.

Hey, don't quit on me.

Hey, wake up.

Hey.

Come on, look at me.

Op... [CHUCKLES]

Hey. All right, I'm with the police.

We're gonna get you some help, all right?

Everything's gonna be fine.

TAN: Need you to sit down, all right?

TRAVIS: Nah, I'm good. I'm good.

Pinky promise.

Hey, Al... Alfaro!

[GRUNTS]

He's just a kid!

- You son of a bitch! - Hey, Alfaro, man!

Hey. Hey! Get off me, man.

What the hell? Stay with the kid!

Get off!

[BUSY CHATTER]

CASTRO: The city's working diligently

to restore power to citizens.

Meanwhile, I feel a personal responsibility

to help Angelenos during this crisis.

I'm a native son. I grew up here.

Thought you liked the idealist types like Castro.

You were one yourself.

Was.

A lot can change in ten years.

Are you good?

[SIGHS] Actually, no, I'm not.

What the hell am I gonna have to do to prove myself on SWAT?

Gamble, when I asked you to come back,

you said you could deal with it.

I thought I could, but the hazing,

the endless comments, the side-eyeing...

Not sure it's worth it.

Wait, hold up.

That silver pickup truck on the corner,

does that look familiar to you?

I thought I saw it drive by a while back.

Couldn't see the plates.

- You think it's Kang? - I'm not sure.

But we should get Castro back to City Hall to be safe.

CASTRO: Thank you so much.

Sir, we need to think about getting you back inside.

There's still two pallets of supplies to distribute.

Protecting you out here in public

is making our job a lot harder, sir.

Whoa.

- Oh, whoa, whoa. - [CRIES OUT]

- CASTRO: Easy. - GAMBLE: Hey.

I got you, I got you.

We need you over here. Come on. Let's get right here.

He's got a rapid pulse,

skin's burning up. It's probably heat stroke.

Let's get him in the shade.

We got to cool him down. Call it in.

26-David. Got an adult male

with signs of heat stroke near 3400 Boyd.

Requesting an R/A.

- CASTRO: Excuse me. Excuse me, excuse me. - HONDO: Mayor, Mayor!

- Gamble, go with him. Go. - Got it.

- CASTRO: Everybody back up, please. - GAMBLE: Watch out.

CASTRO: Back up. Everybody back up, please.

- Here you go. Back up, please. - REPORTER: Mr. Mayor,

- just tell us a little bit more... - CASTRO: Back up.

This man needs space and privacy.

Please back up.

[CASTRO SPEAKING SPANISH]

REPORTER 2: How long are the citizens going to be without power, sir?

Is he gonna be okay?

Yeah, I think so. EMTs are on the way.

[GURNEY RATTLING]

EMTs got the kid stabilized. He'll be okay.

You want to tell me what the hell you were thinking in there?

I wasn't.

Guess I just snapped.

Well, that'll sound great in the incident report.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up.

Before I joined Long Beach SWAT,

I worked at Juvenile Investigation Division.

Okay? I worked with a lot of kids

who had deadbeat parents like Travis.

And most of those kids ended up in the streets,

in prison, or dead.

When I saw that kid...

caged up like a damn zoo animal, I just lost it.

The kid's dad deserved worse than he got.

But we can't be the ones to do it.

I got to include it all in the report.

Oh, come on, man. Cut me some slack.

That kid's barely alive.

Oh, this is BS.

[SCOFFS]

Swear to God.

How does anyone have the energy

to go on a robbery spree in this heat?

I'd get it if they stole ice cream,

but sneakers and Dodgers hats?

I don't know. Some people are just compelled

to take things they shouldn't.

Was that a dig?

Depends. You gonna hit me with one of your crystals?

If I can find one big enough.

Hey, check it out.

Lime-green Jordans. It's the armed robbery suspects.

Almost too easy.24-David to Dispatch.

Visual on our 411 suspects, 1600 block of Gower.

[OVER CAR MEGAPHONE]: LAPD. Stay where you are!

[SIREN CHIRPING]

I got Jordans.

[SIREN WAILING]

Hey!

[TIRES SQUEAL]

DEACON: End of the line.

[GROANING]

[BOTH GRUNTING]

[ZIP TIES CINCHING]

30-David. One suspect in custody.

[HONKING]

[TIRES SCREECH, HORN HONKS]

24-David. Second suspect in custody.

Send transport to the corner of Selma and Cadden.

[TIRES SQUEALING]

[GRUNTING] Hey.

- Nice grab. - POWELL: Yeah.

Hey, Powell, was this gate open?

These substations are usually very secure.

Wide open. Didn't see any workers.

Smells like an electrical fire.

That's det cord.

It's used to trigger high explosives.

Who's playing with high explosives around electrical transformers?

Clear.

DEACON: The control box has been sabotaged.

SoCal Water and Power never reported this.

- Think it might be an inside job? - Maybe.

One thing's for sure: these power outages,

they're no accident.

Crippling the power grid on the hottest day of the year

means someone's out to cause chaos.

They didn't attack the power grid on a whim.

Chaos might be a prelude to something even worse.

Let's move.

I just got off with RHD.

At least three power substations were sabotaged,

and whoever's behind it

shot and killed a supervisor in the Encino substation.

Explains why the damage went unreported.

The cascading grid failure that followed

must've made it impossible, for the SCWP to pinpoint

the root cause of the damage until now.

And the suspects used strategically-placed C4 charges

at all three substations.

Powerful enough to blow the control boxes,

but small enough to go unnoticed by neighbors.

They got access to C4, were hellbent

on bringing down the power grid. We need to know why.

The power outage has most security systems offline.

Could be a robbery crew going after a big score.

If that's true, there's no shortage of vulnerable targets:

banks, jewelry stores, federal buildings.

Well, there's no way of knowing for sure until we ID the suspects.

Power substations usually have security cameras.

Maybe one of 'em got a look

at the suspects before the power went out?

Run it down, let me know what you find.

I'll update Hondo and Gamble on the situation.

You, Deacon, and Powell start notifying high-value targets

that we may have a heist crew on the loose.

On it.

Understood, Commander.

The blackout wasn't an accident.

Hicks says the grid's under attack.

Think it has anything to do with the attacks on Castro?

I'm not sure. It might be something else,

but the mayor's definitely not safe here.

Sir?

Any update on the man we helped?

He's recovering at Pleasant Green Hospital.

He'll be fine.

But, Mayor, please, we really need to get you back inside.

We know you want to help people.

Been watching you do it all day.

But you being out here

actually puts these people in more danger.

HONDO: If you really want to help them,

let us take you back to City Hall.

You know,

if all officers were more like you two,

I'd have a lot less headaches.

Make you a deal.

Give me five minutes to make sure these folks are okay,

then we go.

Make it three minutes.

Three minutes.

Hey, about earlier...

you're still catching heat from other SWAT officers?

Hey, Gamble, tell me who it is, and I'll talk to 'em.

I'll put it to bed.

You don't deserve to take blame for what your father...

Pickup truck's back.

You stay close to Castro.

This is the LAPD!

I need you to turn off that engine

and put your hands out the window now!

[TIRES SCREECHING]

Move, move!

Get out of there! Get out of there, now!

Get down, get down.

[PEOPLE SHOUTING, SCREAMING]

Hands on the wheel. Don't move.

Gamble, Kang's not in the truck.

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

[GRUNTING]

Stay down!

Give me your hands!

Gamble, you good?

I'm good.

Sir, are you okay?

Yeah, I think so.

20-David. We have Kang

and a second assailant in custody.

[GRUNTING]

Mayor, we are taking you back

to City Hall right now until we can verify

there are no further threats to your safety.

Let's go.

Hey. Heard you were up here trying to ID the suspects

behind the blackout. Need any help?

You can start going through the Encino substation footage.

I was wrong, you know.

For what I did earlier.

How heated I got.

Had a chance to cool off?

Mostly. You know,

I still can't stop imagining kicking the crap

out of that guy for what he did, though.

While back, we had a barricaded suspect at a trailer park.

Guy was a PCP and heroin addict.

Totally off his rocker.

When we breached,

I found his wife and one-year-old in a closet.

They'd been locked in there five days before.

I wanted to bash that guy's skull in.

But deep down, I knew it wouldn't make the anger go away.

Sometimes you have to put in extra work to keep yourself balanced.

[SCOFFS] Yeah.

Usually, I work through that stuff in the gym, but...

wind sprints and pull-ups just aren't cutting it lately.

I had to change my coping strategy a couple times.

Started by meditating,

moved on to weight training,

now I play basketball till I can't feel

my arms and legs.

You know, point is,

you've got to find an outlet that works,

otherwise the stress of this job will consume you.

Think I got something.

This van, parked at the substation...

Can't see the suspects, but got a clear shot of the plate.

Plates trace back to a Bob Hays from Bishop, California.

Now, that's up north, in the Owens Valley.

Bob Hays reported his plates stolen two weeks ago.

Five other Bishop residents

reported their plates stolen in the same time frame.

Could be the work of our suspects.

Let's get a BOLO out on the van and all six stolen plates.

I'll tell Commander Hicks.

Hey, what you got?

If this blackout's about pulling off a heist,

these are the most valuable or at-risk targets.

Whittled it down to about 100 or so.

Few dozen cash storage facilities,

high-end art galleries and museums...

Plus all of Rodeo Drive and some churches

that store priceless religious relics.

Reminds me.

Ah.

So it's true.

This thing?

Yeah, the old timers

keep giving me a hard time about it,

so I'm putting the damn thing back.

There.

No harm, no foul.

That's not what I hear.

Oh, not you, too.

Stevens said the bad juju continues

until the game is finished by the original players.

Oh, come on... I don't want that mala leche.

Sorry.

This is ridiculous.

To you, maybe.

I'm not taking any chances.

[PHONE BUZZES]

It's Deacon. We're rolling out.

[STAMMERS] Truly ridiculous.

BOLO hit on our bombing suspects.

Red light camera spotted the suspects' van in Toluca Lake.

Any high-value targets in that area?

No. They're heading into a residential neighborhood.

So, they attacked the power grid just to rob a house?

Nah, I'm not buying that.

Think they might be after a person.

One of SCWP's lead engineers

lives two blocks away from the BOLO hit.

Alice Burkes.

She's been an SCWP employee for over 20 years.

Now, I called her office, her assistant said

she left work to deal with an emergency at home.

Could be a target or an inside man, but either way,

that's where our suspects are headed.

Deacon and Powell rolled a few minutes ago.

They're in the area, but they're gonna need backup,

so go, go.

Powell.

[QUIETLY]: 30-David to Command.

Signs of forced entry.

Moving inside.

♪

[MUFFLED CRYING]

Closet only.

WOMAN: Please, don't hurt me! I'll do anything you want!

Cops!

[SHRIEKS]

LAPD! Drop your weapons!

Get her out to the van!

[GRUNTS]

24-David. Shots fired! Cover now!

- [GUNSHOT] - [GRUNTS]

DEACON: Powell!

Hey.

Powell, you good? Talk to me.

I'm good.

Hit me in the vest.

Go. I've got him.

[SCREAMING]

30-David to Command.

Three armed suspects

in our BOLO van with one female hostage,

fleeing north on Forman.

Okay.

Now I believe in the curse.

Gamble staying with the mayor?

Until we get an all-clear from the brass.

These the suspects who attacked the power substations?

And shot Powell while abducting an SCWP engineer.

Now, all four are from the Owens Valley.

And plaintiffs in a very prolonged lawsuit

against SoCal Water and Power over water rights.

Now, they've battled the utility in court for almost a decade,

alleging extensive corruption, theft,

malfeasance by the SCWP employees

against the Owens Valley and its residents.

Well, SCWP's got a pretty dicey history with that area.

The battle of water and L.A.'s right

to claim it goes back 100 years.

I think we could be looking at another chapter in that storied history.

I mean, these guys clearly got a vendetta.

The question is, what's their endgame?

Well, they took down the power grid and kidnapped an engineer.

That tells me they need access to a secure location.

I'll get on the phone with the head of the utility

and see what their most vulnerable sites are.

In the meantime, let's hope Deacon and Powell can get

Ricky Lawson to cough up something about their plans

before this gets even worse.

Los Angeles has stolen our land and water for decades.

DEACON: It's not stolen.

The city has compensation agreements in place

with the Owens Valley.

Agreements that destroy people's lives!

My father built and ran a hardware store in my hometown.

Had to lease the land from your utility company,

despite L.A. being 250 miles away.

Couple years ago, when he wanted to retire,

SCWP said he wasn't allowed

to sell or transfer the property lease.

Can you believe that?

His own business.

What did he do?

Well, he had two choices.

Stop paying and risk eviction

or return the land to its original state.

He demolished everything he'd built over 30 years.

Razed his own legacy to the ground

and died of a broken heart.

We're sorry that happened to your father,

but you can't take your anger out on innocent people.

Entitled Angelenos who steal and hoard

our water are not innocent.

And now they'll pay.

Some of the water gets misused, I'll give you that.

But a vast majority of it

is an essential service for survival.

Yeah, well, they should've found a different way

to get L.A. its water,

'cause now you're all gonna drown in your own greed.

We're running out of time and resources.

Tell me you made some headway.

Ricky Lawson seems obsessed with water,

so I think the remaining three suspects are looking

to sabotage a major L.A. water source.

So they knocked out the power,

leaving the water systems vulnerable.

Exactly. SoCal Water and Power reassigned

their personnel to fix the grid.

By doing that, they left key water systems

operating with skeleton crews.

Okay, but there's dozens of filtration plants,

pumping stations, reservoirs throughout the city.

Not to mention the L.A. aqueduct.

So what part of the water system are they going after?

If they wanted to blow the aqueduct, they could've done that anywhere

between Santa Clarita and the Owens Valley.

They want to do something here in L.A. to make a statement.

Well, Hank Fonda owns a demolition company.

He'd have access to high explosives.

And any statement they make could result

in a catastrophic loss of life.

Just did a deep dive on Alice Burkes,

the engineer they abducted.

She was recently promoted

to lead the Hollywood Reservoir Restoration Project.

Hollywood Dam.

That holds two billion gallons of water,

and its security systems could've been compromised by the blackout.

If they blow that dam, all of Hollywood washes away.

People, buildings, historic landmarks...

Thousands of lives lost and billions

of dollars in damage. It's the perfect

- target for these suspects. - Go.

I'll have patrol start

evacuating the area below the dam.

♪

[SIREN WAILING]

60 seconds out!

All right, the Hollywood Dam is massive.

It's a quarter-mile wide,

runs five levels deep underground.

- Looks like a maze of tunnels in there. - HONDO: It is.

We'll go top to bottom, close the net.

Think they'll try to blow a hole

through the dead center of the dam?

Few strategically-placed charges is more likely.

And that kidnapped engineer will know

exactly where to place them.

Let's just hope the suspects haven't had time to set the charges.

Otherwise, anything downhill of the dam gets washed away.

- Including us. - All right, here we go!

[GEESE HONKING]

[SIREN WAILING]

We got one security guard down at the entrance to the dam.

Deacon, Tan, go right.

[WOMAN GROANING]

HONDO: Migo, check her out.

Help's on its way. What happened?

They wanted me to shut down the dam's safety system.

They sh-shot me when I said no.

20-David, requesting emergency transport

for one female victim, GSW to the abdomen.

Which way did the men go, ma'am?

- Sarge, she's out. - TAN: Hondo!

Migo, get her to safety. Powell, let's go.

What do you got, Deac?

The whole dam could blow at any second.

Can you disarm it?

It'll take time we don't have. They're using a blasting box.

It holds the switches that triggers the C4 remotely.

It's usually a-a small, brightly colored construction case.

All right. We got to find it ASAP.

Deacon and Tan, clear level three.

Powell, you're with me on the lower levels.

Let's move.

♪

30-David. Shots fired!

Third level, east side. Visual on all three suspects.

Keep them busy!

I'll go set the final charges.

Tan. I'm banging it.

[GROANS]

Drop the weapons!

Two suspects down.

30-David.

Last suspect is headed to the lower levels.

Let's move.

Powell, we got to split up to cover more ground.

- Go left. Watch your six. - Roger.

POWELL: 24-David.

Suspect is on the bottom level, easternmost corner.

He has the blast box.

[DEVICE BEEPS]

POWELL: Hondo, I have no clear line of sight on this level.

POWELL: I can't get a shot.

Damn it, it's no good.

He's gonna blow the dam.

- [GUNSHOTS] - [GRUNTS]

20-David. Last suspect down.

We're Code 4.

♪

You okay?

Dinged my elbow pretty good down in the dam,

covered in six different layers of sweat

and I've got this vengeful chess curse

hanging over my head. So, yeah, I'd say peachy.

Maybe you should buy more crystals.

- I will hit you. - [CHUCKLES] Okay.

Fair enough.

Listen, um, curse or not...

...when you got shot, uh,

my heart just dropped down to my shoes.

I was supposed to have your six.

Deacon, don't do that.

Neither of us saw the shooter.

You couldn't have done anything differently.

Doesn't change how it feels, though.

If that bullet had been one inch higher...

I'm just glad you're okay.

Me, too.

I'm gonna shower now.

Rid myself of this curse once and for all.

Thank you.

- You good? - Yeah.

HICKS: Alfaro just called from the hospital.

Alice Burkes lost a lot of blood,

but the bullet missed her vital organs,

so she's gonna pull through.

Good, good.

And, uh, bomb squad, they cleared the rest

of the C4 charges at the dam.

There was enough explosive material there

to blow that thing twice over.

- Close call. - Yeah.

A little too close.

On the upside, we won't need a canoe to get home tonight.

[CHUCKLES]

Annie and the kids okay with the blackout?

In the Valley? In this heat, with no AC?

[CHUCKLES]

No. Annie did offer them a payoff, though.

If they're good and they limit their complaining,

they get to polish off

the half-melted ice cream in the freezer.

Nice.

Shift change will be happening soon,

so we'll get you home for some Rocky Road.

Hondo and Gamble are wrapping up at City Hall

as we speak.

HONDO: The mayor's in the clear now.

Patrol ID'd the truck driver as Jeff Wright,

Paul Kang's brother-in-law.

Brass said they acted alone,

and there's no other active threats to Mayor Castro.

- [SIGHS] - You did really good work today, Dev.

Why me?

What do you mean?

You had carte blanche to fill

the open roster spot on 20-Squad.

You could've picked anyone and you chose me.

I need to know why.

Do you remember that shootout down on Hoover,

about 12 years back?

Bunch of One-Niners tried to blast their way

out of a barricade.

There was an elderly woman a few doors down.

Couple Niner bullets went through her window and scared

- the hell out of her. - Mrs. Blake.

- Mm-hmm. - One of the bullets shattered an urn

with her husband's ashes in it.

And you went and got that urn replaced for her,

on your own dime.

Just seemed like the right thing to do.

That's why I picked you.

[SCOFFS]

Because I bought an urn?

Come on, give it to me straight, Hondo.

Gamble, I picked you because you care.

The deck's been stacked against you forever.

You are a Black, female officer.

That already ain't easy.

You come from a family of crooks and shady characters.

Your father killed a cop.

But you don't let any of that affect your work.

Despite the pressure or the scrutiny,

you walk a just path.

You keep your head down

so you can help people who need and deserve it.

It's rare to be a badass with empathy.

[SIGHS]

I'm not really sure what to say.

You don't have to say anything.

Just stay

and keep doing your thing.

♪

[INHALES]

Any day now, guys.

I would love to put this whole curse thing to bed.

[SHUSHES]

You can't rush brilliance.

Screw it.

What'd I say about talking?

[WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY]

- Checkmate. - [CLAPS]

Hallelujah. Game over, bad juju gone.

I'm never going near this stupid chess set again.

OFFICER: There we go.

[CHUCKLES]

Tan, hold up.

I read your incident log. You didn't report me. Why?

Because some days on this job just flat out suck,

and I wouldn't want my worst days to define me.

I'm giving you a second chance. Just don't blow it.

I appreciate it.

Really.

Checked in with Social Services.

Kid's aunt's gonna take him in, make sure he recovers.

[SIGHS]

How you doing?

Eh, still pretty pissed off but working through it.

Figured I'd get a beer at Jimmy's,

pin this jerk's face up, and throw darts at it

till I can't feel my arms.

- Any interest? - Hey, you got an extra copy for me?

- You know it. - CABRERA: Hey!

Did you say you're going to Jimmy's?

I'd kill for a cold beer and a corndog right now.

Well, come on. More the merrier.

- Are we sure the bar is open? - Jimmy's never closes, but...

if they are closed, we're blaming you.

- [CHUCKLES] - Fact.