Albatross

**Albatross** is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season in the remake version of *S.W.A.T.*, and the ninety-eighth episode overall, which was aired on March 20, 2022.

## Summary

When the team busts a group of dangerous robbery suspects, Tan is confronted with a pivotal figure from his past. Also, Luca is tapped to temporarily step in for Hicks.

## Recap

Hicks had his annual psych evaluation. He was going to be doing that and so he assigned Luca as interim Commander. Hicks knows that Luca doesn’t want a leadership position. He only gave Luca the job for about an hour. He sort of had to because Luca was the only one qualified after his stay in Germany even though Hondo and his team are short-staffed.

Luca is running things from the office. Chris is doing patrol work. Also, if it has to be said, Deacon was still preoccupied with Eduardo Ortiz. Ortiz is a man he put in prison. They met years later when Deacon was running the prison ministry. When they met, Ortiz told him that he knew Deacon was a cop because Deacon arrested him.

Ortiz was put in prison for murder. He claimed he didn’t do it. Not that he let that stop him from taking a plea deal and now living his life behind bars. But then Ortiz met Deacon. He told him that he was innocent and that sparked enough curiosity for Deacon to look into the case.

He even involved his wife. His wife, Annie, was studying to be a lawyer when the kids came along and her focus shifted from law school to them. Annie was still looking into it when Deacon and the rest of the team performed a no-knock-warrant.

The warrant led them to a bust where they later arrested Ally Donovan, Tan’s ex. Ally used to be his criminal informant until they got too close and he abandoned her. They got reunited on a case years later. But that time it was Ally who abandoned Tan. It was revenge. It was petty. They’ve both moved on since then and Tan had hoped Ally would turn her life around.

The arrest and the fact that Ally was still smug about it had just confirmed that Ally will never change. She’s a crook. She likes being a crook. She only got away with it this long by ratting on the right people. Ally agreed to help the LAPD take down a big score in exchange for not having charges being pressed against her.

Her deal meant she would have to work with Tan again. Tan had told Ally that he’s moved on. He even got married since he last saw her and yet she was still in his head. Something that became very clear when Ally helped them make a big move against a supplier.

She helped them capture the bad guys and the bad guys got captured only because Tan went in a little too hot on this. It was fine with any other CI, but seeing Ally in a dangerous situation, had made him rushed into things and Hondo noticed. Hondo later asked for an explanation for that behavior. And Tan was man enough to admit he has a past with Ally.

A past is putting it gently. The two were widely and passionately in love for several intervals over several years. Tan doesn’t want to return to those days. He’s happy with the life he has now. He loves his wife, Bonnie, and he couldn’t wait for them to have kids. Tan told Hondo as much. Hondo made sure Tan’s head was right and then they were back on the case. They wanted to take down a drug kingpin. They got to Ally. Ally helped them take down whoever was next on the wheel. The team got information from the men they arrested. And from there, they got a meeting with the drug kingpin in charge of it all.

The team had Hondo and Tan go undercover with Ally making their third. It’s a wonder that Hondo agreed to this because he later came to suspect the two couldn’t work together. This was proved when the three of them finally met the big boss.

The trio were impersonating drug dealers that have actually worked but never seen the kingpin before and so that’s when the team learned the identities they borrowed were in serious trouble. Hondo was pretending to a guy who actually ripped off kingpin. The guy who buys drugs from the source and then water it down before selling it as a high price.

The kingpin wanted Ally to kill both Tan and Hondo. He said it would be a way for her to prove allegiance. Ally then chose that moment to be a good guy because she pulled a gun on the kingpin and the rest of the team made their moves. They killed and arrested everyone they could.

Including the kingpin. The team also learned that Luca was great in that seat because he understood the field like no one else, but Luca was going to be in that seat for a while because Hicks was taking some personal time off to go and get a life. He doesn’t have one now. He lost it after his wife died and he’s never been able to regain it. And so this vacation was a long time coming.

But Ally said she wasn’t going to be a great CI after this because word will spread. Tan said she could turn over a new leaf and she could become an upstanding citizen but that wasn’t for her.

And another thing wasn’t for is what Annie did for Deacon. Annie found an eyewitness proving Ortiz was across town during his alleged murder.

## Cast

### Main

* Shemar Moore - Daniel Harrelson
* Alex Russell - Jim Street
* Lina Esco - Christina Alonso
* Kenny Johnson - Dominic Luca
* David Lim - Victor Tan
* Patrick St. Esprit - Robert Hicks
* Jay Harrington - David Kay

### Recurring

* Cathy Cahlin Ryan - Dr. Wendy Hughes
* Norma Kuhling - Nora Fowler
* Bre Blair - Annie Kay
* David Rees Snell - Det. John Burrows

### Guest

* Brooke Nevin - Ally Donovan
* Brian Krause - Josip
* Fiona Rene - Kim Wagner
* Jordan Wiseley - Marko
* Kamy D. Bruder - Neven
* Barry Brewer - Miles Bassett
* Justin Cuomo - Jackson

## Trivia

* Despite being credited, Lina Esco do not appeared in this episode.

### Notes

* Luca and Fowler went on pistol training, however Luca would be substitute to have leadership position as interim commander.
* Tan finally sees his ex-girlfriend Ally Donovan.
* Bonnie Lonsdale-Tan has been mentioned, but do not appeared.
* Annie Kay visits Kim Wagner about Eduardo Ortiz, also the murder of Marie Lozano.
* Deacon and Fowler are following the RV.

## Quotes

**Hondo Harrelson**: Tan, with me, now. Now! All right, real talk. What's the deal between you and this girl right here?
**Victor Tan**: We got close back in the day.
**Hondo Harrelson**: Oh, okay, so you actually crossed the line with your CI before. That explains why she has you wrapped around her finger right now.
**Victor Tan**: No, she doesn't.
**Hondo Harrelson**: Oh, really? Because that wasn't textbook, Tan! I'll give you that was a good call, but protocol is about limiting risk, not taking it on more of it and endangering yourself!
**Victor Tan**: I got the job done, Hondo.
**Hondo' Harrelson**: You wanna prove to yourself or anyone else you can still improvise in high-risk situations, then you take that back to Vice! Because you know damn well that belongs nowhere near 20-Squad! So we're clear, is she gonna be a problem for you going forward?
**Victor Tan**: No.
**Hondo Harrelson**: You make sure of that, or I will.