Octane

**"Octane"** is the sixth episode of the first season in the remake version of *S.W.A.T.* which was aired on December 7, 2017.

## Summary

Hondo puts aside his misgivings about Jim Street's recklessness and allows the newbie to go undercover as a broker in a luxury car theft ring to bust a ruthless trafficker. Also, Hondo visits Raymont Harris, the teenager recently shot by a former member of the SWAT team, who is dealing with PTSD.

## Recap

Two cars racing past a tractor-trailer and stopping in front of him, forcing him to come to a screeching halt. They drag him from the cab, forcing him on his knees at gunpoint, suddenly undercover cop Jim Street arrives, yelling at the man to stop as he shoots the trucker. He is mad, saying that he thought he was there to race the winner, as the girl says she thought he was there to do some business and now they have “blood ties.”

Whip takes the GPS systems offline in the cars while Shavez tells Street that if he warned him what he was going to do, he wouldn’t have come; Street said he was there for a deal, not murder. He tells them to make the deal happen and he will make sure everyone gets paid, as Trina says they are sticking their necks out for him. She hands Street a phone and tells him to wait for a call from Juergen Richter and do as he tells him; Shavez reminds him they are not messing around.

Hondo comes to see Raymont, asking about how he is healing. He asks about school, but Raymont isn’t very talkative; his mother tells him to get ready for school as she comes out to speak to Hondo. Once the boy goes inside, she tells Hondo that after he was shot by SWAT, he has been “sliding,” physically he is doing great but mentally he doesn’t have time as it is exam time and college applications; she says it is his job to make it right.

She opens a lockbox and reveals that she found a loaded gun under his bed. Hondo looks at the gun and tells her the numbers are scratched off, meaning he bought it off people he shouldn’t be associating with. He takes the gun and asks her to bring him to the squad after school so he can talk to him. Hondo receives a call from Street and has to leave.

Captain Cortez questions Street, why he was there at the scene of the murder, working the cold case. He says they saw him at a bar last night and realized his cover wasn’t blown and went ahead, not having time to contact anyone and the reason the crew isn’t in custody after the murder is because of who they are in business with. Hondo informs Street that Richter is smart and keeps his circle tight and the rumors are the last agent who went undercover is believed to have been gutted by Richter personally.

Street says this is their chance to catch him as no one outside of SWAT knows he is working the case, so his insiders in the police department won’t know. Street asks for a chance to fix his bumpy start and says this is a chance for her to finally nail Richter. Hondo and Jessica talk privately about it. He feels she is asking a lot of this kid but she feels Street is SWAT and she needs to trust her people in the field; he agrees to prep him.

Alonso and Officer Baker are in training, and she helps him complete the course; when they reach the top of the wall. He thanks her for grabbing him and asks if she thinks they will pass. Meanwhile, Hondo brings the team up to speed on the case Street will be working on. Richter’s parole officer, Warren arrives, saying Juergen was a strange man who is a Brazilian spiritual thing, that was more like a cult; often talking about human sacrifices.

He tells Street that Juergen likes a lot of eye contact because it’s like looking into the eyes is seeing you. There will be a lot of odd pauses in the conversation. He warns Street not to drink, as he doesn’t like people who put “poison” into their bodies. Suddenly, Street gets a call of where to meet, it is a “cop joint.” As they prepare to leave, Hondo orders him to stop making light of this, saying to lay off the humor because a man who makes light of this usually has something to hide and don’t open your mouth, because the more you talk, the more chance you have of making a mistake. Hondo tells him they wouldn’t be letting him go, if they weren’t sure of his ability to do this job.

Street arrives as “Mr. Cooper”, he sits with Juergen Richter, who offers him a beer, that he politely refuses, saying he is there for business. Luca and Tan are sitting in the diner, making sure everything goes smoothly. A police officer walks in, and calls Jimmy, but before he can reach the table, Luca grabs him and takes him out of the diner as Street comments that it is an interesting place to meet. It seems that Richter buys Street’s life story and asks him if he has a ship ready to receive the shipment.

Back at the squad, Hondo approaches Chris about her evaluation. She thinks it is not good and promises to push herself harder next time. Sgt. Deacon is in the kitchen as she walks out. Hondo shows him the evaluation that says Chris alternated between indecision and recklessness, taking unnecessary risks; both know that is not true. The instructor is someone who has tried out for SWAT but never made it, Hondo asks Deacon to look into it and find out what happened on that wall.

Luanne arrives with Ramont, he says he will bring him home when Raymont gets sick of him. Deacon introduces himself, saying its an honor to meet him and he if he ever needs anything, he has ever officer in that department at his service. Hondo talks to him about not going to college and that he can’t let life’s punches get him off track. He reveals that he knows about the gun, but before they can finish their conversation Chris says the buy is going down in two hours and Hondo tells Raymont their talk is to-be-continued!

Hondo gathers the team as Street explains he was only able to give them two hours to get prepared. Hondo splits up the teams, Chris is team 1, and Tan is team 2; they will be in the sniper positions as Deacon and Luca will be in cars as Hondo will be on the ground with Sgt. Mumford and his crew; no uniforms can be involved. Hondo makes it very clear that Job 1 is getting Street out safe.

Street sits on his motorcycle as the truck arrives with several cars behind it. Richter gets out of his car, has Street checked, takes his phone and then tells him everything is there as promised. Suddenly another crew shows up and shoots up the place; Hondo orders Luca to roll in as they realize that Richter is getting away with Street and with what he had under the hood of that car, he was long gone before Luca could catch him in the lot.

Hondo reveals to everyone the crew that showed up were part of the Chinese Crime Syndicate. It seems that Richter was selling the wheels to them before Street showed up and squeezed them out. Jessica tells Mumford to coordinate with gang task force to get the Rose Mea leader, He says he will find out who tipped them off and know where Richter is hiding, and do whatever it takes to get their man back.

Jessica informs the rest that they are looking into the crew Street was with when they killed the trucker to see how they tie into this. There is plenty of chatter that Street is a cop; Jessica reminds them that people say SWAT is the best and says it is the time they prove that!

Richter informs everyone that with Rose Mea and the cops showing up at the same deal, until he can connect the dots, no one is leaving. He asks Street what his mother’s name is, the one he turns to for guidance. He says “Alice.” Hondo snaps when Jessica asks him if he has anything, he quickly apologizes, saying that they keep hitting walls. She says there is no good news on her side either, but they both agree that Richter probably has the crew meaning that he doesn’t suspect Street is a cop yet. Both feel guilty for sending Street into this mess; she reminds him that Raymont is in the kitchen, lost in his homework who could use his help.

Hondo places a bullet on the table in front of him, saying it is the same one he took in the back and it is amazing that something so tiny can cause so much damage. He reminds him that carrying a gun doesn’t make you safe, asking him again what is going on. Raymont gets nasty, telling him, it isn’t his job to fix him and to just let him do his homework.

Deacon meets with Instructor Tommy Cole, who was congratulating Officer Baker on his certification, the one Chris helped as he fell while climbing the wall. Cole tells him that a lot of the officers feel his pain and feel he should be the leader and not Hondo. Deacon says he is doing okay but Cole says a lot of the officers who made SWAT over him, make “red boxes” in the Mayor’s office. Deacon asks about Chris, he doesn’t give a straight answer, implying that Chris is not fit to be on the team.

Richter returns to the room, saying he has bad news that one of them is not claiming who they are, as the spirits confirmed it. He goes through them one by one, including Street, who manages to fool him again. He comes to Benny (Matt Medrano), who admits he lied about his name. Richter puts a metal tie around his neck and asks if anyone else has a secret they would like to share as he still has a lot of questions.

Victor Tan has nothing but “tickets”, showing that all the cars the crews took went offline the day Richter took them and nothing has come back online. Deacon tells Hondo that he went to see Cole, who is very “old school” and not a fan of women in SWAT. Chris wants to know what they are talking about, as Deacon shares that they don’t feel Cole evaluated her fairly. Hondo feels he mistreated someone on his team and he doesn’t like it. Chris is used to being treated like this and the last thing she wants Cole to think is that she came crying to him about this. Wendy the counselor arrives, she agrees with Chris, but she is there about Raymont.

She says a trauma like he went through messes with brain chemistry; if he is willing to recognize the symptoms and face it head on, the brain can heal on its own without medication. Hondo says he is closed up about it, asks if he can introduce them and see what she can feel out. Raymont calls him out on her being a therapist, saying he doesn’t need to talk to her, but Hondo is called away, he bets he can’t beat Wendy at her PS4 game.

Ren is brought into interrogation, he is the leader of the Rose Mea crew. Hondo says Richter is going to come after his family, asking him if he has kids. Mumford says they can take him out, or simply wait until he kills all of his loved ones. He reveals Richter has a place out in Santa Fe Springs but no one has seen it, and if they have, no one has made it back to talk about it.

Street talks to Whip asking about his history, and that the guys he works with (Hondo), would tell him to trust his gut and his gut is telling him that Whip is the only one who can get them out of there. There is a car at the end of the building that has a GPS unit in it, Whip can build a distress signal, get the car back online but someone has to be looking for it. Street assures him someone is looking for it. Street points to Trina and Shavez as the ones who probably tipped off the Mafia, as they had the most to gain, but asks Whip to trust him, as he is a cop and those cops were with him as he is SWAT.

Whip nods and agrees to help him. Street stands up and tells him to get ready to move, he jumps up and begins to argue with Shavez, they begin to beat each other up. The fight is quickly broken up and the guards wonder where the kid is. As SWAT is watching the monitors, Luca comes in and reveals one of Richter’s cars just came online and they have a location.

As they approach the docks, they have to go in hot and blind. Chris wants to scale the wall and drop in through the skylight but Hondo says its a 30-foot wall with no gear nor harness. She wonders if he agrees with Officer Cole when he hesitates. Inside, Richter says there is so much deceit, it is impossible to separate the lies as Whip is brought back. He stands and says he has made his decision and it will be equal punishment for all.

Outside, Chris begins to climb the wall as Richter shouts at Whip about trying to steal his car; but just as he is about to put the noose over his neck Street says he made him do it, saying the car was bulletproof. He says the kid is innocent and doesn’t belong there. He says he disappoints him, making a child do his dirty work, which earns him special treatment. He puts the noose on Whip’s neck, then Street says they did it, nodding his head at Trina and Shavez.

Richter tells his guard to shoot Street but Chris shoots him instead and Luca drives the truck into the building and SWAT rushes in. Street cuts the noose from Whip’s neck and tells him he owes him one as Hondo struggles to not kill Richter. Chris calls out Street’s name and they hug. Back at the squad, everyone claps as SWAT walks in, Jessica welcomes him back and happy to see him in one piece. Mumford jokes that he tried to get himself killed and couldn’t even do that right. Hondo says Cole is a waste of breath and won’t tell him how Chris kicked ass today but he is on his list.

Street asks Hondo when the cars will be transferred as he wants to take a couple pictures before they are gone but the team says he is buying drinks tonight. Jessica thanks Hondo for making her look like a good captain and he thanks her for trusting his team. Hondo finds Raymont and Wendy in her office, where he beats her in the game. She says that Raymont reminds her of him, and feels he should keep everything inside.

He drives Raymont home, revealing how Wendy helped him through a really rough time when he was on the police force, his partner and him were writing up tags when a black truck flew up and clipped Robbie, and he died right in front of him. He says the driver got away and that haunted him, causing him to suffer so much until it almost broke him. He asked for help finally and Wendy was the one who helped him. Raymont finally reveals his nightmares of being shot and dying in the street; he got the gun because of the dream. Hondo says Wendy says the broken pieces are like broken bones and if you treat them right they will heal if you don’t the pain is only going to get worse. Raymont isn’t up to sitting around with a shrink but agrees to hang out with Hondo.

Hondo tells him to go hug his mom and he does. Meanwhile, a smiling Street sits in one of the cars set to be put in the impound and floors it, flying down an open laneway.

## Cast

### Main

* Shemar Moore - Daniel Harrelson
* Stephanie Sigman - Jessica Cortez
* Alex Russell - Jim Street
* Lina Esco - Christina Alonso
* Kenny Johnson - Dominic Luca
* David Lim - Victor Tan
* Peter Onorati - Jeff Mumford
* Jay Harrington - David Kay

### Recurring

* Lou Ferrigno Jr. - Donovan Rocker
* Cathy Cahlin Ryan - Dr. Wendy Hughes

### Guest

* Dylan Arnold - Whip
* Rudolf Martin - Jürgen Richter
* Aaron Bledsoe - Raymont Harris
* Myles Bullock - DC
* June Carryl - Luanne
* Jenson Cheng - Ren
* Camille Collard - Trina
* Marcus DeAnda - Arturo

## Trivia

* Cathy Cahlin Ryan, who plays Dr. Wendy Hughes, is the wife of series creator Shawn Ryan. She was also a main character in *The Shield*, a top series created by her husband.

### Notes

* When Hondo is talking to Raymond about his math homework, he says that the volume of a sphere is 4/3π r squared. The volume of a sphere is 4/3π r cubed. Mathematical formula error.
* The psychologist said she had a Sony PlayStation 4 in her office and she challenged Raymond to a game of *NBA 2K*. Later, when the two were playing the game, both she and Raymond were using XBOX ONE controllers and the console was clearly an XBOX ONE S.