The Fugitive

**The Fugitive** is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season in the remake version of *S.W.A.T.*, and the one-hundredth episode overall, which was aired on April 10, 2022.

## Summary

When body cam footage left at a local news station seems to show Hondo shooting two police officers, he is forced to go on the run while the team works to clear his name.

## Recap

Hondo and the team are in the middle of a high-speed chase with a van of criminals. The team gets creative to stop the van on a bridge. One of the men gets out and attempts to jump off the bridge but Hondo grabs him in the air before he can. After, Hondo learns that two officers that were on the chase, are missing.

The next morning, Hondo heads to leave to help find the two officers when a video is released online. The video shows Hondo and the two officers. He has them taped on and their news. He is sick of cops misbehaving. The pair have complaints against them and now he is going to clean the streets. He shoots them in the video. Hondo and Nichelle watch the video in horror. He was home all night. That was not really him. Hondo tells her he needs to clear his name. As officers arrived at his house, he takes off.

Deacon meets Hondo secretly. He gives him a burner. The rest of the team shows up. Hondo isn’t happy. They tell him they are with him and going to help. They discuss their plan to track down the real criminals. They divide up their jobs, looking into the officers and who they were targeted.

Hondo and Street meet with a computer hacker and pro Street knows. She views the video and tells them it’s a deep fake. She tells them how the person hacked Hondo’s phone to make the video. Back at the station, Hicks tells Deac he knows they are all helping Hondo. He doesn’t want to know anything but he needs them to hurry up and clear his name.

Street and Hondo wait for the hacker to get them more information. Tan, Alonso, and Deac catch a lead. They locate a trailer filled with cameras and computer equipment. Their suspect is gone. They find the raw footage of the video. The two officers may still be alive. They have the proof.

Meanwhile, Hondo finds the man who set this whole thing up. But the police take him away before he can do much more. He is brought in. The team clears him with the video but now they need to find the officers. Hondo tells them about the man who set him up. He has it out for Hondo who was forced to kill the man’s son during a mission that went sideways.

Hondo pushes Hicks for information and a warrant. Hicks tells him he needs to bench him. He ran initially. Hondo gets angry but understands. He gets a call from the man who is out for him. He tells Hondo he is going to ruin his life. The rest of the team chases their leads.

Hondo reunites with Nichelle. He tells her what happened. He gets to thinking. The team is headed to a warehouse on a lead. He calls Deacon but it’s too late. Deacon and the team are outside the warehouse getting ambushed. Luca gets hit. They use a car as armor and push it into the warehouse before trying to get the shooters. The shooters take off.

At the station, Hondo is angry and feels guilty he never told the team about the man and the mission went wrong. Now Luca is injured. He plans to deal with this alone but Street tells him he is feeding into the man’s wishes. They come up with a plan.

Hondo heads to meet the man named Novak. He was released from prison in Mexico early. Now he is wanted in the US. Hondo will get him across the border if he frees the officers. They plan to meet up. When Hondo arrives an associate of Novak’s tells him the plan has changed.

Hondo is brought to an airstrip. The team hides in the distance. They shoot Novak after he attempts to kill the officers. A shoot-out takes place. Novak tries to take off with his pilot. They shoot out the engine. They take Novak in. Hondo heads home and hugs Nichelle. She is upset but tells Hondo she isn’t going anywhere even if his job is scary.

Hicks and Hondo have a talk. Hicks tells him next time he shouldn’t run. He just needs to talk to them. Hondo thanks his team after. They saved his life and risked their jobs and they never doubted him. They tell him they would follow him anywhere.

## 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

### Guest

* Timothy V. Murphy - Arthur Novak
* Dee Rogers - Charlie
* Gary B. Curtis - Duffy
* Massi Furlan - Pasha Kulpa
* Sahana Srinivasan - Elyse
* Eric Aude - LAPD Officer
* Janab Kareem - LAPD Photographer

## Trivia

* This is also the 100th episode of this series.

### Notes

* SWAT Team are chasing down the van, while Hondo is flying up the chopper.
* Nichelle is watching the fake video in computer about Hondo.
* Hondo sees Arthur Novak at the restaurant, after he was release from prisoned.
* Darryl and Leroy Henderson was mentioned, but do not appear in this episode.
* SWAT Team saves Lumbard and Birch.
* Hondo finally captures Novak outside the plane and arrested him.
* At the end, Hondo and friends want to take a group photo for the team.

### Goofs

* During Hondo's telephone conversations with Novak, SWAT doesn't try once to trace the location of the cell phone he is using, although they frequently do this in other stories.
* During the shootout at the warehouse, the team use the car as protection from the shooters. It would serve as visual cover but the bullets from the shooters can easily penetrate the roof and door skins of the car, hitting whoever is behind them.

**Deaths**

* 1 (killed by Alonso)
* 1 (killed by Street)
* 1 (killed by Novak)

## Quotes

**Hondo Harrelson**: [after watching a video of himself seemingly shooting two police officers] What the hell is this?
**Nichelle**: Okay, that's you. But that can't be you.
**Hondo Harrelson**: That video is fake.
**Nichelle**: But it was taken off of a real LAPD body cam.
[Hondo's landline rings]
**Hondo Harrelson**: Someone's setting me up, Nichelle. I was here with you all night.
**Nichelle**: I know, but the whole world is gonna see this. What are you gonna do? You have to call your boss. He'll sort this out, keep you safe.
**Hondo Harrelson**: [checks his phone and sees he has multiple missed calls and text messages from Deacon, Hicks, Luca, and Street] No, I can't. Hicks'll bench me. He might even have to arrest me.
**Nichelle**: But you have an alibi. I'll tell them...
**Hondo Harrelson**: The word of my girlfriend ain't gonna hold up against video evidence. Or at least not until this thing gets debunked.
**Nichelle**: Hondo, two police cars just pulled into your driveway. What if... Do they think you really did this?
**Hondo Harrelson**: Baby, I gotta go. I gotta leave right now.
**Nichelle**: What? No!
**Hondo Harrelson**: Look, if someone's really trying to set me up, it might only be the beginning. I can't be tied to a desk or sitting in a cell waiting for the other shoe to drop. You'll be safe with the officers. Just tell them the truth. Everything's gonna be okay.
**Nichelle**: Where are you going?
**Hondo Harrelson**: To find out who the hell's behind this.

**Deacon Kay**: This lot's registered as Kulpa's current business address. Luca, right. Chris, left. Tan, door.
**Victor Tan**: Pasha Kulpa! LAPD!
[drills the door open]
**Victor Tan**: Clear!
**Deacon Kay**: That's a lot of computer power for a site that hasn't even broken ground yet.
**Victor Tan**: Kulpa was just here. The computer's still logged in.
[plays a video]
**Fake Hondo**: [on the video] My name is Daniel Harrelson...
**Victor Tan**: This must be the original video. The one they manipulated to look and sound like Hondo.
**Deacon Kay**: Kulpa probably edited the video here. This is proof that the Hondo video's fake.
**Fake Hondo**: I'm done waiting for the department to clean itself up.
[aims a gun at Lombard and Birch, but doesn't shoot]
**Fake Hondo**: That good?
**Fake Hondo accomplice**: Yeah, we're good.
**Victor Tan**: The gunshots were fake, but that's still the real Lombard and Birch, which means...
**Deacon Kay**: They might still be alive.