Missed Connections

Grey and Ansel play video games six years ago

**Missed Connections** is the second episode of the first season and the 2nd overall episode of **Stumptown**.

## Short Summary

Dex is hired by a wealthy man to search for a woman whom he recently met, but she quickly learns that the task is not as simple as it seems. Meanwhile, Dex and Grey's history unfolds.

## Full Summary

**Six Years Ago**

Dex is at a convenience store, buying a beer. A robber comes in as the clerk is ringing it up. He holds a gun on the clerk and has him open the register. While he waits, he turns to Dex and compliments her hat, which is from a Fiona X show. Once the clerk has emptied the register, the robber turns to Dex and asks for her money as well. She gives it to him, but she doesn't have much. He wants the hat as well. The clerk pushes the alarm and when the robber notices, he goes to point the gun back at him, but Dex picks up a can and hits him with it. A fight ensues and she's able to get the gun away from him. She points it at him and he runs out the door. Dex goes to pay for her beer, but the clerk tells her just to take it.

Outside the store, she runs into a man and drops her beer, shattering it on the ground. It's Grey, who offers to buy her a new drink.

**The Morning After 9:42 A.M.**

Dex wakes up and hears Grey snoring. She gets out of bed quietly and tries to sneak out, but she accidentally sets off the alarm when she opens the door, which wakes Grey. He tells her not to touch the pad and gets up to turn the alarm off. She didn't think a place like that would have an alarm. He wants to offer her a drink, but he's starting a detox cleanse, so he offers her some of that. She thanks him for the previous night and can't remember his name. He reveals that he remembers everything about her. He tries to introduce himself more properly, but Dex says it was just one night, so they probably shouldn't get to know each other too much.

**Present Day**

Grey mixes up a detox cleanse. Dex says it goes against everything she believes it, but he tells her it's three days and she does this every year. She takes a sip and grimaces. A woman sitting nearby says they're cute together. Grey asks if she called the guy, Miles' guy. She says she did and he wanted to know if his wife was cheating on him. She told him she was and that was that. Grey asks why she didn't tell him that after she got paid. Ansel comes up to the bar and tells Dex he lost his phone. He didn't use the belt clip she bought him because it's not cool, which Grey agrees with. Grey pushes a drink across the bar, but tells Dex it's not for her. It's for a man sitting at a nearby booth.

Dex gives Allen Watkins the drink and tells him to enjoy. Before she can leave, he asks her for her help. She sits down and he tells her about meeting a woman. They had a connection, but then the number she gave him wasn't in service. He wants Dex to find her. She tries to break the news that it may have been intentional gently, but then he offers to pay her $1,000, so she asks for more details. He tells her everything he knows about Katrina. Dex sets her conditions and he agrees. He thought that kind of connection was once in a lifetime. He had it with his late wife and didn't think he'd ever have it again. He doesn't want to miss it if it is real.

**The Morning After 9:48 A.M.**

Grey opens the door and is surprised to see Dex, whom he was never supposed to see again. It's only been 15 seconds. She forgot that her car had broken down and he drove her there last night. She was going to look at a car and wants him to drive her.

**The Morning After 10:18 A.M.**

Dex talks to the salesperson while Grey checks out the car. The tape deck has a mind of its own. He's surprised Dex is considering buying it. Grey tries to talk her out of it, saying if she buys it, it'll break down and he'll have to fix it. It's $600, so Dex buys it.

**Present Day**

Dex pulls up in front of the bar where Allen met Katrina and tries to hand her car off the valet, but the directions for how to drive it are so complex that he says he'll just leave it there.

The bartender remembers Katrina. The bartender doesn't want to help Dex find Katrina, but when the manager approaches, Dex hints that she'll involve the police for the bartender serving a minor. The manager nods at the bartender, who says she called a cab for Katrina. They give Dex the cab company's number.

Dex arrives at Katrina's apartment building. She asks a woman coming out to hold the door, but she lets it shut. Dex calls every apartment in the building and fakes having a food delivery to be let in.

Dex gets to Katrina's apartment and hears fighting. She knocks and Doug answers the door. They chat briefly and he shuts the door and the fighting starts again. Dex knocks again and when he answers, she says she can come back with the police if he wants. Dex sees Doug go after Katrina and pushes her way into the room. They fight and Dex ultimately tells Doug to get out and that Katrina doesn't want to see him again. Then she asks Katrina if she's okay. Katrina says Doug is her ex. Dex says she was hired to find Katrina and takes a moment to catch her breath.

At the car, Katrina says she's surprised Allen hired someone to find her. She was hoping he felt the same as her. She said he was polite, which is why she had to give him a fake number. Katrina asks if she every felt like she wasn't worthy of being with the right person, like she makes a mess of everything. She figured she'd mess things up with Allen, so she didn't want to bother. Now it's different because Dex came there to get her, so maybe that's the universe telling her she's worthy. Dex pulls another parking ticket off the windshield and throws it in the backseat.

Dex takes Katrina to the restaurant where Allen is waiting. He has a glass mustang for her. Allen hands Dex her payment as Katrina sits down. Dex leaves them alone to talk.

Dex talks to Grey as he works on her plumbing. She thinks the whole situation with Allen was weird. Grey asks what his cut is for leading her to the case. She says it's more like matchmaking, which is apparently what she does now. She grabs a beer out of the fridge to celebrate cracking a case, but he tells her to put it back. Ansel comes in and asks if she downloaded the app to find his phone. She forgot but finds out when she looks at her phone that the check for Allen bounced. Dex asks Grey to keep an eye on Ansel while she goes to get her money.

As she pulls up in front of the house, she hears a phone ringing. It's Ansel's, which she finds under the seat. She answers the phone call and tells them she doesn't speak English before hanging up.

She rings the bell, but no one answers. The door is cracked, so she goes in. She finds out that Allen is super rich as she explores the house. She finds the glass mustang broken on the floor, so she grabs a fireplace poker to investigate a noise. She tracks the noise to a dog. She asks the dog where her daddy is and then gets knocked out from behind.

Miles gives Dex an ice pack and asks if she's okay. She's okay, but not sure why she's still at the police station. Cosgrove tells Dex that breaking and entering is a serious crime. Dex says her client stiffed her, which is also a crime. It's also illegal to operate as a private investigator without a license. Cosgrove asks if Allen knew she wasn't licensed when he hired her. Dex says that both Allen and Katrina could be in danger. She thinks Katrina's ex, Doug, could be behind it. Dex asks if she can leave, but Cosgrove says not until the charge against her is resolved.

Outside the room, Dex asks Miles if he can do something. He says he can't give her special treatment just because they slept together. Miles sees Denise walk in and tells Dex to wait by the reception desk for him.

Miles asks Denise if she's all right. She got a speeding ticket and asks if he can help her take care of that. He says he'll do what he can.

From the other side of the room, Dex watches Miles and Denise with curiosity.

**The Afternoon After 12:04 P.M.**

Grey tells Dex that he's coming out of a long-term thing. She jokingly asks if he means parole, then asks how long they were together. He says it was four years. They both agree they aren't looking for anything real. Grey then admits that he did do some time for grand theft. Dex says she's never slept with a convict before. Except Sammy. Grey asks what he did and she corrects that *she* was a compulsive shoplifter. Dex orders a salad and Grey gets water because of his detox. Grey notices what she's ordered and asks the waitress to leave the water chestnuts out because he remembers that she hates them.

**Present Day**

Ansel finds a man in Grey's bar, pouring himself a drink. He tells the man they're closed. The man says the door was open and he's looking for Grey. Ansel tells him Grey's not there. He and Grey are old friends, he says. He figures out that Ansel works there and asks if he has keys to the office, which he doesn't. He asks Ansel more questions, but Ansel doesn't give solid answers. The man then tries to give Ansel some money, but Ansel refuses and the man leaves.

Miles is questioning Doug Blix, who says he never hurt anybody. He loved Kaitlin, the name he knew Katrina by. He found out she was stealing for him, which is silly because if she'd asked for the money, he would have given it to her.

Miles tells Dex about Kaitlin Washko AKA Katrina AKA Kendra, suspected of financial fraud in three cases. She's a con artist, and a good one. She's drained multiple wealthy marks. That's why Dex's check bounced. She had an accomplice as well, Megan Miller. Dex remembers her as the woman who wouldn't hold the door at Katrina's apartment building. Megan's done the same work with other partners, and is tied to a murder as well, but they couldn't pin it on her. Dex says they're holding Allen and they're going to drain him and then kill him. Dex wants to go find him, but Miles tells her to go home. He says he'll call her if they get a break, but she tells him not to bother.

Grey feels guilty for his part in her working with Allen. Dex feels bad because she fell for it. Then the bank gets them back off hold and, with Dex's help, Grey gets Dex's number added to Allen's bank account fraud detection alerts.

Cosgrove talks to Miles about his work with Dex. He says Dex is good, but Cosgrove doesn't want him compromising his professional integrity for her. Miles uses a jazz metaphor to explain why he likes to work with Dex. He has a handle on her and wants to use that for as long as he can.

Dex's phone chimes with a fraud alert. Grey asks if she's going to call the cops and she lies and says she'll do it on the way. He begs her as she leaves to call the cops. After she's gone, Ansel comes in. He's been practicing outside. He tells Grey about the friend coming by. When Grey figures out who it was, he's agitated.

Dex arrives at the location where the fraud alert was flagged. She sees Allen come out and tells him his check bounced.

Dex asks Allen if he's in danger. He's not. Dex tries to convince him not to play into the scheme. Allen says she wants out. Megan's the dangerous one and Katrina needs to pay her off to get out of the work. Dex wants him to take the cops to do the drop, but he refuses. Dex slips Ansel's phone into Allen's car as he goes to leave. He stops briefly to pay Dex, but remembers that will leave him short, so he asks if he can pay her tomorrow.

The man from before enters Grey's bar. Grey recognizes him as Jack Feeney and they hug. It's been ten years since they last saw each other. Jack's been back in prison since then. Jack says he got a call from Frank, letting him know Kane was calling in on his money and is sending Frank to collect it. Grey says Kane doesn't need the money as he's in for life. Grey realizes Jack blew through almost all the money. He wants to know if Grey has the money to cover his half. Grey used the money to buy his bar. Grey says the bar is successful, so he can pay it off. Jack says Kane's not going to go for getting it back in installments. He suggests Grey burn the bar for the insurance money. Grey refuses, so Jack says the other option is to get on the road. Grey looks over at Ansel, who is wiping down the bar, and says he can't do that. Everyone he loves is there. Jack wishes him luck and says he's leaving, because a moving target is harder to hit.

Dex follows the phone tracker to find Allen.

**The Afternoon After 4:42 P.M.**

Dex is making sandwiches while Grey and Ansel play video games. Grey comes to talk to Dex and asks her to go get dinner with him, just the two of them. She agrees and hands Grey Ansel's sandwich to take it to him. Once he's turned away, Dex drinks straight out of a bottle.

Dex drinks some of the cleanse drink as she drives and gags. She's still tracking Ansel's phone and arrives at an inn, where she sees Allen's car in the parking lot. She pleads with a housekeeper to let her into the room, saying her husband is in there with another woman. When that doesn't work, she bribes the woman. The woman tells her to give him hell and opens the door. They see Allen with a plastic bag over his head, which sends the housekeeper away screaming. Megan then lunges at Dex with a lamp and they start fighting.

Dex and Megan continue fighting. Megan thinks it's funny how they keep crossing paths and says she should have hit Dex harder at Allen's house. They start fighting again and Megan tries to choke Dex. Dex breaks free and then uses the phone on the bedside table to knock Megan out. Then she gets the bag off Allen's head and asks him where Katrina is.

Dex approaches Katrina, who asks where Allen is and if he's okay.

Katrina is being questioned. She admits that Allen was supposed to be a mark, but not to kill. She's never killed anyone. But when they met, something clicked. She gave him the wrong number so he wouldn't get caught up in her mess. But then Dex brought her back to Allen and she was honest with him, telling him everything. He told her he believed her and wanted to save her. So they made a plan to pay Megan off and get her out of their lives. She tried to kill Allen because she can't stand to see Katrina with someone else. Miles says this could be her best con yet. Megan's going to prison and she gets to drive off into the sunset with a rich, naive man.

From the observation room, Cosgrove tells Dex she had some good instincts on the case. If she wants to do the PI thing for real, she needs to do it right and get herself a license. Miles comes in as Cosgrove leaves and asks Dex to explain that to her. She says you don't know what's going on in a relationship unless you're in it and even then not always. She then asks Miles about the woman. Miles says a friend of his was killed and she's his widow. He helps her when he can. A detective comes by and says they have a scene and wants Miles to go with him, so he leaves. Dex watches Katrina through the window.

Katrina comes out to Allen and asks if he's okay. He brought Millie with him and she also greets Millie. Allen gives Dex her money and says he knows it doesn't look like it makes sense, but he hopes she can find it, too.

**The Night After 10:35 P.M.**

Grey gets Dex home. She thanks him for the ride. He says it's ballsy to call the man she stood up for a ride. She had to call someone she trusted. She's known him 24 hours, so that checks out. She doesn't know what happened. Grey says he asked her out, she accepted, and then she went on a bender. That's what happened. Dex says she had it once, with Benny. She tells him about Benny. But it didn't work out and she ran away. He followed her and then he died. She blames herself. She says he seems like a nice guy, but she can't cross the line because if she does, she'll ruin it. He suggests they just not cross the line again. They can be friends. Grey leaves her to sleep it off and says he's starting her on the detox tomorrow.

Grey pours himself and Dex each a drink. Their detox is over. Grey asks if after six years, she has any regrets. She says no. They never crossed the line. They dodged that bullet.

Miles gets to the scene with the other detective and is shown to a body. It's Jack Feeney.

## Cast

* Dex Parios
* Grey McConnell
* Ansel Parios
* Bobby Cosgrove
* Miles Hoffman
* Allen Watkins
* Kaitlin Washko
* Jack Feeney
* Denise
* Doug Blix
* Clerk
* Robber
* Gothy Young Woman
* Valet
* Bartender
* Manager
* Megan Miller
* Car Salesman
* Housekeeper
* Detective
1/20
### Main Cast

* Cobie Smulders as Dex Parios
* Jake Johnson as Grey McConnell
* Tantoo Cardinal as Sue Lynn Blackbird (credit only)
* Cole Sibus as Ansel Parios
* Adrian Martinez as Tookie Alvarez (credit only)
* Camryn Manheim as Lieutenant Bobby Cosgrove
* Michael Ealy as Detective Miles Hoffman

### Guest Stars

* Jay Duplass as Allen Watkins
* Zosia Mamet as Kaitlin Washko
* Austin Amelio as Jack Feeney
* Zulay Henao as Denise
* Jonathan Freeman as Doug Blix

### Co-Starring

* Pablo Soriano as Clerk
* Ali Eldin as Robber
* Cynthia Zitter as Gothy Young Woman
* Sean Thomas Simmons as Valet
* Ileana Chan as Bartender
* Billy Cowart as Manager
* Megan Le as Fedora Woman/Megan
* Chaim Jeraffi as Car Salesman
* Pam Trotter as Housekeeper
* Amani Atkinson as Detective

## Cases

### Miles' Friend

Dex told Grey she called the number Miles gave her. The man wanted to know if his wife was cheating on him. Dex decided to save him time and money and just told him she was.

### Allen Watkins

Allen Watkins hired Dex to find a woman he'd met in a bar and fallen in love with. He told her everything he remembered about the woman and she easily found Katrina and brought her to a diner to talk to Allen. However, the payment check bounced, so she went to Allen's house to get her money. She found the house broken into and was knocked out from behind by an unseen assailant. She believed it was Doug Blix, since she fought with him while retrieving Katrina. She then tracked Allen's bank account fraud alerts and found out Allen had withdrawn $50,000 to give to Katrina's business partner to buy her out of the con artist business, as she had confessed to him that he was originally meant for a mark, but she bailed out after meeting him, which is why she gave him the wrong number. When he went to give Megan the money, she tried to kill him until she was interrupted by Dex, who fought with her and knocked her out with a phone. Megan was arrested for attempted murder and Katrina and Allen were free to start their lives together.

## Music

"Last Dance" - Donna Summer"No Going Back" - Yuno"Heat Of The Moment" - Asia"Come Out and Play" - 3 One Oh"Love Will Keep Us Together" - Captain & Tennille"Brass in Pocket" - The Pretenders"There’s a Rumour" - James Donald Davies"Private Eyes" - Hall & Oates"Collide" - GIVERS
## Notes and Trivia

* This episode scored 3.99 million viewers.
* This episode was produced as the third episode, but aired as the second.

## Quotes

**Katrina:** Did you ever feel like you weren't worthy of being with the right person? Like you make a mess of everything? I just figured I'd ruin it with Allen in the end, so ... You know, why put him through that?
**Dex:** Well, why meet him now? What's different?
**Katrina:** You. Maybe you coming here is the universe telling me that I am worthy.