Bad Faith

**"Bad Faith"** is the second episode of the third season in the remade version of *S.W.A.T.*, and the forty-seventh episode overall, which was aired on October 9, 2019.

## Summary

Lt. Lynch pulls the SWAT team's focus when the mayor tasks her with enacting a department review of the squads just as they pursue the unstable and dangerous fugitive leader of an infamous doomsday cult. Meanwhile, Luca asks the team to invest in his new passion project, a Guatemalan food truck.

## Recap

Lynch is conducting an office review on the team to add more members but Hicks feels as if there is a different motive. Luca has an idea to get the other team members to open a Guatemalan food truck with him but the members don’t have the funds financially.

The team responds to a disturbance call at a psychiatric facility. They rally up all the patients running loose and wild only to discover that Ruth Pearson is gone. The widow of cult leader Wayne Pearson, Ruth had previously assisted her husband in carrying out a mass doomsday suicide plot that succeeded in killing a large number of people before SWAT had managed to intervene. Her husband had been killed and Ruth arrested, serving her time at a psychiatric facility as a patient. She had initiated a plan involving help from an accomplice posing as a new custodian who smuggled a gun in to help her escape.

After some investigating, the team discovers her three accomplices, including the fake custodian, are her sons. New evidence emerges that Ruth is planning a do-over of the suicide temple massacre and that ex-members of the cult are helping. Tan follows a lead on Theo, one of Ruth’s sons, as he's breaking into a car. Eventually, Theo is cornered by Tan and with nowhere to run, he pours gasoline and lights himself on fire and runs towards Tan, prompting them to shoot him.

Hondo goes to talk to ex-temple member Kai who has opened up a place for members who want to escape, hoping to figure out the thinking of Ruth and her new doomsday plans. Hondo gets information from Kai that Ruth has about 35 followers going to sacrifice themselves alongside her.

Chris and Deacon try to help a Clare who is missing and pregnant that is being held captive by Ruth. They get a lead on where she might be but they soon learn the woman they find isn't Clare and not pregnant but instead a decoy and distraction.

Ruth heads over to a motel to track down Josh and Jasmine, two members who are trying to flee the cult, and force them to join the suicide mission. Held captive by gunpoint by her and her sons, they are the last members needed to make the 36 which she claims as her convoy to fulfill her plan.

They have the member who acted like Clare in custody and Chris interrogates her to try to get information on a location as to where Ruth is headed. The team follows a lead to the park where Ruth is.

Ruth is gearing up her plan and has her followers seated in a circle around her. At her cue, they each pour gasoline over themselves and the four attempted runaway members bound and gagged in the center. As she's about to set them on fire, the SWAT team stop her and gunshots are exchanged between them and her sons. Ruth and her son Ben escape with hostages, Deacon and Hondo going after them in pursuit. Deacon manages to save the hostage and Hondo corners Ruth in a abandoned shed. As she points her gun at him, Hondo takes his shot at Ruth, hitting her in her leg.

Chris takes the real Clare into custody as she is the one who's been actively recruiting members to the cult. Kai issues an apology to Hondo for pulling a gun on him years back when Hondo first responded to Ruth and Wayne's suicide massacre.

Hondo invests in Luca's food truck. Lynch is moving into SWAT headquarters as an outside consultant as she and the mayor plan to utilize the SWAT team more on the streets and make changes in the department, a plan that doesn’t sit well with Hondo or Hicks.

## Cast

### Main

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

### Recurring

* Cathy Cahlin Ryan - Dr. Wendy Hughes
* Michael Marc Friedman - Sergeant Becker

### Guest

* Rebecca Tilney - Pam
* Robert Rusler - Leo Moretti
* Rebecca Wisocky - Ruth Pearson
* Colt D. McLean - Ben
* Danny Hamouie - Dylan Wheady
* Ellie Bensinger - Nicole
* Melissa Saint-Amand - Vega
* Kelly Blatz - Kai
* Blanca Araceli - Xiomara
* Jessica Edmonds - Bernice
* Kimberly Dooley - Nurse Miller
* Steven Allerick - Guard
* Chris Reed - Gus
* Gustavo Reza - Worker
* Kaitlyn Jenkins - Jasmine Delgado
* Tim Fox - Josh Palmer
* Joshua Tessier - Theo Pearson

## Trivia

* Piper Lynch is the new replacement for Jessica Cortez where she moved the FBI.
* Xiomara is the one cooking Guatemalan food.

**Deaths**

* 1 (burning and shots by Street and Tan)
* 1 (killed by Alonso)
* 1 (killed by Hondo)
* 2 (killed by Deacon)

## Quotes

**R. Hicks**: Sergeants Harrelson and Becker. You remember Lieutenant Detective Lynch from the mayor's office?
**Becker**: Sure. Hello, ma'am.
**Hondo**: Nice to see you again, Lieutenant.
**Lt. Lynch**: Sergeants
**R. Hicks**: It seems that SWAT has piqued the interest of some of the power that be in the city, and they want Lieutenant Detective Lynch here for the day to, um... how'd the memo put it?
**Lt. Lynch**: Conduct a departmental review. Past few days, I've been reading your strike reports and personnel files in the city archives. Boy, that was a test of my dust allergy. And no question, SWAT deserves its rep as the best.
**R. Hicks**: It's an expectation we welcome.
**Lt. Lynch**: Now I'm ready for some firsthand observation and conversations with boots on the ground. Shall we start with you?
**Becker**: Yes, ma'am.
**R. Hicks**: You can use the office across the hall.
**Lt. Lynch**: Thanks. Commander.