Forget It Dex, It's Stumptown.

Dex looks at a picture of Benny

**Forget It Dex, It's Stumptown.** is the first episode of the first season and the 1st overall episode of **Stumptown**.

## Short Summary

Dex Parios - a strong, assertive and sharp-witted Marine Corps combat veteran with a complicated love life, gambling debt and a brother to take care of - works as a PI in Portland, Oregon. With only herself to rely on, she solves other people's messes with a blind eye toward her own, finding herself at odds with the police and in the firing line of criminals.

## Full Summary

Whale is driving. While Dill looks on from the passenger side, Whale takes a sip of coffee and starts to describe it. He guesses that it's Ethiopian, but Dill says it's actually Kenyan. They both hear banging coming from the trunk and a woman calls out, asking them to free her. They drive over a bump and the cassette in the car starts to play "Sweet Caroline." They first try to stop it, but then start to sing along instead. As they sing, a tube sneaks out between the back seats and Dex Parios sprays the contents of a fire hydrant into the car. In their confusion, Dill and Whale are distracted and Dex comes into the car from the trunk and starts to fight them. The fight continues until Dex notices a car in their way and Whale quickly swerves to avoid hitting it, sending them into a construction site where they drive up a ramp and fly through the air.

***Three Days Earlier:* Whispering Winds Casino**

Dex is sitting at the bar, picking at the label on her beer bottle. Rob sits beside her and asks if it's a nervous habit. She says it's just a regular habit. Rob asks if she's local and she says she is. Then he tells her he's from out of town. He has to leave early in the morning, but he's up too late anyway. He thinks his time in "the 'Stan" has messed up his internal clock. She looks up at that and listens as he talks about his time in Afghanistan. She then reveals that she knows he's lying. He doesn't know the local language is Pashto and his credit card doesn't match the dog tags he's wearing. She knows he's trying to hook up with her at her place, which is why he asked if she was local. They can't go to his place because there's another woman there.

Dex is gambling. She's got enough money for water and power and now she's playing for beer and cable. The dealer asks her if she's sure and she is. She needs eight, but rolls a seven and loses all her money. Hollis Green approaches her and tells her she's such a bad gambler because she doesn't know when to quit. He then tells her the boss wants a word with her.

Dex asks Sue Lynn for a $2,000 marker so she can keep gambling. Sue Lynn says she already owes the casino $11,000 and she just blew her disability check at the craps table. Dex says she'll get them the money. Sue Lynn tells her it's not a collections call. Her granddaughter, Nina, has run away again. Dex tells her to cancel her credit card and Nina will come home. Sue Lynn says she left her credit card and car at home and has been gone for three days. She doesn't trust the police and wants Dex to find her. She has a military medal for finding people. Sue Lynn then says she thought Dex would want to help because of how close she was with Benny. Dex is upset that Sue Lynn said she wasn't good enough for Benny, but now she's good enough to go find Benny's daughter. Sue Lynn says she needs someone she can trust. Dex says war ended for her 12 years ago and turns down the job.

Dex arrives at home and finds her brother, Ansel, who tosses her a soccer ball and asks if she wants to play. She says no, because it's late and he needs to go to sleep. He says he wanted to see how much she lost. She says she got a job offer, but she's not sure she's going to take it, even though they need the money. She makes him swear to brush and floss his teeth and not go to bed with his boots. He asks if they're going to be okay and she assures him that they are and sends him to bed.

Dex is in her kitchen, drinking a beer. She calls Hollis and tells him she'll do the job if they clear her debt and give her $1,000 for expenses. After she hangs up, she pulls a photo of her with a man, presumably Benny, out of a drawer and looks at it.

Grey McConnell is dumbfounded that Dex is agreeing to work for Sue Lynn after what Sue Lynn did. Dex says he has an opening to worry about it and he says he does and asks Ansel to help him stain some chairs later. Grey says he could use Dex's help behind the bar, but she says she's not steady job material and would just screw it up, then he'd have to fire her in front of her brother and it would be awkward. They agree they just saved a perfectly nice friendship. Dex thanks him for his help with Ansel and leaves.

Dex goes to see Lucy Tang, one of Nina's friends. She pretends to be a cop, but Lucy knows she's lying because she's driving a run-down car and doesn't have a badge. Dex goops the ruse and just asks Lucy for information, but Lucy won't talk. She says she hasn't heard from Nina in a week and doesn't know anything. Dex gets in her car and drives away. After she's gone, Lucy takes her phone and calls Nina, leaving her a message to call her grandma. Dex runs up behind her and grabs the phone. She sees texts with Nina, including a picture of her with a boy, Michael Jones, at a motel near the airport.

Dex goes to the motel and pulls the fire alarm to draw everyone out of their rooms. She spots Michael and after the alarm has passed, she goes to the door. She sees that they have tickets to Los Angeles. Michael wants to call the cops, but Dex says transporting a minor across state lines is a jailable offense. Nina says she's the one who bought the tickets. They're going to elope. She doesn't have a ring because Michael's saving up for one.

In the car, Dex takes the parking ticket off her windshield and throws it in her backseat. Nina's upset that Dex is taking her back. She thinks Dex is doing to her and Michael what Sue Lynn did to Dex and Benny. What happened with Dex and Benny is the whole reason Nina is eloping with Michael. She doesn't want the same thing to happen to her. Suddenly, the car behind them runs into them, causing the cassette in the car to start playing again. Dex is irritated and handcuffs Nina to the steering wheel while Nina tries to turn off the cassette, which Dex tells her is a mix tape that came with the car. Dex gets out and starts to tell the other driver that the dent matches all the others, but then the other driver, Dill, punches her. As she lies on the ground, she has flashbacks to Afghanistan. Dill then tells Whale to go get Nina. Dex tells Nina to run, but she can't because of the handcuffs. While Dex fights Dill, Whale uses a knife to open the handcuffs. Dex pulls Whale off Nina, but Dill grabs her and they force her into the back of the car and drive off with her, leaving Dex bleeding by her car.

Dex is sitting in the back of the ambulance on the phone with Sue Lynn, explaining what happened. Sue Lynn is upset and hangs up on her. She's then approached by Miles Hoffman, who introduces himself and asks her what happened. She says she already told two other cops, but he says she'll probably have to tell a few more at the station. She doesn't want to go to the station because she needs to be looking for Nina. She tries to leave, but Miles says he's going to have to arrest her, for fourteen unpaid parking tickets.

Dex waits in an interrogation room. Miles finally comes in, along with Bobby Cosgrove. There's no word on Nina, but they found the kidnappers' car, which was stolen. Dex asks if the boyfriend gave them anything useful. She knows they've talked to him because she's been in the room for two hours drinking Portland's worst coffee and the boyfriend is always the first place you look. Miles says Michael told them she forced her way into the room and took Nina against her will. Dex says she's seventeen, so she's not allowed to have her own will. They also ask her about her connection to Nina and she repeats what she already told them about dating Benny in college before he went on to marry someone else. They believe Dex was involved in the kidnapping or she led the kidnappers to Nina.

Grey thanks Ansel for helping him with stuff at the bar. He gets a phone call from the police station.

Dex thanks Grey for bailing her out. He says he'll add it to her tab. She knows she messed up, but now she needs to talk to the boyfriend again. The cops already talked to him, but it's not about what questions you ask, but how you ask them. Grey wants her to let the cops handle it, but she won't. Miles comes up to them and apologizes to her for how things went in the room before Grey and Dex leave.

The kidnappers tie Nina up and tape her mouth closed as she begs to be released. They cut off part of her jacket and tell her things can always get worse.

Dex talks to Michael about him and Nina. He says there's no way Sue Lynn would approve of him and Nina, which is why they had to run away to be together. Then Dex ruined it. Dex wants to make it right for them. She needs him to tell her anything he knows, things Nina told him and made him promise never to tell anyone. She tells him about her history of interrogating people. Michael finally tells her about Baxter Hall, who used to do business with Sue Lynn. Then opioids starting showing up on the reservation, so she intercepted one of his shipments and torched it, meaning he lost a lot of money. He might be trying to get that money back from Sue Lynn another way. Michael doesn't know where to find Baxter Hall, but Dex says she knows someone who might.

Sue Lynn has received a package with the piece of Nina's jacket that was cut off and a note demanding $2 million and saying if they see police, the next box will contain Nina's fingers. There's sawdust in the box, but no blood. Cosgrove says they need to ask Sue Lynn some questions, but Sue Lynn says if she knew who was responsible, Nina would be home and they'd be counting that guy's fingers in a box. Cosgrove wants to talk to Nina's parents, but her mother is too distressed and her father died serving his country in Afghanistan. Cosgrove says they'll need to review all the casino footage and all their business associates. Sue Lynn demands that her people be involved every step of the way, but Cosgrove says they usually operate independently. Sue Lynn says in her office, they're guests of the confederated tribes and she's looking forward to them working together for once.

Dex approaches Tookie Alvarez at his taco truck and asks if he needs a hand back there. He tells her she was the worst short-order cook in Stumptown. She put mustard on a taco. She says she only did that one time. He asks what happened to her face and she asks the same question of him.

Tookie and Dex are sitting at a table. She asks how the taco trade is and he says there's all this pressure now to make fancier tacos. It used to be that a taco was a taco, but the competition and social media has changed all that. She tells him she needs his help to find Baxter Hall. He says that guy is bad news and Dex should stay away, but Dex says that's not an option. Reluctantly, he tells her where she might find Baxter, but warns her to be careful.

Dex goes to Counter Culture, where she finds that the bouncer, Todd, is a past one-night stand. He's upset because she never called him, but lets her in the club anyway.

Inside the club, she says she's there to see Baxter and gets shown to him. He asks if she brought the money. Thinking he's talking about the ransom, she says yes. It's nearby, but she needs to see the girl first. He says the girl is nearby, but he needs assurances first. He asks if she's a cop and she says she isn't. That's what a cop would say, so he has to check for a wire.

He leads her outside and says a lot of people are looking for the girl. It wasn't easy getting her there. Dex asks where she is and he thinks she's kidding as he tells her about the car that's out in the alley. It's rare and perfect. Dex pretends to look over the car and even asks to listen to her purr. Just then, another woman, the actual buyer, arrives. Baxter gets called away to talk to her and when the truth comes out, Dex quickly drives away in the car. Baxter is in shock at what happened.

As she drives away, Dex gets a call from Miles, who says that Nina has been returned. He wants Dex to come down to the station the next day to talk about it.

Dex drives the car to the valet stand at the casino, tosses him the keys, and tells him to keep it before going inside.

Hollis tells Dex that Nina was dropped off a mile down the road, not a hair out of place. Dex is sure Nina gave the police enough to catch the guys and Hollis agrees. Dex talks to Sue Lynn and tells her it wouldn't be right to keep the advance, so she tries to return it. Sue Lynn says it was her mistake for hiring someone not suited to the job. Dex leaves the money on the counter and leaves.

Dex is driving home angrily and starts to have flashbacks to Afghanistan again. She makes a series of phone calls trying to find someone to hook up with for the night. She gets no takers, so she makes one final call asking if she can some talk.

Dex shows up at Miles' apartment and starts kissing him. He asks what they're doing and she says they're having fun.

Miles asks if she wants something to drink, but she says she doesn't. She has something she needs to do. He points out that it's 2 AM. She sees a board in his house with post-its on it. He says they help him track leads and mysteries. He has some that are trying to figure out what happened between her and Benny. Dex picks up the file on Nina and learns that Sue Lynn wouldn't let Nina talk to the police. Miles says Nina was dropped off right in front of the casino, which conflicts with what Hollis told Dex. Miles says the case has been handed off to the feds and Dex is upset that he's giving up on it. Dex grabs her jacket and leaves.

Dex goes to Grey's bar and upsets him on the case. He took care of Ansel when Dex didn't come home. He asks Dex if it was someone she knows or another one-night stand. He wants her to start dealing with her PTSD, but she's more concerned with Nina and the kidnapping.

Ansel sees Dex looking at the picture of her and Benny and says he misses Benny, who was always nice to him. He suggests going to the park to kick the ball and pretend he won a game, because that always cheers him up. She says she'll take him to the park. She puts the picture away and pulls out the ring, saying they need to make a stop first because she needs a win.

Dex pulls up outside the motel, leaves Ansel in the car with her phone, and goes to Michael's room. She gives the ring to Michael to give to Nina.

Outside, Ansel has left the car and is kicking his ball in the parking lot.

Dex tells Michael about how Benny let his family talk him out of giving her the ring and by the time he decided to do what he wanted, it was too late. She doesn't want that to happen to Michael and Nina. Then she realizes something's off and asks him what he did to Nina. He shuts the door as Dill and Whale come out and knock Dex out. They tell Michael to go take Nina and get the money while they deal with Dex.

Ansel watches as Dex's car pulls out of the driveway without him.

Grey picks up the phone. It's Ansel telling him that Dex left him. Grey calls Miles and tells him what happened. Miles puts a BOLO out on Dex's car.

Dex is trapped in the trunk and hears Dill and Whale talking about the coffee. She calls out.

As Hollis prepares the ransom money, Sue Lynn talks to Michael on the phone to say she's held up her end of the deal.

Nina breaks free of her restraints and pulls the tape off her mouth. She tries to break out of the room she's in.

Dex finds the fire extinguisher and sprays it into the car. She fights with Dill and Whale and they end up swerving to avoid a car, which sends them into a construction site and up a ramp. When they land, all three of them exit the car. Dex fights both of them, holds them at gunpoint, and asks where Nina is.

Nina is running and finds Michael. She tells Michael they have to get out before the kidnappers come back. Then she realizes Michael's in on it.

Sue Lynn arrives at the lumber yard for the ransom exchange.

Dex is driving her car when a cop car spots her and starts following her. She continues to drive with Dill and Whale in her trunk.

Miles gets the call that Dex's car has been located and drives to join the chase.

Sue Lynn puts down the money and Michael pushes Nina toward her as he grabs the money.

More police cars have joined the chase.

Michael points a gun at Nina and Sue Lynn, but they soon hear the sirens. Michael tries to run, but Dex circles him. Then she pulls alongside him and uses her door to knock him down. She kicks the gun away from him and holds up her hands as the cops get out and point their guns as Miles tells them not to shoot. Miles asks if she's okay. She says yeah and there's two more in her trunk.

Dex checks in with Nina and apologizes. Nina says she saved her life. Sue Lynn admits that Dex might have been the right person for the job. Dex gets in her car, which starts with difficulty.

Grey's bar has opened. Dex congratulates him and thanks him for helping with Ansel and bailing her out and calling her out. He says it's nothing, but she says it's everything. Miles comes up beside her and gives her her ring back. He thanks her for helping with Nina and says if she wants to do another job like that, he has a friend who's in a jam and will pay her to help. He gives her his friend's number and tells her to pay her parking tickets so he doesn't have to arrest her again. After he's gone, she asks Grey if she should call. He doesn't think she should, but it's a paying job. It might keep her out of trouble. Ansel joins them and they toast.

## Cast

* Dex Parios
* Grey McConnell
* Sue Lynn Blackbird
* Ansel Parios
* Tookie Alvarez
* Bobby Cosgrove
* Miles Hoffman
* Whale
* Baxter Hall
* Nina Blackbird
* Hollis Green
* Dill
* Michael Jones
* Rob
* Lucy Tang
* Other Woman
* Dealer
* CSI Tech
* Bouncer Todd
1/19
### Main Cast

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

### Guest Stars

* Joe Pingue as Whale
* Jon Bass as Baxter Hall
* Blu Hunt as Nina Blackbird
* Gregory Zaragoza as Hollis Green
* Dusty Sorg as Dill
* Dylan Colton as Michael Jones

### Co-Starring

* Toby Levins as Rob
* Mika Bantog as Lucy
* Natalie Gibson as Other Woman
* Everick Golding as Dealer
* Thomas Hum as CSI Tech
* Clayton Chitty as Bouncer

## Cases

### Nina Blackbird

Sue Lynn Blackbird hired Dex to find her granddaughter, Nina, who had disappeared three days prior. Since Dex owed the casino $11,000, Dex agreed to do it if they cleared it and gave her another $1,000 for expenses. She started by looking at Nina's friend. She used Lucy Tang and managed to get her phone away and looked through the texts sent between them. She noticed Nina mentioned Michael, a boyfriend, and there was a picture with a hotel sign in the background. She went to the hotel and pulled the fire alarm to draw them out of the room. She went to the room and saw tickets to Los Angeles. They said they were eloping, but Dex took Nina with her. On their way back to the casino, someone rear-ended Dex's car. She handcuffed Nina to the steering wheel and went to talk to the other driver. The other driver punched her and after a struggle, he and his passenger kidnapped Nina. Dex was detained by police and she told them what she knew about Nina. They told her Nina's boyfriend had told them that Dex kidnapped her. With no leads, Dex went back to Michael, who told her that Baxter Hall had brought opioids onto the reservation and Sue Lynn had it torched, causing bad blood. Dex went to Tookie and asked for his help finding Baxter Hall, which he gave reluctantly. She went to the club where Baxter was operating and found him. She pretended she had the ransom money to get him to show her the girl. When she realized he was talking about a car instead of Nina, she drove off in the car. She then learned that Nina was back home with her grandma and panicked. She dropped the car and keys off with a valet, telling him to keep it. Dex then learned that Sue Lynn and Hollis gave conflicting stories on Nina's return. Dex made the decision to give Michael her friend from Benny to give to Nina, but when she arrived to give it to him, she noticed something was off. She realized Michael was in on the kidnapping all along. Dill and Whale knocked her out and took her while Michael prepared to do the ransom drop. Dex managed to escape from the trunk and subdued Dill and Whale. Then she led the cops to the site where the ransom drop was happening. She disarmed Michael and left him and the others for the police to arrest.

## Music

"Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond"Heat of the Night" - Simplistics"Heart of Glass" - Blondie"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" - Elton John and Kiki Dee"Buena Onda" - Lee Richardson, Jonathan Murrill, Tom Ford, James Cocozza, Harold Alejandro Guerrero Echavarria"Drip" - Tia P."I Think We're Alone Now" - Tiffany"Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond"Love Train" - The O'Jays"Think (About It)" - Lyn Collins
## Notes and Trivia

* This episode scored 4.61 million viewers.
* This episode contains flashbacks.