Pilot

**"Pilot"** is the first episode and series premiere of the first season in the remake version of *S.W.A.T.* which was aired on November 2, 2017.

## Summary

Follows a locally born and bred S.W.A.T. lieutenant, Hondo, who is torn between loyalty to the streets and duty to his fellow officers when he's tasked to run a highly-trained unit that's the last stop for solving crimes in Los Angeles.

## Recap

LAPD arriving at a call, but when they realize they stumbled upon an arms deal, shots are fired and SWAT is called out. Dominic Luca informs the team they are 15 seconds out as the team knows their roles and positions. Buck tells them to fill the gaps and stay liquid; Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson jokes that he says it so often he has it tattooed on his ass. They roll up on the scene and spread out, assisting the LAPD, who have officers down.

Hondo yells they have rabbits, who shoot their way out of the back of the warehouse, hopping fences as SWAT gives chase; two children are scared but told to hide as gunfire continues. The gunmen managed to get to a roadway where they open fire and hijack a car; Hondo is busy physically fighting with one of the gunmen but tells his men to begin their countdown even though they are short a gun; at the last second, Hondo raises his gun, and along with his team, the kill all the hijackers.

As the SWAT team secures the men they shot, Hondo and his men rush over when they learn civilians are shot. Hondo learns EMS is 10 minutes out but the kid doesn’t have 10 minutes, they load him in the truck and rush to the hospital. Hondo carries him to the gurney, after talking about growing up in the same area.

Buck hands over his gun and is escorted away by internal affairs, while the SWAT team watches. Jessica asks them what happened as a whole neighborhood is shot up, she does tell Hondo it was a nice save on his behalf. She tells David "Deacon" Kay the team is his until Buck is cleared for duty.

The team is blowing off steam as they talk about the young Raymont Harris. Luca says it was an accident but Hondo reminds them this is a reality for so many of them in the area. Deacon says tomorrow looks like a busy day and Buck will return soon but until then, they need to make him proud. Hondo joins his woman at home, who doesn’t want to talk about the bad blood in the neighborhood, nor that Buckshot an unarmed kid; she wants to talk about them being more than just a “hook up.” She sits up on the bed and gives him a professional relationship disclosure form, saying it is department policy. She enjoys being with him but refuses to lose her career over this, he agrees to sign it.

Hondo arrives at work the following morning and sees media van outside. Jessica brings him into a back room saying Robert Hicks needs him, tells him to smile and nod. He joins his team as the media gathers, learning that Buck has been terminated as SWAT demands the highest standards; he calls Sgt. Harrelson to join him. He announces that Hondo is the commander of the unit and senior sergeant, thanks to his actions from the previous night.

In private, Hondo shares with Jessica that Hick did that to put a black man in charge in hopes to alleviate some of the anger with black civilians. He says they can see the difference between a press conference and what is really happening on the streets. Hondo feels like he is a mascot and is furious that he is getting community relations while they hand off the gun lead from the previous night to Jeff Mumford. Jessica says if anyone can bridge the gap between the community and the police it is Hondo.

Some of the team is angry that Deacon was overlooked for Hondo, but he comes in saying he isn’t changing anything as they learn they have a new man named Jim Street; he arrives late and is chased in by LAPD, when he gets to the precinct, he tells them to leave the ticket on his motorcycle as he is late for work. Hondo orders him to change his clothes and he is late, informing him SWAT is not about kicking ass but saving lives.

As they wait for Jim, Mumford makes fun of Hondo calling him “Spiderman”; Jim defends him asking if Mumford they are in some kind of drama or if his default button is stuck on “dick mode.”

Hondo and his team walk the grounds, as people he knows want to know if his big promotion is going to help him change things around there. He promises to try as he is told they all will be watching him; others yell at him, asking him which color he is “black or blue”, telling him he needs to pick! Luca and Victor Tan (David Lim) approach Jim, saying they haven’t heard too many good things about him, but he says if he plans on keeping secrets from them, he will let them know.

Hondo asks Deacon to go for a beer, so they can talk about making the team better; Deacon says it depends on the night. The protest begins, as someone talks to the crowd about Raymont being his cousin, innocently getting groceries when the police shot him but before he can continue, shots ring out. Hondo sees where the shots are coming from and SWAT races after him, with Jim in the lead. Once they get on the roof, all that is left is the shell casings; Deacon tells him he is a hot mess and moving too fast. Jim says he got there before anyone else but Hondo gets in his face saying lesson number one is to never be in a hurry to die!

Hondo walks with Hick, as they now have a dead cop and dead civilian who were both white. They know for sure the person knew what they were doing; Jessica gives them what they found from security cameras in the area. The shooter is black and feels it is racial payback for the Raymont Harris shooting as Mumford says robbery/homicide found unusual casings that might track back to the sniper. Hick tells Mumford to take lead and orders Hondo to take any “spillover”; but Hondo confronts him if this is until another press conference.

Hick orders Mumford to use gang enforcement and start knocking on doors, wanting to make the neighborhood hurt. Hondo protests saying those are proud people, who usually get the short end of the stick and asks Hick’s about him wanting to make them hurt. Hick’s says they started a war with them – black on white – so they are going to squeeze them until they find out who did this. Jessica orders Mumford to be quick as they already had a bank robbery they couldn’t respond to because of this shooting.

Buck is in the locker room gathering his belongings when Hondo comes in, promising to fix this. Buck says even though it was an accident, it isn’t one he would tolerate on his team; Hondo says this is wrong and is surprised to learn that Buck’s wife left him and even more shocked to learn Buck asked for Jim Street to be put on the team. Buck says he has been watching him for a while and believes he has potential and hopes Hondo will help and guide him. He leaves, reminding Hondo to “stay liquid!”

Hondo feels it is wrong to take the fight to South LA, but Deacon says those are the orders. Hondo says this is his team, and they are going a different way and treat the civilians like family. He comes in with his team, not in full gear acting like they are friends. He talks a little business in a local beauty salon; where they learn some pertinent information, bit by bit they gather intel, acting more like friends than police. Once they arrive at a garage, they are called away when Mumford and his team are treating the people too roughly; Hondo tells everyone to back up, asks them to calm down and allow the police to take those men into custody giving them his word they will be treated respectfully.

Jessica is furious that Hondo is disobeying Hick’s orders and refuses him to see Raymont; she also informs him that since he is under her direct command, they can no longer have a relationship. She begs him not to make this any harder because, in order for this to work, one of them has to give up their job. Hondo takes out his frustrations on the punching bag, but when Jim comes early to the gym, Hondo informs him that Buck recommended him to the team. Street tells him that Buck knew him since he was a kid when Buck put his mom in prison. Hondo shares the same advice Buck gave him, that whatever anger is motivating him, he needs to find a place to put it or it might be the person next to him he gets killed.

Hondo goes to the hospital to visit Raymont, he says none of them should be there right now and asks to speak with him alone. He apologizes, saying no one on the force wanted this and the truth is, a similar situation happened to him as a kid, with a broken arm and face in the pavement for nothing he did. His father was the one who convinced him if he wanted to change the police he should join them! His point it, Raymont is the type of kid he promised to always protect. He thanks, Hondo who wishes him to get better and leaves.

LAPD rushes off as Jessica turns on the TV for SWAT to see that there is a school threat, in retaliation for the two white people killed at the rally the previous day. The kids are escorted on the bus when Hondo sees Raymont’s cousin, he says he isn’t a rat and this isn’t snitching. He has a friend he grew up with, who joined the army, talking about needing to tear down the system, talking like he would never see him again. He reveals his friend was a sniper in the military and tells Hondo where he lives.

SWAT and LAPD break down the door to the house, taking down two occupants but discover that everything is connected, and order his men to get down to the garage. Hondo says it doesn’t add up that a black guy is targeting black school kids for killing two white guys; Jessica figures out this is political, using the rally to get the city to turn on itself.

The SWAT team arrive and kill the shooter, but want to know what the plan was as he couldn’t kill any school kids from where he was. Deacon finds a note about officers dying and realizes they were not supposed to find the note yet and informs Hondo the plan was to take down some bank. Suddenly they see Mumford and his guys driving close by; Hondo learns from Jessica they are responding to a silent alarm at a bank. Just as he figures out it is an ambush, the police vehicles are blown into the air by rocket launchers and Hondo orders his team to go.

Hondo shoots the gunman as his team rescues Mumford, he tells his guys to “take care of business’; Street drives with Deacon in the passenger seat and Victor in the back, he rams into the robbers’ van and they are all taken down except for the man from the garage; he gets into a physical fight with Jim Street; as they both lay down, Hondo kicks the gun away and points his gun at the guy with Street insisting he has the guy although Hondo shakes his head, silently stating "no".

The team gathers as they arm wrestle. Deacon asks where Hondo is going, he says no one wants the boss around and leaves after telling them they did a good job. He goes to Jessica’s who is in lingerie; he says he forgot his toothbrush. Outside, she tells him he disobeyed her order to see Raymont in the hospital and he apologizes, touches her face and is just about to kiss her when he is called out to another job and rushes off. His team also hears a series of beeps and are off.

## 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

* Patrick St. Esprit - Robert Hicks
* Louis Ferreira - William "Buck" Spivey

### Guest

* Devan Long - Fennick (credited as Devan Chandler Long)
* J.T. Jackson - Shorty
* Dan Martin - Dell
* Taamu Wuya - Gerald
* Aaron Bledsoe - Raymont Harris

## Major Events

* LAPD Sergeant Daniel Harrelson, Captain Jessica Cortez, Christina Alonso, Victor Tan, Sergeants Jeff Mumford, David Kay and and Buck Spivey as well as Commander Robert Hicks, members of LAPD's 20 Squad and are all introduced for the first time.
* Jim Street, an officer formerly with the Long Beach Police Department is introduced for the first time and joins 20 Squad.
* After Raymont Harris is shot and injured during a pursuit, Buck is demoted and fired from the LAPD while Hondo becomes 20 Squad's new commanding officer.

## Trivia

* Patrick St. Esprit was also a regular on S.O.A.
* This is the first ever episode of the 2017 reimagined series of SWAT that aired in the 1970s and also the first episode not to have the opening theme.

## Quotes

* **Hondo:** SWAT isn't about kickin' ass. It's about saving lives.
* **Street:** Yeah, which sometimes requires... Kickin' a little ass.