Britten’s parallel realities begin spinning into chaos when Rex is kidnapped by an on-the-lam convict who has a connection to Britten’s past. In the Hannah world, Britten is on the search for a missing teenage boy.
Rex: This week’s episode opens with a prisoner at the doctor’s office. He’s getting a dialysis treatment while a guard looks on; the prisoner soon sprays a green die into a bandage on his arm, and then knocks out one guard. He pulls a gun on the other guard and forces him to close the door.
Britten is on the computer when Tara and Rex come in. Rex has a big match, but tells Britten he doesn’t have to be there. And then Britten gets a call from Bird, who tells him about the prisoner–Cooper–getting flagged on a traffic camera driving the prison van.
Britten heads into the station and meets up with Mayhew, his former partner, who helped put Cooper in prison. Britten introduces Mayhew to Bird, and it’s revealed they already know each other. Which surprises Britten. Hmm … what’s going on here?
Hannah: Britten comes in after a run to Hannah cooking breakfast. He’s all sweaty, but he still convinces her to shower with him. There’s a charity fundraiser being held in Rex’s honor, and Hannah’s not sure she wants to go.
Dr. Lee suggests Britten is reticent to attend the fundraiser because it’s in memory of Rex, except for Britten his son isn’t dead.
Rex: Rex admits to Tara that sometimes he wishes his mom survived the crash instead of his dad. This is despite Britten trying so hard to be both mother and father. Tara says it’s good to get feelings out, and they’re stopped at an intersection when a car rear-ends them. Tara gets out of the car, and is talking to the other driver when we realize it’s Cooper. The convict gets out of the car, knocks her out with a rag, and then snatches Rex from the passenger seat.
Britten makes it to the crime scene and interviews Tara. He grills her about Cooper, but she doesn’t know anything beyond the rag getting placed on her mouth. Bird finally has to pull Britten away, and Mayhew says they haven’t found Tara’s cell phone yet. They also can’t figure out why the hell Cooper’s taken Rex. I’m going to go with revenge, personally.
Then the scene switches to Rex sitting handcuffed in a barn or warehouse somewhere. Cooper lays some cable and then comes back in right when Rex tries to dial 911. Rex attempts to reason with Cooper, but the silence of the convict is deafening … and Rex finally breaks and shouts for help.
Britten interviews the nurse who helped Cooper escape. She claims that had she known this would happen, she’d never have helped him. They prayed together though, and she believed him innocent. Tara meets Britten at his desk, where she tells him Cooper left a voicemail with a phone number on her phone. Britten traces the number back to a payphone at the northwest corner of the station. He runs out of the building and pulls his gun on a man who was paid to be there.
A nearby payphone rings and Rex is on the other end. Cooper soon shoves a rag in the boy’s mouth, and then tells Britten to meet him alone later that day. After Cooper hangs up, he takes the rag out of Rex’s mouth and says that no son should have to pay for the sins of his father. Wait, what?
Britten stops in front of the warehouse where he meets Cooper. Britten flips out a bit, demanding to know where Rex is, but Cooper tells him by the time he figures out the truth Rex will have died of dehydration. Cooper says he wants Britten to help him figure out who framed him. However, more voices can be heard in the warehouse. It’s Mayhew and Bird–they shoot first the instant Cooper pulls a gun. Britten almost gets where Rex is out of the convict, but then he dies.
Bird sends Britten home to “take a rest.” Which is code for go to sleep and see if he can get some information out of Cooper in the other world. Nice work, Bird!
Hannah: Britten wakes up and immediately calls Vega to find out if Cooper is still locked up in that world. He is, so Britten tells Vega to cover for him with the captain because he’s going to visit this version of Cooper. Vega’s not happy with the idea, but he goes along with it.
Then Hannah sits down and starts talking about the fundraiser … which Britten forgot about. So he spins a lie about a kidnapped boy who’s the same age as Rex. And then she storms out after telling him how much she needs him for 2 measly hours. Ooof, good job Britten.
Hannah walks up to the Metro Youth Center, and her speech begins in voiceover talking about Rex volunteering there at the crisis hotline. She starts crying while telling a story about how he convinced a 14-year-old girl to get help instead of hurting herself.
Rex: Rex sits in the room by himself while Hannah’s speech continues in voiceover.
Hannah: Britten walks into the prison while leaving Hannah a voicemail.
Rex: Rex records a message on Tara’s cellphone as a form of goodbye. He’s not hopeful of rescue.
Hannah: Britten is led into the interview room to chat with Cooper. The convict comments Britten is the last person he’d ever expect to see. Britten tells him there was an anonymous source who said Cooper was innocent.
Britten outright asks about the place in the desert, and Cooper resists telling him at first because he can “tell when he’s getting played.” Before he gives Britten anything, he wants to know what’s in it for him. Britten manages to convince him that he can get Cooper out so long as he cooperates. He asks then flat-out who Cooper believes killed Derrick Bell.
Cooper admits that for awhile he thought Britten did it. After that, he figured it had to be a cop … someone who could control the evidence. Britten freezes, and Cooper sees in his face that he’s thinking the same thing. Britten leaves the prison and gives this world’s Mayhew a call. They exchange pleasantries, and then make plans to hang out.
Britten shows up at Mayhew’s house. He puts the squeeze on his friend, saying he knows that Mayhew took $900,000 of Derrick Bell’s money. All Britten wants, however, is to get his cut. It’s not until the scene switches to Vega and other officers in a car that we realize Britten’s wearing a wire. Mayhew doesn’t talk about the money at all, emphasizing instead that Britten’s acting crazy.
Rex: Britten and Bird drive along a desert road following an ambulance. Bird asks how they knew about Cooper’s place in the desert, but Britten says he’s not able to reveal his source. Well … it’s more like Bird wouldn’t believe him anyway. Bird then mentions internal affairs was talking with Mayhew, who they discovered killed Derrick Bell and took his money. They at last find Rex in the desert, and he’s nearly dead from dehydration. But he’s fine now.
Hannah: Dr. Lee believes that Britten created the dream about Rex in order to help him find the truth about Cooper’s innocence. Doubts about Cooper’s conviction seem to coincide with Rex’s death after all. Britten rejects this theory though, because he had no reason to doubt the conviction at all.
Rex: Dr. Evans suggests that to alleviate his guilt over Cooper’s innocence, he created a world where he freed Cooper. She wonders why Britten has such a hard time forgiving himself.
Britten is sitting with Rex in the hospital when Tara comes in. She’s apologetic about not doing more, but Britten convinces her it’s not her fault. And then she gives him her phone, which Rex recorded himself on.
Hannah: Rex’s video continues in voiceover, talking about how Hannah held them together. Britten wakes up and is at the mirror when Hannah appears behind him asking if he found the missing boy. He admits then that he thought about her all day and wanted to be there with her. He asks how the fundraiser went, and Hannah says it felt like Rex was in the room with them.
Rex’s video comes back, and ends with a discussion about the afterlife. And it’s all rather sweet.
If you missed the previous episode be sure to read my ‘Awake: The Little Guy’ recap to catch up.
