In part one of the season finale, Britten runs into a few problems when he decides to go all vigilante and pursues Detective Hawkins.
The episode opens with a rapid-fire switch between Rex and Hannah. Both of them suggest that Britten might be making up Hawkins driving him off the road. There’s no evidence Hawkins did in fact do this, and both shrinks suggest Britten’s memories are faulty.
Rex: Dr. Evans asks if Britten would believe this sort of thing coming from someone else. He gets angry, saying he knows what he saw. However, she’s well aware that he’s not answering her question.
Hannah: Britten declares to Dr. Lee that Hawkins is the reason why his family will never be together again. So he’s going to find what drove the other detective to drive Britten off the road.
Rex: Rex and Emma are chatting over Skype–rather adorably–while Britten looks on. Once they hang up, Britten walks over and asks Rex for his help on the case. Britten tells Rex to go stay with his Aunt Carol for a few days while he investigates this dangerous case, which of course does not please Rex. Sheesh, dad, get in the way of his plans why dontcha?
At the station, another detective asks Bird about getting Britten’s follow-up from a case. She hasn’t been able to get in touch with Britten though, since he’s been out sick the past few days and wasn’t picking up his phone. So Bird calls and gets the message.
Bird goes to Britten’s house, where he calls his partner again. When Britten doesn’t pick up, Bird starts looking around. He finds the set-up in the garage where Britten’s investigating the accident and is immediately concerned. So Bird visits Dr. Evans and asks if she knows anything about Britten’s current state of mind. She reminds him of doctor/patient confidentiality, but then Bird reminds her she’s legally required to inform the police if her patient presents a danger to himself or others. Dr. Evans further elaborates that should she share any doubts about Britten with Captain Harper it would end his career. Uh-oh.
Of course, Bird isn’t Captain Harper. And so Dr. Evans tells him that he has to be more specific. So he talks about what he saw in the garage: police reports, personnel files, and more. Then Bird asks if he needs to be concerned about his partner–and Evans says that the very reason he’s there is answer enough.
Britten spies on Hawkins, who’s at home watching basketball, and then he enters the man’s house. Britten shoots out one of Hawkins’s knees when the other detective won’t admit he knows what’s going on. Then at last Hawkins says it was the Westfield case. Britten says he never found anything at Westfield, but Hawkins reveals there was heroin that the narcotics division confiscated and has been selling off themselves. When Britten started asking questions, they had to sit on a shipment. And then it was decided he had to go.
Britten asks how he would know Hawkins is telling the truth, so he tells Britten about a file on the computer called lease agreement. Britten demands the password, but Hawkins asks how he knows Britten won’t kill him. Umm, he kind of doesn’t. When Bird drives up, Hawkins takes the chance to attack.
Bird gets out of the car as a gunshot goes off. He runs into the house and finds Hawkins dead. Britten takes Bird’s gun and handcuffs him while they drive away. In the car, Britten explains about the file on the laptop. After much calling him crazy, Bird offers up someone outside the department–a tech who left Google–to help unlock the laptop. Then when Britten reaches across to get Bird’s phone, he gets knocked out.
Hannah: Britten wakes up and immediately dresses to go out. He can’t find his gun though; Hannah moved it because she was concerned. Britten tells her to stay out of the house today and give him a call before she comes back. She’s of course worried, and watches him leave with a concerned look. Understandable, since it’s pretty clear that Britten’s freaked out.
Britten calls this world’s version of Bird and asks him to meet immediately. He can’t tell anyone what’s going on though–especially not Hawkins. So when Hawkins comes over to where Bird’s on the phone, he starts mentioning his mom. When Bird hangs up, he tells Hawkins that a pipe burst in his mother’s apartment and he needs to go over there. Hawkins agrees to cover a witness for him, but watches Bird walk away with a suspicious stare. Methinks Hawkins doesn’t believe him.
Bird stands at the hot-dog stand he and Britten agreed on, looking around. Britten stands above the park, thinking about Bird hitting him in the other world. But then Britten goes down the hill and Bird follows him. Britten tells him about Hawkins, and Bird refuses it without question. Britten asks for the locked file as proof, but Bird doesn’t agree until Britten reminds him that they were partners for a long time.
Hawkins however is there taking photos of the pair of them, which he then brings to Carl and Captain Harper. Carl gets angry and declares both Bird and Britten need to die. Harper is not pleased about it, since Carl is talking about killing two decorated police officers. And then he reminds her that it’s actually one decorated cop, and another mentally unstable one.
Bird puts a flash drive into Hawkins’ computer and copies the file. Meanwhile, Hawkins comes back in right while the copying is still going on. Bird stops him with some fake story about wanting a soda, but instead Hawkins steps only a few feet away and watches him. Then he comes back and says the machine was broken. Yeah, this is not good for Bird.
In a random scene, we get to see Harper standing at the top of a parking structure sobbing. Makes me wonder what she’s going to do. If anything.
Britten downloads the file from the email Bird sent him. Bird is upset because either his new partner is dirty or his old one is paranoid; he then asks if Britten will get help should he be wrong, but Britten’s convinced he’s not wrong.
Britten visits Francis, the Google kid, and pays him with an expensive Rolex to decrypt the file. Francis immediately gets everyone working on it.
Britten calls Bird, who gets up from a meeting and takes the call. Britten reveals that Hawkins started a lease on a storage site the day after Westfield was shut down. And then he reveals that Carl Kessel was also in on it. Carl, by the way, we finally find out is the captain over at the West Precinct. So Bird and Britten make plans to meet at Bird’s house.
When Britten leaves, Francis gives the watch back; he’d rather have Britten owe him. Britten visits Rex’s grave first before heading over to Bird’s house. There he finds Bird dead and Hawkins standing there with a gun. Britten reveals he has the lease agreement for the storage facility and has already passed it to Internal Affairs. Hawkins is convinced he’s lying, but then Britten asks how he’d know the password is “tulip.” So Hawkins fires and Britten makes a run for it. He’s hit once before he makes it over the fence. Dang, that’s not good.
Harper talks to her cops and tells them that Britten killed Bird. I’m kind of waiting to see if she actually tells the truth instead, but she doesn’t. Instead, she continues with the point about Britten killing Bird. She suggests Britten’s crossed over into psychosis, and approves using lethal force against Britten. Especially to protect the people around them. And then Harper pulls Vega into her office.
Harper asks Vega if he’s heard from Britten since the suspension. Their conversation continues over a bit with an injured Britten running from Hawkins. Vega swears Britten didn’t kill Bird–there has to be some other explanation. Harper gets angry, telling Vega to save his compassion for Bird and not his killer. But Vega is of course right.
Britten hides behind a dumpster while Hawkins searches the alleyway for him. Hawkins soon hears an APB over his radio though and runs off. Britten sits up and soon blacks out.
Rex: Britten wakes up handcuffed in the backseat of Bird’s car. Bird advises Britten to keep his mouth shut about all these crazy theories. Then Britten tells him the password is “tulip.” They open up the file and find Carl’s name on it. Britten tells Bird to show it to who he needs to show it to.
Bird and Britten walk into the precinct and directly into Harper’s office. They explain this to Harper, who isn’t convinced. No surprise since she’s in on the drugs in the other world and I bet she’s in on it in this one too. Harper at last agrees to let Bird take a team to the storage site and see if they find anything.
Britten, however, will spend the time sitting in a holding cell. Since if Bird doesn’t find anything, Harper has no idea how Britten’s word will hold up against the body of a cop. And the episode ends with Britten staring out a cell window … waiting.
Next week: Britten discovers the truth no one saw coming. Oooo
If you missed the previous episode be sure to read our ‘Awake: Say Hello To My Little Friend’ recap to catch up.
