Flashpoint in a Flash: Season 3 Episode 5: Coming to You Live

This episode was to be the first of the new season... but then things changed! A radio talk show host takes an interesting approach to exact revenge on his son’s murderer, and the twist at the end is one that no one saw coming!



We begin watching a hostage situation taking place in a suite, as the SRU arrives on scene. The host is ready to shoot his man… Rewind! 3 hours later – a manager is talking to the host about his great BBM radio ratings. Outside the building, a politician (Ryan Malone) talks with his assistant as she readies him and drops him off. His assistant is a little worried about this appearance considering all the bad buzz the host has been giving him. At SRU headquarters, the team is working out around a mini stereo. Jules notices that Sam is tired, and asks if he had a long night. Sam says that she could say that, Jules asks if it was a blonde, brunette or redhead, and Sam says one of each! Oh Jules and Sam, get a room ☺. Wordy changes the station, to listen to the radio host’s (Cosgrove) morning show. The SRU listens as he talks to Malone and share opinions on Malone. Cosgrove starts throwing vague insults on the air towards Malone and the SRU listens on. Eventually, the catch comes: Cosgrove is going to put Malone on trial… on the air?! The SRU laughs thinking that this is a joke. As the situation starts to turn into a hostage situation, they hear a gunshot go off, and the SRU doesn’t bother to wait for the call. They head straight out! Ed has finally lost the tacky gold sunglasses and talks to whoever he can to get more information. Inside the station’s control room, Jules and Parker set up a command post. Jules hears labored breathing, Ed and some others storm into Cosgrove’s recording room, and find someone tied to a chair. Cosgrove and Malone are gone. No one saw them leave. This was a well calculated escape since the show was put on a 6 minute delay. Over the speakers, they hear Cosgrove speaking, and Malone describes that he is holding a gun to him. Cosgrove promises to kill Malone unless he confesses the truth. ROLL THE OPENING!

Ed, Wordy, and Sam finish searching the building and are baffled where he is broadcasting from. Cosgrove wants no interruptions from authorities for the next hour, or else Malone gets shot. The SRU thinks that Cosgrove may be broadcasting from his house. Spike tries to get confirmation that he is at his place, but there are wonderful encryption roadblocks. Parker talks to Cosgrove’s assistant, and learns that this was Cosgrove’s last shift, but that he didn’t know about it. Ed, Wordy, and Sam move in slowly to Cosgrove’s house as he continues. They break into his apartment and find he is not there. The radio is playing, and they search the apartment for clues. Greg Parker calls into Cosgrove’s show, and takes a guess as to what this is about. Parker is wrong, and Cosgrove talks about June 2nd, 1999. He asks Malone to explain more, and calls him a murderer on the air as we head to a commercial break.

Jules searches a database and finds out that Malone was in a terrible car wreck that day and survived. But his friend who was driving the car, was not. Cosgrove continues to accuse Malone of driving, as he recounts what happened. Jules tries to ask Malone’s assistant some questions, but she is on the defense and scurries away from answering anything concrete A Janet Ackerman shows up on the station’s sign-in log, and we find out that Malone’s friend Cody was her son. But, even though Janet and Cosgrove are friends, they still can’t figure out the connection. The SRU heads off to pay Janet a visit. Janet also believes that her son has been vilified and she wants justice, but we still can’t figure out the connection between Cosgrove and Cody… until Janet reveals that Cody was his son, too (from a one night stand)! Janet revealed this to Cosgrove just a few weeks ago, since her own husband is dead. This more than explains why Cosgrove began drinking and his motivations for today’s plans. Ed , Wordy, and Sam find Cosgrove’s brother, who is living in a shady computer warehouse. He is reluctant to tell them where he is, but finally reveals his location, just 6 blocks away from the station.

The plot gets more twisted when Jules finds out that Malone’s assistant was also in the car, and Greg suspects that she was protecting him. The SRU head for the downtown apartment where Cosgrove is holding Malone hostage, while Greg tries once again to talk down Cosgrove, and tells him that he knows that he is his son. It doesn’t work, and Cosgrove hangs up as they arrive at the building. We see flashbacks of the car accident, but now we are watching Cosgrove’s version. In his version, Cody was the passenger, and Malone moved him to the driver’s seat. Malone, has tears in his eyes, and says that he should not have let Cody get behind the wheel. Malone is sincere in his words. But Cosgrove doesn’t believe him. A caller calls empathizing with Cosgrove saying to shoot him right now. Jules arrives at Malone’s assistant’s apartment, and forcefully convinces her to start telling the truth. Another caller says to let him go because he is innocent. Greg runs up the stairs and tries to talk to Cosgrove, but Malone is talking to Cosgrove asking where he was during Cody’s life. He asks him if this is what Cody would want, and Cosgrove points the gun at him saying not to tell him what his son wants. Commercials!

Greg urges Cosgrove to answer the phone for the truth, and on the other end is Malone’s assistant. Cody was not driving… and neither was Malone! It was her. Cody was not wearing his seatbelt, and she missed the curb during a conversation. The assistant was Cody’s girlfriend, and Malone told her that Cody wouldn’t want her life ruined. So they both moved him to the driver’s seat. Ryan just wanted to protect her. Nicole cries on the phone to Malone, and says she is sorry. Cosgrove is still mad at him for what he did, as he sits down to compose himself. He then points the gun on himself. The SRU storms in and stops Cosgrove and rescues Malone. The montage begins, and we see the police take Malone’s assistant into custody. Janet rushes to talk to Cosgrove and tells him that his son would not have been ashamed of who he was. The Radio Station’s director packs up Cosgrove’s awards. Malone is also whisked off to jail for protecting his assistant. Greg tells Ed that he has to find a new candidate for mayor, and jokes to Ed that he should run for Mayor some day. But Ed doesn’t want to give this up. At the SRU weapons closet, Jules and Sam talk about the events of the day, and Sam says he would have done the same thing to protect his friends, and looks at Jules. The episode ends.

This episode was originally slated to be the first of the season, however we’re not sure who exactly decided to change the episode order around and have the episode One Wrong Move be the season premiere. We noticed Wordy’s hair color changing at different points in the episode from blonde to brownish red, so perhaps a few scenes might have been reshot (that once included Mark Taylor). Still a good episode, though!