Thursday, July 29, 2010

Episode Summary: Unconditional Love

In this new episode, a young man is held captive by a violent carjacker and the team must figure out how to save a baby that was in the stolen car.

Full summary after the jump!

Shots are fired and a white man runs out of a house and speeds away in a gold sedan. He nervously looks back over his shoulder while driving. When he looks forward, he sees that he's coming to the end of a street and attempts to make a tight left turn, but crashes into a blue van.

Cut to Ed jogging down a street. His cell phone beeps and he checks it. At home, he tells his wife he needs to go in to work for a 1033. She protests, saying he booked they day off and made a promise to her. He says that it's an officer down so he has to go, she counters that he's not the only cop. He leaves, saying he'll try to make it back, but his wife is upset.

At the scene of the crash, a woman approaches and checks on the driver who crashed the car, asking if he is okay or needs an ambulance. She offers to drive him to the hospital. Disoriented, he pulls a bag out of his car and throws it in the back of the woman's car. She asks him to be careful. When he approaches the driver's seat, she asks what he's doing and starts to protest. He overpowers her and threatens her with a gun. She screams that her baby is in the car as he speeds away.

At the scene of the officer down, Greg talks to Ed over the phone, filling him in on the details. Greg says that the officer, Greg Loewen, was working undercover, trying to recruit a CI and found himself in the middle of a gun-by gone wrong. Ed asks if he'll make it and Greg says it's touch and go. Jules approaches Greg, giving a description of the suspect that matches the man who crashed into the van earlier.

Greg apologizes for calling Ed in as he knew Ed needed the day off, but they are short-handed because Leah had a family emergency. Winnie tells Greg the location of a car matching the suspects vehicle at the scene of a carjacking, Greg asks if Ed is close to the location. Ed approaches the woman, introducing himself as a police officer. She is sobbing and says that the man who stole her car has her baby.

Spike describes the vehicle and lists the license plate number. He tells Winnie that they need an APB and notes the direction the car appears to be heading. Greg adds that the subject is known to be dangerous and that there is an infant on board. He instructs Winnie to inform other officers to not approach, to leave it to the SRU only.

The baby cries, and the suspect gets agitated and tells her to shut up.

Cut to the woman again, now she is talking to both Ed and Greg about the carjacking. She is blaming herself, saying she doesn't know why she got out of her car. Ed says it was not her fault. Greg asks if he was carrying anything aside from the handgun he used to threaten her. She says he had a hockey bag.

Sam approaches, saying that the plates on the gold sedan are fake so that the car was probably stolen. He says they are now running prints.

Spike says they have a twenty on the sedan and the team goes to leave, with Ed telling the woman that they will get her daughter. They leave her with another officer.

Roy calls in to dispatch noting that they are following the suspect. Winnie reminds them to maintain distance. His partner, Brent, says that the suspect is the one who shot Loewen and Roy encourages him to speed up.

Cut to Sam listing the weapons that guns and gangs suspects are in the hockey bag.

The suspect hears police sirens and can see that he's being followed. He pulls into the parking lot for sunrise Hotel and tells a teenaged boy to get inside the hotel room. He grabs the baby in the car seat and the hockey bag and heads toward the room, with the teen looking confused and asking if he has a baby.

Roy and Brent pull into the hotel parking lot. Winnie patches Ed through. Ed introduces himself and says that the subject is armed and dangerous and to not approach. Brent asks if they should indicate that they heard the order. Roy says he doesn't think they heard that, that they were out of the car already.

Brent and Roy start to approach the room, with Brent noting that the kid is inside and they can't sit around doing nothing when that's the case.

In the room, the baby cries. The teenager asks what the man is doing and the man tells him to shut up. the teen asks if the baby belongs to the man. The man says the baby is collateral, that it means he's not going back inside. He says it's time to go big or go home. the teen tries to calm the baby down.

Brent bangs on the door and says "police." Buck shots go through the door and Brent falls to the ground. Roy calls out to him, but Brent doesn't respond. Roy screams that they have an officer down and looks worried.

SRU arrives and Ed asks how close EMS is. Winnie says it will be under two minutes.

Greg uses a megaphone to alert all guests of the hotel to stay in their rooms unless approached by a police officer.

SRU approaches the room and retrieve Brent. At a safe distance, they check for vitals until EMS arrives. Ed gets angry at Roy, trying to find out why Brent and Roy ignored orders and approached the suspect. Ed asks if Brent has kids and Roys indicates that he does. Ed insists that as his partner, it's Roy's job to inform Brent's family of what happened. Greg calls Ed away and SRU gets ready to strategize. Sam asks why Ed was being so hard on Roy and Greg says that Roy is Ed's brother.

Spike says that the subject's name is Bruce Demaura and reads off his record. Jules initiates a phone call for Greg to to speak with Bruce.

Outside, Sam an Ed discuss options for approach. With the baby inside, they need to be careful. wordy says that once they have floor plans they can get eyes in on the baby to make sure it's okay.

the teen answers the phone in the room. Greg introduces himself. Spike notes that there is more than one voice in the room. Greg says they may have another hostage and asks Jules to find out who the room is registered to. the teen says that he is not Bruce but that Bruce has lots of guns. The teen says that he is scared and that his name is Ben. Ben asks Bruce to give up the baby and to just keep him as a hostage. Bruce hangs up the phone. Jules says the room is registered to a Benjamin Sam.

SRU team members analyze floor plans and devise a strategy to go in.

Winnie says that the name Benjamin Sam is fake. The SRU can detect two cell phone signals in the room, one for Bruce and another for Paul Wilder.

Paul tries to convince Bruce to give up the baby, but Bruce refuses again. Jules confirms that the teen is named Paul, not Ben. He lives with his mother and sister close by.

The team receives a text from Paul, saying that the baby is going to come out of the room. Jules speculates that this means that Bruce is ready to talk. The team approaches the room and Paul opens the door carrying the baby. The team can now see Bruce and a weapon he's holding. Ed coaxes Paul to put the baby down and go back into the room, leaving the door open. Bruce gets agitated, pulls Paul into the room and shuts the door. The team retrieves the baby just before shots start firing.

With the baby safe, the teams develops a new tactic. They decide to try flash bangs and CS gas to encourage Bruce and Paul to leave the room. When the team gets into the room, wearing gas masks, they find Bruce unconscious on the floor but Paul has disappeared.

As the team tries to figure out how Paul escaped, his mother, Penny, appears on the scene. After analyzing the room carefully, they find a hidden cupboard. Inside the cupboard is a tool box containing an annotated map of the city. Roy says that the hotel manager confirmed that Paul paid for the hotel room in cash for three weeks upfront.

When Greg asks Penny if Paul has been staying away from home, she confirms that he has been sometimes in the last few weeks but she thought it was a good thing because he's very quiet. She says he really cares about his studies, especially if it's a subject he enjoys. Currently he's most interested in how cities work. She also notes that he's gifted and has skipped two grades.

Greg asks Penny if a photo they found in the room of a girl is someone Penny recognizes. She isn't.

After some discussion, the team determines that Paul is in the sewers. They find a trap door in the floor of the motel room. Greg asks Penny if she has any idea of where Paul might be headed. She doesn't know.

Bruce regains consciousness and Greg asks how he knows Paul. Bruce says that shooting a cop that morning was an accident. Bruce says that Paul came to him to get a specific gun and was paying the second half that day. Greg realizes that Paul was only expecting to buy a gun today, not a dramatic scene involving the police.

Jules finds photos on the flash drive from the tool box. There are also serial killer profiles. The gun Paul was looking for was the same kind used by a serial killer. some of the photos are of young women. Five of them, expected to be connected to five of the exit points on the map.

Ed, Sam, and Wordy are in the sewer, following a path from Paul's map. On the surface, Jules tells Greg that Paul picked today for a reason so he will likely stick to his plan. Greg and Jules think that Paul is unconcerned about getting caught by the police or being punished. After looking through the photos some more, Spike notes that only one of the girls would be at a location outside. He noticed laces over her shoulder, and suspects they are for ice skates. Greg instructs the team members in the sewer to go to the rink.

Jules asks Penny if Paul is empathetic. Penny says he doesn't respond to the emotions of others like most people. When asked how Paul responded when his father died, Penny reveals that he didn't. Jules asks if Paul enjoys hurting people. Penny says no and that, if anything, people take pleasure in hurting him because he's always been the smallest, youngest, and smartest in his class. Penny wants to know why they are asking these questions. Jules tells her that they suspect he has psychopathic tendencies and asks if he's been rejected by a redheaded girl.

Penny pleads with Greg, saying that her son is different but he can't be a psychopath. Greg says they don't want to judge, they just want to help him. Greg shows her the photos of the five girls that they found on the flash drive. Penny says they all look like Franny, his sister.

Penny says that Paul used to be very attached to his sister but had problems dealing with his sister becoming more independent as she got older. Penny describes Paul as awkward and reclusive and that he knows he doesn't "get" people.

In a flashback, we see Paul and Franny arguing. Franny says that Paul is a freak and she doesn't want to see his face again. He gets angry and screams.

Penny says this happened the previous year and that in retaliation, Paul cut Franny's face out of all the photos in the house and threw her things out a window because he wanted her to disappear. Penny made him promise to never hurt his sister. Now she's afraid that he's keeping his promise, that he's going after other girls instead of Franny. She blames herself.

Ed, Wordy, and Sam exit the sewer and head to the rink. Paul approaches a redheaded girl and awkwardly tries to talk to her. He tells her she has to go with him. She says she has a lesson to go to. He insists, saying he has a gun. He grabs her just as the SRU approaches.

Paul holds the girl at gunpoint, while standing on the ice. Ed tries to talk him down.

Greg and Spike discuss Paul's personality traits. Jules is in Paul's bedroom now, and describes it to Greg and Spike. She notes that it is extremely orderly. She also says that there is a photo essay of expressions and gestures, like he was trying to learn how to read emotions. Greg thinks that Paul may be undiagnosed as a high-functioning autistic. Jules notes that people with Asperger's are non-violent.

After Penny notes that it's Franny's birthday, Jules realizes that's why he picked today.

Back to the ice rink, Ed continues to try talking Paul down. Even the girl pleads with him to let her go.

Jules says that Paul kept one photo of Franny, from when she was about three, when they had a closer bond. Greg suspects that all the research Paul has done has made Paul think he may be a psychopath, so now he's doing things "by the book." Greg says they need to make him look deeper than that.

Greg and Spike arrive on the scene. Ed says that Paul is agitated and unresponsive. Greg says he's going to try a new angle. He introduces himself to Paul. He says it's great that Paul helped a baby earlier and kept her safe. He mentions the serial killers that Paul has been studying and says that those people would have never helped that baby. Greg also says that Paul could have shot Bruce, but he chose not to. The serial killers he studied wouldn't have made that choice.

Paul says that Greg doesn't know him. Greg says that's true, but he knows that Paul tries hard to understand himself. Paul says he understands himself, other people are the problem. Greg says he knows that Paul likes order and routine, that it's stressful for Paul to be around lots of people but it's peaceful to focus on one thing that matters to him at a time.

Greg mentions Franny and Paul says that she hates him. Greg says she's just scared because she didn't understand him. Greg says that he and Paul can help her understand, because he thinks that Paul might have Asperger's and there are a lot of people who will know what he's going through and can help.

Paul asks how he can tell if Greg isn't lying. Greg asks if Paul thinks he's listening to him. Paul confesses he never wanted to hurt the girl. He asks if he should give the gun to Greg. Greg says he can do that or put the gun on the ground. He puts the gun down and he is cuffed and arrested.

Penny asks Jules how she didn't realize the truth. Jules tells her not to blame herself, that she noticed that Paul was different and thought he was special. Penny says she should have done something. Jules says she did, she loved him and that she cannot stop doing that. Paul will need help, but he's also going to need his mother's love and support.

Paul apologizes to Penny and Penny says that she is sorry too and she loves him.

At headquarters, Roy talks to Ed. He says he didn't hear the call to not approach the motel room, that he and his partner were doing the best they could in responding to a cop being shot and trying to save the baby. Ed says he doesn't have the time right now and walks away. Roy says that Ed never did have time.

Jules and Greg go over the details of the case. Jules asks if Greg ever gets the feeling that they only get to scratch the surface. He says he does, all the time. Jules says Greg was right today about digging deeper. Greg says they do what they can with the time they have.

At home, Ed finds a sonogram picture on the fridge. He turns around and sees his wife. They hug and she says she really needed him today. He apologizes, holding her tight.