'Rookie Blue' recap: Home Run

So much happened in this episode it's hard to know where to start. A relationship takes a big step forward, there's a shooting, a revelatory "bomb," and sibling betrayals. There's a callback to an episode in a past season, a dose of nostalgia about a past relationship, and a callback to the season finale: the too-long under-mentioned evidence room bomb.

It was a little frustrating since everything that happened was pretty big but got diminished amid everything else that happened. But it was still a satisfying hour since we're finally moving forward with long-lasting plots. It'll be interesting to see what happens next in each story.

Get up to speed by reading the recap of one of the most jam-packed episodes of the show to date.

Sam and Andy

While the rest of 15 Division participates in a community outreach baseball game, Sam and Andy head to Oliver's cabin for a romantic weekend.

As they're driving up Andy is distractedly not paying attention to Sam's flirtatious chatter. Instead, she asks Sam how long it would take a biker to infiltrate the police force (she's fixated on Ward). She paints a scenario: there's a female cop predisposed to like bad boys who falls for a guy affiliated with a gang and next thing you know she's a mole in the police force. When Sam asks who she's talking about, Andy changes the subject.

The next time we see Andy and Sam, they've pulled over on the side of the road to look for the bird Andy thinks they hit, so she can save it. Unfortunately, during the search they both contract poison ivy. The "perfect" weekend Sam says he was hoping for is not off to a good start.

Later, still on their way, Andy brings up her suspicions about Ward again. She outlines her reasons — the prison incident, Ward's sudden transfer, her having two phones, what Andy saw Ward do that morning (more on that later). When Sam tells her she should forget about everything it's clear he's hiding something. But Sam changes the subject by telling her how much he wants to be alone with her this weekend and Andy reluctantly drops it.

When the couple finally arrive at the cabin several scenes later they find they're in for more bad luck. An animal has trashed the place. Sam optimistically says they can have the place cleaned up in an hour and get their weekend back on track. Andy questions why he's been so over-enthused through everything — a role reversal for them — and he simply says "every goal is sweeter when you have to work for it."

In their next scene, Sam and Andy are down by the water, still cleaning. Sam apologizes because he wanted the weekend to be perfect but instead it's been like their last six months together: the best of intentions but a disaster, though he notes she's still here. She assures him she's enjoyed their weekend. She kisses him and starts to head back to the cabin. When she turns back around to face him, she finds him on his knees holding out a ring. He proposes. She stands in shocked silence, laugh-cries, then says yes and goes over to him, kneeling to his level as he puts the ring on. They share a passionate look and a slow kiss.

Initially I thought this long-time coming proposal was disappointingly small but having reflected further, I get it — that's how their relationship has been — messy and unconventional, so I guess it's fitting.

In their last scene of the episode, they're in bed together marveling at the ring on her finger when she brings up Ward again. He says she's relentless but she reminds him that's why he loves her. So Sam caves. He explains that after the evidence room explosion, he couldn't stop thinking about everything Ted McDonald had said beforehand — about corruption at the division, Commissioner Santana's involvement, etc, so he went to someone he trusts in Internal Affairs and he thinks Ward is the officer they sent in to investigate. Andy asks who Sam turned to... which brings us to...

What's up with Ward

The reason that Andy was particularly fixated on Ward that day was because in the beginning of the episode, as she's running with Chris, Andy spots Ward, stops, spies on her and sees her get into a dark, sketchy SUV.

Cut to Ward in the SUV with the mystery man. Ward tells the man she's ready to meet their boss, wants to get it over with and if he can, she wants him to set up a meeting for that night.

Quick bit worth noting (foreshadowing): during a community baseball game, Ward bonds with Oliver for a minute over her baseball skills.

Moving on... after Sam confesses his thoughts about Ward the scene cuts to Ward in an office telling an unseen person that Inspector Jarvis appears to be in Commissioner Santana's back pocket. Then the person she's talking to is revealed: it's Noelle. Side note (foreshadowing): Noelle had been at the baseball game and had a happy reunion with Oliver. Noelle tells ward that Jarvis is opportunistic and ambitious but not necessarily dirty. Ward soon says there's other people she finds more suspicious: Chris, because he just got out of rehab for his coke addition and is sleeping with Jarvis' wife, and Duncan, because he's "dumb as a bag of hammers but also has step-daddy issues." Noelle thinks Chris is harmless and Santana wouldn't trust Duncan not to screw things up.

Ward moves on to her next news. She points out that only the people who signed in to the evidence room before the bomb blew were cleared, not the people who had keys. Ward says that someone used their key card 20 minutes before the bomb blew (exactly the length of the bomb timer). She tells Noelle, "if you didn't like any of those other names, you're going to hate this one." It was Oliver Shaw. Ward shows a disbelieving Noelle a picture of Jarvis and Oliver looking shady.

BOOM! goes the plot bomb

The case of the day

The central episode plot revolves around a community outreach baseball game between officers and locals in a troubled neighborhood.

As reluctant participant Gail is handing out shirts, she overhears one girl tell another that a guy named Boris is looking for her. The second girl tells her informant to let Boris know she's still not talking to him. Gail then goes over to give the second girl a shirt. The girl gets sassy with her but eventually takes the shirt and marches off.

The game soon gets disrupted by a drive-by shooting. Two people, Raj and Boris, are hospitalized. The prime suspect is quickly named: Boz Shepherd, new leader of the Jameson gang (this is a callback to a past episode, in which the now-former Jameson leader was taken down). Steve notes that in the last ten months, Boz has turned the area into a war zone. Oliver instructs the officers to bring all the witnesses to the station, in hopes of making them more likely to talk.

Back at the station the officers conclude that the second victim, Raj, was the target since he's the baby brother of a member of a gang that has been trying to take over Jameson territory. Oliver informs them that the partial plate Dov was able to get matches Boz's car. Steve is ecstatic because it's enough to bring Boz in and, as we learn later, he's been after him ever since he had to let Boz walk from police custody due to a mishandled search warrant.

Soon Gail, Traci Steve and Chris have tracked down Boz and brought him to the station. Boz suggests he wouldn't shoot up kids playing baseball, but Steve reminds him of the horrible, sketchy things he's done, including having an alibi for six murders in the last 10 months that were gang hits. Boz points out that he at least wouldn't have shot at a field of cops. When asked about the car, Boz says he leaves it on the street with the keys in it as a test for the neighborhood. Boz then adds that he has a Saturday routine that starts with going by a local store and reading the paper, so he wouldn't have been anywhere near the field. When they confront the store owner, Henry, the man confirms Boz's alibi — to the officer's chagrin and even his own, since Boz's presence has killed business.

Elsewhere, Chloe and Duncan are working with Brooklyn, the girl who'd spoken to Boris's girl earlier that day. As they're looking through video of the game on Brooklyn's phone, it cuts to a video of a girl stripping as the guy behind the camera promises he won't show the video to anyone.

Cut to Gail talking to Boris's girl, Michie. When Chris asks who was driving the car she's identified as Boz's, Michie gives him a knowing look and says, "you want me to say it was Boz — and what if I did, he'd be out in a week." Steve assures her the shooter will go away for at least 20 years. Eventually, Michie says it was indeed Boz driving. It's annoyingly obvious she's just saying what the officers want to hear, this is not ok.

Once Henry finds out someone placed Boz at the crime scene, he changes his story, says Boz wasn't at his store that morning. Steve is elated but Gail is suspicious. At some point, Gail tells Steve something seems off about Michie's and Henry's testimonies and suggests that Raj might not have been the target, but Steve won't hear it.

Gail then finds out, overhearing a conversation between Brooklyn, Duncan and Chloe about the video on Brooklyn's phone, that Boris sent people a "nudie" video of Michie. She has an epiphany. She goes to the hospital to confront Michie, who's sitting beside Boris. After some prodding and hinting at her theory, that Michie's brother was actually the shooter — he'd gone after Boris for what he did to Michie, Michie confirms Gail's suspicions. She implies it was indeed her brother Winston. Gail claims she can help Winston and her if Winston turns himself in, so Michie reluctantly tricks Winston into coming to the hospital, where the police apprehend him. He looks at Michie, heartbroken at her betrayal. With his arrest, Steve is forced to let Boz go, which leads to...

The people

I. Steve and Gail

Steve wanted so badly to put Boz away — as far as he was concerned, Boz deserved to go down, no matter what. He sees Gail's actions as a betrayal and at the end of the episode, the look he gives her suggests their relationship may never be the same again.

II. Gail

Things may not have ended well with her and Steve but it started nicely. Steve painted her in a wonderful light during an interview with her adoption case worker at the beginning of the episode.

Then, after the case worker Lauralee expresses concern that Gail doesn't appear to have any community service experience or experience working with children, Steve and Traci claim Gail is one of the organizers of the upcoming community outreach baseball game. So with Lauralee in attendance at the game, Gail is on her best behavior, pretending she's excited and involved.

At the end of the episode, as Gail is upset about what happened with Steve, Lauralee has a surprise for her. She's gotten permission to let Sophie spend some time with Gail that night — yes Sophie, remember the girl who's mother got killed last season. Is it just me or did anyone else completely forget that Sophie's the reason Gail is doing all this adoption stuff?

III. Nick and Ward

They flirted adorably at the baseball game. Wonder what he'll think when he finds out Ward's secret.

IV. Chris

In the beginning of the episode, Chris babbles on to Andy about how crazy Jamie is. He says she's stalking him and she thinks she's losing her marbles — and that they've gone into her bra (hey Chris, bigger breasts could mean she's preggers... UH OH).

V. Chloe and Dov

The video on Brooklyn's phone has Chloe freaking. She approaches Dov in a room at the station and asks to see his phone. When he says no, she rephrases, asks him if he has anything on it that he'd send to someone. Dov has an idea of what she's saying and says no. She asks if he deleted everything. He agrees to double check. She says "memories fade but pictures linger." Dov says memory of "that night on the boat" will never fade. Chloe adorably says she doesn't regret it because her body was banging that night. Then, when Dov assures her there's no evidence on his phone that they ever met, she gets upset. But she doesn't say anything, just clears her throat and goes to leave. Dov smiles after her (in a way that suggests he still loves her quirkiness, aww).

Before she leaves she gives him permission to use his memory for "lonely times." Gosh she is so good at being awkward in the best way.

Once she's gone Dov pulls up a cute picture of them and (reluctantly?) deletes it.

VI. Duncan

He complains about his job. He hits on Chloe.