Episode 4 opens with our favorite crazy SWAT sniper waxing philosophical about bullets and sniping. You just know this guy is going to do something big soon.
Back in the bank, Rocko has to pee, and Rabbit is just a little too interested in watching. Rabbit forces Rocko to take off his pants and lie face-down on the floor, then lectures Rocko on the meaning of fear. Rabbit sticks his shotgun in Rocko’s butt. Oh, so that’s fear.
Cali’s wife calls him and tells him she has a surprise for him. She also says he looks like “a cool asshole” on TV. With Beck in jail, Wolf can’t communicate with anyone outside, but Cali seems to think Beck passed the frequency codes to someone else. Deke obviously comes to mind. I figured Beck would eventually connect with Deke somehow, but it’s not clear if or how they connected and handed over the frequencies. Cali decides to bring in a visitor to see Wolf.
Rocko’s really pissed now and is ready to make a move. He tells the other hostages to be merciless and go for the throat or for the balls, or “scrote or throat” as he says.
Mouse shows off his “Creepy Me” comic to Chloe. It seems the Creepy Mes are evil ghostly clones of every person that look around for the original. Once they find the original, they cause it to do evil stuff. No, he’s not well. Chloe and Wolf share one of their usual intense stares at each other.
Cali’s wife shows up with the surprise, which is a cute little book of sonogram images of their unborn son. Cali missed the sonogram appointment because of the whole hostage crisis, and swears he won’t miss any more appointments for the rest of the kid’s life. We and his wife know that’s not going to be an easy promise to fulfill.
The cops are visited by Leon, who says he used to be a member of Wolf’s platoon and wants to help. He really doesn’t have much to offer, besides a little electronic device he places under the table. (If you’ve seen Webisode 3, you know this is a jamming device that screws with police frequencies.) The cops rightfully don’t trust Leon, so they put a tail on him.
Chloe invites Wolf into a boardroom to partake in a little “ritual.” She reveals that her husband passed away (it’s not really revealed how — in the war, maybe?) and she does this little thing to cope with the loss. She writes “Roger” on a piece of paper, then lights it on fire. It’s a way of remembering loved ones, of “releasing their energy.”
Teddy Sabian suddenly starts freaking out about Robby, and starts demanding to see him, even if it means going back into the bank. Cali realizes just how powerful the father/son bond is, and figures that it’s time to bring out Wolf’s visitor.
We know from the previews that Wolf’s visitor is his kid, who turns out to be a homeless drug addict. Wolf comes out to meet his son, and they both realize this is probably the last time they’ll see each other. His kid gives Wolf the last photo taken of them and their mother before Wolf left for the war.
Meanwhile, Ashley starts putting the moves on Mr. Pig, and asks him if he wants to go into the vault with her. They do a little flirting and stuff, and Pig talks about how he couldn’t live a normal life after coming back from the war. He sees the whole bank robbery as “a break from the bullshit,” and that a civilian life is actually what scares him. Ashley reminds Pig that they never got to see each other’s tattoos. Pig breaks out a little cocaine for their picnic. And then the nakedness begins!
Rocko tells Rabbit that he’s “got the shits” and needs to go to the bathroom. Mouse takes a break from his Creepy Mes and escorts Rocko to the john. Once in the stall, Rocko opens an electrical access panel on the wall (seems like a strange place for one of those), opens a junction box and crosses the wires. Power goes out in the entire bank. (I’m no electrician, but wouldn’t that just trip a circuit breaker or something instead of putting out all the power?)
In the confusion, Rocko jumps Mouse and takes his rifle. Ashley grabs Pig’s rifle. Leroy grabs for the gun that was hidden in the plant. And Bernard takes a book or a phone or something off a desk and just totally takes Mr. Cat out with it. And suddenly the hostages are in control … or maybe not. Wolf and his guys realize that Ashley’s not going to shoot Pig, and takes the gun from her and threatens to kill her if the other hostages don’t put their guns down. They all put their guns down, then they get the bejesus beaten out of them before being tossed into the vault. Rocko’s pissed at Ashley for not shooting Pig, but it’s not like he or any of the other hostages had the huevos to do anything.
Teddy Sabian freaks out and runs to the bank, pounding on the door screaming “Mr. Wolf, let me in!” This should obviously conjure up some images of “The Three Little Pigs” in Bizarro World. The cops wrangle a totally bats Teddy.
Perhaps affected by a father’s love for his son, Wolf releases Robby. Robby and Teddy are reunited. Not sure if this means the end for the Sabians in the story, but I’m going to miss Robby.
Cali is looking at the images of his unborn son, while Wolf ponders the photograph of his family and burns a paper with Anna Mendez written on it. One man is thinking of his future family, while the other is thinking of the family he lost. It’s really an awesome moment in the series, and one that connects Cali and Wolf in a new, powerful way. So well done.
But after a little break for sentimentality, it’s back to business. It seems the cops put a listening device in the photo Wolf’s kid gave to him, but it has to be close to pick up any sound. They also know that Leon is in league with Wolf, but they lost his trail.
Inside the bank, Wolf’s phone rings. It’s Deke. He’s scrambling the police equipment and can communicate with Wolf in short intervals. Deke tells Wolf he’s got a plan to get them out, but needs their help.
This is definitely the best episode since the premiere. The hostages made their (albeit failed) move and Deke’s plan is starting to become more apparent. I also really liked the father/son dynamics throughout the episode. We’ve got Cali learning he’s having a boy and gets to see his son’s face for the first time, we have Teddy going to extreme measures to be reunited with his boy, and we have Wolf pretty much saying farewell to his son. It’s possible one or both of them could be dead soon. Oh, and I was hoping Ashley might have to spend the rest of the series sans a shirt, but it just occurred to me that the shirt was left in the vault. Couldn’t they have fixed that?
Next week: It looks like Deke’s got a plan to get Wolf’s guys out through a tunnel system, but they have a limited two-hour window to do it. Wolf decides to go outside and grandstand for awhile, working the crowd and the media. Diversion perhaps? Deke’s guys take out some SWAT guys and get Wolf’s guys out of the bank. But the cops find Leon and figure out what’s going on, and there’s going to be a nice little shootout. Webisode 4 has some footage of the shootout interspersed with a flashback from Deke’s experience in Iraq.
