Flashpoint in a Flash: Episode 7

Another hard hitting episode, and we’re sure all you Braddock fans will love this one! Full summary after the jump!


He Knows His Brother

We begin at the family breakfast table. A son begs his dad not to get angry, but the patriarch slams a bowl of cereal shutting him up. The other son pulls a gun, and a maid dials the police. We hear a gunshot go off, and the father has been shot in the arm. The SRU over a bullhorn calls the family to stand still as they break in and the son runs off… REWIND! 2 hours earlier, and the sun hasn’t risen yet in Toronto. The SRU is running maintenance on their equipment, and Braddock minds a couple newbies who are in charge of monthly cleanup. Jules asks why Braddock isn’t upstairs training, and as Braddock reads the paper, he notices something that hits him. He leaves the room in a huff, and Jules sees the headline: 3 troops in Afghanistan are dead. Cut to a glorious mansion, and the son with the gun (who’s name is R.J) is climbing the walls to get in through a window. He makes his way into his brother’s room and wakes him up. Braddock calls one of his army buddies to find out what happened, and we learn that it was one of his army buddies that died. And that he wasn’t killed in the line of duty, but instead committed suicide. Braddock is shocked, and his army buddy tells him he won’t be going to the funeral. R.J tells his brother Simon that he is no longer at military school, and suggests that he runs away with him to escape the family. Simon says he has a future at some prestigious universities and their mother comes to their room and calls them down to breakfast. And here we are where the episode began. The father belittles R.J and is angry – he asks him to pay back every penny. R.J. was a delinquent and the family has tried everything to put him on a straight path. They argue about what Simon’s future is, and Simon tries to stop the argument, and the cereal bowl is slammed. R.J. pulls the gun… and… ROLL CREDS! After the break, we are shown some very beautiful shots of Rosedale Valley. This is one of the nicest areas in Toronto! We are back at the table and R.J. is threatening his father with a gun that’s a family heirloom. The maid calls the police… Jules tries to talk to Braddock and console him as he throws a few punches to a punching bag. Braddock tells Jules that his army buddies had a deal: if they commit suicide, they no longer mean anything to them because they gave up just like that. The alarm goes off, and Braddock asks if Jules is driving. The SRU gets into motion…Simon asks R.J. to give him the gun, and to go back to school, but R.J. says he can’t go back. Sirens go off, and R.J. gets scared. Ed Lane goes to talk to the officer and learns he’s new on the job. He scolds him for sounding his sirens. We learn that R.J.’s Dad, Rolland Strachan is a famous defense attorney and his family was rich from the times of the goldmines. Inside the house, Rolland tells his son that the gun was used by real men and that he can’t do anything with it because he’s a coward. R.J. fires the gun. Simon begs him for the gun again, but as the phone rings with a call from the SRU, R.J. runs away into the ravine behind the house. Braddock manages to catch him running among a flurry of smoke bombs. Braddock chases him for a little before he calls a manhunt. Commercial Break! The SRU is mobilizing in the ravine behind the house, and they learn that there are bystanders in the ravine. Spike reveals an acoustic detector to find anyone moving in the area. They work out their search patterns, and Greg Parker gives him a short profile of R.J. The SRU starts searching quad by quad. Dr. Luria gets on the phone with Greg, and she goes to the military school to investigate. Rolland is moved out of the house on a stretcher, and tells Simon to remember who he is. The SRU is searching in the woods, and Spike is a little scared of the woods. The SRU spots two girls hiding in the woods. Braddock talks to the family. Simon tries to protect his brother. But Braddock points out a big fault in his story based on where the bullet was. Simon says he will tell the truth, but runs to his room to call R.J. to see where he is. R.J. makes him an offer to meet somewhere at noon. The SRU learns that R.J. has a few army tricks up his sleeve with a few stolen gadgets. Simon tries to leave, but he is stopped by Braddock. Greg says that his phone has been tapped, and they know that he’s talking to his brother. Dr. Luria tries to learn more from the military school’s principal, but she learns nothing without the parents’ consent. One of the cadets mopping the floor asks if it’s about R.J. and Luria goes to talk to him. The SRU arrives at a seemingly abandoned trailer and they quietly enter thinking R.J. is in there. Jules fires tear gas into the window, as they enter. Ed discovers that his cell phone is in the trailer, and they find a piece of foil with crystal meth. Commercials! Greg tells Simon and his mother that R.J. was using Crystal Meth and that he is probably very mentally unstable right now. He asks Simon for more information, and the mother who can’t deal with this right now, sips her wine and advises Simon to leave before his father comes back. She says she is sorry she couldn’t do anything about him. Greg starts to leave the room when Simon decides to talk and tell them where R.J. is hiding. He rides with Braddock into the ravine to point out the location. The SRU goes through the thicket , and Greg tells Braddock to walk away from the kid. He gives him an on the fly lesson on how to talk to the kid and what to ask him. Dr. Luria is talking to more cadets at the school, and learns more about R.J. He’s a good kid, but turned to meth when he didn’t want to sleep anymore. He was good at chemistry, and learned how to make it. There was an altercation with the principal, and R.J. went ballistic on him. For standing up for his buddies, he got kicked out of school. Jules patches together a potential misleading footpath that R.J. has planned, and the SRU decides to go backwards to see what they find. Braddock asks Simon about how the father treated them growing up. R.J. is silent. Braddock tells him the story of a guy he knew who managed to turn his life around despite his upbringing. Simon looks at his watch, and Braddock asks if there is somewhere he needs to be. The SRU hears a shot fired and they know they are near R.J. Braddock points out the location and makes an attack plan. The SRU runs through the woods into another person, and they find out she ran into R.J. … R.J. is hiding behind a tree and fires a bomb at an SRU member who is down! Commercials! Spike was the one who was hit, and they learn it was with a homemade bomb, and once again he talks about how Romans don’t do well in the woods. Ed is angry, but Braddock wants to talk to Simon again. He knows brothers won’t turn on brothers, but Braddock thinks he can help. He reasons with Simon telling him that he has the chance to help his brother before more harm is done. Simon finally walks through the woods to find R.J. . He appears out from behind a bush, and Simon says that he shouldn’t have hurt that cop. R.J. is a little deranged and not himself and starts acting fresh. Simon says he is scared of R.J. We learn R.J. took the drugs to stop the nightmares, and that he wanted to just take Simon away from home. Simon remembered the time R.J. saved him from his father’s belt, and that he was never going to let him go. R.J. tries to run, but Simon tries to pin him down. The SRU takes him away, and Simon cries for them to let him go. Simon says he is sorry. Rolland arrives back home from the hospital, and Ed tells him he can’t come back to his house. He asks who he can call when he himself needs a big time lawyer. He leaves the house, and Ed tells Jules that R.J. is getting a psychiatric evaluation instead of going in jail because he doesn’t belong there. Jules says Braddock left for some personal matters. The montage begins, Simon visits R.J. in the hospital, but they can only talk to each other through a window on the door. Braddock drives up to a bridge over a highway and watches as his friend’s body as it passes below him in a motorcade, tears streaming down his face.

This episode showed a side of Braddock we rarely get to see, he is more than the timid guy trying to make his way up the ranks. The next episode, Never Kissed a Girl will air tonight, and looks really good! From CTV: Having served 12 years in prison for the murder of his teenage sweetheart, when he was 15 -- a murder he didn't commit -- Michael Jameson is finally free on parole.