The father of Jesse Carr (Jacob Leinbach) shows up at Deputy Beck’s (Tristan Mack Wilds) house with the intention of killing him. He pulls a gun on him and just as quick Joshua pulls his own gun. The two have an intense stand-off where Joshua orders him to drop the gun. Joshua remains calm and shows empathy towards the dad, letting him know he doesn’t know what it’s like to lose a son, but if the father wants to know what really happened they can sit down and talk.
The dad places the gun on the ground and says that he already knows what really happened.
Disclaimer: I was watching the Venus Williams vs. Angelique Kerber tennis match before the show came on, and accidentally hit changed the channel back to ESPN. I was praying this was a dream scene, because if a black father rolled up on a white officer who murdered his son, he would have been dead before he reached the sidewalk, let alone raised a gun.
Ashe (Sanaa Lathan) is on the phone with someone and is upset that Javier (Angel Bonanni) isn’t willing to back down on the custody suit.
Preston (Stephan James) goes to the neighborhood looking for Cory (Marqus Clae) but comes across another guy spray painting a mural on the front of a house. When he asks who is in the mural, he says Joey Campbell (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Preston then asks what he thinks happened to Joey and the teen walks away, gets on a bicycle and rides off.
It’s the day of Jesse’s funeral and Deputy Beck is still in his uniform either just coming in from work or getting ready to leave. The news coverage goes to the leaked video. One of Deputy Beck’s sons asks why all the reporters are outside and he says because he is famous.
At the funeral, which is being televised, the governor (Helen Hunt) and her staff, Pastor Janae (Aisha Hinds) and others arrive. Preston and Ashe are in the car discussing the case and Ashe is still more focused on the cover-up of Joey Campbell’s death, while Preston is focused on who leaked the video of Deputy Beck.
Following the funeral the governor’s aide lets Preston know the governor wants to speak with her him in private. When Ashe tries to follow the aide lets her know, only Preston. Ashe catches that the aide referred to him as Preston and not Mr. Terry, and points it out to the aide.
In the vehicle the governor is looking for answers but Preston lets her know it isn’t that easy. She also invites Preston to a dinner at the governor’s mansion. Preston declines stating that his dad is coming to visit, but the governor states he can come also.
Pastor Janae is being interviewed by the media and she mentions that although she empathizes with the Carr family, the governor needs to be just as concerned about the death of Joey Campbell, whose murder is not being investigated.
Ashe shows up at a football game and confronts Lieutenant Breeland (Stephen Moyer) who is the officer that came to Shemeeka Campbell’s (DeWanda Wise) home. He says that the mother knew Joey was dealing drugs and he just wanted to scare her straight.
At the station Beck is confronted by a white cop named Deputy Euklund (Greg Sproles) about the video where he states he wants to kill crackers. The two get into a scuffle but are separated by another officer, Deputy Caleb Brooks (Beau Knapp).
Preston’s dad (Dennis Haysbert) arrives for a visit. At the hotel, Maceo (Shamier Anderson) shows up full of life. Maceo and the dad head off to breakfast leaving Preston behind.
Lieutenant Breeland’s daughter, Tess, (Brett Cooper) is in his office, he thinks she is there because his wife told her she couldn’t go to a party. However, Tess is there to confront him about telling one of the players if he didn’t block for her he would kill his black ass. She tells her dad that his statement was racist, but he says it wasn’t. Breeland then tells her that she can attend the party, and adds, so take your white ass on and have a good time.
Ashe and Preston go to a club to find a guy named Julian (Julian Brittano), who is Beck’s cousin. The video of Beck was leaked from Julian’s phone. Ashe has to threaten him with bodily harm to get him to talk, but learns that his phone was confiscated when he was arrested for jaywalking a year earlier.
Outside Preston confronts Ashe for her tactics but she lets him know that she didn’t pull her gun and to get results she has to act like a bad ass. Preston is by the books says she needs to chill because it’s his job that’s on the line if something goes wrong.
At the station they pull the police report and learn that everything was deleted from the phone. The arresting officer was Brooks, but he says he didn’t leak the video. Ashe asks who had access to the phone and he says several people, including the judge, prosecutor and other members of the sheriff’s office.
Preston attends the governor’s dinner, but his dad isn’t with him. The governor introduces him to three men, Dr. Koppel (Don A. King), and a judge who are both white, and Reverend Dupont (Al Mitchell), who is black.
It turns out the party is actually a fundraiser for a private prison complex that will have a hospital, high school, college, and other amenities. Preston can’t believe what he is witnessing. Aside from the prototype model of the massive facility, the help is walking around in butler and maid, attire.
Preston speaks to his dad and learns that he didn’t attend the dinner because Maceo had a bad game, and was feeling down. Although he was disappointed, Preston was relieved his father didn’t show after learning the real reason he was invited.
Preston goes to see the aide and shares how he felt about the governor inviting him to the dinner. He says she used him to be able to say she had a black DOJ prosecutor at the party. The aide agrees and lets him know that’s partly why he was chosen for the case. The two end up having sex again.
Maceo shows up at Ashe’s hotel room but she isn’t having it. Masceo says if she acts like a random groupie trick he’s going to treat her like one. Ashe counters that the only problem is he’s standing on the outside of her hotel room door trying to get inside. She then closes the door in his face.
The governor meets with Reverend Dupont to discuss Pastor Janae. He tells her Pastor Janae isn’t relevant but the governor points out her social media numbers say otherwise. She needs the reverend to discredit Pastor Janae.
Reverend Dupont shows up at a rally and confronts Pastor Janae, saying if it wasn’t for him she would still be drinking from the colored’s only fountain. He asks if he can pray with her but before he could get two words out Pastor Janae takes over and goes in to an impassioned prayer. Afterwards he tells her leading prayer is one thing, leading people is another.
Beck and Brooks go after Julian to question him about the video. When they catch-up with him Julian says he didn’t release the video but adds that Beck deserves whatever he gets, for being a sell-out.
Preston goes to see Sheriff Platt to inquire about Cory being missing. It is apparent that he is aware of what’s going on and is concealing information that could help the case.
Ashe goes to visit Shemeeka to ask her about any witnesses to Joey’s death. She tells her about someone named Kiana Ward (Antonique Smith), but she has since moved without notice and no one knows where she went.
Ashe calls about Javier again and learns there is a court date set regarding the altercation between her and Javier’s girlfriend. He tells her that she needs to get back home and show she is getting help for her anger issues or she may lose the case.
Preston meets his dad and the two get into a discussion about him choosing law over baseball. The dad says that although he is proud of Preston, the suit and tie was supposed to come after baseball and after he won a World Series. It is apparent that Preston was the better and more promising ball player between him and Maceo. The fact that the father had more faith in Preston may explain why Maceo is so messed up, emotionally.
Working on their story board, Preston and Ashe try to build their case. Preston shows Ashe he isn’t as dumb as she thinks he is and he has moves too. He is on top of everything she is doing and not feeling the need to run what he’s doing past her.
Ashe is willing to work together on both cases and the two agree to stop going behind each other’s backs. She says she thinks Beck's a good cop in a bad department and wants to approach the case from that angle.
The two decide to go out and canvas the neighborhood. They talk to a young woman about Joey Campbell and she tells them to go see Pastor Janae. We get our first hint that Pastor Janae may be a regulator in the hood and behind some other activity that isn’t too Godly.
Sheriff Platt goes to the Beck’s house for dinner. Joshua thinks he actually cares, but he is really there to tell him that the union won’t be covering his legal fees because of the video. However, he should look at the bright side…he still has a job.
The show ends with a group of white kids gathered around a curbside memorial for Jesse, and in a juxtaposition, Preston and Ashe are looking at the finished mural of Joey.
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Love & Blessings,
Tracy
Tracy L. Darity is the author of three novels, He Loves Me He Loves Me Not!, Love...Like Snow in Florida on a Hot Summer Day, and The Red Bear Society. Available in print and e-book. To learn more, visit www.TracyLDarity.com or Amazon.com
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