"Hot Button" is the sixth episode of the eighth season in the remake version of S.W.A.T., and the one-hundred-forty-seventh episode overall, which was aired on November 22, 2024.
Summary
When back-to-back shootings at women's clinics leave two healthcare providers dead, Hondo and the team investigate whether the shootings were politically motivated.
Recap
Someone gunned down an abortion doctor. Dr Jeremy. Scott was heading into the office when someone came up to his car and asked if he was in fact Dr. Scott.
The man said he was, but he wasn’t expecting a bullet in return. The doctor was killed. The security guard for the clinic was also gunned down. They weren’t prepared for violence. The clinic was used to protestors. They get them every day. Things have been slowly escalating over the past few years and now people turning towards killing to solve their problems.
The people that don’t agree with abortion never get them. Or intend to get them. They live their lives how they see fit, and they could put together charities to help single mothers.
This spree killer didn’t care about solutions. He wanted to become part of the problem. He was killing people. Scott was supposed to pick up his daughter from ballet that day. The killer went on to murder a nurse named Mia Edwards. She wasn’t even performing the procedures. She was a nurse, and she mostly did bloodwork for the patients and occasionally teach safe sex classes.
SWAT was called in to find this spree killer. They did a reverse search on the victims’ names. It led them to a website called “United for the Unborn”. It was run by John Clayton.
He puts doctors and nurses’ real names on his webpage. He claimed there were killers. He called for his followers to shame them. He tells them where they can be found. He wasn’t their shooter, but he made it very easy for the killer to find victims. Gamble tried to tell Clayton that what he was doing was dangerous and he went on a spiel about how he was doing the right thing.
Gamble was about to tell him off when Deacon stopped her. Deac wasn’t pro-choice. Something Gamble figured out as time went on. She didn’t know at first that Deac was given the nickname Deacon because of how much his Christian faith defines him.
Deac was a great guy. He just didn’t believe abortion was the answer. He wasn’t shouting at people from outside of the clinics. He wasn’t basically creating kill lists by naming and locating abortion providers. He was instead raising money for people in need. His church was doing everything to help children around the world.
After Clancy was ruled out as a suspect, they checked his website to see who accessed it. They found their suspect. His name is Paul Hayes. Hayes shot someone at a gym, and he escaped before getting arrested. The gym assault led the cops to finding out Paul murdered his wife as well. Paul wasn’t pro-life. He killed his wife first.
Hannah was leaving him after years of abuse and he murdered her to stop her. The doctor, the nurse, and even the trainer at the gym were all Hannah’s friends. They encouraged her to leave her abusive husband. They reminded her that her kids wouldn’t be safe with Paul.
Paul believes in his mind that these people ruined his family. He doesn’t see himself as a an abusive person. He doesn’t see that his family was scared of him. He believes his family would be perfect if his wife just stopped annoying him every once in a while. Paul killed his wife. He wouldn’t let her leave him, but Hannah put together a great exit plan.
She was packing the bags while he was at work. The children were pulled out of school at the start of the day and were staying with her sister. They were all supposed to fly to Missouri once they escaped.
Paul has his wife’s cell phone. He contacted his sister-in-law by pretending to be Hannah. Jenn never suspected her sister was dead by then. Paul in the meantime tracked them all to the hotel.
He was armed and taking prisoners by time SWAT caught up to him again. Paul was using his children as human shields. The kids were freaked out. They were calling out for their mom. Jenn wasn’t with them to calm them down. She barely managed to escape Paul alive. Paul got to an elevator with his kids when he pulled the emergency stop. He trapped them all.
SWAT was scaling down to the elevator, but it was taking time. Time, they didn’t have. Paul didn’t want to go to prison and never see his children again. He was started to talk himself into killing them when finally Hondo showed up.
Hondo tackled Paul. He disarmed him. They opened the doors and the kids were returned to their Aunt Jenn. As for Paul, he was facing several life sentences in prison. Gamble later talked to Deacon about how he was able to stay so calm. He told her that nothing fazes him now because he always finds one thing in people to remind him that they’re human.
He and Gamble don’t have to agree about everything. As long as they have each other’s backs, they’ll be fine. The squad has other things to worry about. They all tried to talk to Miko about his dating habits. He dates with women that come with drama. He finally dumped Amber after she got into a car accident with his car only to run into Nicole. Deacon’s sister-in-law. Miko loves a woman that’s problematic.
Powell meanwhile ran into issues with her son, Thomas. She put Thomas up for adoption. He was adopted by great people and they didn’t want him deferring college to pursue a musical career.
They actually told Powell to back off when she supported the idea. Powell tried to respect their wishes when she later told Thomas he couldn’t crash at her place. She also reminded him that his parents love him. Even if they don’t know how to express that in the way he wants them to.
Cast
Main
- Shemar Moore - Daniel Harrelson
- David Lim - Victor Tan
- Patrick St. Esprit - Robert Hicks (credit only)
- Niko Pepaj - Miguel Alfaro
- Anna Enger Ritch - Zoe Powell
- Jay Harrington - David Kay
Guest
- Annie Ilonzeh - Devin Gamble
- David Rees Snell - Detective John Burrows
- Christine Woods - Jenelle Wilson
- Stacy Haiduk - Diane
- Tory Trowbridge - Nicole
- Matt Anspach - Thomas
- Todd Grinnell - Paul Hayes
- B.J. Britt - Zach
- Christopher Allen - John Clayton
- Ramona DuBarry - Mrs. Scott
Co-Star
- Chris Gann - Randy
- Charles Carpenter - Mitchell
- Clayton Cannon - Jason
- Roy Vongtama - Jeremy Scott
- Michael Otis - Josh
- Gianna Thais Bilby - Gabby Hayes
- Trevor James - Adam Hayes
- Danny Helms - Alex
- Avani Hamilton - Taylor
Gallery
Photos
.jpg "S8E6 (1).jpg (410 KB)")
.jpg "S8E6 (2).jpg (663 KB)")
.jpg "Devin Gamble (Hot Button).jpg (227 KB)")
.jpg "Hondo (Hot Button).jpg (275 KB)")
.jpg "Deacon (Hot Button).jpg (316 KB)")
Video
Trivia
- Despite being credited, Patrick St. Esprit do not appear in this episode.
Notes
- Christina Alonso has been mentioned, but do not appear in this episode.
- Miko dumped Amber, and he later see Nicole (Annie's sister) where she got into a car accident.