"Los Huesos" is the twelfth episode of the second season in the remake version of S.W.A.T., and the thirty-fourth episode overall, which was aired on January 10, 2019.
Summary
Jessica and Chris go on an undercover mission in Mexico City, without any back-up, to rescue a US federal agent who has been kidnapped by a drug-dealing gang that Jess worked undercover in a few years ago. Meanwhile, Hondo engages in a small home renovation project, which worries his mother, Charice, if he has something that is causing him emotional strain.
Recap
A couple in the park, when he sees Rico approach the park, he places his ring, cellphone in the woman’s purse and tells her if anything goes down to get into the clubhouse and call. He shoots Rico, but then two men hit him with a baseball bat, and everyone screams.
Hondo comes to see his mother and brings her an LED shower head. She worries about him working too hard, saying when he is smiling so much, she knows something is eating at him. Meanwhile, at HQ, Victor Tan battles it out in the ring with Steve but loses. Luca enters the ring and beats him. Agent Ellen Benson and Agent Jorge Romero are greeted by Hicks, who tells them their team leaders are waiting upstairs.
Jessica and Hondo talk to Benson, who tells them how Cortez worked undercover in the Mexican cartel and never blew her cover. They reveal the gang Los Huesos is back and dealing drugs to kids in high school, with more than a dozen already suffered from heart attacks. Benson shows a picture of Agent Adrian Cruz, revealing that Cruz was at the park with his wife so they must have been watching him and that is where they snatched him.
Rico is dead but Eduardo Flaco Ruiz is the one who took Cruz; Jessica doesn’t recognize Ruiz, but she does recognize his boss, Raul Lopez. Jessica is surprised that he is so smart and ruthless, but he also killed the three men above him. The agents are confident Cruz is still alive, but they will work him to find out who he is working for. If Jessica signs off on going undercover in gangland Mexico, then they can go ahead.
In Jessica’s office, Hondo worries that this is a high-risk op in a foreign field. She knows what she is walking into and if she does nothing, Cruz will die. Hondo wants her to bring back up with her and Chris quickly agrees to help in any way she can. Hondo brings the team up to date and their cover story. Luca likes that she was supposedly Jessica’s prison muscle, but Jimmy worries, thinking they should send in a FED instead; Chris asserts that she will be okay.
Deacon runs down addresses, while Tan will work with narcotics. Hondo wants Luca and Street to work on anyone who is in custody to see who they can lean on. He stops Chris, saying up here Jessica is her Captain but down there they are two cops in the field as Chris promises she will have Jessica’s back. Jessica promises her boyfriend, David that she will be safe just as Hondo approaches. She introduces them as Hondo says Chris is squared away. Hondo says Jessica is one of the best as David doesn’t deny it.
In Mexico City, Jorge tells them Los Huesos has a lot of dirty cops on their side, explaining they need to check the curtains every day; if they are open, they need to get out, but if they remain closed, they need to maintain their cover. He tells Chris that once they are in, they are completely on their own and if something goes wrong, get out and run; and hope that Jorge gets to them before Lopez does.
Jessica and Chris arrive at Lopez’ house where Jessica tells the guards to let Lopez know “Alicia” is there. The boss says they are good, and the doors are opened for the two to enter. Lopez grabs his friend Paco and says, “This is THE Alicia.” He is thrilled to see her but wants to know who her friend is. Lopez’s girlfriend isn’t pleased to see Alicia and wants to know how she got to Mexico if she was on parole. Lopez tells her that it is because of Alicia that he has all of this, as she is the one who believed in him. She acts surprised to learn that Rico is dead, and Lopez tells Paco to get rooms ready for them as they are staying with him.
At HQ, they work on where the stash houses are, and SWAT begins to kick in doors. Hondo tells the two boys that if they tell them who dropped off the drugs, they won’t have to worry about prison time. Meanwhile, Chris wants to get out of there as soon as possible, especially the way everyone is eyeing them. Jessica approaches Lopez in the hot tub and begins talking about the old days in LA and everything they did. He lets up and reveals things got complicated in LA and they uncovered a rat; when his woman is mad that he is so trusting of Alicia, he tells her to get them drinks.
Jessica quickly works him, and he asks her to stay with him there, but she believes he found his queen in Gabi, but he admits she is only a plaything who doesn’t compare to her. She refuses to stay as people will say the same about her. She wants the LA thing done and then they can talk. Inside, Lopez wants Chris and Jessica to bring him Chato, so he can deal with him for betrayal and then he will talk to Alicia about LA.
Deacon and Hondo see someone who is mighty interested in what they are doing; when they stop the car they find Kevin who says those punks sold his daughter drugs that gave her a heart attack and killed her at 17. Kevin reveals he saw the Latino guys who dropped off the drugs and followed them until they reached an area he couldn’t enter into with his BMW.
Jessica and Chris notice the curtains are closed and inform Jorge that Cruz is still alive, but he worries about the Chato thing as Lopez won’t just kill him, he will make a show of it. Jorge advises them not to do this as two more missing cops won’t help the situation; Chris suggests they kill Chato themselves.
In LA, Hondo tells Hicks about what they have learned from Kevin, but Luca says they cannot do anything without jeopardizing Chris and Jessica. Benson walks in, saying they got word that Cruz is still alive, and Los Huesos has no idea who he is but now Lopez wants Jessica and Chris to prove themselves and then they will be allowed in on the LA operation. Hondo agrees with Benson as they need to maintain their covers until they get Cruz back.
Jessica and Chris find where Chato is located and Chris walks in alone, saying she needs 30 seconds. Jessica walks in, asking if anyone can help her fix her car. Chris points a gun at Chato’s stomach and tells him to go with them if he wants to stay alive. Jorge is shocked that Chris actually shot him, making a call he hopes they know what they are doing.
Jim talks to Hondo about how many cops get killed in Mexico daily, but Hondo doesn’t think he should focus on that. Street feels helpless as they have family down there, and sitting on their hands is not working for him. Hondo tells him to find something positive to focus on as he needs his head in the game. David comes to see Hondo, feeling out of the loop and Hondo only reveals that they have heard something from her but says it comes with the territory of dating a cop, but promises that Jessica will be home before he knows it.
Hondo returns to his mother’s place after midnight to fix her shower. She wants to know what is going on with his work or is it something else. Hondo reveals it went south with the ADA, and she worries that she raised him to be too independent. Hondo admits he feels like he can never do enough, and nothing changes; she says there will always be something, and he will never get them all but in the big picture, things do change. Hondo wants to know that he is making a real difference, and both laugh as he talks about her going all Oprah on him.
Jessica explains things to Lopez, who isn’t so convinced without a photo or video. Jessica does produce a video of Chris shooting him in the chest, but Raul Lopez wanted his head on a stick or a bone he can stake into the ground. He is furious because he doesn’t like bodies being dropped into the street and tells them he is sending them back to LA, giving her an address and telling her to go talk to Flaco; wanting her to find out who the rat is working for and then she is to return to him. They are about to kiss when Chris says she would like to delete the video; she uses it to give the address to Jim’s phone. Street races out of the locker room in his towel with the information.
SWAT talks to Jorge, saying if Raul believes them, the Intel will be legit but if not; no one knows what will happen. Deacon arrives and Hondo explains everything that is happening and for now, they need to assume the intel is legit even though Silver Lake is not the place for a hostage as there are a lot of nosy neighbors. Jorge warns them if they raid the place and Cruz isn’t there, Raul will hear about it.
There is another party happening, and Raul excuses himself to deal with his woman, who is clearly arguing. SWAT set up drones and are able to gather information from Flaco. Working with Jim, they are able to narrow down where the location of a slaughterhouse is and they find one that is shut down. Hondo says they will breach from the roof as Hicks says they will rescue Cruz and then recover their people in Mexico.
Raul tells Jessica the address he just gave was a safe house. Jessica asks him about disposing of the body and he says he has gotten very good at it since he has a friend at a chemical plant. The jealous girlfriend watches as Lopez says that since it is her last night where he wants her to stay with him; but they are interrupted by Paco who insists they need to talk.
Cruz is getting a severe beating, who feels they are getting close to breaking him; but Hondo and his team breach the slaughterhouse. One by one, they take out the gangsters out. Street takes care of Cruz who says he didn’t talk. Hondo tells HQ he recovered Cruz and has Flaco in custody, demanding to get their people out of Mexico.
Meanwhile, Chris tells Jessica she fears their cover has been blown and they attempt to casually escape but Paco has already revealed that Chato is alive as someone he knows watched him being snuck through the back of the station. Raul learns the girls played him and they are cops; Lopez shouts for Paco to find them!
Jessica and Chris are in the kitchen, finding a side exit to escape from as Raul checks the house. He realizes they took off from the kitchen and a foot pursuit ensues. Jessica steals someone’s phone, calling for help from Jorge but they need to keep going until he arrives. Jessica shoots one of the men, while Chris takes down Paco. Jessica holds her gun on Raul who raises his weapon; she shoots him as he says he would have given her everything but all she wanted was to throw him in prison. He promises he will find her.
Chris and Jessica return, welcomed by open arms from all of them. Chris raves about her partner Alicia who was a badass and it is too bad none of them got to meet her; Jessica reminds her that what happens in Mexico… stays in Mexico. Chris feels Jessica had her back, but she feels they were a team. Chris continues to say she always knew she was a good captain but had no idea how incredible she was as a cop.
Agent Benson reveals they found the chemical plant Raul used and they are sweeping for DNA to make sure he stays in prison. Jessica tells Hick even though it got thick, it was nothing they couldn’t handle. Hicks is off with Benson to work on the interagency paperwork. Hondo tells Jessica he is glad she is okay, but she smiles and walks away as she is greeted by David, who nods to Hondo when he holds her tight.
Hondo watches his team for a minute before he returns to his mother’s place, who jokes about how Hondo used to say, “Hon do it!” when he was little. She says his self-reliance and strength is what set him apart and kept him safe, but the irony is that could be the very thing that is holding him back.
He doesn’t know if it’s his age, or being alone, a cop thing or black thing; but whatever it is he doesn’t want to complain about because he knows he is blessed. She reminds him there is no point in being king if he is alone in the castle, and he should remember she isn’t going to be around forever. Hondo wishes he knew what was causing all this as she tells him he doesn’t need to do this alone as a lot of people will help him. He holds his mom and tells her he loves her.
Cast
Main
- Shemar Moore - Daniel Harrelson
- Stephanie Sigman - Jessica Cortez
- Alex Russell - Jim Street
- Lina Esco - Christina Alonso
- Kenny Johnson - Dominic Luca
- David Lim - Victor Tan
- Patrick St. Esprit - Robert Hicks
- Jay Harrington - David Kay
Guest
- Debbie Allen - Charice Harrelson
- Juan Javier Cardenas - Beni
- Otis "Odie" Gallop - Sergeant Stevens
Guest
- Alex Fernandez - Agent Jorge Romero
- Anjali Bhimani - FBI Special Agent Ellen Benson
- Luis Bordonada - Raul Lopez
- Gerardo Celasco - David Arias
- Andrew Tinpo Lee - Kevin
- Alejandro Barrios - Adrian Cruz
- Tyler Capri Clark - Tanya
- Michael Fitzgerald - Ryan
- Robert Garcia - Hector
- Abraham Luna - Chato
- Julio Cesar Ruiz - Flaco
- Reece Schaberg - Chad
- Enrique Rodríguez - Paco
- Ricardo Adam Zarate - Rico
- Essined Aponte - Gabi
- Pedro Giunti - Gate Guard
- Gerardo Martínez - Creepy Guy (credited as Gerardo "Pichichuas" Martinez)
Gallery
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Trivia
- The episode is partially filmed on location in Mexico City, Mexico.
- SERE is short for Survival Evasion Resistance Escape.
- At the end of the episode, Hondo's mother can be seen reading "The Toll of Truth" from the season 1 episode Source.