What If They Run

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Day Break episode
“What If They Run”

Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 2
Writer(s)	Paul Zbyszewski
Director	Rob Bowman
Production no.	102
Original airdate	November 15, 2006
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"the Pilot"	"What If He Lets Her Go"

"What If They Run" is the second episode of Day Break which aired in a two-hour season premiere with "Pilot" on November 15, 2006.

[edit] Summary

Brett makes the decision to take Rita and try to make a run for it by getting out of town, in an attempt to escape the day. But he soon discovers the disastrous consequences of his rash actions on others.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Moments after beginning his third cycle through his rewinding day, Hopper convinces Rita to take the day off and head out of Los Angeles to visit her mother. On a remote road outside the city, though, the detective spots the two shadow-agent cars just before they box him in, forcing him to stop. Hopper rushes the roadblock, drawing his sidearm as the shadow agents open fire on his vehicle; Hopper returns fire, taking out an agent in the shootout, and goes off-road to escape, suffering only a non-lethal shot to the shoulder.

Hopper flees up the road, pulling off shortly ahead and walking into the middle of the street to wait for the third car in pursuit. When it rounds the corner into view, Hopper opens fire, killing the driver and causing the car to crash off the shoulder. Back at the roadblock, agent Buchalter calls his superior to inform him that Hopper has escaped. Buchalter tells another of his agents, Fencik, that plans have changed; Hopper and Rita will now be handled as a murder/suicide. Fencik wonders briefly why Hopper was chosen for the frame-up, before being told not to ask.

On the road, Hopper refuses to go to a hospital or call for back-up, brushing off Rita's demand for an explanation. He pulls over at a gas station a few miles further and sends Rita in for first-aid supplies, promising to attempt an explanation when he gets her "somewhere safe." While Rita shops for supplies, Hopper finds her cellphone with a missed call; he redials and reaches Detective Battle. Hopper tells her that he's being framed for Garza's murder, warning her that Spivak and Choi will contact her, and imploring her not to turn on him. Battle hangs up to begin her interview with Chad Shelton at Internal Affairs.

As Rita leaves the gas station, she is intercepted by a county sheriff who questions the blood on her dress. She invents a story of an injured dog before Hopper handcuffs the officer to his car and takes his weapon and radio. At a motel, Hopper explains to Rita that he is being framed for the murder of ADA Alberto Garza, theorizing that a group of police officers are behind the conspiracy. Rita performs a bit of impromptu surgery, cleaning Hopper's wound and using a pair of needle-nose pliers to dig the bullet out of his shoulder.

Detective Shelton interviews Detective Battle, informing her that IA has been watching her for weeks. He is interrupted by Detective Pressier, however, who informs them that two Robbery/Homicide detectives—Spivak and Choi—want to speak with Battle about Brent Hopper. Battle is passed off to R/H, who claims that since they supersede Internal Affairs, Andrea's cooperation in the Hopper investigation could make the IA inquest disappear. Battle reveals that she spoke with Hopper the previous day.

In IA, Chad learns that Battle called Rita before her interview with Internal Affair. At the motel, Hopper expresses his misgivings about Battle, claiming that "anybody's capable of anything." He tries to find a way to explain to Rita the bizarre fact that he is reliving the same day, telling her that "I am living today over and over again." He describes the shadow agents at the rock quarry, and the injection that seems to have caused the strange time loop, and the fact that the Shadow Man knows everything about them.

In IA, Chad reveals to Spivak that Battle's phone call to Rita connects them to Hopper. At the motel, Rita claims that Hopper is in shock from loss of blood, but Hopper insists that he is telling the truth. He also describes a list of details about the day—including the diaper spill on the 405, the girl injured in the bus accident, the headlines about Garza's murder, and the Dodgers' stunning comeback—as proof that he has lived the day before, though different things have happened to them. He fails to convince Rita, and is interrupted when Battle calls on Rita's cellphone. Hopper hangs up quickly, but Chad, Spivak, and Choi manage to lock onto the phone's cellular signature.

While patching up Hopper's wound, Rita theorizes that perhaps the injection he received in the rock quarry was a hallucinogen, or that he may have suffered cranial trauma or a stroke, to explain why he thinks he's reliving the same day. Hopper concedes that all of that may be possible, but for the moment his only concern is keeping Rita safe.

Spivak, Choi and Battle head to the motel by tracing Rita's cellphone. Rita tells Hopper about an injured stray dog she left to die while on her way to Las Vegas with Chad for their honeymoon. They are interrupted by Detective Battle, who arrives under the pretense of bringing Hopper in; she proceeds to show Hopper her wire while maintaining the charade of compliance for Spivak and Choi. While telling Hopper to turn himself in, Battle writes a note instructing him to use her as a hostage.

Before Hopper can carry out the plan, Buchalter and Fencik arrive and are spotted by Spivak and Choi, who are surprised that someone has penetrated the roadblock set up by the county police. The shadow agents launch an assault on the motel room; Hopper returns fire while Rita and Battle escape through the bathroom window, and Hopper narrowly escapes through the bedroom window. Spivak, Choi, and the county sheriff corner the gunmen and a shootout ensues, affording Hopper and Rita enough cover to break for Choi's car.

Buchalter nearly shoots Hopper, but Battle warns him; Buchalter kills Battle instead, and Hopper wounds Buchalter before escaping. As night falls, Hopper and Rita head out of the city. Hopper drives through the night, putting several hundred miles between his pursuers and himself; he also fades in and out of consciousness briefly on a few occasions. As the sun rises, and the clock ticks toward quarter-after-six, Hopper becomes convinced that if he can "keeping going, [...] it's gonna be a new day."

At 6:18 a.m., Rita rolls over in bed on the fourth cycle of the rewinding day, and finds Hopper bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

Hopper wakes at Westside Hospital that afternoon and finds Jenn at his bedside; he warns her to get herself and her children somewhere safe. When a nurse tries to administer an injection, Hopper refuses to allow her; he is confused as to how the day could have rewound when he wasn't injected by the Shadow Man, but is soon approached by Detectives Spivak and Choi, who place him under arrest for ADA Garza's murder, cuffing to his hospital bed. Rita assures Spivak and Choi that she can provide Hopper's alibi, but is unable to explain his bullet wound.

At IA, Chad Shelton interviews Detective Battle concerning her relationship with drug-trafficker Danny "Slim" Yan, whom Battle claims is a confidential informant. Chad explains that Battle's records do not bear out that claim: no informant payout claims have been filed, and Battle's personal financial statements indicate that she has been making thousand-dollar withdrawals from her own savings prior to her meetings with Yan. Before he can continue, Chad is interrupted by Detective Pressier, who informs them that Hopper has been shot and is being accused of murdering Garza. Andrea expresses her disbelief, but Chad concedes that "anybody's capable of anything."

At Westside, Hopper explains that he is being framed for murder and entreats Rita to help him escape the hospital. She sets off Hopper's monitors to fake a crash, forcing the officer guarding the room to leave and getting Hopper uncuffed before Spivak and Choi arrive to find the room empty. The R/H detectives coordinate hospital security to lock down the entrances and exits in order to keep Hopper in the hospital. As Hopper and Rita flee through the maze of hallways, Hopper once again sees the girl from the coffee shop rushed in, having been injured in the bus accident.

Waiting near an exit, Hopper knocks out Detective Choi, handcuffing him outside before taking his keys, voice-recorder and radio. Rita and Hopper flee in Choi's car and head to Hopper's apartment; they stake-out the building, which is guarded by an officer, until night, and Hopper lets slip that he had actually been on a stake-out during their first date at Coco's Manchurian Barbeque. Rita sets off another car's alarm and draws the officer away from Hopper's building by pretending that the vehicle is hers, allowing Hopper to get inside where he finds his mailbox empty.

As they leave, Chad calls Rita on her cellphone; Hopper throws the phone away, claiming that Chad is in a room filled with police tracking the phone. Chad, however, is actually in a bar watching the Dodgers/Giants game when Buchalter arrives and greets Chad like an old colleague.