What If They're Connected

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“What If They're Connected”
Day Break episode

Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 9
Written by	Angela Russo John Hlavin
Directed by	Rob Bowman
Production no.	109
Original airdate	January 29, 2007
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"What If She's Lying"	"What If He's Free"
List of Day Break Episodes

What If They're Connected is the ninth episode of Day Break which was made available on ABC.com.

[edit] Summary

Hopper discovers that a possible war between two rival gangs may be linked to his framing for the murder of Garza. Meanwhile, he pays a visit to Garza's murder scene and begins to piece together who may have really killed the Assistant District Attorney.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Hopper learns that Tobias Booth is a councilman who is connected to Garza's murder. Putting the pieces together, Hopper puzzles out that Booth apparently impregnated Isabella and, in an effort to cover it up, sought her death. Since Garza was the original prosecutor for her murder case, his slaying may have been a further effort to silence those involved. Hopper relates his theories to Detective Battle during Booth's press conference, and while she questions what exactly they plan to do about it, Booth turns the page of his speech to reveal the photo of Isabella's body taped to the page. Apparently planted there by Hopper, the photo rattles Booth, and as Hopper points out, makes him more likely to make a mistake.

Meanwhile, Detectives Spivak and Choi question Hopper's sister, Jennifer. She insists that her brother is innocent, and that the whole thing is part of a larger scheme. Expressing disbelief over the conspiracy theory, the two continue to press her for details. She divulges a scrap of paper, given to her early that morning by Hopper, with the names of the two men (Fencik and Buchalter) threatening her and allegedly connected to the murder. Although the two detectives don't believe her story, Choi does feel that it would be worthwhile to at least briefly investigate the names, while Spivak is simply dismissive.

Booth leaves the press conference with Garza's wife, suggesting a connection between the two. In an effort to figure out what the connection is, Battle and Hopper follow them. Battle enters the residence and eavesdrops on a conversation between the two, but before she can find out too much, is overheard and forced to bluff her way out. Meanwhile, Hopper attempts to break-in through another door, but is stopped first by a suspicious officer, and then by the appearance of Booth himself. Booth proclaims "You're a dead man!" before calling for help. Hopper flees and makes his get-away hidden in the back of a vehicle which is driving out of the area.

The vehicle is driven by Luis Torres, a former gang member of the Latin Disciples. Torres is allegedly reformed and now works for Booth, although his exact duties are initially unclear. While hiding in the back of the vehicle, Hopper discovers a machine pistol, and decides to stay in the vehicle waiting for it to stop. Torres eventually stops at a location where two Latin Disciples members show off several crates full of military-grade automatic rifles. Torres notes that he has to take them to "the summit", and the crates are loaded into the vehicle. During this, Hopper listens in on the conversation and then slips into the front seat. When Torres attempts to re-enter the vehicle, he is knocked down and Hopper drives off with the crates full of guns.

That same night, Detective Choi is observed waiting at a seedy skinhead-bar, following up on the lead from Jennifer. Eventually Fencik arrives and cheerily engages him in conversation. Before Choi can get much out of the man, though, the meeting is revealed to be a trap. Choi is garroted with a length of chain as the scene fades out.

The next day, during the press conference, Hopper reveals to Battle that he believes Torres is involved in several illegal activities. Battle uses a ruse, smashing a window on Torres' vehicle to set off the car alarm, in order to draw him to it. Once there, she searches the vehicle to "help determine if anything is missing", and in the process, reveals the machine pistol stashed in the back. She arrests him for gun possession and takes him to the station.

Hopper meets with his confidential informant Damien, trying to find out more about Torres. Damien informs him that Torres never actually reformed at all, although he professes ignorance regarding the gun deal or any summit meeting. Nonetheless, he has a score to settle with Torres and is eager to be involved in the deal going down that night (perhaps in exchange for a share of the weapons). However, when Damien and Hopper arrive at the location where Hopper witnessed the guns being loaded the previous day, the deal has already gone down and the guns are nowhere to be found. Just then, Hopper receives a call from Battle, who informs him that Torres made a single phone call and was released from jail earlier. Based on information she gleaned from the number Torres called, she reveals that "The Summit" is actually the name of a bar. Leaving Damien behind, Hopper quickly heads for the bar.

When Hopper arrives at the bar, he peeks inside to observe Torres meeting with the skinheads, as well as Fencik and Buchalter. In the process of doing so, he also sees Detective Choi bound and bloody, tied to a chair. Hopper realizes that without immediate action, Choi will likely be killed. Thinking quickly, he spies the van which the skinheads previously used in their assassination attempt on Damien, and grabs a pair of grenades from the van. Armed with the grenades, he strides into the bar, where he immediately has a dozen guns focused on his head. Threatening to set off the grenades, Hopper attempts to talk his way out of the situation by stirring up hostilities among the parties at the meeting. This fails, though, and he is forced to toss the grenades into the amassed group of thugs before attempting to flee out a backdoor with Choi (still in the chair). Thankfully, the grenades have had their triggers taped down and hence won't actually go off, but just as it looks like Hopper will be killed, Detective Spivak and a SWAT team burst into the room, apparently tipped off by Hopper before entering the bar.

Despite Hopper's heroic actions to save Detective Choi, he is still arrested for murder. However, Detective Choi, re-assessing his judgement of Hopper, announces that he will take the suspect back to the station. On the ride back, Choi and Hopper talk, with Hopper asserting his innocence, despite being unable to prove it. Choi inquiries as to what would be required to prove it, and the two take a detour to the Garza murder scene. At the crime scene, Hopper is walked-through the crime scene and, in the process, reveals his theory about Booth to Choi. As the two are leaving, Choi discovers a fax is missing from the documented evidence. Checking the fax log, they discovered that the fax was intended for Hopper, but never reached him. Fortunately, a copy has been saved in memory and, and the machine is made to regurgitate its contents: A document from Pelican Bay State Prison. On the document is picture of the Latino boogey man, Miguel Dominguez.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

Mitch Pileggi, who plays Detective Spivak, is told about the conspiracy by Hopper's sister, Jennifer, during questioning. Afterward, to indicate his skepticism, he dismissively says to Detective Choi, "If you see any little green men, tell them I said 'hi.'" This is an allusion to the similarly skeptical character Walter Skinner that Pileggi played on the popular sci-fi drama, The X-Files. Rob Bowman, who produced and directed several episodes of The X-Files, directed this episode.