The Crossing Season 1 Episode 6: LKA Recap

This week on The Crossing, we find out more about the case that led to Jude moving from Oakland to Oregon and leaving his family behind. Jude revisits his old stomping grounds, hoping that a contact from his last case will help him with the current one, but he’s forgotten how much pressure is put on government employees to stick to the party line and not make waves.

Sophie and Reece make plans to reunite Reece and Lea, but Lindauer gets in the way. Then Sophie’s heart condition acts up and tragedy becomes a serious possibility. The refugees question the nature of their detention even more than usual, and Caleb puts Hannah’s phone to good use.

LKA opens on a flashback to Jude’s last big case with his police unit. They were making a last minute bust on a drug dealer in a run down neighborhood. Jude’s partner, Cory, says something about their commander, Doucette, getting a kick back from a rival drug dealer for taking this one down. Jude thinks he’s joking and ignores what Cory said. They play rock, paper scissors to decide who knocks on the door. Cory loses.

While they approach the front door, Doucette goes around to the back. Jude notices signs that it’s a set up. (The front door is hollow, making it easier for bullets to pass through, and someone is watching for them out of the window.) Cory is shot in the neck right through the door. The shots only miss Jude because he jumps out of the way just in time. Jude radios for help while Cory bleeds out.

Jude sits in front of the drug dealer’s house in the present day while on the phone with Nestor as Nestor asks how long this trip will take. Jude doesn’t know, but his friend Martin, who he worked with on the Doucette case, is the only federal contact that he has and trusts. That’s the only way they can look into Emma’s suspicions.

Sophie tells Rebecca that Leah is fully healed. Rebecca says that Lea can stay with her and Caleb again now that she’s well, but Sophie says that first she’s sending Lea to Portland General Hospital for a full work up to make sure she didn’t miss anything. Rebecca asks how Sophie cured Lea, but Sophie won’t give her details. Rebecca guesses that Reece came to the 21st century with Lea, and cautions Sophie not to trust her.

Caleb goes for a walk in the woods and discovers the guards putting up a 12 foot tall, electrified fence, topped with razor wire. In other words, a prison fence. He goes to talk to Emma, but gets Bryce instead, who tries to assure him that a “secure perimeter” is standard procedure and for the inmates residents’ protection. He’s not very convincing, since there’s currently nothing to protect them from. Caleb, who’s obviously encountered government lies and conspiracies before, stays calm and leaves quietly.

Flashback to Jude meeting with Martin, his district attorney friend, and another man, in a diner to talk about the Doucette case. He tells them that Cory knew that Doucette was corrupt and running a trafficking ring. Doucette discovered that Cory knew, so he set up the bust that got Cory killed, specifically to get rid of Cory. But Doucette and his people have gotten away with their crime ring for so long that they’ve gotten sloppy, so Cory was able to build up a file of evidence against them.

Even though Doucette is a decorated officer with many years of service, it’s a good case with a pile of evidence, and Jude is willing to testify. The DA warns Jude that rest of the police force will have a problem with him testifying against Doucette. Jude doesn’t care. He’s getting justice for his dead partner.

In the present day, Martin meets Jude at the same diner. Jude tells him about the situation with the Thorn Beach refugees and Emma’s suspicions. Martin is with the US Attorney’s office now and he has a major trial about to start. All he can do is send up a couple of flares. He’s not sure if Jude is brave or stupid.

Marshall plays Ruby Tuesday (by the Rolling Stones) on the ukulele and sings along, as Hannah listens over the phone. She loves it and they talk music, then about when they can see each other again.

Caleb comes in and takes the phone from Hannah. He asks Marshall if there’s anything in the media about the refugees and what the people in town are saying. Marshall says that there’s nothing in the media and the townspeople think they are from a Russian research vessel.

Caleb tells Marshall about the new fence and the increased number of guards. Gabe (Marshall’s blond friend has a name!!) grabs the phone from Marshall and tells him to get them evidence of the cover up so they can expose it to the public. Caleb says he’ll send them photos in an hour.

When they get the photos, Marshall and Gabe post them on conspiracy sites like ConspiracyHub.net, DarkConcentric.net, TruthOverSecrecy.net and deceptivereality.net. Before they hit the upload button, Gabe cautions Marshall that this is the point of no return and asks if he’s sure that Hannah is worth it. Marshall hits the send button.

Sophie does an experiment with Reece’s stem cells and her own blood cells, mixing them together, then examining them under a microscope. Her blood cells start to glow when they come into contact with Reece’s cells. Sophie says, “That’s impossible.”

Sophie drives to meet Reece in a secluded spot in the woods. They plan for Reece to take Lea from her hospital room while Sophie’s on a break. Sophie will call Reece when they’re at the hospital, at about 3:00. Reece asks why Sophie is taking this risk. Sophie says she wishes her mom had fought as hard for her as Reece is fighting for Lea.

Sophie also shows Reece photos of Lea looking healthy. Reece is moved to see her daughter looking so improved from the dying child in the previous photos. Sophie asks Reece if she’s ever healed anyone else with her stem cells. Reece grows cold, says no, and gets out of the car.

Lindauer looks over Lea’s medical reports and photos, then he gets an email notification about Caleb’s photos. He must react swiftly, because before you know it, Bryce is telling the refugees that the entire camp will be searched for the phone, since communication devices are banned. The refugees are told that if they have the phone they should turn it in, and if they know who has it, they should turn that person in.

Hannah was inside her cabin on the phone with Marshall, so she didn’t hear the announcement. Roy comes in to search her cabin and she quickly pockets the phone. She needles him about the excessiveness of the restrictions on the refugees, and successfully distracts him from doing the full search. The phone is safe for now.

Reece pays a visit to Kurt, the fishing boat captain who rescued her after the time jump. She wants him to help her get forged ID documents for her and Lea. She nods toward his tattoo and says to him in Russian that he’s connected, so I’m going to guess that she recognizes a bratva mark (the Russian mob). He says that’s in the past, but she convinces him to take her there.

Jude goes to his ex-wife’s house to pick up Oliver. He notices that she’s redecorated, even though she’s supposed to move to Portland soon to be closer to him. He asks when she’s planning to move, but she brushes him off. She asks what his new case is, and he’s very vague, just saying it’s a missing persons case. She says she’d tell him to be careful, but he’s never listened to her before.

In a flashback, Jude gets home from work late and is feeling amorous, despite the fact that his wife, Amy, doesn’t seem all that interested. She’s asking questions about the case against Doucette, and how dangerous it’s going to get for the family. She’s trying to be realistic about what kind of retaliation they might face. He’s blowing off her concerns, because he’s sure that he’s doing the right thing. Cory was killed and it could have been him.

He pops a pain pill. Amy questions how many he’s taking. He doesn’t answer directly, just tells her that he got shot, and it hurts. She’s clearly not supposed to question him about anything, because he’s always right. At least he stopped trying to have sex with her when she didn’t want it.

That whole scene made Jude even more unlikable for me, although it wouldn’t surprise me if the writers want us to be on Jude’s side. Morally, to me, it’s a toss up, whether to turn in the criminal but risk your child’s life, or to play it safe to protect your family. The issue here is that he’s making the decision for the family and doesn’t think her opinion should have any weight, when they’re dealing with a corrupt cop who’s already killed at least one person to keep them quiet. No mystery about why this marriage ended.

Kurt brings Reece to the forger, who works in an abandoned waterfront building and thinks Reece looks like a cop. She wrestles him for his gun and wins, then instructs him to open up her duffel bag full of cash. When they ask, she says she got it from the bank. Specifically, from breaking open an ATM.

Just as Rebecca is saying that maybe the fence is a good thing, if it can keep Reece out, Hannah’s phone rings during mealtime in the camp cafeteria. Thomas happens to be sitting at the next table and hears it, even though Rebecca has a pretend coughing fit to disguise the sound. Hannah forgot to turn it off. 🤦🏻‍♀️ She passes it to Caleb under the table. Thomas is probably the only refugee who would even recognize what a cell phone sounds like.

Jude and Oliver get back home again, and Jude can’t wait to confront Amy. He’s finally figured out the obvious. She’s not planning on uprooting her life and her kid’s life to move closer to her ex-addict ex-husband who didn’t care when she was threatened by a murderer, as we’re about to see.

She tells Jude that she met someone. She’s not trying to keep him from his son. This is the first time in three years that she’s happy. Oliver’s happy, too, and she doesn’t want to uproot him. Jude argues that he moved to another state so that she would be free from threats. Amy responds that, since he was the real threat, the threats are gone now and they are safe with no need to move. He angrily yells that they agreed she would move.

Flashback to Jude, popping a couple of pain pills at a time (the dosage was 1 every 12 hours) and so intoxicated that he’s slurring his words as he talks. He gets home from work and finds Doucette alone with Amy in their living room. Doucette says that he’s dropping off a casserole his wife made, because cops help each other out that way. Doucette wanted to see how Jude’s arm was doing and let him know that the entire department is his family. They’re a family that looks out for one another, like brothers. Jude considers himself one of the family, doesn’t he?

Amy is scared out of her mind after he leaves, since she was alone with him menacing her and Oliver for who knows how long. Jude doesn’t even take the threat seriously. He just says he’ll take it to internal affairs?????? What? This is the guy who’s already murdered at least one of his “brothers” and you just found him alone with your wife and child, then he threatened you. That doesn’t worry you a little?

Nope, it doesn’t. Not when he feels so good from the pills, and not before the pills, when he was filled with righteous anger. Amy’s had enough. She says that Cory wouldn’t want Jude to risk their family this way. It’s Jude’s family or the case. He won’t give up the case, so she takes Oliver to stay with her mother. It would have been better if Jude had taken the threat seriously when she brought it up weeks before, and they’d decided together for her and Oliver to go somewhere safe.

Rooting out corruption is important, but I’m not okay with sacrificing your kids to do it. The real problem with the marriage was that he insisted on making all of the important decisions alone, and never listened to her or paid attention to the impact on her and Oliver. He’s still only thinking about himself, not her and Oliver.

In the present day, Martin calls to say there’s a guy from justice who’s willing to talk to Jude.

Lindauer meets with Sophie away from the camp. First he offers her coffee, but she says she can’t have caffeine. He asks her how she cured Lea, and she makes up a story about a combination of potent broad spectrum antivirals. Then he tells her that her work is done at the camp, and thanks her for her service. She tries to convince him that she should do Lea’s follow ups and continue her research, but her turns her down. Her research now belongs to the government.

Sophie races to the camp, but he’s already had her locked out and her research restricted. Her heart problem begins to act up as she leaves the gate.

Caleb is in the woods talking to Marshall, who tells him that the local media have declared the camp photos a hoax. Bryce and a few more guards find Caleb while he’s still on the phone. Thomas melts back into the woods, obviously having turned Caleb in. Caleb leaves the line to Marshall open as he slowly walks over to the guards, and a crowd of refugees gathers.

Bryce: Where’d you get it, from a guard?

Caleb: I’ll answer your questions after you answer mine. Why are we being fenced in and hidden away?

Bryce: You’re being protected, not hidden.

Caleb: Then why can’t I have a phone? Why can’t we talk to people?

Bryce: Those are our rules. Take the phone. Roy, take the phone!

Roy: Let the man talk.

Caleb: We’ve done everything you’ve asked of us. And Agent Ren, she assured us that we were on a path to citizenship. Now she’s gone, and walls are going up.

Bryce: It’s not what you think. Look, this is not a prison.

Caleb: You make promises, but you don’t have the power to keep them. You’re just another one of their lapdogs. You want to be a good dog? Here. Go fetch. (Holds the phone out to Bryce. When Bryce reaches for it, he throws it into the water nearby.)

Bryce tells his men to fall back and disperses the crowd.

Wow. That was a powerful scene. It’ll be interesting to see if Caleb has an influence on Bryce.

Jude arrives at the building for his scheduled meeting with Martin’s contact, but the front lobby is deserted, and something doesn’t feel right, so he leaves without getting on the elevator. Was Doucette about to get some delayed revenge?

Sophie calls Reece, who’s packing up clothes and other supplies for Lea. Reece asks hopefully if Lea’s at the hospital. Sophie has to tell her, again, that Lea’s been snatched away. Reece is fatalistic, and says she’ll find another way to get into the camp to get Lea.

Sophie begs Reece to let her have more stem cells. Reece’s cells could cure everything wrong with everyone, now, not sometime in the distant future. They could save Sophie’s life. Reece stands firm. No samples, no organic materials. She hangs up.

Sophie’s heart gets worse as she’s driving along a curving mountain road. She tries to get to her medication, but drops it. Her blood pressure gets so low that she’s going in and out of consciousness, then she passes out onto the steering wheel and the car rolls onto the side of the road.

I really thought they were going to kill her in a huge car crash.

In the past, Jude gets the results of the case against Doucette: No indictment. Martin says someone’s protecting him. Jude wants them to appeal, but Martin refuses.

In the present, Jude and Martin meet at the diner. He notes that Jude blew off the meeting, tells him about Lindauer and gives him a folder of information, then takes off again.

Martin: He’s some sort of prodigy. Scary smart. He only joined DHS 9 years ago, and that is an awfully fast track. Former systems geek. Threat assessment, emergency preparedness. Apparently, he has a real knack for predictive modeling. They say that he could spotlight issues before almost anyone else knew they were issues, almost like he could…

Jude: Tell the future.

Martin: Exactly.

As soon as Martin leaves, on cue, the phones rings, and it’s Lindauer. He’s heard through the grapevine that Jude’s asking questions about him. He’s a completely open book and doesn’t understand why Jude didn’t just come straight to him. Jude finally, finally figures out that maybe he needs to be a little cautious. He says that DHS has been less than inviting so far. Lindauer asks for a chance to remedy that in person. He’ll even come to Jude. Jude suggests the Batton Inlet Bridge at 10:00. Lindauer agrees.

Sophie wakes up in the hospital and sees that her blood pressure is 164/70. Her doctor says she doesn’t have good news, but Sophie already knows.

Reece goes back to the forger, who it turns out, has a side business as an arms dealer. She comes out with a bag full of impressively big guns. No wimpy handguns for the Apex. I doubt the prison fence will do much to stop her, but I wish she’d get a crime gang in place with a hacker and whatnot. At the very least, she needs a new inside man, so that she knows where Lea is.

Late that night, Thomas returns to his cabin to find a bottle of liquor on his bed with a note that says “Well done.” He takes a swig of it, then hides it and answers the door when Caleb knocks. He tells Caleb that he admired the way that Caleb handled himself with the guards. Everyone did. Caleb thanks him, but says that he wouldn’t have been in that position if Thomas hadn’t snitched on him.

Thomas is incredulous. How could Caleb think that he would do that? Caleb knows that he did. But Caleb wants to know why. Thomas asks if Caleb’s going to torture him. Back in the future, each guy in Caleb’s unit had their own way of finding rats. Caleb looked for two signs. When he found those in someone, then he tortured them.

Thomas says that Caleb’s crazy. How dare he come there in the middle of the night and accuse him. Caleb says that’s sign #1: Snitches get defensive. Then Thomas says Caleb should go talk to Paul. He’s always talking to all of the agents. Caleb says that’s sign #2: Deflect blame away from themselves and onto others.

Caleb pulls out Hannah’s knife and grabs Thomas. Thomas says that he told the guards about the phone. They said that the phone was a serious thing and he didn’t want it to affect his chances of getting out again. He begs Caleb not to hurt him.

Caleb backs off a little and puts the knife away. He says he’ll make deal with Thomas. He agrees they don’t want to jeopardize their chances. “So I’ll agree not to kill you, and you’ll agree not to tell anyone who did this.” He twists his leg around Thomas’ leg and breaks it.

Nestor pulls over Lindauer near the bridge. He asks for Lindauer’s license and registration. Lindauer doesn’t have them, but says he’s a government agent, so he’ll show Nestor his credentials. Nestor tells him to keep his hands where they can be seen and notes that his driving seemed a bit erratic, too.

Jude pulls up and knocks on the other window. He says that Lindauer’s driving a nice car. He bets Caddy’s are still nice cars in 180 years. (I bet Apex like faster and/or more rugged cars.) Nestor has Lindauer get out of the car. Jude finds a gun in the glove compartment with the serial number filed off. Lindauer claims it’s from an investigation.

Sure. Like he does investigations himself.

Jude and Nestor don’t buy it either, and have all the probable cause they need to take him in.

---

 

Next week, someone finally turns the tables on Lindauer. Hopefully they’ll hold him for a while without filing anything, so that DHS and Eve won’t send any minions to get him released. I doubt his meeting with Jude was on his official calendar.

I’d love to see what it takes, short of torture, to make Lindauer’s smug facade crack. Other than Eve, he toys with everyone like they’re chess pieces, but he does seem to have a tiny bit of a conscience buried inside. Can they get him to talk about Emma?

What do y’all think about Marshall and Gabe’s choice of websites for the refugee camp exposé photos? I have mixed feelings. The photos were guaranteed to be published and seen on those sites, but they were also easier to discredit because they’d been published there first. A legitimate news organization might have dismissed them and alerted Lindauer or they might have taken them seriously and dug deeper, throwing their respectable reputation behind the story. What do you think Marshall and Gabe should have chosen? Do you think Gabe could be a 1st waver and this was a way to create an excuse to take the phone without revealing sources, plus discredit future leaks from the camp? Or is that too paranoid?

Jude’s pill-popping storyline feels like one plot device too many. I don’t understand the point of having him be under the influence of drugs while he’s testifying against a superior officer in flashbacks. What does it add to the current story?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the intoxication and addiction would be enough to call his testimony into question. Is that going to turn out to be why they lost the case? Did he mess it up for himself?  What is the point of the writers piling mistake after mistake onto Jude’s character, but also making him seem like the everyman hero? It’s like they can’t decide if he’s a hero or an anti-hero.

I didn’t like the look on Amy’s face when he yelled at her in the present day. Just how bad did their relationship and his addiction get? Martin was really not happy to hear from him, either. Jude burned a lot of bridges in Oakland.

As it turns out, Caleb was a good choice for hidden king of the refugees. He’s intelligent and fair-minded, but willing to make the hard calls and always has his eyes open. We really need some flashbacks on the Alpha-Zulus. Their spy and warrior training is pretty amazing.

If everyone involved would just listen to Caleb, Nestor, Emma and Sophie, this whole thing would be a lot simpler. Rebecca can weigh in sometimes, too, but she has to be willing to give Reece a chance to learn how to follow the rules of the 21st century.

When Caleb and Hannah talked about Hannah having been a collaborator, Hannah confessed that she’d done it, and explained the circumstances. She didn’t blame anyone but the Apex, and didn’t try to lie and say she hadn’t been a collaborator. Caleb understood that she’d been forced into it in order to protect her family, and could see that she’s basically a trustworthy person. Thomas, on the other hand, couldn’t find someone in authority to start snitching to fast enough when the refugees arrived in the 21st century. I’m almost certain that he was Reece’s informant for information about the time machine. Thomas failed Caleb’s test and Hannah passed.

WHERE IS EMMA? This is not okay. Even if she’s dead, I need the confirmation of seeing her body. And then I’ll think a lot less of this show for quickly killing off the middle aged female regular. It’s bad enough that she’s disappeared.

I will not accept losing Sophie on top of losing Emma. If the women are becoming disposable on this show, that’s going to be a serious issue. Someone needs to dig a tunnel in or out of that camp, fast, and get Sophie the Reece cure that she left behind, leaving a little in the vial for Emma when they find her. Caleb has Hannah’s shiv to use for loosening dirt and rocks, they can use more cutlery and bowls to make other tools. Or someone can find another drone to fly in, just to get the research.

 

Images courtesy of ABC.