Alert: Missing Persons Unit – Season 1 Episode 4 “Andy” Recap & Review

Andy

Episode 4 of Alert: Missing Persons Unit season 1 starts with a child being taught by his parents to ride a bike. They let him ride the bike for the first time without helping him to balance himself. They follow him but he is too fast by the time they get to the street corner, he is gone and they immediately start asking around if anyone has seen him.

At Nikki’s house, Jason gets a calculator that Nikki really wanted to give Keith for his first day back at school.  Jason brings up the issue of the DNA test and Nikki says she is doing it to make Sidney feel safe. They take photos of the kids before they head out to school and Nikki promises to make her famous meatloaf later.

In the meantime, an alert is issued for the missing kid, Andy. His kidnapper shows the boy the alert and tells him he is now famous and valuable.

At the office. Kemi asks Jason to paint some candles for Sidney. She had a bad dream about Sidney and wants to cleanse her. Mike and Nikki interview Andy’s parents, they ask about his biological dad and the stepdad says the guy is dead.  They warn the parents that they might get a ransom call and they will need to tell the police immediately. The stepdad agrees but the mom, Pat asks to leave for the bathroom and gets a call.

The call is from the kidnapper, he wants two hundred grand and tells her he will text her when and where to meet. He uses the mom’s past to threaten her. An old woman spots a man carrying Andy’s bag and calls the police.

Mike and Jason head to the location but Jason is feeling a bit hurt that Nikki didn’t tell her that she plans to tell the kids about her engagement to Mike that night at the dinner party.  They find the man and he shows them the dumpster he got the bag from. Mike notices a car by the dumpster that has a camera. He calls the office to run the plates but Jason has other ideas. He vandalizes the car by shooting the window to get the owner to respond to the car’s alarm. He argues it is faster than actually doing the right thing and waiting for the office to run the plates.

Meanwhile, the kidnapper drops the boy off to a woman named Vicky who promises to take good care of him. Andy asks to go home but Vicky tells him that he is home and hugs him.

Elsewhere, in school, Sidney refuses to be associated with Keith and keeps a distance from him. She is shocked when he clicks with the popular kids and she and her friend keep tabs on him.  Sidney is hoping that everything will be over once the DNA result is back.

She mentions that after what happened with Keith when they were 12, she couldn’t sleep for three years. She kept seeing Keith’s terrified face after she did something terrible thing to him. She feels trapped because she didn’t say anything six years ago and can’t tell the truth now.

After school, Sidney visits the office and has a prayer session with Kemi. Kemi advises her to take some limes home. She orders her to squeeze the lime and use the lime juice and pour it on her body for protection.

The video from the car leads them to a man named Brad but he has no ties to Andy and his parents. Kemi discovers that the stepdad, Steve withdrew a large sum of money from his bank account.  Jason interviews the dad and asks him if he knows Brad and why he withdrew money from the bank. Steve explains he didn’t take out the money so it must be his wife. He is unable to reach his wife which Jason suspicious.

They track down Brad to a motel but they are too late. The kid is long gone and only Brad is left behind dead. Vicky got into an altercation with Brad because he wanted to get the money and return Andy. Vicky has no plans to return to Andy and runs away with him and tries to change her appearance by cutting and dying her hair. Their investigation leads them to believe  Pat was at the motel after getting the ransom call and tried to save Brad before he died.

They track Pat down and interrogate her about the ransom call and they learn that Vicky is Andy’s biological mom. Pat used to be a neonatal nurse and saw how Vicky kept getting on and off drugs leading her to neglect Andy. She took care of Andy when Vicky fell off the wagon and couldn’t take it anymore when child protection services did nothing.

Four years ago, she decided to take Andy after Vicky forgot him in her car after getting high.  She changed her name and moved to a new town. She met Steve and lied that Andy’s biological father died. She was hoping to save Brad and get information about where Vicky took Andy.

A deeper investigation into Vicky leaves them with no clues about how to trace her. The only viable lead is a pacemaker she had implanted due to heart problems. Jason suggests they visit Renwick and have him hack the pacemaker to trace Vicky. They get her location and corner her from all sides. They try to get her to surrender but Vicky refuses to let Andy go and jumps off the bridge with him. Nikki jumps off the bridge and saves Andy.

They return the kid to Pat and Steve. Mike wants to add all the details on the case report but Nikki and the rest of the team think it is better to cover it up. Nikki asks to do the report and leaves out the fact that Pat originally kidnapped Andy from his biological mom. Mike gets angry at her and accuses her of playing god. He asks her to postpone the announcement of their engagement.

Kemi asks Jason to give back to Sidney the candles they used in their prayers. She warns him that the energy around Sidney is evil.

The DNA test comes back and it is a match. Keith is indeed their lost son but Sidney fails to believe the test. Keith overhears the conversation and is angry they did a DNA test.  Sidney leaves the house and calls her friend. She tells her that she is going to protect herself and tell the truth. She calls 9-1-1 and reports a drowning and lets the operator know there is a body at the bottom of the lake near their home.

Jason meets with June and she tells him that she has moved on. She has decided to get pregnant on her own and plans to look out for herself.

The Episode Review

I am surprised by Jason’s continuous disregard for how an officer of the law should act. It is not cool to shoot someone’s car, it is reckless. I understand that time is of the essence but there is no excuse for such behaviour and none of his superiors bother to address this.

As for Nikki, I understand why she left out those details. The truth was damaging and would have destroyed a family but it is not a decision she should make. There is a protocol for everything but it seems like no one other than Mike cares about that.

I am curious to find out what Sidney did to Keith, did she drown him?