On Call – Season 1 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Episode 4

Episode 4 of On Call begins with the memorial service for Maria Delgado, which leaves Harmon in tears. She then takes Diaz to her favourite food stall run by a man named Chad. He had been robbed once and she caught the thief, which is why she gets free food! Just as they’re enjoying their meal they get a call about a disturbance.

They go to a motel where they can hear a fight between a man and a woman inside one of the rooms. They enter and the woman, a prostitute, claims to have been beaten up by the man while the man says she threw hot water on his privates. Trying to get out of trouble, the man tells Harmon that a few East Barrio men were at the hotel the previous night. And they were talking about delivering a big package.

Harmon speaks with the woman separately and she admits that one of her girls, Baby Blue, was with the East Barrio men. Harmon finds Baby Blue and offers her help anytime she needs it in return for information. Baby Blue says Maniac was indeed there the previous night and had invited her to the Oceanside Motel the following night, but she refused.

They stake out the motel that night and see a car registered to an East Barrio member. Harmon tells Diaz to hang back because of his doubts in her but Diaz assures her that he trusts her. Harmon speaks to the motel reception and learns of four people inside Room 112. She believes it is Maniac. They call in for more help, including Sergeant Lasman. The group of officers enter the room but find the place empty except for a young girl in the bathroom.

Suddenly, bullets rain in from the next room. The officers move fast and take down the men in the next room but Maniac gets away. Harmon chases him to an abandoned building where they fight. In the chaos, her body cam falls off her uniform. She manages to hold a gun to Maniac’s head and seems to consider shooting him. But Lasman comes in and grabs hold of Maniac.

Later, Harmon sends the young girl they found in an ambulance. Koyama arrives as well and offers her both, praise and comfort. Back at the station, Bush asks Harmon how she knew Maniac was at the motel. She says if Harmon went off book, she needs to know.

As they end their day, Lasman asks Harmon if she considered shooting Maniac. She says no. Diaz is going out drinking with the other officers and Harmon agrees to meet them there. After he leaves, she looks at a photograph of Delgado and breaks down at the end of On Call Episode 4.

The Episode Review

Episode 4 of On Call almost entirely revolves around capturing Maniac and it’s a neat shift from the previous episodes. After having multiple incidents packed into one episode, this one offers a refreshing change with its singular focus. The investigation that leads to Harmon finding Maniac’s location as well as the logistics of taking him down have been executed well, in a solid, gripping manner.

The stakes are high and the whole episode is held by a sense of tension that keeps increasing till the final shootout. All in all, a good episode although it makes me wonder where the story will go now that Maniac is arrested.