On Call – Season 1 Episode 6 Recap & Review

Episode 6

Episode 6 of On Call starts with Harmon and Diaz breaking up a fight between two men. The older man blames the younger one for racing down the street and hitting a stray dog. The younger man insists he didn’t do anything but there are no other witnesses.

Since the dog is injured very badly and animal control won’t make it in time, Sergeant Lasman says they have to kill the dog — as the humane thing to do. Harmon isn’t able to do it, so Lasman shoots the dog instead.

Later, Diaz apologises to Harmon for the things he said during the previous shift and she accepts it. Diaz then tells Harmon that his brother was jumped in the prison by three other men. Hearing this, Harmon decides they should try their luck with Smokey anyway.

They head to the bar and Harmon asks Smokey what it will take. But they aren’t able to come to a conclusion and even when Harmon tries to take the blame on herself, Smokey says it’s more fun to make her watch.

Diaz and Harmon leave, with Diaz more stressed than ever. He can’t even call Gabriel because his phone got confiscated. The officers then get a call about three overdoses at a party. Diaz and Harmon reach the house where three minors have overdosed on coke. They give them doses of Narcan and the paramedics arrive in time, although one young girl almost dies and needs to be resuscitated.

Diaz and Harmon then go towards the homeless camp. Harmon describes how her sister got addicted to drugs after her injury. Her name is Jen and she is now known as The Sheriff. Harmon finds Jen and tells her that their mother wants her to come home. Harmon tries to convince Jen to come home and gets into an argument. She handcuffs her and has Diaz search her. He doesn’t find any drugs but does find her old police badge.

Harmon wants to arrest her since she thinks being in jail will get her on the right track. Diaz knows better about what jail does to families. So he suggests putting her in a safe house, where he and his brother used to send their mother after spats with abusive boyfriends. Harmon drops Jen there but keeps her police badge and tells her she’ll give it back when Jen is out. Jen agrees.

Harmon then tells Diaz she can try calling in a favour to shift Gabriel into a different facility altogether. They can move Gabriel somewhere East Barrio won’t have reach. Diaz says that could work at the end of On Call Episode 6.

The Episode Review

On Call Episode 6 keeps the momentum of the series going. We get more development in Harmon’s relationship with her sister which is nicely tied in with the overdose case. While slightly predictable, the reveal of Jen being The Sheriff is also a nice twist.

At the same time, we spend such little time with the sisters that its portrayal is a surface level one, much like the other smaller incidents in the episode. Jen also doesn’t fight quite as much as a person in her position might do.

Diaz’s brother’s situation doesn’t move along too much. We realise how dangerous the situation is and Harmon tries to figure out a few solutions. However, it was a bit weird that a dog’s death prompted Harmon to try speaking to Smokey when Gabriel being in mortal danger did not. Overall, a decent episode but with only two more left, I’m hoping for the police thrills to amp up again.