On Call – Season 1 Episode 7 Recap & Review

Episode 7

Episode 7 of On Call begins with Diaz’s mother coming to the station demanding to know what’s happened to Gabriel since she can’t get in touch with him. Diaz and Harmon explain that he’s transferred to another facility but they can’t tell her where, for his own safety. Diaz’s mother shakes Harmon’s hand and thanks her.

Diaz and Harmon are called in then. There’s been a robbery at a weed shop that Harmon realises belongs to Smokey. Three men in masks robbed the store of its cash and a young boy caught a stray bullet as the men and cops shot at each other. Harmon talks to the young boy’s friend. She says the men knew exactly where the safe was which makes them think it was an inside job.

They’ve barely begun investigating when they get a call of another robbery nearby with three men in masks involved. Harmon and Diaz rush over to find a young woman, injured and crawling out of her own house. She says the thieves are gone and inside, Diaz finds a hole in the wall. The men took the entire safe. A photograph reveals that this is Smokey’s house and the girl, Leona, is his daughter.

Harmon speaks with Lasman and tells him she spoke to Smokey and knows his bosses are mad at him for not protecting Maniac. She thinks this is an inside job in East Barrio. Meanwhile, Diaz tries to talk to Leona but she doesn’t offer any more information. Smokey comes up on the scene, raging at the situation. Lasman says that the little boy who caught a bullet outside his weed shop has died. But Smokey refuses to work together.

Lasman tells Harmon that he’s initiating a tactical alert, so they can bring out warrants on all documented members of East Barrio. Harmon doesn’t agree but it doesn’t look like she has a choice since the watch commander has signed off on this.

The police forces are assembled and Lasman tells them to put these people “in check the way they used to.” He says he wants to see the lock ups full that night. Harmon tries to reason with Lieutenant Bishop but she simply gives her the option to sit out. Before she can say anything, Diaz says that they are fine to go on duty.

Later, in the car, Harmon asks Diaz why he said that. Diaz is clearly gunning for East Barrio because of what they did to his brother. Harmon says they need to contain the situation and asks if Diaz thinks he can speak to Leona and get more information out of her. He says he can and they visit the hospital. Diaz tells Leona that Smokey’s in real danger and asks for the men’s names. She asks what happens if they come back and Diaz offers his card, saying he’ll be there for her.

Diaz gets one name from her — Edgar Torres. The two officers head to his house and find the door open. One man is already dead in the living room and inside, they find Edgar Torres. He’s barely alive and bleeds out before he can say who did it. But Harmon and Diaz know it was Smokey.

After the detectives take over the scene, Harmon and Diaz drive through the streets of Long Beach and see the policemen rounding up East Barrio members, even if they are teenagers. Diaz realises this was never a good idea. Back at the station, Harmon argues with Lasman and accuses him of breaking the trust with the people. But he believes this is the only way to clean things up.

Detective Sergeant Koyama turns up and tells Harmon that he has an offer for her. He hints that they have a mole inside East Barrio who is willing to help them pin down Smokey for good. Harmon says she’s in at the end of On Call Episode 7.

The Episode Review

On Call Episode 7 kicks things up a notch with the East Barrio conflict. This one definitely spikes more interest as, once again, we move from smaller, surface-level incidents to a deeper look at one situation. It’s interesting how a regular robbery quickly catapults into an all out war between the police and the gang members.

What’s also intriguing, is Diaz and Harmon’s differing attitudes on the issue although those differences don’t last very long. It is surprisingly easy for Harmon to convince Diaz to help her stop the tactical alert.

This ties into the general issue with the story. The connection between Harmon and Smokey hasn’t been explored, we don’t even know much about how they helped each other in the past and why Harmon would do that for a person she calls a “stone cold killer.” Even Smokey’s situation within the gang isn’t tapped into, we just assume that the Maniac incident was enough to set people against him.

There’s an interesting moment when the race difference between Lasman and Harmon is brought up and Lasman tells her they grew up on different versions of Long Beach. An impactful statement and a realistic one. But the episode doesn’t bother to explore that power imbalance any further. On Call remains high on the thrills and the chase but doesn’t really explore the meaty part of its story.