Rookie: Feds – Season 1 Episode 17 “Payback” Recap & Review

Payback

Episode 17 of The Rookie: Feds starts with a father crawling on the floor while trying to say that he has said all he knows. A woman follows, killing him despite the guy begging for his life.

Meanwhile, Simone and her father are playing a game of chess. During their game, Simone’s father informs her that the corrupt police officer who had previously incarcerated him is now in a hospice. Despite this news, Simone feels no sympathy towards the officer, as she believes he is wicked.

Mark visits Laura to reconnect, and they start making out. Mark stops, and Laura is concerned. Laura receives a call, and she has to stop, given it’s work time.

The team and DEA give each other mean looks at the meeting. Carter warns Simone that she should not make friends with them, but Garza arrives and explains that the task force is investigating crimes around Elijah, who the LAPD arrested. Elijah is in jail, but his drug suppliers are in Guatemala. Garza is interrupted by Owen, the DEA leader. A ruthless woman leads the gang, and the task force is focused on finishing up the group.

Carter and Simone are summoned to go with Garza to Guatemala, while Brendon and Laura are to interrogate Elijah Stone.

Brendon asks if they can get assistance from Mark, and Laura says it is unavailable. In the midst of this, Brendon tells Laura he arranged this so that she can spend time with her boyfriend and solve the case.

Simone and Carter are getting into the plane, and Carter advises her not to have grudges against the police officer her father talked about earlier.

A DEA agent and Garza come in, and it seems Carter and the agent have some long grudge because they were roommates. Garza tells them to play nice. At the same time, Brendon and Mark are in the office, where Mark thanks him. Laura comes in, and they start investigating Elijah, trying to guess who will take over Elijah because he is currently in jail.

Mark and Laura are subtly arguing, and Brendon is left in the middle. Simone, Garza, Clark, and Lynn, the DEA agent, arrive in Guatemala, and together with the DEA team, they start arranging to capture the female criminal leader. Garza and the DEA teams storm a house where they think Abril is, but they find no one. However, they do discover a hanged priest and some words written on the floor.

Back at the station, Brendon, Laura, and Mark are trying to get more information from Elijah, but he isn’t cracking. At the same time, Laura and Mark argue in Brendon’s car, and he tries to give them relationship advice, but Laura doesn’t want to hear it.

Simone and Garza interrogate the priest’s sister, and they find out that the priest was once in the force. He was one of the soldiers who killed Abril’s father. Abril is looking for the soldier who ripped her from her father’s arms and caused her brain injury. They conclude that Abril is out for revenge.

Simone suggests that Abril did not kill the priest as a Judas for nothing. They also conclude that Abril is after the soldier who killed her father. Garza says if they could find the soldier before she does, they could arrest her.

Abril is seen in Los Angeles killing people who seem to be at a party beside a pool. They later discover that Abril boarded a plane and flew out of the country. Garza’s team later learns that Abril is after revenge, taking down Elijah’s drug business.

Garza releases them to go home as he is left behind to continue working on the case. Elena comes to him, and to console him, she offers him a drink, but Garza declines, saying he is fine.

Laura and Mark are back home, and Laura tries to get intimate. Mark is still hurt, so he leaves Laura and goes. According to him, he needs Laura to commit.

Elena and Phoebe are having their date when Abril and her girlfriend are in the parking lot. Abril says Elena will lead them to the soldier who killed her father. She says Elena is not trained to be on the lookout.

Abril sends her girlfriend to upload malware on Elena’s phone. She changes into a different wig and manages to do just that. Abril’s girlfriend tells her that if she continues with the same attitude, she will burn down everything she’s got. Abril, however, tells her what she has to do.

Simone finds her father reading a newspaper, and Cutty tells her he will visit the officer who framed him. He tries to convince Simone to forgive the officer, but she’s having none of it.

Meanwhile, Brendon tells Laura in the elevator that Mark slept at his place and is still hurt. Garza’s team is together, and they find out that Abril’s father was a DEA in the 90s and Trent had been working in the DEA  around the same time.

Garza offers to go and find the truth from Trent. Simone offers to take him there, but Garza declines, saying that Trent may disappear when he senses an ambush.

Garza heads over to Trent, and after a little denial, Trent tells Garza that Owen might be the one who killed Abril’s father. Garza tells the team, and they both realize that Abril has already implanted a listening app on Elena’s phone, and he can hear whatever they are saying.

Later they realize that Owen has already left leaving his phone behind. Carter is tasked with talking to Lynn, the DEA agent he grudges against, to learn more about Owen.

Garza and Elena head to where they had a date with Phoebe, and they see a hidden CCTV camera. Garza calls to get a warrant while Carter meets with Owen, and from their conversation, they all learn that Owen went after Abril. They get Abril’s location from the CCTV footage and decide to storm Abril’s hideout. Owen is already at the building where he sees Abril, and begins a shootout. Garza’s team hears the shootout and proceeds to where the noise comes from.

Abril’s gun is out of bullets, so he fights Owen and pins him down. Just then, the FBI comes in, and she holds Owen captive. Simone tries to talk her out of it, but she hears none. She shoots Owen, but she is also shot dead

Later Garza consoles Elena, who feels guilty about her phone causing their plans to fail. Carter finds Simone sitting deep in thought, and she reveals that she is hurt because she couldn’t get Abril to stop him from killing.

Carter then approaches Lynn, and they patch things up. Brendon meets with Mark, and Mark says he is meeting with Laura. As they talk, Laura takes them to where the team holds their meetings.

Laura then asks Mark if he’ll be her boyfriend, and he agrees. Cutty is trying to find Reynolds at the hospital, and Simone joins him. Simone agrees to forgive Reynolds, and they both go to the ward as the episode comes to a close.

The Episode Review

Revenge is a powerful motivator but also very dangerous. Abril was so driven to get revenge and died because of it. On a happy note, I am glad that Laura finally asked Mark to be her boyfriend. She is clearly afraid of commitment but Mark seems like a good man who deeply cares for her. She should stop pushing him away and try to see where he is coming from. I believe he had given her enough time to decide the status of their relationship.

It was moving to see Simone forgiving Reynolds, that must have not been easy. Cutty was right, forgiveness is meant to bring us peace and I hope Simone can move on from the trauma of her dad’s wrongful incarceration.