“You guys have water spots on your ceiling.” – Hank
When I saw Ray Sizick and his accompanying storyline featured in the “Previously on Terriers” recap at the start of “Agua Caliente,” I was a little concerned. His attempt to blackmail Britt into joining him for one last score in “Change Partners” was one of the few brief plot points that didn’t ring true to me. Seeing him return isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to it.
I don’t think I liked the Ray character any more after “Agua Caliente” (though, to be fair, I don’t think he’s meant to be remotely likable), but his relation to the plot was far more intriguing during his second go-round.
Hank and Britt (Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James) are serving a subpoena to a shifty golf enthusiast for Mags (Jamie Denbo) when they get separated trying to chase the man down. Hank delivers the document but loses Britt in the process. He tries to call him and is dismayed to find Britt’s cellphone ringing, abandoned in the grass.
He checks in with Mags and Katie (Laura Allen) first, but neither has heard from Britt. Hank lies to Katie and claims that he had borrowed his cellphone and that there is nothing to be concerned about. But Hank is concerned, enough so to go to Mark (Rockmond Dunbar) for help. Using Mark’s power of police persuasion, they get a golf course employee to show them some security tapes that show Britt being stuffed at gunpoint into the trunk of a car — classic drug cartel procedure.
They bring the footage to Mark’s DEA contact who recognizes one of the kidnappers as a cousin and muscle of Felipe Prado, a chop shop owner and occasional drug dealer. Mark and Hank head to Mexico to see if they can get some help from the police south of the border.
Meanwhile, a bag gets pulled off Britt’s head in a warehouse in Tijuana. He is tied up next to Ray and soon meets Prado, who has a proposition. Britt must help Ray steal back the $80,000 worth of cocaine that Ray allowed to be taken into evidence by the police. If he doesn’t succeed, one of Prado’s men will kill Katie back in San Diego. If the accomplice doesn’t hear from Prado by 6:00 p.m., he is to proceed.
While Hank and Mark wait in traffic to enter Mexico, Britt and Ray get into a fight at a bar in order to be arrested on purpose. Once in jail, Ray “passes” a lock-picking device and gives it to Britt to do what he does best. They find the coke and are able to slip out with relative ease. Unfortunately, when they bring the drugs back to the warehouse, they find Prado getting all murdered up by another, more powerful drug kingpin. Britt makes a bold decision and gives the drugs to this kingpin and ask for only one thing in return: Prado’s cellphone. The kingpin eventually agrees and Britt and Ray leave before an approaching cop car forces them to split up.
Hank and Mark eventually make it to the Tijuana police station where they learn about Britt’s escape, but when Britt calls Hank from the cellphone (after being unable to reach Katie or determine which contact in the phone book is Prado’s hitman), they sneak him back across to the States in Mark’s trunk. Mark calls for a patrol car to check in on Katie.
Ultimately, they are too late as the hitman is already in Katie’s house. When her professor and one-time lover shows up to return the cellphone she left in his classroom (she had been skipping his lectures but had to show up for the final), he is pulled into the house by the gunman as well. The police officers arrive, but Katie protects her professor by claiming that she is alone. The hitman is about to take Katie somewhere when she attacks him with some scissors (foreshadowed earlier in the episode when she is looking for them in the kitchen, by the way), but he soon gets the upper hand. Hank, Britt, and Mark get back just in time to fight him off with the hitman being shot by Mark and Hank taking a bullet of his own.
The episode ends in a couple of interesting ways. For one, while sharing an ambulance with Katie’s professor, Hank threatens to expose his unfaithfulness if he ever has sex with another student. Secondly, we get more teasing about what happened that brought an end to the Mark-Hank partnership. Britt thinks Hank went above and beyond to save his ass that day, and Mark agrees that Hank can have his moments, but eventually Hank’s history of less noble behavior will have to come out.
More about “Agua Caliente”:
- I really liked how the writer/director/editor chose to forgo showing the actual first encounter between Katie and the hitman. We just see Winston barking at a door and we don’t actually see the gunman himself until he pulls the professor in after Katie tries to get rid of him and fails. There are a multitude of ways that first attack could have went down, but in truth, it doesn’t really matter. We know Katie and we know she was scared and we know it was tense. The actual attack is inconsequential compared to the aftermath. I’m not saying I would have been upset if they showed the hitman’s first appearance to her, but showing restraint was definitely an interesting route to take.
- Hank refuses morphine because it would ruin his sobriety.
- “It’s a restraining order, not an urban dance competition.” – Hank
- “That’s funny, I was just reading about this obscure European custom called knocking.” – Mags
- “His minutes have expired.” – Kingpin
- “I’m the other white guy running around.” – Hank
Some stats and info about Terriers, “Agua Caliente”
TV SHOW – Terriers
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 8
AIRED ON – June 27th, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX
GENRE – Drama, Comedy, Crime Dramas
CREATED BY – Ted Griffin
CAST – Donal Logue, Michael Raymond-James, Laura Allen, Kimberly Quinn, Jamie Denbo, Rockmond Dunbar
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.