- Brenda and her newly christened Major Crimes Division investigate the victim of a crude pipe bomb that exploded too soon, a case that leads them to disaffected teens with a plot that will make one of the team a deadly target.
- Brenda IDs herself for a crime scene video, botching the name of her Major Crimes Division.
Buzz tells her he's not allowed to stop or cut. She continues. The shattered mirror and splatter look like a shotgun blast, Tao theorizes. The coroner investigator isn't there, so they can't turn the body over to fully examine. From the name on the mailbox, they think it's Darren Melman. The neighbors said he's a building contractor, despite being young.
The team is all there and finally the coroner's investigator arrives.
Sanchez notices a drawing of double Es taped to the wall. It's also tattooed on his wrist. Sanchez says it's not a gang signal. Gabriel finds roofing nails and pipe. Flynn finds ammunition. There don't seem to be any guns around. Brenda wants the victim's wallet and cell phone off the body but the investigator stops her from moving the body. He thinks he's looking at shrapnel in the body. Flynn hustles everyone else. Brenda wants the computer, wallet and cell phone but Flynn overrides her. Sanchez throws her over his shoulder and takes her out screaming that her purse was left behind.
The team sets up outside and lets the bomb squad work. Brenda is apoplectic that she won't be able to get near the body for 12 hours.
Tao is psyched when Babs, an unmanned ground vehicle that deploys bombs, arrives. She's named after St. Barbara, the patron saint of the bomb squad. She moves very slowly. Flynn says she looks like Provenza running. ''You know that I don't run,'' Provenza replies as Sanchez laughs.
Brenda waits angrily as the team is transfixed by the images Babs is transmitting.
Daniels has found Melman's juvenile record, but doesn't have details.
Brenda sneaks off as they watch Babs' cam.
As Babs enters the apartment, her camera pans to the victim and then to Brenda over the body with the victim's wallet. She peels back the blanket to get his cell phone and see several pipe bombs. She freezes.
She could totally blow up, Daniels says in disbelief . The bomb squad goes to get her and she's carried out of the apartment for the second time that day. But she has his wallet and her purse.
Taylor is mad over how many rules she's broken. ''I would hate to see you get blown up by a pipe bomb just as I've gotten used to you.''
She finds a receipt for around $350 from a home supply center in the wallet.
Just then Tao starts yelling fire in the hole.
A huge explosion blasts out the front door.
The pipe bombs were unstable and had to be blown. There go the cell phone and computer.
Back at the station they review the items on the receipt. Roofing nails, metal pipe, a drill, light anywhere matches. Things you'd need if you're a building contractor, but add gun powder and it's a bomb factory. There's one more item: four propane tanks.
The ammunition wasn't on the receipt. They still don't know where the guns are . Provenza and Daniels giggle over a file. His juvy arrest record shows the vandalism bust was for pooping on the principle's desk.
Which means, Provenza says, barely able to contain his glee, hes been dropping bombs his whole life.
They're still stumped on the double E symbol. Tao has checked every database from Asian calligraphy cults to Aryan gangs and come up empty.
Provenza, still reading the juvy file busts out laughing. ''You're not going to believe this: He left almost a pound!''
Sanchez goes over the footage from the supply store parking lot from around the time Melman bought his stuff. Its too small to see. Buzz offers to blow it up for Brenda.
It shows Melman with another young man. They high-five two of the supply stores employees.
Brenda talks with them in her office. Frank and Keith, they know Melman from high school, Oak Valley. They don't seem to know him that well. They tell him Melman blew himself up that morning. She asks if they know the other guy in the video. Frank says his name was Joe and Keith corrects him that it was John.
Frank asks if John blew himself up, too. Not yet . They brief Pope, who orders the high school evacuated as an earthquake drill. They bring Babs in to check John's locker. The principal says John McFadden was never a problem. Babs prepares to fire on his locker with a water cannon.
It opens and Brenda finds the same double E signal on a piece of paper. The principal doesn't know what it means.
Flynn says a teacher says that John went home sick after first period. They go to his neighborhood and sneak people out under guise of a gas leak. Brenda asks for no sirens and approaches the house with Gabriel. They pretend to be teachers. (Gabriel says the students call him Mr. G.)
They say they brought homework for him. His mom lets him in. He comes to the top of the stairs and a cop siren bleats outside. He runs for his room. Gabriel kicks in the door. John doesn't resist. They don't see the empty pill bottle at his feet. He has the double Es tattooed on his wrist. In the garage they find a whole mess of propane tanks, bullet proof vests, automatic weapons and a whole bag of pipe bombs. John waits in interrogation. He's 18 and hasn't asked for a lawyer. He did ask for a chocolate bar, which he eats with relish (not actual relish). From the Buzz Booth, Flynn says the kid is blissed out on something.
Brenda tries to get answers from him, but he's not very helpful. He says his parents aren't smart enough to know what he's doing. He denies knowing who Darren Melman is.
She tells him he exploded.
Melman was supposed to die anyway, he says. John starts to not look that well. He tells them they're running out of time and babbles about natural selection and Darwin. He talks about extinction and says he's evolutions end. They ask if that's what the double E means.
''You will learn about Evolutions End as you line up to die,'' he says.
He says he's not afraid of death. He just wants to do as much damage as he can before he leaves. Brenda asks how they were going to set off the propane tanks. He says its easy, you just point and shoot. He says Columbine was a good idea, they just didn't execute it right. He says it's bigger than a high school shooting. He's talking about killing the most people ever.
He's starting to look sicker.
Again he says that they're running out of time.
Brenda thinks he's planted a bomb. His eyes start to roll back in his head.
Brenda runs to the other room to ask what drugs he's on. Some sort of MAO inhibitor. She runs back to John and Tao is doing press compression and says he had a seizure and fell.
He's dead and his parents are suing. The mixture of the MAO inhibitor and the chocolate killed him.
Brenda thinks they're missing something. Gabriel suggests they go to the mall where there's a sporting good store near the home supply store. Maybe they bought the guns there.
Fritz shows up with a change of clothes. Brenda wonders why he mentioned Columbine . Fritz says the Columbine plan didn't work. They planted propane tanks and were going to blow them up to force people outside to pick them off with rifles. When the tanks didn't blow, they went inside.
Pope shows up, cheery and thinking it's over. He's in uniform and about to go to a press conference at the school. Brenda wants to know where the other propane tanks are and where they got their guns. Pope tells her she should feel good, because they stopped them. He wants to take advantage of the opportunity to have something positive in the news about Major Crimes.
Gabriel asks Keith to pull up receipts from Melman's credit card. He says sure, he just needs to get the key from his manager.
Fritz waits for her. Frank walks over, pushing a shopping cart with something on the lower portion covered by a blue tarp. Brenda asks him to check if the store is missing any propane tanks. She asks him where the sporting goods store is in the mall. Frank cheerily gives her directions.
She and Fritz go upstairs and it doesn't seem to be where he said. They look at the directory. Brenda steps back. The directory looks like the double E symbol. She looks around and sees shopping carts with blue tarps just like the one Frank was pushing positioned around the mall.
The schools not the target -- we're in the target, she says.
The team quietly collects the shopping carts. Keith walks over with Gabriel. Keith says Frank is the only one with the key. They check his arms, no tattoos. But Keith says Frank has one.
Fritz realizes the three stars on the symbol could represent the shooters who were planning to pick people off as they ran out.
Pope calls, wanting to know why Brenda pulled the bomb squad from the school.
Shes trying to tell him what's happening when Daniels looks up and sees Frank, decked out in full military gear, on the roof with a rifle.
They split up to surround him on the roof and Tao and Daniels try to keep people in side. But the fire alarm goes off and a few stream out. Shots ring out. Frank starts shooting. Tao and Daniels run out and shoot at him, but can't seem to hit him. Tao carries a wounded woman to safety while Frank starts lobbing pipe bombs. Sanchez and Provenza reach the roof together while Flynn, Gabriel, Fritz and Brenda come up another exit. They all tell each other good luck. Daniels is getting nowhere firing from the ground.
Provenza and Sanchez split up. A helicopter circles overhead.
Provenza sees a black bag sitting in the middle of the roof, with no one around.
He approaches it slowly, out in the open. He's getting near it when Sanchez runs for him, throwing himself in the path of the automatic weapon Frank is aiming at him. Sanchez is hit three times in the back and goes down in pain. Provenza is disarmed. Frank turns his gun on them and is about to fire when the other four hit him from behind. Their bullets do nothing to his full body armor.
Provenza pulls Sanchez to safety. Frank spills bullets from his automatic weapon until its out. He runs for his black bag. He grabs a pipe bomb and tries to light it. Brenda screams for the team to shoot the bag. Frank goes up in a huge explosion.
The helicopter lands as Flynn, Provenza, Fritz, Gabriel and Brenda hold Sanchez. Provenza runs to the helicopter to tell the pilot what happens. Brenda gets in with him.
Sanchez croaks something out to Provenza, almost laughing as he chokes on blood: ''Sir, you ran. You never run.''
Brenda cradles him in her arms as he fights to breath.
She issues him a direct order to keep breathing.
The helicopter flies off.
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