After two killers escape from St. John's Women's Penitentiary, the team is stymied in their attempts to capture the duo when their antics turn them into modern-day folk heroes.
Note: This episode contains unmarked spoilers for the Season 2 episode "In Pod We Trust".
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: While Vicky accuses her of doing it solely for sadistic kicks, the exact reason as to why Keller chose to withhold treatments from the prisoners under her care and push assisted suicide on them when their pain became unbearable enough instead of doing her job is never given, nor is it ever really discussed beyond Sarah declaring Keller's actions to be a gross violation of the code of ethics.
- Anti-Villain: Vicky and Valerie had no intention of hurting anybody. They were working to expose Dr. Keller's crimes while Vicky gave Valerie one last day of excitement before the latter's cancer worsened enough to render her bedridden.
- Batman Gambit: The explosion turns out to have been a decoy. The intended escapees Vicky and Valerie managed to sneak out the front door and right past the police by disguising themselves as paramedics.
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: When the video of Vicky and Valerie being chummy with the restaurant owner they held up to get a free meal is made viral, the duo practically turn into folk heroes in the eyes of the public, making it tricky for the SJPD to arrest them due to the potential backlash it could cause and the numerous false tips coming in. Charlie ends up using this to convince Valerie to leave Keller alive as killing her would only cause Valerie to lose all the sympathy she gained.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Vicky mentions how horrible prison was for her due to everyone hating her for being an ex-cop. The sole exception was Valerie, who didn’t care about who Vicky used to be and only cared about who she was when she was with her, which eventually caused Vicky to soften up and become more considerate of those around her, leading to her helping Valerie to make a stand against Keller.
- Bittersweet Ending: Although Valerie's cancer remains terminal, she and Vicky succeed in getting Keller fired with help from Sarah so that no more inmates have to endure needless suffering, with the prison’s medical systems being reformed and looked over by a much more ethical and competent doctor.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Vicky Gumble makes a return since her arrest back in the episode "In Pod We Trust", with her being one of the inmates who escaped during the explosion.
- There's also the return of Buck Emery from "Rex Marks the Spot" whose late wife was an inmate at the Penitentiary until her medically-assisted suicide after her medical treatments allegedly became ineffective, knowing Vicky from her passing on messages from his wife to him over the phone.
- Domestic Abuse: Valerie Winehouse had been incarcerated for a manslaughter charge involving her having shot and killed her boyfriend, which nobody really blames her for considering the latter's long history of abuse towards her. The team questions as to why she would want to escape, as Valerie had been a model prisoner up until now and was a month away from being released on parole. It's because she will die long before the date of her hearing, with Vicky having wanted to give Valerie one last day of fun and freedom before her condition rendered her bedridden.
- Even Evil Has Standards: None of the Penitentiary's inmates, including Vicky and Wanda, approve of Dr. Keller and her needless cruelty towards them, considering her to be more of a monster than any of them could ever be. Their opinion of her sank even lower after Keller basically condemned Valerie, who had been a model prisoner up until the events of the episode, to death by willingly ignoring her cancer for years until it became terminal.
- Foreshadowing:
- Despite both Vicky and Valerie being convicted killers, they don't appear to have any malicious intent towards anyone, with the worst thing that they do being stringing up a security guard of a clothing store they break into to a rotating mannequin display for several hours. But when they end up breaking into a clinic that delivers medical supplies to the Penitentiary and are reported having stolen painkillers and a copy of Valerie's CT scans from seven years ago, it makes the team suspect that there is an ulterior motive behind the duo's actions. Said motive was them working to expose Keller's crimes to the public using all the evidence they managed to collect in and outside of the prison, while at the same time giving Valerie one last day of fun and freedom before she became bedridden from her cancer.
- When Sarah notices that one of the escaped inmates' arms looks injured enough to need a splint, the prison's doctor Audrey Keller only puts medical tape over it while insisting that it's nothing major and that prisoners just like to exaggerate their conditions to obtain drugs. Later, when Sarah notices that the same injury has worsened, Keller claims that the aforementioned inmate is likely just injuring herself on purpose to get more visits to the clinic. Even more suspicious is Keller being oddly reluctant about discussing Valerie's medical history until Sarah threatens to come back with a court order. It all leads to the revelation of Keller’s criminal negligence towards the Penitentiary's inmates, including her choice to deny Valerie treatment for her cancer.
- Great Escape: The episode opens to the yard of St. John's Women's Penitentiary where a sudden explosion destroys one of the walls and allows several inmates to escape. The SJPD succeed in recapturing all of them, until it's revealed that two more, Vicky Gumble and Valerie Winehouse, managed to break out another way during all the chaos. At which point it becomes a manhunt to bring the two escapees in, although Jesse comments on how weird it feels in regards to hunting Vicky due to all the times he interacted with her when she was still a member of the SJPD.
- It Amused Me: Wanda's alleged reason for blowing a hole in the prison wall despite having no interest in escaping. The real reason was so that Vicky could take Valerie out for a day on the city, knowing of Valerie’s condition and the abuse she suffered at Keller's hands for years.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: For years, Dr. Keller had been getting away with her needlessly cruel treatment of the Penitentiary’s inmates. By the end of the episode however, her crimes are exposed by Vicky and Valerie and she gets replaced with a more ethical and competent doctor, with implications that Keller will be stripped of her license and sent to jail for a long time.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The episode's plot pretty much spoils Vicky as having been the culprit behind the events of the Season 2 episode "In Pod We Trust".
- Mad Bomber: One of the prison's inmates is Wanda Reilly, a Gulf War veteran who was incarcerated for using her profession in handling explosives to help rob banks. She turns out to have been the one who blew the hole in the prison wall, with her having gotten the materials to build the bomb from Vicky's niece smuggling them and the paramedic disguises in by flying a drone over the prison yard. When Vicky came up with the plan for the breakout to expose Keller and give Valerie one last day of fun before her cancer worsened enough to render her bedridden, Wanda was more than happy to help due to her also being one of Keller's many victims with her later helping Sarah collect evidence by revealing the names of all the other inmates who suffered at Keller's hands.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Audrey Keller, in spades. She's revealed to be guilty of withholding treatments from prisoners and then pushing assisted suicide on them once their pain became unbearable, to which Sarah points out is a gross violation of the code of ethics as doctors are legally only allowed to provide the option for it. After Keller basically condemned Valerie, who had been a model prisoner up until the events of the episode, to death by ignoring her cancer for years until it became terminal, Vicky and Valerie decided to take a stand and expose her using stolen medical records and collected testimonies from several inmates’ loved ones. Thanks to the duo's efforts, Sarah manages to get Keller replaced and reform the prison medical system into one run by a more competent and ethical doctor with top-notch equipment.Vicky: Capital punishment is illegal in Canada. But apparently, Keller didn't get the memo.
- Pet the Dog: Vicky is revealed to have been calling relatives and loved ones of deceased inmates, offering her condolences and helping to pass on messages. While Sarah is convinced that it may be a sign that Vicky may have had a change of heart during her incarceration, Charlie remains skeptical due to the reminder that she remorselessly murdered a fellow officer to protect her own self-interests. It's legitimate. Vicky had been helping to protect the many inmates who had been suffering at Keller's hands for years, with her also helping Valerie get justice against Keller for the doctor having denied her treatment for her cancer.
- Revenge: After Vicky is arrested, Valerie decides to go off on her own to kill Keller as revenge for her having robbed Valerie of her chance at life outside of prison. Charlie tries to reason with Valerie that killing Keller will only cause her to lose the support of everyone backing her and Vicky and that it would be better to leave her alive so that she can answer for her crimes. While Valerie agrees with the former reason, she retorts that the latter is unlikely to happen unless Keller herself admits to everything, only letting the doctor go once she finally does.
- You Monster!: Vicky considers Keller to be this for her willful negligence of the Penitentiary's inmates' well-being and condemning Valerie to death despite her having been a model prisoner, as Keller could have treated Valerie's cancer in its early stages but chose not to.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Valerie turns out to be dying from Stage 4 gallbladder cancer. One of the reasons for her and Vicky breaking out was so that Vicky could give Valerie one last day to enjoy herself before her condition rendered her bedridden. The other reason was so that they could expose the criminal negligence of Dr. Keller, who knew about Valerie's cancer since its early stages but chose to turn a blind eye to it.
