Directed by David Barrett
Written by Greg Plageman
When a known sex offender is murdered, the team find a note from the killer, Mitch Hathaway. Still denying he killed his own son twenty years earlier, Mitch vows to kill a different sex offender a day until the squad finds his son's true killer.
Tropes:
- Anti-Villain: Mitch Hathaway spent twenty years in prison after being framed for the rape and murder of his six-year-old son. When he gets out, he kills a registered sex-offender every day until the cops find his son’s real killer.
- Asshole Victim: Mitch murders proven sex offenders to avenge his son, who was raped and killed by a man. Ernie Grabowski is especially this trope, as he shows no remorse for being a pedophile and thinks it’s normal, and that one day, the world will accept pedophilia as normalcy. It’s really hard to feel sorry for him when he’s found dead.
- Bad Samaritan: Cliff offered to help Clayton bandage his injured knee as a ruse to assault him.
- Best Served Cold: After spending twenty years in jail for his son’s rape and death, Mitch finds out his trusted neighbor and friend Cliff did the crime, and kidnaps Cliff, intending to kill him and then himself.
- Bittersweet Ending: Mitch's name has been cleared, his wife apologizes for doubting him and declares she still loves him, and his son's killer has been arrested. But he's clearly going back to prison (or at the very least will be institutionalized) for the murders he committed.
- Death Seeker: After everything he's been put through - falsely accused of raping and murdering his son, wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, his wife turning against him, and reputation destroyed - Mitch no longer cares about his own life and is content with dying as long as he takes his son's killer down with him. Fortunately, his ex-wife is able to talk him out of it.
- Despair Event Horizon: Mitch’s came when his own wife came to believe that he was guilty of raping and murdering their only child and would not see him after he was convicted.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Cliff Burrell is a twisted pervert who raped and murdered a 6-year-old boy, then framed his best friend (the boy's father) for his crime. Despicable as he may be, he did consider his own son to be "off-limits."
- Freudian Excuse: Mitch’s only son was raped and killed at a very young age by a pedophile, a crime for which Mitch himself was accused and convicted. Once he’s cleared and released, he starts murdering a pedophile a day until the detectives solve Clayton’s murder.
- It's Personal: Scotty’s brother was molested by a pedophile, so he holds no sympathy for Mitch’s victims.
- Known Only by Their Nickname: Clay’s full name is Clayton.
- Morality Pet: Tara proves to be one for Mitch when she talks him down from killing Cliff.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Scotty angrily tells Mitch about the photos when he thinks that Mitch was guilty after all. This is what ultimately allows Mitch to deduce that Cliff was his son's killer, setting up the hostage situation in the climax.
- Pet the Dog: Damon, who bullied Clayton and stole his bike, is seen in the Medley Exit working on a mural that includes two boys riding on bikes past a dark kid, clearly influenced by Clayton and Johnny. Then we see Damon’s face, and he’s close to tears, heavily implying that he regrets bullying Clayton and is deeply upset over his horrible fate.
- Red Herring: Damon bullied Clayton and his friend Johnny, and Clayton's bike is found buried in his backyard. His status as the killer seems certain, but it turns out that he merely stole the bike in another incident and buried it to avoid being blamed for Clayton's murder.
- Start of Darkness: Mitch’s son and only child was found murdered with another man’s sperm all over him. He was accused and convicted of the crime, and even his wife thought he was guilty. After spending years in prison having lost his family, he is released when DNA analysis clears him of the crime. The first thing he does is start knocking off proven pedophiles like the one who took his son.
- Survivor's Guilt: Johnny has this, having long suspected or feared that his father was his best friend's killer, and worse yet, that it happened because his father couldn't bring himself to abuse him.
- Sympathetic Murderer: Mitch Hathaway in the present day since his victims are all sex offenders, making them less sympathetic than the man who is killing them.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Damon bullied Clayton yet again, this time injuring him. Clayton hobbled off to get help... and encountered his killer.
- Vigilante Execution: Mitch specifically targets proven sex offenders like the one who killed his son, killing one a day until the police find his son’s real killer.
- Wham Shot: In Johnny Burrel's flashback, we don't see the face of the man taking photos... and then the camera pans up and reveals it was Cliff.
