While Hondo waits for the fallout from his exposing racist cops to the media, a bomb goes off in an LAPD station. While initial evidence suggests a black justice group are to blame, it becomes apparent the Imperial Dukes have returned to continue their agenda of starting a race war.
Tropes
- Badass Biker: Street gets to reprise his biker credentials chasing down the last of the Imperial Dukes.
- Car Fu: Street chases the last of the Imperial Dukes into a trap between Hondo and Chris, with Hondo putting his car in the path of the fleeing perp to bring him down.
- Due to the Dead: Hondo and Chris unveil a
memorial plague for Erika at S.W.A.T. HQ. - Enemy Mine: Deacon reaches out to Hilliard, pleading with him to convince his social media followers not to attend a protest rally against police racism that the Imperial Dukes plan to shoot up to start a race war. It works, and Hilliard is later seen on TV offering an olive branch to the L.A.P.D.Kevin Hilliard: This doesn't change the past, but maybe it gives hope for the future.
- At Hondo and Daryl's urging, Leroy convinces some of his old gang contacts to withdraw, rather than attend the protest and play into the Imperial Dukes' hands (the Dukes plan to shoot into the crowd, goading the gangbangers into firing at the police to start a bloodbath).
- Red Herring: S.W.A.T initially suspects Kevin Hilliard, a highly outspoken Black activist with a great deal of antipathy towards the police, is behind the bombing of a police station. It turns out he's being framed by the Imperial Dukes.
- Put on a Bus: The whole team gets this at the end of the episode: Tan is going on his honeymoon with Bonnie, Luca and Chris are heading to do cross-agency training in Europe, Street is taking medical leave to prepare to be a liver donor for his mother and Deacon wants to focus on training new S.W.A.T. recruits. Hicks advises Hondo to take some vacation time while deciding his future with the LAPD.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Daryl insists that he needs to be allowed to stand on his own two feet, without his father or Hondo butting heads about the right way he should do things.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: After the backlash of bad press due to Hondo exposing racism, the L.A.P.D. fires Officer Durham and his racist fellow officers. Hondo is not impressed, angry that he had to go public to force the L.A.P.D. to do the right thing.
- You Did the Right Thing: Despite being displeased with Hondo for going to the press, Hicks makes it plain he's fully on Hondo's side for exposing Durham and his racist cohorts, and as far as he's concerned, Hondo's a hero for stopping the Imperial Dukes.
