When the circumstances of the murder of a cop named Ty MacLennan appear to mimic a contentious crime from 1995 involving the murder of the victim's younger brother Jonas MacLennan, Charlie and Rex must connect the past to the present while fending off true crime podcaster Phoebe Spring and her army of fans. Meanwhile, Donovan faces pressure from Camilla to do the right thing and not end up making the same black man accused of Jonas's murder, Romeo Green, a scapegoat for Ty's murder.
Tropes:
- Absence of Evidence: When Charlie and Jesse go to retrieve the documents and evidence from Jonas's murder since the case predates digitization, they discover that some of the evidence has gone missing from its box. It was given to Phoebe by Ty so that she would be able to figure out the real truth about what actually happened that night on her own.
- Accidental Murder: The real circumstances of Jonas’s death. When Mac got a tip that Romeo was asking too many questions about his drug operation and realized that he was an informant, he had Ty follow him to Signal Hill where he saw Romeo exchanging information with Jonas. After Romeo left, Ty confronted his brother about how he was going to sell out their own father and the two got into a fight, which ended in Ty accidentally pushing Jonas off a cliff to his death. Ty then told Mac about it who told his son that he would take care of it by planting Romeo's switchblade in Jonas’s hand and cutting his hand to look like a defensive wound to frame him for the murder.
- By-the-Book Cop: Jonas MacLennan was a cop who was held in high regard by the SJPD and was responsible for multiple drug busts. He was in the middle of investigating a new player on the streets before his untimely death. The new player was his own father Mac, who ran his operation with reluctant help from Ty, who was actually the one who accidentally killed him.
- Cool Old Lady: Vicky Gumble, the head archivist at the SJPD and Ty's former supervisor from when he worked in archives. She turns out to have helped Mac to cover up Jonas's murder and frame his informant Romeo, and she killed Ty to keep him from revealing the truth about what happened and about her involvement in it all.
- Dirty Cop:
- Mac secretly ran a drug trafficking ring using the drugs he obtained from Jonas's drug busts that were supposed to be destroyed, with Ty reluctantly helping him. When Mac figured out Romeo was an informant and heard that Ty accidentally killed Jonas, he decided to frame Romeo by planting his switchblade in Jonas's hands.
- Vicky unwillingly helped to cover up Jonas's murder for Mac and Ty. She killed Ty upon hearing that he was planning on confessing to the real events of the night of Jonas's murder, since she would be arrested for being an accomplice.
- Frame-Up: Romeo claims to have been framed for both murders, with Mac believing that he murdered Ty out of revenge for being thrown in jail for twenty years. Romeo is right for both cases. Ty was responsible for Jonas’s death and Mac covered it up by planting Romeo's switchblade in Jonas's hands. Vicky was responsible for Ty's death, as she was forced to help Mac cover up Jonas's murder by providing the false evidence. She framed Romeo by wearing prison sneakers in his size to Signal Hill and forged his fingerprints on the tire iron that she used to murder Ty.
- Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Ty lived for over twenty years with the guilt of being involved in his dad's drug operation, killing Jonas, and framing an innocent man, realizing that he lost his way and wanted to confess what actually happened that night. Vicky wasn't about to let that happen, as it would mean that she would be going to jail for helping to cover up a murder. She followed Ty to Signal Hill the night he was going to confess everything on Phoebe’s podcast and murdered him after failing to convince him to not go through with it. Fortunately, Ty made a prerecording of his confession in the event that he did decide to back out and had it delivered to Phoebe's doorstep.Ty:" Okay, this is for the record and of my own free will. My name is Ty MacLennan, and I want to confess. Well, I guess I want to confess to you, Jonas. When I saw you were Romeo's handler, all I could think of was how our family would lose everything. I couldn't see past what this would do to our father and the reputation he built. I thought I had to protect him. Dad wouldn't have survived if he was sent to prison. Over time, I've come to hate myself. I was crooked. And you were what a cop should be. I was so lost - selling drugs for my father, and framing an innocent man - because I killed my brother. I’m sorry, Jonas. I’m proud of you. I’m proud of who you were. Forgive me."
- The Informant: Phoebe mentions that despite Romeo being a pot dealer, some people claim that he was actually an informant working for Jonas. They're right. Romeo was helping to get Jonas information on the new player in the drug trafficking ring. Jonas eventually let Romeo go because the former was afraid his investigation was compromised and didn’t want him to get hurt.
- It's All About Me: Vicky couldn't have cared less about the massive guilt Ty had been suffering from over killing his brother. All that mattered to her was making sure the truth stayed buried so she wouldn't go to jail for her involvement in everything.
- It's All My Fault: Mac blames himself for the deaths of both of his sons, as it was his drug operation that got them both indirectly killed.
- Karmic Death: Ty falls to his death from the same ledge that he accidentally pushed Jonas off of twenty years ago.
- Miscarriage of Justice: The events of this episode revolve around a black man named Romeo Green, a small-time pot dealer who was released from prison after being sentenced to twenty years for the murder of Jonas MacLennan. Romeo claims he is actually innocent, with his brother Monty and several other people backing him on it. Now he is under accusation of killing Jonas’s older brother Ty as revenge for his conviction. He's telling the truth. Romeo was actually Jonas's informant and was framed by Mac in order to protect Ty from being sent to prison for Jonas's murder. Ty meanwhile was murdered by Vicky to keep her involvement in the cover up a secret. After the case is solved, Romeo and Monty start a pro-bono legal aid for the wrongfully convicted with help from a large donation from the police department.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Former police chief Mac MacLennan's youngest son Jonas was murdered in 1995, and his oldest son Ty is the episode's victim. Needless to say, their father isn't too pleased with both of his sons now being dead.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: For Vicky, anyway. She may have killed Ty to keep him from confessing, but he's revealed to have made an audio recording and had it sent to Phoebe's doorstep sometime before he was murdered, so the truth would have gotten out either way.
- Taking the Heat: Vicky was forced by Mac to help him cover up the real circumstances behind Jonas's murder or else he would pin his whole drug operation on her. When Vicky heard that Ty was going to confess everything on Phoebe’s podcast because the guilt had been eating away at him, she knew that she would be arrested for helping to cover up a murder, so she followed him to Signal Hill and murdered him after failing to convince him not to go through with it.
- Thicker Than Water: When Ty found out that Jonas was Romeo's handler and was getting close to figuring out the identity of the new drug dealer, he cared more about what would happen to his father and felt he had to protect him, believing that Mac wouldn’t have survived if he was sent to prison. He ended up regretting his decisions after killing Jonas and helping to frame Romeo, feeling that he lost his way and wanted to come clean about his mistakes.
