An imprisoned killer forces the station into lockdown by taking a hostage and attempting escape.
Tropes:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Blu and Gibson, the former being killed by Mumford when he tries to surrender and the latter being used as Mumford's new hostage and later crying her eyes out while Blu is being wheeled away on a gurney. In the end, the two of them are just more of Mumford's victims.
- Anti-Villain: Toby Blu and Skye Gibson, a duo of petty criminals who only got involved in the plot after they got arrested for public drinking. While they have somewhat of a history with Mumford, it was apparently enough for them to agree to work with him to try and escape. Unlike him, they prove to be a lot more rational and level-headed throughout their escape attempt. Deconstructed however, as Donovan points out that the two still willingly put themselves in their situation and will be subjected to the same fate as Mumford if they succeed in making it out of the building and/or if someone dies.
- Ax-Crazy: William "Billy" Mumford, an inmate who prior to the episode was locked up for a double homicide. He was set to be transferred to Halifax due to him supposedly having been involved in a murder there as well, until complications with his flight leads to him being held in the SJPD's holding cell for the night.
- Blatant Lies: Gibson accuses Mallory of lying about not being able to open the door out of the holding room once everything goes on lockdown despite Mallory's insistence that she isn’t. Turns out she was lying, begrudgingly admitting that Gibson was right when Mumford calls her bluff by threatening to kill Rawlins if she actually can't open it.
- The Blind Leading the Blind: Mumford is the one leading the escape plan, although it quickly becomes apparent that he has no idea what he's doing most of the time and wouldn't have gotten as far as he did without Blu and Gibson (barely) keeping him in check.
- Crime After Crime: Mumford was already facing a lengthy sentence for the double homicide he committed, as well as another murder he may have been involved in over in Halifax. By the end of the episode, all the crimes he committed throughout his attempted escape, including his murdering of Blu, will ensure that Mumford will die in prison.
- Didn't Think This Through: Mumford's biggest flaw, which he brushes off as him just being impulsive. He destroys the camera in the holding cells after talking to Charlie the first time so that the police can't hear or see him, but loses the ability to communicate with them by doing so. He also doesn't consider the possibility of losing his hostages to blood loss when incapacitating them with bullets, which puts him, Blu, and Gibson at risk of being gunned down by the SWAT team in the event someone actually does die. And even if he were to make it out of the building, he'd still be greeted by said SWAT team and get gunned down anyway trying to shoot his way out.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite their bickering, Blu and Gibson do legitimately love each other. At the end of the episode, Gibson is seen crying over Blu's death, especially when witnessing the paramedics wheeling his tarped body away on a gurney.
- From Bad to Worse: The situation worsens after the criminal trio escapes the holding room and the hostages are at risk of bleeding to death from Mumford shooting them, causing Charlie to call in the SWAT team and inform Donovan of what’s currently happening. It gets even worse when Mumford kills Blu for trying to surrender and uses Gibson as his new hostage, almost making it outside if not for Charlie and Rex's ambush on them.
- Great Escape: What Mumford attempts, doing so by taking hostages with the help of Blu and Gibson. Except his plan ends up being even less than half-baked due to his poor impulse control and not thinking any of his actions all the way through.
- Hostage Situation: Mumford, Blu, and Gibson manage to take Officers Mallory and Rawlins hostage after tricking them into opening their cells, with Mumford demanding that Charlie supply him with a helicopter and half a million dollars in exchange for their safety. Charlie sarcastically agrees to doing so and gets to work trying to handle the situation without needing to call Donovan or the SWAT team, only for things to not go as planned enough for the detective to do it anyway.
- Know When to Fold 'Em:
- Charlie’s original plan to keep Mumford from escaping was to stall him long enough so that he'll see the hopelessness of his situation. It doesn't work due to Mumford being too determined and dimwitted to know when to give up.
- After losing Charlie and recognizing their odds of escaping, Blu decides to surrender himself and Gibson and accept punishment for their actions. Unfortunately, Mumford shoots him dead for it and decides to use Gibson as his new hostage.
- Macgyvering: In a last-ditch attempt to stop Mumford from escaping, Charlie manages to get into the forensics lab and constructs a flashbang with Sarah’s instruction to use against him, incapacitating him and Gibson.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Blu gets the idea to raid the evidence locker for confiscated drugs. Gibson however shoots it down as doing so would just make their situation worse and Mumford is only interested in escaping.
- Stupid Crooks:
- Despite Charlie's claim about him not being a dumb man, it's still pretty evident that Mumford doesn't have much going on upstairs. He never realizes that Charlie is being sarcastic about agreeing to his unrealistic demands, as well as doing things like destroying his only form of communication with the police and shooting his own hostages without thinking of the possible consequences. In the end, all Mumford accomplishes is ensuring that he’ll be dying in prison.
- Blu and Gibson really should've known better than to trust Mumford, a violent, impulsive, and remorseless killer with nothing to lose. That, and the duo didn't even need to go along with his escape plan anyway, as they were likely to not have received nearly as much jail time as him for something as minor as public drinking. Charlie even lampshades this.
- SWAT Team: Upon discovering that Mumford, Blu, and Gibson have escaped from their cells and have hostages, Sarah suggests informing Donovan about the situation and calling in SWAT for backup. Charlie however decides to hold off on doing so out of the belief that escalation might make things worse, but is forced to anyway after the criminal trio manage to escape from the holding room, with the soldiers being all too eager to do their jobs in the event someone dies.
- Take Me Instead: To rescue Rawlins, Charlie opts to switch places with him on the basis that he would be a more valuable hostage and that it would save the trio from being gunned down by the SWAT team if Rawlins dies from his injuries. They take the deal and do the switch just outside of the main office, although Charlie manages to escape shortly afterward.
