BOULET IN A CHINA SHOP
Aired 12/10/07

Recap
Boulet, on a night out with his fellow cops and Ayana, whoops it up at a karaoke bar. Meanwhile, Cobb goes to a trailer park, where he lays eyes on the beautiful A.J. for the first time. He hides in the shadows, just watching her.

Afterwards, Ayana asks Boulet to move to Atlanta with her. He wants her to stay in New Orleans. He'll work extra shifts to pay to put Tawni in a private school. Ayana says he already works nearly 24/7. He says he'll work less then -- spend more time with his family. And at that, his pager goes off, calling him to work as Ayana sighs.

As everyone arrives at HQ, Cobb is evasive about where he's been. Down to business: An anonymous 911 call said an armed man was threatening the owner of Mardi Gras World inside his warehouse. The cops bust in to find two dead men – and, hiding in a giant wizard's head, a terrified Owen Giles, shouting that he didn't do anything. He says he's just been homeless since the storm and the owner let him sleep there.

Boulet recognizes the man. He rescued Owen from a rooftop during Katrina. Cobb thinks he's the perp, but Boulet convinces him to let Owen go -- Boulet's been giving Cobb slack, and Cobb's not the only one who gets to have a second chance.

One of the dead men is Mr. Perl, the owner. The other is James Barnet, who appears to have been the assailant; they've shot each other. But the setup is fishy; a lack of hair around Perl's wrists indicates he'd been tied up with tape. Somebody shot Barnet with Perl's gun, then shot Perl with Barnet's gun, and set up the bodies to make it look like a botched robbery. And who made the 911 call? That turns out to be Stanley Azabian, the owner of the praline shop across the street, who saw the shooting – and he identifies Owen as the murderer.

Owen is arrested. Boulet is furious that he saved the life of a killer. And he's even angrier when assistant D.A. Lyndsey Swann tells him that a terrified Azabian is recanting his testimony. There were no prints at the warehouse, so a smug Owen goes free.

Boulet and Cobb visit Barnet's girlfriend, Maya Beaulieu, and find a yard full of merchandise from the local shops. It seems that Barnet was running a protection racket; Maya says the owners liked him better than the guy he was collecting for -- Owen. Maya says Owen was merciless and likely to break your thumbs or torch your store if you missed a payment. Owen had gone missing after the storm, and Barnet ran things less ruthlessly.

Boulet and Cobb find that Owen had been living on FEMA checks since the storm; when they ran out, he must have come back to New Orleans to take back his protection racket. Barnet didn't want to give it back, so Owen took it. They follow Owen on his rounds and find out what stores he visits; one of them is Angelo's, an ice cream parlor Boulet's been patronizing since he was a boy. Boulet enters to find Owen getting a free cone. Boulet tells Angelo that if Owen's threatening him, he'll protect him; a nervous Angelo says he doesn't need protection. Satisfied, Owen leaves. Angelo says he doesn’t believe Boulet can help; the courts are so messed up they can't even get jail time for murderers, so of course he's keeping his mouth shut. Boulet, disgusted and disillusioned, storms out.

Cobb secretly goes to an abandoned house, turns over a rusty refrigerator and removes a stash of stained $100 bills from behind. He scrubs them clean, and they dry on a clothesline.

The next day, Boulet arrests all the shopkeepers on trumped up petty violations; once they're in the holding cell at HQ, he tells them they can either stand together and take Owen down, or he can charge them all with obstruction of justice. Lyndsey says she'll have the D.A.'s office arrange protection if they testify, but it involves temporary relocation – they don't have the budget for anything else. The shopkeepers won't budge.

Embry is furious at Boulet's tactics; Boulet says this was the only way he could meet with them all without putting any of them in Owen's crosshairs. Embry takes him off the case and releases the shopkeepers.

Boulet takes Cobb to the place where he saved Owen, staring at the roof and brooding. Cobb tells Boulet to get over it, but Boulet says the problem is the guy he didn't save. There were two guys on the roof. He saved Owen first; by the time he came back for the second guy, he had drowned.

The jewelry store next to Angelo's is burned down; the shopkeepers all blame Boulet. Owen is there, watching. It's a warning.

At home, Boulet gets a gun out of a hiding place. Ayana tries to entice him to bed, but he says he has to meet up with Cobb and finish some work. Meanwhile, Cobb meets with Angelo and tells him that if nobody stands with Boulet, Boulet will go this alone, no matter what it costs him.

Boulet goes to Owen's home and attacks him, tying him up and bundling him into his car. And he's not taking him to the station. Meanwhile, Cobb calls Ayana asking for Boulet. She says she thought he was with him.

Boulet takes Owen to a vacant store near where he had saved Owen. Boulet says he could have saved the other guy, and is incredulous that Owen feels no gratitude or guilt. Owen says he has Boulet to thank for that. As the flood waters rose that day, Owen felt like God was about to punish him for all he'd done -- but when Boulet rescued him, he realized there is no God. The other guy was on his knees praying to God, and he's dead. It's all about survival of the fittest.

Boulet threatens to shoot him. Owen says that people like Boulet don't pull the trigger -- and Boulet unloads his clip, shooting all around Owen's head. Owen's cool finally drops and he starts pleading for his life. Suddenly, Cobb arrives, desperately telling Boulet not to do it. The shopkeepers have finally agreed to testify. Lyndsey came through with Federal money for protection. Owen's been involved in interstate commerce. Boulet asks what if the system kicks Owen loose again? Cobb says that that's a risk. So... maybe Boulet's right. He starts yelling at Boulet to get it over with and shoot Owen. Boulet saved him, so he has the right to play God and kill him. As Owens cowers, Boulet and Cobb face off. Shamed, Boulet finally lowers his gun.

Later, at HQ, Boulet says his intention was just to scare Owen, remind him what it felt like to be a victim. But something snapped. He was ready to blow Owen away for real. Yet the thought of his wife and daughter brought him to his senses.

Cobb goes back to the trailer park, in uniform. He gives A.J. the money and tells her it was her husband’s. Sonny was Cobb's old cellmate who he allowed to drown during the storm. Cobb says that Sonny won the money gambling the night he was arrested. The other cops thought it was dirty but he got to the bottom of it; it just took a while to sort out. A.J., emotional, says she doesn't know if Sonny would want her to have this money. They were having troubles when he died. There's an attraction between her and Cobb. She says she plays guitar most nights at Jake's, and shyly invites him to stop by if he wants.

Owen is arrested, tried and jailed. Boulet takes Ayana and Tawni to Angelo's to enjoy some ice cream. And that night, Cobb joins the other cops at the karaoke bar.