Aquarius Episode 1.04 A Change Is Gonna Come

The group LSD trip is still going strong at the spiral staircase house. Katie is worried about Emma, aka Cherry, abducted by Grace and Hodiak, but neither Sadie nor Charlie are. Surrounded by females, Charlie distributes his free love equitably. The next morning in Beverly Hills, both Ken Karn and his daughter wake up hung over. A coolly furious Grace rousts Ken from the couch to lay down how their lives are going to proceed: Ken will go on lots of business trips, but when he's in Los Angeles, he'll be home for dinner every night. And at the Nixon fundraiser on Wednesday, he's going to put on a good show, and tell everyone Emma just returned from a visit to her grandmother. Then Grace is off to a mid-afternoon tryst with Hodiak, who seems unusually at peace in her presence. She isn't done telling people what to do: Hodiak is going to have to rent a tux for the Nixon fundraiser, and he'll hire his retired cop buddy Joe Wilson to babysit Emma.

Hodiak's shift starts with a trip to South Central, where racist uniformed Officer Tolson fills him in on a murder victim found in a fire-bombed hair salon. An old pal of Hodiak's, Cassius Thomas was found burned to a crisp, though he likely died from the two bullets to the chest. Tolson thinks Cassius interrupted the arsonist, and suspects one of the presently demonstrating, afro-wearing Black Panthers, who went after Cassius for the unnatural straightening of hair that was his livelihood. Tolson points to a spray-painted message, "Slave Hair Burns" as his "proof." Hodiak notices Bunchy among the demonstrators, demanding justice for recently murdered neighborhood denizen Michael Younger.

While determining lye was used to both start the fire and make a statement, Hodiak asks Tolson about Michael Younger. Again Tolson blames the Panthers, specifically Bunchy, who was trying to recruit Younger. Hodiak checks in with Bunchy to ask about Cassius. The Panthers objected to his use of poisonous lye to straighten hair on political grounds. Pretty soon, there's a crowd gathered to listen to Bunchy's recitation of the Panthers' 10-point plan, and they want to know what Hodiak intends to do about the murder of Michael Younger. Hodiak offers to look into the case if the Panthers will help him with the Cassius investigation. But he's unable to make himself heard, so he's off to eat lunch at his buddy Tidyman's diner. Bunchy told him no black man, woman or child would help with the case - but how about an old friend like Tidyman? Tidyman clarifies: he is a black man and he's not Hodiak's friend. Why not talk to elderly Hannah Weinraub? She still lives in the neighborhood and she still knows everything.

Dinner is tense and silent at the Karn house. When Ken takes a phone call, Grace speaks urgently to her daughter. She knows that boys who break the rules are sexy, but usually what gets broken are the girls who love them. Shaken, Emma gets up and leaves the table without a word. The next morning, Emma is incredulous when her mother drops her off at school like nothing happened. "Nothing did happen," Grace says. Emma kisses her mom on the cheek, gets out of the car and promptly exits school out the back door - where Hodiak's buddy Joe Wilson is waiting to introduce himself as her new babysitter.

Back at the salon, Hodiak grills Tolson. Hannah saw Cassius' son Billy Ray leave the salon 15 minutes before the fire and spray paint "Slave Hair Burns." Tolson laughs. Senile Hannah? Billy Ray died in Vietnam six months ago! Hodiak presses: who's investigating Michael Younger's murder and why does Bunchy think Tolson had something to do with it? Tolson admits Younger ran errands for him, though he didn't let him collect any shakedown money. Angrily accusing Hodiak of trusting the Panthers over a white cop, Tolson slams into his squad car and drives off.

Dressed conservatively, Shafe visits Lucille Gladner at the Pink Pussycat, where he spies James Butano Junior, aka Jimmy Too, son of Manson's ex-cellmate, a renowned gangster. Later that night, Shafe reports his intensions to Hodiak: he'll engage Butano and talk up Manson and the spiral staircase house in hopes of getting a bite. Cutler butts in with news. Since Priore's set for gall bladder surgery, Cutler is the new acting lieutenant. When Hodiak asks about the Younger case, Cutler tells him to mind his own business and leaves, so Hodiak tells Shafe about Cassius, Younger, Bunchy and the Panthers. Shafe offers to look into the Younger case, then makes a beeline for the morgue. Fifteen-year-old Michael Younger was put in a chokehold until he passed out, suffocating. In the ghetto, a chokehold is called a cop hold, so Hodiak wants to know Tolson's possible motive. Shafe calls the detective on the case, Len "Lead Butt" Burns, who claimed in his report that there were no witnesses and no leads. No answer.

Manson is back in Beverly Hills, accosting Karn's partner Banyin in the firm's parking garage. It seems Charlie's trying to wage blackmail, accusing Banyin of some malfeasance around an unseemly pleasure, but Banyin won't be cowed. Shoving Manson to the ground despite the presence of his switchblade, he promises to sic so many lawyers on Manson that he'll go to prison for the rest of his life. Inviting Manson to do his worst, Banyin hops in his Mercedes and squeals off, leaving Manson to scream, "I will do my best!"

That night at the fundraiser, Grace excuses herself to call Joe Wilson to check on Emma. Hodiak finds her at the pay phone, where they lapse into some tender kissing and dancing. "I feel crazy," he says. After declaring her love and demanding he say "I love you" back, Grace turns a corner, slamming into her husband and Banyin - her cat is totally out of the bag. Meanwhile, Shafe and Vickery are at the Pink Pussycat, smoking a joint with Lucille Gladner. The scent draws Jimmy Butano, whom Shafe draws in with the promise of harder drugs he can get from his friend Manson. Later, Shafe is trying to sober up at home when there's a knock on the door. Explaining he doesn't trust phones anymore, his old friend Robbie has come to report on Walt Hodiak. Could he have returned to the states to infiltrate the movement? The next morning, Shafe tells Hodiak that his son is likely a part of the anti-war movement, and his friend might be able to get them in touch. Hodiak promises he'll be cool and won't react like his normal violent self; all he wants is to talk to Walt.

Back in South Central, Hodiak shows Tolson a photo of Jefferson Culpepper, Cassius' nephew - the guy Hannah actually saw leaving the hair salon. Hodiak wants to sweat junkie Culpepper, so he asks Tolson to be his bird dog. They find Culpepper nodding off in a shooting gallery, but he runs for the safety of Black Panther headquarters, where Bunchy hustles him inside. When the Panthers pick up their weapons, Hodiak tells Tolson to stand down. Instead of releasing Culpepper, the Panthers start screaming for justice for Michael Younger - Arrest Tolson! - ignoring Hodiak's explanation: Culpepper is a black man who killed another black man (his uncle!) and is trying to blame it on the Panthers! If Bunchy and the Panthers shield Culpepper, he'll just kill again. Bunchy yells, "Nobody's shielding a killer here except you. You want to bust a murderer? Bust him," while pointing at Tolson.

Meanwhile, Shafe finds Detective Len Burns literally sleeping on his desk. When Burns tries to blow off the "hippy cop," Shafe demands to know what he knows now, or he's calling Internal Affairs. Hodiak returns to the precinct to drag Cutler into the morgue in hopes of closing both murders, explaining the Panthers won't give up Culpepper until they arrest Tolson for the murder of Michael Younger. If Cutler will let Hodiak sweat Tolson, he'll crack, and if he won't allow it, Hodiak's going to Internal Affairs. Cutler explains that Lead Butt Burns was assigned to the Younger case so it wouldn't get solved; some higher-up is protecting Tolson. When Cutler orders Hodiak to drop it, Hodiak asks at the very least for backup to drag Culpepper out of Black Panthers HQ, otherwise the Panthers will wind up in charge of South Central. "The Panthers are in charge down there," Cutler sneers, ending the argument. Afterwards, Hodiak outrages Shafe, telling him to forget the whole mess.

Late that night, Hodiak steps out of the shower to find his son Walt standing in the living room. Six months ago, Walt was assigned to covert ops in Cambodia, where no fighting is supposed to be happening. That's why he had his mother request his return stateside, because he can't morally be a part of the saturation bombing of Cambodia. "It's a war," Hodiak says. But Walt has concrete proof the president is lying to the American people. "The president's job is lying," Hodiak says. Walt apologizes to his father, explaining he's ready to be labeled a traitor and he's taking his proof to the press - otherwise, Hodiak will never see him again. Hodiak begs Walt to let him help. "You can't," Walt says on his way out the door.

Sadie knocks on the Karns' door, introducing herself as Susan Atkins, a schoolmate of Emma's. Grace is happy to let her in, but when she brings dinner to Emma's bedroom, both girls are gone. It's not long before Grace is screaming at her husband and Hodiak, blaming them both equally for Emma's disappearance. Hodiak promised that everything would be okay - is there anything he doesn't screw up? Hodiak promises to find Emma, but Grace insists he'll fail, and kicks him out of the house. "Welcome to the club," Ken says. Back home, teetotaler Hodiak pours himself a stiff drink and downs it in one quick go. He keeps swigging off the bottle on the drive to the spiral staircase house, where he pulls Manson outside, puts on a pair of gloves and beats the living daylights out of him. The slugfest abruptly stops when, out of nowhere, Shafe tackles Hodiak, pulling him off Manson, warning he'll be finished if he keeps going. Hodiak drives off, leaving Shafe to carry Charlie inside, where Jimmy Butano is waiting to introduce himself and credit Shafe with saving Manson's life.