Aquarius Episode 1.08 Why?

It's Christmas in Los Angeles, and the Hollywood Precinct is doing their best to catch the holiday spirit. Dressed as Santa, Cutler watches Vickery through a two-way mirror with Shafe and Hodiak, while discussing Butano's murder, to which Shafe is a witness. After some argument, Cutler offers Shafe a choice: either Hodiak can arrest Lucille Gladner and Roy and blow Shafe's cover, or they can just call Butano one less name on Cutler's naughty list. Shafe enters the interrogation room to tell Vickery that he's going back to giving Lucille whatever she needs, i.e. "ball her 'til she can't see straight."

Ken Karn stops by the spiral staircase house to tell Charlie that he dug up the body of missing prostitute Louise Mitchell. Now all the evidence is gone, and there's nothing Charlie can hang over his head anymore. Charlie tells Ken that Emma took off. The news hits hard; Ken insists he just wanted Emma to be free. But Charlie knows Ken came to the house for love. "Do you love me?" he asks. Ken says nothing. Later post flagrante delicto, Ken asks about Manson's bruises and scars, courtesy of Hodiak. "It's okay," Charlie smiles. When Ken warns him not to retaliate, Charlie agrees. His karma is to instruct Hodiak in the fine art of forgiveness. He's going to open Hodiak's mind, not his skull. Ken repeats his warning - he can't afford any trouble with the Nixon campaign - so he'll make sure Hodiak leaves Manson alone.

Hodiak follows up on one of Martha's leads, asking about Louise Mitchell - who had a son named Gregory. Across the room, he hears two uniformed officers, Markham and Sabovich admiring Charmain's ass, while they contemplate their terrible fortune to have been assigned a ride-along in Watts with her. When the conversation gets too pornographic, Hodiak steps in, reminding them Charmain is somebody's daughter - so they better look out for her. That's when Charmain excitedly runs up to tell Hodiak about her new assignment, which nobody seems to want, since there's so much action in the neighborhood. When Charmain claims to be a fan of action, Hodiak warns this is a quality she'll outgrow. Charmain is to keep her eyes and ears sharp, which is what Shafe finds himself doing at the Peach Pussycat, ensuring Vickery is back on Louise's beat. Vickery quivers as she rips off his belt and demands, "Hurt me. You're the boss... this time." Once Louise has been softened up, she agrees to talk a little business with Shafe, who's hoping to move into Butano's old spot in the drug business. Shafe asks Roy to vouch for him, but Roy's not too sure. In the end, Louise tells Shafe to go see Guapo. If he's alright with Guapo, then he's all right with her. But good luck finding him.

Markham and Sabovich flirt with Charmain during a lunch stop at Bob's Big Boy in Watts, unaware a masked assailant is descending upon their table. In the blink of an eye, the shooter takes out both men. After summoning Shafe, Hodiak's on the scene within 20 minutes, finding Markham DOA, Sabovich in an ambulance and Charmain in shock. Hodiak brings Charmain back into the diner, asks if she trusts him, then smacks her across the face, drawing her sobs. Once she's let it all out, he asks her to focus and walk him through the crime. Charmain is able to definitively remember that the shooter was a white male. She grabbed Sabovich's gun and rushed to the parking lot to see a light blue Riviera coupe pull out. Back at the precinct, Hodiak keeps a tight hold on Charmain, knowing her fellow male officers are both het up with the shooting of two of their own and furious with her for no good reason whatsoever. After rallying the troops, Cutler sits down with Hodiak to review the evidence. No one wants to believe Charmain's eyewitness account: that a white man shot two cops in the middle of Watts. When Cutler suggests sending in the SWAT team, Hodiak tries to explain why this is a stupid idea when Shafe returns from an errand. Per Hodiak's request, he has arrested Bunchy Carter and has him in the holding pen.

Bunchy is skeptical when Hodiak and Shafe claim they're trying to help him. They explain that SWAT is going to rip Watts apart looking for a black shooter - but they know the shooter is white. Moments later, a call comes in. Sabovich is dead. Furious, Dunphy tells Charmain to get the hell out of the station. She's not needed, and she never was. When he claims she got two good men killed, Shafe and Hodiak have to pull him away and subdue him... and then the radio crackles. Two more cops have been shot. And somehow, Hodiak knows one is colored, one is white, just like Markham and Sabovich.

Based on Bunchy's intel, Cutler, Hodiak and Shafe hit the streets, ticking through a list of 10 addresses of blue Riviera owners. Finally, Shafe knocks on Glenn Lesick's door, claiming he wants to repay money owed by an uncle. Parked on the street, Hodiak notices the .45 tucked into Glenn's pants as he lets Shafe into the house, then finds the right light blue Riviera in the driveway. Hoisting his service weapon, Hodiak lets himself in through the back door. In the living room, Glenn's wife Nancy notices Shafe's gun, so Glenn draws his. Luckily, Hodiak is on hand to grab Nancy and draw his own gun, and Glenn listens to reason. Cop killer captured. Back at the precinct, Glenn tells the cops that he discovered the car abandoned, and his gun wasn't the gun used in the shootings. Moreover, since Hodiak and Shafe didn't wait for a warrant, nor identify themselves as polices officers before drawing their weapons... And where's Hodiak's report? Feigning sheepishness, Hodiak claims he forget to file it, then grabs Charmain and drags her into the locker room to show her Glenn's mug shot. Isn't he the same man she described as the shooter? When Charmain hesitates, Hodiak insists that with four of their number dead, none of the men in the locker room would hesitate to lie under oath. Is Charmain just trying to be a cop? Or is she really a cop? If so, now's the time to prove it.

After speaking with Charmain, ADA Chambers corners Hodiak. Charmaine's almost as good a liar as Hodiak. Nevertheless, Glenn Lesick will be arraigned on the murder of the four officers in the morning. Hodiak calls Bunchy to offer his thanks and wishes for a merry Christmas. Later, Hodiak waits for Charmain outside the police station to offer his thanks. "My father is an unreliable, morally ambiguous, charming drunk," she says. "So you know what you smell like to me? Home cooking."