The Finder Episode 1.01 An Orphan Walks into a Bar

A man carries a guitar case through a hotel lobby, enters a stairwell, and runs. Meanwhile, Deputy U.S. Marshal Isabel Zambada asks Leo Knox why she's in the lobby. It's a win-win opportunity, Leo replies.

The man hears footsteps. It's a robot with shoes on its wheels. When he shoots it, Walter Sherman grabs the case. The man chases him into the lobby and gets arrested. Leo asks Isabel if this makes up for Walter getting her suspended. She's not sure.

Back at the bar that's Leo and Walter's headquarters, John Fogerty picks up his retrieved guitar and sings "Fortunate Son." Meanwhile, a young man's car stalls. Willa Monday sees this and learns that he's headed for the bar. For $10, she'll take him there.

Fogerty thanks Walter, then exits. Willa arrives with the young Cooper Allison. He's looking for Major Sherman, who found his father, Nick Allison, when he was shot down in Kosovo in 1999. Leo says that Major Sherman is just Walter now.

While Cooper explains that his father crashed a private plane into a nearby swamp but was never found and he wants Walter to locate him, Walter enters a hatch in the deck outside. Willa asks what's down there; Leo says that it's Walter's vault. Walter doesn't believe that Allison would've crashed in a swamp, so he takes the case.

When Walter and Leo go to the airfield where Allison was last seen, the owner says that Allison argued with a man at the fuel pump, then quickly took off because bad weather was coming from the Gulf. Walter says that he found Allison's plane and gives the owner the bar's address.

Back at the bar, Willa asks Cooper if he needs his dad's body to claim insurance money, which shocks Cooper, so Willa claims that her parents were murdered and says that she's been in foster care ever since.

Meanwhile, Walter and Leo find Isabel doing surveillance on a building that houses a fugitive armed robber, who's betting on cockfights inside. Walter will find him, but he wants info about criminal activity at the airfield in return.

Isabel is worried that Walter isn't seeing his V.A. shrink, noting that his compulsion to find isn't natural. Leo says it's supernatural, adding that Walter kept him from killing a man in cold blood so he'd give his life to help him.

Boom! Smoke and men — one covered in fluorescent paint — pour from the building. Walter gives Isabel the thumbs-up.

Later, Isabel tells Walter that the airfield was the target of a drug task force, which dissolved after Allison disappeared. Walter wants the military police rep on the task force's name.

Meanwhile, two thugs attack Willa and Cooper. When a thug puts a gun to Willa, she spits in his face. Cooper misdirects the gunshot, which rouses Leo and Isabel, who subdue the thugs.

After Walter tells Cooper that Willa lied about being an orphan, Cooper says that the thugs were looking for drugs. Walter didn't realize that drugs were the plane's cargo, and he wonders who sent the thugs.

Meanwhile, Willa gets a surprise visit from young gypsy Timo. Believing her probation officer, Miss Farrel, is determined to send her back to juvie and noting that she's no use to "the family" in jail, Willa wants Timo to ask Uncle Shadrack for help once she escapes. Timo tells her to steal everything before she leaves, because Shadrack's help has a price. When Leo arrives, bearing a gift of wind chimes for Willa, Timo scurries away.

The next morning, as Willa serves Leo and Miss Farrel breakfast, Leo voices Willa's fears. Farrel, citing Willa's lengthy rap sheet, says that she's a sociopath. Leo says it's just the way she was raised. Walter notes that Willa wants Leo to like her, so by definition she's no sociopath.

Walter and Leo go to a military base, where Walter notes that the guard, Royce, got busted from major to lieutenant; he offers to help him get his career back. Royce, impressed by Walter's service record, reveals that the task force's target was Amadea Deneris.

Walter says that either Allison was undercover and Royce got blamed for his disappearance or Allison was smuggling drugs and Royce tried to warn him. When Royce sneers that Walter can't help him, owing to Walter's discharge for a head injury, Walter believes the latter is true and Royce's anger stems from losing his career for nothing.

After Walter tells Isabel that Allison was a smuggler who sabotaged his transponder to fall off the radar, Walter, Isabel, and Leo meet Amadea Deneris on a yacht surrounded by thugs. She says that the drugs were headed for the Dominican Republic and tosses the trio overboard.

That night, Walter dreams about dodging microwave ovens in a plane piloted by Allison. Then Walter is flying the plane into a blimp, which explodes, and Walter awakens.

The next morning he explains his dream. The microwaves were metaphors for Air Force radar, which is attached to weather balloons that are taken down in high winds. Allison flew directly into the storm, crashed, and died. But where?

When Walter, Leo, and Cooper head for the Gulf, Willa empties the bar's register but can't open Walter's vault. She decides to stick around until she can find a way in.

Walter takes off in a motorized hang glider and quickly finds the plane's wreckage, which contains Allison's corpse, Royce's insignia, and lots of drugs. Leo removes a crate.

A flight investigator tells Walter that the crash was caused by fuel contamination and gives him Allison's flight book, which contains a handwritten note telling Cooper how much he loved him. Cooper thanks Walter for finding his father.

Walter explains that Royce asked Allison for a cut, assuming he was dirty, but Allison bought the drugs with his own money and was giving them away to hospitals in Haiti, so Royce fouled the fuel. Using the crate as bait, they get Royce busted. When Royce flips on Deneris, she gets busted, too.

Afterward, Walter and Leo watch Willa hang the wind chimes. Leo thinks that she's found a reason to stay. Walter is not sure about that.