Southland Episode 1.06 Westside

Narrator - "Officer Ben Sherman knew it was against police policy to get involved with a victim. But he did it anyway." Days earlier, we flashback to Daisy in the backyard of a modern Bel Air home, asking her father, David, for a ride to a car dealership. They agree to leave in about an hour and she heads back upstairs into the house. Moments later, he looks toward the house and sees his worst nightmare: a man in a mask downstairs, his daughter unaware upstairs. Panicked, he sprints toward the house, crashing through a glass patio door. Daisy, with iPod on, doesn't hear. Nor does she hear another masked man behind her with duct tape. Downstairs, a bound and gagged David hears Daisy scream.

Numerous police and emergency vehicles respond to the scene; the strong-arm burglars are gone. LAPD officer John Cooper tells his rookie partner Ben Sherman that he's responsible for safeguarding the evidence--no one gets in the house without a legitimate reason. In the ambulance, John tells David to get the serial numbers and photos of the stolen jewelry from his insurance company. Chickie notices their garage door is open and asks if he left it that way. David doesn't remember. Chickie thinks the robbers entered the house that way, as all other doors and windows are secure.

Lydia and Talib, the man she's been dating, are interrupted during sex when she gets a call to come into work. Talib gets a little perturbed that the interruption is work-related instead of family, but keeps it to himself. Meanwhile, back at the crime scene, Daisy recognizes Ben from high school. She's surprised he's a cop, but glad he's there; she's still shaken.

Detective Fernandez briefs Lydia and Russell on the robbery, another in a string of Westside home invasions. When Lydia learns there wasn't a homicide, she's annoyed that Fernandez called them in on their day off. She's especially upset that the department won't pay her overtime to work homicides, but suddenly has found money for Bel Air break-ins. Fernandez says she's trying to avoid a homicide and the residents don't feel safe. Lydia says neither do the South Central residents, and Fernandez bluntly says that the people in Bel Air don't just bitch, they invite the chief of police over for cocktails. Inside the house, Ben sees John snooping in the bathroom, rifling a drawer for pills.

Downtown at Skid Row, Tammi photographs the homeless with her new Haselblad and notices a sign advertising downtown lofts. That night at a bar, John buys prescription pain pills from a man in the bathroom. Another man who recognizes John approaches him in the restroom, holds out a palm full of pills and asks him if he wants to get high. When John scoffs, the man says he knows he already bought something. At that, John pours beer on his open palm and tells him to get lost before he brings him a world full of hurt.

At roll call, Chickie tells John that Dewey called in sick again. Lydia briefs the officers about the spate of robberies of unoccupied residences on the Westside, saying the crooks changed that with yesterday's home invasion. Russell adds that the crooks are after high-end jewelry. Ben notices that John is fidgety and sweaty. Department. Psychologist Merrill Matthews tells the officers she's obtained several copies of a spiritual survival book for law enforcement officers and encourages them to take a copy. She mentions the topics it covers, including marital trouble and substance abuse. Upon hearing that, John leaves the room.

Nate wonders if the home invasions may be gang-related, but Russell doubts it. Lydia's not so sure. The all wonder how the thieves are managing to only hit homes that have jewelry jackpots. From a downtown model loft, Tammi calls Sammy, begging to buy one. Sammy is against it, seeing downtown as bleak and dangerous. When Tammi says their current place is killing her creatively, Sammy laughs, angering her. Sammy sees Sal spying on his daughter Kimmy's Facebook page by posing as a 16-year-old girl and says it's not right. Sal says until he has a daughter her age, he should shut up.

A pawn unit detective tells Lydia and Russell that legit jewelers sometimes purchase stolen jewelry, melt the gold and reset the stones. When Ben says his mother still lives in Bel Air, John offers to swing by so he can check her alarm. Meanwhile, at the D.A.'s office, Janila's grandmother complains about the gangsters that shot up their house. Sammy tries to calm Janila enough to give her statement to Janowitz. Afterward, Janowitz asks Sammy if Janila's grandmother knows it's the Marta Ruiz gang that is after her granddaughter for testifying. Sammy isn't going to tell her, even though Janowitz thinks he should.

Daisy gives the detectives the insurance records, pointing out a necklace her father had made for her18th birthday. She adds that he buys watches. At Ben's house, John stays in the car and calls his nurse friend Laurie for more pain killers. Afraid of getting fired, she cuts him off. Ben yells at his mother for leaving the door open and is shocked to see her cuddling on the couch with his father, who he tells to get the f--- out of the house. His father doesn't take him seriously, as mom tries to calm things down. Enraged, Ben punches his father. John enters and hustles Ben out the door.

At the courthouse, Sammy reassures Janila and tells her that her testimony is very important. Meanwhile, at a jewelry store in Brentwood, the store owner won't show Lydia and Russell his sales receipts without a warrant, citing customer confidentiality. Back in the car, Lydia leaves a message for Talib. John asks Ben if he wants to talk about what happened, but Ben deflects by asking him about taking the pills at the house. John admits he takes pills for his back pain.

Outside the courthouse, gangbangers drive by and shoot at Janila, hitting her grandmother in front of the horrified Janila and detectives. At the hospital, Janowitz tells the detectives to get Janila into foster care. Sammy, afraid she'll be hunted down, gets her grandmother's permission to let Janila stay at his house.

At another jewelry store Lana, the owner, tells Lydia and Russell that she sold jewelry to Mr. Millard before his divorce, and offers to check her records against their list of victims. When asked, she tells them that she has two sales associates and one setter, all who have access to her customer database.

Ben's dad comes to his house and tries to make amends. When Ben doesn't bite, he tells him his liver is shot. Ben asks if that's supposed to make him feel bad. His dad says he's only telling him so he didn't feel bad later. Ben responds by shutting the door in his face.

At home, Sammy introduces Janila to Richter, their drug-sniffing dog. Meanwhile, desperate to get painkillers, John calls his connection but he isn't there. He then removes his back brace, barely able to tolerate the pain. At home, Dina tells Russell that she wants to start in-vitro again. When he says they're still paying for the last treatments that didn't work, she accuses him of being in love with his writing teacher and tells him to leave.

Daisy drops by Ben's house and says she can't sleep in her house since the robbery. She asks why they never hooked up, and he jokes because he was seeing her best friend at the time. They fumble around conversation and John offers to let her sleep in his bed with him on the couch. However, she doesn't want him to leave, so he sleeps in the bed with her.

Russell takes refuge at Lydia's house. She says he can stay there for one night but he should apologize to Dina tomorrow. He's reluctant, because he knows it's over between him and his wife. He's already made arrangements to move into the guest house of one of Bobby's clients, who wants on-site security. Focusing on the police work at hand, he and Lydia sketch out the case, saying the robbers probably use a commercial van, target wealthy homes and use a universal remote to open the gates. They guess the robbers probably dress in workman's clothes and use a ladder to gain entry.

The thieves hit another mansion during a dinner party. After hearing a noise, the host goes to check on the kids and surprises the robbers, who shoot him dead. Later at the scene, Fernandez, who's getting calls from every city bigwig, demands answers from Lydia and Russell. Lydia gets word of another homicide, blocks away. At that scene, they see the victim is Lana, the jewelry store owner they talked too yesterday. And, her safe has been stolen. An SID Investigator notes a hole in Lana's septum, evidence that she had a heavy cocaine problem. Meanwhile, Tammi grills Sammy about the logistics of Janila staying with them. Richter however, loves their houseguest.

The next day, Russell learns that all the victims bought jewelry from Lana as Lydia reviews the garage surveillance tape and spots a white van. They run the plate and go to the address, where three guys are unloading a safe from that exact van. While they're calling it in, the crooks spot them and bolt. One jumps in the van and peels off; John and Ben who respond to the call and go into hot pursuit. A police helicopter aides them in a high speed chase sure to make "World's Wildest Police Videos." The van smashes into a car, the crook bails and Ben pursues him on foot, tackling him to the ground.

At the station, the thief gives up his pals because they left him holding the bag. When Sammy, who's getting pressure from Tammi, tells Lydia about Janila, she offers to let her stay there. At home, Ben chastises his mom again for leaving the door unlocked, then asks why she's seeing his dad again. She accuses him of being uptight and asks what kind of life he's going to have if he closes every door. Lydia tracks Talib down, where he tells her their relationship is not working he feels deceived that she didn't tell him she was a cop.

Sammy, Tammi and Janila eat silently at dinner. Russell arrives at his new home, a guest house behind a Brentwood mansion. Lydia returns to an empty house. At the bar, a desperate and ashamed John buys pain pills from the guy he hassled earlier in the restroom. Daisy comes to Ben's house again. This time, they hook up.