This season on S.W.A.T., it’s been really hard for Hondo Harrelson (Shemar Moore) to keep his team intact, especially because Deputy Chief Leticia Bennett (Merrin Dungey) has been gunning for Devin Gamble ( Annie Ilonzeh) because she comes from a family of criminals even though she’s cut ties with her family and is an excellent cop.
But Bennett was really using Gamble as an excuse to get Robert Hicks (Patrick St. Esprit) out as commander of SWAT because he got her husband fired from his warden job. The fact that Hicks stood up for Hondo’s decision to bring Gamble back from Oakland to make her a part of 20-Squad gave her ammunition. But as we now know, just as Hicks was going to resign from the LAPD after Bennett got him transferred to a new department, she learned he had been telling the truth about the fact that her husband was a crook. Then, Hicks managed to save her life, which was in jeopardy from someone her husband had done wrong, so Bennett tore up Hicks’ resignation letter and he was back in charge of SWAT. One problem solved.
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But Bennett’s decision to use Gamble as she had, made her past an open book to 20-Squad and it took her awhile to win over the team – Tan (David Lim), Zoe Powell (Anna Enger Ritch) and Miko Alfaro (Niko Pepaj). Deacon (Jay Harrington) never had a problem with her as he trusted Hondo’s judgment, once they got past her background and focused on the job. But in tonight’s “Ride or Die” episode, Gamble’s background came into play again.
“Ride or Die” has SWAT chasing an auto carrier truck hijacked by a high-speed crew and carrying a multi-million-dollar car that was formerly owned by a drug kingpin. When SWAT caught up with the truck, Hondo encountered a ghost from his past – a violent car thief named Torque Vaughn, thought to be long-dead, who escaped.
The search for Torque and his team continued as the bad guys were trying to locate a $60 million car that was going to set them up for life. But then Gamble was thrust into a personal crisis when her twin brother, Leon (Nick Creegan), became entangled with Torque.
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In the second episode, “Return to Base,” Gamble learned that her brother had lied to her and Hondo about his involvement with Torque, and he was in possession of one of the cars that Torque’s team had stolen.
Instead of arresting him, Gamble walked away, which meant she chose her family over the job. She went to see Hondo, who couldn’t forgive her. He had fought so hard to convince everyone she was a straight shooter that her choice to put family first stung him and he accepted her letter of transfer back to Oakland.
Photo: Bill Inoshita/Sony Pictures Television/CBS
However, later in the episode, a violent crew of ex-pat Russian mercenaries holds Los Angeles hostage after planting hundreds of hidden explosives across the city in a bid to extort the release of their brutal leader, Dmitri Rykov. When Rykov is brought to SWAT for safekeeping, SWAT HQ comes under attack. Gamble is there to clear out her locker when the attack takes place, and she suits up to help bring them down.
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It takes Hicks speaking to Hondo about Gamble to see the error of his ways in his thinking about her decision not to arrest her brother and he reinstates her as a member of 20-Squad, which makes Powell and Alfaro especially happy. The family is back together. Even Tan, who accepted a job as a liaison to the mayor at Deacon’s urging, is still able to head out on missions.
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One nice final touch was that each member of 20-Squad received a gift from Deacon. They had been ragging him all episode about why he didn’t spend some of the bonus money he received from the large contract he won for his security business. He explained that he paid off the house and set up college funds for his kids, but there wasn’t anything he wanted. But when he thought about it after Tan reminded him that as SWAT officers, they were always running on borrowed time, he bought them all expensive watches with the engraving on the back: 20-Squad Stay Liquid.
Then the team got a call about a robbery and they all suit up to go save the city. As they walk out to the armored rescue vehicle, they all touch the insignia on the wall for luck.
All eight seasons of S.W.A.T. are available for streaming on Paramount+.
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