Sarah Wayne Callies (The Walking Dead) directs and Constance Zimmer reprises her guest starring role as Renee Hoffman on CBS’s Fire Country season four, episode three. Shawn Hatosy (The Pitt) also continues his guest starring role as Battalion Chief Brett Richards on “The Tiny Ways We Start to Heal” airing on Friday, October 31, 2025 at 9pm ET/PT.
Max Thieriot stars as Bode, Kevin Alejandro is Manny, Diane Farr is Sharon, Jordan Calloway plays Jake, and Jules Latimer stars as Eve.
“The Tiny Ways We Start to Heal” Plot: The Station 42 team responds to a dangerous zipline accident that escalates into a wildfire due to illegal fireworks. Meanwhile, Sharon struggles with letting go of Vince’s belongings and unexpectedly finds comfort in Vince’s ex, Renee (Zimmer).
Fire Country stars Max Thieriot (SEAL TEAM) as Bode Leone, a young convict who sought redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, where he and other inmates were partnered with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires across the region. It’s a high-risk, high-reward assignment, and the heat is turned up when Bode was assigned to the program in his rural hometown, where he was once a golden all-American son until his troubles began.
Years ago, Bode burned down everything in his life, leaving town with a big secret. Now he’s back, with the rap sheet of a criminal and the audacity to believe in a chance for redemption with Cal Fire.
Fire Country star Kevin Alejandro returns to the director’s chair for CBS’s Sheriff Country episode three. “The Sixth Man” will air on Friday, October 31, 2025 at 8pm ET/PT.
Morena Baccarin leads the cast as Mickey Fox, Matt Lauria plays Nathan Boone, W. Earl Brown is Wes Fox, Michele Weaver plays Cassidy Campbell, and Christopher Gorham stars as Travis Fraley. Executive producers include Fire Country star Max Thieriot, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Matt Lopez, Jerry Bruckheimer, and KristieAnne Reed.
“The Sixth Man” Plot: When a daring daylight robbery shakes the heart of Edgewater, Sheriff Mickey Fox must navigate rising tensions, personal entanglements, and a town quick to judge. Meanwhile, suspicions swirl around her daughter, Skye, and her involvement in a high-profile murder case.
Morena Baccarin stars as straight-shooting sheriff Mickey Fox, the stepsister of Cal Fire’s division chief Sharon Leone (Diane Farr of Fire Country). She investigates criminal activity while she patrols the streets of small-town Edgewater, contending with her ex-con father, Wes (W. Earl Brown), who is an off-the-grid marijuana grower, and a mysterious incident involving her wayward daughter.
Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf, Brian Altemus as Dr. Charlie Porter, and Aury Krebs as Dr. Dana Dang in ‘Brilliant Minds’ season 2 episode 6 (Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC)
NBC’s Brilliant Minds celebrates the spookiest day of the year with season two, episode six, “The Doctor’s Graveyard.” Charlie (Brian Altemus) takes the interns to a haunted house as a team-building activity, and Ericka (Ashleigh LaThrop) points out that depictions of padded rooms and straitjackets make it more difficult for people to ask for help. Everyone else is into it.
(The following is a recap of season two episode six and contains spoilers!)
A chainsaw-wielding psycho spooks the group, causing them to split up. Van (Alex MacNicoll) and Jacob (Spence Moore II) end up in a mirror maze, and Dana (Aury Krebs) and Charlie wind up together. Ericka has to handle the haunted house alone. Unfortunately, she’s trapped in an elevator, which is the worst-case scenario after her recent experience in one. She panics and runs out, straight into Jacob’s arms. He assures her he’s got her as an actor, portraying a mental patient in a straitjacket, cackles.
Meanwhile, Oscar (Zachary Quinto) hears a knock on his door and thinks it’s his dad. No one’s there. He spots a dead woman and freaks out. Fortunately, it’s just a dream and he wakes up, shaken.
A 30-year-old man is brought without vitals after spending time in an ice bath. The EMTs have tried to revive him for 30 minutes, but Jacob wants a normal temperature before calling it.
Nurse Nico Silva (Al Calderon) walks around confiscating any costumes, reminding everyone they’re unprofessional. Dana thinks that Nurse Silva is killing the Halloween spirit, while Ericka notes that the third person has just died in Room 313 this week. “The curse continues,” says Dana. Josh (Teddy Sears) insists curses aren’t real and won’t let them take the room out of rotation. Oh, but then Josh won’t let them move one of his patients into it. So, is it cursed or not, Josh?
A process server hands Josh papers, and Oliver points out that maybe the curse is real.
Even Carol (Tamberla Perry) is working on Halloween, which is unusual since she loves costume parties. She reveals that she is not interested in Halloween this year because she always dressed up in a couple’s costume with Morris.
Oliver overhears a man refusing to believe his boss, Cyrus (Arian Moayed)—the man who was brought in unresponsive—is dead. Jacob describes Cyrus’ condition and that even after being warmed up, he doesn’t have any vitals. Oliver checks him out and has EMT Katie Rodriguez (Mishel Prada) hold compressions. When she does, Cyrus springs back to life. His assistant, Thomas (Varun Saranga), declares, “Oh my god, he did it! He beat death!”
A short while later, Oliver runs him through a series of tests and says he’s in pretty good shape. That is, considering he was dead for an hour this morning. Cyrus says he does ice baths to stimulate the vagus nerve, but this morning he was in it just a few minutes before everything went blank. He believes the cold shocked his heart into arrhythmia.
Cyrus brags about his penis, isn’t happy about a 119/78 blood pressure reading, and declares he’s on a no-sugar diet. Thomas confirms they’re obsessed with data, and his job is to monitor Cyrus’ body.
Cyrus is a biohacker, and Charlie explains they’re normally men obsessed with monitoring their bodies under the belief they can live forever. Dana corrects him and says women do it too, and biohackers want to increase their quality of life. As they talk, they’re munching on Halloween goodies—which biohackers would never do. Oliver realizes this and stops eating.
They need to figure out what happened to Cyrus in the first place.
Ericka spots Sam (Nabil Rajo) in the ER waiting room and he admits the holidays are lonely. That’s why he’s there.
Carol’s called in for a psych consult on a man dressed as a creepy clown. She refuses to handle the case. “I do not do clowns!” she says, backing away.
It turns out Josh was served because of Oliver’s case involving Sarah, the teenager who thought she was pregnant. Oliver ran dozens of tests to prove she wasn’t, and her parents don’t want to pay. Despite the dollar amount, Oliver believes it’s a win because he saved them the cost of therapy later. Plus, that was before he was told to rein in expenses.
After Josh leaves, Oliver thinks he sees the same dead patient he saw earlier standing behind the door.
Charlie and Dana report that Cyrus might just be the healthiest man in New York, so why did he pass out in his ice bath? However, his labs come back, and his hemoglobin is super high. Their conversation’s interrupted when Thomas nearly passes out in front of them while climbing the stairs. He manages to say something about blood and Cyrus.
Charlie and Oliver rush to Cyrus’ room and find Cyrus in the middle of a blood transfusion. The blood is Thomas’, which is why he fainted. They’re running tests on Thomas, and Oliver points out that whatever illness Thomas has could also affect Cyrus. But Cyrus doesn’t think so; he ran extensive background checks on Thomas before hiring him. His blood is perfect.
Oliver asks why he’s doing this, and Cyrus reveals he was diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago. After he went into remission, he used all the energy he expended to fight the disease to optimize his body. Oliver warns him biohacking might have been what stopped his heart. Cyrus insists it’s what saved him.
Josh gathers Oliver’s team, and they admit to having enjoyed working on Sarah’s case. They’re giggly over it, and Josh cuts to the chase, listing all the tests they ran. Suddenly, Josh shuts up, leans over his desk, and spits out a tooth. Dana can’t stop herself from saying, “The curse!”
Charlie asks Thomas what he believes happened to Cyrus, and Thomas insists what he’s doing for Cyrus isn’t a sacrifice. Charlie points out all the things he’s missing and that he’ll regret not living his own life. He gets Thomas to admit that Cyrus is on a low dose of the immunosuppressant rapamycin.
Alex MacNicoll as Dr. Van Markus and Tamberla Perry as Dr. Carol Pierce in ‘Brilliant Minds’ season 2 episode 6 (Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC)
Carol calls on Van to use his mirror touch to help with the clown that’s she’s terrified of. She finally admits she doesn’t need his mirror touch ability; she needs him to make sure she doesn’t get murdered.
The lights are off in the patient’s room, and they stand outside with a flashlight, calling out, “Hello.” The clown suddenly appears at the glass door, freaking them both out and making Carol run off. Van chases after Carol.
Cyrus is trying to get his steps in around the floor when he collapses, knocking a tray of syringes over. As he seizes, the syringes move toward his hand on their own. It turns out he has magnets in his fingers. He must have seized in the ice bath, but they still don’t know why. Oliver orders a contrast CT, since they can’t use an MRI when metal’s involved.
Ericka gives Sam a nurse’s lasagna and watches as he tells the voices in his head to shut up. She wants him to stay a few days, explaining he would be provided meals and get to talk to a psychiatrist. Sam agrees to think about it.
Oliver is shocked Carol’s scared of clowns, and she reminds him she’s not alone. He wonders how people overcome their traumas and reveals the backstory on the dead woman he’s been seeing. She was a patient who had headaches and confusion and was diagnosed with a grade three tumor in her frontal lobe. Oliver stayed on the case, and she always warned him not to go soft on her. She was determined to beat it. She died in the hospital on Halloween, and that still haunts him. He kicks himself for never asking her what the minimum quality of life was that she would accept.
Charlie brings Oliver the results of Cyrus’ scans and they aren’t good. Oliver breaks the news to Cyrus that he has a brain mass. Right now, they don’t know what it is. Cyrus is certain it’s cancer, but Oliver doesn’t know if that’s the case.
Ericka accompanies Sam into the elevator to go to the psych floor. She promises it’s not a scary place but also admits she doesn’t like enclosed spaces. Sam hears voices again and presses the emergency button, causing Erika to panic. She’s having trouble breathing, as Sam’s now in full meltdown mode too, banging on the door demanding to be let out.
Ashleigh LaThrop as Dr. Ericka Kinney and Spence Moore II as Dr. Jacob Nash in ‘Brilliant Minds’ season 2 episode 6 (Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC)
Minutes later, Jacob finds Ericka shaking in the corner of the supply room. He sits next to her and she confesses she needs to get help. She admits she’s took pills from Dana to help with her anxiety. Her trip to the wellness center in Mexico was supposed to help, but it didn’t because she couldn’t tolerate going up to her room on the 10th floor. Instead, she went to a pharmacy and bought benzos without a prescription.
She’s been taking the benzos every day for weeks. Ericka wonders if she’s an addict, and Jacob thinks she’s being too hard on herself. Speaking as her friend, he thinks she needs help.
Oliver finds Josh in his office and immediately notices he’s been saging the room. He knows it’s because of the curse, and that’s also why Josh isn’t performing operations anymore. Josh admits that right now, he doesn’t have the unwavering certainty he needs to help his patients. Oliver says, “Curses, be damned,” and tells Josh to get back to doing what he does best.
Carol tackles her fears and enters the clown’s room alone, with Van watching through the door. The clown sings about a dead cat and laughs, and Carol hurries from the room. She thinks the clown murdered a cat and needs some serious help.
Ericka asks Carol for help with Sam, who’s now back in the ER waiting room. He holds his right ear and hears a voice saying not to trust her. Sam admits he’s hearing them and asks for help.
Oliver keeps hearing weird noises and enters a patient’s room. The dead patient from his past is lying on the bed and asks him not to let her die. Charlie interrupts the vision with news that Cyrus is out of surgery. Oliver informs Cyrus and Thomas that Cyrus is cancer free, however, he ingested a parasitic tapeworm, and it was living in his brain. It caused the seizures, and Cyrus admits he was on a raw meat diet and drank from the Fountain of Youth. The rapamycin made the infection worse.
Oliver’s worried that being a biohacker will lead to other conditions that he won’t be able to survive. Cyrus wants to change things, including no more Fountain of Youth water, and orders Thomas to make calls. And he wants Thomas to taste everything before he eats it. But Thomas is done with his boss and quits. He wants to enjoy life and eat cookies, or whatever else sounds like fun. Thomas wants to die happy and wants to keep his own blood.
Charlie asks if Oliver fears death, and Oliver grabs some munchies and admits that he doesn’t fear death for himself. He fears wasting his life. But he does fear death for his patients.
Oliver’s voiceover notes that every doctor has a graveyard with the patients they couldn’t save. These losses haunt doctors, like Josh’s loss of Benny.
Josh sits by Jorge’s bed and says, “I will stop worrying about curses, but I still need to believe in miracles.”
Oliver asks Carol about the clown, joking that he wasn’t the biggest clown she faced this year. She believes her clown fears are justified. However, she’s happy she worked on Halloween because she helped Sam. But she’s still bummed she didn’t go to a party.
Next, Brilliant Minds season two, episode six serves up a scene that’ll make every Trekkie ecstatic. Oliver brought costumes so they could go out as a couple. He’s dressed as Spock and Carol looks perfect as Uhura! They both smile as the elevator doors close. (For those who need a reminder: Zachary Quinto played Spock in 2009’s Star Trek, 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, and 2016’s Star Trek Beyond.)
Episode six ends with Charlie seeing Oliver’s dead patient in his locker’s mirror. The scene shifts to Hudson Oaks four months later and Charlie takes a seat opposite a very shocked Oliver. Charlie asks what’s wrong and says, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Matty and Olympia are now a formidable team as CBS’s Matlock continues its second season with episode four, “Piece of My Heart.” Episode four, directed by Mike Listo, will air on Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 9pm ET/PT.
Kathy Bates leads the cast as Madeline “Matty” Matlock. Skye P. Marshall stars as Olympia Lawrence, Jason Ritter plays Julian Markston, David Del Rio is Billy Martinez, Leah Lewis stars as Sarah Franklin, Sam Anderson is Edwin Kingston, and Aaron Harris is Alfie Kingston.
“Piece of My Heart” Plot: As Olympia and the team take on a wrongful death case, Matty meets with a mysterious woman from Senior’s past. Also, Matty reflects on her relationship with her daughter.
“Matlock stars Emmy and Academy Award winner Kathy Bates as Madeline ‘Matty’ Matlock, a brilliant septuagenarian who achieved success in her younger years and rejoins the workforce at a prestigious law firm with a hidden agenda, using her unassuming demeanor and wily tactics to win cases. Matty is assigned to Olympia (Marshall), a senior attorney and key rainmaker with a thirst for justice; Olympia’s ex-husband, Julian (Ritter), the son of the head of the firm, is intrigued by Matty and her clever skills.
As Matty endeavors to establish herself in her new high-stakes world, she works alongside the firm’s younger associates—the charismatic Billy (Del Rio) and the uber-ambitious Sarah (Lewis).”
HBO’s bumping up the release of IT: Welcome to Derry‘s second episode, moving it to Halloween—but only on HBO Max. Episode two will still have its HBO premiere on November 2 at 9pm ET/PT.
The horror series, set in the twisted world of Stephen King’sIT, premiered on October 26, 2025. Season one’s finale is set for Sunday, December 14th.
IT: Welcome to Derry stars Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, and Blake Cameron James. The cast also includes Arian S. Cartaya, Amanda Christine, Matilda Lawler, Clara Stack, Madeleine Stowe, and Rudy Mancuso. Bill Skarsgård reprises his role as Pennywise from IT and IT Chapter Two.
IT film director Andy Muschietti developed the series with Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs. Brad Caleb Kane and Fuchs are the co-showrunners and executive produce along with the Muschiettis, David Coatsworth, Bill Skarsgård, Shelley Meals, Roy Lee, and Dan Lin. Fuchs wrote the first episode, and Andy Muschietti directed multiple season one episodes.
Blue earns a new nickname on ABC’s 9-1-1: Nashville season one, episode four, “Bad Case of the Blues.” Episode four will air on Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 9pm ET/PT.
Chris O’Donnell stars as Don Hart, Jessica Capshaw plays Blythe Hart, Kimberly Williams-Paisley is Cammie Raleigh, and LeAnn Rimes plays Dixie Bennings. Hailey Kilgore stars as Taylor Thompson, Michael Provost is Ryan Hart, Juani Feliz is Roxie Alba, and Hunter McVey plays Blue Bennings.
“Bad Case of the Blues” Plot: Don and the 113 team respond to emergencies at a waterpark and a sorority house. Meanwhile, the crew puts Blue’s skills and knowledge to the test as he trains for his firefighter exam, while Blythe digs into Blue’s past.
Hunter McVey in ‘9-1-1: Nashville’ episode 4 (Disney/Jake Giles Netter)
9-1-1: Nashville Plot, Courtesy of ABC:
“9-1-1: Nashville is a high-octane procedural about heroic first responders, as well as their family saga of power and glamour set in one of America’s most diverse and dynamic cities.”
Michael Provost in episode 4 (Disney/Jake Giles Netter)Hunter McVey in episode 4 (Disney/Jake Giles Netter)Juani Feliz, Chris O’Donnell, and Hunter McVey in episode 4 (Disney/Jake Giles Netter)Hailey Kilgore, Chris O’Donnell, Heidi Grace Engerman, and Juani Felix in episode 4 (Disney/Jake Giles Netter)
Tony Award winner Annaleigh Ashford guest stars on Elsbeth season three, episode four—the season’s Halloween-themed episode. Episode four, “Ick, a Bod,” will air on Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 10pm ET/PT.
Carrie Preston returns to star as the titular character. Wendell Pierce is also back as Captain C.W. Wagner for the series’ third season.
“Ick, a Bod” Plot: Elsbeth must separate trick from treat in Sleepy Hollow when a rivalry reaches a ghoulish climax on Halloween night after a suburban housewife (Ashford) butts heads with a new neighbor. Meanwhile, Captain Wagner makes a frightening discovery about his daughter. Lionel Coleman directs from a script by Erica Larson.
Emmy Award winner Carrie Preston returns as Elsbeth Tascioni, the cunning yet unconventional consent decree attorney working with the NYPD to track down New York’s most well-heeled murderers utilizing her unique intuitive insight. The critically acclaimed series enters its third season with fresh cases, new characters, and unexpected challenges for Elsbeth and the 11th Precinct, led by her boss, Captain C.W. Wagner (Pierce).
Diane Kruger stars in the limited series adaptation of Sarah Vaughan’s bestselling novel Little Disasters, which just released a new teaser trailer. Paramount+ has set a Thursday, December 11, 2025 streaming release for all six episodes of the thriller.
The limited series also stars Jo Joyner (The Wives), Shelley Conn (Gen V), Emily Taaffe (The Beast Must Die), and JJ Feild (The Peripheral). Ben Bailey Smith (Star Wars: Andor), Patrick Baladi (The Hack), and Stephen Campbell Moore (Masters of the Air) round out the ensemble.
Diane Kruger in ‘Little Disasters’ (Courtesy of Paramount+)
“Little Disasters focuses on a decade-long friendship among Jess (Kruger), Liz (Joyner), Charlotte (Conn), and Mel (Taaffe), four expectant mothers who were thrown together with little in common apart from their due dates but have been there for one another throughout motherhood,” reads Paramount+’s synopsis. “When perfect stay-at-home mother Jess takes her baby daughter to the hospital with a head injury that she can’t explain, her close friend and on-duty ER doctor Liz must make the excruciating decision of whether to call social services. With one phone call, Liz sets in motion a chain of events that ripples, fractures, and nearly destroys not only their families but their entire friendship group.”
Ruth Fowler and Amanda Duke adapted Vaughan’s novel, with Vaughan serving as an executive producer. Eva Sigurðardóttir directs and executive produces. Additional executive producers include Ash Atalla, Alex Smith, Marianna Abbotts, and Simon Judd.
JJ Feild and Diane Kruger (Photo Courtesy of Paramount+)Chizzy Akudolu and Jo Joyner (Photo Courtesy of Paramount+)Shelley Conn (Photo Courtesy of Paramount+)JJ Feild and Diane Kruger (Photo Courtesy of Paramount+)Ben Bailey Smith and Jo Joyner in ‘Little Disasters’ (Photo Courtesy of Paramount+)
Investigation Discovery dives into the 2012 murder of Colorado mortician Byron Griffy in The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder. The three-part documentary series premieres on ID on Wednesday, November 26, 2025 at 8pm ET/PT.
ID offers this description of the true crime series:
“In October 2012, Byron Griffy—respected mortician, devoted family man, and pillar of his rural Colorado community—was found dead on his remote ranch, shot execution-style. At first glance, it looked like a robbery gone wrong. But as detectives dug deeper, they discovered something far more twisted: an unthinkable betrayal and a tangled web of lies that exposed the town’s darkest secrets.
Over the course of three parts, The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder exposes the disturbing truths that can lurk just beneath the surface of seemingly friendly communities. Featuring interviews with key individuals involved in the case, the investigators who searched for the truth, and the townspeople who still wrestle with the revelations this investigation exposed, this docuseries shows that no matter how hard people try to keep their secrets hidden, the truth has a way of always coming to light.”
The three-part docuseries was produced for Investigation Discovery by Citizen Jones.
Poster for ID”s ‘The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder’
Part two of CBS’s Tracker season three’s premiere begins with a man driving and crying, staring at his bloody hand before answering a text asking if the task is complete. He responds that it is and is told to wait for more instructions.
(The following is a recap of season three episode two, “Leverage,” and contains spoilers.)
A woman kisses her son, Nicky, good night just as the driver, Harith Holmes (Omid Abtahi), arrives home. They have Nicky back, but apparently they haven’t seen the last of The Process. Harith killed Ockman’s sister, and they can’t go to the police because The Process will kill Nicky. Just then, Harith receives another text telling him to find Colter and Russell Shaw.
Colter (Justin Hartley) and Russell (Jensen Ackles) grab breakfast at a diner, and Colter confirms the police want to blame Ockman for everything. Randy (Chris Lee) joins them and introduces himself to Russell. (They call each other “legends.”) He was able to trace the calls Colter and Russell received, and after tracking them through 100+ locations, it landed on Raymond Ockman’s home address. Randy believes it’s a ruse since Lisa’s burner phone’s encryption was a lot more sophisticated. Whoever sent them the texts wanted them to land on Raymond.
Colter’s determined to put an end to this game and The Process.
Reenie (Fiona Rene) visits Raymond in jail and volunteers to be his lawyer. Raymond claims he didn’t kill his sister but doesn’t deny murdering Kurt or kidnapping Hailey. He was forced to follow instructions from The Process; they know everything about him. Reenie asks for every detail he remembers about The Process, but he becomes paranoid and thinks she’s one of the leaders when she acknowledges a guard who enters the room. He ends the jailhouse conversation without divulging any details.
Randy, Colter, and Russell are going over the cell phone pings when Harith walks into the diner. One of the pings goes to an empty patch of land two hours away, and they want to check it out. Harith secretly snaps a photo as Colter learns Lisa’s awake at the hospital. He’s heading there to find out what she remembers, while Russell heads to the ping location. Randy’s just going to relax and eat.
Lisa reveals it started when Ockman called claiming to have Hailey. He ordered her to follow the instructions from The Process, and if she did, Hailey would be fine. She rushed home, found Kurt dead, and got a text telling her to get cash. Lisa removed Kurt’s hand to open his safe, grabbed the cash, and took his gun. She received orders to steal a car, wire $10,000 into an account, and get an envelope with a key at an office. But Colter stopped her from completing that.
Lisa admits they knew she was running a scam and urged her family and co-workers to get involved. She believes it was her fault Hailey was taken so she followed the instructions. Lisa also believes there are people still watching her.
Harith shows the photo he took to another victim of The Process and is given a bag. The other guy’s been forced into working for The Process for seven years and warns Harith not to ask questions. Before driving away he says, “Do what they ask you to do. You know what happens if you don’t.”
The package contains a gun. Harith receives texted instructions to follow Russell and wait for further instructions.
Russell asked Reenie to give him a ride to the remote location, still hoping for a date. He compliments her, and they have a friendly chat about work. He pretends to be sad when she reveals she ended things with Elliot. But then Russell gets a little serious and assures her he’s there if she wants to talk about it.
Russell keeps glancing behind them at a car that appears to be tailing them. He would rather not worry Reenie, so he claims to need to use the restroom.
Colter returns to the building Lisa was heading into just as Randy calls to tell him he doesn’t think the guy who rented Suite 109 is real. A shady dude walks past Colter down the hallway, but Colter enters the suite anyway. There are filing cabinets and some furniture, but it appears no one is using the office. He finds the locked briefcase and makes quick work of the lock. Inside are photos of Ockman and a high school boy in an inappropriate relationship. It’s what they’re using to make Ockman do their dirty work.
The serial number has been removed making it nearly impossible for Randy to trace the briefcase.
The guard who was present during part of Reenie’s talk looks in on Ockman. Shortly thereafter Ockman’s found hanging. It’s deemed a suicide. Reenie’s informed of Ockman’s death and Russell thinks maybe Ockman was right; the guard is part of The Process. If so, The Process has “serious reach.”
Russell looks around for the car he thought was following them, and Reenie’s shocked that he didn’t tell her about it. He decides it’s best that he drives, just in case. They get back on the road, and the car is back on their tail. It’s a new car and Reenie doesn’t want him to do anything Russell-y, but of course he does. He spins it around and heads toward the car tailing them at high speed. The game of chicken turns out like Russell planned and the other car crashes.
Russell approaches it with his gun out and finds the driver unconscious behind the wheel. He opens the man’s phone and sees the photo of him and Colter at the diner. Later, Harith comes to, tied to a chair in a safe house. He claims he can’t help Russell and denies knowing what The Process is. Colter joins them and says Randy’s working on digging up info on this guy. Reenie’s getting info on Ockman’s death, and the police have a detail assigned to Lisa and Hailey.
Harith continues to claim he doesn’t work for The Process just as a text message arrives asking if he’s handled Russell Shaw. He confesses he has to do things for them or they’ll kidnap his son again. He’s back doing their bidding because Raymond Ockman failed. Harith reveals The Process can call on its victims anytime to handle any interruption in carrying out its instructions. Colter and Russell are interruptions.
He believes The Process has been around for a decade but doesn’t know who runs it. Another text arrives asking if he’s done, and Colter decides they need to kill Russell. (Obviously, not really.) Russell poses, looking dead, which should buy them time. Harith doesn’t know who’s been sent after Colter but is convinced no one can stop The Process. He begs for their help and Colter sets him free to call his son, since it’s his birthday. He admits The Process knows he stole money from his employer.
A text arrives telling him he has three hours to contact the next target. If he doesn’t, Nicky will die.
Reenie watches footage from the jail and realizes someone erased part of the video. She asks to speak to the guard and learns he was just a temp. The warden refuses to give out his info even after Reenie threatens him with a civil suit.
Reenie calls Colter with the new info, and Randy joins them to confirm he struck gold with the briefcase. Very few of that specific model were sold, but a bunch were sold to Dr. Susanna Tate at Southeast Colorado University 20 years ago. She’s retired, so Randy forwards her home address to Colter.
Susanna Tate confirms the briefcase looks like one she bought that she would give to her grad students. Colter confirms she researched behavior modification under duress and removes a book of case studies she wrote titled The Process of Leverage and Obedience from her bookshelf.
He asks about The Process and says three people have died. She’s shocked he knows about it; it was an experiment in a class she taught on leverage and obedience. Students were either blackmailers or the targets of blackmail. She halted the experiment when a student hurt her roommate, and some grad students exhibited inappropriate behavior, including increased capacity for cruelty.
Susanna buried the research, but it’s possible a grad student continued with it. Three students didn’t want it shut down—Don Schneider, Jillian Meeks, and Philip Jost. Schneider was the worst because he took pleasure in the rules of The Process and liked dishing out punishment. Susanna blocked him after the experiment ended because he kept reaching out to her.
She lost touch with all of them and confesses she’s scared of Schneider.
Russell drives Harith to the meetup and receives a message that the new targets are Joshua and Mandy Dekker. He’s supposed to capture the bank teller. Mandy walks out and Russell rushes up from behind, sticking a gun in her ribs. He warns her not to scream because he’s there to save her life.
Russell informs Colter he’s with the next targets and they’re going to try to keep The Process from knowing they’re onto them. Randy traces the message to Joshua Dekker demanding cash and discovers a ping came from that same remote area Russell was heading to check out.
Russell and Colter meet a mile from the location, and Colter shows Russell a photo of Don Schneider. They discover a locked bunker and break in. An alarm sounds and someone goes running, with Russell giving chase. Colter continues inside, gun drawn.
Russell shoots above the man’s head as he tries to get into a vehicle. He claims Schneider’s in charge and briefly gets the upper hand when he tosses Russell his keys. He’s able to taser Russell and grabs a tire iron, about to hit Russell while he’s down. Russell takes aim and kills him.
Colter enters Schneider’s headquarters, and Schneider pulls up details on Dory and their mom on two screens. Schneider wants him to choose which one to save, but Colter won’t play that game. Schneider gets upset when Colter brings up Dr. Tate; he slams her as a failed academic and reveals The Process is now capable of creating its own targets. “It’s self-sustaining,” says Schneider.
Colter understands that Schneider wanted to be found so that he can be recognized as the mastermind behind The Process. He punches Schneider just as Russell arrives. Colter and Russell shut down the process by shooting the servers.
Later, Reenie advises the Shaw brothers that Don Schneider’s in custody and the FBI is crawling through what’s left of the servers. The FBI’s IT specialists have verified The Process has been stopped. However, the feds are still trying to track down the third grad student, Jillian Meeks. Russell tries to get in a “call me anytime” message but the phone disconnects.
Russell wonders what he should tell their mom when she asks about Colter and Echo Ridge. Colter confesses he’s not ready to talk to her and needs more time. Russell volunteers to investigate the mysterious number Colter found in their dad’s journal, and Colter takes him up on it.
Russell’s not sure what’s next for him; maybe something like what Colter’s doing, without the weird Airstream, of course. He wants to use his skills for the greater good.
Episode two wraps up with Colter agreeing to pay for steak and beer.
