Episode 113 Recap: "Fatherless Boys"

Brad has stormed out of the house with a gun, looking for Randal, with Amanda at his heels. Before she can catch up, he kicks in Randal's door, shouting for his erstwhile friend. However, he finds the house empty.

Brad eventually makes his way out to the backyard, where he sees Randal's beloved boat. He goes to the tool shed, pulls out an ax and starts hacking away at the bow.

The next morning, Kelly is babysitting Peter and Paisley. Over breakfast, the children ask why they can't go home. Kelly explains that their parents need to talk and that they'll be staying with her for a little while. Paisley says her parents are fighting—they always want her and her brother to leave when they're fighting.

"At least your daddy lives in the house with you," Justice says.

He says, with some anger, that he's tried calling Travis and has left messages but that he's never heard back. Although Kelly is upset by this news, she pushes it aside and shuffles the kids off to school.

At Natalie's apartment, Joey is getting ready for an interview. Lushion points out that he should wear a tie, but Joey refuses. Suspecting the refusal might run deeper than fashion sense, Lushion ties one of his own around his neck and then removes it, saying Joey can borrow it. He then leaves to take the kids to school and head to work.

Alone together, Joey notices that his mother is upset. She breaks down, apologizing that Joey never had a man in his life that taught him to tie a tie, or do anything else. Joey assures her that it's okay. She dries her tears and asks about the interview. Joey tells her it's a well-paying job at the chemical plant, and hands her the classified ad.

"This plant is awful," Natalie says, worried. "They'll have you cleaning up chemicals and spores and all types of mold."

She then makes Joey promise to apply elsewhere.

Lushion arrives at the men's locker room at the police station and offers Eddie a breakfast sandwich from Burger Fast. Eddie asks whether he paid for the sandwich. When Lushion says no, Eddie tells him that's stealing. Sensing his partner's foul mood, Lushion says he'll eat them both himself, but before he can take a bite, Eddie swats it out of his hand.

"You think you can be aggressive with me and I can't be aggressive with you, rook?" Eddie asks.

Eddie doesn't appreciate Lushion stopping him from hurting Randal the night before, much to Lushion's shock.

"You better learn how I do things around here real quick, or you can sell your ass up the river and kiss this job goodbye," Eddie warns.

Lushion won't bend to Eddie's threats, though, and he steps outside. In the hall, Esperanza walks up to check on Lushion and notices something is wrong. She guesses that Eddie might be the source of his mood, and warns Lushion that Eddie is a less-than-scrupulous police officer. When he breaks the rules, she says, Lushion should keep his mouth shut.

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Joey has disobeyed Natalie and gone to interview at the chemical plant. However, when the interviewer needs a reference, Joey has only Burger Fast to call. The man goes to dial, and Joey tells him to ask for Jackie, in an effort to avoid Natalie, but it's too late. Natalie picks up and discovers that her son defied her.

Realizing the power she holds in the situation, Natalie takes matters into her own hands, telling the man over the phone that Joey was a terrible employee, used to steal things and has a criminal record. The man thanks Natalie, hangs up and politely but swiftly ends his interview with Joey.

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Eddie and Lushion are out on patrol when Eddie spots some men sitting on their car. He tells Lushion that they're up to no good and, despite Lushion's protests, says he's going to check them out. Once outside the car, Lushion sees that one of the men is Quan. Eddie shakes him down, and Quan looks to Lushion, assuming the unwarranted search is retaliation for Joey. Finally, Lushion steps in and says that Quan hasn't done anything wrong and to let him go.

Back in the squad car Lushion is furious, saying Quan and his friends were innocent. Eddie scoffs at this and pulls out a bag of cocaine. Lushion asks why he didn't bust Quan for possession. In response, Eddie takes a hit and offers some to Lushion. Eddie then pulls out a stack of cash he also took from Quan—and makes his motives clear.

"You ain't going to save the world, but you can change your life doing this," he says, "get Natalie out of the hood, take care of your kids. Think about it."

Kelly is home, waiting for the kids to get back from school, when Travis shows up at her door. She's only asked him to come over and straighten everything out with Justice, but he goes in for an unsuccessful kiss all the same. Suddenly, Kelly receives another visitor: Mattaline. She wants to apologize to Kelly for how she treated her, and says that Kelly was good for her son. Kelly accuses Travis of roping his mother in to help his case, but Mattaline says she came of her own volition.

Mattaline leaves, and Travis goes in for another kiss, but Kelly still resists, keeping her mouth firmly closed.

The children arrive home, and Kelly asks Paisley and Peter to play in the other room. Justice is surly with Travis and says he doesn't want to talk, but Kelly and Travis insist. They sit him down on the couch for what they expect will be a difficult conversation, and Travis says he'll start answering all his calls and will play a bigger role in Justice's life. But there's a harder topic they have to broach. Travis then explains how, while he loves Justice very much, he isn't his biological father.

Oddly, Justice seems unmoved by this and asks to go play with his friends. He leaves the room, and Kelly turns to Travis and thanks him for having the discussion.

Randal finally arrives home after spending the night elsewhere and is unsettled to discover his door has been kicked in. Slowly, he moves through the house until he hears loud thwacking sounds coming from the backyard. He rushes out and finds Brad, covered in sweat, still at work destroying his boat. Brad turns to see his neighbor.

"I'm sorry," Randal says weakly.

Brad pauses a moment before lifting the ax and swinging it at Randal's head. Randal deftly dodges. Brad drops the weapon, and the two men exchange vicious blows. Suddenly, Brad's gun is out, and the two men are wrestling on the ground, Randal struggling to get the gun away.

Meanwhile, Alex is sitting at home in a daze when she hears a shot go off. She springs up and runs out her front door and into Randal's house, in view of a puzzled, frightened neighbor walking her dog. Alex appears in the back door only to find Brad and Randal still rolling on the ground, struggling for control of the handgun. Alex screams at them to stop. Another shot goes off.

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