Fire in the Hole

Fire in the Hole
	Season 3, Episode 13
Airdate:	June 1, 2004
Actual length	46:28
Production Code:	5012-03-313
Written by	Kurt Sutter & Charles H. Eglee
Directed by	Guy Ferland
Previous:	"Riceburner"
Next:	"All In"

"Fire in the Hole" is the thirteenth episode of Season 3 and the 39th episode of the series as a whole. It was originally broadcast on June 1, 2004. The previously on segment is voiced by David Rees Snell.

Summary[]

As Vic tries to sidetrack the money train investigation, Claudette goes undercover to crack a child porn ring.

Plot[]

Vic Mackey arrives at Corrine Mackey's house to find firefighters at the scene of an extinguished fire in the kitchen. She informs him that Matthew Mackey accidentally started the fire while she was out of the room. Corrine lies to the firefighters about the cause, and Vic asks her and the kids to live with him for the time being. The firefighter sees through the lie, but Vic uses his police status to have it marked as accidental. Vic gives him his number as thanks. Curtis Lemansky visits an awake and verbal Tavon Garris, who is soon to start physical therapy and only remembers fighting with Shane Vendrell before his car accident.

Vic shows David Aceveda that a camera in one of Louis Sperling's bugged cars recorded Spookstreet Souljahs gang member Jantell Davis doing a deal with a member of biker gang The Horde. Vic gleans that the Horde is doing a job that night with Davis as a getaway driver, but does not know where. Danny Sofer and Julien Lowe arrive on the scene of a car crash, where the car thief hit a storefront while trying to escape the police and fled on foot. Danny finds boxes of expensive scotch in the trunk.

Aceveda gives Claudette Wyms authority over the Sperling case, and Vic informs her that an armed car is scheduled to make a dropoff that day. Vic plans to lean on the Souljahs until one of them gives up information. Lem informs the Strike Team that Tavon is awake, noting that he remembers fighting with Shane but not being hit by Mara Sewell. As a confused Ronnie Gardocki learns about the incident for the first time, Lem and Shane argue until Vic interrupts, stating they need to take care of Tavon to keep the Strike Team above suspicion.

As Vic and Lem stake out Souljah territory, Lem is adamant that the money train robbery was a mistake. Walon Burke walks by the van, also monitoring the Souljahs, and he and Vic argue about whose case it is. Aceveda and Claudette sit down with the Strike Team and the Decoy Squad, and the latter explains that they are trying to catch Durwin Gethers, a Souljah making child pornography, working with social worker Felicia to poach kids. Burke is opposed to arresting Gethers early, so Claudette offers to help go undercover to catch him on the pornography charges so he can be pressed for information about the Horde. Burke also wants to catch Felicia and refuses to work with Claudette again, but relents. As Vic flirts with Lauren Riley about meeting her at her upcoming convention, Danny, unloading the scotch into the Barn, observes them.

Dutch Wagenbach and Aceveda learn that Neil O'Brien has been supposedly kidnapped from his apartment by the Armenian Mob. Crosby Nell informs them that someone got into the U.S. Treasury system and pulled O'Brien's surveillance, suspecting the Armenians to be responsible. Aceveda orders Vic to be brought in. Claudette and Trish George prepare to go undercover as a social worker and a drug addicted-mother, respectively. Claudette apologizes for putting her in danger, but she asserts that "shit happens" as a cop.

Lauren informs Vic that Hunter told her he was mugged, forcing her to not go to the convention. Julien notes to Danny that eleven cases of the scotch were stolen from customs, but only seven were found in the car. Vic asks them to check on Hunter. Dutch informs Vic of O'Brien's disappearance and asks for help with the case, and Vic agrees to start with O'Brien's love of Mexican prostitutes. Vic informs the Strike Team of O'Brien's disappearance, and Lem jumps on Shane when he laughs about O'Brien possibly being dead. Vic breaks them up and plans to find O'Brien if he is not in Armenian custody and send him out of the state. The Strike Team finds the Byz Lats in mourning, and Diagur Leyva explains that his cousin Aramis was tortured and killed by the Armenians. Vic asks Diagur to look for O'Brien.

Claudette and Burke capture Felicia and force her to take them to Gethers, and Claudette approaches him as Felicia's supervisor wanting in on the porn scheme, setting up a deal to sell him two young girls. Danny and Julien interview Hunter, who claims he was jumped by three men. Dutch interviews a bartender at the spot where O'Brien found the money, who points him towards a bookie that O'Brien was making a deal with earlier. A Byz Lat overhears him asking if Vic and Shane were around.

Diagur informs Vic that O'Brien is shacked up in a motel with a prostitute, but also that Dutch asked about Vic because he could name the bar despite supposedly not knowing about the case. Vic insists that he has nothing concrete despite the Strike Team's clear anxiety. They grab O'Brien from his motel, who explains he fled his apartment before the Armenians could catch him. Vic orders him to leave town, but with his assets frozen by the Treasury, he claims he is waiting for a sports bet with bookie Rex to pay out and then he will leave. Shane gives him money and promises to have Rex wire the winnings to him. Claudette takes Gethers and Eddie, posing as an interested party, to an apartment to meet Trish, who claims to be waiting for her children to come home. Danny notes to Vic that Hunter seems to be lying, grinning as she says that "some women seem to have a thing for assholes."

As Dutch asks Aceveda about Vic's activity with the Armenians, Nina informs them that a body was found with its feet missing. The Strike Team arrives on the scene to find Diagur dead and covered in cigarette burns. The team worries that Diagur, who knew they were asking about O'Brien and the marked money, sold them out to the Armenians. Dutch arrives on the scene and Vic claims to not have found O'Brien. He asks about the name of the bar, and Vic claims he saw it in O'Brien's records. Trish's "kids" ring the doorbell, but she refuses to let them in until Gethers pays her. When he gives her the money, the trio jump and arrest him. Vic returns to his apartment to find Matthew struggling to set the table for dinner, so Vic helps him. Taylor Orrs comes to the Barn and offers Danny tickets to a sold-out concert. When he overhears about the scotch case, he offers to help.

Vic and Corrine discuss the danger Matthew put himself in, and she suggests putting in a home, which Vic is adamantly opposed to. In interrogation with Gethers, Aceveda offers to keep his crimes under wraps when he is sent to prison if he can give up information on the Souljahs, but he can only name his friend Primo, who is scamming people with bad checks. Burke is furious that they let Felicia go, but Aceveda orders Claudette to get Primo in hopes that he can give up information. Dutch informs Aceveda that O'Brien won his bet and Rex was seen trying to pull together money for the payout. As Lauren apologizes to Vic, he points out that Hunter is likely lying. She opposes this idea, while Aceveda interrupts to ask about Rex, which Vic claims Dutch is working on. Vic takes the Strike Team to go find him.

Orrs points Danny to a shady bar, while Julien, working with the storeowners who were crashed into, asks Claudette for James's help rebuilding the storefront. She agrees to help and commends him for his effort. The Strike Team busts into Rex's store to find him and O'Brien dead with their feet severed, the latter's body submerged in turpentine. Knowing Dutch will be there soon, Vic begins thinking of ways to get rid of O'Brien, and Lem reluctantly admits that he knows where to do it. Claudette and Burke interrogate Primo, who offers to give up the Horde.

The Strike Team moves Rex to the turpentine and hide O'Brien's body in a couch. Claudette informs Aceveda that the Horde plans to rob a motorcycle club, and he orders her to set up a SWAT team to catch them. Dutch asks if they should bring in the Strike Team, leaving Aceveda confused that they are not working with him.

As the Strike Team puts the couch in the van, Vic gets a call from Aceveda, ordering the Strike Team to help catch the Horde. Vic has Shane drive the van to his apartment and takes the rest to the job. Danny and Orrs return with the rest of the scotch, the bar owner having given them the name of the scotch thief, leaving her visibly pleased with Orrs. As Vic and Shane watch the Horde rob the club, Shane wonders if they will go to prison someday soon. Vic asserts that they should turn the rest of their cash over to Leith, and as the Horde exits, the Strike and SWAT teams arrest them.

Aceveda praises Claudette for catching the Horde while keeping Sperling's bugs intact. As the Decoy Squad leaves, Claudette promises Burke that they will catch Felicia, and she and the team part on good terms. Dutch, Aceveda and Vic find Rex's body, and Aceveda gives Vic permission to go after the Armenians. Danny again turns down Orrs, but grins as he walks off. The Strike Team dumps O'Brien's body in a furnace, and Lem voices concern that the Armenians will find them.

Cast[]

Fire in the Hole

Contents

Summary[]

Plot[]

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest starring[]

Co-starring[]

Uncredited[]

Featured Music[]

Episode Title[]

Notes[]

Continuity[]

Quotes[]

External Links[]