Slipknot

Slipknot
	Season 3, Episode 09
Airdate:	May 4, 2004
Actual length	46:26
Production Code:	5012-03-309
Written by	Kurt Sutter
Directed by	Michael Chiklis
Previous:	"Cracking Ice"
Next:	"What Power Is..."

"Slipknot" is the ninth episode of Season 3 and the 35th episode of the series as a whole. It was originally broadcast on May 4, 2004. The previously on segment is voiced by Benito Martinez.

Summary[]

A lynching threatens to ignite a race war between Farmington's black and Latino gangs.

Plot[]

Vic Mackey hurries to the hospital to find Corrine Mackey, having been attacked after she noticed an Asian man she was treating had been shot in the arm. Vic takes her home to find Owen Thigpen still working with Matthew Mackey despite his previous demand that he be fired. Vic asks her to come to the Barn and look for the attacker's mugshot, but Owen's protests cause her to hesitate. David Aceveda asks Nina to redirect Aurora Aceveda's call. Danny Sofer and Julien Lowe are called to a scene where local kids heard a struggle. Julien finds a young black man hung from a tree. Aceveda, Claudette Wyms and Dutch Wagenbach arrive on the scene, where the victim is identified as Klee Jones, a local mural artist. Claudette suggests putting the Strike Team and Decoy Squad on the case, but Aceveda notes that they have no confirmed gang activity and he wants to keep her away from Walon Burke after the incident with Kaliel Wilks, ordering her and Dutch to investigate.

Vic finds Curtis Lemansky in the Clubhouse taking medication for his stress ulcers. Vic asks again if he was the one who stole the storage locker money, but Lem asserts his innocence. Dutch and Claudette interview Klee's sister, who explains that he was beloved for his art and cannot imagine why anyone local would want to hurt him. She points them towards Gitana, a Mexican girl he slept with, whose ex-boyfriend Neron is with the "Los Profetas" gang. Gitana tells them that gangs were angry with Klee for painting over their tags. As Vic asks Ronnie Gardocki about the money, Aurora comes to the Barn to push Aceveda to go to a rally at the local community center in support of Klee for image reasons. Confounded by his dismissiveness, she presses him to tell her what has motivated his recent change of behavior, but is interrupted by Nina alerting him of an urgent call.

As Dutch and Claudette interview the center leader, police cars speed by and they follow them to a nearby church, where priest Oleos Zavala, spiritual counsel for the Profetas, has been found stabbed to death with "1 9" written on his cheek, indicating it to be the work of the One-Niners. Claudette theorizes it as a revenge killing for Klee, and Aceveda orders the case given to the Strike Team and Decoy Squad. Lem informs the Strike Team that Crosby Nell is asking after Aceveda and Dutch. Nina informs them of the situation with Klee and Zavala. Claudette orders the Strike Team to look into Zavala while she continues looking into Klee. Shane's racism causes tension between him and Claudette. With Kern Little out of the country on tour, the Strike Team goes to One-Niner Tobar, who denies involvement in Zavala's murder but believes the Profetas are now even. Vic stops a pair of old men, Perry and Deon, who are paying protection against the Latino gangs. Vic insists that they should trust the LAPD to keep them safe, which they claim they have not since the Watts riots.

Dutch and Claudette interrogate Neron, who claims they did not kill Klee. Aceveda threatens to start mass arresting Profetas and has Claudette release Neron so he can relay the message. The Strike Team encounters the Decoy Squad, who are annoyed that Claudette pulled them off a case regarding arson on homeless encampments. They confront her and she explains she wants to put Annie Price and Trish George in the rally. When Walon Burke argues with her, she puts him on desk duty, and the rest of the squad joins him in protest. Danny and Julien meet with a man whose leg was hurt after being mugged by an Asian man with a bandaged arm. Burke asks the Strike Team to testify on Claudette's mismanagement to Roy Phillips. Vic agrees if Trish and Annie go to the rally, and Danny informs him that the mugger may be the same man who attacked Corrine. Vic privately asks Julien to call him if they catch the man.

At the rally, Trish and Annie identify One-Niners. Profetas arrive to find Zavala's killer and someone fires their gun, causing the crowd to split and several gangsters to be arrested. Dutch reports that firework remains were found, actually what incited the riot. Phillips warns the Barn that his superiors are being advised to bring in the FBI, and gives them a day before he has to report to Tom Bankston. Vic sits down with One-Niner Twizzy, who he observed having tension with Tobar, and offers to release the detained One-Niners if he finds Zavala's killer. Shane asks about who took the money, warning Vic that Aceveda is having Nell working with detective Rodriguez. Vic observes the two leaving and learns they are going to a bank in Indio. Realizing that the Strike Team has no idea about criminal operations there, Vic notes that when the Decoy Squad reports Claudette and leaves the Barn, the Strike Team will be the only squadron there and will be back in the loop.

Dutch and Aceveda interviews Perry and Deon, who disapprove of Klee's murals depicting racial unity. Danny and Julien identify the mugger as Tung Yung. Vic finds Burke talking to Phillips in the Clubhouse and brings up Claudette pulling the Decoy Squad off the arson case, contrasting with the mayor's support of the homeless. Vic gets a call from Twizzy, who insists that Tobar is protecting his friend Elias "Link" Linkletter, and evidence that Link killed Zavala can be found at his house. Vic retrieves and presents it to Phillips, who asks why the Decoy Squad are not working Klee's murder and accuses Aceveda of racial prioritizing. Vic frees the One-Niners, save for Link, who he has arrested for the murder, and Tobar for helping him.

Aurora meets with Aceveda and explains that she went to Rigoberto, who refused to talk. She pleads with him for honesty, and he admits that he was raped. He tries to explain that he wanted to survive for him and their daughter, but she blames him for not fighting back and leaves. In interrogation, Link professes his innocence and realizes he was in anger management therapy when the murder occurred after learning the time. Aceveda orders the Decoy Squad to canvass the street and shouts at Claudette when she pushes back, and Dutch steps in to defend her. Danny and Julien visit a drug dealer who sells to Yung, who turned him down when he did not pay in cash. He gives them the location of an alternate supplier he sent Yung to. Vic accuses Aceveda of causing him to falsely arrest Link by keeping the Strike Team off the streets, and threatens to move precincts if they are not put back in.

The Strike Team confronts Twizzy, letting Tobar and Link beat him until he agrees to come in. In interrogation, he denies involvement in Zavala's murder, but Lem enters with the same rope used to hang Klee, having found it at Twizzy's place. He confesses to killing Klee because of his unifying messages, taking matters in his own hands after Kern and Tobar considered making deals with the Byz Lats. He killed Klee to frame the Profetas, then killed Zavala to frame it as a retaliation killing and cause a war between the black and Latino gangs in hopes of the black gangs winning. Shane confronts Mara after finding his usually unlocked lockbox sealed, revealing he called Stella Sewell and learned that she sent $7,000 to her. She admits that she found a receipt for the storage locker and asks about the nature of the money. He rebuffs her and warns that they will need to talk to Stella, claiming "this is life and death shit for all of us."

Vic presents Corrine with Yung's mugshot, and she informs him that someone keyed "stay away" onto the trunk of Owen's car. The men argue until Cassidy Mackey admits that she wrote it, and she privately tells Vic that she wants Owen gone and for Vic and Corrine to get back together. Vic promises that they will always be her parents, but she insists that "everything is changing." Aceveda informs Claudette that the Decoy Squad is being transferred on Phillips's orders, and the Strike Team will no longer be under her control, leaving her as just Dutch's partner again. Vic meets with Profetas leader Savuto and orders them to stand down against the One-Niners, asserting that Twizzy acted independently. Vic quietly gives him permission to have Twizzy killed in prison, but warns that he will not let him go further.

Aceveda arrives home to find Aurora is cold towards him. Danny and Julien find Yung at the drug pickup and he attacks Julien before passing out. As Vic and Shane work a drug case, the latter is stopped from talking about Mara by the arrival of Lem and Ronnie. The Decoy Squad moves out of the Clubhouse, Danny and Julien bring Yung to the hospital to show him to Corrine, Claudette stands in a mixed race crowd as the branch Klee was hung from is cut down, Aceveda sits in his car with a gun and Juan Lozano's mugshot, and the Strike Team raids a drug house, which Vic does with visible glee.

Cast[]

Featured Music[]

Dudley Perkins - Washedbrainsyndrome
- Vic comes to Twizzy to offer him to give up the priest killer
Dudley Perkins - Yo'Soul
- Vic takes Twizzy's guns from the table
Steve Earle - Ashes to Ashes
- At the end, the Decoy Squad clearing out of the Barn

Episode Title[]

Notes[]

At one point, early in the episode, reference is made to the Watts Riots.

Continuity[]

Quotes[]

External Links[]

Slipknot at the Internet Movie Database