516 Cover Me

This is a solid economic model …


Summary: Based on a plan of Charlie’s, a member of Don’s team goes undercover to try and stop a new drug hitting the streets of LA.

Original air date: February 27, 2009 (US)

Written by: Andrew Dettmann

Directed by: Rob Morrow

Opening numbers:

119: Schedule I drugs
1.8: Million drug arrests
4: Dealers
1: Mathematician


Family Concepts: (character development)

  • Liz has known Cam since they were in narcotics training together.
  • The CalSci basketball team hasn’t had a win since 1986, right now it has 283 consecutive losses.
  • Charlie and Amita were both valedictorian of their high school class.
  • Charlie thinks he was a good swimmer
  • David’s promotion to Relief Supervisor has been approved

Episode Quotes:

  • Colby: That’s the thing about plans, man.  They’re great right up to the minute you put ’em in action.
  • Colby: You better hope you don’t have a daughter.
    David: What are you talking about?
    Colby: Imagine how you’re gonna be when she turns sixteen.
  • Don: Any time you have an idea like this, you know my door is wide open, right?
    Charlie: Technically you don’t have a door, you have a cubicle. I have a door.

Episode Synopsis:

Charlie comes to Don with a plan to try and stop the next big drug epidemic: Hawaiian Ice.  Charlie thinks if the FBI uses economic modeling and the concept of “dirtying the brand’ the FBI can prevent the drug from ever hitting it big in the continental US.  Liz volunteers to go undercover as a buyer, and she knows someone in the DEA who might be able to help and David is assigned to be her handler.

Liz and Cam, her friend in the DEA, meet with the first two dealers and things don’t go according to David’s plan.  He feels she is taking too many risks and trusts Cam to watch her back.  Colby tries to explain that undercover work requires a lot of on the fly thinking, but David isn’t reassured.  David’s feelings seem justified when Cam leaves Liz alone with Pritchard, the last dealer on the FBI’s list and a man know to be violent.  Liz finds out the reason Cam left her was to get high.

Liz tries talking to Cam and to Cam’s handler, Terry Green to no avail. She does not tell David right away about what she found out.  Liz and Cam proceed with the plan to buy up the Ice and the first sale goes off fine.  However during the second buy, the dealers are gunned down in a drive by shooting.  Liz identifies one of the shooters as belonging to Pritchard, and Don finds out Pritchard has already killed the third buyer on Liz’s list.  It looks like Pritchard is taking the supply in order to make a better deal with Liz. Liz finally tells David Cam is using and she thinks he tipped off Pritchard to the sale.

Charlie looks at his model again and realizes, Pritchard has no desire to sell the drugs to Liz, instead he’s planning to monopolize the market and get the best return.  Unfortunately Charlie figures this out too late asn Liz and Cam are already trying to wrap up the deal with Pritchard.  Pritchard sends Cam out to get the drugs Liz bought, and David confronts him wanting to know why Cam left.  Cam explains Pritchard wants him back with the drugs within the hour and swears he is after the same thing as David: making sure Liz is safe.  Don’s team works out a plan of attack and Cam is sent back in to Pritchard with the bags from the first drug deal now booby-trapped with a flash bag.  When it goes off, the FBI moves in; Pritchard is killed when he tries to shoot the FBI agents.