Dead Head - Recap

Christopher and Winston go to an outdoor café, their latest stop in a series of places that their new client has sent them to make sure that they’re not followed. Winston figures that their client, who hasn’t given his name, is a nutjob, but Christopher figures the man is desperate. As they wait, a man pulls into the parking lot, agues with a female driver, and then backs into another car. His car explodes and Christopher and Winston run to help. They manage to get the man out before the gas tank goes up, and they figure the man is their client



Christopher and Winston take the man to the hospital, and the ER doctor informs them that their “John Doe” has retrograde amnesia. There’s no way to guarantee he’ll regain his memories any time soon. The hospital needs the signature of a family member to release the John Doe. Christopher and Winston talk to their client, who admits that he doesn’t know them and has no idea why someone would want to kill him.

At the office, Christopher and Winston bring their John Doe in and Ames interrogates him. Meanwhile, Ilsa wants to know why they forged her signature to get the hospital to release John into their case. Ames, who nicknames their client J.D., figures that he’s a crook running a scam. Meanwhile, Ilsa accepts the guys’ judgment that they shouldn’t go to the police, and gives them their paychecks. Guerrero arrives and tells them that he’s checked, and there’s no record of J.D.’s fingerprint or face on file. All they know is that according to his car’s GPS, he stayed in a cheap hotel the last few days. Guerrero prepares to go to the bomb site and find out more, but Ilsa gives him his first paycheck. He objects, insisting that he only takes cash, but Ilsa tells him to deposit the check and pay his taxes.



The police arrive to talk to J.D., and Winston recognizes one of them as Lt. Broward. The two of them snipe at each other, and Winston refuses to turn J.D. over to Broward without a court order. Ilsa tries to reassure Broward, and the detective says that he’ll be back. Once the police leave, Winston explains that when he was on the force, he figured Broward for a crooked cop but was never able to pursue it. His attempts eventually cost him his reputation and his job. Christopher reasons that if Broward wants J.D. so bad, he must have a reason. He assures Winston that they’ll find out the reason and take Broward down.

Christopher, Winston, and Ames take J.D. with them as they check out his motel. Inside are newspaper articles pinned to the wall, dealing with various crimes. J.D. still insists that he must be a good guy, but even Winston isn’t convinced. Ames searches the place and finds a hidden key, but J.D. doesn’t know what it unlocks. Christopher tells Ames to stay there with J.D. and look for clues, while he and Winston go back to the office and check the security footage.

At the scene of the explosion, Guerrero poses as a bomb squad member and gets enough time alone to check the bomb fragments. He calls to tell Christopher that whoever planted the bomb was an amateur. As they talk, a biker gang named the Mongrels drives up. When informed of their presence, Guerrero admits that that the bombing was their style. The bikers grab guns and prepare to go into J.D.’s motel room. Winston grabs a shotgun and opens fire, while Christopher makes Molotov cocktails and sets the nearby cars on fire. The bikers flee, but Broward and his men arrive and hold Christopher and Winston. Broward ignores their objections and takes J.D. into custody as a material witness. As they leave, Guerrero calls from the alley where he’s beating a biker, and tells Christopher that the Mongrels were hired to take out J.D.’s protection but leave the amnesiac alone. Winston figures that Broward hired the Mongrels so he’d be able to grab J.D.



Broward drives down the street and then tells J.D. that he doesn’t need to pretend he has amnesia. J.D. has no idea what he’s talking about, and Broward says that J.D. no longer has any value to him. He pulls out a gun and prepares to kill him, but Christopher and Winston pull up in their van, block Broward at an intersection, and then shoot out his tires. As they take J.D., Broward warns them that he’s still a cop and he’ll have them all arrested for abducting a witness.



Broward’s partner Delgado takes a team of crooked cops to the agency and informs Ilsa that they have a warrant for the arrest of all of the agency members. She calls Christopher, who tells her what is happening. Winston warns that if she’s arrested, Broward will use her as a hostage to force them to turn over J.D. Christopher confirms that she has heels and tells her to take them off. Delgado and the other cops search the place and find her heels, and figure that she hasn’t gone far. They’re unaware that she’s hidden above the elevator, and slips out onto the street, barefoot. She calls Christopher, who tells her to get to a bus stop so Guerrero can pick her up.

As they drive, Ames notices J.D. using a pen from a storage unit. They go there and look for the door that belongs to the key from the hotel. The one they find contains an improved safe house, created by J.D. himself before he lost his memories. The computer has been wiped clean, and Ames finds a van containing millions of dollars. Inside the van there is also ID papers which identify J.D. as David Jarecki. The name means nothing to J.D., and Christopher calls Guerrero. Guerrero recognizes the name as that of a master launderer, the best on the West Coast.

Ilsa is waiting at a bus stop, surrounded by seedy individuals, when Guerrero arrives to pick her up. She wants to use a credit card to purchase new clothing, but Guerrero warns her that credit card transactions can be traced.



As J.D. wonders what kind of man he was, Christopher and Winston figure that Broward was using Jarecki to launder his crooked money. Winston says that they need to go to his old place, and tells Ames to keep searching the place. Ames is surprised that he’s leaving her with a van full of money, and Winston admits that he trusts her.

Winston and Christopher go to the home of Winston’s ex-wife, Michelle. Christopher notes that his friend never said he was married, and Winston insists that he did. Michelle lets them in and Winston recovers the box of evidence that he gathered against Broward eight years ago before he was let go from the force. The box is still there, and it has Broward’s bank account numbers. By themselves they’re useless, but if J.D. can match them to the ones in his files, Winston can put Broward away for good. As the police arrive, Michelle reluctantly tells Winston that she’ll cover for him while they slip out the back.



At the safe house, J.D. casually tells Ames exactly how much money is in the van, and that he has a photographic memory and calculative skills. Ames, impressed, figures that they can go to Las Vegas and clean up using J.D.’s abilities. The others arrive and Winston realizes that as Jarecki, J.D. memorized the account numbers. Now that he has amnesia, there’s no way to recover the information. Winston is ready to give up, but Christopher says Winston has one thing he didn’t have eight years ago: friends helping him. Christopher says that they need to give Jarecki to Broward, even though J.D. doesn’t know he’s Jarecki.

Guerrero and Ilsa pick up Ames, and then go to the bank in Guerrero’s El Dorado. He gives Ames the keys as a sign of trust, but warns her not to damage his prized car. Meanwhile, Christopher and J.D. go to Broward’s precinct house. Christopher’s plan is that J.D. will pretend he still has his memories, get the Cayman Island bank account from Broward where he has his money hidden, by offering Broward $2 million. Ilsa will transfer the funds to her bank to cover the payment. She convinces the manager to transfer the funds by flirting with him. Once she’s done so, Christopher tells the desk sergeant that he’s the man they’re looking for.

Once they make the transfer, Guerrero and Ilsa start to leave, but the police pull up outside. Guerrero tells Ames to create a distraction and keep them out of the bank, and she rams Guerrero’s El Dorado into a parked car. As the police go over to investigate, Ilsa convinces the bank manager to let them out the back.

Broward has Christopher and J.D. brought to his office where he’s waiting with four of his men. J.D. offers to buy his safety with $2 million, and that Chance is his bodyguard for a share of the loot. Broward insists on seeing the money, and Winston rigs the transfer. Once he’s seen that J.D. has the money, Broward prepares to make the transfer, types in the account number... and then tests J.D.’s memories to see if he has recovered. J.D. botches it and Broward prepares to kill him. J.D. quickly caves and says that he’ll use the money at the safe house to buy his freedom. He doesn’t care what Broward does to Christopher. As soon as Broward and J.D. leave, Broward’s four crooked cops prepare to eliminate Christopher. He takes them out but the legitimate officers hear the fight and come in to arrest Chance.



J.D. takes Broward to the safe house and the money. Broward prepares to kill him now that he’s served his purpose, but Winston arrives and disarms him. He explains that he knows about Broward’s Cayman Island bank account. Unimpressed, Broward says that Winston will need more than that. In response, Winston has J.D. recite the bank account number: he memorized it when Broward typed it in earlier. Winston takes Broward’s badge and says that it’s eight years overdue, and then leaves as the police appear in the distance.

Later at the office, Ilsa pays Guerrero in cash. He asks for money to cover his expenses in saving her, and then gives her a gift: the same paper the Department of the Treasury prints dollar bills on. Meanwhile, Christopher tells J.D. that the police are offering a deal. If he cooperates and turns over the money, then they’ll put him into Witness Protection in case any of his other former clients gun for him. When J.D. wonders what kind of man he was as Jarecki, Christopher explains that they traced the explosives and checked the security footage of the store where they were bought. The footage shows that J.D bought the goods. Christopher figures that he was going to fake his own death, but bumping into the car in the parking lot set off the bomb prematurely. J.D. admits that he was a bad man, but both Ames and Christopher tell him that he has a second chance to make things right and create a new life for himself.



Winston goes to see his ex-wife and apologizes for letting his obsession tear their marriage apart. He wonders what would have happened if he had caught Broward eight years ago, but Michelle figures that he would have become obsessed with some other criminal, because he could focus on everything except her. Winston admits that she’s right and walks away.



Back at the office, Winston meets with Christopher and tells him what happened. He admits that he can be obsessive, and Christopher agrees. However, Christopher points out that Winston is a damn good toast and the two friends share a toast in celebration of Winston’s triumph over Broward.

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