The episode begins with a quick shot of the aftermath of NYPD’s raid on the homeless. Vincent Anderson (Benedict Cumberbatch) remains passed out, with his destroyed glasses nearby. The ladder where Edgar Anderson (Ivan Morris Howe) and Raya (Alexis Molnar) feel is shown, but their condition is not revealed at the time. Above ground, Sebastian (Jose Pimentao) encourages Cassie Anderson (Gaby Hoffmann) to go home while also serving the homeless.

A brief news report reveals that Yuusuf Egbe (Bamar Kane) remains at large and the City Hall’s raid only managed to drive the homeless from the tunnels to the streets. Detective Michael Ledroit (McKinley Belcher III) spends the morning discussing William Elliot (Mark Gillis) and thanking Alexander Gator (Wade Allain-Marcus) for providing much-needed relief the previous night. Gator enigmatically claims he hasn’t done anything yet and gives Michael the Lux’s surveillance tape from the night Marlon Rochelle (Bence Orere). Gator quickly excuses himself saying that he doesn’t have the stomach to watch it again. After witnessing Detectives Kennedy (Bobby Schofield) and Nokes (Ryan Hunter) assault Marlon, he appears to understand why. The footage not only reveals that Marlon was meeting Costello (Jeff Hephner) but Misha Varga (Ioachim Ciobanu) and Alexander Lakatos (Levente Torkoly) were called in to dispose of Marlon’s body.

Michael causes major waves when he returns to the station and shares the tape with his colleagues. Matteo Cripp (David Denman) warns Michael to turn the tape over to homicide when he realizes what it’s going to reveal but that is as far as it goes. Michael proceeds by ordering Spence and Bryson to arrest Nokes and Kennedy. Willis and Lopez are ordered to detain Lakatos and Misha, despite Cripp’s pleas for them to stop.

Eric (Benedict Cumberbatch) wakes Vincent just as Yuusuf returns to the subway to collect some personal things. Even in his haze, Vincent recognizes Edgar’s chalk drawings. After some confusion, yelling, and screaming, Yuusuf tells Vincent everything about finding Eric to sending him away with Raya the previous night. Yuusuf gives him directions to the path they would have taken to escape during the raid but refuses to escort him. Amidst Eric’s teasing, Vincent only grows more belligerent as he tries to wrap his head around being responsible for Edgar’s disappearance.

While Vincent and Eric’s confrontation leads to a physical fight, Michael and the NYPD make their arrests. Michael joins them personally to pick up Costello and Bruno Di Bari (Gerard Monaco) at church with their families. The case continues to come together when Michael returns to the station and learns from Tina (Eika Soto) that a body has been recovered in the subway.

When Michael shows up at Cassie’s to bring her down to the station, it’s revealed that it was Raya’s body found with Edgar’s coat. Despite this and the NYPD’s current search around the area, she appears to believe that Edgar is dead.

Michael finally begins to make some headway on the case when he gets Misha to not only admit to disposing of Marlon’s body but doing so under the orders of Bruno Di Bari. Costello finds himself in a situation that he can’t lie out of when he’s brought in and made to watch the Lux’s security tapes. Instead, he gives a tearful confession about what a piece of crap he is for not stopping the attack and how he’s always had to hide his entire life. Things begin to look up when after the interrogation, Michael learns about a recent sighting of Edgar.

While Michael and Cassie follow the lead, Vincent reawakes in the tunnels and follows Yusuuf’s directions. He eventually finds himself above ground when a TV news report tells him about a protest in Central Park. The announcement sends him in a frantic rush to the set of Good Day Sunshine where he dons the Eric costume after harshly commenting on it. Shortly after this, Vincent winds up center stage at the protest where he uses the live coverage to give Edgar a heartfelt apology and promises to change. He ends the escapade by telling Edgar that he’ll race him home. Much to Vincent’s surprise, both Edgar and Cassie show up shortly after he does.

After Edgar falls asleep, Vincent returns his keys to Cassie while promising to call as soon as he’s allowed, indicating that he’s likely going to rehab. He also shares a very brief goodbye with George Lovett (Clarke Peters).

The montage that follows Nico’s ‘These Days’ hints at possible futures or lack of for several of the main characters. After a new report outs Lennie (Dan Fogler), a Hollywood actor, and former governor as a pedophile, it’s suggested that he commits suicide by jumping from the window of his apartment. Edgar and Cassie enjoy their time together while he works on his drawings. Cripp watches in silence as his office is boxed up. George continues to enjoy his morning crossword puzzle while Cecile Rochelle (Adepero Oduye) and Michael give a press conference before he returns home to finish boxing up his apartment.

The footage then skips forward several months to a brief meeting between Vincent and Robert Anderson (John Doman) in the park that inspired the set of Good Day Sunshine. Vincent talks about their visits to the nearby zoo and admits that there was once a time when he admired Robert but not for a long time. The way Vincent says goodbye is almost as if he is cutting all ties with him.

After the meeting, Vincent arrives at the Good Day Sunshine Set where he performs a very brief scene while Cassie and Edgar watch from the audience. Sebastian is in attendance but not seated near them. Despite that, they are later shown holding hands, and Cassie is revealed to be extremely pregnant. Michael joins Cecile and her grandbaby for dinner.

The episode ends with Edgar coming out dressed as Eric once Sebastian and Cassie leave.

 

Eric Review

What a horrible finally. I’ve always figured that endings are probably the hardest part of any story. That is probably why I am such a fan of the cliffhanger-type endings. Although this story wasn’t that great from the beginning, the ending certainly didn’t help. I honestly don’t know what could have been done better but it seemed that the entire episode was a complete watch, with Vincent mindlessly roaming around the subway tunnels. The way he and Edgar reunited was the furthest thing from poignant they could have achieved.

The only things that were even mildly enjoyable were Michael finally getting some balls to stand up to Cripp, Lennie’s suicide, and Vincent and Cassie’s separation. I’d have to give this a 4 out of 10 and say it was one of the worst endings I’ve seen in a long time.

 

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