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“Complications” recap (1.06): Showdowns for everyone

Previously on Complications, so many people got shot! Like, all the people. Also, the girl who initially started all the shooting died in the hospital, effectively orphaning her little brother, Elio. John performed secret surgery on Darius, but Bridget saw him dispose of some morphine-so you know she’s gonna be all over that information because she has no chill.

11 Months Ago

John, a very sick-looking Becky, and the rest of the family are out to dinner at hibachi for Becky’s birthday. The restaurant doesn’t want to seat them by the grill because Becky’s oxygen tank is a safety concern. Listen, I’m all about making sick little kids happy, but an oxygen tank next to an open flame is 100% a fire hazard! John goes from zero to 100 in about two seconds (as per usual), and he tells the host that if his family can’t sit at a grill table he will burn the building down. Sure, John. That’s a reasonable reaction.

Present

Gretchen and John are (not so patiently) waiting for someone who is an hour late. It’s Darius! He needs his wound checked, but he doesn’t like the fact that John told/brought Gretchen along. Gretchen, of course, is having none of Darius’s suspicion, and she tells him that he can go “get gangrene and die” for all she cares.

Darius actually likes and appreciates Gretchen’s sass. We all do, Darius. Once inside, they find out that Antoine’s wound is slightly infected, but John and Gretchen seem unfazed by his condition. Darius asks John how shit went down at the hospital after he left. John tells him what happened and Darius wants to know if John told the cop anything. John says no, but Darius is a bit incredulous. John’s like, “Listen, bro, you threatened me and I did what you asked, so leave me alone!” Darius gives him a knowing smirk and is like, “LOL if you want to believe I forced you into something, okay, but I don’t think so.”

After Darius leaves, John notices that Gretchen stole the file of the dead girl/shooter from the hospital. Gretchen tells him that she just want to make sure the girl’s little brother is okay. John doesn’t thinks it’s safe for her, but Gretchen doesn’t give a fuck and she doesn’t want to wait for child services to get involved.

John arrives home, where there’s still a cop posted outside. It’s amazing to me that the Atlanta PD has the resources to keep an officer at John’s house full time! Anyway, John tries to study with Ollie, but Ollie isn’t into it. Sam tells John that Ollie worries about him when he’s gone. Sam also tells John to get some goddamn sleep, and I agree. I literally cannot even remember if John has slept more than, like, an hour since this show started.

Meanwhile, Gretchen is driving around and looking for the girl’s little brother, Elio, in a bad neighborhood, when Jed calls looking for some money to borrow. He was counting on the money from the stolen files that they weren’t able to sell. His cat has crystals in his urine, OKAY? Gretchen has no money and, also, is not feeling overly chatty, so she hangs up and gets out to look for the apartment Elio is at.

Back at the Ellison household, John is sleeping (FINALLY), but Bridget calls and wakes him up. She asks him to explain why she saw him disposing of a needle last night. He tells her that he was giving himself an antibiotic shot because he felt a sore throat coming on. Bridget is like, “Bullshit that’s what you did.” She tells John that she saw the vial of morphine, too. John is trying to come up with an explanation, but someone is knocking incessantly at his door. He tells Bridget that he’ll call her back, and she is not happy with his lack of explanation.

The detective is at the door, and he wants John to come with him. He brings John to the fast food restaurant parking lot, the scene of the first shooting last night. He asks John if he recognizes any of the dudes. John says no, but obviously he does. John just wants to go home; he hasn’t slept in approximately three years. The detective brings up CJ again in the car-witnesses put CJ at the Antoine shooting scene, so obviously John did meet him. The detective is a real dick, let me tell you that. He decides that he and John need to talk some more at the station.

Across town, Gretchen finally finds Elio! She talks to a dude that tells her some gang guys came over and broke the news about Elio’s sister. He’s letting Elio stay with him and his wife until they can track down Elio’s family in Arizona. The guy is being a total pederass-looking creep and touching on Elio, so Gretchen says that she has to do a quick exam for her paperwork.

Oh god, you guys, there are dolls in the apartment. Creepy ones! (Let’s be real though: ALL dolls are creepy.) The guy’s wife had a stroke and seems to be pretty much non-responsive. Gretchen takes Elio to the bathroom and asks him if he’s okay. She gives Elio the bracelet his older sister was wearing. She asks him if the reason Elio’s sister said he wasn’t safe was because of the creepy guy. Elio tells Gretchen that his sister said to stay away from the creep. There also is no uncle in Arizona! Ruh roh!

Meanwhile, Sam is talking with a co-worker about important business things (IDK), but John’s dad, Gary, calls her. He wants to know what John’s deal is because he found a note saying that John stepped out. Gary asked the cop outside, and the cop told him that John actually left with a detective. Sam is alarmed, so she asks her business dude friend to reschedule their meeting. Business dude is not happy about that.

The detective brings John to the station and takes him down to an interrogation room. God, I really, really don’t like this detective. What a dick. He asks John if he knows where Antoine Tyler is; John assumes that he was discharged. The detective tells him there was no discharge or transfer, and the hospital didn’t know. John’s like, “Welp, that’s a shame, but I don’t know! He stopped being my patient so ?»\_(Òâä)_/?» ” The detective counters that John had already checked up on him a couple of times, so he’s surprised John doesn’t know. John is, for sure, cracking under the pressure of this jerk’s questioning and his lack of sleep.

Back over at the pederass’ apartment, Gretchen is trying to convince the creep that Elio has to go with her because she found a rash. Obviously, the creep doesn’t want him to go. Just when you think maybe Gretchen is going to be semi-reasonable, step away, and call child protective services, she goes ahead and kicks the creep in the balls instead. A+. Gretchen and Elio run, but before they can pull away, the creep blocks them in with his truck.

Sam calls the police station from her car and asks about John, but they won’t really tell her much. Back at the station, the detective returns with a bunch of photographs. (Oh, also, I don’t know about anyone else, but I was hella confused about the timeline. According to the detective, Antoine was shot just over a week ago. The more you know.)

The detective uses the photographs to point out all the sketchy stuff John has done since Antoine’s shooting. TBH, he’s pretty much dead on with all his assumptions; he thinks John is working for the gang. The detective hands John a folder-he wants John to become an informant. The detective says if John comes clean about everything, John will receive minimal jail time. John’s about to continue lying about how he knows nothing, when the detective tells him to hold up and let him explain what will happens if John doesn’t take the deal. John will be charged with assault, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, maybe kidnapping, and probably get like ten years of jail time. Shit is getting pretty real, y’all.

John hears Darius’ voice in his head and decides not to take the deal. The detective’s like, “Well, then you’ve got some ‘splaining to do.” John is, impressively, able to spin an elaborate yarn about how he became addicted to drugs after his daughter died. He saw Antoine’s shooting because he was in that neighborhood to buy drugs. Later, he was in withdrawal and that’s why he attacked the dudes in the waiting room. And just last night, the reason the detective couldn’t find him was because he was self-medicating. The detective thinks that sounds like a pretty damn convenient story, so John tells him to call and ask Bridget about it.

The detective calls Bridget and asks her about John’s activities at 3am last night in the Physical Therapy wing. At first, Bridget sort of tries to lie, saying she doesn’t really know what the detective is talking about, and that last night was really busy. When the detective is about to hang up, Bridget is like, “Wait, it is physically paining me to not tell you the truth.” She literally can’t help herself! It’s pretty adorable. Bridget tells the detective that she suspects John was on morphine last night.

Meanwhile, Gretchen is still trapped in her jeep with Elio. The creep wants Elio back and he’s not leaving until Gretchen gives him up. So instead of either a.) calling the cops/child protective services (which, granted, isn’t her style), b.) calling John or Jed to come help, or C.) attempting to parallel park her way out of the little space (my personal vote), Gretchen decides to just start ramming the truck behind her and the car in front of her. That is, she does until another guy in the neighborhood pulls out a gun and fires in the air.

Gretchen gets out of the car. The creep tells the dude with the gun what happened (well his version, anyway) and then the gun-wielding guy asks Elio if he knows Gretchen. Elio shakes his head no-dammit, Elio! Gretchen tries to explain what happened, but Elio won’t talk for a while to confirm her story. Finally, when they’re about to take Gretchen away, Elio speaks up. The guy with the gun beats up the creep and tells Gretchen that they’ll find Elio’s family.

Back at the police station, Sam has finally arrived. She lawyers the FUCK out of the cops, and tells them that John’s interview is over. It was kind of hot, not gonna lie. The detective tells John that he knows a lot of people with drug problems, and he still doesn’t think John has one. The detective basically tells John that he thinks he’s a nice white guy, and he shouldn’t get involved if those people want to shoot each other. Jesus, at this point, seeing racist cops on TV feels too real and hurts too much, considering all that’s been happening in America. John may have a God complex, but at least he’s not a racist.

John comes out of the station and tries to tell Sam that it was just a friendly chat, but Sam is like, “Nope, that is not a thing that happens.” John tells her that a gang member involved in Antoine’s shooting disappeared from the hospital last night, and the cops wanted to talk to him about it. Sam is like, “Well, you should’ve called a lawyer, you knucklehead.” Accurate. So accurate. John tells her that it’s over and fine now.

John is for sure NOT FINE, you guys. He gets home and punches the door, and gets surprised by his dad. Gary tries to relate what John is going through to his time in combat. Gary pegs John for all his shit – like how he wants to control the world, and he’s angry when he can’t. He also tells John that he has felt that way, and tells him not to make the same mistakes he did. Gary finally tells John to get some rest. YES. DO THAT PLEASE.

Back across town, Gretchen is driving away from the whole Elio-confrontation, and she gets a collect call from Jed. He went down to the medical records to steal some more stuff because he needs the cash, but he got caught like a dummy. Now he’s in jail and they’re asking him lots of questions about the hospital. Gretchen is like, “Jed, no matter what, you cannot talk to them.” But Jed is really freaking out. And so am I, because WHO IS TAKING CARE OF JED’S CAT? HOW ARE THE URINE CRYSTALS? THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.

Come find me on twitter @jennalykes to talk Complications, ponder how Dr. John Ellison snagged April O’Neil IRL, and discuss why I love both Gretchen and Bridget (in very different ways). Or we could just talk about cats and urine crystals, or whatever.

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