Regina can’t catch a break!
She’s celebrating a birthday on East New York Season 1 Episode 5, only to be interrupted by terrible news: a prisoner has escaped, and he’s out to get her.
The US Marshalls Office — and Regina’s team — would probably prefer she stay under the radar while they handle this, but that doesn’t sound like Regina.
According to the spoiler video, everything goes from celebratory to dark in a matter of minutes.
The 7-4 is going to be teaming up with the US Marshalls on this, and we already know from East New York Season 1 Episode 4 that Regina isn’t going to quietly let someone else take over the case.
Regina will probably be twice as determined once she learns that the escaped prisoner is after her head. She’s not one to stand down and let others protect her; she’ll insist on being in the middle of the investigation no matter what the US Marshalls (or Chief Suarez) say about it.
Will Deputy Mayor Sharpe react to this? His only concern is making himself look good, and a violent prisoner on the loose could be bad for his approval rating. So he might have some ideas about how the 7-4 should proceed with this case that nobody wants to hear, least of all Regina.
Regina doesn’t have much patience with him at the best of times, and she certainly won’t have any if he bothers her during this high-pressure situation.
Most of the team will probably be tied up with finding the escaped prisoner and protecting Regina.
A clip from the spoiler video show Killian running after someone with a gun, and spoiler photos have Morales looking at information gathered at the prison.
Morales is working with Regina while searching the prison, suggesting that Regina isn’t close to standing down.
Morales will probably discover how the prisoner escaped, while Killian will find out where he is now and go after him.
The most interesting question is who this prisoner is and why he has a grudge against Regina.
Since his escape is a big enough deal to call in federal officers, and we know he’s going to go after Regina, it’s obvious he committed a major crime, most likely murder or attempted murder.
Could he belong to a gang or the mob? There is a lot of gang activity in East New York, so the former is likely.
The backstory here will be intriguing. It might not be as simple as a violent felon who is angry at getting caught; the prisoner might be an innocent man who lost years of his life to the prison system or someone Regina promised a deal to that never materialized.
Either way, that’ll probably end with Regina going one-on-one with the prisoner. He’s after her, so she may believe that the only way this can end is if she confronts him.
While the rest of the team is busy searching for the escapee, Quinlan again has a problem with her living situation.
This happens so often that it isn’t interesting anymore. Almost every episode includes a subplot about the project residents distrusting Quinlan or Quinlan doing something well-intentioned but harmful.
While she volunteered to live in the projects, she might not be the best officer for the job.
If Regina intended to foster a sense of community, putting a white female officer into an area filled with impoverished Blacks who deal with racism on a daily basis probably isn’t the best idea.
Bentley has been looking for a place to stay closer to the precinct, and the residents might tolerate his presence better.
Could Quinlan be considering letting him take over her apartment? Or could her bosses feel this isn’t working as well as expected and be ready for a change?
If it’s not Quinlan’s choice to move out, it could cause resentment if Bentley takes over, but it might be a better arrangement if Regina’s goal is to diffuse tensions between community members and cops.
Bentley might not have as easy a time as it seems, either; even though he’s Black, he’s still a cop, and the residents might not trust him either.
This could lead to some compelling stories down the line, especially if he also has to deal with a disgruntled Quinlan at work.
Notably absent from these spoilers is anything about Regina’s parents.
Neither of them is at the clip from her birthday party, which is not surprising. She’s not on great terms with either of them now that her dad is back in the picture.
Regina reluctantly agreed to breakfast with them both, but it may be a few more episodes before we get back to that storyline. East New York seems content to bring this personal story in slowly, and there isn’t a lot of time for it with everything else going on.
Your turn, East New York Fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts and theories!
East New York Season 1 Episode 5 doesn’t air until October 30; in the meantime, watch East New York online to catch up with the first four episodes.
East New York airs on CBS on Sundays at 9 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.