A big battle has bigger implications for the characters of Dope Thief episode 4. This new episode of the Apple TV Plus crime show hit the streamer on Friday, March 28 and before we go any further I should warn you that spoilers for this entry ensue!
So far in Dope Thief we've seen two Philly friends accidentally rob a massive drug operation, and their subsequent attempts to hide from a biker gang have started kicking off a war against a mysterious Alliance that we'll learn more about. If you haven't watched its first two episodes yet, here's how to watch Dope Thief.
In this new episode, entitled "Philadelphia Lawyer" after the job occupation of one of the characters, we witness an attempt by our characters to get out of their situation... which goes horribly wrong.
So here's our Dope Thief episode 4 recap, so you can remind yourself as to what happened in the episode.
Two stakeouts
We begin four months prior to the robbery, where we meet Mina (Marin Ireland) and her (police) partner Jack who are fooling around in a car, despite him being married. The next day they're staking out a hardware store while Jack explains how COVID affected the drug supply chain, which means smugglers are having to rely on a big stockpile of liquid meth that they smuggled across borders before supply chains were shut down.
Jack knows a man who's working to turn liquid meth into 'real' meth, and in order to further their undercover role, they drive to the man's house and Mina waits outside while Jack goes in. While waiting she hears a noise and goes into the house's back yard, where she sees a scruffy-looking kid sitting at a table. Then we jump to three weeks after the robbery, where Mina is using a device to re-learn speaking while her vocal cords are damaged.
Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) returns with groceries to the waterfront motel where he's hiding out, alongside Theresa (Kate Mulgrew) and her dog. She's hiding in the bathroom on a video call with Ray's father Bart, and when she emerges, she makes it clear that she's not happy to be locked up in the motel. Ray reveals that he's put surveillance cameras around the motel, and some other locations, including their house... where he sees a car staking out the place. That night he goes to the property, ready to kill the stalker, but when they leave the car for a toilet break he sees opportunity and puts a tracking device on the vehicle.
When Ray returns to the hotel to continue surveillance, he finds that Manny (Wagner Moura) has set off the alarm in a different room, which we learn is below his own one. Somehow, Manny has snuck out to by heroin and is now very high. Ray takes his phone and texts Manny's fiance Sherry to say that he's okay, arranging to meet the following day. When he meets up with her he admits that Manny is basically a fugitive, that he needs her help getting Manny clean, and that she needs to stop putting socials on social media with her location attached as it could make her an easy target.
Sneaking around
Back to Mina: at a meeting with fellow detective Mark (Amir Arison) and several other agents, she reads a statement about how her and Jack (who, remember, is dead) wanted to make a big drug bust and how she's still keen to continue her mission. Later Mark visits Mina's caravan where he sees that she's still investigating, and she's identified Ray from security footage from his visit to the prison. She wants Mark to find Ray.
Mark visits the lawyer Michelle (Nesta Cooper) and warns her about Ray's actions. Later, Theresa tells Ray that Michelle called, and he calls her back. He admits that there's more going on and promises to come clean, but they need to meet in person. While this happens, he sees that the tracker he put on the stalker's car has gone to a quarry out of town.
The next day Ray visits the quarry and finds that the bikers are using it as a base of operations. He tells Son and they arrange to meet alongside a man named Cyrus, who leads a gang that wants the bikers off their turf. Once off the phone, Son goes into his garden to find both of his dogs killed by a biker, who slowly drives away. Later, when taking his children to school, he's arrested by the DEA.
Ray goes to the church where Manny is meant to be meeting Sherry, and tells him that she isn't coming and that they need to go to the meeting. They go to the car park, where Manny receives a text from Sherry breaking up for him; Ray admits that he told Sherry the truth, and they begin to fight when Cyrus shows up.
An unsuccessful ambush
The trio wait for Son but it's clear that he's not showing up, which makes Ray nervous. Cyrus convinces him to take the gang to the quarry to stake it out, but on the drive, lots of the gang members begin putting on strange make-up. At the quarry more and more of Cyrus' gang begin to show up, with weapons and face paint, despite Ray thinking that the visit was simply to scout out the location.
In a co-ordinated assault, Cyrus' gang begin to throw molotov cocktails at the bikers and shoot them from high up... until some snipers in the trees above the quarry start firing back, causing disarray. Ray and Manny run through the melee, grab the keys and drive off in one of the trucks, shortly after Cyrus himself gets shot and killed.
The duo drive to the car park where we learn that Manny has taken one of the grenades used in the assault. He asks Ray to step out of the car but when his friend steps back into the vehicle, he reveals that he's pulled the pin, so it'll explode when he lets go of the handle. Manny blames Ray for Sherry leaving him, and for other things that have gone wrong in his life, and wants to end it all. However Ray convinces him that his death won't stop the bikers coming for the people he loves, including Sherry, so he needs to carry on. Manny relinquishes the grenade and Ray throws it in a dumpster where it explodes.
That evening, Ray goes to a bar in order to meet Michelle. However he stakes out the joint and notices that people wearing earpieces, presumably the DEA, are watching her. He doesn't meet her, but they make eye contact before he leaves.
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