Against the Wall: Countdown to Meltdown Recap (S1, EP7)

“Countdown to Meltdown,” the 7th episode of Season One of “Against the Wall” opens with Abby (Rachael Carpani) and her mom, Sheila (Kathy Baker) window shopping, along with Lina (Marisa Ramirez). Abby wants to get Donnie a special birthday present. What she has in mind is a special picture frame for that old picture of Donnie with his first BB gun. Sudden cries for help catch their attention and Abby gives CPR to a man who is dying on the sidewalk as his frantic wife begs for help. He’s dead and the response time (after two hangups) to Lina’s 911 call is 14 minutes.

Here are some of the guest stars in “Countdown to Meltdown”

(left to right) Jeff Kassel, Mimi Kuzyk, Brenda Bazinet, Fiona Byrne, Kyle Breitkopf

The Kowalski brothers and dad (Treat Williams) are talking about Donnie (James Thomas) and his upcoming written exam for the SWAT Team. They suggest he ask Abby for help in studying. Donnie is surprised to learn he is the last holdout in the “Hate on Abby for Joining Internal Affairs” club. As Abby tells what she learned about the man who died to Lina, Donnie asks Abby to leave work and help him study but she can’t. She and Lina go off to investigate the 911 Call Center to find out why their response time is so slow and what’s up with the hang ups. Snotty supervisor Pat McCloskey tries to give them a hard time, but Abby shoots her down.

Abby is particularly struck by a little boy, Mikey Patterson (Kyle Breitkopf) who keeps calling 911 about a monster and being blown off by Donovan (Jeff Kassel). Abby says Donovan’s an a-hole. Mrs. Northcutt, the lady whose husband died, shows up and blames Abby for killing her husband by not performing CPR correctly. “I’m going to sue your ass! You and the City of Chicago. You killed my husband,” she threatens. Later, Donovan defends himself. He sent out a patrol car and there was no monster. “I’ve got 7 lines lit up,” Donovan says, “A bus accident. On another line, a kid shot his friend. A new call comes in. It’s a baby choking. His mother is hysterical, doesn’t know what to do. You want me to put them on hold so I can chat with a kid about monsters?”

Lina interviews Bethany Paige (Brenda Bazinet), the 911 worker who hung up on her. Bethany is shaking and they think she’s a drunk or has a medical condition. They also learn that 65 calls came into the 911 call center from the same address but each call had a different phone number.

Later, Abby goes over to help her mom dig up that BB gun photo. While mom checks on the pot roast, Abby comes across legal papers stating Donnie was adopted! Her mother goes into panic mode and refuses to talk about it. “You never saw these, okay,” she says, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Abby talks to her brothers, Richie (Brandon Quinn) and Steve (Steve Byers), about it. They think Richie is the one who looks like the mailman.

Spoilers:

The monster turns out to be the kid’s stepdad. He goes to jail and the mom (Fiona Byrne) is referred to a shelter for abused women. Abby gets docked a week pay for investigating the “monster” herself. Snotty Supervisor McCloskey is a rotten egg, part of a bank robbery ring. Bethany Paige has Parkinson’s Disease and loses her job. Sheila Kowalski was pregnant with Donnie by a dude named Speedo. When he found out about her pregnancy he said “baby, I gotta be free.” Then she met Don Kowalski, who fell in love with her, tracked Speedo down and got him to sign away his parental rights. Donnie passes the SWAT Team test. Mrs. Northcutt learns McCloskey may be charged with her husband’s murder (murder?), Bethany was let go and Abby performed CPR correctly — but no one heard her say she would drop her lawsuit.