Tonight on TLC Major Crimes airs with an all new Monday, November 24th, season 3 episode 11 called “Down The Drain,” and we have your recap below. On tonight’s episode, one person is left dead when a surrogate adoption turns complicated. Meanwhile, the division investigates the city’s underground water system, and Sharon sharpens focus on making Rusty an official part of her family.
On the last episode, the LAPD found itself in a precarious situation during an investigation into the disappearances of a string of young girls from a popular nightclub, leading to a turf battle between The Major Crimes division and the Special Operations Bureau. Fritz Howard remained on the mend from poor health, while Rusty’s mom continued to struggle with the law and her sobriety. Jon Tenney, Laurie Holden, Colin Ferguson, Ellen Wroe, Brandon Barash and Ever Carradine guest starred. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it we have a full and detailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s episode, a surrogate adoption gets complicated, leaving one person dead and a lot of people searching for answers. The Major Crimes division gets their hands dirty as they explore LA’s underground water system. Sharon works to make Rusty officially part of her family, while he struggles to tell his biological mother (guest star Ever Carradine) about the upcoming adoption. Kathe Mazur, Ransford Doherty, Steve Tom, Alex Carter, Robyn Lively, Adam J. Harrington and Ron Melendez guest star.
Tonight’s episode is going to be filled with action and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our live coverage of the show tonight at 9 PM EST! While you wait for our recap hit the comments and let us know how excited you are about the third season.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
In the sewers, Flynn says he’s not happy about being down there. Provenza jokes that after all his divorces, he’s used to being down the drain. They call them over to a screen to where the victim is. Sykes says someone spotted her from the other side of the grate and they see a head wound. CSU Kendall gives them a run down of the wounds and Provenza says they need to figure out how she got down there. Tao says she had to get on the train in the Palisades or Culver City.
Provenza tells Julio to gather up the debris around her, tells Kendall he can take the body. Flynn says it may be an accident so they head to the coroner. Sharon is told most of the marks are post mortem but Morales says she was struck hard under the chin that caused her to swell up and suffocate. He says it could be a fall or murder. Sharon takes a call and acts all friendly about something going on later this week. She says she’ll get back to them.
Flynn tells her that now that her divorce is final, she can finalize Rusty’s adoption. She says she has to find out when Rusty can make it since he’s working long hours on Mike’s show. They tell her the show Mike works on is awful. Morales tells her that she gave birth just five days ago and they discover quickly that there are too many births to look into easily. Provenza asks Tao what he has and he says no missing or abducted infants and they wonder if the dad killed her but then they get a baby blanket the beat cops found.
Sharon orders K9 units down into the sewers to search for the baby and a search on the beach as well. Sykes says someone ID’d the victim – Heather Lawson – who gave birth to a son 6 days ago but no dad on the birth certificate. They go to her landlord who says she was a good tenant but standoffish. Sykes asks him if she had a BF but he says there was a guy that paid her year’s rent up front in cash. It’s Ronald Glover and he says to tell the guy he can’t have his deposit back.
They go to see Ronald and ask why he paid her rent. He says it was part of the deal and his wife comes out and asks if they’ve found Heather. She says she’s their surrogate and is having their baby. Rusty greets Sharon and she asks if he’s headed to work. He mocks his job but says he is going and jokes that he’s part of the Hollywood glamor machine. She asks if they can spare him for a few hours this week to finalize the adoption. Rusty says okay but seems nervous.
She says he needs to finish all the paperwork and he acts odd so she asks what’s the matter. He says he hasn’t told his birth mom yet and she says she thought he was going to tell her a couple of months ago. He says he wasn’t going to tell her until he was certain it was going through. He starts getting coffee orders on text and says he’ll take time off later this week to change mothers.
Sanchez says the Glovers were paying Heather $65k to have their baby and they also paid their rent. They wonder if Heather changed her mind and that’s why there is no father listed. Sykes says maybe the Glovers killed her and took the baby. Sharon says they can’t find the baby, so maybe not. She’s told the Glovers are there.
They tell Sharon they met Heather through a surrogacy agency and she tells them she was also an egg donor. Ronald says Heather decided to be a surrogate for another couple but then called them out of the blue. Sharon asks if Heather went through the agency and Ronald says she suggested going outside the agency to cost them less and get her more money. The wife says it was all going great and they were communicating with her constantly.
She shows Sharon an email with a baby update. Sharon reads off the email address and Buzz goes to run it down. Ronald says he went to her apartment to check on her and she was gone. Sharon asks why they didn’t file a missing persons report. Ronald says they thought it was delicate and decided to give her a chance to turn up. His wife rants at him about not using the agency to save money. She walks out.
Ronald tells Sharon after she leaves that Heather’s attitude changed a month ago and he started paying her extra money because he was worried she was going to back out. He says he gave her another $10k. He says the baby was everything to his wife. Sharon says she doesn’t yet know where the baby is. Ronald asks if they can stay and wait to hear because they don’t want to go home without their son.
Buzz says the baby may not belong to them. She was communicating with two other couples and leading them on. She was getting money from three couples for the same baby. They see video posts she sent to couples with an ultrasound video. She’s not a surrogate, but a scam artist. They find flight times and reservations on the other couple.
Sanchez starts running contact info then they show up to see McGuire who is gay. Provenza and Flynn find the Hunts – Anthony and Gina – with the baby boy. Anthony says they have a plane to catch and they ask where they got the baby. They ask if they know who Heather Lawson is. Anthony says they can’t take their son and Provenza says they’re going to take all three of them.
Rusty goes to the jail to see his bio-mom. She’s happy to see him and he says he’s been working a lot of hours lately. He asks how it’s going and she says she’s getting used to it. She says she’s on a regimen and it’s a good thing. She says the structure is helping her and says she should have been in the Army. She asks if something is wrong and he tells her it depends on how you look at things.
He tells her he has to go soon and get back to work but needs to tell her before he and Sharon made it official. He tells her that he needs some structure in his life too and says he needs legal next of kin. He can barely look at her and says he needs family that will be there for him no matter what like real families do. He says Sharon is adopting him and he’s keeping his name. She says no and that he can’t erase her.
She screams at him and he tells her he’s telling her the truth and that’s more than she’s ever done for him. He says legally things are going to change but he’s still going to call her mom and come see her. She asks if this was his idea or Sharon’s and he says it was Sharon’s but he agrees 100% with it. He says his mind is made up and she tells him he needs to think about this – all mothers make mistakes. He says he knows, but hers were against the law. He says he’ll see her when he can and thanks her for not trying to manipulate him. She says no matter what he signs, she’ll always be his mother.
Flynn holds the crying baby while Provenza rattles keys at the baby. They finally get a bottle and he stops crying. The Chief says they have to figure out whose child it is and that DFCS is coming to get the baby until they sort it out. Sharon says it shouldn’t have to come to that. Sharon says there are three potential fathers but then Sykes says four since the two gay dads mixed their semen so it could be either of them.
Provenza asks who’s going to play Solomon. (Side note – in the Bible, two women were arguing over a baby and King Solomon said they would cut it in half and give half to each. One woman said okay the other said no and that’s how Solomon knew who was the real mom) The Chief says this is a media nightmare and Sykes says they are starting with a blood sample from the baby. Sharon asks him to expedite DNA and he says it’s 48 hours minimum. Sharon doesn’t want him in state care longer than he has to.
Tao calls and says they found Heather’s missing shoe and it’s near the Hunt’s hotel and the baby they were about to leave town with. They also found Heather’s car in the hotel parking lot. Flynn says the baby was wrapped in one that matched the blanket found with Heather’s body. The Hunts gave Heather some additional cash as well. Sharon wonders where all the money is that Heather got for selling her baby.
Ms Hunt demands to know where their baby is. Mr Hunt rants that they paid for her services and had a contract. They ask if Heather was extorting them. They tell her that Heather showed up acting crazy and then her doctor called their hotel room looking for her. They wonder if that really was her doctor and if they were in on it.
Flynn says Heather was found dead in a storm drain two blocks from their hotel. Provenza says a matching blanket was with the body. Hunt rants that he wants his son now and Provenza has to tell them she sold her services to other people as well. They take DNA swabs from all the potential dads. The gay couple also tell them she was demanding more money from them as well. He says they gave her a car. She got an apartment from one couple then a car from someone else.
One of the gay dads says she gave the car to her ex boyfriend Tom because they got a ticket from it going through a traffic camera and the guy was driving it. The male couple says they got a call from Heather’s doctor asking about her. They said the caller was a he and Sharon says her doctor was a female. Tao says Thomas Barnes was working with her and he was the one driving the McGuire’s car.
Tom called Heather 14 times the day she was killed and the guy has a record for grand theft. Sharon says they have three couples, three full payments plus bribes totaling about $250k. She says to put a warrant on Barnes and get his DNA too.
Rusty works on the adoption papers at home and Sharon tells him the forms are a formality but she wants him to know she’s lucky to have him in her life. She says she was thinking about how lucky she was to get an extra child without even asking and what she did to deserve it. He tells her he’s been nothing but trouble and she says he can’t believe that.
She says it’s a miracle to have him and she’s lucky to have him. He hands over the papers and promises to one day give her a reason to be proud of her. She says she already is – he runs out flustered to get to work. Tao says they picked up Thomas Barnes at a casino and he had about $12k cash on him and was about $8k grand and the rest of the money was in his bank account. They tell he has a trailer in Fresno and took all her furniture including baby stuff there.
DA Hobbs tells them this is not enough evidence to show Thomas killed her. She says he will say Heather gave her the money and car and slipped and fell then went into a drain. Sharon says she knows it’s circumstantial but Thomas doesn’t have to know that. Sharon asks Tom if he knows why they picked him up and he says it was about Heather and the pregnancy scam.
He plays dumb and they tell him they know about the $200k and that he called the couples impersonating the doctor. He says he’ll give the money back and asks what the big deal is. They show him a photo of Heather’s dad body and says she was beaten and that the serial numbers of the money she was paid are in his possession. He acts shocked and they tell her they have DNA evidence showing he was touching the baby blanket found with her.
Sharon says they are about to arrest him for murder in the first plus special circumstances because of the money. She says if he has another explanation, he better offer it up now. Tom says he didn’t rob her. He says the money was supposed to be theirs and they were going to take the baby. He says the baby was theirs. He says he’s the baby’s father. They think it was motive for him to kill her.
He says Heather had the baby without telling the couples while he packed the apartment. He says he held his baby and says he was adopted so this meant something to him. He says he had no idea how great it was going to feel in his arms. He says the baby was so perfect and the best thing that happened. He says Heather told him she had another doctor’s appointment and left him in the car.
He says he started calling the couples and found her at the hotel. He says she would never let him be a father to his baby. He says he tried to stop her and they argued. He says she fell and hit the car door and he used the baby blanket to try and stop the bleeding. Sharon says when he hit her in the chin, it killed her. Provenza says shoving her body down the drain was on purpose.
Andrea says they can only do manslaughter since it was an accident and Flynn asks her to start with murder two so they can terminate his parental rights then add charges for the extortion. The cops agree that the baby deserves better and wonder which family should get it. Sharon and Provenza go to see the chief and he says Tom signed away his rights. Sharon says there are three couples that want him.
The Chief wonders what if all three couples want him. Sharon says they all won’t want the baby. She says the perfect couple is there and they need to find them. Sharon goes to talk to the couples. All three agree that none of them want the child to go into foster care. The gay couple say they want a child related to them so they’re out. The Hunts tell them they have the resources to start over so they are bowing out. The Glovers get to keep the baby. The wife cries and says they are all kind.
She says they will be great parents to pay back the trust they put in them today. The two wives hug and cry. The judge addresses Rusty and says at the end of the proceedings, Sharon will be his adoptive mother. He asks if that’s correct then asks Sharon if she accepts. She does and is teary. The judge offers them a document to sign. The Chief, Provenza, Sanchez, Buzz, Flynn, Tao and Sykes are all there to support them.
They just need to sign the form. Sharon signs it first then Rusty signs it too. The judge signs off and tells them the adoption is complete and they are officially a family. He congratulates them and the others breaks into applause. Sharon hugs Rusty tight then the others hug them as well.
THE END!
