The Equalizer airs tonight on CBS with an all-new Sunday, April 20, 2025, season 5 episode 16 called “Sins of the Father,” and we have your The Equalizer recap below.
In tonight’s The Equalizer episode as per the CW synopsis, “McCall is contacted by Samantha Reed, whose father, ex-CIA agent Elijah Reed, is missing.
While Samantha joins forces with the Equalizer team to track down the agency legend, she learns more about her family’s past in the Dominican Republic.”
Tonight’s episode is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our The Equalizer recap between 10 PM – 11 PM ET! While you wait for the recap make sure to check out all our television recaps, news, spoilers & more, right here!
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In tonight’s The Equalizer episode Robyn McCall wasn’t just the Equalizer. She was former CIA. She had a number that only her training officer knew about and someone contacted that number.
It was odd because the training officer was dead. Bishop was killed. He was shot out of the sky. Robyn witnessed his plane go down. She even double-checked hoping she was wrong. She hadnt been. Bishop really was gone and so she was curious about who would be contacting her. She called Harry. She had Harry trace the call. It led back to Samantha Reed.
Samantha tried to fight Robyn when they met in person. She was good. She just wasn’t a match for Robyn. Robyn subdued her and she demanded answers. Samantha was given’s Robyn SAT phone number by her father who in turn got it from Bishop. Samantha’s dad was Elijah Reed. He was a legendary CIA Officer.
He disappeared after a mission went south. There hasn’t been anyone that has heard from him since and so finding out he was alive was a shock. It also made sense to Robyn. She walked away from the CIA herself after she lost friends on the job.
Samantha was Elijah’s adopted daughter. The CIA killed her parents. She almost died herself. Elijah pulled her from the rubble and he raised her. He walked away from the CIA for her. He taught her to fight.
He taught her to take security measures. He took them too. He pretended to be an old man. He came to New York to meet with someone. When she didn’t hear back from him, Samantha knew something was wrong. She came to the city. She checked his room. He wasn’t there and that’s when she called the number that her father told her to call. And she got Robyn involved.
Robyn agreed to help Samantha. The same for her friends. They found out that an “old” man was spotted being chased into a warehouse. It was her still in his disguise. Samantha went to the warehouse with Robyn and they found the message.
The one that her father told her that he’d leave behind if he was ever found. The message was a warning. Elijah told Samantha that if she ever saw that warning – she should run. She shouldn’t wait around for him or try to find him. He taught her to give him up for dead.
Only Samantha couldn’t do it. She saw the message and she just couldn’t abandon her father. It hadn’t been easy growing up on the run. They constantly had to move. She couldn’t get in contact with people from her past. Or maintain friendships. She struggled. It’s what led to her lapse.
She was recently caught on video. It was posted on social media and that’s why they left Atlanta. Samantha was worried that her dad might have been found because of her. They were good for years and now someone was making a move?
It only made sense if Samantha’s video led to people knowing that Elijah was alive. Samantha blamed herself for her dad getting caught. She couldn’t abandoned him. She thought the CIA had grabbed him because of her only she was wrong. It wasn’t the CIA. Robyn used her contacts to check.
The CIA stopped looking for Elijah years ago. Plus, the person that took him hadn’t killed him right away. Harry found video that these men deliberately kept Elijah alive. Elijah’s past had come back for him. And it involved Samantha.
Elijah hadn’t told his daughter the truth. The only true thing was that she was her parents were from the Dominican Republic. The CIA looked into the DR around Samantha’s birth.
They found Elijah. He was assessing a potential asset named Alfonso Cardozo. Things took a turn when Cardozo bombed aide workers helping Somali refugees. The CIA couldn’t use him after that and this included Elijah. He was told to take Cardozo down. He was told to take down the entire operation. Which he tried to do when he bombed Cardozo’s business. He killed a lot of people.
Something he’s been atoning for ever since because what happened afterwards. Elijah had fallen in love with Cardozo’s wife. Her name was Elena. She wanted to escape Cardozo and she helped Elijah.
Cardozo found out about it. He shot her. He left her for dead. She used her dying breath to beg Elijah to protect her daughter from Cardozo. She didn’t want her only child to take after him and so Elijah kept that promise. He took Samantha. He went into hiding with her. He raised her. He loved her and none of that mattered because he lied to her.
Everything he told Samantha was a lie. They were never running from the CIA. They were running from Cardoza the whole time because the man wanted his daughter back. Her real name is Delfina.
She didn’t know that either until she came to her father’s defense. They found Elijah. They were rescuing him when he finally admitted the truth. The man they were running from didn’t want him. He wanted Samantha. They got Elijah away, but by then both he and Samantha were sick of running. Elijah told Samantha everything about Cardozo.
Elijah also said they would never be safe until they take down Cardozo. Its why he was in New York. He got a lead from an old friend that Cardozo had set up shop in the city and was rebuilding his empire.
Elijah was hoping to get the drop on him before Cardozo saw it coming. What he didn’t count on was that Cardozo saw the video on social media. It turns out Samantha looks an awfully a lot like her late mother. Cardozo knew then where she was and he wanted her back. He was torturing Elijah for information before he was rescued.
Then suddenly Samnatha and Elijah came to him. They didn’t have to. They could have gone back on the run and they didn’t because they wanted to face their past. Cardozo almost killed Elijah when he came back. All these years later, he was still mad that Elena chose Elijah. The only thing that stopped him from killing the man was Samantha or Delfina as Cardozo called her.
Cardozo wanted his daughter to leave with him. He put down his gun. She put down hers. He tried to convince her that her mom was still alive so that she’d leave with him and Samantha was smart enough to demand evidence.
She asked Cardozo to call her mom to prove that her mom was alive. She wanted to facetime her. Cardozo couldn’t do that and so he admitted to killing Elena for daring to cheat on him with Elijah.
Cardozo tried reaching for his gun for another shot at the man when Samantha pulled out hers. She killed Cardozo. She was now free to go wherever and do whatever. And she didn’t want to do with this newfound freedom until Robyn mentioned what she does as the Equalizer.
There were a lot of people that needed specialized help. Samantha can offer that with some assistance from her friends. Only she was going to do it in Atlanta. She missed the city and she wanted to help people there.
Elijah was still in the doghouse for all the lies he told, but he was willing to discuss Elena and he finally showed Samantha a photo of her mom tonight.
THE END!
