Deacon made the difficult decision to retire in Season 7, Episode 8 of the CBS procedural SWAT, but this episode was written and filmed prior to the surprising decision to save the show and bring it back for an eighth season.
That decision will likely be welcomed by fans of the series, but it also creates some obvious challenges. Luca (Kenny Johnson), Street (Alex Russell), and Deacon (Jay Harrington) have all been written out of the series in various ways, and it will be difficult for the show to go on without three key characters.
SWAT's Deacon has finally made a retirement decision
Leading up to Episode 8, titled “Family Man,” Deacon had been weighing the pros and cons of retirement. We’ve seen him struggle with this as he wants to give Annie a chance to live her dream of being a lawyer after she had sacrificed so much for their family and for Deacon to pursue his career with the LAPD SWAT team. Deacon explained to Hicks that it is difficult for their kids with both parents working and the current status quo will not work in the long term.
He says that he can’t make Annie sacrifice her career again, which seems to leave him retiring and collecting his pension as the only option. However, he doesn’t feel right retiring in light of Luca’s career-ending injury and leaving the team even more shorthanded than they already are.
We see Hicks advise Deacon that he has to make a decision soon and be upfront with everybody before he risks, losing the trust of both his wife and his team. The advice Hicks gave Deacon turns out to be solid as Hondo accidentally finds out about his friend’s potential decision through Nichelle.
It turns out that Annie and Nichelle recently had lunch together and Annie mentioned that Deacon was planning to retire. Nichelle assumed that Hondo already knew, so she mentioned it to him. When she realizes that Hondo doesn’t know, she attempts to play it off as a misunderstanding but Hondo isn’t convinced.
Deacon's near-death experience may impact his retirement decision
Meanwhile, the case of the week begins as a woman is kidnapped from a diner by two men. It turns out that the men are brothers, Jeb and Grant Webber, and the woman, Kat, is Jeb’s ex-girlfriend.
The team learns that Jeb and Grant are doomsday preppers, and Jeb seems to believe that he is protecting his ex by kidnapping her and taking her to his family's fortress. The team arrives at the property, which is guarded by cameras and an electric fence. The owner of the property is Calvin Webber, Jeb and Grant’s father. The team's infrared technology detects multiple other individuals within the residence, but the team is unsure of who they are at this time.
While 20 Squad is clearing the perimeter, Tan runs into a journalist who has arrived at the scene. She has interviewed Webber in the past and is preparing to run a story. She’ll become very important later on as the situation escalates.
The team sent in a drone, which was eventually destroyed after an individual identified as Adam Edwards shot it with a shotgun. Edwards is a violent individual who is accused of shooting his ex-wife earlier that day and taking off with their children.
The team also learns that Edwards is dating Beth, Calvin’s daughter. 20 Squad enters the house and rescues Kat and one of Edwards’ children. Deacon spots the other child and attempts to rescue her, only to be captured by the doomsday preppers.
Tan talks to the reporter, who believes that because she has established a rapport with Weber, she’ll be able to get inside and speak to him without being suspected. Hicks agrees under the condition that Tan goes with her, posing as a cameraman.
Through this ruse, Tan is able to get footage from the inside of the house and identify the entrance to the bunker. The journalist also tells the team about a backup power system that Calvin has installed in the home.
Deacon tries to make an escape attempt but gets caught and returned to the bunker with additional restraints. He talks with Beth and slowly convinces her that Edwards is a bad person. He notices the bruises on her arm and tells Beth what happened to what Edwards did to his ex-wife.
Hondo gets a message to Deacon to destroy the fuse box. Deacon can’t do it himself, but he convinces Beth to help him out by promising her. It is the only way to protect the child. After Beth destroys the fuse box, 20 Squad breaches the compound and makes their way into the bunker. Edwards is killed in the ensuing shootout, and the rest of the family is taken into custody.
At the end of the episode, Deacon discusses his retirement plans with Hondo, informing his friend that he will be retiring. This episode closes as we see Powell finally meet her son for the first time.
The team will likely look very different next season
With SWAT returning for an eighth season, the showrunners will likely need to find a way to work at least one of the three characters who were written off back into the show. Luca would be the easiest, as he could take Hicks’ role as commander. It would be an interesting dynamic to have Luca return in a role where he outranks Hondo and the rest of the team.
Deacon could end up with a reason to delay his retirement, but that would be more difficult to pull off. It would be fairly easy to have Street appear once or twice in joint operations involving both 20-Squad and Long Beach SWAT, and it would be interesting to see how the dynamic between Hondo and Street changes with the former mentee being a boss now.
However, they would likely only be able to work Street into one or two episodes. Anything beyond that would definitely risk stretching the bounds of reality. Luca’s return would help, but it would likely have to be in a command role, as it would be difficult to walk back his career-ending injury. The team needs to keep at least one other main character in an action role, and Deacon is the most likely candidate.
Although SWAT fans are undoubtedly happy the show is returning at all, this is the problem with cancellations followed by surprise un-cancellations. We’ll see how the writers try and keep the team together next season, but at least it should be interesting.
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