East New York aired its finale this Sunday night, six days after CBS cancelled the freshman cop drama. Were viewers left with any cliffhangers that might never be resolved, if the show fails to find a new home?
The episode “Ruskin Roulette” picked up the morning after the shooting at the titular project that Quinlan calls home. Two were killed, including drug dealer Orlando, and another two were wounded: hoodlum Dwayne (who took a bullet in the arm), and Lorenzo’s daughter Ingrid (shot in a leg).
Both Haywood and Suarez surveyed the crime scene as well as its larger ramifications, given that Quinlan knew that the early suspect, Tyson, was on parole and staying at Ruskin with his aunt, Thora — and it’s a big no-no for someone with such a record to be living in public housing. Haywood thus put Quinlan on notice that depending how this investigation shakes out, it might be very bad for the both of them.
Haywood then got an earful upon returning to her office, where Chief Donaldson and Inspector Rojas were laying in wait. After they left, Suarez advised Haywood to pull Quinlan out of Ruskin Gardens, have her people write up more quality-of-life crimes violations, and keep her mouth shut. The two then proceeded to get into it a bit, with PC candidate Suarez at one point crossing a line by saying that Haywood couldn’t identity with being an “ambitious male” like him, Donaldson and Deputy Mayor Sharpe.
Things looked bad for Quinlan when gunshot victim Dwayne ID’d Tyson as the shooter. When the team scooped up Tyson, his claim of innocence seemed legit, but Haywood knew that anyone would see his record and side with Dwayne’s testimony. But then Quinlan got a tip about a janitor’s closet that’s used as a holding room for a shared gun, and sure enough, the one found hidden in a mop bucket matched the one used in the shootings. They then tracked down a guy who was seen on a security cam making a beeline for that closet at the time of the shooting, and he said he was simply doing the legwork for Dwayne, who was the actual shooter and had himself shot in the arm afterward to look like a victim.
Haywood led a team to find and arrest Dwayne, and that led to a small chase/firefight in which one ESU officer got shot — after which Bentley took down Dwayne, with his first shooting as a rookie cop.
Quinlan wound up in the clear, since her residency at Ruskin and her judgements made had nothing to do with the actual nature of the shooting. (Anne-Marie was none too thrilled about having to move her daughter back into the project!) Haywood was confronted back at the precinct by Donaldson, Rojas and Deputy Mayor Sharpe, who allowed her a half of a sliver of a win but nonetheless tried to bait her with a promotion to Inspector, in a new, administrative capacity. Haywood saw that for what it was and balked, after which her adversaries sought Suarez’s take — and he said Regina should keep doing what she’s been doing.
Chief Padaro then unexpectedly (and very, from the look on Donaldson’s face!) joined in the discussion, to not only back Haywood’s policies to date, but invite her to expand them to the other precincts under Suarez’s command — and she happily accepted the assignment. Later in Regina’s office, Sharpe barged in to tell Suarez that he just tanked his bid to be PC; instead, Donaldson will get the gig if Sharpe is elected mayor. After, Suarez assured Regina that he had already made peace with that likely outcome, and invited her out for a drink.
Everyone wound up at Goody’s that night. Killian — having been alerted earlier by Morales that the feds were sniffing around Azeroff (and thus him) — told his partner that he couldn’t fly off to Miami with Azeroff, knowing that things were prickly between him and her. (Plus, he had just witnessed Azeroff’s Russian ties up close.) Quinlan asked Bentley how he was doing after his first shooting… and he asked her what she was doing later. (She replied with a wink, “Ask me later.”) The finale then ended, sweetly, with Yenko making a toast, explaining how he years ago had fallen out of love with the job, until he asked to work for Regina. And now he loves it again, words that coaxed more than a few tears from the DI.
What did you think of the East New York finale? Plus, grade Season 1 below.
This story originally appeared on TVLine
