‘Alert: Missing Persons Unit’ Episode 8: Recap And Ending, Explained: Is Keith Finally Accepted In His Family?

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The capability of judgment gets clouded when it comes to family or close ones, and unfortunately, betrayal comes from those whom we choose to trust. On the other hand, the apprehension of getting deceived by close ones can also blind people with fear and rage, which can force them into doing something that remorse can’t cure. These are the first thoughts that come to our mind as “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” brings out its A game with its eighth episode. In the final moments of the last episode, Sidney confesses to “killing” her brother, the real Keith, to her parents. Keith admits something to Oliver off-screen related to his abduction. The eighth chapter of the series, titled “Craig,” unravels the central mystery with an additional, much-needed focus on Mike and holds properly enough landed twists up its sleeve to make a compelling crime drama out of the episode.

Spoilers Ahead


What Happens In ‘Alert: Missing Persons Unit’ Episode 8?

The eight episode of “Alert” begins with an injured FBI agent searching for a supposed murderer on loose named Craig Fennessey inside a hotel. He inquires with the staff and visitors regarding the person’s whereabouts and gets a negative response. Unbeknownst to him, the injured perp manages to maintain his cover in the same hotel.

The next scene moves to Nikki’s household, where the entire family gathers to discuss Sidney’s unnerving revelation from the previous night: that she had killed his brother Keith. Sidney narrates the story as viewers see it in flashback: six years ago, during the winter, Sidney accidentally pushed Keith as they were crossing the frozen lake, which resulted in Keith drowning. As we know, Sidney and Keith were adopted children of Nikki and Jason, and back then, Sidney feared that if she confessed about the unfortunate incident, she would be abandoned or put into foster care by her parents. Keith still sticks to his narrative of getting abducted and says he had discovered an opening elsewhere, and as soon as he’d escaped from that, he was offered a ride home by his abductor(s) and was taken. He said he lied about not wanting to talk about the incident earlier to keep his sister Sidney from getting into trouble. Sidney also confesses to reporting the drowning incident, which led to C being involved in identifying the remains, and as soon as C finishes up ID-ing, the truth will be revealed. Jason, whose doubts were piqued in “Alert” Episode 7, seems visibly shaken over the news and takes his family to the MPU HQ.

The team is informed of the disappearance of Craig Fennessey, who turns out to have been Mike’s friend. The person who reported Craig to be missing, George, is also a close acquaintance of Mike. From Mike’s conversation with Nikki, we get to know that Mike’s father used to be a police officer who was disgraced after he was exposed for taking payoffs and had to serve jail time. Mike used to admire his father, and this incident left a dent large enough in his memory that he decided to sever the father-son relationship. Later, one of his father’s colleagues, George Lyle, took Mike under his wing, mentored him, and was the reason Mike became a good detective later in his life. George also looked after Craig, and through him, Mike befriended him. George, after retiring from the police forces, works in Port security, and Craig used to work under him. For Mike, the case becomes personal, as he wants to live up to his foster father’s expectations by finding Craig.

Tracking one of the leads, the team arrives at the aforementioned hotel where Craig was last seen and confront a team of FBI agents who are in search of the same person as they suspect him of murdering one of their agents. The MPU team is instructed to quickly hand over the case as it’s in the FBI’s jurisdiction. At Craig’s home, the team finds a bunch of old photographs and fake identity proofs, which suggest that Craig is living a dual life, and the team starts suspecting him of being the murderer. As Mike is unable to continue his search for Craig, he is berated by George, who doesn’t think Craig is the guilty party. Nikki and Kemi decide to continue with the search anyway, and Kemi finds out the possible hiding spot of Craig by tracking the transaction of his alias.

As Mike and Kemi rescue an injured Craig, he confesses to being an FBI informant, and says he is being wrongly framed as the killer of his handler agent. According to Craig, a third party tried to kill him and his handler when they met at the hotel. He shares information about the FBI’s corruption, which is related to a crime syndicate that operates from the port. His dual identity was fabricated so that he could go into hiding after testifying against the crime syndicate group. George is all praises for Mike, who informs him about the hospital to which Craig is currently being admitted.

Kemi starts suspecting George’s intentions when some of his earlier conversations indicate knowledge of very particular details about the case, which he had no way of knowing beforehand. Her suspicions are confirmed when Craig’s security detail are killed, and Craig goes missing, something that most certainly happened due to Mike letting George know about the location. The team suspects that George was involved with the syndicate and that Craig’s investigation with his FBI handler led George to put a hit on him on behalf of the syndicate. George is brought to HQ for questioning, and even though he has nothing to counter the allegations, he adamantly denies any involvement with the case.

Jason steps in to use fear tactics and keeps George under the assumption that they are handing him over to the syndicate, and even though he claims to not know anything, the syndicate will suspect otherwise seeing his involvement with the police. George keeps his composure for quite a long time, but en route to the port (a Syndicate black market base), Kemi manages to break him. George confesses his active involvement and that he used Mike to get to Craig, so the FBI doesn’t get him first. George also confesses to framing Mike’s innocent father decades ago. Mike is livid after knowing he was tricked by the person he idolized most.

The former injured FBI agent turns out to be the syndicate’s hitman posing as one, who is holding Craig captive. The team arrives at the location just in time to rescue Craig, and Mike vents his frustration by beating the hitman to a pulp. Later, as he opens his father’s case file, he sees that the hitman and George were involved in incriminating his father, and they were repeating their deed with Craig this time. By the end of the episode, Mike visits his father for the first time in twenty years and reconciles with him.

Meanwhile, C’s reconstruction makes it seem at first that the remains are Keith’s, which leads to Jason going frantic and threatening “Keith,” almost attacking him. Later, it is revealed that the remains do not match Keith’s and are those of a different individual. Jason is wracked with guilt for wrongly suspecting his son, and even though Keith consoles him, it doesn’t seem that he will be able to move on from the experience anytime soon. However, Keith and Sidney join in a tearful reunion, and they share fond memories of their childhood. Kemi hosts a symbolic ritual to absolve the guilt and burdens, which Mike and the entire Nikki-Jason family attend. At the end of “Alert” Episode 8, Keith proclaims that he is ready to talk about his abductors.


Thoughts

The mystery that was set into motion since “Alert” Episode 1 and was built up through the course of the season has finally paid off, and it turns out to be an extremely divisive one. While most hints and character interactions, even until the very last episode, hinted at the new “Keith” being an imposter, the DNA test result at the end proved his claims to be true. However, it takes a considerable amount of willing suspension of disbelief to get convinced that Keith, at such a young age, managed to swim under the frozen lake and resurface, only to get abducted at the same time. The truth about his survival definitely affected Sidney the most, given the way she was hell-bent on considering Keith’s narrative to be a blatant ruse. It was good to see the siblings reconcile and know that Keith doesn’t hold any grudges against her. Even though it was partly his responsibility too to come clean, and therefore Keith covering up the entirety, even from Sidney when he could have at least told her to affirm his claims of identity, seems like a baffling decision. The reveal is definitely going to surprise viewers, and it can be assumed that not everyone is going to be a fan.

Jason and Mike go through a wrecking emotional crisis in “Alert” Episode 8, and we can’t help but sympathize. Jason, the loose cannon of the group, was already on edge after the incidents of the last episode, where Keith struggled to remember their shared memory. And merely the possibility of him being an imposter triggered him to jump at his son with all the pent-up frustration. After knowing the truth, he is extremely ashamed and reduced to merely a shadow of his former self, and he knows the adverse impact it could have on his son, who still hasn’t recovered from past trauma. Speaking of trauma, it must have been agonizing for Mike to know how his relationship with his father was destroyed by the very person he placed on his father’s pedestal. He beat himself up for falling into his emotional blackmailing and jeopardizing his friend’s life unknowingly, and all his guilt culminated in threatening George with a gun and beating the hitman almost to death. Something that is out of character for him given how much of a straight arrow he is, but surely it can be marked as one bad day. Finally, now that the families are together and have resolved their personal issues, the next episodes will solely focus on Keith’s abduction mystery. The series hinted that Jason’s former job as a private military contractor might be a reason for Keith’s abduction, and it will be intriguing to see whether ghosts of his past have indeed returned to haunt Jason.


Siddhartha Das
Siddhartha Das
An avid fan and voracious reader of comic book literature, Siddhartha thinks the ideals accentuated in the superhero genre should be taken as lessons in real life also. A sucker for everything horror and different art styles, Siddhartha likes to spend his time reading subjects. He's always eager to learn more about world fauna, history, geography, crime fiction, sports, and cultures. He also wishes to abolish human egocentrism, which can make the world a better place.


 

 

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