S01E15 - Second Chances

"Second Chances" is the fifteenth episode of Season 1 of We Can Fix Pawbert and a The Rookie crossover episode.

Synopsis

A joint operation with Precinct 7 targets Kellan Slink, a weasel who coordinated logistics for Lynxley operations. Chen challenges Pawbert about his past while Nolan offers empathy about reinvention, and Nick reveals his own backstory about being muzzled as a kit.

Plot

Lt. Wade Grey briefs Precinct 7 on a complex case crossing into Precinct 1's territory: organized crime, money laundering, and a witness protection situation. He tells his team—John Nolan, Lucy Chen, Tim Bradford, Angela Lopez, and Nyla Harper—to play nice with the incoming Precinct 1 officers.

At Site Two, Judy receives the call from Precinct 7 about overlapping investigations. The target is Kellan Slink, a weasel who coordinated logistics for Lynxley operations. Pawbert recognizes the name immediately—Slink handled shipping for his father, including materials, money, and other things. Pawbert knows Slink's ledgers, his coding system, his patterns. The team decides he's coming along.

At Precinct 7, Grey meets them and acknowledges Pawbert as "the witness" with pointed neutrality. In the bullpen, Chen catches Pawbert's eye and makes no attempt to hide her hostility. She calls him out directly, warning that if he compromises the operation, she'll make him regret it. Bradford's tone is harsh but protective, insisting Pawbert stays in the surveillance van rather than entering the warehouse.

John Nolan approaches Pawbert with a different energy. He introduces himself and tells Pawbert he knows something about reinvention—he was in construction before becoming a late-career cop, a different life entirely. He offers to be available if Pawbert needs someone who isn't evaluating him.

During the joint briefing, Grey assigns Pawbert to the surveillance van with Nolan. In the van before the breach, Nolan shares more of his story: twenty years of marriage, a divorce, and realizing he'd forgotten who he was outside that partnership. He became someone who wanted to matter in a different way. Pawbert asks if the people who said he was too old and naive were right. Nolan admits they were about some of it, but he's still here.

The breach goes smoothly. Nick and Bradford make an effective if unlikely pair—Nick loose and joking, Bradford coiled and disciplined. On the surveillance monitors, Pawbert spots a secondary vehicle arriving at the north side—a possible escape route. Nolan radios the information, and Chen intercepts, tackling one suspect while Bradford stops the other. Nolan tells Pawbert it was a good catch: watching and seeing are different things.

After Slink is in custody, Pawbert watches through the glass as the weasel bargains for protection. The terror on Slink's face is familiar. Luther finds Pawbert and asks if he's okay. Pawbert realizes he was in Slink's position a month ago—but he chose something different. Accountability. Luther tells him that makes him different; whether it makes him better or worse is up to him.

In the break room, Nolan brings coffee and they talk about empathy. Pawbert tells Nolan about Soren—someone Milton made disappear. Nolan calls it what it was: not a relationship ending, but an erasure. He tells Pawbert that second chances aren't about forgetting the first try; they're about knowing what you'd do differently.

Chen finds Pawbert before departure and admits she may have been harsh. She offers her paw and tells him she thinks he might make it. Bradford adds his reluctant approval: "Not bad, Lynxley." In the lobby, Nolan delivers his parting wisdom: the person you were doesn't have to be the person you become, but you have to choose it every day. It doesn't happen by accident.

Back at Site Two, Pawbert stress-cooks soup. Nick notices the coping mechanism and shares something he's never told Pawbert directly: as a kit, some kids muzzled him in a basement for fun, because foxes are "untrustworthy." He spent twenty years proving them right through hustling and lies. What changed was someone believing he was more than what they made him. Nick asks Pawbert the defining question: is he going to let the worst thing he did be the only thing he is?

That night in Luther's room, Luther tells Pawbert that Nick shared something significant because he sees someone worth betting on. Pawbert repeats Nolan's words—the person he was doesn't have to be the person he becomes—and says he wants to believe it. Luther tells him to believe it, one day at a time.

Key Moments

• Joint Precinct 1/Precinct 7 operation targets Kellan Slink
• Chen openly hostile to Pawbert, challenging his motives
• Nolan mentors Pawbert in the surveillance van, sharing his late-career reinvention story
• Pawbert spots a secondary escape vehicle from surveillance monitors
• Chen and Bradford intercept fleeing suspects thanks to Pawbert's alert
• Bradford offers grudging approval after the operation
• Chen softens and tells Pawbert she thinks he might make it
• Nolan delivers second chances wisdom on departure
• Nick reveals his childhood muzzling trauma to Pawbert directly
• Nick asks whether Pawbert will let the worst thing he did define him

Key Lines

Characters Introduced

Locations

• Precinct 7 -- Briefing room, lobby, conference room, break room, hallway
• Site Two -- Team safehouse
• Surveillance van -- Where Nolan mentors Pawbert and Pawbert spots the escape vehicle
• Slink's warehouse -- Target of the joint operation

Items

• Body cams -- Worn during the joint operation
• Surveillance van monitors -- Pawbert spots escape vehicle on these
• Soup -- Pawbert stress-cooks soup back at the safehouse (established pattern)

Notes

• Chen's skepticism represents a realistic reaction to Pawbert's past that the series does not dismiss.