Sometimes, we don’t know people as well as we think.
It’s a lesson that will come two-fold on Alert: Missing Persons Unit Season 1 Episode 8 on both the case and in the personal lives of Nikki and Jason.
A case hits close to him for Mike and brings a different side of him out, while on the homefront, Sidney shares her truth about Keith with world-shattering results.
The Keith mystery is coming near a head, and “Crag” will hopefully start ushering us into a conclusion with the final two episodes of the season.
And Sidney is key to that with the information she has to deliver to her parents.
A Cop or a Criminal?
We may see another side to Mike when he brings a case for the MPU connected to his mentor.
Mike had some experience in law enforcement before joining the unit, and he has a close connection with his mentor, whose opinion he values and who has left a lasting impression on him.
His mentor will bring him a case because she’s searching for a missing police officer that may be under her watch, and she hopes that Mike and the rest of the MPU can locate this man, Craig before it’s too late.
Of course, when you think about a missing cop, the first thing that comes to mind is what type of work they have been doing on the job and if there are people with vendettas against him.
We don’t know what type of cop Craig is, but if he crossed the wrong person, or there’s a criminal or something from his past who wants to seek revenge, they could be behind Craig’s disappearance.
Undoubtedly, it’s what Mike and the rest of the unit will look into first.
The promo teases that there may be more to Craig than others know and definitely more than Mike is willing to believe.
Based on some of the promo pictures, it seems Mike is too invested in this case and taking things hard, but he’s also not open to reason.
When it comes to situations like this, you have to follow the evidence no matter where it leads you, but Mike may be resistant to assume the worst of Craig, who is someone he presumably knows.
The evidence they’re finding may suggest that Craig has a second life he’s keeping under wraps and may be dabbling in some bad things.
We see Nikki finding a box with lots of money and IDs, so does that mean Craig is involved in illicit activities and may have considered a grand escape?
Or it could mean he’s undercover, and that was for safekeeping.
Whatever the case, it sounds like something that will spotlight Mike and have him take the lead. That’ll be interesting for his development and a nice deviation from the Nikki and Jason pairing getting a lot of attention in the field and off.
Sidney Tells the Truth Half a Decade Later
Sidney has been holding onto the information about what really happened the night Keith disappeared.
It’s puzzling that she went her parents go so long without telling them that Keith drowned. Ever since “Keith” returned, she has been at odds with him, not hiding the fact that she believes him to be an imposter.
Even when “Keith” has an excuse for everything and some of the evidence seems to back him up, she’s been resolute in her stance.
Jason chose to get to the bottom of her feelings, and they left Alert: Missing Persons Unit Season 1 Episode 7 with him, demanding she tells him the truth.
Backed into a corner, Sidney won’t have any other choice, and thankfully, it means we’ll get the ball rolling on this Keith mystery.
But the synopsis teases that whatever Sidney says will lead to Jason having severe doubts about Keith and whether or not the kid who has been in their home so far is really the son they lost many years ago.
Interstingly, while Nikki is likely to be there for the conversation, they don’t imply that Nikki has any doubts about Keith or what Sidney said.
Does this mean Nikki will be the holdout and stay firmly on Team Keith? She and Sidney have already been at odds with one another since “Keith’s” reappearance, and this won’t be any better.
We also see in the promo that Jason will confront Keith about his identity, finally giving us the type of momentum that we’ve been craving for most of the season.
Jason was already a bit leery after the car incident, so whatever Sidney shares may push him over the edge for good. But how will Keith react to Jason confronting him?
He doesn’t react well to confrontations, and he deflects whenever someone gets too persistent.
I can imagine him doing the same thing in this instance, but he’s also been suggesting that he’s having a hard time with lying and that he hates that he’s keeping things from people.
Keith has nearly told his truth to his friend multiple times by now. It would be nice if this installment also gives us some truths from Keith’s end.
Of course, he may deflect from his identity again and focus exclusively on his kidnappers or whoever those shady people are, stalking him and threatening him and the family.
If he comes out with that, he’ll gain the sympathy he may deserve and get help from Nikki and Jason. And while Sidney is angry about him posing as her brother, perhaps she’ll sympathize with him too if she knows how afraid he is.
Bones Don’t Lie
Of course, a key part of determining who Keith is and what may have happened to “Real” Keith is whatever results come from the skeleton from the lake.
C is already reconstructing the face to see what the person looks like, and he’s close to having an identity.
Sidney hinges so much of her truth on whatever those results are, so they’ll either help her or hurt her.
With only a couple of episodes remaining, we should definitely be finding out those results in this episode. Pacing-wise, it makes the most sense.
But what they’ll reveal remains a mystery.
We’ll be here to unpack the episode and more of our theories with a full review.
Alert: MPU airs Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.
Hit the comments with all of your working theories and thoughts!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.