THE FINDER: “The Last Meal” Recap

A man named Joe Turnbull seeks Walter’s help in finding a meal. Not just any meal, it’s a very precise meal he and his wife had on every special occasion from their first date until their blissful third anniversary. After that event the chef and restaurant parted ways, and Joe and his wife, Annie, were well on their way to doing the same. They’ve now been married six years and things aren’t the same. Walter doesn’t take an immediate liking to Joe. He’s a notary, Walter doesn’t like those. But when Joe tells him he wants him to find a meal, Walter is in, no further selling needed.

Willa on the other hand, is having a really bad day. She ran Joe over on her bike, which is how he found Walter in the first place. Also, her parole officer is on her case because some girl matching Willa’s description has been prostituting herself in Miami Beach. It’s not her, and it’s not fair, but the PO is the one with the all the power.

Leo learns that the restaurant is still owned by the same company. Walter wants to get inside, and decides upon the direct approach…he breaks in and has a look around. The owner approaches Leo outside, and asks if he’s lost. Then police show up. Leo tries to warn Walter, but by the time he reaches him, it’s too late. Walter is arrested.

At the police station, Isabelle comes to see Walter, and she isn’t happy. She removes his cuffs, and wants to know what he was doing. Walter realizes the guy at the barber shop next door to the restaurant must be her informant and is watching activity at the restaurant. He wonders why Isabelle never goes with him to real restaurants, out in public in front of everyone. He also wonders why the barber is watching that restaurant for her, is it a mob restaurant? Isabelle tells him that Frederico Vasquez is the restaurant owner, through a series of shell operations. He’s using it to launder money. His sous chef was working with the marshals, and she was on a team to protect him. He was found dead three years ago, and the restaurant hasn’t re-opened since. All the former employees are now on a federal witness list. For the past three years, Isabelle has let that barber wash her hair, standing just a little too close, so he would keep an eye on the place for her. So she demands to know why Walter got caught in her net. He still isn’t sure himself, but he’ll let her know when he finds out.

Willa manages to track down the prostitute who looks like her. She tells her to move on, get out of the county, and they end up rolling around the floor in a chick fight. That, of course, lands Willa in lockup, just as Isabelle has gotten Walter released. Standing outside the station, Isabelle lets Walter know she isn’t embarrassed by him, she just sometimes forgets herself when she’s with him. She has an ambitious career plan, and doesn’t want to lose sight of that. She does warn him to be careful of Vasquez.

Walter decides he needs to narrow down exactly what was special about the meal Joe seeks. He cooks up five different recipes for the same dish, and has Joe rank them compared to reviews of the restaurant. Joe doesn’t really get Walter, but then again, who does? While they work, Leo tries to reach Willa, but can only get her voice mail. Walter realizes that the one thing all the recipes are missing is smoke, and oh, yeah, finally remembers to tell Leo that Willa is in jail. Leo immediately goes to Willa, but he’s hurt that she used her one call to call Timo. Leo is the one who is there for her.

Walter goes to find a reviewer who penned reviews of the restaurant. The reviewer claims to be a woman in their column, but it’s a guy, and Walter uses that information to coerce some information from him. He’s looking for Alejandro Lopez Fernandez. He was the restaurants chef, and he was the reviewers favorite as well as Joe’s.

Walter returns to the Ends of the Earth and sets up one of his re-enactment models. Leo returns, with the news that he couldn’t get Willa out of jail, her PO is trying to teach her a lesson. Walter thinks Fernandez is still cooking somewhere. He’s found clues in a secretive internet foodie group. Fernandez has worked at several places in recent years, his signature seems to be some rare type of pepper. He now seems to be working out of a food truck that moves around. The clues suggest he avoids Vasquez’ vicinity though, which leads Walter to believe he’s avoiding him. Walter figures out a pattern in the truck’s route, and is waiting at one location the next time Fernandez drives up. Fernandez tries to get away, but the size of Leo towering over him gives him pause for thought, he becomes more cooperative.

Fernandez has been avoiding attention for years, because he knows he’s a dead man if Vasquez finds him. When foodies would find him, and start whispering, he would move on so as to not draw attention. He can’t get the peppers now, though, they are black market because of an embargo. He stole a truckload once from the restaurant, but they’re gone. Only one shop in Miami sells them, and it’s owned by Vasquez’s aunt. Walter tells him if he’ll help him, Walter can get the chili’s. Fernandez is in.

Walter goes to see Christina Farrell, Willa’s PO. Walter tells her he knows where one of her parolees is located, one who skipped out and needs to be retrieved. Unfortunately, she knows exactly where he is, also. She can’t get anyone to cross state lines to retrieve him, though. Walter suggests maybe a US marshal could help? He just happened to have called one in already, Isabelle.

Having secured Willa’s release, Walter takes her with him to a little Cuban market, the one owned by Vasquez’s aunt. He creates a diversion while he has Willa look for the peppers. She finally gets her hands on them and they make a hasty getaway. The aunt, although she is blind, knows what they did and calls someone to tip them off. A car follows Walter and Willa as they leave. Vasquez’s men corner them after they meet up with Leo and Fernandez. Fernandez appears to get away, but he returns and rescues them by stabbing the guy.

With the secret ingredient acquired, Fernandez gets to work preparing the meal for Joe and Annie. He chats with Willa while he cooks. He thanks her for getting him the peppers, but tells her she needs to find something else she’s good at, rather than stealing. She has issues with taking behavior suggestions from someone who just knifed a mob guy. Leo tells him that the guy he killed was Vasquez’s cousin, it’s not going to be good for him if Vazquez catches up to him.

Leo is upset that Walter got Willa out of jail just to have her steal for him. Isabelle shows up, and she’s livid. She recognizes Fernandez, and wants to know why Walter has her witness. She is sure they are all somehow involved in a stabbing that just happened in Little Havana. Joe and Annie show up for their meal, so Walter brushes all the sordid details of Isabelle’s questions aside. Annie is speechless, and rushes out of the room. This might not go as well as hoped for Joe. Walter tells Joe his job was providing the meal, Joe’s marriage is his own problem. Leo convinces Walter that they need to do more, so Isabelle is elected to have a girl talk. She warns Joe on her way out of the room that if he knew her, he would stop her. It’s true, Isabelle wouldn’t even be in the top 10 characters on the show to give relationship advice, and there aren’t even 10 characters on the show.

Annie and Isabelle talk relationships. Annie knew things in their relationship had changed, so she just lowered her expectations, she thought it happens over time. But she realizes Joe never lowered his, and it breaks her heart. Before the discussion is finished, Vasquez has arrived and it becomes an entirely different kind of dinner party.

Vasquez smells the food on the table, and knows it’s Alejandro’s work. He calls out for him, and Alejandro enters the room carrying a knife. He tells Vasquez to let the others go, but Vazquez insists that he’s going to kill Alejandro and if he kills him he has to kill them as well. It’s how it works. Walter tells him that they were just about to eat, and even the condemned get a last meal. Vasquez is nothing if not fair, they all will share a last meal. During the mealtime small talk, he asks Isabelle if she’s the one who lets his barber feel her up. She denies it constitutes feeling up, but he tells her he’s not judging. They all enjoy the meal. Isabelle wants to get to her phone, to call for help, but Vasquez has it. He tells her she has an alert to take her birth control pill. He recognizes Annie and Joe, that they came to the restaurant every year on their anniversary. He asks if they have children, or if they use birth control like “this trampy one.” Isabelle is really taking a lot of personal shots at this dinner party. Annie stands up and declares her love for her husband, and tells the others if it’s the last time they get to eat this food, or she gets to hold her husbands hand, she wishes they would all shut up so she can enjoy it.

After they eat, Vasquez asks that anyone who stole cutlery please surrender it. Joe, Willa, and Isabelle had all tucked sharp objects into their clothing. Maybe he’s met Willa and Isabelle before, he knows them too well. Leo wants to speak. He has constructed an agreement, stating Alejandro didn’t actually witness anything except an argument. Vasquez will sell Alejandro a partnership in the restaurant for $1, and Alejandro won’t testify. It’s set up so that if Alejandro testifies against him it will appear he did it for his own personal gain and Vasquez’s attorney will rip him to shreds on the stand. They’ll just wave away the nights threats and gun waving as dinner theater. All parties agree, and everyone is happy, except Isabelle. She just lost her witness. Joe notarizes the document, and it’s a done deal.

Isabelle and Walter have a moment outside after it’s all over. Vasquez left her an IOU, for whatever she wants. Walter and Isabelle make up, make out, whatever. But they are together, despite being at odds over what their relationship is and where it’s going, and the couple that drew Walter into this case have their marriage back on track.

The Finder airs Fridays at 8/7c on Fox.