THE FINDER: Little Green Men Recap

Dr. Hodgins, from fellow Fox show Bones, calls Walter to DC because he wants to hire him on behalf of a third party. A couple of shuttle astronauts saw something unusual while on a mission, moving at 34,000 MPH. They didn’t report it, there is an unspoken rule that if you see something you can’t explain, you keep your mouth shut. Dr. Hodgins produces video of one of the astronauts, Jeremy Wren, saying if anyone is seeing it, he’s already dead because he got video of what they saw. Turns out he was right, Hodgins confirms that he died in a car accident a couple of weeks earlier. Hodgins also has video of the other astronaut, Colonel Bradshaw, saying Jeremy was not insane when he recorded that video. Bradshaw’s career was destroyed after the video came to light. He was fired for alcoholism, although he doesn’t even drink. He asked Hodgins to help him get his life back. Walter is skeptical, as seems to be his initial reaction to most perspective clients, but when he spots Bradshaw across the street he rushes over to talk to him in person. Bradshaw wins him over, Walter takes the job.

Leo and Willa sit around Ends of the earth, reading and chit chatting, until Timo arrives to let Willa know that Uncle Shadrack wants to see them. Leo remarks that it’s probably about their arranged marriage, which he deems anti-American. Timo is confident that it’s a matter of calling the nuptials off, since he gave Shad Walter’s expensive earrings as a payoff earlier.

Walter pries more details from Bradshaw before he gets the case rolling. Bradshaw says he was fired, he can’t find a job, he’s being audited, and his wife found emails that weren’t his that made her think he cheated on her. Walter needs the original footage Jeremy took of the flying object they saw, but the video supposedly disappeared when Jeremy died. As they discuss details, a man in a ski cap is seen spying on them from a corner.

Walter calls in a favor from Ira Messing, former client, and learns no incidents were registered at the given coordinates at the given time except the shuttle mission Bradshaw and Wren were on. Hodgins thinks it has to be aliens in a UFO, but for once Walter is the pillar of sanity and rationality. He thinks there must be another explanation. They go to speak to a Mr. Scanlon, the mission control guy who had told the astronauts they were seeing sun spots during the mission. They discuss Jeremy’s death and their suspicion it wasn’t an accident. Walter notes Scanlon is wearing a very expensive watch. Walter also finds it suspicious that Scanlon retired from being an engineer and suddenly sold a patent for something totally unrelated and made a fortune. Scanlon claims it was a hobby that paid off. He finally admits that he told the astronauts it was sun spots as a warning, and he’s telling Walter and Hodgins it was sun spots…consider themselves warned.

Walter and Hodgins walk through the park discussing Scanlon’s suspicious behavior. They see a guy walking a daschund, and unbeknownst to them it is the same ski cap wearing guy who has been spying on them. Walter sees the dog on a lost & found poster, it’s name is Otto. Walter calls the dog and it runs to him. Ski cap guy runs, and Walter chases him. The guy is fast, Walter can’t catch up and ski cap guy eventually gets away. Hodgins calls the number on the lost & found poster, and the person who answers asks for Walter, in what Hodgins terms a “robot voice.” The voice tells Walter to meet at a parking garage that night, and come alone. Walter leaves, and calls Leo from a diner to fill him in. He asks Leo and Willa to try and find the original video that was posted on the internet. Willa wants to know what’s in it for her. Walter’s well being isn’t enough to grab her, so Leo sweetens the pot with $200 for her car fund. She’s in. Walter is off to meet the mysterious pet owner, although he’s aware it’s a trap.

When he gets to the parking garage, ski cap guy steps out of the darkness, hands pressed to the side of his nose and whistling. He shoves a car out of his way, then takes his glasses off and glares at Walter. Walter passes out, ski cap guy replaces his glasses and presses his hand to the side of his nose again. Walter awakes in a haze, a lady who calls herself Pope is talking to him. They seem to be in a hospital, Walter is in a wheelchair. The lady tells him he has a unique and valuable ability, finding things. But her job is to hide things. She’s Walter’s opposite. Those things she has hidden shouldn’t be looked for. She threatens his friends, his family…Willa will rot in jail, Isabel will be disgraced, his family could disappear altogether.

When Walter awakens, Leo and Hodgins are standing over him. Robot voice had called and told them where to find him, he was missing for three days. Walter remembers what happened, and they need Isabel. They go over all the details back at Ends of the Earth, with the usual gang of suspects. Walter thinks he should stop looking, to protect those he cares about, but Hodgins pushes for him to stand up and fight, do the right thing. His friends stand behind him and encourage Walter to do what he needs to do. Walter catches up to Hodgins and heads back to DC.

The original version of the video has been altered and the internet flooded with those altered versions. Bradshaw wants to call off the hunt, but Hodgins tells him Walter doesn’t do that. Willa has wicked computer skills and manages to find some of the video they seek and send it to Walter. When Walter and Hodgins take it to Scanlon (at a clandestine meeting in a parking garage), he tells them they can’t win with these people. He gives them advice, if they stare directly at the sun it’s a good way to get blinded, so avert their eyes. He then leaves, Hodgins is exasperated, but Walter caught the clue…they’ve been looking in the wrong direction.

Walter and Hodgins look through the videos again, concentrating on the words “avert your eyes.” They look into other things that happened in space that day and learn that a satellite was severely damaged by space junk. Walter tells Hodgins he needs a uniform, and he gets one. It doesn’t quite fit, but he scores a Chuck Yeager Air Force uniform and the two are off to meet with an agent of the insurance company that covered the damaged satellite. They are pretending to be military representatives wanting to take responsibility for something they think may have been their fault. The rep is shocked by the idea of a government agency wanting to take responsibility, so much so she thinks they couldn’t be lying. They get what they came for, the position the satellite was in when it was hit. That, with the knowledge of the speed and velocity of the shuttle, will allow them to figure out where the object hit earth.

Timo and Willa go to see Uncle Shad. He’s very happy to see the two of them together. They offer him $1000 of Willa’s savings from work. He won’t take it, because she earned it, and he also won’t let them out of the marriage. He feels Willa is slipping away from the family, and he wants them married within the year.

Walter and Hodgins run through the scenarios, and come up with a likely region where the UFO crashed, the bottom of the Puerto Rico trench. Walter still doesn’t believe it’s aliens. Walter and Hodgins argue this point some more, and Walter storms out with Hodgins chasing after. After they leave, ski cap guy slips in and looks through their data.

Back at the Ends of the Earth, Walter brings Leo and Isabel up to date, and tells them his plan to find the object. Willa manages to find first generation footage of the video, and Walter notices something separated from the flying object, like a bumper falling off. They reenact the event, and Walter calls Ira with follow-up questions, the end result being they narrow to a square mile radius where the object likely fell. Leo and Hodgins doubt the likelihood they will find it, but Walter has faith. He also has tin foil hats, because who would search for a UFO without a tin foil hat, right? Hodgins won’t wear his. be sorry. Walter starts digging, and almost immediately hits pay dirt. What are the odds? They pull up a metal plate of some sort, with gibberish writing on it, but before they can decipher it more…ski cap guy exits the woods and announces he will take it. Hodgins think’s he’s an alien and welcomes him to earth. His name is Hector and he’s from Kansas. He still wants the object. He takes off his glasses and glares at Hodgins, who passes out. He looks at Walter and Walter tells him “nice try” and points at his hat. He tells Hector that he will give it to him if Bradshaw gets his life back. Hector refuses to make a deal. Walter gets him in a headlock and tells him how it’s going to be, and that he will keep looking if they don’t do what he says. They know he’s relentless. His hat falls off while they struggle, and Hector eventually gives up. Leo wonders why Walter didn’t pass out without the hat, and Walter tells him they couldn’t zonk him without zonking Hector too. They have a plane training supersonic weapons on them. Walter gives Hector the object and he leaves.

Timo tells Willa that they just have to work harder to come up with more money. She tells him to get the girl, run away. Does he want to always see the girl he really loves with the husband Shad chooses for her? Timo appears defeated, but Willa looks like a girl who isn’t ready to give up.

Walter is still trying to convince Hodgins that it was not aliens. He draws a likeness of the object they found and the strange writing on it. Well, it looks strange until you turn it around and see that it was “No Step” viewed backwards. They weren’t up against aliens, just a shadowy group of government insiders and corporate honchos. Leo tells them secrecy is the element of all goodness, even virtue, even beauty is mysterious. They all raise their beer in toast.

The Finder airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Fox.