Alert Missing Persons Unit Season 3 Episode 5 Recap: Violet

Things get more personal for the MPU in the fifth episode of Fox’s ‘Alert: Missing Persons Unit’ Season 3. Over the course of the past few episodes, the team has handled cases that have been connected to them or their friends and acquaintances somehow. The trend continues in this episode as some shocking and some heartbreaking revelations come to the fore. In the midst of it, Jason and Mike find themselves fighting for the person they love the most, while also coming to terms with her life decisions. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Sidney’s Desire to Know Her Past Stirs Trouble

As their daughter, Jason and Mike love Sidney more than anyone else. Since Nikki’s passing, they have been very focused on making sure that she has all the love and support she needs. However, unbeknownst to them, she has reached a life-changing point that leads her to make a conscious choice about her past. She knows she is adopted, and while she has never brought up her birth parents with her adoptive parents, it seems that she has been looking into them on her own. With Kemi’s help, she succeeded in finding her birth mother, Violet, and sent her a letter. But now, Violet has gone missing, and Sidney’s letter is believed to have something to do with it. When Sidney was adopted, her father, Henry, was already dead. He passed away due to an overdose in the same church where Violet gave birth to Sidney.

Henry’s death took a heavy emotional toll on Violet’s already unstable mental health, which is why she was forced to give up her daughter. Since then, she has remained in and out of institutions and halfway homes. There came a point when it seemed that she was finally doing better. She found a place for herself and even stuck with the same job for a year, but then, she got Sidney’s letter, and all her repressed emotions spilled out. Her mental health got worse as she started having hallucinations, and her violent behaviour led her to be put in the Beacon Hills Psychiatric Center. However, she refused to be committed to the place and escaped from there one night. This is when the MPU is called, leaving Jason and Mike to look into Violet and find Sidney’s letter, realising how their daughter is connected to the case and what danger might be heading her way.

Jason and Mike Dig Into Violet’s Life to Find Her

When Jason and Mike find out about Sidney’s connection to Violet, they have mixed emotions. First, they are both shocked that their daughter did not discuss her desire to look into and find her birth parents without telling them. Jason, especially, believed that he and Sidney were close enough to discuss anything between them, which is why he became concerned about her keeping secrets from him. Meanwhile, Mike gives her the space she needs and focuses on tracking down Violet. Soon after her escape from the psychiatric facility, Violet robs a convenience store by setting a fire in it and running away with the cash after pulling a gun on the owner. The news and the security footage make their way to the MPU. Jason and Mike quickly follow up with this incident, while Sidney looks at the footage and wonders if it was her letter that ticked off Violet and made her violent.

She blames herself for the whole thing, but Kemi and Helen convince her that she is not responsible for Violet’s actions in any way. Meanwhile, Jason and Mike discover that after the robbery, Violet met up with an old acquaintance of hers whom she gave her beloved rosary to keep safe. At the time, the woman didn’t understand why Violet did it, but after Jason and Mike talk to her and update her about the situation, she gives them the rosary, which also gives them a major hint about where Violet may have gone next. The rosary proves that she is a heavily religious person, which means that in times of crisis, she would go to church. Now the question is, which church? It would be impossible to narrow down the choice, but then, one place stands out amongst the rest. After Violet is spotted there, it also comes to light that this is the same church where Henry died and Sidney was born.

Sidney Drops a Bomb on Jason and Mike

When Violet’s location is found, Jason and Mike take Sidney with them as they believe it would help the mother see her daughter in flesh after so many years. Their decision proves to be right because Violet has been so mentally broken that she is hallucinating Henry and has convinced herself that she needs to die to keep her and Henry’s problems from going to Sidney. When the gun does not work, she decides to throw herself off the building, which is when Sidney shows up. Seeing her surprises Violet, but that’s not the only thing Sidney wants to talk about. Apart from expressing her desire to meet her birth mother and find out where she comes from, she reveals that the main reason behind these questions is that she is about to become a mother herself. The realisation that she is going to be a grandmother and will have the chance to watch her grandchild grow up gives her pause.

Sidney’s words instill hope in Violet, and she decides not to kill herself. She comes off the ledge, and after her tearful reunion with her long-lost daughter, she is taken back to the psychiatric facility so that she can receive the care she requires and get healthy so that she can be there for Sidney and her child. When Sidney tells Violet she is pregnant, Jason and Mike are shocked. At first, they think that their daughter used this as an excuse to calm down the suicidal Violet and help her. But then, when they are back home, Sidney confesses that her pregnancy was not an excuse. It is very real, and as she mentioned before, this is also the reason why she reached out to Violet.

Jason is concerned about why Sidney thought she couldn’t come to him with such news, but Mike understands that Sidney needs her space, and whenever she is ready to talk about it, they are there for her. And there is a lot to talk about. For instance, they don’t know who the father is. When Jason asks for his details so he can look into the guy and talk to him, Sidney reveals that she hasn’t talked to the father about the pregnancy yet. She needed time to process it herself, and it was after much thought that she decided to keep the child. Now, she will inform the father and talk to him about the future possibilities. Only then will she let Jason and Mike meet him. Given the circumstances, her decision is completely logical, and Jason and Mike respect that. Now, they also have something to look forward to, and, most importantly, they have to be there for Sidney together.