WARNING: If you don't want to know what happened in this episode, don't read this photo recap!
All seems lost! Hailey and the other kids have been whisked away, and their abductor has left not a trace of their whereabouts. When Sax realizes Merry (and Amanda) are on the case he nearly flips his sh*t. After Merry pulls a gun on him, he decides to team up with his ex-partner, even if she's doing this to get out of Mr. Blue's debt.
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Back at Merry's place, Smoothie has doused the house in some kind of toxic liquid that knocks Merry out. He's also gone and kidnapped her mom, and is taking her to who knows where…
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Meanwhile, Very Bad Santa has dropped the kids off at a production stage, built up like a classroom. They're all alone. Or so they think.
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Smoothie is the headmaster, and he's going to be teaching these kids a lesson. Apparently they've all been very disobedient, and need to be punished. Not really, but Smoothie does have a flair for outsized behavior. Looks like Santa and Smoothie are working together.
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Over at Amanda's place, Nick is trying to attone for years of adultery, abandonment, and general assholery and prove that he's trying to help find his daughter. Amanda is understandably pissed, and slow to accept his oath of dedication.
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That's when Amanda's house is ambushed by a small troupe of masked men intent on killing her, and then Nick.
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That's when Nick springs into action, and axes each and every one of the invaders. Amanda tag teams, and together they vanquish the lot.
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After all the killing's brought to a close, Amanda demands Nick to vacate the house. She's got 911 on the line and she's ready to throw him under the bus. He takes the hint, and blows the place.
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Merry regains consciousness, and returns to the cop depot. When she does, she gets a talking to by two of her colleagues. They tell her in no uncertain terms: quit looking for this kidnapped kid. Is EVERYONE in this town corrupt?
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In the classroom, Smoothie feeds all the kids cake. But Hailey isn't biting. She still has hope that Happy and her dad are going to rescue her.
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Having been rejected by Amanda, penniless, and delayed at the subway, Nick sees no reason to continue living. So he does a swan backdive into the train tracks.
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Just as the train is coming, Nick has a change of heart. He's going to find Hailey! But his ulcer starts acting up, and he can't make it over the platform!
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Thankfully, the other passengers go against their typical New Yorker hate-thy-neighbor disposition, and help Sax to his feet. Looks like the world isn't all bad after all.
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Meanwhile, Isabella and the gypsy are on set of the mafia reality show. Isabella is cooking Mikey's favorite dish, meatballs, in order to lure him back from wherever he is.
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Sax got himself aboveground, but Happy has disappeared. He was pretty disillusioned by all the ill will down in the subway before Sax was rescued. He really took it to his little hairy heart. So Sax is all alone walking through the cold streets of NYC. He overhears a guy whistling "Blue Christmas," and it brings back a memory.
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The memory of when Mr. Blue introduced Nick to the Very Bad Santa, and requested that Nick put him under his wing. Nick declined. Nick puts the dots together: Blue's behind this mass kidnapping operation. But why?
