The Equalizer Season 5 Episode 6, “The Fight for Life,” starts eight hours into the future with Robyn (Queen Latifah) getting into a fight inside a prison. We watch her cut in front of another inmate in the cafeteria line. The fight starts with that inmate but continues with other inmates who intervene.
Eight hours before that, we see Miles (Stephen Bishop), Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes) and Robyn having breakfast. Father and daughter are discussing universities when Delilah asks Robyn to please be present when Cam comes by the house later. However, Robyn gets a message and must go to work. Aunt Vi (Lorraine Toussaint) also can’t be present because she will be attending the precinct again.
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The Equalizer, “The Fight for Life”
A guy approaches Robyn for help because his sister was supposed to be released from prison but never made it out. When he inquired about her, they told her she had been released, but that wasn’t true. The last time he talked to his sister was months ago. He then explains she was in prison because she killed a woman she was training at her gym.
Harry (Adam Goldberg) looks at the security footage from the prison and confirms Jenna was never let out. When they investigate, they find no information on her in the prison database. However, Harry discovers another girl who also went missing, and her family has been asking about her for a while.
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Mel (Liza Lapira) and Robyn talk to the other girl’s family. The parents say they never got any concrete information but that a few weeks ago, they received a box with her ashes.
Harry calls them to tell them he tried talking to the warden but didn’t get useful information. He says, however, that Jenna’s files must be in his office. When Mel suggests asking Dante for help, Robyn decides they need to go undercover. That is when Dante drives her to the prison as the new inmate. He warns her that if anything goes wrong, he might not be able to get her out fast enough.
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Mel goes in as a new guard while Robyn starts finding her way around the prison. She first tries to make friends and ask about Jenna, but the inmates stay quiet or threaten her. That is when she decides to rip the cord off the TV and start asking about Jenna in front of everyone. She says that Jenna killed her cousin, so she wants to fight her. She gets no answer, but an inmate is watching her closely.
While Harry guides Mel through the prison to find the warden’s office, Dante talks to the DA about Robyn. The DA says she cannot help, so Robyn and Mel are on their own.
Aunt Vi and the Captain
While Robyn goes undercover, Evelyn and Aunt Vi attend an invincibility training with the Captain. Aunt Vi mentions she doesn’t want to be the center of attention after the last encounter, but Evelyn pushes her to volunteer for the first activity. She then finds herself acting out an attacker situation and accidentally punches the Captain too hard.
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Afterward, Evelyn encourages her to talk to the Captain again. When they speak, Aunt Vi promises to make it up to him, so they decide to go to breakfast together in the future.
Bianca Silva Might Have the Answers
An inmate offers Robyn information on Jenna for a price. She mentions that Jenna is likely in the SHU for starting a fight with the wrong person — Bianca Silva. She also mentions that Jenna wasn’t the first nor the last person to go missing for looking at Bianca the wrong way.
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Mel manages to sneak into the warden’s office but as she’s going through the files, she hears someone coming. To help her get out, Harry calls the warden’s phone and stages a distraction.
Right after that, we are taken to the fight from the beginning. Once again, we watch Robyn fight several inmates before a guard intervenes and takes her out. When Robyn wakes up again, she finds herself in a cell with no clue where in the prison she is. She is able to see another beat-up inmate being dragged by a guard.
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Mel tells Harry that she found a file on both missing women signed by the same officer. She noticed that he had also signed a lot of other files. Shortly after, Harry gets a call from Dante, letting him know the DA won’t be helping. When he mentions how worried he is about Robyn, Harry asks about their relationship. Even though Dante says they are just friends because the distance is a challenge, Harry points out that it isn’t a challenge for Robyn, and he should find ways to keep the flame alive.
In the cafeteria, Mel realizes Robyn isn’t there, so she decides to visit the surveillance room. There, she talks to the guy on duty, sharing where she comes from with Harry’s help and offering him to go on a smoke break. As she goes through the security footage, Harry tells her the CO who signed the forms has been disciplined before, and all the other files belong to other missing inmates.
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Cam and Miles Meet on “The Fight for Life”
While Robyn is missing, Cam arrives to meet Miles. When they start talking, Miles brings up the fact that Cam isn’t going to college because he doesn’t see it as a necessary tool. He starts twisting Cam’s words around, so Delilah pulls him aside to talk to him. She asks him to relax and mentions she doesn’t need his approval because Cam is her boyfriend.
Later on, the two of them are talking about Cam’s sneakers business and his plans to expand in the future. That is when Miles admits she is actually impressed by Cam. When Delilah thanks him for finally giving a chance to Cam, she admits his approval actually means the world to her.
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Finding Robyn
When Mel and Harry can’t find Robyn on the security footage, they go backward and see the fight. Harry looks into Bianca and discovers she is in for having killed her drill instructor and other people. As Mel gets ready to go after Robyn, the security guy comes back in and suspects her. When she takes him out, she is triggered but manages to calm herself down before having a panic attack.
Meanwhile, Robyn taunts a guard who walks by her and manages to steal his keys. When she escapes, she runs into another guard, beating up an inmate. However, when she tries to help her, two other guards arrive and drag her into a fight cage. That is where Robyn sees a bunch of people in suits watching two women fight. She realizes one of the women is Jenna.
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Robyn asks about what’s going on, and when they tell her about the fights, she asks for a cut. That is when Bianca intervenes. She says there will be a death match between Jenna and Robyn. Bianca wants to make sure Robyn dies.
While Mel is looking for Robyn, a message announces she is a fake transfer, so Harry guides her through the prison. Robyn talks to Jenna, letting her know her brother sent her to find her. At first, Jenna refuses to believe her and says she will kill Robyn if it means staying alive. When they start fighting, they create a diversion and hit the guards to escape. As they run out of the cage, they come across Mel.
Bianca and the other inmates go after them, and she chooses to fight Robyn hand-to-hand. The other inmates start fighting, too, but when Robyn, Mel and Jenna win, the other guards threaten to kill them. That is when Dante walks in with a group of federal agents and saves the day.
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An Unexpected Dinner Partner
Jenna and her brother are reunited before The Equalizer, “The Fight for Life” ends. Robyn tells them the prison guards will go to jail, and the money will be used to help them.
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Mel and Harry talk about what happened to her when hitting the guard. She is able to be honest about her feelings and mentions she is on the right path. Robyn comes over to them to tell them she has to leave because she is meeting someone else for dinner.
Outside, Robyn meets with Miles. When he hugs her, Dante stands in the corner of the street, watching them walk away together.
The Equalizer airs on Sundays on CBS.
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