Episode
The District: Wasteland
Overview
A teacher, protesting the Board of Education's inattention to her cries, takes the board hostage at gunpoint and Mannion is called in to diffuse the situation. Frustrated by getting the run-around from the board and environmental agencies, she gives Mannion 12 hours to find answers to the teacher's and students' health problems before she opens fire. Mannion and his team must uncover a complex environmental cover-up while keeping the board and the teacher alive. Meanwhile, Ella asks Clive, the new man she is seeing and a lobbyist for the chemical industry, to look into the case from his end.
Details
- Series
- The District
- Season
- Season 2
- Episode
- Episode 14
- Air date
- 2002-03-02
Episode context
Wasteland is Episode 14 in Season 2 of The District. It aired on 2002-03-02.
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Episode 13: This Too Shall Pass
Page and Debreno investigate the murder of a reporter, and evidence point them to a wheel-chaired man, who claims the victim was already dead by the time he found her. Mannion goes to NY for his daughter's graduation from police academy and has a hard time saying goodbye to Sherri. Meanwhile, Parras meets a charming man on a cab and thinks he might be "the one", and Brander confesses his love for her. Ella goes to Ricky's school to check on why he is having problems with his new teacher, and finds out she looks just like his late mother.
Episode 15: Daughter for Daughter
Mannion faces off with Putin once again and the stakes are even higher when Putin resurfaces and kidnaps Mannion's daughter! Mannion's initial theory is that Putin wants to trade one daughter for another, but everything changes when the CIA informs Mannion that Putin's daughter, Erin, has disappeared from the Witness Protection Program. Mannion finally finds his dazed and confused daughter, Beth; however, things get more complex when the police find a dead woman, believed to be Erin, in Beth's car trunk. As Beth is arrested for murder, Mannion must prove that his daughter is being set up and the only person who can help him is Putin.
More episodes from this season
Episode 12: Twist of Hate
After a mosque is vandalized, Mannion questions the mosque president, who reveals that the mosque has been receiving threats. Meanwhile, Temple and Debreno investigate two other hate crimes - both with similar scenarios - involving a rabbi and an African-American respectively. Now, before racial and ethnic tensions escalate, Mannion and his team must get to the bottom of these crimes - unaware that the perpetrator is the last person they would suspect. (CBS)
Episode 16: The Greenhouse Effect
Mannion's friend Teddy Reed is the only witness to a Congressman's murder, and Mannion thinks she's lying about the whole situation. Meanwhile, the city erects a statue depicting a heroic act by three police officers, including Cutter, but many are infuriated when Cutter's figure is altered to represent someone of a different race.
Episode 11: Russian Winter (a.k.a.The Russian Wars)
Mannion confronts his No. 1 enemy, Dimitri Putin, and learns who killed Det. Danny McGregor in this pivotal episode. A Russian woman, Erin Vratalov, comes aboard Mannion's boat claiming she needs protection from Putin. She tells Mannion that Putin ordered her husband, Yuri, to kill the chief. But when Danny died in the assassination attempt instead, Putin had Yuri murdered and is now after her. She also claims Yuri had a tape recording of Putin giving the order to murder Mannion, but she doesn't know where it's hidden. So begins Mannion's race to find the incriminating evidence, a search that leads ultimately to a volatile face-to-face encounter. (CBS)
Episode 17: Still Life
Mannion assigns Debreno and new detective Olivia Cahill to work together on a missing Picasso case. They get on each other's nerves, but solve the case after Debreno makes up a theory that at first sounded too conspiracional, but turned out to be true. Meanwhile, Nancy's mom announces she's leaving her father because she found out he was cheating on her. Nancy accidentally let slip that she already knew about it and has to ask her mother to forgive her. Ella is threatened by the possibility of a breast cancer return and both Mannion and Clive offer her their full support. They look back at their best times with her and learn that Ella is cancer-free.
Episode 10: Thursday
When police officer Robert Turner woke up one Thursday morning, he thought it was going to be just a normal day on the force. However, when a car plunged off a bridge into a river, Turner lost his life while rescuing the family inside. Now, Mannion and his team reflect on the life and death of one of their own. (from CBS)
Episode 18: Shades of Gray
The crime level on District 9 is skyrocketing, and Mannion blames it on Commander Richard Gray, whose performance has fallen under expected. Mannion's actions are recriminated and he is pressured to re-think his decision to fire Gray, but he won't give in. Finally, Gray resigns from his duty, and several cops show their loyalty to him by handing their badges as well. Meanwhile, Officer Parras has to face a performance evaluation when her nightstick breaks on a suspect's face. Later, Ella finds out the sticks are cold sensitive and it wasn't Parras's fault.
Episode 9: Cop Hunt
A woman who was driving home late at night is found beaten and raped after being stopped by a police officer for a traffic violation. After talking to the woman, Mannion discovers that this is the latest in a series of attacks allegedly perpetrated by a police officer. Now, after Mannion conducts an internal investigation of his officers and fingers start pointing at Cutter, Debreno is thrown for a loop when his estranged wife (Farentino) informs him that she was attacked in the same exact way.
Meanwhile, Preston Kembridge, a mayoral candidate, tempts Nick with an offer to run his campaign. (from CBS)
Episode 19: Shell Game
When a man is murdered under suspicious circumstances and Mannion finds out his office is bugged, he starts his own investigation on the case. The latest person to see the victim alive was Lisa Fabrizzi, a CIA agent, which connects the case to the Agency. Mannion faces CIA director Tom Gage for information but doesn't get anything except for a stonewall. Mannion finally gets to the real killer, Braxton, who worked at a software company involved in CIA covert operations. Braxton is killed. Meanwhile, Ella almost buys the house of her dreams and Parras and Brander have to protect condo residents from a monkey.
Episode 8: Tug of War
When Mannion has Temple and Debreno investigate the woman's murder, he discovers that the criminals weren't going for the victim's cash or credit cards, but for the expensive purse itself. In response, Mannion immediately dispatches detectives to patrol subway cars, angering the chief of the Transit Authority, who believes that Mannion is trying to muscle in on his territory. Then, when Debreno and Temple set up a sting operation, Debreno's life is put in danger and Mannion's team must find a way to draw out the perpetrators of these crimes before they strike again.
Also, Mannion's outrageous ex-fiancee comes back for a visit after hearing that Mannion and Sherry split up.
Episode 20: The Killing Point
13 years ago a man was convicted for murdering two people at a convenience store. Now Patrick Debreno, Kevin Debreno's brother who's a priest, has to help save him from the death penalty. Someone confessed to him the location of the murder weapon, and Chief Mannion and his team get the suspect and try to make him confess, since Patrick can't accuse him. Unfortunately, Gilbert Isaacs is wrongfully killed for a crime he did not commit. The true murderer, however, storms out of the interrogation room and shoots himself at home. Meanwhile, Ella receives a letter from Pablito, Ricky's father. He's asking to see his son, and after a lot of thinking, Ella meets with him and decides not to let Ricky see his father. She still has to convince Ricky that his father being in prison is not his fault.