After witnessing Nicole Stockman's murder on the order of Bobby Cole, Chase becomes a loose cannon. August pleads with his partner to follow legal avenues to catch Cole, and Captain Jensen suspends Chase after he destroys important financial papers belonging to Cole. Shoenrock claims that Stockman was suspected of working with Cole. Chase is furious, knowing this could never be true. Cole meets with Shoenrock, who is revealed to be undercover, acting as an accomplice, and tells him of his plans to execute the Colombian drug minister at the drug summit. Meanwhile, Chase goes renegade and visits a weapons dealer, purchasing some heavy duty weapons for his own personal use against Cole. After a huge battle in the streets of Los Angeles involving semi-trucks, helicopters, and rocket launchers, Chase ends up on a pier with Cole, weapons drawn in a stand-off, each prepared to take the other down . . . for good.

Professor Larry Benton, a former teacher of Augusts', is brutally killed outside a jewelry store by thief Willie Mathers. August is devastated upon his arrival at the crime scene, having just had lunch with Benton moments ealier. August vows to catch Mathers, but is shocked when Benton's twin brother shows up from.

After three leading West Coast drug dealers die under suspicious circumstances, Chase and August suspect their old nemesis, Bobby Cole, is trying to claim all the drug action for himself. As Los Angeles prepares to host an international drug summit, the detectives investigate Cole through the usual legal channels while he ruthlessly carves out the competition and prepares to strike a deal with a Colombian drug lord.

Chase and August must assist the Army in catching Major Lauren Wiley, a C.I.D. officer accused of selling arms to the underground. Lauren is an old girlfriend of Chase's from college, but Chase insists that he works the case. Captain Randy Geddis leads the Army investigation and demands that Lauren be brought back to him immediately. At one point, Chase and August think they have Lauren cornered, but before she escapes, she tells a different story. She claims that Geddis is the crooked one, selling weapons on the black market to Bobby Cole. Chase and August don't know who to believe.

A young female tourist has been brutally murdered. The detecives suspect ""the Reaper,"" a deranged man who suddenly appears on the roof of the crime scene, screams biblical quotes at the officers, and opens fire. After a rooftop pursuit, Chase and August take him into custody. At police headquarters, Jensen explains that ""the Reaper"" is merely a mental institution escapee. The killer is still on the loose and plays with the detectives by leaving behind verses of a poem.

After a car chase with police, young Joey Morello, brother of a New York crime boss, barricades himself within a road-side burger stand, takes hostages, and demands a bus, plane, and money for an escape. Chase gains Joey's trust and talks some sense into the young man, getting him to drop his weapon. But when the cook panics and tries to escape, Joey is startled and draws an ankle-gun, and Chase is forced to shoot. The young kid dies, and his crime boss brother arrives in L.A. looking for revenge. Meanwhile, Chase is targeted by an Internal Affairs officer who is convinced he shot the young man for no reason because the kid's ankle-gun could not be found.

When a group of criminals rob a computer chip assembly plant, Chase and August link the six million dollar heist to a local computer store. Posing as computer industry executives, the detectives visit the store and stage a robbery, pretending to save the day. Winning the confidence of the store's owner, Ray Bernard, they begin to work their way into his group.

Arriving at a crime scene, Chase and August find a member of the Bulldog Crips gang shot to death. Chase is surprised to find a note containing rap lyrics pinned to his sleeve, which leads them to a rival gang member named Cage. After a daring chase, Cage is apprehended and interrogated by the detectives. Cage accuses A.K., a famous rap star, of the murder. Kicking in A.K.'s door, Chase and August square off with the musician and his manager, Frank Millan. But the detectives soon learn that nothing is what it seems, and the real killer is closer than they think. Meanwhile, Jodi's parents are in town.

Beth Landers, a young blind exotic dancer, hears a man being murdered as she walks home. The murderer sees Beth and is about to kill her, but a car accident draws attention to the scene. When the detectives arrive, Beth tells them that the killer has a limp and uses an inhaler. The killer, Larry Puzzo, doesn't know that Beth is blind and sets out to eliminate the only ""witness"" to his crime.

Chase and August investigate a string of gang-related robberies in Little Saigon, the Vietnamese area of downtown Los Angeles. One of the gang members turns out to be the son of August's Vietnam buddy, who died saving August's life. August is further shocked to discover that the boy's mother is the same woman he tried to help get out of Vietnam when he was coming back. They had gotten separated just seconds before their helicopter arrived, and August thought for sure she had died in the years that followed. She wants him to pull her son out of the dangers of gang life, but he knows too much for the gang to let him go.

Chase and August must catch Patricia and Johnny, a mother and son bank robbing team that is responsible for a string of heists and murders. One of the duo's victims at the most recent heist was Gary, Annie's boyfriend. Annie witnessed the murder, and there is an attempt made on her life. Chase and August investigate the armored car company to see if there is a chance that the last heist was an inside job. They question the scheduling man, Morty Feinberg, who appears to be completely in the dark regarding the robbery. We soon learn, however, that he is linked to Patricia and Johnny, and has been helping them set up their heists. Annie works overtime to help Chase and August with the case, while Patricia and Johnny insist on pulling one more job with Feinberg, but it just might be their last.

A motorcycle cop is shot and killed during a routine traffic stop. The killer's car is traced back to James Burquette, an attorney who had reported the car stolen earlier that day and is shocked to find that it was used in a cop slaying. When another officer is killed, August goes undercover as a motorcycle cop, hoping to lure the killer into striking again.

A promising young boxer is beaten and left nearly dead. Arriving at the hospital, August and Chase intercept a hitman who attempts to finish the kid off with a lethal injection. They pursue the would-be killer through the hospital, finally stopping him with a jolt from a set of defribulator pads. Immediately, they sense that this case involves more than a random beating. August is visited by his former boxing coach, Frank, to whom he hasn't spoken since their falling out many years before. Frank says that he must tell August a secret that has been haunting him. But before he can reveal what he knows, Frank turns up dead, plunging the detectives further into mystery.

Chase and August thought they'd seen it all until they learn that the latest crimewave involves stealing kidneys from unsuspecting citizens. Racing to a downtown motel, they meet Andrew Green, the latest victim of the bizarre scheme. As Green is wheeled to an ambulance, he spots the prostitute who lured him to the scene of the crime where he was drugged and operated on, and Chase and August take off in pursuit. Det. Maria Vallejo goes undercover as a prostitute to assist in the detectives' investigation.

A car bomb explodes, killing the Vice President of Sawchuck Industries. In their search for suspects, Chase and August meet Meredith Nowell, a beautiful young volunteer at Green Planet, an environmental protection league. Meredith reveals that Sawchuck Industries had been dumping deadly toxins, which infected Los Angeles groundwater, killing a mother and daughter. When another Sawchuck executive is killed in an explosion, the detectives begin to suspect Joshua Duncan, the man whose wife and daughter died of cancer as a result of the poisoned water.

Prisoners are being beaten to death at El Toro Prison. Guard Larry Clark plans to go to the authorities, but before he can talk, a bomb rips through his house, killing him and his wife. Chase and August suspect that Warden Brinkman is involved in setting up to-the-death fights between the inmates. Determined to crack the case, August goes undercover in the prison, but his cover could be blown when it's learned that Robert Hatcher, his former partner, is being transfered to the prison.

Chase and August investigate the murder of a young fashion model who appears to be the latest victim in a string of recent model killings. Judith Sands, the L.A.P.D. psychologist, with connections from a previous (though short-lived) modeling career, convinces the detectives to let he go undercover to help find the killer. Chase and August are thrown onto the trail of a mysterious freelance photographer who has been hanging around the shows, and they are led on a wild chase before they can bring him in for questioning. But the suspect's DNA doesn't match that of the murderer's, and Chase and August must let him go and continue the search for the killer, who has decided on making Judith his next victim.

Playing host to a COPS-like television show, Chase and August are out to catch the gangbangers responsible for a string of 211s around the city. The two-person TV crew tags along while the detectives tackle a 211 in progress and apprehend a couple of suspects. When Chase saves a store owner's 12-year-old boy just before a grenade erupts and the producer of the show says he plans to make Chase ""a star,"" August fears his partner's desire to be a movie star will slow their investigation.

Chase and August arrive at the scene of a murder on quiet Lily Lane, where Sheila Hanson has been stabbed to death in the bedroom. Her husband says he returned home to find his wife dead and a man robbing the house. The detectives chase after the perp and are shocked to find that it is David Jackson, a kid who belongs to August's gym and denies killing anyone.

Sam Como, owner of the Naked Venus strip club, has been murdered. His money and jewelry are in place, so robbery was clearly not the motive. Forensics reveals that Como was stabbed and beaten over time, so that he would die a slow, agonizing death. Chase and August question the dancers at the club and learn that a rival club owner, Johnny Roman, got into a fight with Como the night he was killed. The plot thickens when Roman denies the murder, telling the detectives that everyone hated Como, from his dancers to his wife, with whom Roman was having an affair.

Lane Healy, a competitive weightlifter, is the prime suspect in the gruesome beating-death of his wife, but he maintains his innocence. Chase and August investigate and meet another weightlifter, Terry King, a famous world champion. King has promised a victory at this year's ""Mr. Galaxy"" competition. When several of the top competitors, including Healy, are somehow removed from the contest, King becomes a suspect.

While August recuperates from his injuries from the previous episode, Chase and D.E.A. agent Jack Lawson work together to rescue a mysterious accountant who has been working for Bobby Cole. The accountant, known simply as the Monk, is brought into police custody after a daring rescue by Chase and Lawson. But fearing for his life, the Monk refuses to talk. An F.B.I. agent, Shoenrock, has come to take the Monk into custody, but Chase believes that he'll be able to get the Monk to talk, but his and Lawson's plans are wrecked when the two discover that Shoenrock may not be who he claims to be.

Chase and August are eyewitnesses to a young man who throws a Molotov cocktail into a car right outside the gym. The perpetrator gets killed in the ensuing pursuit, but they find out that the car was registered to Carlos Altamarino, a known drug dealer. Chase is visited by an old college friend, now a CIA agent, who gives Chase a mysterious gold key for safekeeping and reveals that Carlos' operation has shifted power to a brother, a cousin, or perhaps even Carlos himself using an alias. The new boss carries the name Charlie Altamirano. Chase's friend is killed later, and the detectives work to figure out just what exactly is going on.

August goes undercover as Jake Rheams, a notorious East Coast drug lord, who arrives in Los Angeles to make a deal with the Carletti crime family. August meets with Gina Carletti, the beautiful and seductive daughter. Alex Zota, the boss' right-hand man, suspects August from the start, never really believing that he is the real Jake Rheams. Meanwhile, Chase must back up his partner the best he can, including an interrogation with the real Rheams, who is being held at the station. August is tested by Zota, and only Rheams has the information that can help Chase save his partner's life.

A Western memorabilia collector is found murdered, and among the victim's belongings is a laptop containing August's name. August figures out that his name was listed among the descendants of Buffalo Soldiers, a special troop of black soldiers that fought during the Civil War. This brings up a part of August's past that he is ashamed to discuss: his great-great-great-grandfather, Augustus Brooks, was given a dishonorable discharge from the Army when he allegedly deserted his troop with three other soldiers, claiming to have been given a map leading to a gold mine that was never proven to exist. August's Aunt Maisie is attacked in her home by a thug, hired to steal a portion of the old map. The pieces have been handed down to each generation, and now someone is attempting to put the pieces together and lay claim to the gold.