Matthew Lisko

"I know and you’re right but a uniform doesn’t make a superhero. You know, cops are just human and they’re usually trying to do their best but that’s why we, we’ve got to fight. We’ve got to fight to make it right. It’s reporters like us who hold the powerful to account and we’re like a pain in their butt just to make sure they’re doing their jobs."

- Matt to Hilde

Matthew "Matt" Lisko is a main character in Home Before Dark. He is portrayed by Jim Sturgess.

Biography
Matt Lisko was born in Erie Harbor, Washington, on January 21, 1977, to a small family with long-standing roots in Erie Harbor. His father Sylvester owned a cyclist store in town, while his mother Jane was a stay-at-home mother. As a young boy, Matt grew his social circle and became best friends with classmates Frank Briggs Jr. and Richie Fife. Matt and Richie would often get into trouble together. They pulled pranks on local store owners that weren't fond of the boy's antics. They hung out at the local dollar arcades, played video games, and were virtually inseparable by the Summer of 1988.

They rode their bikes together nearly every day and paid little attention to those outside their circle. The trio also bullied social outcast Al Wergeles, nicknaming him "The Birdman" because of his dedication to birds and birdwatching. Matt and his friends thought little of how their actions affected Al or the other kids in their school. They spent weekends and hours after school in the back of Sam Gillis's van drinking beer and discussing films. On January 31st, 1988, the boys spent the day together at the underpass. They walked home when a van came screeching to a halt next to them. The man driving jumped out, grabbed Richie, and threw him in the back of a white van. He told Matt and Frankie to run before he tore off in the van. Matt ran to a neighbors house for help. A search party was organized to find Richie but was unsuccessful.

The investigation was skewed from the beginning, with Matt always believing there was more to the story. It wasn't long until Frank Briggs Sr. arrested Sam Gillis for the abduction and believed murder of Richie. Matt didn't think Sam was guilty but testified against Sam in the trial. Matt didn't see Sam's face or the van. He also didn't recognize the man's voice who told him to run. He also knew Sam as a friend and didn't think him capable of the crime. However, Frankie told a different story. He testified that the voice was Sam's. He also said he saw the last three numbers of the license plate of the van.

With Frankie's testimony and circumstantial evidence, Sam was convicted of all charges and sentenced to life in prison. Matt believed Sam was innocent and became obsessed with solving the crime for himself. Sylvester eventually intervened and told Matt to stop investigating and reporting on the matter, shutting his son down at every turn until Matt did give up. As the years passed, Matt drifted apart from Frankie and began to date Kim Collins. After graduating high school in 1994, Matt left Erie Harbor for New York.

Matt began a successful career in investigative journalism where he met his wife Bridget Jensen, who was one of his sources and a would-be public defender. They were married on May 8th, 1996 in Washington State, in the count of Seattle King. They had three daughters - Izzy in 2005, Hilde in 2009, and Ginny. In 2013, Matt's mother Jane died. The death was hard on Matt and his family, as all of his daughter knew Jane except for Ginny.

The family lived primarily in Brooklyn, New York, where Matt remained a reporter for the New York Sentinel while Bridget settled in as a public defender. Matt would often bring his middle daughter Hilde to crime scenes and on cases. He taught her how to memorize witness statements, look for clues, ask the right questions, and they became a highly competent team. Eventually, Matt covered the case of a missing eleven-year-old girl whose situation was similar to that of Richie Fife's.

He became consumed with tracking every possible lead, but the case went cold. Matt was assigned a new project but kept investigating against his boss's wishes. Matt was fired for not letting go of the case. With Sylvester's mental health and dementia decline, paired with the family's money problems, it seemed like the perfect time to move their family back to Erie Harbor, Washington. Matt covered their move as him wanting to work on his fiction novel, while Bridget wanted a break from the big city life.

Season 1
In "Magic Hour", Matt Lisko and his family - wife Bridget Jensen and their three daughters Izzy, Hilde, and Ginny, move across the country from busy Brooklyn, New York back to his hometown of Erie Harbor, Washington. Matt was recently fired from his job as a journalist at the New York Sentinel. His fathers declining mental health, combined with the family's finances, prompted the move. His middle daughter Hilde finds it difficult to adjust to the small town as she has inherited her fathers journalistic traits. She sees potential mysteries all around her, but Matt asks her to try and fit in with the town instead of investigating everything. In the middle of the night, she sees a car outside her house watching her. She finds it suspicious and relays the sighting to her family, who tries to brush off the situation off, though Hilde thinks it was an undercover cop. She is walked home after school by a neighbor named Penny Gillis, who Matt knew when he was younger. Penny also gave Matt a green bike that used to belong to Richie Fife. Hilde explained that Penny wanted him to have it back. Matt is surprised by the gift and his distance is noted by Hilde, who is reprimanded for being out past dark. Her father scolds her that she can't be out past dark, as that's the magic hour she has to abide by.

As she struggles to sleep, she hears a commotion in the streets and investigates. She finds Penny's house surrounded by emergency responders and learns that Penny had an alleged accident that resulted in her death. She goes door-to-door in an attempt to learn more, but finds no success as people turn her away. Hilde returns home and write a new article, "The Magic Hour Chronicles" where she reports that Penny's death was a murder. Her article causes ramifications in the town with Matt confronting her for not being a normal kid. She is hurt by his words but hugs him as she knows he didn't mean it. While the girls at school, Matt and Bridget monitor The Magic Hour Chronicle's comments section and find horrible things that were written to Hilde. They decide to lie to Hilde that there were no comments, though they print them off before they hide the comment section on the site. Hilde uncovers the printed comments and is hurt by her parents betrayal.

That night, Matt ventures to the attic of the Lisko house where he finds a safe. He tries to open it with a series of different combinations but can't quite open it. Meanwhile, Hilde and Izzy discover a VHS tape that has a recording of footage from the night Richie Fife was abducted. He was with two other kids when a van sped up and grabbed him. Hilde believes the other kid is her father Matt, and wants to confront him over the secrecy. Izzy tells her not to confront their father over the tape until they know it's him, because even if it is, this could be serious. Hilde agrees but does confront her father over not letting go of the Gillis case, as she believes he muted the comments so she wouldn't be discouraged. She plans to solve her friends murder.

In "Never Be the Same", Sylvester Lisko escapes the nursing home he was admitted too and breaks into the Lisko house. His presence disturbs the house as he stands in the kitchen with bloodied feet and knife. Hilde ultimately helps him realize where he is and that he's okay. At breakfast, Matt bandages his fathers feet while Bridget attempts to get the sisters ready for school. Hilde loudly tries to tell her father of her recent discoveries but is asked to be quiet as this isn't the time. Matt takes Sylvester back to the nursing home where he tries to ask about the safe in the attic, but Sylvester can't communicate with Matt due to his dementia. As he leaves the facility, Matt sees Frank Briggs Jr., a police lieutenant, and their exchange is tense. Sylvester repeats the same sentence - that he gave Frankie the information. He then gives Matt a piece of origami. Matt goes home where Bridget confronts him over never having told her that he was friends with Richie Fife or that he witnessed the kidnapping. Ginny was rejected from pre-school and she thinks it was because of Matt's past with the town. Matt admits that he did see the kidnapping and was called to testify as a witness against Sam Gillis, the man the police believed had committed the crime. He wasn't ever convinced of Sam's guilt and told the truth on the stand. He didn't see Sam's face but did hear the kidnappers voice telling him to run. Because Matt was friends with Sam before the abduction, he knew it wasn't Sam's voice on the tape. He's haunted by the fact Sam was convicted of a crime he didn't commit, and no one would believe Matt when he was younger. His father made him give up the story. Bridget wants to help Matt but doesn't know how. Before they can talk more, Hilde bursts in from school to announce that she visited Penny's murder scene. That night, Principal Kim Collins visits the home to inform Matt that Hilde stole a VCR and its paired VHS from her office. Hilde tries to explains her reasonings but is yelled at by Matt and sent to her room in tears. Matt eventually apologizes to Hilde for yelling at her, but states Principal Collins was at Penny's house earlier in the day to pick-up the VCR and tape from Penny. He calls her investigative work bad journalism as she had an unreliable source. She doesn't accept his apology as she views it as insincere and ingenuine. She wants to pursue the truth and is disappointed he is lying, keeping secrets, and trying to deter her from finding the truth.

Ultimately, Matt does come around to the idea of Hilde being a legitimate reporter and gives her a genuine apology for his actions. He explains that he was friends with Richie and watched him be abducted, confirming what Hilde already knew - he was one of the boys on the tape. Knowing that she needs more information, she adds a "tips" section to her online newspaper with help from Izzy. She receives her first tip the next morning via a phone call that Matt answers - from the imprisoned Sam Gillis.

In "Sting Like a Bee", Matt and Bridget reluctantly agree to let Hilde interview Sam Gillis in prison, as Matt believes their daughter is ready after years of being his journalistic assistant while in Brooklyn. The trio visit the prison, but Matt is overwhelmed with flashbacks and has to leave.

Season 2
In "Not Giving Up", Hilde wakes up from a nightmare and runs into her parent’s room frightened and curls up with Bridget. Her parents comfort her as she panics, and they know she had the dream again. Matt asks if she wants to talk about it but she doesn’t. As the storm rages on, she curls into her mom. Matt continues to comfort her as they fall back to sleep.

In the morning, Bridget and Matt discuss the nightmares. It’s been almost a year and Hilde still isn’t over the van being pulled out of the lake. Bridget is worried as Hilde never used to be phased by scary things in New York. Matt thinks it’s just because Hilde is growing up and understands more than she used to. They think she might need some balance in her life.

At breakfast, Hilde asks if anyone heard a loud explosion or saw a bright light around two in the morning. Izzy quips that it’s Hilde o’clock while Matt and Bridget are excited for school starting back up again. Hilde scolds her father for writing about the clambake and not something more serious. Matt explains they need the extra stories now that Sylvester is moving in with them for good. Hilde wants to go back to Portland and figure out who paid the kidnapper. He iterates that they spent eight months looking for answers and following every lead but nothing panned out. Bridget applauds Hilde for doing a great job but they’ve come up with an executive decision - the Richie Fife case is closed. Matt understands it means a lot to Hilde and everyone has read about it, including Richie if he’s out there. He thinks maybe Richie doesn’t want to be found. Izzy quips that her theory might be wrong and Richie’s dead - she spells out the word dead. Ginny chimes in asking if the fish ate his body, spelling out the word body to prove she understands what they are talking about. Matt tells Hilde to cover new stories by taking a break and doing normal kid stuff. He explains that Sylvester moving in will be a big change and things will be different. The parents make sure the girls don’t have any questions.

That night, Sylvester moves into the Lisko house and is happily greeted by his granddaughters. Sylvester doesn’t recognize Ginny but they show him to his new room as a distraction. Sylvester becomes agitated as everything in the room is different from how it should be. He gets increasingly more hostile as Matt tries to calm him. Hilde offers to have Sylvester sleep in her room or for Ginny to move in with her, but Matt knows it’s not safe for Sylvester to take the stairs. Bridget suggests that Hilde play the record that usually calms him. Hilde asks if Sylvester wants to dance and then helps him put his feet on the stool. She sits on the chair with him and they hold each other close while her parents watch.

Hilde and Matt sit at the table each working on separate things. He asks if everything is okay and she admits she’s been thinking about what he said about Richie. She wonders if Richie is already in town. He doesn’t understand. She feels like someone’s watching her but he doesn’t feel that way. He asks what she’s working on and it’s the Richie case. However, she lies that she’s working on “how to be a kid”. He claims he’s working on another crab story, lying about working on a chapter for his book on Richie, and Hilde picks up that his previous story that had been about clams.

The next day after school, Hilde bursts into the kitchen asking if her mom learned anything about Wott Management. Matt smirks as he asks if she has any schoolwork to do or anything a normal kid should be doing. She starts telling them about the party when Izzy walks in, so Hilde tries to disguise her intentions. Izzy shows her mom the outfit she got which is hideous, but Izzy likes it for some reason. Matt laughs at how ugly it is while Bridget scolds him. She decides to Pretty in Pink the outfit, a reference that Izzy doesn’t understand.

That night, Matt drops Izzy off at the party. He tells her not to drink anything she doesn’t pour herself, then clarifies that she shouldn’t drink anything at all. He tells her to remain dehydrated at all times. She notices he’s more nervous than she is but he makes her promise to call him no matter what. She reminds him that they used to live in Brooklyn and she rode the bus alone at 13. She promises she’ll be okay and asks him to drop her off at the side of the mansion. Bridget’s voice chimes in wishing her luck, and Izzy realizes with great horror that her mom has been on speakerphone the entire time. Bridget tells her to make good choices. Izzy quickly leaves the truck as Matt shouts after her with his love and how he’ll teach her to kill anyone who looks at her because she’s a strong and powerful woman. When she's gone, he leans his head on the steering wheel as he mutters to himself. In "I Believe You", a viscous storm hits Erie Harbor and causes a tree to fall through the Lisko's window. Their daughters hear the sound and rush downstairs to see what happened. Matt and Bridget tell the girls to go back to bed as there’s glass everywhere. Sylvester gets out of bed but Matt tells him not to worry as he’s going to clean it up. Bridget starts to take Izzy and Ginny upstairs, but they are distracted when Hilde hears a noise. She advances to the tree with Matt warning her to be okay. She picks up an injured bird and soothes it. She promises nothing bad will happen to it.

The next morning, Matt is boarding up the broken window while Hilde hopes she can stay home from school to look after the baby bird. Matt drops the boards and Izzy wonders if they should help him, but Bridget explains that Matt believes he’s “handy”. Hilde states he’s not and references the attic incident. Bridget knows how Hilde feels about the truth but it isn’t always the best thing. She’s about to explain something about men to them, then decides to cheer Matt on instead. Hilde is worried about her bird and tells her dad she has to take him to Birdman. Matt reminds her that his name isn’t Birdman anymore, but Mr. Wergeles. Bridget gets the girls ready for school.

That afternoon, Bridget throws out food from the freezer as Matt comes home. He dropped Sylvester at Frank’s since he has a generator. Matt remembers when power outages were fun and sexy. Now it’s just rotting food and watching Ginny plug-in electrical devices that won’t work. Izzy walks in and asks to sleep at Jessica’s but her parents are skeptical. Izzy is defensive of Jessica and wants to give her a second chance, but Bridget isn’t convinced. She agrees so long as if the power comes back on she’s back by morning and doesn’t complain about being tired.

Hilde continues to try and feed Walter. She asks Matt about Wott Management but he’s not giving her anything as she needs to focus on schoolwork. He asks about Walter but she knows he has something on Wott Management. He concedes that he found some financial records. She gets excited that it could be connected to the Johnson Farm or Richie. He is exasperated and asks her to stop. She asks him not to do what Sylvester did to him - not believe him and force them to break apart. She doesn’t want to break apart from him.

Frank stops by and pretends that he’s just there to say hit. Matt invites him inside and Frank pretends to be surprised by the broken window. He offers to take a look at it while Bridget silently thanks him from the other room. Once the work is done, Matt and Frank discuss Senior’s activities since he was kicked off the force. He’s been working security somewhere but was pretty heartbroken after Mayor Fife died. Frank isn’t sure what’s going on now as they haven’t talked in a while. Matt advises him not to let the distance go on for too long.

That night, Hilde wakes up every hour to feed Walter. Matt comes in and checks on her. He offers to do some feedings for her so she can sleep for a few hours. She would wake up anyway because she needs to know he’s okay. He remarks that her mom used to say that. He apologizes to her and says he believes her about someone watching her and that it might be Richie. He was reluctant to believe her because he thought he'd seen him too. She hugs him tightly and forgives him. She thanks him for always talking to her like a real person as some parents don’t do that with their kids. She wishes more kids had parents like them.

The next morning, Bridget tells the girls that school is back open today. In private, Matt tells her that he found an address for Wott Management. They discuss the break-in quietly. Izzy comes in and tries to avoid her parents but they are persistent. Matt notes that she smells like a frat house. Bridget tells Ginny and Hilde to go upstairs. Izzy just wants her bed but Bridget refuses as they have to talk first. She makes Izzy get ready for school. Matt gives her a glass of water and tells her to hydrate thoroughly so they can talk when she’s feeling better. Izzy storms off while the parent’s exchange sighs.

The parent's head to Wott Management that afternoon, but something feels off to Bridget. The doors are locked and no one seems to be inside. A side door authorized for personnel isn't locked, so they enter through that door. The building seems empty, so Bridget decides to call Wott Management. They follow the sound of a ringing phone to an empty room, where a single landline rotary phone is sitting on a table.

In "Fighting His Ghost", Matt talks to his editor regarding the corruption at the state fair piece he’s writing. He wants to investigate the corruption but his editor reminds him it was supposed to be a puff piece. He understands but thinks there is more to the story. She doesn’t agree as he’s seeing what he wants with the article instead of what is there. She refuses to run it. Matt understands and hangs up, finally focusing on a persistent Hilde. She talks to him about the dead fish and how she feels that someone is watching her. She explains the man she saw and how she thinks it’s Richie. He feels like that’s a reach but asks her to walk him through her evidence, her facts and not her suspicions. Hilde states he was about the right age but she didn’t get a good look at his face because he had a beard. He understands as he has the same fixation and tells her about a bias. He assures her they all have a bias but they have to check it as they go. But she has to sticker with the evidence as that will lead her to the truth. They decide to go back to the beginning. She tells him about the dead birds and fish, linking them to the water as that might be where they got sick. If Walter drank from that water that might be why he is sick. It might be a poisoned pond. She is excited and they high five as he tells her to follow the facts.

The next morning, Matt spends time with Sylvester as they do puzzles. In the kitchen, Matt and Bridget discuss how they will talk to Izzy about her drinking. She’s just proud of Izzy for not getting into a car with someone else, but Matt wants to make it a big deal as this is important. She wants to make it normal so they can teach her responsibility. He wants to be stricter with her every day and weekend. She reminds him they both did things like that at their age. She knows Izzy is lonely and desperate to connect so they should focus on that. He wants to fix the behavior that could get her fired. Bridget realizes they are no longer talking about Izzy. Matt doesn’t think they would be living in Erie Harbor and making Izzy miserable if he could just stop making waves and do his job. He puts his head on his arm and groans, catching the attention of Ginny. She comforts him and they decide to start with structure and boundaries for Izzy. They think they should spend some one-on-one time with her.

They tell Izzy she will be helping Bridget out at the law office as opposed to a grounding. She wants the grounding or other choices but they refuse as this isn’t meant to be easier. He reminds her that someone her age shouldn’t be drinking as it impacts her choices. Bridget is worried that the older kids are influencing her more than Izzy realizes. Matt notes they’re happy she has new friends but they don’t want her to get caught up. Izzy is ready to start.

That afternoon, Matt, Bridget, and Jessica's father meet in Kim's office. Kim shows them a surveillance video that the school’s cameras caught just as the power came back on. The video shows Jessica and Izzy drinking in the parking lot and egging the school. There was no damage as it was a prank but they were drunk. She wants to give the kids a chance to redeem themselves. She’s giving them detention but if it happens again there will be serious consequences. Once the meeting is over, the Lisko's leave with Izzy and refuse to speak with her about the incident at the time.

Hilde comes home looking for her dad as she wants to tell him about her new source. She finds Briggs in the kitchen with her father. He tells her they’re just talking so she slowly leaves then comes back to eavesdrop. Briggs can deal with people shutting him out but not his son. Frank won’t talk to him and he just wants to be heard, so he wrote something. He wants to send it to him instead of a face-to-face conversation. He asks Matt to read the letter as he is a words person and knows Frank. Hilde walks in but Briggs thinks this is an adult conversation. She asks why as she’s a words person too. Briggs decides to let her read it as he never got very far treating her like a kid. She doesn’t get past the first sentence before calling him out on it being a poor apology. She knows her father would say to show him with her actions. Briggs argues that Frank is stubborn, but Matt knows he’s different now. Hilde explains that Frank sticks up for the little guy now. Matt calls him a good friend to the family even when they didn’t make it easy for him. Hilde thinks Frank deserves better than a letter. He deserves action. Briggs doesn’t know how to make things right. Hilde tells him to show Frank that he’s changed.

When a brick goes through the Johnson Farm's window, Matt rushes to the home as Izzy and Bridget were there at the time of the incident. Trip and Frank investigate the brick and are glad everyone is okay. Matt is there comforting Izzy and Bridget. Bridget plans to file the injunction right away. The women leave while Matt stays behind. They think it might be Wott Management but the guy drove away before Junior could get a good look at him. Frank offers to add the Johnson Farm to his daily patrol to give Junior added protection, but Trip refuses as this is still a standard vandalism case. She doesn’t want Rutherford to blame her for directing resources to her father. Junior knows it might be Wott but it could be some racist punks too, as he’s had run-ins with them in the past. Frank decides to check the perimeter for the car and Matt joins him. Trip assures her father it will be okay. Frank and Matt walk as they discuss him doing a story about the Johnson Farm as he had no idea they had problems before. Matt tells him about Brigg’s visit and how Briggs wants to fox things. Matt knows it isn’t his place but he can’t think of his kids not talking to him again. He tells Frank to break the cycle as his father might be trying this time. Frank will believe it when he sees it. He then spots a pile of broken bricks and investigates. They determined that they were casing the place and found the bricks as they could do damage.

Hilde runs into the house but Matt calls her back downstairs. She is emotional as the man wasn’t Richie. She gives him the photos as the man doesn’t look anything like Richie. She feels so stupid now but he tells her not to say that as he comforts her. She genuinely thought it was him. She lets her bias affect her story and thinks she’s a bad reporter. He assures her that she isn’t a bad reporter at all. He was supposed to teach her the job but instead, he gave her his bad habits. He wanted to believe it too - that Richie would come back. He wanted to believe it so badly, but she can’t find the truth if she’s trying to find something. She doesn’t think she has a story but he reminds her a story can be what it looks like or boring. She has to figure out what happened at Pinewood Pond. Sylvester remarks that he loves that pond and used to fish there all the time. Hilde wonders if Sylvester got sick the same way the fish did, but Matt doesn’t think it’s likely. He invites her along to the doctor’s appointment next week.

Matt and Hilde talk with Sylvester’s doctor about his health. Matt asks if there’s a chance he could have been exposed to something while fishing. The doctor tells them that Alzheimer's is an incredibly difficult disease. Hilde wonders if she’s wrong and if he could be sick with something treatable. Hilde wants to figure out what’s in the water so the doctor can make her grandpa better. The doctor agrees to try. Hilde goes to speak with Sylvester. The doctor asks Matt if she should have said no, but he doesn’t think Hilde would have believed her if she said no.

Sylvester and Hilde walk along the pier and he spins her happily while Matt tells them to be careful. Matt tells her she got a text from Frank for her. Hilde reads the text and then runs off as she has to go. Matt calls after her asking what the text “meet me at the place you were talking about” is about, but she doesn’t answer as she runs off.

Hilde comes home upset as the pond is gone. Matt thinks it’s great as she has an end to her story. Hilde can’t fix her grandfather now. He tells her that algae wouldn’t cause the symptoms Sylvester has. She thinks there could be more to the story and something else in the water that made him sick. He’s confused so she explains that he didn’t call it algae, but they did. He asks who “they” are, which she doesn’t know. But if it was the town they would have held hearings or more formal procedures instead of making it disappear. He feels like she’s reaching again. She wants to make Sylvester feel better. Matt tells her that she makes him feel better - like a magic potion. He tells her they can’t change or reverse what happened to him as it doesn’t work like that. She doesn’t care as she has to try.

In "Dark Rooms", Hilde tells Matt and Izzy about the man at the gas station and how she thinks he was trying to intimidate her. Izzy reminds Hilde that the man just ignored her. Matt asks to pause the conversation until dinner. Izzy starts to belittle Hilde until Matt intervenes. She corrects that Hilde just saved the town so she should try to enjoy that before moving on to the next conspiracy. Hilde sees her grandfather in the other room working and refuses to stop because each day he’s getting worse and no one is helping him. She knocks the camera off the table and instantly falls to her knees as she apologizes to Matt for breaking it. Bridget comes into the kitchen after hearing the noise. Matt assures Hilde that it’s okay and looks at it. He sees that it needs a new lens and he can fix it in a few days. Hilde thinks that’s too long, and just then, Sylvester gives her his camera. She’s confused about where the screen is but her parents explain that it’s a film camera and how special it was to get the film developed. Matt offers to help show her how to develop it.

That night, Matt talks to someone as he turns the lights in the house off. Bridget asks who it was - it was the harbormaster. His father is still renting out the boat slip at the marina. He remarks how much better Sylvester seemed at dinner and she agrees. However, she doesn’t think the moments of lucidity are helping them with Hilde as it’s giving her a false sense of hope. Bridget worries that the poisoning mystery is going to hurt Hilde, and neither one of them want to explain that solving the mystery will cure him. She wants Hilde to believe everyone will live forever but they don’t. Matt becomes emotional so Bridget comforts him.

The next day, Matt talks with the harbormaster about the boat. He remembers going fishing on the boat with his father. Matt tells the harbormaster that his father’s fishing days are over so the man explains the rent is paid for another month. A young Matt goes to the dock with Richie and Frank while Sylvester takes their picture.

Back at the Lisko house, Hilde tells Matt that her leads are dead ends but she knows there’s more to the story. She checked with the pet rescue place and there was a donation made like Strata Tech Industries president Grant Williams claimed her made after reading her story. They go to the basement which Matt has converted into a darkroom with his old photography equipment from high school. Taking pictures was how he got into journalism. They work together to develop the film. They hang the developed photos as they go. Most of them are photos of her and her friends, but some are also from Strata. She recognizes a sidewalk emblem from Strata as being the same one in the mansion.

Matt comes home just as Sylvester is digging through the stuff in his radiator. Matt offers to help but Sylvester doesn’t explain what it was. He’s holding a photo so Matt asks who the guys in the photo are. He wants to know who they are but Sylvester doesn’t remember. Bridget walks in to ask what they’re working on. She thinks one of them is Junior. Sylvester remarks that they were fishing but that’s all he remembers. Matt wants to invite them all over for lunch while Bridget recommends a fishing trip once Matt fixes the boat. Matt calls Frank to ask him for help in fixing up the boat and he agrees.

The next day, Junior explains that some of the people in the photo were from Erie Harbor while others worked at the plant. He writes the names down for Matt, who asks what Sylvester was like at that time. Junior explains that Sylvester was reserved and that’s how he got away with the elaborate pranks. He’d planned them out for weeks and had Alan Filana so convinced there were bears on the camping trip that he ran out of the tent naked and jumped into the lake. Junior hasn’t seen Alan in a while but thinks he’s still in town.

Matt knocks on a door when an older woman calls from the lawn asking if she can help him. The woman explains Alan passed away. She would love to talk about him, though, soothing Matt’s nervousness. Matt explains he’s trying to track down some of Sylvester’s old friends to help his dad. She recognizes two of the men and offers to give him their numbers.

When he comes home, he calls each name on the list and learns they have all died. One of the men was only 57 when he died. Bridget sees his frustration and her emotionally admits that all of Sylvester's friends are dead. In "The Black Box", Hilde comes home excited to tell her father about her adventures. He tells her to tone it down as Syl is sleeping. She obliges and tells him about Woodruff Mansion. Matt shows her the photo of Syl’s friends and his adventures to find them. Everyone but Junior is dead. He thinks she was right about Syl as they were sick far too young, so something in the town affected them or hurt some of them. He wants to dig into the story and she agrees to help him. She goes to walk away when he calls her back to ask what she was talking about when she came in. She quickly tells him about her adventure then leaves as he sits there confused.

Sylvester sits at the table with Ginny when Hilde bursts in. She’s frustrated that her search turned up nothing. Matt is still waiting to hear back from some people and hasn’t found anything yet. Hilde checks on Walter while Ginny watches Sylvester shake. Hilde thinks her bird is shaking more and Ginny agrees, though she’s referencing Sylvester. Matt looks over at them.

Hilde presents her board to her parents as she found a lot of information about her grandfather. She reveals that he was a volunteer firefighter, managing the Erie Harbor softball team for six years as he played first base. He realizes there was a lot he didn’t know, almost getting emotional. Hilde wants to show him the board and see if he remembers anything. Her parents are hesitant. Bridget explains that he becomes frustrated when he doesn’t remember things. Matt thinks hitting him with it all at once might not end well. She panics as they’re running out of time to help him. They decide to try it as a nice memory and not pressure him. They don’t want her to get a false sense of hope if it doesn’t work. Hilde accuses her parents of getting in the way instead of helping her. She takes her board and leaves the room.

Her parent's call her back downstairs a few minutes later. She comes downstairs to find Frank talking to her parents. His NTSB contact came through and the original magnetic tape was damaged debut heir lab was able to recover a decent audio track. Hilde thinks that’s great but their faces say otherwise. Matt reveals that it’s from Sam’s dad’s plane. It’s mostly static but there is something they all need to hear.

Matt and Bridget prepare Hilde for what is on the recording as it could get intense. She states that Sam is her friend and if there’s something on there that can help him she will. Bridget reminds her that they have to look out for her. Matt firmly tells her that if things get too intense he’s pulling her out of there with no negotiating. She agrees and he reminds her that the hardest stories to cover are the ones you care about.

Frank sets the computer down and plays the audio. They hear air traffic control and then Hank’s voice. Hank tells them to stand by and says “that’s gotta be it”. He’s turning around to get a closer look. He can’t believe that Richie was right. Matt is shocked as Hank Gillis knew Richie. Matt wonders if it’s because Richie loved planes but they all did. He plays the recording again. Hank is getting photos but something goes wrong as the engine’s stalling. The control center warns that his plane is getting too low. Hank knows something is wrong but notes that it’s too late. He asks the control center to tell his kids he loves them. Bridget stops the audio. Everyone is in a state of shock as Hilde looks at the airplane figurine. Later, Frank and Matt sit with Hilde and ask if she’s okay. She’s doing okay but playing with origami her grandfather made. She wonders what Hank was looking for when it crashed. Frank can’t do the math needed to figure out the location of the plane when it crashed. Matt knows that pilots need to file a flight plan. Hilde replays the audio in her mind and remembers that Hank wanted pictures. Richie must have told Sam’s dad to look for something. She finds it weird that Matt and Frank didn’t know their best friend was hanging out with an adult. Frank remarks that she hangs out with adults, but she justifies it as having sources. He’s a little offended as he thought they were friends. She smiles as she’s not sure yet. Frank adds that Richie could be introverted or shy sometimes. Hilde carefully admits that Spoon is like that sometimes. Matt and Frank discuss how Richie was like that sometimes even before anything happened. They wonder if that is who he was or if he was hiding something. Hilde wonders if someone hiding something like that means they don’t wanna be your friend. Matt tries to explain but struggles, so Frank intervenes. He explains that it can sometimes mean that they’re scared of what you’ll say. Matt adds that she has to help her friend through it. Hilde’s going to try and find that flight plan. Matt believes she will. The next afternoon, Matt visits Frank at the boat and learns he’s got it working again. Matt remarks he’s a genius and Frank agrees. Matt wonders why Frank is this happy and he reveals that he’s engaged to Kim. Matt hugs him as he congratulates him. He decides to make a toast using their old stash from the cabinet.

That night, Hilde and Matt go to Trip in the hope she’ll investigate the plane, but she’s more interested in why Hilde was in the basement in the first place. Matt argues that it was a party and there’s no law prohibiting a journalist from investigating a public event. He asks her to help them out. Rutherford observes and states he loves the first name basis thing the town has going on. Matt reveals that it might be Hank Gillis’s plane. Rutherford interjects that a wild-goose chase isn’t a waste of time. Trip asks Hilde if she’s sure she saw that so Trip and Rutherford head to the manor.

But this time, the plane parts are completely gone and a pool table is in its place. The man that’s been following her enters and she points him out to her father. He’s Karl Kurz, head of security. Hilde begins to confront him but Matt stops her. Trip apologizes for bothering him and Rutherford states he wants a word with her outside. Hilde tries to stop Trip but she isn’t interested. Everyone told her to stay away from the Lisko’s as they’re trouble. She was just dumb enough not to listen. Matt runs after her as he assures Hilde he’ll figure it out.

Ethan and Izzy are on the couch when Matt comes into the Lisko house. He asks if they’re okay and Hilde goes to check on Sylvester. Matt asks them what happened. Ethan tells Matt that his parents are either hashing out custody or getting back together again. He doesn’t want to be in the same house with them when they fight as he’s trying to get caught up in school. Bridget enters to tell Ethan his parents permitted him to stay with them for the night - in a separate room, of course. Matt assures Ethan that marriage is hard but his parents are doing the best they can. Ethan thanks them for having him and Matt agrees to one night downstairs. He reveals the stairs are creaky and ensures that Ethan understands what he’s saying. Izzy, meanwhile, is mortified. Hilde and Sylvester sit on his bed as she wonders what Hank saw before the crash. Matt opens the door to see if she wants to talk about Trip, but she doesn’t. She calls Trip just a source and that she has to focus. Sylvester states the waypoints are longitude and latitude. He shows her on a map as she reads off the coordinates to him. He tracks it on the map and finds the last place he went before going back. There’s a small island there that Matt points out. Matt wonders what could possibly be out there, and Hilde knows they have to find out.

In "What's Out There", Bridget and Matt are eating breakfast on the steps, causing Izzy to question their motives. Ethan appears on the top of the steps with folded clothes. Ginny asks if he lives there now. He nervously says it’s only temporary. He tries to thank the family for letting him stay, but Izzy thinks he’s being weird. He thanks Matt for lending him the pajamas but he has to go. Izzy gives her parent’s a look. Hilde approaches Izzy and asks if she cares to comment on her boyfriend living in her house. Izzy runs off while her family chuckles that it’s just a joke. Hilde then tells Matt they need to look for the island.

Hilde knows where Hank was headed and, using Sylvester’s boat, they can get to the island soon. Bridget worries that Hilde is getting involved with Richie again despite her saying not to. She’s worried Hilde is having nightmares again, but Hilde claims she hasn’t had them. She thinks whatever is on the island is why Richie was taken. Matt reminds her there’s no evidence to support that so Hilde wants to go find it. She shows him the island map but he’s unwavering as he promised Bridget he’d stay home so she could work. Hilde tries to sway them but the parents are on a united front for once despite Hilde’s antics. Bridget finally caves and agrees to stay home. Hilde drowns her mother in compliments as she hurries out the door.

Matt, Frank, Hilde, Spoon, and Donny take Sylvester's old boat to the island. With Frank operating the boat, Spoon pushes the lever to make it go faster. He remarks that you only have to be 12 to operate a boat in Washington, so he’ll be certified next year. He then tells them that something is up ahead and makes Franks top the boat. Spoon thinks it’s a reef but Matt knows it can’t be as there are no reefs in freshwater. The more they look, they realize the lake has overflowed and the fence. They decide to drop anchor at a sandy beach.

Matt carries Hilde to the shore on his back and helps Frank set up a picnic area on the beach. He and Frank want to go in a little further and leave the kids behind, which Hilde doesn’t like. He promises that if it’s safe they’ll come back and get them. Hilde is mad as this is her lead and story. He knows she’s frustrated but he’s still her dad and his gut is saying he needs to make sure he’s safe. He gives her binoculars to look for anything suspicious, and long-range radios from Frank so they can stay in contact. Now in the woods, Matt and Frank wonder who built the barrier in the lake. There aren’t any signs prohibiting people from coming onto the island, so they aren’t breaking any rules. They look at a strange marking on a tree which Frank remarks look familiar. Matt takes another photo, this time, of a long metal pipe. Frank wonders why someone would be the infrastructure. Matt calls Hilde asking if she’s okay. He asks about the boat so she lies that everything’s fine. He admits they found something that people must be using the island for. Frank spots someone running and alerts Matt, who inadvertently alerts Hilde. He tells her to stay by the boat so they can check it out. He investigates with Frank, as someone steps out behind them with a knife.

The men search for the person in the woods with them, and Frank spots them through the shrubbery. Matt thinks he’s a hunter but Frank chuckles that the man doesn’t look like a hunter. But he is moving fast and could know what’s going on at the island. However, they decide to head back to the kids first. They arrive back at the boat but don’t find the kids. Matt tries to reach them on the radio but doesn’t get a response. Frank wonders if they decided to look further inland, but Matt knows she went looking for the X.

Matt and Frank find Spoon and Donny who admit they left Hilde behind as they got into a fight. Spoon apologizes as Hilde went after the X on the map. They rush off to find her. When they do find her, they are shocked to see her with Frank Briggs Sr., who claims he's there for the same reason Hilde is - to find out what happened to Sam's father. They hear a helicopter overhead and quickly hide from its line of sight. Matt and Hilde find a waste dump of empty barrels filled with toxins. She wonders if the barrels are what Hank saw. This could be why the birds are dying as they could reach the water. She doesn’t think it explains the fish. He looks at the water and notices that it flows directly into the lake surrounding the island. The pollution is heading straight to their drinking water. The toxins are oozing out of containers. Hilde needs a sample so Matt goes to get one. They hear the helicopters and hide so no one spots them. The plane stays low to the ground.

In "Just a Bird", Matt makes coffee and then steps over toys as he makes his way to the garage to talk with Bridget. He hands her a mug of coffee. They have to talk in the playroom to avoid the kids. Matt sent out a sample of the toxins and water to see what they’re dealing with before reporting it. He feels stupid for taking Hilde out there but she makes him sit with her. She remarks they’re cut from the same cloth and he knows that he should have stayed home to look after Sylvester and Ginny. She assures him that nothing happened and he’s just under a lot of stress. She asks if he’s okay and he admits he will be okay. They hear the girls arguing and realize they have to go inside. As they come inside, Trip is taking Hilde down to the Holmes County Sheriff's Department.

Down at the sheriff’s department, Trip has arrested the trio for criminal trespassing, which Bridget remarks is conjecture. Donny has to do his inhaler. Trip remarks that the island is private property but needs to know how they go to the island in the first place. Spoon states that he has his permit, but Trip isn’t buying their excuses. Matt admits she brought the kids out there as an educational field trip but they didn’t know it was private property. Trip informs them that each kid will pay a ticket but since Matt is an adult, charges might be pressed. She admits that Wott Management owns the land and has evidence of the trespassing - a drone that took a photo of the three kids. Michael Davis is surprised to see his drone as Donny took it without permission. Matt is rather amused at how the kids managed to get a drone, even letting out a chuckle, which earns him a look from Bridget.

Bridget offers to help Michael fight the tickets. Matt has faced this before which angers Michael as he wants him to leave his son out of it next time. Meanwhile, Hilde tells her friends this won’t slow them down, but they are mad now. Donny’s father is mad and won’t get his drone back, while Spoon’s mother pulls a double shift. They don’t want her help, either. Michael leaves with Spoon and Donny. Bridget and Matt still can’t reach Izzy as she just claims to be home soon. They had to ask Kim to babysit but also put her in a position not to tell Frank about the charges. They call Hilde over to tell her that Trip, who joins the family, convinced Wott to drop the charges. However, it’s contingent on her not publishing anything about the island. Hilde doesn’t want to be silenced. Trip argues that they broke the law and, as an officer, she has to hold everyone accountable. Hilde accuses her of helping Wott, but Trip doesn’t want to be doing any of this. She wishes she could look the other way but that’s not how the department works. She has to face consequences for her actions, with Matt admitting she’ll pay the ticket. Hilde looks over at the Wott employees and adds she won’t stop reporting.

Bridget can’t reach Izzy while Matt wants to stop Hilde from publishing the story. Izzy comes in and is reprimanded by her parents for coming home late. Izzy finally snaps that she had to get some privacy and begins to break down as she had a horrible night. She accuses them of having no idea what she’s going through. Bridget assures her they want to know and hugs her daughter. Matt decides they can talk about it in the morning. Izzy then proposes moving into the attic so she can get more privacy. The next morning, Matt and Hilde are working as she clicks her pen incessantly. She’s annoyed that people don’t want to know the truth. They uncovered a huge story but no one wants to know. He tells her that bad news makes people feel helpless so they don’t want to know. She thinks that’s why he didn’t want her to find out why Sylvester was sick. He admits he was afraid the answer would be something he couldn’t help Sylvester with. She wishes she could ask Sylvester about it so they could go back in time with him. She knows it’s a stupid idea but he isn’t so sure. Ginny intercepts Hilde to show her the book she made of her adventure with Sylvester, and Hilde barely looks through the book before running off.

Matt is looking through files to find his story about reminiscing therapy as it’s supposed to help people with dementia remember the past. They were able to recreate the past to help people remember. They want to try it so Hilde calls for Ginny again to look at the book for real this time. They find Scoglio’s which is a restaurant Matt and Sylvester went to years ago, though it closed down. Hilde wants to recreate it and runs off to get her family to help. Matt tells Ginny she did a great job.

They decorate the house to make it look like a restaurant. The family sits down to eat together as Bridget asks about Jane. Sylvester admits Jane hated the place at first as it reminded her of the social clubs in Chicago. He dragged her there anyway because it was the best veal chop in Erie Harbor. He doesn’t understand why the guys are so late today of all days. The Plant Five boys are leaving Strata. They each got a big severance check and everyone’s getting one since the division is being shut down. Hilde shows him a picture of the men and he notes that’s them, except Junior, who didn’t work that. Strata gave them all money for putting them out of work, but he’s glad as the spray made him cough like crazy. It was sealant they sprayed on planes. A Strata doctor checked them out and concluded that the headaches were from the dust in the plant. Hilde asks if he believed them, but Sylvester whispers that it doesn’t matter anymore. He admits that he’s taking his severance money to open a bicycle shop. He asks what Matt thinks and Matt remarks he thinks it’s great. He wants Matt to like it as the shop will be his one day. Matt assures Sylvester he does love it.

Hilde and her parents talk about how they can’t prove the intent of Strata. Ginny walks in as Walter has died. The next day, Hilde buries Walter with her family in the yard outside. Spoon and Donny also come. Hilde gives a speech to Walter as she tried everything to make him better but it wasn’t enough. Matt finds himself watching Sylvester. Hilde places Walter on the ground as she says goodbye, tossing a handful of dirt into the hole. Ginny follows suit with the dirt. Izzy asks Hilde if she’s okay, and Hilde states she’s fine as he’s just a bird.

Matt walks downstairs to find Hilde doing research. He offers to tag in for a while as her little sister needs her big sister right now. Hilde hands over the highlighter and heads upstairs.

The next morning, Matt is sitting at the desk as the water sample results come in. Hilde finds him and asks what’s wrong. He reveals there’s cadmium in the barrels - a heavy metal. What’s more, heavy metal is linked to dementia. This could be why Sylvester goes in and out, as it’s not just memory loss. Hilde takes a sharp breath and Matt wonders what’s wrong. She shows him proof that Strata used cadmium but allegedly disposed of it which could be a lie. Matt thinks the barrels could have come from Strata Tech. He angrily realizes they’ve been covering it up for years, decades even. They might not be able to reverse Sylvester's illness if cadmium is responsible. She wants them to pay. Hilde gets to work on writing a new article.

In "The Bad Guy", Hilde rushes home from school to find Karl Kurtz in the doorway. Matt calls her into the living room where Grant Williams, the president of Strata, is waiting for her. Hilde demands to know what he’s doing here and he retorts that he’s there to comment. She turns on her tape recorder, sets it down, and the two square off. She confronts him about the cadmium and accuses him of poisoning the town’s water supply. He denies the allegation but does admit that there was a leak at an old facility but they cleaned it up. She thought Wott Management owned that land. He admits that Wott Management is one of his subsidiaries, with Matt commenting that it’s a shell company. Hilde accuses Grant of covering up what happened on the island. While he understands why it appears that way, it’s an internal issue. She wants him to take responsibility for what he did. He notes that this seems personal to her and accuses her of not being objective. She does think he’s the bad guy as he claimed. Grant wants to have a word with the grown-ups outside.

Bridget, Matt, and Grant speak outside. Matt confronts Grant for being responsible for the spill, but Grant never said that only that they are involved in the clean-up. Bridget doesn’t seem to have a problem with Hilde publishing her article if that’s true. While she can, he doesn’t know what good it will do as they have already taken care of it. He doesn’t want anyone to get hurt on his watch. Matt scoffs that it’s too late for that, as his father worked for Strata and was exposed to those chemicals, which proves they were using it for two decades or longer. Grant’s family didn’t know that back then and provides a thinly veiled threat on how the town would respond to Hilde’s article resulting in job loss or economic misfortune. He warns they need to control their daughter. Matt barely contains himself as Grant stalks off. Hilde, having eavesdropped on the entire conversation from her bedroom window, opens her laptop to get to work.

The next morning, Matt reveals he emailed his editor with a bunch of Freedom of Information Act requests as Sylvester’s records don’t match Strata's. Bridget wonders if they did the right thing by letting Hilde publish her article. Hilde enters the kitchen as she solemnly admits that no one is reading her article, not even Donny or Spoon, who don’t seem to care about the paper anymore. Matt and Bridget are sympathetic to her situation, but also her friends, as they don’t have the same exposure to journalist repercussions as Hilde. Hilde thought things would get better once the article was published since Strata wouldn’t be able to hurt them either. Bridget thinks they’re more hurt by Hilde than Strata. Matt and Bridge advise her to make things right with her friends by focusing on them for a change. They mention the upcoming Spirit Week at school, just as Izzy sulks into the kitchen. Izzy isn’t a school-spirit kinda person and goes to leave. Bridget answers a call from Junior and tells Matt to turn on the news. The family gathers in the living room and turns on an old TV. The newscaster reveals that the Johnson Farm has just been sold to Strata Tech Industries after old chemicals were found on the land. Grant gives an interview where he admits to the cadmium being improperly disposed of, but he's cleaned it up immediately. A reporter asks if the public is at risk, but Grant lies that they aren’t. They purchased the land to store the residual industrial waste. The Lisko’s are in shock as Hilde can’t believe that no one will know what Strata did to Sylvester or Junior.

Matt is working while Sylvester looks through old photos. Bridget returns as Matt admits that he found more Plant Five employees but no public complaints. They’re just the first family to not stay quiet about their thoughts. Matt sees Sylvester looking at photos of Richie’s last birthday they spent together at the airfield. He forgot that Hank Gillis was there, too. He showed them some of the old planes as a treat. The photos were also from right before he crashed his plane. Matt asks Sylvester if he remembers Hank, but Sylvester focuses on the picture album instead.

Matt comes home to find Sylvester sound asleep. Bridget joins him as Matt admits he blames himself for the time they lost not spending together. He now blames Strata for doing this to his father. She knows and they hug tightly. Later, Bridget apologizes as she hangs up the phone to tell Matt that Hilde was stealing data from Strata servers. Matt knows she pushed it too far this time. She gets tunnel vision and loses sight of what’s right or wrong. Izzy admits it wasn’t her fault. She reveals it was their idea, her, Ethan, and Emma. She reveals that Strata has files of them on the computer. They can’t prove it as they lost the thumb drive. She knows Hilde wouldn’t lie about this.

The next day, Matt gets an email from an anonymous person and calls Hilde over. It's a video recording of Hank and Gillis and Arthur Conway, air traffic control tower. Arthur worked with Hank. They believe the sealant is causing health risks as they heard company executives talking about cadmium. They had it tested and it came back toxic. Hilde realizes that Strata allegedly stopped using cadmium in the 70s, but this recording from 1987 proves they lied. In the recording, Hank reveals that it makes sense since a lot of workers at the coating plant have gotten sick. They overheard the executives while showing Richie the planes at a birthday party.

In "The Biggest Life", Matt comes home with a surprise for Sylvester - a captain’s hat. He thinks his dad will love it. He opens the bedroom door but Sylvester doesn’t stir. Matt removes his hat as he slowly picks up his father’s hand, knowing the truth right away. He sits by the bed and cries as he says he’s there.

Hilde bikes home but skids to a stop when she sees the ambulance. She turns up the drive to her father who beckons her to him. He tells her that Sylvester has passed away and she breaks down as he soothes her. He assures her that he slipped away in his sleep and went peacefully. Hilde sobs and Matt pulls her close to his chest as she sobs.

Matt sits on the boat drinking beer while watching the sunset over the water. Frank, Kathryn, and Kim arrive at the Lisko house with food. They share hugs with Bridget and Matt. The next morning, Hilde is in Sylvester’s room looking at her latest article. She remarks that it’s too late now and throws the paper away. A man arrives at the door asking for Hilde, as she’s being served. Matt is surprised as the parents read the injunction. It will halt the publication and dissemination of Hilde’s article. Bridget tells Hilde that she can’t publish anything. Bridget reveals that it’s not Strata but everything her paper covers. Hilde emotionally runs off as Matt assures Bridget he can handle it as he follows her.

Matt is picking up Sylvester’s stuff but Bridget tells him he doesn’t have to do it now. Matt remarks that his father lived in the house for forty years, and remembers how Sylvester refused to move to Brooklyn when he got sick. He loved the town and it poisoned him. He bitterly says the town took away his father when he was a kid and they’ve done it again now. Bridget holds his hands as he admits it isn’t fair that Sylvester died at 69 years old. He’s angry that the town didn’t protect him from the spray. That no one cared enough to save his father. Hilde overhears and comes into the room, putting a hand on Matt’s shoulder to assure him it’s okay. He abruptly stands as it’s not okay. He should have protected her and Sylvester from Strata. Hilde hugs her father and he apologizes after a moment as a lot is going on. The family attends the funeral and service. At the burial site, Hilde gives a beautiful speech to those in attendance. Matt supports her when she looks to him, and places a hand on her shoulder. When she finishes, Matt thanks everyone for coming.

By nightfall, Matt is playing his guitar while Bridget, Ginny, and Izzy set the table. Hilde asks Matt if Strata will ever pay for what they did but he doesn’t know. He won’t give up without a fight. All Hilde wants is to show the world what Strata did to Sylvester and the others. She wants to keep going for him. Matt promises her they’ll figure something out together, as a family. She brings up the family newsletters she used to mail to Sylvester. She wants to make a newsletter as a special edition to the paper. Izzy remarks that the court order only applied to The Magic Hour Chronicle, so long it isn’t the same name, articles could just show up. Bridget remarks that she might have to give Izzy a raise. Matt thinks they should do this and decide to do it together.

The next afternoon, Matt and Bridget are in the parking lot of Erie Harbor School and witness Izzy's moving speech to her classmates about taking action against Strata. They return home, where Matt is so happy to see Izzy be so sure of herself as the other students were receptive. Bridget is worried about the suit threatening Hilde as they could bleed the family dry financially. Matt gets a text and calls Hilde into the room. He spoke to an air force general who knew Arthur and where he worked after. Arthur left Strata to be an air force control room and was the voice on the black box. Matt thinks he’s found his first eyewitness. Matt pulls out their passports as they’re going to Canada.

Matt and Hilde pull up to the immigration station where they hand their passports over, before passing through the terminal. They pull up to the house and Hilde has copies of her article to give to the man. Matt wants to make sure it’s safe first as they don’t know what state of mind Arthur is in. However, if he’s a normal person, she can come in. Matt knocks on the front door and a little boy answers. The boy reveals his grandpa died last year, but he can get his dad. Matt waits inside per the boy’s request. Matt looks around and at photographs on the walls. The man appears and both of them freeze. The man realizes the man is Matty, and when Matt looks down at the photo, he realizes the man is Richie. Richie asks how Matt found him. Hilde appears and is shocked to see Richie there.

In "The Smoking Gun", Hilde stands in the living room as Matt can’t believe it’s Richie. An adult Richie has Tommy show Hilde his room, something Matt allows. Richie asks how Matt found him, but Matt didn’t know he was there. Matt apologizes as he’s a bit stunned. He came looking for Arthur Conway with his daughter, as they want to talk to him about Strata. They know he’s a whistleblower. He tells Richie about the video of Hank and Arthur. Matt asks Richie where he’s been and what he’s doing there. Richie admits that Arthur brought him there - he wasn’t kidnapped, but rescued.

Matt is confused and asks Richie what he means. Richie reveals he’s the reason Arthur had to blow the whistle. When his mom got sick she started taking him down to the airfield to watch the planes, which is where he met Arthur. He didn’t know it then, but Arthur was his biological father. Matt looks at the photographs of Matt and Arthur together. He asks if anyone else knew, but Richie doesn’t think so. She wanted him not to tell anyone about the airfield as things were hard enough at home, referencing his father’s abusive nature. Richie was happy at Strata but overheard something he wasn’t supposed to.

Arthur let him check out a new plane as it was being built. The executives were talking about cadmium and how toxic it was. They didn’t want anyone to know about it so they hid it outside of town, on the island. Richie warned Hank and Arthur who then came forward. They thought they could force Strata to tell the truth. But instead, they came after them one by one. Arthur had to get Richie out of there and put his trust in the wrong man, Ezekiel, and things went wrong. When they didn’t show at the meeting point, Arthur came for him and they’ve lived in Canada ever since.

Hilde suddenly appears as she knew Strata was the reason he had to leave because of the chemicals. She asks him to come back as he’s the eyewitness they need to take them down. Richie is confused as to whom she means, so Hilde interjects that Strata is denying everything and is the reason her grandfather died. Richie didn’t know Sylvester died and asks what happened. Matt admits it was the cadmium as Strata is claiming they didn’t know back then. Richie knows they did and that Arthur had proof, a smoking gun - he had video evidence of an executive admitting to everything. He planned to bring it to the police but then Strata sabotaged Hank’s plane.

Arthur left town that night and made a plan to get Richie out. He doesn’t know where the tape is now as his father wouldn’t tell him. It was too dangerous for him in Erie Harbor. He admits he killed a man so he can never go back. Matt calls him Richie but he refuses to be called that as that isn’t who he is anymore. He refuses to help them and tells them to leave. Hilde thinks they can fight this together, looking to her father for reassurance, but Matt thinks they should go. As they do, Hilde gives Richie a packet as she admits there were people in Erie Harbor who loved him and never gave up on him.

Matt and Hilde come back to the office where they reveal they found Richie and he’s alive. Izzy thinks it’s messed up that Richie knew Sam was arrested and didn’t tell anyone it was the wrong guy. However, Matt reasons that Richie might not have known as he lived in a different country and Sam’s story was local news. Hilde thinks he could be here now but won’t now. Matt reasons that Richie killed a man but Bridget knows that there could be legal repercussions for Richie. They have to report Richie being alive to the police or they could be accused of covering it up. Matt leaves to handle this himself.

Matt goes to the Sheriff’s station where he tells Trip, Kim, and Frank about Richie being alive. Trip has to tell the state he’s alive so he can be extradited to Erie Harbor to face his day in court. While the prosecution might not press charges, there are protocols she has to follow. Frank is still in disbelief that it was Richie, and Matt assures Frank that it was him but Richie was scared. Kim is surprised he had a son and Matt tells them how Tommy looks just like Richie did as a kid. Frank wants to go talk Richie down and explain everything beforehand to protect him. He turns to Trip to ask her to wait until tomorrow, but she can’t if he asks, so he isn’t asking. He quickly leaves the station.

In the Lisko house, the girls are watching the tape and wondering where Arthur’s tape could be. They have to find out what Arthur did on the day Hank’s plane crashed. Hilde asks Matt if he remembers anything about that day. He remembers going fishing with Sylvester, Frank, and Richie on the pier. They were supposed to go on a fishing trip. He remembers Arthur being there as he told them about Hank’s plane crash. Hilde wonders if the tape could be on Sylvester’s boat. She tells Bridget and Izzy to bring a bunch of people to town hall so they can convince them. Hilde and Matt head to the pier where Spoon and Donny are there, ready to help.

Matt and the group look over the whole boat but don’t see anything. Donny gets a text and goes quiet. He reveals that Strata knows about the lawsuit and sent an email to the entire company. Matt takes a look and reads the email aloud and it threatens everyone’s job. Donny leaves to check on his dad, with Spoon having to leave so he can hang up the fliers at school. Spoon tells them to try not to get arrested as the group leaves.

Matt doubts the tape would even survive after thirty years. They sit together as Hilde brainstorms where Arthur could have hit the tape to keep Richie safe. She wonders if he moved the tape like how Sylvester used to hide things in the heating vent. They rush home and she pulls a notebook out of the vent in Sylvester’s room. Matt looks through it as it’s a journal of notes about Hank’s disappearance and how something was wrong. Sylvester saw his old friends dying and tried to piece it all together. He just ran out of time before he could solve it. Matt thinks he could have helped him with it if had been there, but he never knew about it. The notebook reveals he didn’t have the tape, but also that he wanted to know what was happening to him.

When Izzy and Bridget return home, they reveal their car has been spray-painted to say "traitor". Matt can’t believe that someone spray-painted their car. Bridget is worried that they know where they live and that the town hall was a bad idea. There’s a knock on the door as the girls nervously look at Matt, who goes to check it out. Trip and Kim enter the house with bad news - Richie is gone. Trip held off on calling it in but he left soon after their visit. Bridget calls for Hilde as the town hall starts soon. Hilde, however, can’t find her notebook. Matt offers Sylvester’s notebook instead so she can finish what he started. The Lisko’s arrive at the town hall but it’s virtually empty. Grant and his Strata employees are also there, much to Hilde’s chagrin. Matt assures her that she doesn’t have to do this, but she wants Grant to hear it even if it doesn’t make a difference. Spoon and Donny are waiting for her up on the stage. Hilde stops in front of Grant, who is happy to listen to the community’s complaints, though she doesn’t have much support. He tells her to say her piece and then go home. Hilde goes to the microphone and shakily begins her speech.

Izzy live streams the speech on her Instagram account. Hilde talks about losing Sylvester too quickly. She reveals that he worked at Strata before opening a bike shop. Nearly everyone in attendance knew someone who worked there or worked there themselves. Hilde looks at the memory board behind her. She reveals there are so many stories about former Strata employees who got sick and died too young. They were people who were loved - somebody’s mother, somebody’s son, and everybody wishes they had more time but those people should have had it. Grant is aware of the baseless lawsuit to benefit off the misfortune of others.

Frank angrily says that she’s doing it for free, while Kim states the family cares about the truth and helping people. Hilde blurts out that Grant’s father poisoned the town. Grant threatens Hilde with his lawyer as Matt angrily tells them not to speak of her that way. Grant knows they have no proof or case. Sam Gillis arrives as they have a case because now they have an eyewitness. A door opens and moments later, Richie walks through the door. He reveals that he’s Richie Fife. Everyone stands to turn to face the men as they walk to the front. Izzy tells Ethan to tell everyone to watch her live now. Richie read the articles and knew he had to come back. He felt he was running his whole life even when he was standing still. He doesn’t want his son to see him running away. Sam wants Strata to pay for what it did to everyone.

Hilde admits she couldn’t find the tape, but Richie had it the whole time. He panicked because he was trying to get rid of them. He apologizes for misleading them. She’s glad he’s there now and plays the tape. It’s part of the deposition that they already have as it didn’t change anything. Richie fast forwards and tells her to wait. Arthur visited Mr. Williams who demands a name for the person talking about the chemical. Arthur reveals that it was Grant. Mr. Williams states that Grant never thinks before he speaks. The date of the recording was September 20th, 1987. Grant stands as this doesn’t change anything, threatening to bury them in paperwork for twenty years as the tape won't see the light of day.

Donny pulls back the curtain to reveal it’s too late. Outside, everyone is streaming and recording the tape. Ethan has projected the live stream on the side of the town hall. Trip places Grant Williams under arrest as the town cheers. Matt hugs Hilde for doing a great job. Richie apologizes to Sam as he can’t make up for the lost time. He didn’t know what happened but Sam knows he was just a kid, but Richie knows Sam was too. The two men share a hug, and it’s as if a hug spawns generations from the 80s to now. Richie smiles over at Hilde and Matt. With Strata Tech Industries finally paying for their past mistakes, the town can begin to heal. Everyone gathers around a firepit at the shore front, reunited once again. Bridget embraces Matt from the site and he holds her. Matt then sits on a log while she socializes with Trip and Junior. Matt finds the toy he won that day in the arcade in his vest pocket. He begins to fiddle with it as he always does. Frank joins Kim, Matt, and Richie, remarking that he can’t get over how old they all are. Sam smiles happily. Matt remembers hanging out in the same place years ago. Kim can’t believe they are all there. Frank remarks it’s because of a girl who never gave up for a kid she never even knew. Hilde jumps off the log to look at her father, this time, smiling and giving the signal that Sylvester showed her. It was meant to be his way of telling Matt he loved him from a distance. Matt is touched by the sentiment and returns the symbol. Hilde smiles then runs back to join her sisters and friends on the log.

Physical Appearance
Matt is a young adult with an oval-shaped face, long black hair that reaches past his jaw, a trimmed black beard, and thick black eyelashes. He has deep brown eyes and a relaxed build. He wears casual clothing like jeans and flannels.

Notes and Trivia

 * Many facts were revealed about Matt through his Washington State driver's license. It was issued on March 11, 2019.
 * He was born in January 21st, 1977.
 * He lives on 8511 Hemlock Road in Erie Harbor, WA, 98389.
 * He is an organ donor.
 * He is 6'0" tall, weights 165lbs, and has brown eyes.
 * His New York State driver's license lists him as living on 824 Ridge Crest Terrace, #1 in Brooklyn, NY 11209. This license was issued on January 23, 2018.