Cold Open: Sean is driving the scarab. Newmie, JD and Jason are trailing behind him, getting pounded by the wake. Newmie and JD both lose their grip, but Jason is able to hold on. When Dawn looks behind, she realizes that Jason has submerged beneath the surface, the “Path of Least Resistance.” She is very impressed by his natural ability to figure out this difficult maneuver. Sean is impressed, too, because going beneath the sur-face was going to be his big lesson for the day. Soon, JD and Newmie have gotten the trick and are going under with the same aplomb as Jason.
Back at the Haleiwa headquarters, Dawn spots an envelope addressed to her from Florida. She takes the envelope and starts walking away when MIKO MATSUMOTO enters. Miko will be the new dispatcher. She is not only great in the water, she can speak a number of languages including Japanese, German and French. Outside in the equipment area, Jason is stunned at the number of crazy inventions that JD is playing with. They include a rebreathing device, a lycra wetsuit and a mono fin (gigantic fin that allows one to swim like a dolphin).
Jason thinks JD’s “get rich quick” schemes are beyond pathetic, but JD has faith. Allie is helping SCOTT, a young boy, put on suntan lotion. She gives him advice on the type to use. Jessie stops by and challenges Allie to a race. Allie notices that Jessie is al-ways competitive, but agrees to race her nonetheless. MICKEY T, another lifeguard, watches the two women race and assumes there is something wrong. He jumps into the truck and follows them, and is happy to see that nothing is wrong.
As the women catch their breath, little Scott comes around again. He can’t find his mother. He doesn’t know his last name. For better or worse, Allie and Jessie know that Scott will be their respon-sibility for the day. Fortunately, Jessie has a toy truck in her bag just for such emergen-cies. Sean is working out. Dawn enters, concerned about the letter she received. Sean sees it’s serious and offers his assistance. Dawn confesses that back in Florida, she was part of a situation that might involve criminal charges. Worse, JD is involved as well.
JD tries out his swim suit and mono fin. Even the skeptical Jason must admit that both work more than well. Newmie and Kekoa are patrolling the beach in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Later in the day, Scott is still with Allie and Jessie. They know that his mother probably fell asleep and will have no idea how long he has been with them. Finally, Miko gets a call from her. Allie agrees to bring Scott back to her-even though the woman claims she just lost him a few minutes ago. Jessie bets that she won’t even be thanked for her efforts. She is correct. It is now confession time for Dawn: last year, while she was in Florida (where she met JD), she perjured herself in order to save the reputation of a lifeguard who died. JD had backed her up. Apparently, the lifeguard, LEON, was a drunk who had repeatedly asked his boss for help with his drinking problem.
No help had been forthcoming. In frustration, he had gone out for a swim and had gotten into trouble. A local civilian had seen what had happened and had gone out to help him. Then, he got in trouble. Dawn had to choose between saving the civilian and Leon. She chose the civilian. When she got him to the beach, he died of a heart attack. Dawn lied about what had happened to save his reputation for his children. Sean comforts her and says he’ll take care of it. Later, he calls the DA and tells him that the state is negligent, so if they don’t settle, then a scandal will blow up. As he finishes, Sean watches Dawn go out for a purifying swim.
Two kids are playing with a Frisbee by the ocean. One of them, LONNIE, falls into a hole and is quickly swept into a storm drain that recirculates water for a nearby electrical plant. He is caught and swept to a narrow grating covering the outlet to the ocean. He grabs on to the railing, but his strength is weakening. A bystander sees every-thing and grabs a cell phone from some bikini babes. He makes the emergency call. Within moments, the Baywatch team is on the case. Kai joins them. Kai feels that if he is tied to a rope, he can be lowered and rescue the kid. Unfortunately, Lonnie is too far down and a surge causes Kai to lose his balance. He goes tumbling through the water and out past the grating (which does not go all the way down to the ground-it is de-signed to keep people out, not in). His unconscious body is picked up by the scarab lo-cated outside.
JD has an idea next: using the trick they learned about going under water while being pulled by the scarab, wearing his lycra wet suit and using his mono fin, he feels he can get the boy. It is a risky maneuver, but might be the only one that will work. The scarab buzzes near the watery opening twice before JD has enough traction to swing around and go hurtling into the runoff. He then uses his monofin to make it to Lonnie, just moments before Lonnie, tired and exhausted, loses his grip. Everyone on the boat is tense because it is taking a long time for JD to resurface, but just then he bursts through. JD and Lonnie are pulled into the scarab. Sean is pleased with the work the team has done and is even more impressed with the teamwork and innovation they showed in the rescue of Lonnie. As a reward, he invites them to watch fireworks-from under water. The team is impressed by the sight. But they are even more impressed by JD, who uses his rebreathing device and can stay under water longer than they can.
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