Ballard episode 4 recap: A funeral, a bullet, and a dangerous secret

We’re now four episodes deep into Ballard, and the stakes are rising fast for Detective Renée Ballard and her cold case team. If the early episodes hinted at corruption within the LAPD, Ballard Episode 4, Landmines, practically confirms it and does so while pushing Ballard to confront old ghosts she’d rather leave buried.

The hour begins with the team working quietly behind closed doors, determined to expose a web of dirty cops who might be trading weapons and secrets with cartels. At the same time, Ballard’s personal wounds keep bubbling to the surface, especially when the death of her former partner, Ken Chastain, shakes her fragile sense of resolve.

Between secret meetings, surprise funerals, and new forensic breakthroughs, Ballard Episode 4 ties together a lot of loose ends, but not before it blows open a few more. One thing’s clear: Ballard is no longer just about cold cases. It’s about trust, betrayal, and whether Ballard’s team can survive what they’re about to uncover.

Secrets, suspicions, and a missing bullet in Ballard Episode 4

Ballard Episode 4 kicks off with Ballard meeting covertly with Laffont and Zamira, agreeing to keep their suspicions of a corrupt police ring under wraps until they have solid proof. Meanwhile, Martina, the team’s tech whiz, works her magic to digitally reconstruct a missing bullet. That bullet turns out to be a crucial link, connecting the John Doe victim to Javier Fuentes, an inmate with ties to cartel gun running.

While Ballard’s team digs for answers, they’re also juggling a tangle of related threads: Colleen tries to find Yulia’s family to give them closure, while Laffont handles a sensitive witness who could out a powerful figure’s secret. Even as the detectives get closer to the truth, Ballard herself wrestles with news that Chastain, the partner who once let her down, has died in a drunk driving crash.

Funeral truths and a new enemy

Ballard’s first instinct is to stay away from the funeral, but in the end, she shows up, and so do Laffont and Zamira, quietly supporting her. Chastain’s widow drops a bombshell: Ken knew Ballard was telling the truth, and his regret was real. She also hints that Olivas, the same man who assaulted Ballard, might have harmed another woman on the force, someone who sounds a lot like Zamira.

The big twist lands when Javier, hoping for a deal, finally talks. He names a ring of dirty cops, claiming they trade guns and drugs with the cartels for profit. He even fingers the man who gave him the murder weapon: a former cop named Driscoll, known on the streets as “Montana.” As the credits roll, Driscoll is seen plotting with Manny and keeping an eye on Martina, who doesn’t realize how close danger really is.

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Ballard Episode 4 is a slow-burn puzzle piece that pulls the team closer together and closer to the line they can’t uncross. The question now isn’t whether Ballard can find the truth. It’s whether she’ll survive it when she does.

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