Tonight on CBS their new show S.W.A.T. inspired by the television series and feature film airs with an all-new Friday, May 16, 2025, series finale episode, and we have your S.W.A.T. recap below.
On tonight’s S.W.A.T. season 8 episode 22 called “Return to Base,” as per the CBS synopsis, “The SWAT team undertakes its final mission when a violent crew of ex-pat Russian mercenaries holds Los Angeles hostage after planting hundreds of hidden explosives across the city in a bid to extort the release of their brutal leader, Dmitri Rykov.
When Rykov is brought to SWAT for safekeeping, SWAT HQ comes under attack, forcing Hondo and 20-Squad to fight for their very survival, in the second part of the two-hour series finale of S.W.A.T.”
So make sure to stop by tonight between 10 PM and 11 PM ET for our S.W.A.T. recap. While you wait for our recap make sure to check out all our television news, videos, recaps, spoilers, and more, here!
Tonight’s SWAT recap starts now – Refresh the Page often to get the most current updates!
In tonight’s S.W.A.T. series final episode, continuing with tonight’s two-part Series Finale, SWAT was forced to say goodbye to Officer Gamble. Though they did their best to carry on like normal.
They were shutting down a meth lab when the cooks took off. Hondo arrested one. Deacon arrested one. Tan arrested one with Powell’s help. Miko was chasing after other cooks by himself when they ran through the park. There was one guy that stepped on something and it exploded from underneath him. It made everyone afraid to move.
Hondo threw his helmet at something shimmery in the park. It went off. He correctly named what it was. He said someone planted landmines all throughout the park. One of the chemists still tried to take his chance. He got an explosion in return. The others stayed put until it was deemed safe enough.
There was also an explosion at the beach. It was miles away from the park. Miko was nearly killed by these things and so he searched the park’s surveillance cameras. The landmines were dropped by drones. There was even a group that took responsibility.
They sent a video to the media. They openly admitted they planted landmines all throughout the city. They demanded the release of Dmitri Rykov or they will bomb all of LA.
Now, the cops checked with the feds. They didn’t have this Rykov. Rykov was secretly grabbed by the CIA. He was big in the Russian government. He had his own private army called the Red Sword. They were only able to grab Rykov because they found out he was visiting Thailand. And they had his plane rerouted to LA so that they could grab him.
Agent Owen Briggs confessed to everything. Hondo asked to speak with Rykov. He wanted to get to know this Red Sword and Briggs told him that was no longer his concern. SWAT just needed to focus on finding the landmines. The CIA said they would deal with the Red Sword. Hondo didn’t like being told to stay in line.
He had his team reach out to contacts connected to the Russian mob. These people talked about the Red Sword. They said they were boogey men back in Russia. They were so feared that no one wanted to cross them.
Hondo tracked down Briggs. He demanded answers. This time he didn’t back down. Briggs was forced to say that they were using Rykov in a prisoner swap. There were three American aide workers that got picked up not from the Russian border. They were arrested. They were tried as spies. They would have died in prison if the CIA hadn’t caught such a big fish. They were going to hand back Rykov to Russia in return for the aide workers, but Rykov was problematic. Hondo did get to speak to him and he didn’t want to call the Red Sword off.
Rykov bragged that his people will come to get him. He said they will kill many for his safe return. Even after he knew about the exchange, Rykov still wanted to teach the Americans a lesson for grabbing him.
He refused to call off his people. He sat smug knowing that his people would come after him. Briggs didn’t say anything at first. He left out that Rykov was exiled from Russia. His friends turned against him. Rykov also wasn’t wrong about his private army because they later tried to free him. He was being transferred to a blacksite. Red Sword crashed the car and shot Briggs.
Briggs was injured. Only he did kill one guy. Hondo killed the other. They ended up taking Rykov to SWAT Headquarters. Red Sword released another video. It said they would attack four hospitals for the blood of their brothers being spilled. Deac figured out the best place to launch such an attack.
He went there with his team. Hondo stayed behind to watch Rykov. There was a weird moment when Gamble stopped by to get her things. She heard about the chaos outside. She thought everyone would have left by then and she ran straight into her old team.
Deac stopped the others from asking Gamble what happened. He told them they had to roll out. Powell hugged Gamble before she left and it turns out Gamble grabbed her stuff at the worst possible time.
The Red Sword didn’t want to free Rykov. They wanted to kill him. Rykov knew that the Red Sword were involved in the Vaday incident. The Kremlin would go as far as forgive Rykov if he turned on his own people. He was trying to play both sides. If the transfer went through, he turned on the Red Sword. And if the Red Sword rescued him, he’d go back to being their leader.
Rykov never counted on the Red Sword finding out about his double-cross. He knew who they were. Where they lived. The members of their families! The Red Sword had to kill him else he’d always be a threat.
They mentioned attacking the hospital as a decoy. The cops went there. Most of the Red Sword attacked SWAT headquarters to get Rykov. They didn’t care about killing everyone else. They were fighting for their very lives. They attacked HQ right as Gamble was there. She wasn’t spotted right away. It gave her the chance to spy on the terrorists.
Gamble being there helped Hondo. She later saved his life. He stopped being angry at her long enough to thank her for the save. Rykov was also feeling less smug by then. He knew Red Sword wanted him dead.
He now wants to get back to Russia just to kill them as well as their families. Hondo’s team then showed up. Some stayed outside to pick off the terrorists at the entrance. Two went into the building on- way style. They linked up with Hicks. Hicks demanded to be part of the fight and Hondo felt the same.
They were picking off the Red Sword when Rykov escaped his handcuffs. Hondo went after him. They got into one on one combat. Hondo won and his people killed off the others. Red Sword threw all their drones at them. They were now out of the picture. It doesn’t matter if some members got away. Rykov’s transfer was pushed up. They were getting back their hostages and the Red Sword was officially done.
Miko took a shot to his vest. He broke some ribs and also made Powell his emergency contact for saving him. She wasn’t anyone else’s emergency contact before then. Afterwards, a lot happened.
Tan took the SWAT liaison position with the Mayor in spite of doubting himself after the SWAT Academy thing. Hondo talked Gamble into coming back. Her family has stopped talking to her now that Leon was back in prison and she hopes that they will come around eventually. Deacon also got a huge bonus for offering security to Frost’s new strip mall.
Deac used the money to pay off the house, set up college funds for the kids, and donate to charity. Everyone told him to do something for himself and so he used the rest to pay for the rebuilt of HQ. SWAT was home. They fought for it and they couldn’t wait until it was back on its feet.
In the meantime, they kept serving the city.
THE END!
