The Equalizer airs tonight on CBS with an all-new Sunday, April 27, 2025, season 5 episode 17 called “Acceptance,” and we have your The Equalizer recap below.
In tonight’s The Equalizer episode as per the CW synopsis, “When Dante’s brother, James, seeks the team’s help to clear his client’s name in a shooting, they uncover a plot to bomb an international anti-terrorism conference.
Meanwhile, Delilah gets ready for prom and learns she has been accepted to UCLA.”
Tonight’s episode is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our The Equalizer recap between 10 PM – 11 PM ET! While you wait for the recap make sure to check out all our television recaps, news, spoilers & more, right here!
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In tonight’s The Equalizer episode, Detective Dante’s brother reached out tonight. James needed his help. It just wasn’t for himself. James was a lawyer and he has this client. The guy was picked up at the scene of a homicide. There was no real evidence connecting him to the murder of a janitor nor was there gun residue on his hands.
James got his client released and then he disappeared. His name is Ryan Goodwin. Or so he claimed. James looked for him. Ryan’s phone number was disconnected. His hotel had never heard of him much less seen him. James was worried he might have released someone very dangerous and so he went to Dante. His contacts told him that he knew the Equalizer.
Dante couldn’t bring Robyn into this. He just got his job back at the NYPD. He was still rebuilding trust with Captain Watkins. Plus, he was a little hurt that James reached out about a client. He was hoping that James reached out for another reason. He offered to introduce his brother to his sons and he thought that’s why James stopped by his office.
Dante was so hurt by that he accused James of looking for Ryan to protect his own reputation. He thought the worst of his brother. They were technically half-brothers. They met last year for the fist time. They were still getting to know each other.
Dante had another reason for not wanting to loop in Robyn. It was Dee’s prom tonight. Both the young woman and her family have been looking forward to this moment for a year. It was a lot that goes into these things for a teenage girl.
Her hair, makeup, dress, and accessories were meticulously planned for months before time. Robyn also surprised Dee with a family heirloom. There was a necklace that has been passed down for nearly a century. They never sold it even as things got tough.
Dee finally got to wear it. She was so happy. She just heard back from UCLA and she’s been accepted. She was worried about going to California for school. She has a boyfriend she really likes. He was good guy.
He was her date to prom and showed up in an amazing tux. Robyn likes him, but she had to miss the moment and the photos. She got a call about a possible dangerous situation and Dee understood. She gave her mom permission to go. She said she was going to be fine. She even thought she was going to be fine.
The trouble all started when Cameron tried to pin the corsage to her dress. He accidentally snapped her dress strap. It wasn’t a big issue. Aunt Vi said she could sew it back stronger than ever.
She just needed ten minutes. Cameron was supposed to wait on the coach. Until he saw Dee’s acceptance letter from UCLA. Cameron wasn’t going to college. He gave it up to start his business and business was good. He also knew that Dee wanted to get into UCLA so he shouldn’t have held her wanting to take a dream opportunity against her.
Cameron made this about him. It wasn’t. Robyn could have said as much if she had been there and hadn’t been. She was off dealing with Dante’s problem. His brother’s client wasn’t really Ryan Goodwin. His real name is Nathaniel Cromwell. He was a notorious assassin.
He was wanted by every agency in the world and was known for political assassinations. He wouldn’t kill a mere janitor. Not if it would risk his cover or his new face. He got plastic surgery to enter the country and he could have stayed under the radar if his lawyer had been anyone other than James.
James became a lawyer after visiting his father in prison. He watched what it did to everyone. The men locked up and to their families that visited them all the time. He became a defense lawyer because he believed in justice. He wanted to give everyone a fighting chance.
Only he didn’t want guilty men to go free. He became suspicious of his client and he took this to his brother. They learned the man’s real name. He was an assassin. He kills people and he killed a contact after the man built a bomb for him. And so Dante couldn’t let his brother be involved after that.
Dante was trained. His friends were trained. James was his kid brother and so he told him that he’ll handle the rest. He didn’t want James to be connected in any way in case things got messy.
Which they did. They found out Cromwell killed the janitor to gain access to one of the places he cleaned and they soon realized it was the Pearson Hotel. There was a meeting of the IATC at that hotel. There were a lot of dignitaries there. Dante also ran into Captain Watkins there. He had to tell her about the situation.
Watkins told him she’d fire him if he worked with the Equalizer again. When she saw him at the hotel, she threatened to keep that promise. Dante said he knew and he didn’t mind. He mentioned there was a bomb at play. He said his friends were looking for it. They were and they found it.
They even disarmed it with some help from Kaos. Kaos was reverting back to his secluded ways. Harry got him out of the house. He was doing his best to socialize him and so Kaos offered to help his friend in return.
Thanks to Kaos’ own program, they disarmed that bomb in time. Cromwell knew he had been made when it didn’t go off. He tried shooting his way out of the hotel and almost killed Captain Watkins in the process.
Robyn saved her life. Watkins owed her, but she used that favor almost immediately to get a police escort to Dee’s prom. She was there for the photos and by then Dee’s situation took a turn for the better. Her boyfriend thought she was keeping secrets when she didn’t immediately tell him about UCLA. They got into a huge fight in the limo ride.
Cameron nearly broke up with her. What saved them was that Dee was able to convince him she wasn’t keeping a secret. She just found out about the acceptance. She was considering her options and she would have told him everything. She might not go to UCLA. And if she did, she still wanted to date albeit long-distance because she genuinely loves him.
A feeling he returned.
Robyn got to see her daughter happy because she didn’t know about the drama. She kissed her daughter and she heard from Dante that he spoke with his brother. James had been worried about him.
He thought he might have almost killed Dante by getting him involved with a bomber. It made James realize that he does want a relationship with Dante. He agreed to meet his nephews and the two brothers walked away with mutual respect for each other. Watkins also didn’t fire him. She knew he was too good of a cop to throw away.
Dante and Robyn decided to have a weekend away when Salazar surprised them. Remember Salazar. He’s the guy that’s been hunting Robyn for months and wants to kill her. He didn’t show up at the cabin hoping to talk.
THE END!