Spenser: For Hire: Season 3
Season 3 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Spenser: For Hire Season 2.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 3 Progress Shield
Homecoming
Sep 27, 1987 · 60 min
A cop who helped send a gangster's son to prison years ago has been hiding, cause the gangster wants to get him. But now he wants to come home, so he and his father, asks Spenser t
My Enemy, My Friend
Oct 4, 1987 · 60 min
A streetwise young kid gets involved over his head in the underworld. Spenser and Hawk try to protect him from would-be killers.
The Heart of the Matter
Oct 11, 1987 · 60 min
Lt. Quirk faces his mortality when he suffers a heart attack. Spenser and Hawk protect him from revenge-minded villains as he recovers.
On the Night he Was Betrayed
Nov 1, 1987 · 60 min
Spenser helps an old friend, an alcoholic priest who tries to help homeless teenagers, when he gets involved over his head.
Sleepless Dreams
Nov 8, 1987 · 60 min
Spenser becomes obsessed with an apparently suicidal woman after a chance encounter on the street.
Consilum Abditum
Nov 15, 1987 · 60 min
Susan is in trouble when her claims of sexual harassment lead her college counselor to retaliate by hiring a hit man to keep her quiet. Spenser gets arrested for getting involved i
Thanksgiving
Nov 29, 1987 · 60 min
Spenser runs into an old friend while visiting a recreation of a Puritan village. Spenser does everything in his power to exonerate said friend when he's accused of a brutal slayin
Gone Fishin'
Dec 6, 1987 · 60 min
Spenser's fishing trip is interrupted when he has to protect a young man who's not allowed to marry the girl he loves.
Child's Play
Dec 20, 1987 · 60 min
A sniper takes some shots at Spenser and Susan, and a young boy ends up dead in the crossfire. Spenser sets out to determine why such a tragedy happened and track down the shooter.
Skeletons in the Closet
Jan 3, 1988 · 60 min
Spenser and Hawk find themselves on opposite sides of the same case. Spenser is hired to retrieve a stolen journal containing information damaging to a judge's career. Hawk is hire
The Siege
Jan 10, 1988 · 60 min
Hawk and Susan along with other people are held captive in a post office. Richard Brooks later seen on Law and Order during Season's 1 & 2 plays one of the hostage takers.
Arthur's Wake
Jan 16, 1988 · 60 min
Spenser protects an old friend, Arthur, after he's assaulted and robbed. In the course of his investigation, Spenser comes across disturbing information connecting Arthur with rack
To the End of the Line
Jan 23, 1988 · 60 min
When Frank's niece dies of a drug overdose, Spenser and Frank go after the men responsible.
Play it Again, Sammy
Jan 30, 1988 · 60 min
Sammy Backlin calls Spenser for protection when he's being hunted by a 'vicious horde of bloodthirsty assassins'.
The Big Fight
Feb 6, 1988 · 60 min
One of Spenser's old trainers lures Spenser to a deserted warehouse where Spenser is supposed to be killed, to get out from under a gambling debt. Spenser survives, then turns arou
Substantial Justice
Mar 5, 1988 · 60 min
Spenser protects a theater owner from gangsters, but begins to suspect she's not as innocent as she appears.
Company Man
Mar 12, 1988 · 60 min
Spenser suspects insurance fraud when a building blows up. Susan has a possibly cancerous mass removed.
Watercolors
Mar 19, 1988 · 60 min
Spenser protects a child artist after the child witnesses a mob execution while painting in the forest.
Hawk's Eyes
Mar 26, 1988 · 60 min
Spenser investigates the death of a friend apparently involved with white supremicists. Hawk is rendered blind by an explosion.
McAllister
Apr 30, 1988 · 60 min
Spenser assists a lawyer in proving the innocence of his client, a Navy seaman accused of murdering the captain's daughter. The only witness is a missing Polish sailor.
Haunting
May 7, 1988 · 60 min
Spenser investigates an old child kidnapping case when he tries to track down a teenage girl's biological parents.