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return to Due South: season 1 episode 1 "Free Willie"
Free Willie
air date September 22, 1994
Scene 1
A quiet and peaceful city. In an office building elevator, a team of three is getting ready to do a robbery. The elevator arrives at their floor.
ROBBER: Good afternoon.
A woman screams. Robbers move through the place, yelling at people to get down and stay down. They shoot a security guard and make a man in a suit open a safe. They take one manila envelope from the safe and threaten everyone again on their way back to the elevator, where they get out of their coveralls so that when the elevator reaches the ground floor, they can leave the Lloyd and Little Brokerage building in street clothes. We see the two taller ones go one way, and their smaller colleague, whose face we haven't seen yet, goes the other direction. They are wearing blue jeans and red sneakers and carrying a tan leather satchel.
Just as in the pilot, the first thing that happens is a crime is committed.
Credits roll.
Paul Gross
David Marciano
Beau Starr
Daniel Kash
Tony Craig
Catherine Bruhier
(plus Lincoln the dog)
Christopher Babers, Ed Sahely, Christina Cox, Domenic Cuzzocrea
Scene 2
Fraser and Vecchio are driving through a neighborhood in a green car.
VECCHIO: Fraser, you do not want to live in this neighborhood. Cops do not live in areas like this. Most people we bust won't live here.
FRASER: Why? It's central, convenient. I could walk to work in seven minutes.
VECCHIO: Not without backup.
FRASER: Two-thirty-one. It's just up on the right.
VECCHIO: Do me a favor. Let's just turn around. I'll take you back to your hotel.
FRASER: No, I can't. I checked out. The windows wouldn't open.
VECCHIO: Fraser, this is Chicago. The only reason to open a window is to get a better aim. [They go into the building.] Oh yeah. I can see what draws you to this place. Decorative graffiti motifs, the clever use of plumbing to create the waterfall effect, and the ease and convenience of being able to dump your garbage right into the hall.
FRASER: I forgot to ask if they take pets. Diefenbaker.
VECCHIO: Oh, yeah. A dog could easily throw off the delicately balanced ecosystem. Don't worry, big fella, you'll have plenty to hunt in here.
FRASER: [as he steps over someone passed out on the stairs] Pardon us.
SUPERINTENDENT: Yo. I found the key.
FRASER: I'll be right, up sir. [whispering] Ray. Ray. Ray.
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: Is my lanyard straight?
VECCHIO: He's a slum lord!
SUPER: Up here on the terrace level is where you get your great view. Of course it costs a little extra, but it's worth every penny.
VECCHIO: Is there a terrace?
SUPER: No.
FRASER: Would you like to see my references now?
SUPER: References?
VECCHIO: It's like a rap sheet.
SUPER: No, that's okay.
FRASER: Mrs. Garcia. [door slams] Mr. Campbell. [door slams] Hello, Mr. Mustafi. [door slams]
VECCHIO: You know these people?
FRASER: No, I memorized their names from the mailboxes. Good morning, Ms. Krezjapolou. [door slams] It only takes a little extra effort to be a good neighbor, Ray.
SUPER: This is the place. The furniture, appliances and all of this great stuff is included. [Fraser pulls a light switch chain; the light bulb bursts.] Utilities are extra. [Fraser goes to look out the window.] On a good day, you can see Canada just across the lake.
FRASER: Canada is four hundred and eighty miles due north.
SUPER: You have to really squint.
Outside, a woman screams. Fraser looks out the window and sees a boy with a purse running away from a woman.
PURSE SNATCHEE: Get him! Get him, he's got my bag!
FRASER: Excuse me. I'll be back. Dief, go.
Diefenbaker barks and runs off. Fraser jumps out the window.
SUPER: He's not some kind of nut, is he?
VECCHIO: He's a Mountie. It's something they do. Hey, Benny, you want to hold up there? [climbing out the window]
SUPER: Hey, you taking the place or what?
FRASER: I'll be right back with the deposit.
SUPER: Well, you’d better. This place is in high demand.
Okay, so this is a lot for our first day back. Knowing only what we learned about Fraser in the pilot, is it possible he's never actually rented an apartment before? He's probably not quite that green, because he has references, but who on earth are his references? For sure he's approaching this like an interview where there's a chance he won't be approved to rent the place.
His lanyard doesn't look straight to me, but I guess by that I mean it doesn't look vertical. It is straight in that it is strung directly from spot A to spot B, taut, rather than drooping in any way.
I was once thinking of moving to Boston, and a friend of mine told me that one of her co-workers, who had never met me, insisted that I wouldn't like it there because "the people are so unfriendly," by which she meant that strangers in the street hadn't smiled at her and said hey as they passed. My friend related this story with some amusement and agreed with me that in New England that's called "minding your own business," although her co-worker, having grown up in the south, apparently had different baseline expectations for social interactions with people to whom she had never been introduced. Fraser's having memorized the tenants' names from their mailboxes and greeting them all as he walks down the hall seems like an example of that. Dude has not taken the time to read the room, has he? He calls it being a good neighbor, but it sure seems like the people who live in this building would call it being nosy.
Anyway the apartment is crumbling and full of the previous tenant's trash, but it's an end unit, it's a good size, and it has windows facing at least two directions. Out of context, it's not too bad.
Scene 3
Diefenbaker leaps past two people sitting on the building's front stoop. They comment but do not move.
STATLER: Look like a wolf?
WALDORF: Yep.
Of course calling these guys Statler and Waldorf is just something I'm doing.
Scene 4
Fraser is running along the rooftops keeping pace with the purse snatcher as he runs along the streets. Fraser leaps from one building to the next like some sort of parkoureur.
FRASER: [tips his hat to a guy working on a roof] Good morning.
GUY WORKING ON THE ROOF: Good morning.
Vecchio does not feel good about jumping.
VECCHIO: [to the guy working on the roof] Well, come on! You gonna help me or what?
GUY WORKING ON THE ROOF: I'm on lunch.
Fraser almost misses a jump and is hanging by his fingertips.
FRASER: This was a mistake.
The rooftop guy has laid a ladder over the gap for Vecchio to crawl over.
VECCHIO: Okay, this is good, this is fine. Don't shake it!
The purse snatcher is running through the street, cutting through back alleys, jumping over garden walls. He is wearing blue jeans and red sneakers. Diefenbaker is chasing him. Fraser is still running along rooftops. Vecchio is following him. He reaches the gap Fraser almost missed and goes back for the rooftop guy's ladder.
GUY WORKING ON THE ROOF: Hey, I'm working here.
VECCHIO: So sue me.
The purse snatcher throws the purse over a fence, climbs over, and drops down. Diefenbaker climbs the fence and follows him. Fraser is clinging to a drainpipe that separates from the building.
FRASER: Oh. [The drainpipe drops him right into the purse snatcher's path.] That's far enough, son.
PURSE SNATCHER: What are you, a flying Boy Scout or something?
FRASER: Constable Benton Fraser, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. [Diefenbaker snarls.] You've broken the law, son. That carries a heavy penalty. Perhaps you didn't think it through.
PURSE SNATCHER: Man, back off, okay? Just back off.
FRASER: Well, I'm afraid I can't do that. Now if you'll hand me that purse.
PURSE SNATCHER: I said back off!
He pulls a gun. Fraser is unperturbed.
FRASER: Diefenbaker. No.
PURSE SNATCHER: Okay, you better keep that dog off of me or else I'll pop him too.
FRASER: No, you won't. You're going to hand me that gun. You're going to return that purse. And you're going to apologize to that lady.
PURSE SNATCHER: Why? I got the gun.
FRASER: Because you don't want to hurt anyone. And because if you don't, you might end up hurting yourself.
Fraser extends a hand with a very expectant you-don't-want-to-disappoint-me-do-you look on his face, and after a moment, the purse snatcher gives him the gun.
PURSE SNATCHER: Well — you know, you're lucky, cop, 'cause I coulda shot you right through the heart.
FRASER: I don't think so. Because that would require knowing how to take off the safety.
As they are walking away, Vecchio falls to the ground.
I'm not sure why Fraser and Vecchio run along the rooftops rather than chasing the kid at street level. Maybe for the greater visibility? Anyway, as it did in the pilot, everything falls into place for Fraser. The "might end up hurting yourself" line sounds like it's right out of an after-school special, but he makes it work.
Scene 5
PURSE SNATCHEE: Apartment four-D. Six o'clock.
FRASER: Well, thank you, Mrs. Dogwood, I'm looking forward to it.
PURSE SNATCHEE (MRS. DOGWOOD): Please, call me Enid.
Vecchio runs up.
VECCHIO: Hey! Hey! What's going on?
FRASER: I've just been invited to dinner.
VECCHIO: Well? Where is he?
FRASER: Who?
VECCHIO: The kid! The purse snatcher. Where is he? I wanna book him.
FRASER: Oh, I let him go.
VECCHIO: You let him go?
FRASER: Well, he apologized and promised never to do it again.
VECCHIO: You just let him go?
FRASER: Not without a stern warning. Also, he gave me this. [hands over the purse snatcher's gun]
VECCHIO: Does the word incarcerate mean anything to you?
FRASER: Well, it's from the medieval Latin incarcerare, meaning to imprison —
VECCHIO: Medieval Latin? You let a perp go and you're giving me medieval Latin?
FRASER: Actually, perpetrator is also Latin, from perpetrare —
VECCHIO: Shut up, okay? Just shut up.
Hmm, so Fraser is not one hundred percent black-and-white at all times with respect to what's right and what's wrong. Interesting.
Scene 6
Fraser is doing mannequin guard duty. A predatory salesman is shining his boots.
SALES PREDATOR: Now you strike me as a man with who has only one thing on his mind. You're saying to yourself, "Why do I need another all-purpose cleanser?" Now, Dandy Cleanser isn't just any cleaning product. It removes rust, stains, mildew, and always leaves a dandy shine. Hey, look, you can see your face in it.
VECCHIO: [walking up] No kidding. Can you see my badge in it?
SALES PREDATOR: In fact I can. [He biffs off.]
VECCHIO: Okay, I know you're acting as Canada's last line of defense here, guarding your consulate against marauding cleanser salesmen, but we've got a problem. You know the gun you took off the purse snatcher this morning? I ran it through ballistics. Guess what it spit out. Go ahead, guess. You need a clue? It rhymes with the kid shot somebody. All right, not interested? I'll catch you later.
As Vecchio is leaving, the clock strikes and the spell keeping Fraser frozen is broken.
FRASER: Ray.
VECCHIO: Oh, sure, now you want to talk.
FRASER: Shift just ended. What do you mean, shot somebody?
VECCHIO: A bullet from the kid's gun matches one that they dug out of a guy's arm yesterday. Robbery at a brokerage firm.
FRASER: Diefenbaker. [Diefenbaker comes out from under a bench and gets in the car.]
FRASER: He didn't do it, you know. The kid.
VECCHIO: And if he did, I'm sure he apologized.
Is standing out front doing mannequin guard duty like covering the phones in other offices—everyone has to take their turn doing it? Because Fraser has an office and a desk, I mean, he's the Deputy Liaison Officer, and standing in front of the building looking pretty isn't liaising. Also, I thought Constable Brighton-who-holds-the-duty-roster (Constable Not Appearing in This Episode) had warmed to him a bit, so it would have seemed that the petty punitive guard-duty assignments were behind him. And yet here he is. Maybe mannequin guard duty was the price for taking the morning off to look at an apartment (and fight crime).
Scene 7
At the police station. A couple of detectives are talking to a witness.
DETECTIVE 1: Okay, Mr. Hamlin, as we play the tape I want you to talk us through it, okay?
SUITED SAFE-MAN FROM ROBBERY (HAMLIN): Okay.
DETECTIVE 1: Okay.
DETECTIVE 2: Play the tape?
DETECTIVE 1: Go ahead.
Vecchio and Fraser are watching this through the one-way window.
VECCHIO: Security camera runs twenty-four hours in the place. They come in at four-thirty-eight and gone by four-forty-one. Three minutes.
FRASER: Indicating someone with a lot of experience.
VECCHIO: Or somebody quick on their feet.
HAMLIN: Here they are. Here they are. Three of them. Two of them were maybe six foot, the other one was maybe five foot three or four. The little one just stuck a gun in my ribs. He just shot someone I thought.
DETECTIVE 2: Yeah, sure you did. Did he say anything?
HAMLIN: Just "Open the vault." So I did.
DETECTIVE 1: Looks like they knew what they were after. They didn't touch any of the other stuff.
HAMLIN: Yeah, just the bearer bonds.
DETECTIVE 1: The little one, you said he was five three or four. Could it have been a kid? You know, a teenager?
HAMLIN: I'm not sure. Uh, yeah, I suppose, yes.
VECCHIO: Not a betting man, are you, Benny?
Apparently Vecchio has already told his colleagues that the gun used in the robbery turned up in the possession of a purse snatcher the next day.
Scene 8
In an interrogation room.
VECCHIO: Lambert, William, age thirteen. Quite a little record here, Willie. Seven arrests, first at age ten. Petty theft, theft, more theft.
PURSE SNATCHER (WILLIE): I had to support my mother.
VECCHIO: You don't have a mother, kid.
PUBLIC DEFENDER: He also has no convictions, so you shouldn't even have that list.
VECCHIO: We don't need it. We checked your fingerprints against the gun. The only ones that come up are yours. You're going down for this one, Willie.
WILLIE: I told you, I found it somewhere.
PUBLIC DEFENDER: You don't have to tell them anything, okay?
FRASER: Well, that's true, but I'd suggest it's in Willie's best interest to talk to us. If you are innocent, son, the police have no reason to incarcerate you.
PUBLIC DEFENDER: Not from around here, are you?
WILLIE: I'm suppose to trust you?
FRASER: Well, I think you know you can.
WILLIE: Look, all I know about cops is, all they want to do is just put you away.
FRASER: All right. Ray, I think we've done all we can here.
VECCHIO: Yeah. The kid's born mean.
WILLIE: Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute. You're not going to offer me some kind of deal or something?
FRASER: No. All I can give you is my word that I'll do my best for you.
PUBLIC DEFENDER: Not good enough.
WILLIE: She said it.
FRASER: I understand. Ray?
VECCHIO: Too bad, kid. [Fraser and Vecchio leave the room.] Good, let him sweat. Punk'll crack in twenty minutes.
FRASER: He's scared, but he's a pretty tough kid. I don't think he'll respond to threats.
DETECTIVE 1: Nice job, Vecchio.
VECCHIO: Is that a compliment, Jack, or do my ears deceive me?
DETECTIVE 2: Oh, don't be so hard on yourself, Ray. Sooner or later you had to solve one case. Did your Mountie friend help you?
FRASER: Benton Fraser, Deputy Liaison Officer.
DETECTIVE 2: Jack Huey, Louis Gardino, actual detectives.
VECCHIO: Or, as we call them, Huey and Louie.
DETECTIVE 2 (GARDINO): It's Louis, Vecchio, and I don't like your mouth.
VECCHIO: Touchy, Louie?
GARDINO: You want to see touchy?
VECCHIO: Yeah, I do.
DETECTIVE 1 (HUEY): Easy, fellas. If you'll excuse us, Detective Gardino and I have a suspect to interrogate. Thank you.
VECCHIO: Hey, Jack, that's my pinch. You talk to this kid without me, I'm taking this to the lieutenant.
HUEY: Sure, Ray, if you think your record will support that, go ahead.
VECCHIO: Are you maligning my record, Jack?
FRASER: Ray, we're all on the same team. These men are highly skilled investigators. I'm sure if they need our help, they'll ask.
GARDINO: Oh, absolutely.
HUEY: Absolutely.
VECCHIO: How could you do that? How could you turn my arrest over to them?
FRASER: The lunch room is this way?
VECCHIO: Do you know how many times an offender falls right into your lap? How many times do you think that happens, huh, Fraser? How many?
The thing is it can't be lunch time—it has to be later than that. If it's the same day as Fraser looked at the apartment and then foiled Willie at the purse snatching, we need time for Vecchio to have run the gun through ballistics and get a result and for Fraser to have done some mannequin time and for someone to have found Willie and picked him up, which, how did they find him? I guess they ran the fingerprints on the gun and he was already in the system so they found him that way? I know police detectives don't work nine to five, but this is a lot to get done in a single day.
Scene 9
In the break room, eating vending machine sandwiches.
VECCHIO: You know what your problem is? You think if you're nice to people, people are gonna be nice to you. [to vending machine guy] Did you make this or scrape it off the street?
VENDING MACHINE GUY: Salmon, right?
FRASER: Thank you, Hugo.
VECCHIO: You know, maybe up in the Arctic Circle, you cooperate with your cop buddies. I mean, who's going to fight over ice, right?
FRASER: Well, actually, there was an incident once —
VECCHIO: I don't want to hear it. The point is, down here, you make your own case or they turn you into a bicycle cop. And how do you know his name?
FRASER: It's written on his shirt.
VECCHIO: This is what's wrong with you! You don't know what's important and what's not! The name of the vending machine guy, this is not important. This is a detail you do not need to record. You want to record a detail? Try this: That was my case!
They are back outside the interrogation room.
HUEY: Okay, the kid says he'll only talk to the guy in the hat.
FRASER: Could you? [Gardino opens the interrogation room door] Thank you very kindly.
VECCHIO: I'm with the guy in the hat, fellas. You're not.
Fraser and Vecchio go into the interrogation room.
WILLIE: [eating the salmon sandwich Fraser picked up from Hugo] I told you I didn't shoot nobody. I never even saw the gun before yesterday.
FRASER: Where did you see it?
WILLIE: Someplace.
VECCHIO: Like in your pocket?
PUBLIC DEFENDER: Interview's over.
FRASER: I'm sorry. May I? Why don't you tell us how you found it, Willie.
WILLIE: I was on my way home from school. [Vecchio clears his throat.] Okay, the track. And I see this lady come out of this building on Michigan Avenue.
VECCHIO: You got a number on that building?
WILLIE: Oh, yeah, right, I wrote it down in my laptop. Well, anyway, she goes down this alley and there's no one around, and her bag is just hanging there, so I grabbed it and took off. I get away, find the gun in the bag, end of story.
VECCHIO: 'Fraid not, Tolstoy. You see, you happen to steal a bag which happens to have a gun in it which happens to have been used in commission of a major robbery.
WILLIE: So I had a bad day.
VECCHIO: Tell me something I don't know.
FRASER: This woman. Can you describe her?
WILLIE: Depends. Can you get me out of here? Right, right, I know. You'll do your best.
Are there racetracks in Chicago where kids can be truant?
Scene 10
In the lieutenant's office.
HUEY: No way. No way is that kid going to walk.
GARDINO: Lieutenant, we've got his prints on the gun, and it was in his possession.
VECCHIO: The kid's a pickpocket. He could have gotten the gun anywhere. Your eye witness can't even place him at the scene, Louis.
GARDINO: One of the offenders matches his height and frame, Ray.
VECCHIO: Oh, yeah, you're right, why try to find who did it when you can blame the nearest twelve-year-old? I know a toddler who you can arrest for assault.
GARDINO: That's enough. You and me, on the roof, right now.
LIEUTENANT: Whoa, easy now. Detective Vecchio, I could have sworn I specifically assigned this case to Detective Huey and Detective Gardino.
GARDINO: That's right, Lieutenant. Our case, our call.
LIEUTENANT: Shut up, Louie.
GARDINO: It's Louis, sir.
VECCHIO: Lieutenant, could I help it if the kid'll only talk to the Mountie?
LIEUTENANT: Ah, yes. The Mountie. I thought they sent you back up to the Yukon.
FRASER: Well, they did, sir. And then they sent me back here again. I'm afraid I'm not all that well liked up there, sir.
LIEUTENANT: By up there you mean . . .
FRASER: Pretty much all of Canada, sir.
LIEUTENANT: Hmm. The wolf isn't involved in this, is it?
VECCHIO: Only peripherally, sir.
FRASER: Permission to speak freely, sir?
LIEUTENANT: See, this I like. Permission to speak freely. Go ahead, young man.
FRASER: Lieutenant, Willie Lambert is a petty thief. If he'd stolen a million dollars in bearer bonds, he'd hardly be on the street the next morning stealing purses.
LIEUTENANT: Good reasoning. Louie?
GARDINO: Maybe some of the bigger kids took it away from him. How could I know?
FRASER: He says he found the gun in a briefcase he stole, and he can identify its owner.
VECCHIO: We've got him out there right now, sir, putting together a composite.
HUEY: Lieutenant, you let that kid walk out of here, you'll never see him again.
LIEUTENANT: Are you willing to take responsibility for him?
VECCHIO: Personally? You see that's a problem, sir, in that, you know, I date a lot, and —
LIEUTENANT: Huey and Louie get him.
GARDINO: Good call, Lieutenant.
FRASER: I'll take responsibility, sir.
LIEUTENANT: You want him?
VECCHIO: It's a Mountie thing, sir. Two more points and he gets to go camping.
LIEUTENANT: All right. You got him.
GARDINO: Wait a minute, Lieutenant. You’ve gotta —
FRASER: Thank you, sir.
LIEUTENANT: Oh, oh, one more thing. If you lose him, Vecchio loses his shield.
FRASER: That's perfectly reasonable, sir.
Fraser pronounces "lieutenant" in the British style, "leftenant." My research suggests Canada is divided on this, but Fraser is old-fashioned enough that it doesn't seem like a completely out-there character choice.
Why do Vecchio and Huey and Gardino report to this lieutenant instead of to Captain Walsh? Presumably the actor from the pilot was no longer available.
"Not that well liked up there," Fraser says, meaning pretty much all of Canada, and I continue to be spitting mad about that on his behalf.
Scene 11
They are looking at the composite drawing.
VECCHIO: Do you know who this is? This is Heather Locklear. The kid is yanking our chain.
WILLIE: Hey, hey, wait a minute. I saw her for two seconds. You try to draw on one of these things.
CIVILIAN AIDE: I'll run it through VI-CAP see if I can find a match.
FRASER: Thanks, Elaine.
CIVILIAN AIDE (ELAINE): You want me to call you at home?
VECCHIO: My case, Elaine. Me. Detective Vecchio. Police officer. You talk directly to me, okay?
ELAINE: But I should probably have your number just in case.
FRASER: Oh, uh — I'm afraid I don't have —
VECCHIO: He uses smoke signals. We'll call in. Willie? Come on, mush. [as they are leaving] What? They don't have women in the Yukon?
FRASER: Certainly. It's just they're not quite so, uh —
POLICEWOMAN: [passing them in the doorway] I like your dog.
FRASER: He's white.
VECCHIO: Oh, very smooth.
POLICEWOMAN: Call me.
VECCHIO: [to Fraser] Get out. And [to Willie] you, get out. "Call me." You throw out a lame line like that and she says, "Call me"?
So Fraser is flustered by feminine attention. What was the end of the sentence going to be, "They're not quite so, uh"—forward, right? Aggressive? Bro, Elaine was just trying to get your number. That's . . . pretty mild, as we see from the next encounter, "I like your dog, call me." The fact that Fraser thought it was appropriate to call all his neighbors by name before he'd actually met any of them but is also this uncomfortable facing the fact that women (in one case, a woman he has met) are letting him know they find him attractive is ironic in a way I'm not sure says great things about him, actually. By which I mean it doesn't seem to even occur to him that his "being a good neighbor" is making his neighbors uncomfortable, and he doesn't learn that when he's stammering at Elaine. Hmm.
Scene 12
As soon as they get outside, Willie runs off and hops on a bus.
VECCHIO: Oh, yeah, this is going to be fun. Stop that kid! [to Fraser] We lost the little creep. We lost him.
FRASER: He'll be back.
The bus stops after less than a block. Willie gets off with Diefenbaker.
WILLIE: Can I just say I really appreciate the trust you placed in me.
VECCHIO: Yeah, right.
WILLIE: My sister was on that bus. I just wanted to tell her that I wouldn't be in school for a while.
VECCHIO: You've got one more chance, kid. One.
WILLIE: Okay, okay. You want evidence, I'll show you lots of evidence. Jeez.
It's not obvious to me how Diefenbaker gets Willie off the bus. Even if we assume Diefenbaker is not allowed to ride the bus, how does he insist Willie come with him when the driver puts him off?
Scene 13
Willie has brought them to an alley.
VECCHIO: So where is it?
WILLIE: It should be here. I dropped it around here somewhere.
FRASER: Nothing fits the description, Willie.
WILLIE: Man, maybe it was stolen or something.
VECCHIO: Oh, yeah, right, again?
WILLIE: Maybe you noticed this isn't the best neighborhood, cop.
VECCHIO: This kid is making me very angry.
FRASER: [to Diefenbaker] What have you got? [Diefenbaker sniffs some things and runs off down the alley.]
VECCHIO: Why does this have to be my life? Mounties. Dogs.
FRASER: Come on, Ray.
VECCHIO: We're coming, we're coming. You hook up the sled.
They meet Diefenbaker further down the alley with a woman talking nonsense to him.
BAG LADY: This your dog?
FRASER: Yes, ma'am.
BAG LADY: Oh, nice dog. Good listener.
FRASER: Actually, he's deaf.
BAG LADY: Oh. [louder] Nice doggie.
VECCHIO: Okay, okay, so what have we got?
WILLIE: [points to the satchel the lady is holding] There it is.
FRASER: Uh, Ray, this is —
BAG LADY: Celeste.
VECCHIO: Enough with the names. Police. Give me the bag.
BAG LADY (CELESTE): Oh, come on! Help!
VECCHIO: Give me the bag.
FRASER: Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray. Please. Excuse me, ma'am. That briefcase is needed in a criminal investigation, and we'd be most appreciative of your cooperation.
CELESTE: Fifty bucks.
FRASER: Ray?
VECCHIO: I'm not giving her fifty bucks.
FRASER: Well, I'm afraid all I can give you is five.
CELESTE: Why this money is blue?
FRASER: It's Canadian.
CELESTE: I'm not.
VECCHIO: All right, all right. [gives Celeste some cash] Give me the bag.
FRASER: Thank you, ma'am.
Vecchio opens the bag and takes out a manila folder. He opens it up and it is full of blank paper.
VECCHIO: Don't look like bonds to me.
WILLIE: What?
From around a corner, a woman wearing blue jeans and red sneakers is watching them and talking on a phone.
RED SNEAKERS: I found the kid. No, I don't think you want to do that right now. He's with some cops, and they found your phony bonds. Hey, quit whining, I'm the one he can identify. I said I'd take care of him, and I will. Just you make sure my share doesn't disappear, or I'll take care of you. Understood?
As she gets in her car we see her face, and she looks like the picture Willie and Elaine came up with at the compositor.
It sure looks like Vecchio gives Celeste a single bill, which, most places don't take bills bigger than $20, so it's unusual to carry fifties, isn't it? Even if he goes to places where they'll take one, where's Celeste going to break that? He should have given her fives and tens.
Scene 14
At Willie's apartment.
VECCHIO: I'm warning you, Willie, I'm not taking any more of you. If I find the bonds in here, kid, you're going away for this.
WILLIE: I didn't take no stupid bonds. I don't even know what a bond is.
FRASER: There wasn't anything else in the bag? Certificates with seals on them?
WILLIE: On my sister's life. And I do have a sister.
VECCHIO: Oh yeah, so where is she?
WILLIE: Around.
FRASER: Is she the one who does the shopping?
WILLIE: She's been busy, okay? So you two go home, get some rest and we'll start fresh in the morning. Okay?
FRASER: He can't stay here.
VECCHIO: Well, he's not staying at my place.
FRASER: Can you make a bed?
WILLIE: You mean, out of twigs?
I'm not sure why a social worker isn't involved here, or why Fraser and Vecchio don't call one, if the concern is that Willie is neglected (and malnourished). He must already be known to that department, if Vecchio can tell from his rap sheet that the parents aren't in the picture and he lives with his sister. But okay, they don't call a social worker, they just decide if they leave Willie in his own home they won't be "taking responsibility" for him the way they promised the lieutenant, so I guess he's going home with Fraser, the breadth of whose experience in dealing with neglected teenagers is . . . yeah, I got nothing.
Scene 15
At Fraser's apartment.
Willie bounces a quarter off the tightly made bed.
WILLIE: Satisfied?
FRASER: Couldn't have done better myself.
WILLIE: Wow. So I took out the trash, washed the walls, and made the bed eight thousand times. What's next, maneuvers?
FRASER: Here. [hands Willie some cash]
WILLIE: For what?
FRASER: You earned it.
WILLIE: Yeah?
FRASER: Yeah. [He unrolls his bedroll, because he's given Willie the bed.] Good night, Diefenbaker.
WILLIE: Fraser? You know crack dealers are even afraid to come into this neighborhood?
FRASER: Good night, Willie.
WILLIE: Fraser?
FRASER: Uh-huh?
WILLIE: Why is this money pink?
FRASER: Good night, Willie.
WILLIE: Good night.
Is the thinking that if Willie tries to sneak out in the middle of the night, Diefenbaker will stop him? Or the fact that the neighborhood is that sketchy will keep him inside where it's safe? Maybe he hasn't had this much positive attention from a sympathetic adult in a long while (no parents, sister is "around," ditches school), so he could be well disposed toward Fraser for that reason without even really realizing it himself.
Meanwhile, Fraser is sleeping in boxers and a waffle-knit henley on a bedroll on the floor with no blanket. And I get it: It's Chicago in September—he's probably never slept anywhere this warm in his life. But I personally feel like when you live alone you can do what you like, but if you have an unrelated teenager in the room with you maybe it's a good idea to put on something that's a little more outer than underwear?
Scene 16
In Vecchio's car.
ELAINE: [on the police radio] Her name's Carol Morgan, alias Morgan Thomas —
VECCHIO: Whoa, whoa, whoa, Elaine. Is that a definite make?
ELAINE: According to the FBI. Is Fraser with you?
VECCHIO: Fraser doesn't work there, Elaine, I do. Now about the suspect.
ELAINE: Armed robbery. Three arrests, one conviction, all in Florida.
VECCHIO: Long way to come to steal blank paper.
FRASER: Indeed.
ELAINE: Fraser? Is that you?
They reach their destination.
FRASER: You'd better stay here, son.
VECCHIO: You can't leave him in the car.
FRASER: He'll be fine.
WILLIE: Absolutely.
FRASER: Dief. Dief. [grabs Diefenbaker by the snout, makes him look] Stay.
WILLIE: Man.
Okay so Willie hasn't like totally imprinted on Fraser like a duckling; he does want to split, but he knows if he does Diefenbaker will chase him down.
Scene 17
Fraser and Vecchio are going into the brokerage building.
FRASER: After you, sir. After you.
VECCHIO: Do all Canadians grow up longing to be doormen? Because this does explain the uniform.
FRASER: Why five o'clock?
VECCHIO: Sorry?
FRASER: Why pick the busiest time of the day to stage a robbery?
VECCHIO: So you can disappear into the crowd.
FRASER: Still, you think of all the potential witnesses, the difficulty of making a getaway —
VECCHIO: Can we talk about this inside?
FRASER: Oh, certainly.
VECCHIO: Why not. After you. Oh, please, after you. Anybody else?
The thing about revolving doors is that they don't need to be held. Fraser is at the regular door in the first place because someone is coming out with a hand truck, so for the first time since we've known him, holding the door instead of taking his turn in the normal order of things is genuinely helpful and considerate (rather than throwing off everyone's expectations[1]). But then he can't leave it and let other people whose hands aren't full deal with the door themselves. The guy is incapable of moving through life and letting other people do the same.
[1] I shudder to think about Fraser driving a car. Imagine this man at a four-way stop; he'd let everyone else go and keep going until the people behind him got mad and pulled around and there'd be an accident. He thinks it only takes an extra second to be courteous, but in traffic, it's only slightly important to be courteous and more important to be not unexpected, a standard I think he would not be able to achieve.
Scene 18
They are in Hamlin's office.
VECCHIO: You recognize this, Mr. Hamlin? [showing him the manila envelope]
HAMLIN: This could be it, but it's hard to say. Every financial firm in the city uses these.
VECCHIO: Could you have made a mistake? Handed the thief the wrong portfolio?
HAMLIN: Huh, don't I wish. But the auditors have combed this place from top to bottom. If the bonds were still here, they'd have found them. Is he . . . [He points to Fraser, who is in a file room holding his finger up as if he's testing the weather.]
VECCHIO: Observing. He's very thorough.
HAMLIN: So I see.
Hamlin's point is fair enough. It's an interoffice envelope. Of course he can't tell one from another. I couldn't identify a ream of printer paper, either. Come on.
Scene 19
Meanwhile, in the car.
WILLIE: Now, I'm just going to go for a little walk. [Diefenbaker barks.] Okay, okay. [Diefenbaker growls.] Jeez.
Scene 20
Meanwhile, in Hamlin's office.
HAMLIN: Well, perhaps the thief handed the bonds off to an accomplice. Or maybe the bag you found wasn't even hers.
FRASER: It's a possibility. Thanks for your help.
HAMLIN: Anything I can do.
Fraser and Vecchio leave the office.
VECCHIO: He is in on it.
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: Don't ask me how I know, but I know. How do you know?
FRASER: Same way you do.
VECCHIO: I guessed.
FRASER: Oh.
VECCHIO: What do you mean, "Oh"? How do you know? You stick a wet finger in the air and you decide he was a thief?
FRASER: No, no. From that all I can tell is they have a malfunction in the ventilating system. [to repair man] Pardon me. You have a broken cooling vent in suite B. [to Vecchio] It's of no importance, Ray.
VECCHIO: So?
FRASER: He told us. He referred to the thief as "her."
VECCHIO: And before, he said they were all men, as did the other witnesses, so the only way he could know is if he was in on it.
FRASER: Exactly.
VECCHIO: Well, exactly.
Scene 21
Meanwhile, back in the car. A horse-drawn carriage rolls by.
WILLIE: See? We could take a ride through the park. I mean, it's a beautiful day. [Diefenbaker barks.] Oh, man, you're a real pain, you know that? Gosh.
One of the robbers from scene 1 comes and breaks the rear passenger window with a crowbar. Willie slaps down the door locks and starts hot-wiring the car.
ROBBER: Hey. Come on. Come on. Come on, open the door.
Diefenbaker is barking. The two robbers are coming at the windows with crowbars. The woman with blue jeans and red sneakers is nearby glaring at Willie from the driver's seat of her own car.
Scene 22
Meanwhile, Fraser and Vecchio are in the elevator.
VECCHIO: So the robbery had to be a cover. The thieves never had the bonds. Hamlin stole them.
FRASER: My question is, how did Hamlin get the bonds out of the office, and where are they? Per the accountant, the bonds were still in the vault at four-oh-eight p.m.
VECCHIO: And we know this because?
FRASER: Because he signed the log in the vault, and Hamlin never left the office all day.
VECCHIO: So the accountant took them.
FRASER: No, everyone is checked by security upon leaving.
VECCHIO: So the question is, how did Hamlin get the bonds out, and where are they?
FRASER: Uh-huh.
So the bonds were in the vault at 4:08, the robbers were in at 4:38 and out at 4:41, but they didn't have the bonds. And security checked everyone out as they left at (presumably) 5pm or later. But it doesn't occur to Fraser and Vecchio that one or more security guys might be in on it?
Scene 23
Fraser and Vecchio are in the lobby. The robbers are still beating at the car. They break the front passenger window. Diefenbaker is barking like crazy.
BAD GUYS: Come on. Come on. Get the dog. Come on, shoot the dog, shoot the dog.
One of the robbers fires and hits a panel on the back passenger side of the car.
FRASER: [hearing the gunshot] Ray!
Willie drives off in the car. The two robbers hop into Red Sneakers's car and she peels away. Vecchio runs after them. Music cue: "It's All Over" by the Headstones.
FRASER: Stop!
VECCHIO: Fraser!
FRASER: I'll be right there.
VECCHIO: Hey!
Willie is driving Vecchio's car helter-skelter. The robbers are following him. Vecchio is chasing them on foot. Fraser drives up in Chekov's Horse-Drawn Carriage.
Over the moon
And over the top
FRASER: Hop up.
VECCHIO: What the — [He hops onto the moving carriage.] Go, go, go!
FRASER: Hyah!
VECCHIO: Good to see you, Benny.
FRASER: Good to see you, Ray. Hyah!
The chase continues: green car, tan car, horse-drawn carriage.
And over the people, yeah
Who told you to stop
It's all over
It's all over
Just like I told ya
It's all over
Over the sky
And into the future
You do what you can in this world
You do just what suits ya
It's all over
It's all over
Just like I told ya
It's all over
VECCHIO: Through the park!
FRASER: You got it, Ray.
Walking hand in hand with my addiction
Dig out, twist and turn, but I ain't built to burn
You think I'm swinging, then I kick
The carriage goes through the park, disrupting picnics left and right.
VECCHIO: Police! Police! Get out of the way, get out of the way!
FRASER: Sorry!
VECCHIO: Coming through, coming through! Look out!
PICNICKER: Watch out! Aah! [dives out of the way]
FRASER: Sorry.
VECCHIO: Sorry, sorry.
You're under my skin
You're between the breaths
You're trolling for friends in a ghost town
It's called uselessness
It's all over
It's all over
Just like I told ya
It's all over
ROBBER: [to Red Sneakers] Go, go.
Willie spins Vecchio's car and stalls it out; he tries to hot-wire it again. The bad guys are almost on him when the carriage cuts them off. The horse rears. The car spins. The bad guys drive away. Vecchio takes aim at their tires but they're gone before he can shoot. Diefenbaker whines. Fraser and Vecchio hurry back to Vecchio's car; Willie is gone.
Walking hand in hand with my addiction
VECCHIO: Damn!
If the bad guys were prepared to shoot Diefenbaker (though they couldn't make the shot at point-blank range), why didn't they just shoot Willie? Red Sneakers (Morgan) knows Hamlin has the real bonds, so it can't be that they think Willie knows something they don't know. The only reason they're after him is because he can identify her, right?
Scene 24
Back in the lieutenant's office. Now we can see the name plate on his desk: H. Welsh.
VECCHIO: So he yanks on the reins, the horses rear up, the car swerves, it takes off, it really was amazing, sir.
LIEUTENANT (WELSH): Sounds it. And how bout our witness?
VECCHIO: Oh, uh, yes. He, uh, what he did was, he —
FRASER: He ran away.
VECCHIO: More or less, yes, sir.
WELSH: Mmm, what a shame.
VECCHIO: No one is more chagrined than myself sir.
HUEY: We got there too late. Hamlin's gone.
WELSH: Ah, one disappointment after another. Perhaps if you had thought to call in before you went cantering through the park. But these judgement calls are so difficult to make.
VECCHIO: Ah, yes, that's true, sir. You really had to be there.
WELSH: Would five o'clock be enough time to clear out your desk? I mean I don't want to rush you, but we could use that space for actual police work.
VECCHIO: Five o'clock would be —
FRASER: Rush hour.
VECCHIO: He's just now picking these things up, sir.
FRASER: It has nothing to do with rush hour.
VECCHIO: No, it just gives me enough time to pack.
FRASER: Permission to leave, sir?
WELSH: Oh, yes.
VECCHIO: I'd better look after him, sir.
It seems Welsh and the other detectives don't doubt Fraser and Vecchio's claim that Hamlin is the thief and Willie is not, so why is Welsh being a hardass about losing track of Willie (now that he's not of quite so much interest in the burglary)?
Scene 25
Fraser and Vecchio are in the interrogation room looking at the security camera video again.
FRASER: Hamlin couldn't have taken the bonds out himself, and he couldn't risk the bonds being missed. So they had to remain in the vault until just before the robbery.
VECCHIO: But if he was in on it, why didn't he let the robbers take the bonds?
FRASER: You know, Ray, when I was a young man, my father told me one thing to always remember about thieves. Well, actually, he told me two things, but I've forgotten the other one. Anyway, the important one is that despite the adage, you will rarely find honor among thieves.
VECCHIO: You can't remember the other one?
FRASER: It was something about tying your wallet to your underwear. I was very young at the time. Anyway, the point is, if they took the money during the robbery, then Hamlin would have to trust them to give him his share.
VECCHIO: And they don't look like trustworthy types.
FRASER: Indeed. So he had to get them out just before the robbery but do it without drawing attention to himself. It would have to be a normal occurrence. Something that happened every day just before five o'clock.
VECCHIO: The courier! That is so stupid.
FRASER: It's simple.
The courier isn't checked by security before leaving the building?
Scene 26
In the car.
VECCHIO: So he sent them to himself.
FRASER: No, too easy to trace.
VECCHIO: To the woman.
FRASER: Doesn't trust her.
VECCHIO: To who then?
FRASER: Maybe no one. A fake name, a fake address, no way to trace it.
VECCHIO: Which means the package would end up back at —
FRASER: The depot.
VECCHIO: Exactly.
FRASER: Which means —
VECCHIO: I'm going —
FRASER: — the wrong way.
VECCHIO: Hang on. [He does a 180.]
The fact that Hamlin sent the bonds anywhere should have raised suspicions!
Scene 27
At the post office. Hamlin gets in line and is impatient. Meanwhile, Vecchio and Fraser are hurrying toward the place in the car with the siren and light on the dashboard. Hamlin is looking at a slip of paper when someone comes up behind him.
RED SNEAKERS (MORGAN): My cut, remember? [She shows him that she's got a gun. The other two robbers are with her.] Split that up right here.
Fraser and Vecchio are speeding toward the post office.
CLERK: It's your package.
CUSTOMER: This isn't butcher's paper. My sister always uses butcher's paper.
CLERK: It's your package.
CUSTOMER: Are you sure this is the right package? I don't think it's my package.
MORGAN: Take the package, lady.
CLERK: How can I help you? [She hands him Hamlin's slip of paper.]
Fraser and Vecchio are speeding toward the post office, crashing through garbage cans.
CLERK: Sign, please.
Hamlin knocks Morgan into the other two robbers and leaps over the counter. Fraser and Vecchio squeal up in the car. Morgan and the others chase Hamlin over the counter. The other postal customers are unhappy that they are cutting in line.
VECCHIO: Which way, which way?
Morgan and the guys slam into a back sorting room.
MORGAN: Find him!
Vecchio goes over the counter.
FRASER: Uh, I'm here on an unofficial capacity. Do you mind if I —
CLERK: Not at all.
FRASER: Thank you. [He and Diefenbaker go over the counter. The chase is on in the sorting room. Fraser tackles one of the robbers into a stack of boxes on a front-loader. Morgan catches Hamlin, steals the envelope from him, and tips a whole column of boxes onto him. Fraser ties the robber's hands.] Watch this guy, Dief. Stay.
Vecchio tackles the other non-Morgan robber onto a conveyor belt. Morgan is going to sneak away without waiting for her buddies. Hamlin gets out from under the heap of boxes. Vecchio and the third robber are fighting on the conveyor belt. Fraser rolls up beside them on a ladder and yanks the robber off Vecchio; Vecchio flies off the end of the belt onto a cart and crashes into Hamlin. Morgan is running along the top of some stacks, trips, and drops the bonds. She hustles down off the stack. Vecchio, creeping along with his gun drawn, finds the bonds. Morgan is behind him with her gun aimed at his head.
MORGAN: Lose it. [Vecchio sets down his gun. She makes him stand up and holds the gun to his neck. Fraser comes around the corner.] Don't move, Boy Scout. Back right off.
FRASER: You all right, Ray?
VECCHIO: I'm well, Fraser, and you?
MORGAN: Dead in your tracks right there. Take out the gun and drop it on the floor.
VECCHIO: Don't do it Fraser. Take the shot.
FRASER: I'm afraid I'm not carrying a gun.
MORGAN: Drop the gun.
FRASER: I honestly don't have one.
VECCHIO: Sharpshooter. First class. Can take the head off a pin.
FRASER: He's right about that.
VECCHIO: Drop it or he takes you out.
FRASER: I would if I had a gun, Ray.
MORGAN: Show me the gun!
FRASER: Well, we'd have to go back to my office. I do have this knife.
VECCHIO: Oh, that's good Benny. Threaten her with your camping utensils.
FRASER: Can't afford to bluff, Ray. She's already shot one person.
MORGAN: Drop it on the floor. Drop the belt too.
FRASER: [drops his knife and unfastens the belt over his shoulder] Are you sure you've thought this through, ma'am?
MORGAN: Move over here slow. And pick up the bonds.
FRASER: I don't think you want me to do that.
MORGAN: Pick them up.
FRASER: All right. But it's a mistake. [He picks up the bonds.] You see, a bond is more than just a bankable note. It's an instrument of trust between two people indicating a promise that must be honored. Much like a promise I made to uphold the law. So you see, the problem is, now that I have the bonds in my hands, I'm honor bound not to give them to you.
VECCHIO: Give her the bonds, Fraser.
FRASER: I can't do that, Ray.
MORGAN: You got three seconds and I shoot him! One.
FRASER: I'm sorry, Ray.
VECCHIO: What do you mean, sorry?
MORGAN: Two.
VECCHIO: Give her the damn bonds.
FRASER: Can't do it. I'm walking out of here with them. [He turns and walks away.]
MORGAN: That's it! He's dead!
FRASER: Sorry to hear that.
VECCHIO: Fraser!
MORGAN: Three!
She shoots toward Fraser instead. He dives out of the way. Vecchio grabs her arm and tackles her to the ground. Fraser leaps over top of the stack of boxes; Morgan shoots at him from the floor. He falls and boxes fall on top of him. Vecchio handcuffs her and hurries to check on Fraser, who looks stunned.
FRASER: She shot my hat, Ray.
VECCHIO: She shot you in the hat?
FRASER: I can feel air coming in through the hole.
VECCHIO: She shot you in the hat, all right.
FRASER: How does it look?
VECCHIO: Doesn't look good.
FRASER: We'll have to go home and get my other one.
VECCHIO: We can do that, Fraser.
FRASER: Thanks, Ray.
Vecchio helps him up. Morgan is led out in handcuffs. Fraser and Vecchio are leaving the sorting room.
VECCHIO: All I'm saying is, in the future it's a good idea that you don't suggest somebody shoot me.
FRASER: Well I didn't want to, Ray, but it was necessary in order to enrage her.
VECCHIO: You wanted to enrage the person that had a gun to my neck? That was your strategy?
FRASER: I knew that if I kept at it, eventually I'd draw her fire and you'd get your shot, and I knew you'd trust me.
VECCHIO: But I didn't.
FRASER: Yes, you did.
VECCHIO: No, I didn't.
FRASER: Yes. You did.
VECCHIO: No. I didn't.
FRASER: Well, of course you did. Maybe you just weren't fully aware of it.
VECCHIO: I was very aware of my feelings toward you, Fraser.
FRASER: Well, if you didn't know what I was planning, then why'd you play along?
VECCHIO: I wasn't playing along, I was begging for my life!
FRASER: Oh. Oh, well. Uh, my mistake.
VECCHIO: Mistake? You coulda gotten me killed.
FRASER: No, no, I'd never allow that. You're my friend. You're my best friend, I'd have to say.
VECCHIO: I am? Hey! Exactly how many best friends have you had?
Morgan's gun was in the bag with the manila envelope that Willie stole, but never mind, I'm sure she has access to lots of firearms.
They should have reshot the scene (or at least done some ADR) until they could get audio of Fraser saying "in an unofficial capacity" rather than "on an unofficial capacity." Sigh.
The chase and the fights seem pretty good. It's not clear how Fraser would have never allowed Vecchio to be killed when the whole point of the conversation is that they were failing to communicate, but it's sweet that he says Vecchio is his best friend. I'm not sure I understand Vecchio's indignation wondering how many best friends Fraser has, but it does make sense to wonder how many friends he has, full stop. (I mean I count Vecchio and Diefenbaker at this point. Anyone else?) Because being the best of that small of a group isn't really that much of a distinction, I think is what he means.
Scene 28
Back at the station.
VECCHIO: Elaine, you should have seen me. So I land on the conveyor belt, and this guy, he jumps on my back, and then suddenly —
ELAINE: Fraser saves you.
VECCHIO: No, no, I flipped the guy off. But then he grabs a crowbar, right? And he swings it at my —
ELAINE: Fraser grabs it.
VECCHIO: No, I duck, and then out of nowhere —
ELAINE: Fraser appears.
VECCHIO: Did you know that he pins his wallet to his underwear?
ELAINE: Cool. [Vecchio rolls his eyes and walks away.]
FRASER: Well, actually, I was very young, and the underwear was rather long, and I . . . Ray? [He flees toward Vecchio.]
ELAINE: Okay.
Welsh is sitting at Vecchio's desk.
VECCHIO: Lieutenant, you see, I was gonna clean that out, but — Willie!
In fact Willie and Welsh are playing cards.
WELSH: He said you told him that if he gets lost he should come here.
VECCHIO: Anybody can get lost, right, Lieutenant?
WELSH: Yeah. You win, kid. [He gets up to go back to his office.] Oh, Vecchio, good work.
VECCHIO: You came back!
WILLIE: If I didn't, you woulda got in trouble, right?
VECCHIO: Right.
WILLIE: I figure that's worth a twenty.
VECCHIO: No question about it.
So Vecchio keeps his job after all, because Willie has surprised everyone (except Fraser).
Scene 29
Fraser unloads a big bag of dog chow from the trunk of Vecchio's car.
FRASER: All right, you come over and feed and walk him twice a day, and I'll take him out again when I get home at night. Deal?
WILLIE: Deal.
FRASER: It's twenty-five dollars a week as long as you stay in school. [starts to hand Willie some cash]
WILLIE: Wait a minute, that's — [It's Canadian money, which he doesn't want.]
FRASER: I know, I know, I'm sorry. Ray, would you mind?
VECCHIO: Here, take the wallet, just give me an allowance.
FRASER: There you go.
WILLIE: Come on, Dief.
Willie and Diefenbaker go into Fraser's building. Fraser and Vecchio get in the car and drive back toward downtown.
VECCHIO: You can't keep doing this, you know.
FRASER: What's that?
VECCHIO: Romping through the streets of Chicago rescuing widows and orphans as you may.
FRASER: It's just one kid, Ray.
VECCHIO: You're not in a small town anymore. You can't rescue everyone you meet.
FRASER: No. I understand.
SOMEONE WHO SEES THEM DRIVING BY: Hey, Fraser, thanks for the boots!
FRASER: Glad they fit, Jerome!
I'd have said he can't keep trying to spend Canadian cash in the United States. Bro, you're going to be living here a while: Get some of the green stuff. Also, how is Willie going to feed and walk Diefenbaker twice a day while he is in school? Once between the end of school at, what, 3ish and when Fraser gets home some time after 5pm, but how's he going to do this in the morning without cutting school? Also also, $25/week is $2.50 per walk if he does two walks a day on school days, which even in 1994 was crap. I get what Fraser's trying to do here, but that is not a reasonable wage.
In general, we leave with Vecchio saying "You can't do things your way" and Fraser saying "I suppose I can't" but everything he did do his way working out nicely for him, so there's no real disincentive to him keeping on doing things his way. Except, as I said, you'd think he'd add up how discomfited he feels around Elaine and how his neighbors keep slamming their doors in his face, work out that there's a connection there, and back off a little bit. Alas.
The title of the episode, "Free Willie," is a fairly transparent reference to the 1993 film Free Willy, with which as far as I can tell it has nothing in common but its title. (I guess they both feature young teenagers who have already had trouble with the law.)
Cumulative confirmed body count: 2
Red uniform: Going to rent an apartment, on guard duty, on investigation when coming directly from guard duty
no subject
Someone recently pointed out that if you use a motto like "Maintiens le droit," you're tacitly acknowledging that "the right" and "the law" are not synonymous. (Though purse snatching isn't what most of us would see as a grey area.)
no subject
(a) That is true. (b) As we saw, his hard line this-is-okay-and-that-isn’t started softening even during the pilot, when the distance between “Isn’t that entrapment?” and kicking down Drake’s door was a lot shorter than you’d expect. (c) A thirteen-year-old purse snatcher and petty thief is not the same as a grown woman who drives a getaway car in a bank robbery and flees across an international boundary, but I’m just saying, letting people go hasn’t always been Fraser’s style.