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return to Due South: season 1 episode 3 "Manhunt"
Manhunt
air date October 6, 1994
Scene 1
Caption: White Island Maximum Security Prison, Northwest Territories, Canada. A bus is leaving the prison but stops at the gate.
GUARD: Going back empty?
BUS DRIVER: Uh-huh.
GUARD: [checks out the bus with his flashlight] Say hi to Sarah.
The bus drives out of the gate. Once it's clear of the prison, the bus driver pulls his hand inside his sleeve—and it turns out the bus driver is dead and a creepy dude has been hiding under him, wearing him like a disguise. The creepy dude shoves the bus driver off his lap and resumes driving the bus. He chucks a full ashtray out the bus window.
I've watched this several times to see if it's supposed to be that the bus driver is just petrified with fear, and I think it's a genuine Weekend at Bernie's up in here instead.
A quick google suggests to me that White Island Maximum Security Prison in NWT is fictitious, so I'm not updating the map to show its location.
Scene 2
Caption: R.C.M.P. Detachment, Northern Ontario.
LESLIE GODDAMN NIELSEN: RCMP Evidence Room, Sergeant Frobisher.
CREEPY VOICE ON THE PHONE: How's your leg?
LESLIE GODDAMN NIELSEN (FROBISHER): Who is this?
CREEPY VOICE ON THE PHONE: Oh, you haven't forgotten.
FROBISHER: Geiger. Geiger.
The pay phone Geiger was calling from is hanging loose. The prison bus drives right through the phone booth.
In case anyone has wandered in who is too young to know this, Leslie Nielsen (1926–2010) was a big fucking star. He was a jobbing actor before the creative team on this show were even born, and by the mid-90s he was already a goddamn legend. Having him in the third episode would have to have been a pretty big get.
Northern Ontario is a big place, so there's no point trying to work out where Frobisher's detachment is on the map, either.
Clearly the creepy dude who was wearing the bus driver as a hat is Geiger.
Scene 3
At a docklands bar.
CAPTAIN: I run a scow, not a cruise ship. I take you across that border, Immigration finds out, I lose my boat. Where do you want to go?
FROBISHER: As far as this will take me. [hands the guy a wad of cash] And this. [hands over
his watch]
The captain drinks to agree to the deal. Frobisher is staring into the middle distance.
I love a serious performance from a comic actor.
Credits roll.
Paul Gross
David Marciano
Beau Starr
Daniel Kash
Tony Craig
Catherine Bruhier
(plus Lincoln the dog)
Leslie Nielsen, William Smith, Cali Timmins, Gordon Pinsent as Fraser Sr.
It's vaguely interesting that Gordon Pinsent's credit (an "as" credit, woo-hoo) is "Fraser Sr." rather than "Bob Fraser." (Only vaguely.)
Scene 4
Fraser is in a classroom, in the red uniform, giving some sort of Career Day presentation.
FRASER: Which makes the border between Canada and the United States the longest undefended border in the world. So that since their formation, our two countries have found a peaceful way to coexist. Except for the War of Eighteen-Twelve, where your country invaded ours and we sent you packing, but that's hardly worth mentioning. Now I think I'll open the floor to questions. Yes?
THE ONLY BOY WITH HIS HAND RAISED: Do you have to undo all your buttons to go to the toilet?
FRASER: No. Anyone else? [The same boy raises his hand again.] Yes.
THE ONLY BOY WITH HIS HAND RAISED: How many do you have to undo?
FRASER: Just enough to get your trousers undone. [The same boy raises his hand yet again.] Yes.
THE ONLY BOY WITH HIS HAND RAISED: Do they have toilets in Canada?
FRASER: Yes. We do. Anyone else? [The same boy raises his hand, and Fraser wants badly not to call on him.] Anyone else at all? Any other questions at all?
WOMAN: When was the last time you were home?
Fraser turns and sees a woman leaning against the jamb of the classroom door.
FRASER: It's been far too long.
I'm not sure what the point of the Career Day setup was, but I guess when you're the Deputy Liaison Officer, you liaise with whoever calls your boss looking for a liaison. It's meant to be with local law enforcement, but sure, the public schools need learning about that sort of thing too. These kids look like they're about fourth-graders.
Scene 5
Fraser and the woman are walking in the school playground.
WOMAN: Just disappeared. His car was still in the garage. He hadn't taken anything from his apartment. I checked all the buses and trains. Finally someone from the docks remembered seeing him get on a barge that was headed here. Still can't believe that he'd just leave without saying something, or — I've been looking for a week. I can't find him, Fraser. I was hoping maybe he called you.
FRASER: No. I'm sorry.
WOMAN: I just knew how close he and your father were.
FRASER: They went back a long way.
WOMAN: I want to stay here and keep looking, but my job, they won't give me anymore time, and if I lose it — well, it's just me and Patty now, you know.
FRASER: I was sorry to hear about, um . . .
WOMAN: Bruce.
FRASER: Bruce.
WOMAN: That's okay. It was my fault. I just married the wrong man. I was in love with someone else. [She looks at him meaningfully.]
FRASER: Oh, you, I, I, I, you — you don't mean . . .
WOMAN: No, Fraser, it wasn't you.
FRASER: Oh, good. No, I don't mean good. I mean — I mean, I — I —
WOMAN: You haven't changed a bit. You're just like my father. You could track a man five hundred miles over sheer ice, but put either of you within arm's length of a woman and you're completely lost. Put you behind a desk and you'd die. That's what was happening to him. I don't know. I don't know what's happened, but . . . I don't want to lose him, Fraser. I can't. Will you help me? Will you find him?
FRASER: I'll do everything I can.
WOMAN (FROBISHER'S DAUGHTER): I haven't seen you in over ten years, but somehow I knew if there was one person in the world I could count on, it was you.
First things first: It was totally him. Come on. This woman, who it turns out is Frobisher's daughter, was absolutely in love with Fraser rather than with the unfortunate ex-Bruce. Saying "I was in love with someone else" was a trial balloon, and his stammering gasping reaction shot the trial balloon right the fuck down, and she backed as gracefully as she could into plausible deniability, which is fair enough. The last time she saw him he was not much more than 20 years old. We don't know how old she is, how long she and Bruce were married, how old Patty is, or any of that, but might it be safe to assume she might be approximately his age, and she and Bruce might have been married about 10 years, and the last time Fraser saw her was at her and Bruce's wedding? And both of them have had rather a lot of life happen to them since then. She's had a kid and gotten a divorce; he's solved his father's murder and moved to Chicago. (Her mother is not mentioned, and there's that comment about putting her father within arm's length of a woman, so we can conclude this young woman's mother is either no longer married to Sgt. Frobisher or she is dead, though we have no idea when this will have happened. I assume the mother is dead, and I assume it's relatively recently, which is why she's so panicked at the possibility of losing her father, but that could just be me projecting quite a bit.) (We also don't know when Fraser lost his own mother, so it might have been since the last time he and Frobisher's Daughter here saw each other.)
Anyway, non-projecting detail: So Frobisher is at a desk job and his daughter knows he hates it.
How did she know he was in Chicago, anyway? Someone at the docks remembered seeing her dad get on a barge that was coming to Chicago and she thought maybe he'd called Fraser? I feel like if she knows how close her dad and Fraser's dad were, then if her dad vanishes and nobody knows where he's gone, the first thing she should do is try to contact Bob Fraser, and failing that, she should try to contact Ben Fraser. The fact that the barge was bound for Chicago should be beside the point.
I guess it's possible she didn't know he was in Chicago specifically, but the barge was headed for Chicago and she comes to the consulate as you do when you're looking for help in a foreign city, and to her utter amazement and good fortune the Deputy Liaison Officer turns out to be her father's best friend's son, who's out just now giving a Career Day presentation to the fourth grade at Please Spare Me Elementary School, and then she heads over there to meet him rather than wait back at the consulate with Inspector Bumbles and Constable Deserved Fraser's Job. Fair enough, that makes a lot more sense. And then once she realized he was in Chicago she hoped it would turn out her father had called Fraser.
Finally, if they haven't seen each other since their early 20s, but they knew each other well enough for her to have been in love with him then, and their fathers were very close, going back quite a way, I do not believe this young woman would call Benton Fraser "Fraser." I think that was some sloppy script writing. She would call her father's best friend's son, whom she was in love with when she married someone else, "Ben" if she did not call him "Benton." (His father called him Ben, so I could go either way on this; but her calling him "Fraser" just clangs for me.)
Scene 6
At a border crossing amenities center. A kid drinks from a water fountain and then goes to bug his dad, who is trying to open the door to the men's room. Another guy is already waiting at the door.
GUY: Someone's in there.
KID'S DAD: Great. Hey, did you see the tie up at the border? What's going on?
Geiger comes out of he restroom in uniform as a border patrolman and starts to walk away.
GUY: Officer! Can I have the key?
GEIGER: I wouldn't go in there. It's a real mess.
Scene 7
At the police station. Vecchio is at his desk on the phone.
VECCHIO: And you think this is the man who stole your cat? Paw marks on his cardigan. Yes, that's very conclusive. Um, you know, it's going to be a little difficult for me to break away from the case that I'm currently working on, but if you'd like to call back and ask for extension three-one-two, Detectives Huey or Gardino would be glad to help you. Yes, they've been, uh, specially assigned to handle all animal-related offenses. No, no, ma'am. The pleasure's all mine. [He shoots a plush basketball at a net in front of his desk; Fraser catches it in his hat.] How's it going?
FRASER: I need your help, Ray.
VECCHIO: Does it involve domestic animals?
FRASER: Not that I'm aware.
VECCHIO: Then I'm your man.
FRASER: A personal matter.
As they are leaving, a phone rings.
GARDINO: Violent Crimes, Detective Gardino. Cat, ma'am?
So I have complicated feelings about this. On the one hand, whatever is going on with this phone caller's cat is probably not a violent crime, so she's called the wrong department in the first place. On the other hand, what Vecchio is in the middle of is trying to make life difficult for Huey and Louie. This isn't as dishonest as getting Fraser a wolf license (which did involve domestic animals, so maybe Vecchio really has had enough of that sort of thing for the moment), but it's a little sketch. Hmm.
Scene 8
Fraser and Vecchio have driven to the docks.
VECCHIO: Seven freighters came in from Northern Ontario last week. None carrying passengers. You still think your Mountie friend came in on one of these?
FRASER: Seems likely. Did anything come in from Sault Sainte Marie?
VECCHIO: Two. The Lady of the Lake and a garbage scow called the Bon Vivant.
FRASER: We'll try the scow.
VECCHIO: There are seventeen hundred places to drive across the border between Canada and the U.S. Why would anyone in their right mind travel by scow?
FRASER: I don't know, Ray. I don't know.
First things first: There are apparently approximately two hundred places to drive across the border between Canada and the United States, but what's a factor of eight and a half among friends?
Now then. I spent a lot of time thinking, how does a barge get from northern Ontario to Chicago? Ontario is, as I said, pretty big, but the waterways bordering the northern part are pretty much the Hudson and James Bays, right? I mean I think of northern Ontario as being basically like one of these images: like, the northern third or so of the province, or maybe even the northern half.
Yeah, no. It turns out he didn't say northern Ontario, he said Northern Ontario, capital N, which is a specific region of Ontario, the southern edge of which is apparently fuzzy for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture but the whole of which actually includes most of Ontario by land area.
So freighters can indeed come from Northern Ontario to Chicago via Great Lakes shipping routes, and although I've now learned that about Northern Ontario, I don't frankly see how any ship or boat would get from any part of Canada to Chicago without going through Sault Ste. Marie, so I don't entirely understand Fraser's question. (If there were seven freighters of which two came in from Sault Ste. Marie, where did the other five come from? If there were seven freighters and two craft that came in from Sault Ste. Marie, where did the other seven come from? It's a mystery, but fortunately one of no importance whatsoever.)
Scene 9
At the docks. Fraser is showing the captain a picture of Frobisher.
CAPTAIN: Sorry.
FRASER: You're sure?
CAPTAIN: I'm sure.
FRASER: He was my father's best friend. If he's in some kind of trouble, I'd —
CAPTAIN: I'm sure he'd call your dad.
FRASER: Well, I'm sure he would if he was alive. But since he's not, he probably doesn't know who to trust. It's never an easy question. [He and Vecchio start to leave, but he does a Columbo.] Oh, by the way, who did you know in the force?
CAPTAIN: What?
FRASER: Your watch. RCMP field issue, circa 1950. Spring-wound, consecutively numbered. Civilians couldn't buy them. Only a few still own them. This was my father's. [shows his watch] Want to show me yours?
CAPTAIN: You really his friend?
FRASER: I am.
CAPTAIN: Some of the men billet over at the Saint John Hotel. Try there.
FRASER: Thank you kindly.
VECCHIO: Yeah, you're a real prince, Popeye.
Benton Fraser was born in 1961. So Bob had a watch issued to him by the RCMP in 1950, and still assuming you can't join until you're 18 (which we don't know for sure, but it seems reasonable), that means Bob must have been born around 1932 (and can't have been younger than 29 when Ben was born).
So—all mechanical watches are spring-wound, aren't they? Is this watch hand-wound or self-winding? Whichever is "better," I guess, which I don't know. But okay: We knew Frobisher paid a chunk of cash and Chekov's Watch for transport to the United States on a garbage scow rather than drive his own car or take a plane or a bus like most people would have done, so he clearly wanted to get off the grid; what we didn't know until now was how special that watch was supposed to have been. (But apparently not everyone who got them in 1950 cared enough to maintain them for even one generation?)
Scene 10
At the St. John Hotel.
VECCHIO: Yeah, I was thinking of going to Maui, but now that I've seen this place, I'm reconsidering.
FRASER: Excuse me. This man. Is he registered here?
MANAGER: Never seen him. [holds out his hand for cash, which Vecchio gives him] Carnie. One bag. No tip. Room two-oh-two.
VECCHIO: You sure?
MANAGER: I only live here twenty-four hours of the day. I sleep here, I eat here. I know every face that comes in here.
VECCHIO: So is he in?
MANAGER: I have no idea.
Fraser and Vecchio are on the stairs.
VECCHIO: So what's this guy like?
FRASER: What do you mean?
VECCHIO: I mean if this guy's unhinged, I don't want to knock on the door and be met by a bullet.
FRASER: Oh, it's okay. He knows we're coming.
VECCHIO: How could he?
I don't think the fact that Frobisher knows they're coming should necessarily be reassuring to Vecchio. He could still greet them with a bullet, couldn't he?
Hotel guy says Frobisher's a carnie, that is, a traveling carnival employee. Maybe that's Frobisher's cover? Or maybe the guy drew a conclusion from the fact that he only had one bag.
Scene 11
In Frobisher's room. A gun is on the table. There is a knock at the door, and then Fraser and Vecchio come in even though no one has answered. Frobisher is sitting staring at the door, but he does not pick up the gun.
FROBISHER: You track a man about as quietly as I pass wind.
VECCHIO: I'll, uh, wait for you downstairs. [He leaves, closing the door.]
FRASER: Julie asked me to find you.
FROBISHER: Yeah. I'll send her a postcard.
FRASER: She's worried.
FROBISHER: Nothing will happen to her if she just stays away from me.
FRASER: I don't think she's worried for herself.
FROBISHER: I'm fine.
FRASER: Who is it? You're waiting for somebody or you wouldn't have that.
FROBISHER: So what are you going to do? Protect me?
FRASER: I'd do whatever I could.
FROBISHER: Look, I'm Buck Frobisher, you little pissant. I've taken more men down than you've ever met. The day I take help from a boy like you is the day I'll put this to my own head. Want to do something for me? I'm out of beer.
FRASER: I'll have them send it up.
So this Frobisher is a real prince of an old man, huh? Put aside for a moment how rude he is to Fraser; he's drunk. But he also doesn't seem to give the kind of shit about his daughter (and his grandchild) that you'd assume based on how worried she was about him.
Scene 12
Fraser is at home reading his father's journal.
BOB FRASER (VO): February thirteenth. Ten years ago, I would never have walked into something like this. A bear trap so poorly camouflaged a child would have seen it, but I didn't. I pried it open and got my leg out, but there was no way I could make it back. I was prepared to die out here. To be honest, I felt I deserved it. A man gets too old for a job, he should know it, and stop. But then Buck found me. I don't know how. No one knew where I was going. But he found me, and he carried me back. Three days over terrain a mule couldn't navigate. Laughing his ass off the entire way. Riding like that, completely helpless, slung over Buck's shoulder and staring down his back, I came to understand two things. One, at a certain point in life, a man's hips spread and there's nothing you can do about it. And two, there's a very easy way to define friendship: A friend is someone who won't stop until he finds you and brings you home.
There is a knock at the door.
VECCHIO: I think I know who's after the old man. [hands Fraser a printout]
So did Buck find Bob and carry him home on foot?
Scene 13
Fraser and Vecchio are on the stairs leaving Fraser's building.
VECCHIO: It came over the wire, so as usual, I decided to drop my life and bring it on over.
FRASER: I appreciate it, Ray.
VECCHIO: You know, this guy must be sixty years old. He doesn't look that dangerous to me.
FRASER: In nineteen-seventy-eight, Harold Geiger held up a bank in southern Michigan. A guard tried to stop him; he shot the guard and two other employees. The police and the FBI pursued him across five states. Before he crossed into Canada, he'd killed two FBI men, a state trooper, and a highway patrol officer. Once across the border, he broke through a massive dragnet, killing a local officer, two provincial police officers, and two members of the RMCP's emergency response team. In short, he killed every cop that got close to him. Except one: Buck Frobisher. Frobisher tracked him up to Whitehorse, caught up with him on a railroad bridge. A struggle issued. Geiger went over the edge, and at the last second, Frobisher caught him by the arm. Dangling there, two hundred feet above the gorge, Geiger reached into his belt, pulled out a hunting knife, and jabbed it hilt-deep into Frobisher's leg. Still, Sergeant Frobisher managed to pull him up, cuff him, and take him in.
VECCHIO: And this guy's coming here to my city?
FRASER: I believe so, yes.
VECCHIO: God, I hate tourists.
It's hell being the comic relief, isn't it, Vecchio. (I actually do think that line is pretty funny.)
Okay so: From southern Michigan to Whitehorse, YT, I assume the five states across which the police and FBI pursued Geiger were Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and then he crossed into Canada from Minnesota and kept going northwest from there. Alternatively, he could have gone from Michigan to Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont and entered Canada in southern Quebec and then turned west, but that seems less likely. He could have gone north from the bank he robbed and missed out Indiana and Illinois but crossed Lake Michigan into Wisconsin somehow (I don't know what the Lake Michigan ferry crossing situation is like; usually ferries don't cross lakes at their widest points, though, right?) and then gone through Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana before entering Canada somewhere along the Montana border; similarly, he could have gone north through Michigan, crossed over to the Upper Peninsula, and then gone west through Wisconsin etc. rather than just get into Canada right there. BUT only Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador have provincial police forces—the other provinces and all the territories get their provincial-level policing from the RCMP—so Geiger must have crossed into Canada in either Quebec or Ontario at the furthest west.
Anyway, Whitehorse is a long way from southern Michigan. This dude took some catching. (The state borders on this map are approximate. I couldn't find a U.S. map at exactly the same projection as the Canada one I was already using.)
Scene 14
Back at the hotel.
FROBISHER: So he is coming.
FRASER: A few hours ago they found the body of a border patrol officer in a service station restroom. They sealed the bridge immediately, but they can't be sure he didn't make it across.
FROBISHER: He made it.
FRASER: I came to offer you — my friend Detective Vecchio is waiting downstairs. He's willing to place you under protective custody until Geiger is apprehended.
FROBISHER: That long, eh? They must have quite the budget.
FRASER: The FBI's been notified, and the state troopers are watching the roads, so as soon as they're sure that he's —
FROBISHER: What? That he's coming after me? They want proof, well, show them this. Show them my leg. [rattles a bottle of pills] Seventeen years ago I didn't have to take these, you know, to walk on it. That's what it cost me to bring him in. He's been on the road for a week now. How many cops has he killed?
FRASER: Two that we know of.
FROBISHER: Well, that brings his total up to twelve. Your friend got twelve more cops he's willing to lose? I put Geiger away. He's not going to stop until he finds me and does the same.
FRASER: So what do you plan to do? Keep running?
FROBISHER: Hey, look, you came here, you warned me, I appreciate it. But what I do or where I'm going is none of your damn business.
FRASER: You know, I was reading my father's diary. The day that you pulled him off the icepack.
FROBISHER: I was thirty years old then.
FRASER: So what?
FROBISHER: Do I look like I'm thirty? Look like I'm forty? I was — that was when your father and I thought we were immortal. Boy, were we wrong. Look what happened to him. Look what happened to me.
FRASER: You are still the same man who brought in Geiger when nobody else could.
FROBISHER: That was the man I used to be. Right now I'm just a guy who sits behind a desk. No, I'm a guy who's running. For his life. Who's ashamed of what he's become.
FRASER: No, you're not. You're Buck Frobisher. And you know exactly who you are. The only question is, how long can you keep running from that? If you need money, or, uh, a plane ticket —
FROBISHER: No, I'm moving on tonight. I'll send you a postcard.
Frobisher says "that brings his total to twelve," but I count eleven: two FBI men (2), a state trooper (3), a highway patrol officer (4), a local officer (5), two provincial police officers (7), two members of the RCMP's emergency response team (9), and the "two that we know of" since he escaped from prison (I assume that's the prison bus driver and the border control officer). Maybe Frobisher is counting the bank guard (but not the two other employees; maybe they survived)? (You may make your “Geiger counter” jokes now.)
He also says he was 30 when he brought Bob Fraser in after the latter got his leg caught in a bear trap. (I would have said "pulled him off the pack ice" instead of "off the icepack," but what do I know.) Of course, Bob said by then Buck's hips had started to spread, which, 30 seems a little young for a man to be losing his figure, doesn't it? Anyway, "Do I look like I'm thirty? Do I look like I'm forty?!" is good stuff. The implication, naturally, is that he's past fifty. His daughter is of a similar age as Fraser, who as we know is about 33, so figure Frobisher for his mid-50s at the absolute minimum. (In 1994, Leslie Nielsen was 68.)
Scene 15
Vecchio is waiting for Fraser by the car. Fraser comes out of Frobisher's hotel.
VECCHIO: He didn't go for it, did he. [Fraser shakes his head.] So what do you want to do?
FRASER: Nothing. There's nothing we can do for him. Would you drive me home? I have to be at work early tomorrow.
VECCHIO: Sure.
This is such a small scene, but it's such a sad performance. Like—Frobisher has been a solid jackass since the moment we clapped eyes on him, and Fraser is torn up that he isn't being allowed to help him.
Scene 16
Fraser is at home. He's sleeping on the floor; Diefenbaker has the bed. He reads another page of his father's journal and then blows out the lantern he uses as a bedside lamp.
Frobisher is packing his things. He looks at a framed photograph of a little girl in a white dress wearing a coronet of flowers. Looks like a flower girl or First Communion situation. Could be his granddaughter; could be his daughter as a child. It's a color picture, in any case, which is relevant because from behind it he pulls out a similarly sized sepia-tone photograph of what is probably himself as a younger man, though we don't see it for long enough to be sure. He looks at it with a determined frown on his face.
TV and film lighting crews have a hard job when there are practical effects like characters turning off lights or blowing out candles. The lantern Fraser was using casts way more light than a real lantern should, of course, because the viewing audience needs to be able to see him, but when he blows it out, the timing of the room getting dark is just a little bit off. I can't imagine how many takes they have to do of that kind of shot.
Scene 17
A man with a camera is waving at the subject of the picture he's trying to compose. It turns out it's a woman, presumably his wife, standing next to Fraser, who is doing mannequin guard duty again.
CAMERA-WIELDING TOURIST: Okay. That's it.
Dramatic here-we-go music is playing. Horses are galloping along the street. People gape at them. One of them is being ridden by a Mountie, of whom we can see the boots and legs and the hem of the red tunic; the other is riderless. The camera-wielding tourist's wife is brushing lint off Fraser's epaulette. Her husband takes another picture. The horses arrive at the consulate, rear, and whinny. The Mountie riding the one on the right is Buck Frobisher.
FROBISHER: Hop on, son. We have a villain to catch.
Fraser smirks toward the camera-wielding tourist's wife and steps out of attention to join Frobisher. He mounts the other horse.
FRASER: You ran away, but you brought your dress uniform with you?
FROBISHER: No, I rented it. If we don't catch him by Tuesday, I have to pay extra. Ready?
FRASER: Ready.
The horses rear again. They land, and Fraser rides off; the other horse is suddenly riderless. Frobisher stands up into the frame, dusting his hat.
FROBISHER: Taxi! [A taxi screeches to a stop.] Okay.
FRASER: [gets into the cab with him] So where do we start?
FROBISHER: From what I know of the south side, everything tells me that's where he's headed.
The taxi drives away. Geiger is watching it go. He spits out his gum into the street. Before the scene ends he looks right at the camera.
THAT SMIRK. It's at 19:19 on the DVD of this episode, and we have not seen Fraser make such a face before. Nor abandon his post! I'm forced to assume Frobisher rolled up at exactly the moment his shift ended, because otherwise, holy cow. Unrelatedly, the woman getting her picture taken next to Fraser must be very tall, wearing heels, or standing on a curb while he's not.
[late edit: I can now offer an animated gif of that smirk, which didn't work at all in a still screencap so I didn't bother:
]
Renting the uniform and then falling off the horse and hailing a taxi are much more the sort of thing you'd have been expecting as a viewer when Leslie Nielsen turned up. So it looks for a moment like we're off into a silly Police Squad/Airplane!/Naked Gun place, but then there's the bad guy, lurking and reminding us that our heroes are up against a serious problem here.
Frobisher's rented uniform has regular trousers rather than the jodhpurs Fraser wears with his red tunic, and his boots are a little less tall. Also he is wearing brown leather riding gloves when he's on the horse and opening the taxi door. Fraser is also wearing brown gloves when he gets up on the horse. He had his hands behind his back when he was standing at mannequin attention, but he was not wearing gloves when he stepped toward the horse and then was wearing them when he mounted the thing. These are apparently magic gloves that can appear and disappear as needed.
When they get in the cab, what happens to the horses? Never mind, I guess?
Scene 18
At the police station.
ELAINE: Geiger, Harold. Ooh, he's a nasty one.
VECCHIO: I need known accomplices, girlfriends, cellmates. Anyone in the city he might try to shack up with?
ELAINE: Local boys. Here we go. Ho, Walter. Armed robbery, multiple counts, currently on parole. Trager, James. Armed robbery, manslaughter, currently on parole. Welker, George. Murder one, attempted murder, mayhem, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon —
VECCHIO: On parole.
ELAINE: Escaped and at large. I'm printing out last knowns, but the parole office could have more current addresses. I'll call when I get them.
FRASER: Thank you kindly, Elaine.
VECCHIO: You're a gem, Elaine. Come on, boys, let's move.
FROBISHER: We appreciate your thoughtfulness, miss.
ANOTHER CIVILIAN AIDE: [watching Fraser walk away] Now there's a country that knows what to export.
ELAINE: Absolutely.
Lest we forget that in addition to his Sherlock-Holmes-and-Lieutenant-Columbo-style detective skills, Fraser is also pretty to look at.
Scene 19
Outside the same bar Vecchio and Fraser went to in the pilot. Vecchio and Frobisher are in the front seat of Vecchio's car; Fraser and Diefenbaker are in the back.
VECCHIO: Okay, this is going to take some teamwork, so listen up. Here's how it's going to be. I go to the front door, you stay in the car. I go into the bar, you stay in the car. I'll question the locals of the whereabouts of one Walter Ho, you stay in the car. When I get back here, where do I find you guys?
FRASER: In the car?
VECCHIO: Exactly.
Vecchio takes his gun and goes into the bar.
FROBISHER: Let's go.
FRASER: Right. Oh — Dief, when I come back I expect to find you in the car. [Diefenbaker almost literally rolls his eyes. Fraser and Frobisher get out of the car.] Oh, uh, before we go in, there's something I should tell you.
On his rented uniform, Frobisher has six stars on the left sleeve and three chevrons on the right (on the upper arm, which is where I generally expect such things, not like Gerrard's four chevrons on his cuff in the pilot, where I expect naval officers to have braids). (Fraser has two stars on his left sleeve, and has had since the pilot.)
Diefenbaker is so far the only character in this show who is in any way aware of irony, apparently.
Scene 20
VECCHIO: Hey, hey, Chuck, long time no see.
CHUCK: Get out of here, Vecchio. Get the hell out of my bar. I don't need any more trouble.
VECCHIO: Aw, come on, Chuck you worry too much.
CHUCK: I just got this place put back together. You know how much it cost? I can't even get insurance anymore because of you. Someone get this goop out of here.
VECCHIO: Look, Chuck, I'm just looking for a little — [Someone grabs Vecchio by the throat from behind.] Chicago PD, pal. Don't make me use my gun. [The guy grabs Vecchio's gun.] That's it. That's my gun. Don't make me use it.
Fraser and Frobisher bust in the back door.
FROBISHER: May I have your attention please? [record scratch, music stops, everyone points guns at them] Thank you.
FRASER: Could I have one quick word?
FROBISHER: Anybody carrying illegal firearms, please place them on the bar. You're under arrest. [They all rack their guns. Chuck ducks.] That's very good. Now place them on the bar.
FRASER: You see, I've been here before. What I've found is that this is, uh —
FROBISHER: Oh right. Local custom. All right, we're prepared to over look the firearms infractions, it being hunting season and all. [Someone throws a knife, which embeds itself in the doorjamb inches from Frobisher's head.] No, no, sir, you keep that. All we want is information on the whereabouts of one Walter Ho.
GUY HOLDING VECCHIO: You want to know where Walter Ho is?
FRASER: You see it's usually at this point that they'll start shooting, so might I suggest that we just take cover behind that small wall there —
GUY HOLDING VECCHIO: Vincent, tell them where your father is.
VINCENT, APPARENTLY: Nine-fifty-six Dearness Street.
FROBISHER: Thank you, young man. You get that? [They walk through the crowd to leave the bar. Fraser clears his throat and the guy holding Vecchio lets go of him. Vecchio snatches his gun back out of the guy's hand.] Very nice people, these Americans. You hear these stories, but . . .
The meta-silliness of this scene is too much for me right now.
Scene 21
At a community center.
VECCHIO: I'm telling you, this is a waste of time. There's no way that he gave us the right address. I mean, this is the guy's father.
FROBISHER: You're right. Could be a trap. Now we go in ready for trouble. [They throw the door open.] All right. Nobody move! [It is a room full of senior citizens playing bingo.] Get your hands on the table. Get those daubers where I can see 'em. You, Pops, hands in the air. [An old man lets go of his walker and falls down.] Oh. Sorry.
Okay: The horse stuff was one, the bar was two, and this was three—that's the rule of three, right? We've escalated the goofiness to the max and we're going to get back to our drama already in progress, right?
Scene 22
Walter Ho is being carried out of the community center on a gurney.
VECCHIO: Did anybody check out this guy's birthday before we started out on this manhunt? Walter Ho is ninety-one years old. Wouldn't you think his trail was a tad cold?
FRASER: Might have worked with Geiger early in his career.
VECCHIO: Early in his career! This guy started out with the James gang. All right, where to next?
FROBISHER: Nine-oh-seven Mill Street Road. I've run into this guy before. Not going to find him in any bingo parlor. Trager, James.
It is a cemetery.
FROBISHER: Born February thirteenth, nineteen-thirty-seven; died November second, nineteen-ninety-three.
VECCHIO: Okay, I'll get the shovel, you handle the interrogations.
FROBISHER: That man was several years younger than me. You know, I always used to think that I'd want to see my enemies in their graves before I die. Strange feeling now that it's actually happened.
FRASER: All right, George Welker. We have no whereabouts on him. He escaped from Pelican Bay eight months ago. Maybe the FBI has a lead.
FROBISHER: I think we've covered enough ground for today.
And just when you think they're going to stay silly—here's Vecchio doing comic relief again—they slam you into sober reverse and get serious. I keep talking about Leslie Nielsen, but that's because this performance is a master class. "That man was several years younger than me." The poignancy of that line, and the unexpectedness of it after the horses and the bar and the bingo hall.
Okay and the man who was several years younger than Frobisher was born in 1937, so I'm going to say Frobisher was born not later than 1934. Which means, if he was indeed 30 when he fetched Bob Fraser back off the ice, that that happened not later than 1965 (before Frobisher's 31st birthday). And if my math about Bob is also correct, then he'll have been about 32 or 33 at that time—the same age Ben Fraser is now—which doesn't strike me as so old he can't do his job anymore and ought to stop, the way he said in his journal.
Pelican Bay State Prison is at the extreme northern end of California, right on the border with Oregon, but nevertheless off the bottom left edge of my map graphic, so I'm not doing an image with Pelican Bay on it. :-) And the James Gang were the notorious band of highwaymen and train robbers led in the 1860s by Jesse James and his brother Frank.
Scene 23
Back at Frobisher's hotel. Fraser follows Frobisher into the lobby.
FRASER: Sergeant. We will find him.
FROBISHER: We always do.
He goes upstairs. Fraser goes back outside.
FRASER: Think you can find our way home? [Diefenbaker nods. Fraser gets about five steps down the sidewalk and then realizes something is wrong.] "I'm here twenty-four hours a day." Where's the guy behind the desk?
Fraser runs back to the hotel. Frobisher is letting himself into his room. Fraser reaches the desk; the hotel manager is dead on the floor in his booth. Frobisher goes to hang his hat in the closet. Fraser is running up the stairs. Frobisher gets a bad vibe and grabs his gun just in time for Geiger, who has been lurking in his room, to jump at him with a big-ass knife. They struggle. It takes Fraser a couple of tries to kick the door in. Geiger punches Frobisher to the floor and is looming over him with the knife when Fraser bursts into the room. Geiger jumps through the window. Fraser checks on Frobisher (unconscious or dead, we can't tell) and then turns to Diefenbaker.
FRASER: The roof.
Geiger is climbing up a fire escape. Fraser jumps out the window and follows him. Diefenbaker is running up the stairs. Fraser reaches the top of the ladder and Geiger hits him with a pipe, knocking him back down to whatever he landed on when he jumped out the window. He starts again. Diefenbaker is at the roof access door, but it won't open. He jumps at it. Fraser makes it to the top of the ladder again, and Geiger comes at him again with the pipe, but this time he dodges and grabs it and gets up onto the roof. Geiger grabs another one and they fight, bo staff–style. Geiger knocks Fraser's legs out from under him; Fraser drops his pipe and crawls for it. Geiger smashes his pipe onto Fraser's hand. Fraser turns over and kicks Geiger's pipe out of his hand, and he gets to his feet and is about to kick him again when Geiger stabs him in the leg with his big-ass knife.
Diefenbaker is still jumping at the roof door. He finally gets it open and runs out onto the roof, just in time to jump at Geiger before he can stab Fraser again. Geiger goes over the edge and off the roof, but he catches the fire escape and lands safely on the ground. Frobisher comes onto the roof and sees Geiger getting away.
FROBISHER: That man's been working out. [Then he sees that Fraser isn't getting up.] Oh my God.
Diefenbaker nods. Diefenbaker nods. This dog, man.
That door is pretty sturdy if it takes Fraser at least two tries to kick it in. (He did Drake's apartment door in what looked like one kick in the pilot.)
Scene 24
In a hospital.
Vecchio and a uniformed cop get off the elevator.
VECCHIO: All right, stay here. Nobody gets on this floor. [He runs down the hall until he reaches Frobisher and skids to a stop.] How is he?
FROBISHER: They got the bleeding stopped right away. It looks like he's out of danger.
VECCHIO: What did they get him with, a knife?
FROBISHER: Very deep. Doctors seem to know what they're doing.
VECCHIO: Damn it. He in there?
FROBISHER: In recovery. Soon as they know he's okay, they'll move him.
VECCHIO: You know, I can't believe it. I mean, it's like — Fraser, he was invincible, I mean —
FROBISHER: Yeah. Happens to the best of us.
VECCHIO: Yeah. [He stalks off.]
Frobisher described himself and Bob Fraser as having thought they were immortal, not invincible, but the idea is the same.
Scene 25
A patient on a gurney is being pushed toes-first through another hallway in the hospital.
DOCTOR: DOA?
GEIGER: Knife wound.
He pulls the cover down off the patient and grabs a heavy object with which he smashes the doctor unconscious.
The heavy object is some sort of hardware connected to the gurney in some way. It looks like the handle of a screwdriver, but it's obviously much heavier. Not the bed controls or anything like that.
Scene 26
In a recovery room. A nurse is bandaging a leg.
FRASER'S NURSE: Well, you've got the room to yourself. Are you really a Mountie?
FRASER: Yes, ma'am.
FRASER'S NURSE: You know, I got a nephew in Canada. His name is Gerald Simpson. You know him?
FRASER: Yes.
FRASER'S NURSE: Really? You know I was, um — [Vecchio comes in.] — you're not suppose to be in here yet.
VECCHIO: Yeah, I know that. There's a cop outside. Would you like to report me? [He hustles her out of the room.] Thank you very much. [back to Fraser] How's it going?
FRASER: They tried to cut off my boots.
VECCHIO: No!
FRASER: Right up the side. I wouldn't let them.
VECCHIO: Well, I don't blame you. Lose a leg, sure, but a good pair of boots isn't easy to replace. Does it hurt?
FRASER: Yes, Ray.
VECCHIO: Would you like a little more fluid?
FRASER: No, thanks. How's Dief?
VECCHIO: Oh, I rented him Rin-Tin-Tin, he's thrilled.
FRASER: Thanks. Is Sergeant Frobisher out there?
VECCHIO: Yeah. Would you like me to send him in?
FRASER: Please.
VECCHIO: [going] Oh, I'm gonna, um, go down to the store. Do you want anything?
FRASER: Like what?
VECCHIO: Oh, I don't know, I was thinking maybe the Yukon Gazette or Toboggan Today.
FRASER: No, I'm fine.
VECCHIO: Okay. [He goes.]
I can't get over how uncomfortable they seem with each other here.
Granted, Vecchio is feeling rattled and maybe even a little betrayed by the fact that Fraser has turned out not to be invincible. He's helpless. His best friend is lying there in the hospital, could have bled out, could have lost his leg, and there's nothing he can do except assure him the dog is being looked after? And then Fraser asks for Frobisher instead?
And we can add "have a friend visit him in the hospital" to the list of things Fraser doesn't know how to do, though in fairness, many or most people may not know how to do that. But I mean. Look at some of the things he doesn't say. "Thanks for coming, Ray." "I'm glad you're here." The text doesn't reflect the warmth with which he does say "No, thanks" and "I'm fine," but honestly: His best friend is scared for him, and he talks about his boots and asks for someone else almost immediately.
None of it strikes me as out of character, but it is so uncomfortable and I don't know what to do with it. (And they’ve done this before! Vecchio was in the hospital and Fraser was with him there and it was nowhere near as strange as this!)
Scene 27
Geiger pushes open an elevator door. The elevator is on its way down to where he is. He throws a grappling hook up the elevator shaft.
Scene 28
Back in Fraser's hospital room.
FROBISHER: How are you doing?
FRASER: I'm okay. I wanted you to know it wasn't your fault.
FROBISHER: How do you figure that?
FRASER: Well, he surprised me, too. I walked right into it.
FROBISHER: Well, as I recall, you kicked your way into it. And you won't be doing that again too soon.
FRASER: No, it doesn't look like it.
FROBISHER: It'll get well if you stay off it. But that's the hard part. You know, when it happened to me, I, I told myself, "You get back up and get out there or they're gonna put you behind a desk."
FRASER: Oh, I can't imagine that. [Frobisher's face falls a bit.] I'm sorry.
FROBISHER: Well, there are worse places. We visited one yesterday.
FRASER: I think, um, I think you should take up Ray's offer.
FROBISHER: Protective custody? Yeah. Be the smart thing to do. Well. Take it easy. Get some rest.
FRASER: Yeah, that'd be the smart thing to do.
FROBISHER: You remember that wallet that you stitched for your father when you were just a little kid?
FRASER: He showed you that?
FROBISHER: He used it until it started to fall apart and he used it even after that. When I brought him out that time, it must have fallen out of his pocket and got lost. When he got out of the hospital the first thing he did was go back up there to try to find it.
FRASER: Did he?
FROBISHER: Yeah.
Contrariwise, this scene between Fraser and Frobisher is not awkward or uncomfortable at all, even when Fraser says he can't imagine having a desk job and immediately realizes it was the wrong thing to have said and apologizes—and Frobisher's face didn't even fall all the way before Fraser apologized and he shrugged it off. These men are at ease with each other in a way Fraser and Vecchio were simply not, thirty seconds ago. Even the gentle scolding is easier (they both know Frobisher is not going to take the offer of protective custody, of course, and Fraser is clearly not going to take it easy and get some rest, either).
And then Frobisher tells the story of Bob Fraser's wallet, which I freaking love. There is no need or purpose for it in terms of Fraser and Frobisher's relationship; Frobisher has already accepted Fraser's help and more or less apologized for being such a jerk in the first place, and Fraser has implicitly forgiven him for that and explicitly forgiven him for his injury. Telling this story isn't a peace offering. It's a plain act of generosity on Frobisher's part. He can't literally say "Ben, you have no idea how much your father loved you," but he can say this. Look at Fraser's smile as Frobisher is leaving the room. He's got a tiny bit of his father back.
(After my dad died, a friend who'd known my folks since before I was born and been a tremendous help to them when he was ill reminded me of a time my dad and I had been at their place for dinner—I think I was visiting because my mom was out of town one weekend. Anyway we'd played bridge, and my dad had stuck me in seven spades—I'd opened them so I had to play it even though he'd bid it—and there hadn't been a lot of other bidding, so I didn't have much other information, not that I'd probably have understood it because I knew I was the weakest player at the table, but I concentrated and played carefully and made the big slam, and the friend was reminding me of that story specifically because he wanted to tell me how he'd watched my dad watching me play that hand and how proud he could see that he was. [This was not the time I bid four spades and then made seven, and I can still remember the sinking feeling of having three made and all that was left in my hand was ♠️AKQJ, like it does not feel great to lay them down when what you're laying down is "oh my god we missed a big slam I am so sorry"—fortunately my dad was able to think back through the hand and what was where and assure me it hadn't been there to be bid, so making it was a perfect storm.] I will be the first to tell you my relationship with my dad was much closer than the fictitious relationship between the Frasers père and fils! But even if your dad would have and did say "I'm so proud of you," it's a nice thing for someone who knew him to tell you once he's gone.)
I would normally assume that a wallet stitched by a little kid would be stitched by a six- or seven-year-old, but if Bob Fraser lost the thing that day Frobisher brought him back off the ice, it must have been new at the time because Ben Fraser can only have been barely four years old. (Unless Frobisher was not actually as young as 30 when that rescue took place.)
Scene 29
Geiger is riding up the elevator shaft on the line hanging from his grappling hook. The elevator opens and the uniformed cop Vecchio stationed there tips his hat to a couple of nurses as they get out. The elevator door closes but the cop seems to hear something; he's listening at the elevator door when it opens again, with no elevator behind it, and Geiger grabs him and throws him down the shaft.
Geiger is stalking around the floor, going through the nurses' station, opening doors at random.
HEAD NURSE, MAYBE: Excuse me. Excuse me, sir, you can't be up here.
Vecchio, eating some snacks and carrying some flowers, gets on an elevator going up.
Geiger is still opening doors. One of them gets shoved back in his face. It is Frobisher coming out of Fraser's room. Geiger pulls his knife. He and Frobisher fight in the hospital corridor. Fraser hears the noise, disconnects his IV, and starts getting up. Vecchio's elevator reaches Fraser's floor, and he sees that the uniform isn't in place; he drops the flowers and the snacks and runs, reaching for his gun. Geiger throws Frobisher down the hall. Vecchio is running through the nurses' station with his gun drawn.
FRASER'S NURSE: Down there. Down there.
VECCHIO: Call it in! Call it in! [He sees Geiger with his knife out.] Drop it! Drop it! [Geiger throws the knife at Frobisher and misses. People are running and screaming.] Get clear! I said get clear! [People do not get clear, so he doesn't have a shot at Geiger, and Geiger rushes him and tackles him to the floor. Geiger runs back through the nurses' station toward the elevators. Vecchio gets up and follows him. Geiger grabs the elevator cable and jumps. Fraser comes hobbling up.]
FRASER: Ow. Ow. Did he make it?
VECCHIO: He threw himself down an elevator shaft.
FRASER: He made it. Where's Buck?
Frobisher grabs his hat and ducks out a door to a staircase.
FRASER: Ow. Ow. Ray, could you? [gesturing to the back of his hospital gown]
VECCHIO: Do I have to? [holds the gown closed]
FRASER: Please. Ow. Ow. Ow.
VECCHIO: Where the hell did Frobisher go?
FRASER: He went after Geiger.
VECCHIO: And where are you going?
FRASER: Get my uniform.
VECCHIO: Then what?
FRASER: Then we go after Frobisher. Ow.
VECCHIO: Oh, yeah, this makes sense. We got half the police department after this guy, but is he going to worry about it? No, he's got two limping Mounties on his tail.
FRASER: Ow. Ow. [He pulls off his hospital bracelet.]
Makeup note: It is a convincing wow-my-leg-really-hurts performance, partly from the limping and partly from the sweat on Fraser's forehead. Nice work, makeup team! (I did not need him to say "ow" with every step to believe he was in pain. In fact I'm a little surprised he did say "ow" with every step, but like Vecchio, we haven't really seen him hurt before, have we, so maybe my surprise is unwarranted.)
The unease between Fraser and Vecchio is gone; Vecchio is already holding Fraser's hospital gown closed as he asks if he really has to. Ten-four, good buddy.
Costume note: Bro, you didn't let them cut off your boots, but I will bet five pretend dollars they had to cut off your pants, and even if they didn't, you were stabbed through them, so they'll have a big old slice in them and be soaked with blood. You're going to put that whole uniform back on? I get that there isn't time to have Vecchio go get you some other pants, but really?
Frobisher's stunt man, by the way, is now wearing plain black shoes with his straight-legged uniform trousers, as Fraser does with the brown uniform. (The more I look at it, the more convinced I am that Frobisher's stunt man is Fraser's stunt man in a white wig. Something about the gait and the fighting stance.)
Scene 30
Geiger comes out the employee entrance of the hospital. Police cars rush up, lights and sirens going, and officers run toward the hospital. Geiger manages to hide. Frobisher comes out the employee entrance and commandeers one of the parked motorcycles.
FROBISHER: [to a kid standing nearby] Stand back, son. There's a villain on the loose. [Motorcycle rears and then drives off by itself because Frobisher has fallen off the back. He stands up.] Taxi!
Geiger hauls a guy out of a car at a red light.
DRIVER: Hey!
GEIGER: [driving off and using the guy's car phone] George? Harold. Look, I need some help.
DRIVER: [left behind at the light] Not again!
Have we seen this carjacked guy before? "Not again" puzzles me. Also, there are people in the background of this scene who see the carjacking happen and don't really react in any way. Nice.
Scene 31
It is dark outside. Vecchio is driving slowly; Fraser is leaning out the passenger window with a flashlight.
FRASER: Slow down a little . . . stop.
VECCHIO: What? You see another bent twig?
FRASER: No, it's a gum wrapper. And there appears to be something inside.
VECCHIO: Of course there is! Disease! Someone had that in their mouth. Now don't be opening that in my car.
FRASER: Geiger gave up smoking in prison using nicotine gum.
VECCHIO: Oh, well, that's good. God forbid he should have any bad habits. [Fraser starts tasting the wrapper and its contents.] Oh no! You're tasting things again? Oh, that is the grossest thing I have ever seen.
FRASER: It's nicotine, all right. I see it.
VECCHIO: What? More gum?
FRASER: No. A red uniform.
Frobisher is lurking by the side of a building. Vecchio and Fraser join him, Fraser limping badly.
FRASER: Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.
FROBISHER: Did you find the gum?
FRASER: Yes.
FROBISHER: He's in there, and he's got company.
FRASER: How many?
FROBISHER: Five. Heavily armed.
VECCHIO: That's it, we call in the tactical team.
FROBISHER: You call in anybody you want. I'm going in there myself.
FRASER: You think that's a wise idea?
VECCHIO: There's no discussion here, Buck.
FROBISHER: Look. One week ago, that man in there stole my self-respect. At least I let him steal it. Now I want him to know I'm taking it back. Now. I'm going in alone.
FRASER: I understand.
VECCHIO: You understand? Let me suggest another interpretation to you. That is the stupidest reason I've ever heard in all my life.
FROBISHER: All right. I won't be long.
FRASER: Oh, one thing. If we should happen to feel that he's also stolen something from us —
FROBISHER: Then you come too.
FRASER: Good.
VECCHIO: This has gone far enough. Okay, let me point something out to you that your sharp Mountie eyes may have missed. See those windows up there? There are men in those windows with sniper scopes and high powered rifles. Do you see any cover between here and there? No. Which means there isn't any way to get from here to there without being seen or killed.
FRASER: He's absolutely right.
VECCHIO: Which is a shame, because if there was, I'd be the first to say let's do it.
FRASER: Hm . . . unless . . .
Fraser and Frobisher look at the manhole cover beneath their feet, then at the outdoor sporting goods store across the street, then at each other.
It was Chekov's Gum! Hell, it was Chekov's Ashtray Out the Bus Window!
Frobisher is wearing plain brown shoes now. Maybe it's the shorter boots he was wearing before and his trouser legs just aren't tucked into them. Just a slight continuity note.
Scene 32
In a sewer.
VECCHIO: I've never been so humiliated in all my life.
Our three heroes come around the corner in a canoe. Frobisher is paddling in the bow; Vecchio is sitting in the middle with a camp lantern; Fraser is paddling in the stern.
FRASER: Would you hold the lantern a little higher, Ray? If we bump the sides we'll have to return the canoe scuffed.
VECCHIO: Do you have any idea what's in this water?
FRASER: I would suspect a high percentage of ammonia, phosphorus, and cyanide.
VECCHIO: Wrong. Rats. Rats this big. And you know what they're doing? They're laughing at us. I'm in a canoe with two wounded Mounties and I'm being humiliated by rats.
FROBISHER: I think we're getting close.
I haven't been canoeing in more than 20 years, but putting the stronger paddler in the back of the boat sounds familiar to me.
Scene 33
In a warehouse or abandoned factory or some such place. Geiger and an accomplice, presumably George Welker because he called someone named George to say he needed help, pass by a sewer grate.
GEORGE WELKER, PRESUMABLY: It's been seven hours, Harold. He's not coming.
GEIGER: He's coming. I laid out a trail of clues for him that even a blind man could follow.
GEORGE WELKER, PRESUMABLY: Yeah, and he'll bring the whole damn Chicago PD.
GEIGER: I know him. He will come alone.
GEORGE WELKER, PRESUMABLY: [to another accomplice on a higher level] You see any squad cars, I want to hear about it before they get here.
The bad guys take positions on catwalks. Fraser pulls the grate aside, and he and Vecchio and Frobisher sneak into the hideout space and take cover.
FRASER: Ow. Ow. Ow.
FROBISHER: Ow.
FRASER: Yeah.
VECCHIO: Will you please take these? [He offers Fraser some pills.]
FRASER: Well, I try to stay away from non-prescription medicines, Ray.
VECCHIO: It's aspirin.
FRASER: Still, it has side effects.
VECCHIO: Just take them.
FRASER: All right, all right.
FROBISHER: I'll take a couple of those.
VECCHIO: Okay, now the way I see it is, I'm the only one with a gun, right?
FRASER AND FROBISHER: Right.
VECCHIO: So let's take 'em one at a time.
Fraser nods. A guy comes down the stairs right next to them. Fraser stands up.
FRASER: Excuse me. [He decks the guy with one punch and tosses him in a shipping crate, then crouches back down again with Vecchio and Frobisher.] Good plan.
FROBISHER: Let's split up.
They split up. Fraser limps over to some pipes and starts climbing.
George, Presumably is skulking around the catwalk. He thinks he hears something but doesn't see anything. Frobisher sneaks up behind a youngish bad guy and taps him on the shoulder.
FROBISHER: Excuse me.
He punches the youngish bad guy in the face four times, but the guy doesn't go down. Frobisher runs away and the guy chases him. George, Presumably hears this and moves that way to see what's up. He sees Frobisher and the youngish bad guy fighting. Fraser hops down behind him, takes his gun, and throws it away. George, Presumably punches Fraser in the face. Fraser kicks him in the crotch. George, Presumably grabs a wrench and starts swinging at Fraser with it. Frobisher is trying to slam the handgun out of the youngish bad guy's hand; the youngish bad guy punches him in the face. A bad guy with white hair is coming down some stairs with a handgun; Vecchio grabs his arm and yanks him over the side. Frobisher tackles the youngish bad guy. Up high, Geiger starts shooting. Fraser is still fighting with George, Presumably. Vecchio takes cover near a wall of gauges and pulls his gun. He starts to creep around the corner but the white-haired bad guy punches him in the face and pulls his own gun. That gun doesn't fire, so the white-haired bad guy throws it away and chases Vecchio. Fraser is still fighting with George, Presumably. The white-haired back guy and Vecchio are struggling. White-haired bad guy punches him again; Vecchio picks up a barrel and throws it at him. Frobisher is dodging Geiger's fire and running for the stairs. Geiger sees him coming up and starts down. They meet on a landing, and Geiger punches Frobisher in the face a couple of times and then in the stomach. Geiger is winning. Fraser is not done with George, Presumably. He limps away and sees George, Presumably coming at him; he grabs something overhead, swings toward George, Presumably, and kicks him back into something hard. Fraser lets go of whatever he's swinging from and lands hard. George, Presumably groans and falls to the floor.
FRASER: Hello? [George, Presumably does not respond.] Thank God.
Fraser looks down through the catwalk and sees Vecchio still fighting with the white-haired bad guy. He looks up at the next landing and sees Frobisher fighting with Geiger. He decides Vecchio needs his help more immediately. The white-haired bad guy knocks Vecchio onto his back. Fraser pulls up a panel so he can get down and swing, kicking the white-haired bad guy into a stack of barrels just as he was about to come at Vecchio with a pipe. Fraser lets go and drops to the ground, which hurts his bad leg, and he falls on his back next to Vecchio.
VECCHIO: Thanks.
FRASER: No problem.
They look up and see Frobisher still fighting Geiger. Punch, punch, headbutt; some type of steam vent breaks loose and Geiger goes over the side of the catwalk. He is hanging from the railing by one hand.
VECCHIO: He's not gonna —
Frobisher reaches for Geiger to pull him back up onto the catwalk. Geiger pulls out his big-ass knife with his free hand.
FRASER: NO!
FROBISHER: [grabbing Geiger's knife hand] Not this time!
He shakes the knife loose and only then pulls Geiger up to safety.
There may be a knife hole in Fraser's trousers; they were certainly not cut off him, and they are certainly not blood-soaked.
Not a bad fight scene. Again with the makeup people helping to sell Fraser as fighting through a lot of pain. He looks pale. Nice work, makeup team. Also nice work stunt guys. Apparently when Frobisher said "Five, heavily armed" he meant a total of five guys, not that Geiger had five extra guys, right? Because the total roster was (1) straight into the crate guy, (2) youngish guy, (3) white-haired guy, (4) George, Presumably, and (5) Geiger. Two each for Fraser and Frobisher and one for Vecchio, who may not have as much experience as the Mounties have with melee fighting because he's so much more accustomed to just shooting?
Scene 34
Outside the warehouse or factory or whatever the hideout was, it is daytime, and Fraser and Frobisher are watching Vecchio and other Chicago cops put handcuffed Geiger and his handcuffed friends in police cars. Geiger stops as he is led past Frobisher.
GEIGER: See you again.
FROBISHER: I'll be waiting. [to the cop, after Geiger is in the car] If you get a chance, shoot him. [He turns to Fraser.] Be sure you stay off that leg, now.
FRASER: I'll do that. Did you call Julie?
FROBISHER: Yeah, she's going to pick me up at the airport. You know about her and Bruce.
FRASER: Yeah, I was sorry to hear that.
FROBISHER: Well, that happens. She was in love with someone else.
FRASER: So she said. You know the fella?
FROBISHER: Yeah. Nice guy. Kind of guy who'd never let a friend down.
FRASER: Sounds like a good man.
FROBISHER: Yeah. [He shakes Fraser's hand.] Goodbye, Benton.
FRASER: Goodbye.
FROBISHER: Taxi!
Frobisher gets in a cab, but Fraser limps over and stops it before it can pull away.
FRASER: Can I offer you a ride?
FROBISHER: Absolutely.
They hop up on a pair of horses.
FRASER: Ready?
FROBISHER: Let's go, son. We've got a plane to catch.
The horses rear, nobody falls down, and Vecchio watches Fraser and Frobisher canter off.
Where did the horses come from?! (I mean obviously from the same alternate dimension that the horses in scene 17 went to. But where is that?)
Costume-wise, Frobisher is again wearing brown boots that are not as tall as Fraser's, so I'm guessing the brown shoes were boots without the trouser legs tucked in. They are both wearing the big brown magically appearing riding gauntlets again.
So: From whom did Fraser hear about Julie and Bruce's divorce? Not from Julie or from Frobisher, apparently. I'd say from Bob, but we're being trained to understand that they didn't talk much or often, so why and when would Bob tell Ben that Julie Frobisher had left her husband? There must be some other grapevine. Anyway, Frobisher knows that Julie was in love with Fraser. He gives him the opportunity to realize it, but takes it as gracefully as she did when Fraser chooses to remain clueless. Because the longer I look at it, the more I read "You know the fella?" as meaning "I have my suspicions but I'm double checking" and "Sounds like a good man" as Fraser having concluded the Frobishers do mean him but pretending not to have understood this as the most gracious means of letting Buck know he doesn't love Julie and never will. I was thinking this might be pretty much the first time we've seen Fraser be that socially aware, but no, he was with Julie herself also—"Oh, good. I mean, I don't mean good, I mean —"—he knows immediately that "I'm so glad it isn't me you were in love with" isn't a terrific thing to have said. (He also regrets saying "Oh, I can't imagine that" about taking a desk job as soon as it's out of his mouth.) So I guess where I am with this is, why is he so flustered and wrong-footed by Elaine transparently trying to get his phone number (etc.) but able to be so graceful about this Julie issue? Why can't he just pretend not to know what Elaine is talking about (or the woman who says "I like your dog, call me," or whatever)? Is it because Julie is the only one who has made exactly one play (or, okay, one and a half, if you count Buck) and then backed off, and Elaine has not seemed to understand that "He doesn't know what you're talking about" means "He isn't interested"?
I don't know if this episode title "Manhunt" is a movie reference. The episode was obviously about a manhunt—two of them, if you count the search for Frobisher in the beginning scenes. There was a film in 1976 called Kimi yo Fundo no Kawa o Watare that is apparently sometimes translated as Manhunt, which on a first glance at the pilot looks like it has more in common with "The Fugitive" (or The Fugitive) than with this episode, but the titles have been linked to previous media titles, not plots, right? So there we go?
Cumulative confirmed body count: 5
Red uniform: Career Day presentation, guard duty, when it's the only thing he has to wear leaving the hospital