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return to Due South: season 1 episode 17 "The Deal"
The Deal
air date March 30, 1995
Scene 1
A man hesitates and then walks into a church. Inside, people are filing past Vecchio and Fr. Behan into the choir loft.
FR. BEHAN: 'Tis a miracle, surely. We've never had so many people wanting to join our choir. You've done a fine thing, Raymond.
VECCHIO: Ah, think nothing of it, Father. I just pulled out my little black book, made a few calls, and they were happy to oblige. Oh, Ursula, thanks for coming.
URSULA: Yeah, yeah, take a hike.
VECCHIO: All right, we'll talk later!
In the choir loft, Ursula pushes past several of the many women already present to get to Fraser, who is sitting in the front row.
URSULA: Out of my way. Hi, Benton. [She pats his shoulder.]
WOMAN TWO PLACES TO FRASER'S RIGHT: This is my chair. I sit here every week.
WOMAN ON FRASER'S RIGHT SIDE: Well, this week it's mine.
WOMAN ON FRASER'S LEFT SIDE: Would you like to borrow my pitch pipe?
FRASER: Oh, well, thank you kindly for the offer, but, um —
WOMAN TWO PLACES TO FRASER'S LEFT: Didn't I see you at the church singles' dance the other night?
FRASER: Actually, I'm not part of this congregation. My friend and I just stopped by to pay Father Behan a visit. Or so I thought. [He looks around for Vecchio and accidentally puts his hand on Ursula's knee.] Sorry. [Vecchio gives him a thumbs up.]
FR. BEHAN: He did volunteer for this, didn't he?
VECCHIO: Oh, absolutely, Father. You know how it is with Mounties. Any excuse to burst into song.
CHOIR DIRECTOR: All right, ladies. And Constable Fraser. [sweet smile] Turn to hymn five-nine-eight.
The organ starts playing "O Perfect Love," giving them an introduction and then a whole verse for nothing. In the sanctuary, the man who wasn't sure he was going to come in picks up a taper, looks at his change, and decides he doesn't have enough. In the loft, Francesca is late for choir practice.
VECCHIO: Oh, God. [She is pushing through the rows of women.] Sorry, Father.
FRANCESCA: Excuse me.
FR. BEHAN: That is your sister, isn't it?
VECCHIO: Uh, yes, it is, Father.
FR. BEHAN: Oh, God.
FRANCESCA: Excuse me. [She bumps into Fraser from behind hard enough that he drops his music over the edge of the loft, then pretends to be surprised to see him and wedges herself in between him and the woman on his left.] Oh, Benton! What a surprise! You sing too?
FRASER: Ah, so I'm told.
FRANCESCA: How nice! [The woman on Fraser's left side is not happy to have been displaced; she is squirming to try to get Francesca to sit somewhere else.] Move it or lose your foot. [reaches over and grabs the woman's hymnal so she and Fraser can share]
A soloist begins to sing. In the nave, two men are in the first pew kneeling at "prayer."
SOLOIST: ♫Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow; grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife; and to life's day, the glorious unknown morrow that dawns upon eternal love and life. ♫
OLDER MAN: I'm only asking for the same terms your father gave me.
YOUNGER MAN: My father was a very generous man. I'm sure he's in heaven. [They get up off the kneelers and sit in the pew.] Look at this. [wiggles his fingers; he has a bandage on his hand*] We're playing pickup, I have the ball, some real estate broker charges me, practically breaks my arm.
OLDER MAN: We go back a long way. I've been doing business with your family for forty years. I make good every time. This isn't right.
YOUNGER MAN (GENEROUS MAN'S SON): Are you accusing me of being unjust, Tommy? [The singer has finished the verse; the organ plays another verse alone.]
OLDER MAN (TOMMY): No, no.
GENEROUS MAN'S SON: Good. Because I would hate to think that I had failed to earn your respect.
TOMMY: I'll take the deal. Deal's fine.
GENEROUS MAN'S SON:** Yeah, if that's what you want.
They get up, genuflect, and turn to leave the church.
GENEROUS MAN'S SON: So you wanna shoot some baskets on Saturday?
TOMMY: Me?
GENEROUS MAN'S SON: Yeah, you.
TOMMY: Sure, Mr. Zuko.
They pass the man who couldn't afford to light a candle, who is kneeling at prayer near the back. The generous man's son, Mr. Zuko, puts some cash in the poor box before he and Tommy leave. The choir joins the hymn. They're in tune but badly out of time.
CHOIR: ♫ O perfect love, all human thought transcending, lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne, that theirs may be the love which knows no ending, whom Thou forevermore dost join in one. O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance, of tender charity and steadfast faith, of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance, with childlike trust that fears nor pain nor death. ♫
FRANCESCA: [talking to Fraser while everyone else is singing] So I'm, like, having my nails done the other day when it just hits me like a ton of bricks: This guy is never going to come to you, Francesca. Nothing that good ever comes to you. The way I see it is, you want the best, you gotta take it. [Fraser sings "no ending/ Whom Thou forevermore . . ."] So I say to myself, "Ask him out." To which I reply, "What if it goes badly?" [The organist plays another instrumental verse, so Fraser doesn't have hymn lyrics to focus on. The director and many or most of the other women are glaring at Francesca.] I mean, "What if we go out to dinner and I have, like food stuck between my teeth or something and he turns off to me?" Pfft. So then I say, "Ask him out for drinks." [To Fraser's relief, the next verse begins. He sings "O perfect life, be Thou their full assurance . . ." at the top of his voice.] But then I remember: He's a Mountie, stupid. He doesn't drink. I mean sure, it's dark in the movie theater and everything, but you know, there could be people around, and, yeahhh. So the way I see it is, why do we have to play these games? I mean, we're both adults. We both know what we want. [Fraser sings "nor pain nor death."] So. [At the end of the verse, the music simply stops.] You wanna have sex?
The organist leans on the keyboard. Everyone in the loft is shocked. Someone in the nave screams; she is pointing to the man who couldn't afford to light a candle, who appears to be stealing money from the poor box. He runs.
WOMAN IN THE NAVE: Help! Thief! Thief!
FRASER: Oh, darn. Uh, excuse me.
Fraser runs to the front of the choir loft and jumps over the rail. All the women gasp. He lands in the aisle, rolls to his feet, and runs out the back of the church, saluting the woman who had screamed about the thief as he goes.
FRANCESCA: He had an appointment.
Fraser runs out the door and stands on the west steps of the church, looking around and seeing no one who has just run away from the place.
That is a giant choir loft. I mean it's a pretty big church, but wow. That's like four or five rows deep and about ten singers in each row with an aisle in it, which, hey, if you can get that many singers up there in your church choir, good for you, I guess? (Most church choirs are overbalanced in the soprano section, but it's not usually 39 sopranos and one baritone, no matter how good-looking the baritone is. . . . For a start, if he's that good-looking, he might draw a couple of tenors as well.) I've been a paid section leader in the choir at a well-attended Catholic church for ten years now (and tithing out of my earnings to Planned Parenthood and other orgs they don't support, but hey, once their money's my money I'm going to do what I like with it), and the pitch matching of this volunteer choir does not feel authentic to me—although the staying-in-time and talking during rehearsal sounds exactly right.
In the oddly dim lighting of the loft, it looks like Fraser is wearing a black turtleneck and wearing it well, but once he jumps down to the nave aisle it looks like he's wearing a dark button-up and olive green corduroys or something like that—and once he runs outside into daylight it turns out he's wearing a blue buffalo check flannel over a lighter blue henley and jeans (and hiking boots), so my moment of being charmed that he wasn't wearing blue jeans in a church was short-lived. (Many of the women in the choir, of course, are dressed not at all appropriately for church, because they are in that loft for another purpose.)
This hymn tune was specially composed in 1890 for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Fife (Queen Victoria's granddaughter Princess Louise of Wales, later Louise, Princess Royal). The words were written in 1883 by Dorothy F. Gurney as a wedding-appropriate text to a tune whose original text isn't very wedding-y. The first verse sung here, "Grant them the joy," is actually verse 3; then Fraser and the ladies sing verses 1 and 2. The fourth verse ("Hear us, O Father, gracious and forgiving,/ Through Jesus Christ, Thy coeternal Word,/ Who, with the Holy Ghost, by all things living/ Now and to endless ages art adored.") is basically a gloria (Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen)—which in my experience the Church of England likes to put on the end of its hymns, even if they kind of have to twist to make it fit, as has been done here, but which verse the Catholic church routinely omits. So the fact that they stopped after "pain nor death" wasn't a huge shock, but the suddenness of the stop was. (And of course it was the whole comic point.)
Vecchio appears to have updated his little black book since that time Francesca's was the only current number. And speaking of that episode with the cars, Francesca appears to have decided enough time has passed that Fraser might have forgiven her for her part in how her brother almost drowned? I think that's optimistic of her, but I do admire her for going after what she wants rather than throwing out hint after hint and waiting for Fraser to pick them up (which is never going to happen).
Credits roll.
Paul Gross
David Marciano
Beau Starr
Daniel Kash
Tony Craig
Catherine Bruhier
(plus Lincoln the dog)
Ramona Milano, Jim Bracchitta, Rod Wilson, Shay Duffin, Louis DiBianco, Sam Coppola, Gordon Pinsent as Fraser Sr.
Scene 2
Fraser is at Ray's desk in the 27th precinct looking at the poor box under a magnifying glass. Vecchio is searching among a lot of papers.
VECCHIO: Will you forget about it, Benny? Father Behan said there was less than forty bucks in there. If you want, I'll give him the money right out of my own pocket.
FRASER: Look at the gouge marks around the hinges, Ray.
VECCHIO: No.
FRASER: The thief loosened the fittings before he pried the lid.
VECCHIO: Okay, forty bucks and a new poor box.
FRASER: Judging from the striations in the wood, I'd say he must have used some kind of specialized tool.
VECCHIO: Benny, it's a three-dollar lock on a ten-dollar box. What do you want to do, call in Scotland Yard?
FRASER: Given the angle of insertion, I'd say he was probably right-handed.
VECCHIO: You see, now that is the break that we needed. Let's go nail the right-handed bastard.
FRASER: Now, you'll notice this rough indentation in the wood, made when the lid was pried open?
VECCHIO: No, I won't.
FRASER: It indicates the implement had a curved head and a sharp point. You know, it rather brings to mind a hook used for sockeye salmon.
VECCHIO: Hey Elaine! Get me a list of all the salmon fisheries in the greater metropolitan area, willya?
ELAINE: What?
FRASER: Never mind, Elaine, I believe Ray was just mocking me.
VECCHIO: Ah, yes, I was.
FRASER: We're not looking for a hook, Ray. I was referring to the shape of the implement's head. Now, the distance from the mark to the rear indicates the implement was at least six inches long, with sufficient heft to loosen the hinges. Aha.
VECCHIO: No, okay, no ahas, no uh-huhs, no interestings, no look at this, Ray, because I'm not gonna look.
Fraser has been running his finger around the box. He licks the tip of his little finger. Welsh comes out of his office.
FRASER: Left a waxy residue.
VECCHIO: Fraser, this is a petty theft, okay? We'll fill in a form, if I can find the damn thing, and if someone returns the money, we'll take it back to the church.
FRASER: Oh, I'm not interested in the money, Ray. I'm after the thief.
WELSH: Vecchio. Saint Michael's. Somebody robbed the poor box. Look into it.
VECCHIO: I'm already on it, sir, and I even found some waxy residue. [Fraser gives Vecchio a look. Vecchio shrugs.]
WELSH: Seems a prominent member of the congregation is concerned we're not going to give attention to the theft since there was a small amount of money involved.
FRASER: Detective Vecchio was just pointing out the basic injustice of that, sir.
WELSH: I have to ask you this. Don't you have a job of your own?
FRASER: Oh, yes, sir. But I had the early shift this morning.
WELSH: And you have nothing better to do with your life than hang around here and help us solve crimes?
FRASER: No, sir.
WELSH: All right, start with this concerned citizen. [Hands Vecchio the file.]
VECCHIO: [looking at it] Frank Zuko? We're running errands for Frank Zuko now?
WELSH: You have evidence to put Mr. Zuko behind bars, Detective?
VECCHIO: No, sir.
WELSH: Because if you do, there's a pack of feds who would love to have that information passed on to them.
VECCHIO: I realize that, sir.
WELSH: You want the papers getting the impression that we don't care enough about certain communities to pay attention to their concerns?
VECCHIO: No, sir.
WELSH: Go show the flag. [to Fraser] Any movies, dates, anything like that?
FRASER: I recently joined a choir, sir.
WELSH: Oh, good, good. That's good. [goes back into his office]
FRASER: This Mr. Zuko, he's an acquaintance of yours?
VECCHIO: Yeah, you could say we're acquainted.
The angle of insertion suggests he was probably right-handed, indeed. The fact that 90% of people are right-handed has nothing to do with it. 🙄
Scene 3
Fraser and Vecchio ring the doorbell at a large old house. Mr. (Frank) Zuko answers.
VECCHIO: Detective Vecchio, twenty-seventh.
ZUKO: [big benevolent smile] Ray. Good to see you. [He holds out his hand for Vecchio to shake. Vecchio doesn't take it.]
FRASER: [shakes Zuko's hand] Benton Fraser, RMCP.
ZUKO: Come on in. [He leads them into his study. A little girl is coloring at his desk.] You know, it's a great old neighborhood. One of the last. I mean, I'd hate to see that kind of a criminal element creep in. You know, when my father was . . . well, we all know what my father was. But. But one thing you could say for the man, he made sure that the neighborhood was safe.
LITTLE GIRL: I made you a picture, Daddy.
ZUKO: Let me see, honey. Oh that's beautiful. Why don't you run in and show Mommy, okay? [He kisses the top of her head. She runs off. Zuko points to the door; Fraser closes it.]
VECCHIO: Out of respect for your little girl I don't say anything. But let's not start reminiscing about the good old days of extortion and intimidation, okay, Frankie?
ZUKO: PR's not your strong suit, is it, Detective?
VECCHIO: I've just got a couple of questions. How much money did you put in the poor box?
ZUKO: I don't know. A hundred, I guess.
VECCHIO: The man in the assembly, you got a description?
ZUKO: Nope. Barely noticed him.
VECCHIO: You know, it just blows my mind. How one guy can pull off a heist of this magnitude.
ZUKO: You know, I'm ignoring your tone because we have a history. But don't push it. This may seem penny-ante to you, Vecchio, but somebody did commit a crime here.
VECCHIO: You figure a guy who stole, what, a hundred and forty bucks is a serious threat to the community and should be prosecuted?
ZUKO: What's the matter with you, Ray? Huh? Your mother doesn't live in this community? Your sisters don't walk home past that church every night? You think some guy who robs a church is going to think twice about mugging the women in your family? Or mine?
VECCHIO: Let's not compare your family and mine, okay, Frankie, 'cause we don't walk down the same block.
FRASER: Uh, I'm sure that Detective Vecchio shares your concerns, Mr. Zuko. After all, as you just pointed out, this is his neighborhood, too.
ZUKO: Canadian, right?
FRASER: Yes.
ZUKO: Well, then, you understand. I mean, you come from one of those nice clean cities where they have no graffiti, no garbage on the streets, and people treat each other with respect. Right?
FRASER: Well, yes, I suppose so. Although it's been my experience that many people live their lives thinking that they're respected, only to discover they've been merely feared. And fears can be overcome. We will find the thief.
ZUKO: Thank you, Constable. I'd be very grateful if you did.
FRASER: Ray? [They turn to go.]
ZUKO: You still play basketball, Ray? You oughta come down to the gym on Saturday. Work off some of that pasta.
VECCHIO: I don't think so, Frank.
I don't know what "the man in the assembly" means. I guess that what we're calling the church?
When Vecchio and Zuko are talking face to face, Vecchio is fully lit and Zuko is completely in shadow. Don't tell me deliberate lighting choices.
Sounds like Zuko is describing a regular fascist paradise. (Why is it Zuko and not Zucco? Any Italian speakers want to chime in?) Also, "work off some of that pasta" is such a bullshit comment when it's directed to someone as skinny as Vecchio by someone sturdier than he is. (It's bullshit no matter who says it to whom, but especially so in this case.)
Scene 4
Fraser and Vecchio are leaving the house.
VECCHIO: His father Carl ran the extortion racket for over thirty years on this side of town.
FRASER: You think he's like his father.
VECCHIO: Is he more legit than his father? He can afford to be. When I went to school with Frank, we used to play pick-up basketball together. There was this one kid, Marco Mitrani, couldn't make a basket to save his life. No matter whose side he was on he always managed to lose the game, and Frank didn't like losing. So one day, a couple of Frank's buddies held him down while Frank drilled a basketball into his face for about a half-hour. Marco just lay there choking on his blood. He never came near the court again. [They have reached the car. Vecchio leans against it and sighs.]
FRASER: You know, we had a schoolyard bully in Tuktoyaktuk once. Sometimes at night I can still remember him coming into the classroom swinging that otter over his head. There was no just reasoning with him.
VECCHIO: And I thought we had nothing in common. [They start to get into the car.]
FRASER: Bindlestitch.
VECCHIO: You know, you've gotta stop swearing in Eskimo.
FRASER: No, a bindlestitch is a tool used by a shoemaker for lifting laces off the leather. Our poor box thief used a bindlestitch, and the waxy residue — shoe polish.
VECCHIO: You're making this stuff up, right?
FRASER: No.
Meanwhile, back in the house, Zuko and a henchman are watching Vecchio out the window.
HENCHMAN: We've been all through the neighborhood. Nobody saw anything.
ZUKO: Follow him. He'll find the guy.
So here's the thing: We know Vecchio's own father was not a good man. Do we think he would have stood up to Carl Zuko? Maybe he never had to pay him protection money, but he doesn't seem (based on the couple of descriptions and the two lines of dialogue we have of him) to be a keeping-his-head-down kind of guy.
Speaking of not knowing why Zuko isn't spelled Zucco: As I said, I don't speak Italian (French, yes; musical Latin, yes; so between those, a little Spanish, and three degrees in linguistics, I'm not coming at this from a place of complete ignorance) and am not of Italian descent, so my assumptions about how to spell Italian names based on how Italian Americans pronounce them are bound to involve some degree of guesswork. The kid Vecchio mentions who got his face beat in by Zuko's basketball has a surname whose consonants are MTRN. The vowels are tougher. First vowel is a schwa; second vowel, on the stressed syllable, is /a/; third vowel is /i/ unless the name ends on the /n/ and the line is "one kid, Marco Matran, he couldn't make a basket" (but later in the episode he's going to say it another couple of times and it's clearly a three-syllable name). I also can't tell if there's one /n/ or two. So I asked Uncle Google for "matranni italian name" and it gave me back "including results for mitrani italian name," so here we are. Ancestry.com says Mitrani is a Jewish Italian name, Trani being an Italian city with a substantial historic Jewish community, which I would buy as an additional reason for Zuko to be an asshole to Marco Mitrani, to be perfectly honest.
Scene 5
Fraser and Vecchio are in the neighborhood looking for the bindlestitch guy.
VECCHIO: So we're not really tracking a criminal, what we're tracking here is Pinocchio's dad.
FRASER: Geppetto was a woodcarver, Ray.
VECCHIO: He was not!
FRASER: Well, yes, that's how he made Pinocchio. Out of wood.
VECCHIO: Then who was the shoemaker?
FRASER: I have no idea.
VECCHIO: Well, sure you do. The brothers Grimm, the poor old shoemaker can't feed his wife, little elves help him make shoes?
They reach a shoe repair shop. It is closed.
FRASER: There's very little dust in the windows. They can't have been out of business for long.
VECCHIO: I distinctly remember reading about shoes made by elves.
FRASER: The heavy machinery is still here. If he intended to open a new shop, he would have taken it with him. My guess is he didn't have that option. He took what he could carry and left.
VECCHIO: You mean to tell me that you have no recollection of any shoe-related elf stories?
FRASER: Ray, I would tell you if I did.
They go into the shop next door. It is a lingerie emporium of some kind.
FRASER: Hello?
PROPRIETOR: [from somewhere in the back] Be right out. [Fraser approaches a woman with bright red hair.]
FRASER: Excuse me, I — [It is a mannequin wearing a green camisole.] — oh. Um. [He backs away and bumps into a blonde mannequin in a black bustier. He catches it before it falls over.] Ray, maybe you should conduct this interview. [He walks away trying to avert his eyes.]
VECCHIO: It's molded plastic, Benny. It's not going to lunge out at you.
FRASER: [nervously] You mean this? [nods to the green camisole] Well, if you think I'm embarrassed, you're sorely mistaken.
VECCHIO: Oh yeah, that's why you're turning the color of your uniform.
FRASER: [clears his throat] Don't be ridiculous. [tugs at his collar] It's just hot in here, that's all.
PROPRIETOR: Can I help you?
FRASER: Ah, yes, ma'am.
PROPRIETOR: Nice boots.
FRASER: Thank you. My name is Constable Fraser, and this is Detective Vecchio. Ah, we would like to ask you a question that is unrelated to either underwear or breasts.
VECCHIO: Ah, yes, we would. Do you know who used to run the shoe repair next door?
PROPRIETOR: Yeah. Joey. Nice guy. [She is putting something red on a hanger. Fraser looks at the red thing with confusion.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, does he have a last name?
PROPRIETOR: I think it started with a P. He used to come in here for coffee sometimes. Sort of sweet and shy. Which personally I find very sexy. [She gives Fraser a look as she walks back behind her counter. He is flummoxed.]
VECCHIO: [following her] Yeah, do you know what happened to him?
PROPRIETOR: Yeah, he went out of business about six months ago. It was too bad. He came in about two weeks before that to get something for his wife. He had it all picked out, but, ah, couldn't come up with the cash, so we worked out a deal. I don't think his wife liked the camisole. She left him and took the kid. Real sad. [Fraser is looking at the items in the display case. He is sort of both fascinated and alarmed. The proprietor is still dealing with the red thing, which is a garter belt.]
VECCHIO: You know where he is now?
PROPRIETOR: Girl who works here said she saw him going into one of those cheap hotels over on Diversey.
FRASER: Is she here?
PROPRIETOR: No, she's on vacation. [to Fraser] Anything else I can do for you?
FRASER: Yes, you said that you did a deal for the camisole?
PROPRIETOR: Yeah. Yeah, he made me this. [She opens her top. Underneath she is wearing a custom corset.]
FRASER: May I, uh —
PROPRIETOR: Sure. [She leans forward. Fraser puts his face right in her bust. She raises an eyebrow at Vecchio.]
FRASER: [looks right up close at each breast in turn and then the cleavage] Ah, yes, it's very beautiful . . . leather.
PROPRIETOR: Mm-hmm.
FRASER: [stands up straight] Thank you kindly, ma'am.
PROPRIETOR: You're very welcome. [Fraser and Vecchio turn to leave the store.]
VECCHIO: How do you get away with that?
FRASER: With what?
VECCHIO: You know damn well with what.
The proprietor smiles as she refastens her top. Fraser and Vecchio step out of the store and set off down the sidewalk.
FRASER: Hand-stitched. Very delicate work.
VECCHIO: Yeah, it had quality written all over it.
After a few steps they realize they've been walking the wrong way. They stop and turn around and go back the way they came. In the store, Francesca rushes out of the dressing room and lays a garment bag on the counter.
FRANCESCA: I'll take it. But I'll need it altered for tonight.
PROPRIETOR: Oh, I don't know. We're kinda backed up right now.
FRANCESCA: Look, I'll pay anything, understand? This is worth any amount of money.
Uh-oh. Oh, Francesca. A woman who will say "Wanna have sex?" out loud in a crowded choir loft and who will pay any amount of money for same-day alterations in a lacy underthings shop is a woman who knows what she wants (I mean, we knew that about her) and has ideas about how to get it (we knew that, too), but I begin to have concerns about her taking no for an answer.
Vecchio goes pretty quickly from finding Fraser's discomfiture charming and amusing to suggesting he thinks it's an act.
Oh, but the story Vecchio is thinking of is The Elves and the Shoemaker.
Scene 6
Fraser and Vecchio park in front of a cheap hotel on Diversey.
FRASER: Well, we know he took his tools. He's bartered his services once, chances are he's still doing it.
VECCHIO: So now what? We go up and down Diversey until we find Cinderella with freshly soled shoes?
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: Great.
They are in a boarding house with an old lady.
OLD LADY: You want to see my shoes?
FRASER: Well, yes, ma'am, if you wouldn't mind.
OLD LADY: Why should I mind? It's the best offer I've had in years. [She sits down and shows Fraser her shoes.]
FRASER: Very nice. Very nice indeed. [to Vecchio] Machine made, not recently repaired. [to the old lady] Thank you kindly.
Vecchio is looking at someone's stocking feet. He stands up and shrugs. He and Fraser are about to leave.
PERSON IN A DRESS WITH A LOW VOICE: You're welcome.
A stairway is full of chattering women waiting to bring Fraser their shoes. Vecchio is tugging at another old lady's shoe; she hits him with a newspaper.
VECCHIO: Hey!
Fraser and Vecchio are heading back to the car. They pass someone whose shoes they have not examined.
VECCHIO: Ah, she's all yours.
FRASER: What, Ray, you don't want to — [Vecchio waves him off.] All right. [He looks again and sees a pair of very well maintained shoes on the feet of someone kneeling and scrubbing at a stoop or a basement window.] Excuse me, ma'am. No, please, stay, stay right where you are. [He looks at her shoes and tips his hat.]
The woman is leading Fraser down a hallway in her boarding house.
LANDLADY: He moved in a few months ago. He a friend of yours?
FRASER: Ah, no, but I'm familiar with his work.
LANDLADY: [knocks at a door] Mr. Paducci, you have callers. [The man who couldn't afford to light a candle is in the room, scared, and doesn't answer.] I'm sure he's in there.
FRASER: Could you open it, please, ma'am? [The landlady unlocks the door. There is nobody there; the window is wide open.] Thank you kindly. [He goes to the window and shouts.] Ray! [to landlady] I'll see myself out. [To the landlady's consternation, he jumps out the window.]
Fraser chases the man who couldn't afford to light the candle at the church, Joey Paducci. Joey runs. Fraser chases him down an alley. Vecchio pulls up at the end of the alley and gets out of the car.
VECCHIO: All right, freeze! Up against the wall. [He frisks the guy and takes a curved tool out of the guy's pocket. He shows it to Fraser.] Spindlebint, I presume.
The only thing Google returns for "bindlestitch" is sites related to Due South fandom. 😊 It suggests "bindlestick," which is apparently the name for the stick from whose end your hobos and Huck Finns carry their bundles of belongings. What Vecchio pulls out of Joey Paducci's pocket looks to me to be an edged groover of some kind. I don't know enough about leatherwork to know if you'd also use a grooving tool to lift stitches off a base, or if the thing was ever called a bindlestitch in the past (even a site auctioning vintage tools doesn't use that term), or what. But here we are.
Scene 7
At the 27th precinct, Elaine and the detectives are looking at the bindlestitch.
ELAINE: Rumpelstiltskin. Didn't he use one of these?
GARDINO: No. Dwarves don't make shoes, they hide under bridges.
HUEY: Those are trolls.
ELAINE: So who made shoes?
HUEY: Glinda, the good witch in The Wizard of Oz.
GARDINO: No, that was magic. They were slippers, not shoes.
ELAINE: I always wanted a pair of ruby slippers. I used to try on my mother's high-heeled shoes standing in front of the mirror, click my heels together, and say "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home."
GARDINO: Me, too. [Elaine turns around, surprised. Huey is also looking at him.] What? [Elaine raises one eyebrow. Gardino clears his throat.] Well, yeah, I wanted to be the Tin Man, but I dressed up like the Tin Man, my sister would dress up like Dorothy. [They are looking at him and nodding.] I almost never played with my sister. [He looks around Huey and pretends someone is calling him.] What? Oh, yeah, coming. [Huey and Elaine watch him go, smiling.]
The man from the church, Joey Paducci, is sitting with Fraser and Vecchio at Vecchio's desk. Fraser is taking notes at the typewriter.
JOEY: It's nothing fancy, you know? But I'm making a living. Anyways one day these, these wise guys pay me a visit. They, they tell me I'm not paying my neighborhood association dues. Fifty bucks a week. I mean, maybe that doesn't sound like much, but I got overhead, you know? And an apartment, a wife who likes to go out — [Vecchio looks at Fraser and shakes his head slightly. Fraser stops typing.] Anyway, six months later it's, it's up to sixty-five, then eighty-five, then a hundred.
VECCHIO: Did they threaten you?
JOEY: Who's to threaten? I'm not stupid. Pretty soon I, I can't afford to pay for the phone or utilities. I, I fall behind on the rent. So I go to Zuko, I, I, I tell him I need some relief. He says to me, "the payments are strictly voluntary." I get back to my place, and the front window's broken. Five months later, I'm on the street, and my wife — I can't blame her. So when I saw Zuko stick that hundred in the box, all I could think was, that's my money. I just wanted some of that back. That's fair, isn't it?
VECCHIO: Maybe. But it's also against the law.
FRASER: Could you identify these men?
VECCHIO: Ah, you know, Benny, there's nothing illegal about a voluntary neighborhood association. I've been down that path too many times.
JOEY: I just wasn't brave enough to do something, you know? He took my business. He took my family, man. He took my life. I shoulda done something. I shoulda done something.
I don't care about Gardino playing Wizard of Oz with his sister.
Vecchio looks sadder and sadder the longer Joey Paducci speaks, and gets all the way to ashamed by the end of the scene. Nice reaction work from Marciano here. Meanwhile, I'm sure it's true that there's nothing illegal about a voluntary neighborhood association, but it's still illegal to break people's windows, isn't it? I guess there's probably no way to prove who broke the window, even though we all know it was Zuko's wise guys.
Scene 8
Fraser and Vecchio are back at the church with Fr. Behan.
FR. BEHAN: Joey Paducci. I don't know him.
VECCHIO: Frank Zuko does.
FR. BEHAN: Him, I know. It's a sin to wish people ill, and I don't. But if I do, I confess it.
VECCHIO: Father, Paducci's been arraigned. If you don't come down and sign a complaint, it's not gonna stick.
FR. BEHAN: Now, why would I want to do a thing like that?
VECCHIO: Because he stole from the church.
FR. BEHAN: You said he was destitute, didn't you?
VECCHIO: Yes, but that doesn't have anything to do with anything.
FR. BEHAN: Well, then. Who do you think poor boxes are for?
He walks away. After a moment Fraser and Vecchio follow him. They have all gone past a set of confession booths.
FRANCESCA: [inside a booth] Forgive me, Father, for what I am about to do.
PRIEST: This isn't about the Mountie again, is it?
FRANCESCA: I know, I know, but this time, I'm gonna do it.
PRIEST: Francesca, I can't keep forgiving you in advance for something that never happens.
ATTABOY, Fr. Behan. Who, indeed.
Meanwhile, what is Francesca planning? And . . . is that really how confession works? I'm not actually Catholic, myself, so I have no idea. But it seems like you can confess (and get absolution for) entertaining impure thoughts, but sure the priest is right, you can't get absolved ahead of time and then go ahead and do the sin anyway. I mean that doesn't sound like any type of repenting to me. Anyway, whatever she's got in mind, it's at least wrong by church standards. No way to know yet whether it's wrong by any secular moral or legal code, but my concern that she's not going to take no for an answer is not any less than it was a few minutes ago.
Scene 9
Fraser and Vecchio are walking up the stairs to Fraser's apartment.
VECCHIO: The safest place for him right now is exactly where he is, behind bars.
FRASER: Well, I don't think we can keep a man in jail without charges, Ray. [He greets the neighbors as they pass by.] Mr. Mustafi, Mr. Campbell. [Messrs. Mustafi and Campbell do not slam their doors in his face. They watch him and Vecchio walk down the hall.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, if he's out on the street, Zuko's coming after him, and I know Zuko. He needs to make an example out of Joey. [They turn the corner and see Diefenbaker lying in the hall. They look at each other.] You always leave your door wide open?
They go into Fraser's apartment. It is full of expensive furnishings. There's a plush rug on the floor, dark wood, fancy upholstery. A big flower arrangement on a coffee table. A woman whose shirt says "Platinum Movers" is consulting a clipboard.
FRASER: Excuse me. Can you tell me what's going on?
PLATINUM MOVERS: Yeah, I made a few decisions in your absence. If you want anything moved around, speak now or forever hold your peace.
FRASER: I'm sorry, I think there's been some kind of mistake. I didn't order any furniture.
PLATINUM MOVERS: Fraser, Benton. That you?
FRASER: Yes.
PLATINUM MOVERS: You live at two-twenty-one West Racine, apartment three J?
FRASER: Yes, but you see, I didn't —
PLATINUM MOVERS: You want to make a decision about this credenza? We're on the clock.
VECCHIO: I really like your style, Benny.
FRASER: It's not my style, Ray. It's Zuko's.
PLATINUM MOVERS: [to her crew] The credenza goes there. [to Fraser] Tip's taken care of. Enjoy. [The movers buzz off.]
VECCHIO: [on his cell] Phil, it's Vecchio. Where's Joey Paducci? Oh, great. All right, thanks. [hangs up] He was bailed out over an hour ago. He's definitely a dead man.
FRASER: "I'd be grateful." Zuko's words.
So the fact that Fraser doesn't have locks on his doors is beginning to be an issue after all. Me personally, I don't care for that style of decorating, even in a room or a house big enough to accommodate it, which Fraser's crap-ass apartment is definitely not. But now I don't know if Mr. Mustafi and Mr. Campbell have just come to appreciate Fraser and not shut their doors in his face, or if they were only watching because they were fascinated by the furniture delivery.
Scene 10
Zuko and some guys are playing three-on-three basketball in a gym with a catwalk or gallery around the top.
ZUKO: The ball, the ball. [Someone passes him the ball and he dodges around his man. Another guy dives to block him but misses, and he makes the winning layup. He claps his hands and congratulates his teammates. All five other guys are exhausted.] Kenny! Kenny! [Kenny is at the bench.] Come on, you and me to twenty. [Kenny is done in. He does not want to play.] Come on, I'll spot you three. [Zuko shoots a basket and turns to Kenny.] Three-one. [He laughs and goes to get the ball.]
Kenny goes out onto the court. Zuko passes him the ball. He passes it back. Zuko knocks him out of the way with an elbow to the chin. Kenny falls down; Zuko scores another basket. Zuko's henchmen chuckle on the bench. Kenny is dragging himself up to his hands and knees. Zuko comes back and bounces the ball right next to his head.
ZUKO: [with feigned concern] Didn't foul you, did I?
KENNY: [Of course he did.] No.
ZUKO: Three-two. [Fraser comes into the gym.] Hey, Constable Fraser. Care to shoot some hoop?
FRASER: Oh, no, no. I, I'm afraid I would scuff the floor.
ZUKO: The floor? Forget the floor. Here, shoot. [He tosses Fraser the ball. Fraser closes his eyes, licks his finger, holds it up feeling for a breeze, opens his eyes, bounces the ball, and drains a three-pointer from a mile outside the arc. Nothing but net. The guys on the bench are impressed. Fraser looks at Zuko.] Hit the showers, Kenny.
KENNY: See you Tuesday. [He flees. Fraser takes off his hat and starts on his tunic and accessories. Zuko is dribbling.]
ZUKO: Come on, Constable. I'll tell you what, you get the first shot. [He bounces Fraser the ball, then steals it right back from him and takes the first shot. He laughs as he gives him the ball again.] You like the furniture?
FRASER: Well, there is, ah, quite a lot of it.
ZUKO: You need a bigger apartment.
FRASER: No, I don't think so. [Before Zuko can steal the ball again, he shoots and scores.] As a matter of fact, that is one of the things I came down here to talk to you about. You see, as a police officer, I'm forbidden to accept gifts.
ZUKO: Really?
FRASER: Yes.
ZUKO: The officers I know never mentioned that. I just wanted to show my gratitude to you.
FRASER: No, I understand, I understand. It's just that even if I were able to accept such a gift, it might end up reflecting badly upon you.
ZUKO: Upon me? [He shoots; he scores.]
FRASER: Well, yes. You see, some people might get the mistaken impression that you wanted Mr. Paducci found for your own purposes and that I had somehow aided you in that endeavor.
ZUKO: I don't see how anyone can read that into it. But hey, if it bothers you, don't keep it. Donate it to your favorite charity.
FRASER: Well, I'm afraid — [He shoots; he scores.] — that that would be against the regulations as well.
ZUKO: You're a hard man to thank, Constable.
FRASER: Father Behan is dropping the charges against Paducci.
ZUKO: Oh, I guess today is Mr. Paducci's lucky day, huh? [He drives in for another layup. He's getting steadily madder that Fraser is really giving him a game.]
FRASER: Isn't it? As a matter of fact, before Detective Vecchio could drop the charges against him, Mr. Paducci's bail was posted anonymously through an attorney. [He shoots; he scores.]
ZUKO: I love this neighborhood. So many good Samaritans. Next basket wins. [He dribbles sloppily; Fraser recovers the ball and scores immediately.] No, foul!
FRASER: Um, actually I don't think that that was a —
ZUKO: Charlie?
HENCHMAN (CHARLIE): [without looking up from his paper] He fouled you, Mr. Zuko.
ZUKO: Best ref in Chicago. [He sets up again, drives forward, knocks Fraser to the floor with a shoulder in the face, and scores.] Game. Nice try, Constable. [He offers Fraser a hand up.]
FRASER: Thank you. [They go over to the bench. Charlie gives Zuko a towel.] Mr. Paducci is prepared to make restitution. That satisfies the church.
ZUKO: Constable. You're aware of who I am, aren't you?
FRASER: Well, if by that you mean have I heard the stories? Yes.
ZUKO: Yeah, well, let's say they're all true. Something you probably haven't heard is that I really do love this neighborhood. And when somebody hurts this community, they hurt me.
FRASER: By that logic, you could say "if someone hurt Mr. Paducci, they hurt me."
ZUKO: Well then, you would be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
FRASER: I see logic is not one of your hobbies.
ZUKO: [chuckles] Thanks for the game, Constable.
FRASER: [nodding to Charlie and the other henchmen] Good day. Good day. Good day, sir.
Well, it's not like we couldn't tell from his first scene that Zuko was an asshole. Now we know he can't even win without cheating. His father probably actually had strength and charisma—not that making yourself the neighborhood strongman is a good life choice, but at least he probably did it himself. The sons who inherit that kind of family business are almost always shitheads, aren't they, in the movies (e.g., Sonny Corleone) and in real life (e.g., Kim Jong-Il, Other Regrettable World Leaders We're So Pleased To Be Shot Of).
Scene 11
Vecchio is looking out the window while Joey Paducci packs out his apartment.
VECCHIO: I used to buy gumballs over there. Big fat ones for a nickel apiece. Now my nephew buys them for a buck-fifty.
JOEY: Price of doing business. Welcome to Mr. Zuko's neighborhood. [There is a knock at the door. Vecchio draws his gun and waves Joey back from answering it. He goes to the door very carefully.]
FRASER: It's me, Ray. [Joey exhales. Vecchio opens the door and sighs even before Fraser comes in.] What did I say? Was he swinging an otter over his head, or what?
FRASER: Ah, you were right, Ray. There wasn't much reasoning with him.
JOEY: Well, I've always wanted to see New York.
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, you can forget about it. If Zuko's got a contract out on you, he's going to have this neighborhood sealed up tighter than a drum. You'll be lucky to make downtown Chicago alive.
JOEY: Well, so what am I supposed to do? Stay here and wait till he comes and kills me?
There is a long pause in which Joey realizes that's probably exactly what he is supposed to do. Then Vecchio has a brainstorm.
VECCHIO: Jimmy Venuto! His sister was in a hit-and-run accident down on the south side! I caught the driver! Let's hope he's got a good memory.
He dials on his cell phone.
I don't know if it's fair to blame gangsters for inflation, but I do agree that $1.50 is way too much to pay for a gumball.
I'm guessing on "Venuto" as well, of course.
Scene 12
At a bus depot.
BUS DRIVER: I got a nine-forty-six going nonstop to Philadelphia, how's that?
VECCHIO: That's great, Jimmy, thanks.
BUS DRIVER (JIMMY): Ray, it's nothing. We put him on board with the packages. Everybody knows you can't board a bus in this neighborhood, you gotta go downtown. [to Joey] So you. You just get in the john, and you stay there till you reach Philadelphia. [He walks off.]
JOEY: Thanks, Ray.
Joey shakes Vecchio and Fraser's hands and goes to get on the bus. They watch him go for a moment. Music cue: "Eja, Mater" from Dvořák's Stabat Mater. Joey looks back over his shoulder as he walks toward the bus.
VECCHIO: He'll be okay. [He and Fraser go to get in the Riviera.] Thank God I remembered Jimmy, huh?
FRASER: [In the wing mirror, sees Jimmy getting in a car to leave the depot.] I thought you said he worked all night.
VECCHIO: He does. [Jimmy drives away.] Venuto! [They run back toward the buses.] Oh, no!
CHARLIE: [in a waiting car, on a radio] They made us! Go! [Charlie and other henchmen get out of the car. They are all armed.]
VECCHIO: Son of a —
Eja, mater, fons amoris
Joey goes to get on a bus. The bus driver nods to him, then aims a gun at him as he starts to board. Joey gets his suitcase up in time to block the shot. He falls to the ground. Fraser and Vecchio arrive, having heard the shots.
FRASER: Joey!
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam
Joey rolls under the bus. Fraser and Vecchio split up; Fraser is following the "bus driver" into the depot, and Vecchio is looking for Joey. Other henchmen are running around looking for Fraser and Vecchio.
CHARLIE: Get the shoemaker!
Eja, mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam
Fraser runs into the depot's cargo area and dodges back as the gunman fires at him. The gunman runs off; Fraser follows; another bad guy comes in and follows him.
Eja, mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam
Outside, Vecchio and at least one bad guy are looking for Joey with their guns drawn. Joey is crawling along under a bus.
Eja, mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam
Fraser is chasing a man through a package loading warehouse. He falls through a stack of boxes, gets up, and keeps running. The guy closes a glass door where Fraser doesn't have enough time to pull up before he crashes through it. Fraser's face is a little cut up, but he keeps chasing the guy. The guy reaches a door at the end of a hallway. He grabs a broom handle and hits the overhead light, setting it swinging. The door opens, and Charlie and a couple of other guys are there.
CHARLIE: Get the car.
Fraser is going to go back the other way, but the guy who was following him comes from that direction. He sees that he is cornered. He turns to face Charlie.
Eja, mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam
CHARLIE: Got a message for you from Mr. Zuko. [The other guys grab Fraser's arms, although he is not struggling.]
FRASER: I take it this message is not in writing.
The biggest guy steps toward Fraser, putting on a set of brass knuckles. As the light swings back and forth over Charlie, we can hear Fraser getting beat.
Eja, mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam
Outside, Vecchio climbs onto the roof of a bus. Joey is still crawling underneath. The outside bad guy is peeking through wheel wells trying to find Joey and get a shot at him. Vecchio can't get a shot at the bad guy, either. Inside, the big guy hits Fraser again. The guys holding him pick him up so the big guy can hit him some more. Charlie is watching this impassively from under the swinging light. Outside, Vecchio is running along the bus roof. Joey is crawling. The bad guy is hunting. A bus starts to pull away, leaving Joey exposed. Just as the bad guy is about to shoot him, Vecchio jumps down off the bus onto the bad guy. He and Joey jump up.
VECCHIO: C'mon! C'mon, go, go!
Eja, mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam
Vecchio and Joey run into the station. Inside, the big guy beats Fraser some more. Charlie nods, and the big guy brings his knee up into Fraser's face. The other two guys dump Fraser on his back under the light. Vecchio and Joey are running through the package loading area Fraser was chasing the other guy through before. Having dropped Fraser, the two guys who were holding him and the big guy who was beating him all fuck off. Charlie draws his gun.
CHARLIE: [cocking the gun, about to shoot Fraser from five feet away where he's lying on the floor] Here's the message.
With the last of his strength, Fraser rolls over and kicks Charlie's legs out from under him. Charlie falls down and drops the gun. As he's recovering, he sees Vecchio and Joey coming from the other end of the hallway, so he runs. Vecchio and Joey reach Fraser.
VECCHIO: Benny, you okay?
He rolls Fraser onto his back. Fraser is not at all okay.
This is an awful beatdown Zuko's goons deal Fraser. And he knows it's going to be: When he sees that he's hemmed in, he doesn't even think any further about trying to get away. He squares his shoulders and determines to take it. (I am inevitably reminded of that famous other wearer of trousers with yellow stripes down the outseam, Han Solo—because Fraser and Diefenbaker are indeed Han and Chewie—being thrown back into the room with Leia in Cloud City: "They never even asked me any questions.")
Has Fraser been wearing the red uniform all day because the red lining in his pea coat looks so stark and blood-like when he's lying on the floor having been beaten so badly?
The text the choir is singing translates like this:
Come, mother, fount of love,
make me feel the strength of sorrow;
make it so that I mourn with you.(The "mater" is Mary; Stabat Mater is a hymn to Mary about her suffering during the crucifixion of Jesus. Its title comes from its first lines, Stabat mater dolorosa juxta crucem lacrimosa, dum pendebat filius, "The sorrowful mother stood weeping by the cross where her son was hanging." I don't know if I'd quite say Fraser is being martyred here, but he's certainly suffering, and a little choral Latin plays that up nicely.)
Scene 13
Fraser is back at the precinct; Elaine is tending to his banged-up face. Somehow his nose is not broken.
ELAINE: How many of them were there?
FRASER: More than were necessary. [She dabs at a cut with a swab. He flinches.] Ah.
ELAINE: That hurt, didn't it?
FRASER: Ah, yes, quite a bit.
ELAINE: Sorry.
FRASER: Were there any prints off of the handgun?
ELAINE: No. And no serial number. [She swabs another cut.] Does this hurt?
FRASER: Yes. [swab] Yes. [swab] Yes.
ELAINE: How about this? [She swabs a spot near his collarbone.]
FRASER: No. That's an old scar.
ELAINE: Oh. How'd you get it? [She traces it with her finger.]
FRASER: I — I'd rather not say. [She looks at him.] Someone struck me with a sea otter.
ELAINE: Hmm. I guess that's what happens in a country with gun control. [She dabs at more cuts on his face.]
FRASER: Oh, I believe he shot the otter first.
ELAINE: Hmm. That's just cruel.
FRASER: Well, yes, but you see, strictly speaking he did adhere to the law, because swinging a live otter is illegal in the Territories.
ELAINE: Huh.
FRASER: Indeed.
ELAINE: So there's nothing the police could do about it? [She places a bandage on his cheekbone very gently.]
FRASER: No. Although they did, uh, change the law after that, uh, incident.
ELAINE: Good thing.
FRASER: It's a very good thing.
I want Elaine to be happy, but this scene is giving me concerns about her professionalism.
I'm not sure what the show wants me to think here. They are very close together, and she is being very tender with him and speaking very softly and so on; he is also kind of dazed and a little bit hoarse. Look: Both Francesca and Elaine have been interested in Fraser since they first clapped eyes on him (in the pilot and "Free Willie," respectively). The show has been very clear almost every time either woman has appeared that Fraser is not interested. I wanted Elaine to be over it by the end of "Chinatown," though she apparently wasn't over it as recently as the beginning of "You Must Remember This." Meanwhile, less than half an hour ago, in television time, Fraser leaped out of a choir loft to get away from Francesca. I'd like to have been able to think that this episode was showing us a difference between (a) Francesca, who goes for what she wants, which is admirable, but may not take no for an answer, which is not, and (b) Elaine, who gradually realizes that it is Not To Be between her and this particular man and moves on with some grace and dignity. But this scene may be making that impossible for me, if she's taking his having had the shit kicked out of him and needing her to administer first aid as some sort of opportunity?
Am I meant to be seeing chemistry here at last? I don't think I am seeing it, and I don't know how I feel about that. I did see it between Fraser and Constable Brighton in the pilot. There might have been a tiny glimmer of something between Fraser and Mackenzie King at the very end of "Diefenbaker's Day Off." They did a nice job showing that there was friendly but not romantic history between Fraser and Julie Frobisher in "Manhunt." I feel like Paul Gross and Teri Polo both had to work really hard not to make us assume Fraser and Miss Cabot would end up together at the end of "They Eat Horses," because she's another one who seems to generate warmth with whoever is on the screen with her, at all times and in all weathers. . . . These are all white women. Elaine is the only woman of color (Catherine Bruhier is Belizean) we've seen interact with Fraser (except the woman who wanted to test drive all the cars with him in "Pizzas and Promises;" I'm not counting Mrs. Gamez, Mrs. Lee, or any of the neighborhood watch ladies, because they were not chucking themselves at him socially or sexually). I do not want to think that there is meant to be chemistry between these characters and I'm not seeing it because of race. I don't want to be that guy. If the show wants me to root for this couple to get together, I want to do that. But I genuinely can't tell if I'm supposed to. I can't tell if this scene is meant to be about Fraser realizing he may be developing feelings for Elaine or not. He's sort of dazed and sort of hoarse, as I said; on the other hand, he was just badly beaten. He has bandages around his chest and his ribs. He can't easily sit up and move away from her, but at the same time, if he wanted to do an inviting smile, even a shy half-smile, he could. He does not. . . . I think I don't see it. Is it there and I'm missing it, and that's a problem I'm having? Or is it really not there?
Also, though, it looks like Fraser's involvement with the otter-swinging bully he mentioned was deeper than he suggested back in scene 4.
Scene 14
In Welsh's office.
WELSH: Any line on the shooter?
VECCHIO: I got Paducci going over the mug shots now, sir.
WELSH: What about the guys that roughed Fraser up?
VECCHIO: All imported talent. They're probably halfway to California by now.
WELSH: Dearly like to tie Zuko to this.
VECCHIO: What about protective custody for Paducci?
WELSH: State's attorney isn't going to do it. There's no indictment against Zuko, and if we lock the shoemaker up we'll have to keep him in solitary confinement for the rest of his life. Leave him on the street under surveillance, and we eat up the entire district's budget in thirty days. All Zuko has to do is wait. You know, I hate to say it, but Mr. Paducci had the right idea.
VECCHIO: Look, we can't just throw him back on the street.
WELSH: All right, I'll shuffle some paperwork. We'll keep him in holding for forty-eight hours.
VECCHIO: All right. Thanks, Lieutenant.
I assume the "right idea" Welsh is referring to is the idea that Paducci should just wait around for Zuko to come and kill him. Which is a massive bummer, but it's a perfect storm: They can't get Paducci in witness protection, because legally speaking he isn't a witness to anything at the moment.
Scene 15
Fraser and Vecchio are in an interview room with Joey Paducci, who is looking through mug shots.
VECCHIO: Anything?
JOEY: No.
FRASER: Protective custody?
VECCHIO: Forty-eight hours in holding.
FRASER: What do you want to do?
JOEY: You guys know anyone with a place in the islands?
They all smile sadly.
Scene 16
Fraser and Vecchio are in the break room.
VECCHIO: Here, you wanna cup of coffee?
FRASER: No, thanks, Ray.
VECCHIO: How 'bout a cup of tea?
FRASER: No.
VECCHIO: Hot chocolate?
FRASER: No, I'm fine.
Vecchio hits the vending machine. He comes and sits next to Fraser at the table, covers his mouth with his hand, and looks at something on the other side of the room; he looks like he may cry in a moment. Fraser is looking at him, a little surprised. Vecchio turns, folds his hands on the table, takes a deep breath, and looks at Fraser.
VECCHIO: Marco Mitrani. The kid that Zuko worked over with the basketball? Two guys held him down while Zuko dribbled the ball all over his face. I'm talking like this thing happed twenty years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. [He really might be crying a little.] So the kid hits the concrete, right? And he looks up at me with those eyes. Those eyes that say, "Help me. Call the cops. Do something." I just stood there while Zuko rearranged his face. I didn't try to stop it. I didn't say a word. When I got home that night, I felt like I was eighty years old. I shoulda done something, Benny.
The first part of this scene is notable for how different it is from the hospital scene in "Manhunt," where there's nothing Fraser needs Vecchio to do for him and they're so uncomfortable and awkward with each other; here, there's nothing Fraser needs Vecchio to do for him, and Vecchio is pissed—not at Fraser, but he's mad that he can't do anything.
And then of course it turns out he's mad at himself, and it's only a little bit because Fraser doesn't want anything from the hot drinks machine; it's mostly because he didn't do the right thing when he was a young teenager. (He's been a cop for nine years, so he can't be younger than his late 20s, assuming he went into the police academy after high school at age 18 rather than after college at age 22. But are we assuming he's a little older than that? The thinning hair makes it tough to read. Fraser is 33 or 34 by this point—and has been a cop for more than 13 years—and it seems reasonable to guess Vecchio is about the same. Maybe he did something else before landing in the police academy; I do assume he didn't go to college, though I'm not sure why.)
The second part of the scene is a good monologue that Vecchio has, and I think breaking it up with reaction shots of Fraser was a mistake. I think Marciano does good work and he deserved to have that whole speech in a one-er, with Gross minding his business in the background because the scene is not about him. (With, you know, my many years of television directing experience I say it. 🙄)
Scene 17
Zuko is shooting baskets at the gym. His guys are catching his rebounds and throwing the ball back to him. Vecchio comes in; the two henchmen start to reach for their guns, but Vecchio holds his jacket open to show he's not carrying, and Zuko waves them back.
VECCHIO: Come on, Frankie, whaddaya say? You and me, one on one. [He puts his overcoat on the bench.]
ZUKO: Oh is that so, Ray?
VECCHIO: Yeah, come on, you and me.
ZUKO: You think you can take me on?
VECCHIO: Hey, I don't think, Frankie. I know. I'm gonna kick your ass. [He puts his suit jacket on the bench too.]
ZUKO: Go get me a cappuccino, yeah? [The henchmen start to leave the gym. Vecchio follows them to the door.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, why don't you get yourselves a cappuccino, too, boys. We're gonna be a little while. [The henchmen leave, and Vecchio bolts the door. Zuko passes him the ball; he catches it and dribbles back toward the paint.] We go back a long way, you and me, Frankie. And we got some unfinished business to attend to. [He shoots; he scores.] You remember Marco Mitrani.
ZUKO: Who? [He shoots; the ball bounces off the backboard.]
VECCHIO: Junior high. You bounced a ball off his face until it was mush. [Passes him the ball back.]
ZUKO: Oh yeah. Marco. [beaming smile] I remember Marco. God! We had some good times, huh? Poor old Marco. You know, I heard his family moved away now. [Passes the ball back.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, you know, I heard that too. You know, even then you owned the neighborhood, Frankie. And even then you were a coward.
ZUKO: [smile fades] Me? I'm not the one who stood around and watched his friend get his face get beaten in.
VECCHIO: [chuckles] You know, you're right, Frankie. I just stood there.
Vecchio tosses Zuko the ball, and while Zuko is catching it, he punches him square in the face. Zuko falls down. His nose is bleeding and he is wheezing a little.
ZUKO: You just got yourself dead, my friend.
VECCHIO: Is that so? Then how come I'm not the one who's bleeding on the floor? Huh? You want a piece of me? [He hauls Zuko up and throws him against the wall behind the end line.] Come on. Take your best shot. Come on, you're a big man, Frankie, come on. [He punches him in the stomach; Zuko bends double.]
ZUKO: [coughing] You think your badge is gonna protect you? You're not that smart, are you?
VECCHIO: [Leaning over him, threatening; Zuko is sliding to the floor. Vecchio puts his hands behind his back.] You see a badge? I ain't wearing no badge, Frankie. It's just you and me, and my hands are behind my back. Come on, take your best shot. Come on. [Zuko is cowering against the mat on the wall.] No? No? How about my belt? Wanna use my belt? [He pulls off his belt. Zuko cowers.] Wrap it around your fist so you can hit me with it. Come on. No? No? [He throws the belt at Zuko. Zuko flinches and is afraid of him.] Hit me with it! Come on!
ZUKO: How long you think you got to live, man? You think you'll last the night?
VECCHIO: I don't see anybody in here but you and me. But I see that door, and only one of us is walking out of it.
ZUKO: You're crazy. [He gets up and edges along the wall. Vecchio decks him with a right hook.]
VECCHIO: I'm not crazy. All right? I'm not crazy. I finally got smart. I should have done this to you twenty years ago. Now get up, you little worm. [hauls him up by the lapels and holds him against the mat]
ZUKO: You got a problem, okay, man?
VECCHIO: No, you got a problem. You got a problem, 'cause you're going one-on-one with a guy you got twenty pounds on and there ain't nobody to hold me down. All you got is your guts, man. Which means you got nothing. [throws him down on the floor; picks up the basketball; beckons to Zuko] Last chance. Go ahead.
ZUKO: Go to hell.
VECCHIO: [slaps the ball into his other hand; Zuko flinches] Didn't think so. [He tosses the ball away and starts to leave.]
ZUKO: You're not going to walk very far.
VECCHIO: Down the block's far enough, cuz. You know, I'm going to enjoy telling this story. [putting his suit jacket on] It's the kind of story that people like to tell over and over again.
ZUKO: Yeah, like somebody's gonna believe you.
VECCHIO: Check your face. Everybody's gonna believe me. You know, it's going to be pretty hard to instill fear in people when they're laughing at you. [He picks up his overcoat, drapes it over his arm, and looks at Zuko.] Of course, you know, I can just as easily forget about it. You see, because I got one of those memories. I can remember things that happened twenty years ago, and sometimes I forget what I had for breakfast. [He heads for the door.]
ZUKO: Don't.
VECCHIO: Don't what? Don't tell? Is that what you want? You want to make a deal with me? All right, here's the deal. You call off the hit on Joey Paducci, you let him open up his shop, and you leave him alone. You do that, and this never happened. It's just between you, me, and the basketball.
ZUKO: You go to hell.
VECCHIO: You go to what? Did you tell me to go to hell? [He comes back toward Zuko. Zuko scrambles to his feet and backs up against the mat on the wall. The light is coming in through the windows and only illuminating one side of his face.] Is that what you said? Well, that's a shame, cuz. 'Cause this deal's only good till I get to the door. [He heads for the door.]
ZUKO: [just in time] Deal.
VECCHIO: [also half in light and half in shadow] Why should I trust you?
ZUKO: [looking very, very young] I give you my word.
VECCHIO: And I give you mine. [reaches for the bolt on the door]
ZUKO: I didn't say nothing about you being safe.
VECCHIO: [unbolts the door] I didn't ask for that.
Vecchio leaves. Zuko is alone in the gym.
Or is he? He looks up and sees that Charlie is standing on the catwalk at the far end.
ZUKO: What are you looking at?
CHARLIE: [after a moment] Nothing.
He goes out the door behind him. Now Zuko is alone in the dark gym.
Vecchio goes out to the car, where Fraser has been waiting.
FRASER: How are you?
VECCHIO: Scared to death.
FRASER: That's probably wise.
He hands Vecchio his gun. Vecchio shoves it in his coat and drives away.
Something something vigilante something: I LOVE RAY VECCHIO IN THIS SCENE. His best stuff has been when he's unhappy about something in his past, hasn't it? I'm here for the lifelong Ray Vecchio redemption arc, and if that involves his getting into it with a guy who needs hitting, I am as willing as everyone else (good guys and bad: both Fraser and Charlie) to look the other way.
Speaking of redemption, whoever decided to cut up scene 16 instead of giving Marciano the monologue in a single shot is redeemed by the chiaroscuro in this scene. Love it. (And speaking of previous scenes, I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that Zuko had no business, back in scene 3, telling Vecchio to work anything off. Bracchitta is shorter than Marciano, but he's heavier, and look how that turned out to be an actual relevant thing.)
Scene 18
That night. Vecchio is in his pajamas, watching the el go by from his bedroom window. His gun and badge are on the nightstand. He looks at the gun, sits on the edge of his bed, and thinks for a long time. Then he pops the clip out of the gun, puts the gun in the drawer, puts the clip back on the nightstand, locks the drawer, and lies back on his bed on top of the covers, looking at the key.
I confess I do not understand locking up the gun but leaving the ammunition out, but I guess neither is much good without the other, so.
Scene 19
Fraser is sitting on the floor, leaning back against his bed—which has a new lockset lying on it—reading his father's journal.
BOB FRASER (VO): When I took him in, his eyes were pure hatred. As the door to the prison slammed shut behind me, I could still hear his voice and the words he spit out at me. "I'll find you, Fraser, if it's the last thing I do. I'll track you down and kill you wherever you go." That night, in my cabin, I lay there and thought about fear and what it does to a man. How it eats his insides out and takes the best from him. I listened to the wind make the ice floes creak outside, and the wolves bay, and a thousand other sounds of the winter night. And as I listened to my heartbeat, I released the fear inside me, little by little, until it was no longer there. And then I closed my eyes and slept soundly until morning.
Fraser puts down the journal. He picks up the lockset, looks at it, looks at his door, and tosses it away, apparently having decided not to install it tonight. He blows out the lamp; the room is dark. He carefully hoists his bruised self up onto the bed and carefully lies down. Then he hears a noise; the door opens, and a bit of light comes in from the hallway. He opens his eyes, alarmed. Francesca comes in and drops her coat to the floor. She is wearing some black lace arrangement from the lingerie shop in scene 5.
FRANCESCA: Don't be afraid.
Fraser sits up and looks at her and is indeed afraid.
BOB FRASER (VO): I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
The Litany Against Fear (from Frank Herbert's Dune), by the way, is the first "timing for washing your hands" poster suggestion I saw in March 2020, and in that context it gave me goosebumps that have barely faded. (Especially the last panel, of course.)
from https://www.joeydevilla.com/2020/03/05/another-way-to-time-washing-your-hands-litany-against-fear-from-dune/Anyway, as before, Francesca's timing was . . . poor. (For what it's worth re: Elaine, I don't see a connection between Fraser and Francesca either.)
I don't think there's much point in discussing the title of this episode. 😛
Cumulative body count: 10
Red uniform: At the station once the investigation begins, and for the rest of the episode except when he's playing basketball (tunic off) or getting his wounds bandaged (bare to the waist) or once he's gone to bed (red long johns, bottoms only)
