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return to Due South: season 2 episode 1 "North"
North
air date November 9, 1995
Scene 1
Fraser and Vecchio are sitting in a very small airport. Fraser is playing solitaire. Vecchio is banging on the table with a salt shaker. The guy at the counter looks at Vecchio, puts down his newspaper, and gets another cup of coffee.
VECCHIO: All right, that's it. One more cup and I plug him.
FRASER: You're only making it worse, Ray.
VECCHIO: He's been on the same page for an hour now. Can we get some service over here?
FRASER: You know, Ray, things move at their own pace in small places.
VECCHIO: I would just like to check in, okay? Is there something wrong with that? Can I check in, please?
ANOTHER VOICE: Hey, Hamish, how's it going?
THE GUY AT THE COUNTER (HAMISH): Plane's out front. Hi, Doug. [Doug and a couple of other guys walk past the counter with bags of gear.]
VECCHIO: What the hell is this?
HAMISH: [ignores Vecchio, keeps greeting the other guys] Ed. How's it going, Junior?
VECCHIO: I didn't hear anyone being asked for tickets.
FRASER: Ray, Ray, Ray.
VECCHIO: Look, I gave up two weeks' vacation in Miami for this?
FRASER: Well, as I recall, it was your idea.
VECCHIO: No, as I recall, I said "maybe," as in "maybe we should go north and fix up your father's cabin?" You, on the other hand, could have said no.
FRASER: Well, you don't have to do this.
VECCHIO: Oh, yes, I do, because it's like a, what do you call it, a deathbed confession. You have to honor it. Besides, where else but Canada can I spend two weeks hard labor living off the land?
FRASER: Well, I, for one, am glad we're going. [Hamish taps his coffee cup on the counter. Fraser gets up from the table.]
VECCHIO: Finally. [They go to the counter, where Hamish is taking down his "Back in 10 minutes" sign.] All right, you check us in, I'm going to take these bags to the plane.
HAMISH: Nope. You gotta weigh 'em first.
VECCHIO: I gotta weigh in first?
HAMISH: Yep.
VECCHIO: [as he's putting a ton of bags on the scale] I'm sitting here an hour — [first bag] — doing nothing — [another bag] — and now you want me to weigh in. [another bag] Let's — [last bag] — weigh them in, Mr. Funny Hat.
FRASER: [adding one small rucksack] And mine. [The alarm on the scale goes off. Hamish looks at Vecchio.]
VECCHIO: What? [Hamish very deliberately presses a button to make the beeping stop.] So they're a little over, big deal. [Hamish is writing on his clipboard and looks up at Vecchio again.] Oh, I see. I see. [pulls out a bundle of cash] Here you go, how much?
HAMISH: Oh, you're American, eh?
FRASER: [leaning in conspiratorially] From Chicago.
HAMISH: Yeah, right. Well, you'll have to leave some of these behind, boys.
VECCHIO: Fine. [He chucks Fraser's single bag away.]
HAMISH: No, a lot more than that, by the looks of it.
VECCHIO: What about those hunters? Hunters, hunters had huge bags, what about them?
HAMISH: Oh, they're different.
VECCHIO: And how are they different?
HAMISH: They're just different.
VECCHIO: I know how they're different. They're Canadian, and I am American. That is how they're different. Are you discriminating against me because I'm an American? 'Cause if you are, let me tell you something —
FRASER: Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray. Excuse me, sir.
HAMISH: Mm-hmm.
FRASER: I wonder if you could just check the manifest and see if this extra weight might not be permissible within the maximum payload.
HAMISH: All right. I'll see what I can do.
FRASER: Thank you kindly.
HAMISH: Mm-hmm. [He picks up his coffee cup.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, I hope you burst.
HAMISH: Is that a handgun there?
Vecchio and Fraser look at Vecchio's hip where his gun is holstered.
So Fraser and Vecchio are off on their summer vacation. (Gross and Marciano have evidently already had theirs; it sure looks like they've both had some sun, and Vecchio has also cut his hair in that way that guys who are losing their hair tend to just buzz most of it quite short. Looks good. Fraser's hair has grown out a bit; it's a little fluffier than it was in season 1.) Off up to who-knows-where to rebuild Bob Fraser's cabin, and Vecchio is having some buyer's remorse? Or felt like the offer was made as a gesture and didn't expect Fraser to actually take him up on it? (It's not a deathbed confession, of course. What was he actually going for? Dying declaration?)
Scene 2
A police officer is coming into the hangar and calling to the pilot.
OFFICER: Jack?
JACK: Yeah.
OFFICER: Listen, I got a prisoner on the, uh, plane to P___ at eleven. [The prisoner glares from the car.] Listen, I, ah, need a place to put him.
JACK: Ah — I'm taking one of these out in a few minutes. Use the office.
Jack tosses the officer the keys. The officer gets the prisoner out of the car and leads him back to the office, on the way to which the prisoner grabs a wrench or something off a tool bench and whacks the officer as soon as they get there.
The prisoner and the officer are supposed to be flying somewhere at 11. I can't make out where. Packenham Ops? Pekinamomsett? I got nothing, and the fact that the officer is OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) isn't really any help. He needs someplace for the prisoner to chill until his flight at 11 and he thought maybe Jack would let him just hang out in one of the planes? Couldn't keep him in the car? The cop wasn't going to go somewhere else and leave the prisoner unsupervised, was he?
Scene 3
Fraser and Vecchio are walking across the tarmac.
FRASER: I'm not apologizing.
VECCHIO: Fine.
FRASER: It is strictly prohibited to carry a weapon on aircraft.
VECCHIO: Fine.
FRASER: Particularly one not licensed for use in this country.
VECCHIO: And who told him it was unlicensed, Fraser? Huh? Who?
FRASER: I'm still not apologizing.
VECCHIO: Fine.
Vecchio gets on the plane. Fraser looks around.
FRASER: We're going now. We're leaving! [He calls more deliberately.] We will not. return. [Diefenbaker barks and comes running; he runs up the stairs onto the plane.] Thank you kindly, Dwayne.
Fraser gets on the plane and Dwayne, Apparently closes up the hatch and pats the fuselage the way you'd thump a car to let the driver know he's good to go.
VECCHIO: [fastening his seatbelt] Yep. I bet there's no movie on this flight.
HAMISH: [on the radio] Clear for takeoff any time, Jack. Weather's good to oh nine thousand, heading two niner eight all the way up to the Territories, over.
PILOT JACK: Roger.
HAMISH: You coming back tonight after you drop off the cops?
PILOT JACK: Cops? [Fraser can see into the cockpit from his seat and is listening to this chatter.]
HAMISH: That's right. The Mountie's fine, but that other guy's going to take some getting used to.
PILOT JACK: Thanks. [calls back to the cabin] You guys have your seatbelts on?
VECCHIO: Yeah.
PILOT JACK: [He turns to smile at them, and it is the prisoner flying the plane.] Enjoy the flight.
The plane takes off.
Uh-oh, our heroes are in a certain amount of peril.
Heading 298, as I understand it, means flying at a direction of 298 degrees from your starting point, that is, a little north of west-northwest (or a little west of northwest by west; about halfway between those compass points, in fact). Figuring a plane that size has a range of about 800 miles, and knowing they're starting from Ontario, (a) they're already well far north in Ontario to begin with and (b) they're not going to get very far into the Territories on this flight, are they? (Recall that what's marked as Nunavut was still NWT until 1999.)
(Those are straight lines and this is a conic projection map, so the heading isn't perfect and thanks for being cool.) I split the difference between the north-south borders of BC/Alberta and Alberta/Saskatchewan, called that "vertical," and made the 800-mile plane routes 62 degrees west from there.) That lake they could be landing near the eastern tip of is the Great Slave Lake, with Yellowknife, the capital of NWT, on its northern shore. Could be a transfer point. Of course I have no idea where their final destination is, because as we've seen, Bob Fraser's cabin exists in some other dimension where it is both in the Yukon and two thousand miles southeast of a point that is still in Canada, so ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Scene 4
Vecchio is getting a Walkman and headphones out of his pocket.
VECCHIO: Hey, Benny. How long did you say this flight was, anyway?
FRASER: Four hours.
VECCHIO: Okay, so where's the john? [Fraser looks at him sternly.] Great. [Fraser looks back out the window. Diefenbaker puts his chin on Vecchio's shoulder and whines.] What? Don't you think it's a little early? [Diefenbaker is so pitiful.] Okay, fine. fine.
Vecchio puts his Walkman down and undoes his seatbelt so he can go get his bag.
Four hours at the average 140 mph that sort of plane apparently pulls would make their distance more like 560 miles than 800.
Scene 5
Back at the airport, a body in a bag is being wheeled out in a gurney. Hamish is talking to a police officer. On the plane, Vecchio waves a bottle of water.
VECCHIO: Hey, Benny, you want something to drink? [Fraser is looking out the window and doesn't answer. Vecchio comes back to his seat and gives Diefenbaker a snack.] Here's your peanuts. Don't bug me.
FRASER: [hears some chatter on the radio; is surprised by something the plane does] Huh.
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: Nothing. [The plane makes a bit of a sputtering sound.] Huh.
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: Oh — nothing. It's probably nothing.
The plane sputters again and drops quite a bit.
VECCHIO: That was not nothing. I'm going to have a little talk with this guy. [He goes up to the cockpit.] Hey, Jim. You want to keep your eyes on the road?
PILOT JACK (JIM THE PILOT/PRISONER): Is there a problem?
VECCHIO: No, I love having my kidneys —
FRASER: [pulling him back] Actually, we're quite fine. Thank you, Jim.
JIM THE PILOT/PRISONER: You guys better keep your seatbelts on.
VECCHIO: Yeah, you just better watch the road.
FRASER: [hearing more radio transmissions] Ray? You wouldn't happen to have your backup gun, would you?
VECCHIO: No!
FRASER: Oh, well.
VECCHIO: Oh, well what?
FRASER: It's just an observation, probably ill-timed, but I don't think this man is our pilot.
VECCHIO: You're telling me.
FRASER: No, I mean, I think he may be a pilot. I don't think he's our pilot. There's dandruff on the collar of his flight suit. There's none on his scalp.
VECCHIO: Oh, and for that we shoot him?
FRASER: The Territories are northwest, Ray. We've been flying south for two hours. Also, he's ignoring radio calls and occasionally flying underneath radar coverage.
VECCHIO: So what are you saying, we're being hijacked?
FRASER: No, not necessarily. But the chafing on his wrists is consistent with a man who's recently been in handcuffs. [Jim the pilot/prisoner can hear them having this conversation.] Add to that the blood on the back of his flight suit and the prominent bullet hole, well — I leave it up to you.
VECCHIO: You couldn't have mentioned this earlier?
FRASER: It's a moot point, Ray. He has a gun, we don't.
VECCHIO: This isn't a trick, is it?
FRASER: On my word of honor. [Vecchio draws his backup gun. Fraser pushes his hand down.] But I will have to arrest you, of course, once we land.
The plane is dipping. Vecchio loads his gun.
VECCHIO: On three. Ready?
FRASER: Not now, Ray. Let's wait until we're on the ground.
VECCHIO: Where, Beirut?
FRASER: It's a light plane, Ray. I don't think we have enough fuel to reach the Middle East. My guess is he's a smuggler. We're headed for Mexico.
VECCHIO: Yeah, where fifty of his friends are going to be waiting for us with Uzis. You know what happens to hostages, Fraser? Cop hostages? Bodies on the tarmac? CNN? This is not gonna happen to me. We gotta get him to turn this plane around right away.
FRASER: You're right. [Vecchio starts to go to the cockpit. Fraser pulls him back.] On the other hand, there could be a struggle. He might refuse to cooperate, in which case we have to fly the plane ourselves. Now, this might be possible with some assistance from air traffic control, and I did read a flight training manual in my grandmother's library — there were a couple of pages missing, but I'm sure nothing vital. And I'm guessing that there are a lot of similarities between a Sopwith Camel and today's light aircraft.
VECCHIO: Yeah, that's great, Benny, just give me the odds, willya? [Jim the pilot/prisoner is gathering his things.]
FRASER: Well, statistically, over ninety percent of all light aircraft fatalities occur during takeoff and landing.
VECCHIO: Hey, look, I am not going to be the guest of honor at a human piñata party in the Baja.
FRASER: Well, on a brighter note, Ray, eighteen percent of all crash survivors crawl away with at least three out of four limbs. [They decide to go for it.] One, two —
Jim the pilot/prisoner jumps out of the plane. Fraser moves to the cockpit. He looks out the hatch and sees Jim's parachute. The plane is diving, of course. Fraser and Vecchio shout to each other over the engine noise and the wind.
VECCHIO: Radio!
FRASER: It's broken! Sit down! [He tries to pull up.] Sit down! Strap yourself in! [The trees are coming up pretty fast.] Hold on!
Down they go.
There's a noticeable difference—at least I noticed one—between (a) the way Fraser says "It's a moot point, Ray. He has a gun, we don't" in a calculated way to get Vecchio to admit he does have a gun with him and (b) the way he talks about learning to fly a Sopwith Camel by reading most of a flight manual at the library and figuring that theoretical knowledge will transfer to practical abilities in the cockpit of a modern light airplane with absolute sincerity. It's sometimes hard for us to tell when he's (doing passive aggression and when he really means "no, you go ahead, I'll get this" sincerely, which I can't put my finger on an example of right now) doing deadpan irony, because his deadpan is so dry (until he makes himself laugh so hard he cries) and because some of the things he's serious about are so ridiculous, but I think this scene shows how the distinction is visible to the naked eye.
I'm guessing there are a lot of similarities between a Sopwith Camel and a Cessna or whatever that is, but maybe not as many as Fraser suspects. He doesn't say how old he was when he read this incomplete flight manual in his grandmother's library, but he sure does seem to be sincere in his assumption that it will have taught him what he needs to know. For example, that a plane that size isn't going to take them from Canada to Lebanon.
Vecchio's "Beirut" comment feels like a relic now, but it might not have been yet in 1995. (In fact I have a pretty clear memory from September 11, 2001, of a reporter calling back to the studio from the financial district and saying "It's like Beirut down here, Peter.") TWA 847 was supposed to fly from Cairo to San Diego via Athens, Rome, Boston, and Los Angeles but on June 14, 1985, had only made the first leg when it was hijacked (apparently by Hezbollah operatives) and flown to Beirut, Algiers, Beirut, Algiers, and Beirut over the next three days with the hostage passengers released in dribs and drabs (except one member of the U.S. Navy who was killed). The specter of ~Islamic Jihadi hijackers~ hung over international air travel in the late 80s and early 90s, almost certainly out of proportion with the actual level of risk, but it was the Reagan administration, Lebanon was in a civil war from 1975 to 1990, Iran and Iraq were at war from 1980 to 1988, and what can you do. By 1995, what seemed like a sort of rash of middle east–related hijackings had dried up, but I can see it still being on Vecchio's mind when the plane he's on is literally being hijacked, so fair enough. (Is it possible that he's also thinking of the Ryan delegation's disastrous visit to Jonestown in 1978?)
With an 800-mile range, they're not going to make it to Mexico, either, of course. From the southernmost blue starting point in that first image above, if they went bang south for 800 miles it looks to me like they might reach . . . well . . . Chicago.
Credits roll.
Paul Gross
David Marciano
Beau Starr
Daniel Kash
Tony Craig
Catherine Bruhier
(plus Lincoln the dog)
Red Green, David Calderisi, Gordon Pinsent as Fraser Sr.
Red Green is a pretty good bit of stunt casting, don't you think? The opening credits have a couple of new clips in them.
Scene 6
Jim the pilot/prisoner has been caught in a tree by his parachute. He cuts the ropes and falls to the ground. Somewhere else in the forest, Fraser and Vecchio are walking away from the smoking wreckage of the plane.
VECCHIO: We should stay with the plane.
FRASER: If you think. [But he does not stop walking. We can only see the top of his hat.]
VECCHIO: This is insane. You're dragging us through hundreds of miles of wilderness, heading God knows where.
FRASER: Ray, the man is a vicious murderer. He killed our pilot, he undoubtedly killed his police escort, and he attempted to kill us.
VECCHIO: Which is why we should go back to the plane and wait for reinforcements to come.
FRASER: The emergency equipment, the ELT, and the radio were all destroyed in the crash. The plane's under cover of trees — it'll never be found. Now, on the way down, I noticed a river. There's bound to be a road that crosses it. Undoubtedly the hijacker saw it as well. That's where he'll head. If we move hard, drive fast, we should be able to intercept him by nightfall. [Our heroes come into view. Fraser has blood trickling down his forehead from under his hat. He is leading, but looking kind of dazed.] Any questions?
VECCHIO: Yes. How far do you think you're going to get with that gash on your head?
FRASER: Oh, Ray, head wounds always look worse than they actually are. [He holds out his compass.] Can you give me a reading, please?
VECCHIO: It's your compass, you read it.
FRASER: I can't.
VECCHIO: Well, neither can I.
FRASER: Well, you'll have to.
VECCHIO: Why?
FRASER: I'm blind.
VECCHIO: [raises his eyebrows pretty high] You're blind?
FRASER: Apparently.
VECCHIO: [waving a hand in front of Fraser's face] You're — you're really, really blind?
FRASER: As a bat.
VECCHIO: Well, why didn't you say something?
FRASER: No point in making a bad situation worse.
VECCHIO: Worse? Fraser, you can't see! Come on, we're going back to the plane. [He turns and starts back the way they came.]
FRASER: [He talks to the spot where Vecchio was previously standing.] Well, Ray, I still have four senses intact.
VECCHIO: [yells] You can't see!
FRASER: Ray, I'm blind, I'm not deaf. Now, I've spent my entire life in the northern woods tracking criminals. I have a natural advantage here. [He sets off walking, looking around as though that's going to help him.] There isn't a thing in this forest that I cant hear, taste, touch, smell, feel. It's a finely tuned ability gained from years of experience. So — [He licks one finger and holds it up, feeling for a breeze.] — if you'll just stand aside, I'll be on my way. [He hits his head on a tree branch and falls to the ground.]
VECCHIO: That was a tree.
FRASER: Yes, it was. [gets to his feet] A white ash — [strokes the bark, licks his finger] — Fraxinus americana, to be exact. Shall we?
Fraser is about to continue on his way, remembers the tree branch at the last second, and ducks to go under it. Vecchio rolls his eyes, sighs, and follows. So does Diefenbaker.
Well, I'm glad Diefenbaker was unaffected by the plane crash. Buddy wasn't belted in at all. (The ELT is the emergency location transmitter.)
I'm no arborist; it looks like the white ash has ridged bark on the trunk, but I guess it could have that smoother bark on the branches such as the one Fraser hit his head on. Uncle Wiki says this is the natural range of F. Americana, which of course makes me continue to wonder where the hell this plane came down, because the northern edge of that range isn't really very far outside civilization at all, is it (and it's more than a two-hour Cessna flight from wherever the hell Red Green's airport was).
Traumatic optic neuropathy is apparently rare, but it's a real thing, so Fraser's banging his head hard enough in that plane crash to lose his vision isn't completely out of left field. Seems like he probably wouldn't be up and about so soon afterward, though, stiff-upper-lip upbringing ("no point in making a bad situation worse") or otherwise.
Scene 7
Hamish is on the phone.
HAMISH: We haven't located them yet, and there's no sign of the plane either.
WELSH: All right, I'll notify the family. You get any news, I want it. Right. Thanks.
Welsh hangs up the phone. Elaine is leaning sadly in his office door.
At this point you're just notifying the family that this situation is ongoing, right? We're still at search and rescue, not search and recovery, right?
Scene 8
Diefenbaker runs through the forest.
FRASER: Any sign of the hijacker?
VECCHIO: Uh, no.
Fraser and Vecchio are coming to a clearing; Vecchio is leading, and Fraser has one hand on his shoulder. Vecchio is picking at leaves and nuts on a twig.
FRASER: All right, soon we should start to come to a river valley. The trees will thin out, the flora will become more low-lying. Willow, sea buckthorn possibly, infant cottonwood.
VECCHIO: That supposed to mean something to me?
FRASER: Trees, Ray. Only shorter. Ah, now, the river valley should be right about here. [Vecchio stops him from walking further.] Tell me what you see, Ray.
They are at the edge of a cliff. It's beautiful, but it's not a river valley.
VECCHIO: [yells so Fraser will hear the echo and know they are on a hillside] Oh, well, I, uh, see trees.
FRASER: Good. Good. Describe them.
VECCHIO: Anh, green, mostly.
FRASER: Very good. And the river?
VECCHIO: Well, I'm going to bet it's just over the next hill.
FRASER: Perfect. Onward. [He starts to walk forward; Vecchio grabs him before he walks off the cliff.]
VECCHIO: Ho, not — not a good idea, okay? Not a good idea. Just, just wait here for me, all right? Okay, I say, uh, westward ho, Ethan Edwards. [He turns to walk parallel with the cliff edge.] Hand on shoulder? [Fraser places his hand on Vecchio's shoulder and they set off.]
FRASER: I can feel the sun on the left side of my nose.
VECCHIO: Ah, Fraser, there is no sun.
FRASER: What time is it, Ray?
VECCHIO: It's, uh, one-thirty.
FRASER: I think you're a little off.
VECCHIO: Eh-heh-heh — how do you know that?
FRASER: Because of the sun on my nose.
VECCHIO: There is no sun on your nose, Benny!
FRASER: Ray, will you just check the compass again? Even an error of one or two degrees could throw us hundreds of miles off course.
VECCHIO: I know that. I'm not an idiot.
FRASER: Well, I'm not saying you are.
VECCHIO: Okay, good. And by the way, I have gone camping before.
FRASER: You have not gone camping —
VECCHIO: I have too.
FRASER: When?
VECCHIO: When I was a kid.
FRASER: With who?
VECCHIO: My dad.
FRASER: Oh.
VECCHIO: Yeah. And to prove a point, we are heading west. See? [holds the compass in Fraser's face] Of course not. What am I thinking of. [He carries on walking. Fraser is about to walk off the cliff.] Fraser! [He dives to catch him and drops the compass, which clatters into the gorge.]
FRASER: Ray, you all right?
VECCHIO: Yeah. You okay?
FRASER: Oh, I'm fine. Next time, watch where you're going, please. You could get us both killed.
They get up and move away from the cliff edge.
"Westward ho" is what Thames boatmen called to let passengers know they were pulling out and heading west along the river; it's what Viola-as-Cesario says when she wants to get away from Olivia in Twelfth Night; it's the title of an Elizabethan or Jacobean play satirizing contemporary London society; it's the title of a 19th-century novel about Elizabethan explorers colonizing South America, which was made into a silent film in 1919. But probably Vecchio is referring to the 1935 Western with John Wayne and conflating it with The Searchers, a later picture in which John Wayne's character is named Ethan Edwards but nobody ever (that I can tell) says "westward ho". (I assume he is not referring to Ethan Edwards aka Moral Man, the Marvel Comics superhero, but I guess that would work too, so.)
Scene 9
Diefenbaker is still running along fine. Vecchio and Fraser are trudging through denser forest.
VECCHIO: I think we should take a break.
FRASER: I, I feel perfectly fresh, Ray. [He turns around in a circle, apparently to show that he can.]
VECCHIO: No, no, no, it's getting really dark right now, and I think we should make camp. [It is not getting dark at all; it's the middle of the day.]
FRASER: You know, Ray, wise men walk while fools sleep. [He wanders off in a different direction.]
VECCHIO: Who said anything about sleep? I just like to see where I'm going.
FRASER: [It sounds like he falls down off camera; he definitely comes back across the path at right angles to the direction Vecchio is walking.] Well, it means nothing to me.
VECCHIO: I realize that, but I don't want to track this guy by moonlight.
FRASER: [reappearing behind Vecchio] "There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who —" [He falls down.]
VECCHIO: "— toil for gold." Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard that one, and then they shot that Sam McGee guy. I told you, I went camping before.
FRASER: "Moil," Ray, and they cremated him. It was Dan McGrew that they shot. [He has gotten up and is feeling his way along the path in the wrong direction.]
VECCHIO: Did they catch the guy?
FRASER: It's a poem, Ray. [He turns around and follows Vecchio.]
VECCHIO: Oh. . . . Moil, huh?
FRASER: Yes. Moil, not toil.
VECCHIO: Ah, moil, toil, who cares?
FRASER: Robert Service, apparently.
VECCHIO: Who's he?
FRASER: The poet.
Fraser falls down again.
I don't think "wise men walk while fools sleep" is a real proverb. "The Cremation of Sam McGee," on the other hand, is a real poem by Robert W. Service, which Uncle Wiki says is "a stable of campfire storytelling" and has been widely read in Canadian elementary schools since the mid-1980s (inevitably reminding me of the scene in the stage version, at least, of Tom Sawyer where Ben Rogers tries to recite "The Wreck of the Hesperus" and just can't do it—"It was the schooner Hesperus that sailed the windy sea. Blue were her eyes as the."—and also of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", though it probably doesn't deserve the latter and it's just the meter that has Coleridge in my head). It begins and ends:
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.And it tells the tale of how Sam knows he's going to die and asks the narrator to cremate his remains, which the narrator finally does, and goes away rather than watch, but when he comes back to be sure the job is done, he sees Sam's ghost enjoying the warmth of the fire.
"The Shooting of Dan McGrew" is a different Service poem from the same volume (The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses), in which Dan and a piano-playing stranger shoot each other dead in a tavern apparently over the attention of Dan's (and maybe formerly the stranger's) girlfriend Lou.
Scene 10
The woods are lovely and very, very big.
VECCHIO: We're lost.
FRASER: No, we're not. We just don't know where we are. [They are walking, as before, with Vecchio in front and Fraser's hand on his shoulder.]
VECCHIO: Like there's a difference?
FRASER: Well, being lost is usually accompanied by a feeling of panic, Ray.
VECCHIO: Are you saying I'm panicking?
FRASER: No, on the contrary. You see, Ray, people who are lost panic. Now, they walk aimlessly in the woods. Very often they walk in circles — [Vecchio sees something and steps away to look at it. Fraser keeps talking to the spot where he had been standing.] — until eventually, they — well, they die, either from starvation or from lack of water. [Vecchio is looking at the wreck of their plane. Fraser is still talking to him over where he was standing before.] Now, we, by comparison, we have remained calm, and you see, Ray, this, this is the secret to survival in the woods. Remaining — Ray, I smell something. I smell fuel, burnt plastic, metal — what is it?
VECCHIO: It's a plane crash.
FRASER: My God, Ray. Another plane crash? What are the odds?
VECCHIO: It's our plane crash, you moron! We've been going around in circles this whole time! What's the matter with you? [A gun fires.] Get down, get down, get down! [He tackles Fraser to the ground using a big rock as cover and starts trying to get his gun out of his ankle holster.]
FRASER: All right, I'm going to handle this, Ray. [He stands up and faces exactly the wrong direction.] In the name of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, I — [More shots come from behind him; he hits the dirt again.]
VECCHIO: I don't think he heard you. [Vecchio returns fire; Jim the pilot/prisoner is taking cover behind the plane. They each shoot a couple more times, and Jim runs away. Fraser and Vecchio stand up cautiously.]
FRASER: Good shooting, Ray. Let's hope he's alive to testify.
Fraser tries to emerge from behind the rock and falls down again. Jim walks off into the woods.
I agree there's a difference between being lost and not knowing where you are. Also, Fraser's pratfalls are pretty funny, but Vecchio was right that they should have stayed with the plane in the first place.
Scene 11
Vecchio is combing through the wreckage.
VECCHIO: Okay, let's see what the hijacker left us. Well, tube of toothpaste. [He doesn't want that.] Sunscreen. [Nor that.] Oh, here's something we can use. Hemorrhoid paste.
FRASER: I almost had him. [He is feeling around in a first aid kit.]
VECCHIO: [throwing away the hemorrhoid cream] A breath mint. I suppose we could boil it.
FRASER: Textbook situation. Maybe he heard us approaching. [Diefenbaker yips.]
VECCHIO: Oh, Dief's got peanuts. Here, Dief. [Diefenbaker runs off with his peanuts.] You didn't really think he'd surrender, did you?
FRASER: Well, not with you firing at him.
VECCHIO: Oh, yeah, you're right. Next time I'll just let him shoot us.
FRASER: There won't be a next time, Ray. He only came back to the plane for provisions. Can you give me a hand here, please? [He is wrapping a bandage around the bleeding cut on his forehead.] He's on the run now, and he knows we're on his trail. Now, he doesn't know that you're out of bullets, but he must know that even a minor wound will slow him down. He won't risk open confrontation.
VECCHIO: Fraser, the guy's got a nine millimeter SIG Sauer with at least two clips of ammunition.
FRASER: We can still bring him in alive.
VECCHIO: And how do you propose to do that?
FRASER: You know, Ray, Sam Steele patrolled the Northwest Territories his entire career without ever firing his weapon. It was a point of honor with him. Rumor has it that he was buried with the weapon unfired.
VECCHIO: Great. Let's go dig it up.
FRASER: My point is, Ray, that we will use nature to our advantage. You see, wilderness survival depends more on your wits than upon firepower. I mean, for example, the beam of an incandescent flashlight is visible for up to half a mile at night. Now, our hijacker didn't understand that, or he would have waited around for nightfall and picked us off one by one. [Vecchio has found an incandescent flashlight, but it doesn't work. He throws it away.] Which leads me to believe that he is not skilled at wilderness survival. Aside from which, Diefenbaker would have raised the alarm if he had been around. He isn't.
VECCHIO: Fraser, I don't think we're going have to worry about catching the hijacker. We're going to starve to death long before that.
FRASER: Oh Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray. With a little perseverance and a little ingenuity and a fundamental understanding of how to go about it, one can live like a king in the woods.
Vecchio turns over a rock. The soil underneath it is crawling with mealworms.
VECCHIO: No way.
FRASER: Oh Ray, they're very nutritional. Far more strengthening than fish or meat.
VECCHIO: You eat them, then.
FRASER: Shh, shh. [He gets on his hands and knees and alerts like a pointer.]
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: Shh. I think I hear a nest of furry nightcrawlers. [He crawls off to look for it.]
VECCHIO: Oh, great.
Vecchio puts his rock back down.
I don't guess Vecchio would be desperate enough to eat bugs until, what, the third or fourth day? Maybe longer. (Rule of threes, right? You can survive three minutes without oxygen, three hours without shelter, three days without water, three weeks without food?)
Scene 12
The sunset is very pretty. The guys are sheltering under the wing of the wrecked plane. Vecchio is trying to build a fire.
FRASER: Ready?
VECCHIO: Ask me again and I set you on fire.
FRASER: Understood.
VECCHIO: I thought we agreed. You're in charge of being blind, and I'm in charge of seeing. Any part I left out? Good. Now I can do this, all right? So just let me do this, all right?
FRASER: All right. All right. [Vecchio has got a box of matches.] Wait a minute. Wait a minute. [He gets up from where he was sitting. Vecchio strikes a match.] Ray! I think I know what happened today.
VECCHIO: Great.
FRASER: One of my legs is probably fractionally, just a little bit, longer than the other one, you see, which caused us to walk in a giant circle. I should have taken this into account. Ray. Measure my legs.
VECCHIO: I'm not going to measure your legs.
FRASER: Hey, you know what?
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: I think the head injury's thrown me off a tad.
VECCHIO: I'd say just a little more than a tad.
FRASER: [pacing] You know what I'm guessing? I'm guessing the blow I received caused a subdural hematoma. The resulting swelling of the anterior cerebrum put pressure on the optic nerve. [Vecchio is blowing on his kindling. It doesn't catch. He lights another match.] Well, at least it's not getting any worse. Mind you if, ah, if I become disorientated, then we'll really be in a pickle. [He trips and falls onto the fire.] Ray, if you're going to insist on moving this thing, you really should tell a body.
VECCHIO: Fraser, I'm not —
FRASER: [getting up, dusting himself off] No, no need to apologize, Steve.
VECCHIO: Steve?
FRASER: What?
VECCHIO: You just called me Steve.
FRASER: [laughing in his face] I most certainly did not.
VECCHIO: You did too.
FRASER: You're not hyperventilating, are you?
VECCHIO: Fraser, you just fell on the fire, and you killed it.
FRASER: I did not. You were blowing too hard, and you need more tinder.
VECCHIO: Fine. You want to be in charge? You want to do everything here, old man? You start the fire. [He throws Fraser the matches and stomps off.]
FRASER: Moody. [He feels around for the pile of kindling and sits down next to it.]
BOB FRASER: You're never going to teach him how to start a fire that way.
FRASER: Well, I believe he thinks we're going to die out here. Not without justification.
BOB FRASER: Well, he's right. You've got yourself into one hell of a predicament, son.
FRASER: Well it's hardly my making, now, is it?
BOB FRASER: Mmm. Grubs. [munching on grubs] You could have reversed the choke settings.
FRASER: What?
BOB FRASER: You could have reversed the choke settings. Then the engines would have started.
FRASER: Well, why didn't you tell me that?
BOB FRASER: You always hate it when I interfere.
FRASER: Interfere?
BOB FRASER: All right, all right. You're going have to move fast and drive hard if you're going to bring this man in alive. Now, for all we know, he's left a trail of bodies from here to the Circle. Hunters, miners, sodbusters —
FRASER: Dad —
BOB FRASER: — poachers, claim stakers —
FRASER: Dad —
BOB FRASER: — a whole canoe full of coureurs des bois —
FRASER: Dad, I don't know if it's escaped your attention, but only very recently, I received a massive blow to my head.
BOB FRASER: Yeah, well, you've still got a few good hours left in you. Go get him.
FRASER: What?
BOB FRASER: Go get your man.
FRASER: Oh, good, I'm glad you brought this up. Would you explain to me, please, just once and for all explain to me, why is it we always have to get our man?
BOB FRASER: Well, it's the motto, son.
FRASER: It is not.
BOB FRASER: It is.
FRASER: It is not.
BOB FRASER: It's —
FRASER: It is definitely not our motto. Our motto actually is —
BOB FRASER: What?
FRASER: — "Maintain the Right."
BOB FRASER: Maint— maintain the —
FRASER: "Maintain the Right." Now, what you're saying is we're supposed to pursue people to the ends of the earth for a motto that isn't even our motto.
BOB FRASER: [muttering to himself] Well, must be the new one, then. The old one used to be just — go get your man or bring him back alive or . . . just . . . something. Go get him. [He starts to walk away.]
FRASER: Where are you going? [Bob doesn't answer.] Where are you going?
VECCHIO: [with an armful of twigs] I'm not going anywhere. I'm coming back.
FRASER: Ah.
VECCHIO: Talking to yourself?
FRASER: Evidently.
VECCHIO: You have those matches? [Fraser feels around and gives him the matches.] Great. Whew, it's getting cold.
FRASER: Mm.
VECCHIO: [lights a match; fails to start the fire] Damn it.
FRASER: Wood's damp. Matches may not be the solution. You know, Ray, my father taught me how to build a fire when I was six years old. He took me out into the woods, gave me a piece of flint, a hunk of granite, and then he walked away without turning back.
VECCHIO: You know how to make a fire out of stones?
FRASER: You know the funny thing? I have absolutely no memory of the fire itself, but I have this very vivid memory of the darkness and knowing that I was all alone.
VECCHIO: My dad, uh, he wasn't a father-and-son type of guy.
FRASER: Well, he took you camping.
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, of course we went camping. But the one thing he did teach me was how to look out for number one.
FRASER: A police officer puts others first.
VECCHIO: My father hated cops. [He gets up to walk away again.]
FRASER: Where are you going?
VECCHIO: Oh, I'm going to go, uh, get some of those dry sticks.
FRASER: Ah.
VECCHIO: And maybe some rocks.
FRASER: Good. [Now he is alone in the dark. He looks around.] Dad? [Bob has not returned.] Good.
He settles in to wait.
Fraser is being quite Katherine Burns–like here, is he not? And it doesn't suit him.
Given my firm conviction that Bob Fraser is Ben Fraser's subconscious, the whole motto disagreement is pretty interesting; is Fraser not confident that the real motto is the right one? (It is in fact "maintiens le droit," because mottoes are often French, aren't they, but sure, "Maintain the Right," "Uphold the Law," "This is the Way," whatever.) Also, the coueurs des bois were unlicensed French Canadian fur traders in the 17th and early 18th centuries, so it's unlikely (isn't it?) that the hijacker will have killed a whole canoe full of them today? (The "Circle" Bob mentions is the Arctic Circle, of course.) But the only really important question to come out of this scene is this:
WHO IS STEVE?
Scene 13
Vecchio is gathering twigs. The ghost of his own father is leaning against a tree.
MR. VECCHIO: I heard that.
VECCHIO: Nobody's talking to you.
MR. VECCHIO: You'd tell a stranger something like that? About your family?
VECCHIO: He's not a stranger. He's my friend.
MR. VECCHIO: Oh, some friend. He's looney tunes. You should cut him loose.
VECCHIO: I owe him.
MR. VECCHIO: You owe nobody. He's going to get you killed.
VECCHIO: It's always the way it is with you, Pop, ain't it? Just you, screw the rest of the world, huh?
MR. VECCHIO: Something wrong with that?
Vecchio looks at his father for a minute and then walks away.
Calderisi is (a) Canadian ("aboat," wow) and (b) well cast as Marciano's father, I think. I like how Vecchio is acknowledging that he has subconscious ideas but doesn't like them. I don't know if Bob Fraser is the angel on Ben Fraser's shoulder, but this dude is definitely the devil on Vecchio's.
Scene 14
Vecchio dumps a pile of twigs on the existing pile of twigs. He sits next to Fraser and hands him the matches.
VECCHIO: You do it.
Fraser strikes a match and drops it into the kindling. Vecchio is skeptical. After a moment the fire roars up as though the twigs had been coated with butane.
FRASER: Yep. Once you learn, you never forget.
Vecchio is annoyed. The moon is full.
Nice to know even the laws of nature magically arrange themselves for Fraser's benefit.
Scene 15
The moon is full in Chicago, also. Francesca looks at it from the porch of the family house. She goes inside, passing Welsh, who is drinking coffee in the doorway. (A couple of other people are in the doorway also, but we definitely can't see who they are.)
♫ Somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight
. . .
And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big skyyy . . . ♫Look, I was precisely the target audience for Spielberg's An American Tail, and that song got in my head at a formative time in my life and will probably never get out.
Scene 16
Vecchio and Fraser are sitting by their dying fire. Vecchio is unhappy.
VECCHIO: I can't believe I did that. I can still feel them movin' around in there.
FRASER: It was a good meal, Ray. [He is huddled up in a blanket.]
VECCHIO: You need another blanket?
FRASER: No. I'm going to go get some rest. We're going to have to double our pace if we want to catch him tomorrow.
VECCHIO: Benny?
FRASER: Mm-hmm?
VECCHIO: Have you taken a look at yourself recently?
FRASER: Well, I can't very well do that, can I, Steve?
VECCHIO: Ray.
FRASER: What?
VECCHIO: Never mind. [Fraser lays his head back down and closes his eyes. Vecchio is very unhappy.] You know, I'd better wake you up every couple of hours.
FRASER: [nods] Good night. [He mumbles a bit. Vecchio stares at the fire. A wolf howls.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, very funny. What do you think, you're a wolf or something? [Diefenbaker trots over and sits down next to him.] He doesn't make it, Dief — you're going to help us get out of here, right?
Diefenbaker nods and lies down.
I can't get over this dog.
Nice performance here showing us that Vecchio is feeling queasy for reasons that have nothing to do with having just eaten worms.
Scene 17
Vecchio is sleeping with his head on some airplane-seat foam. A fly buzzes around his face and finally wakes him up. He sees Fraser sitting watch in the pilot's chair by what's left of the fire.
VECCHIO: You're up.
FRASER: Yes. I didn't want to wake you. I've made breakfast. [He holds up a worm.]
VECCHIO: No, man, thanks. You, ah, you go right ahead.
FRASER: [puts the worm in a tin cup, then freezes] Listen. [Vecchio leaps up.] A search plane. Someone's in trouble.
VECCHIO: Yeah. Us. [loading a flare gun] Come on, come on . . . [He fires a flare, but it doesn't get through the tree canopy.] Don't think he saw it. [He runs to get another flare.]
FRASER: It's no use, Ray. Search planes fly in grid patterns. He won't be back.
VECCHIO: Well, why didn't you say something? What the hell is wrong with you? That might have been our only chance to get out of here alive.
FRASER: Ray, we still have a man to catch.
VECCHIO: What are you — okay. Okay. I'll pack up, then we'll get out of here. [Fraser starts to stand up but can't. After a moment he starts laughing a little maniacally.] What's so funny?
FRASER: Well, it would appear that I have lost the use of my legs.
Vecchio can't believe this. Fraser laughs a little more.
I'm not sure I understand "Why didn't you say something?". Fraser did say something. He said "Listen. A search plane." Does Vecchio mean Fraser should have said something like "He'll be flying in a grid pattern, so be sure to shoot as many flares as you can because if he doesn't see you now he won't come back" while he, Vecchio, was putting the flare into the gun? It's not like there was a ton of time.
A head injury isn't likely to cause temporary paralysis in the legs without affecting the upper body, I don't think, but sitting all night on that pilot's chair could have compressed something that Fraser isn't sufficiently hydrated to decompress right now. I happen to think it's also possible that this injury could be partly psychosomatic—Bob or some other part of his subconscious doesn't want him going after this hijacker, so it's trying to stop him every way it can.
Scene 18
Vecchio is tromping through the woods with Fraser over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
FRASER: Ray, if at any point during our trip I should become a burden to you, you would let me know, wouldn't you?
VECCHIO: Oh, yes, Fraser.
FRASER: And you'd carry on without me?
VECCHIO: Absolutely.
FRASER: Without hesitation?
VECCHIO: Oh, in a heartbeat.
FRASER: That's good.
VECCHIO: Oh, and if you at any point in time should be feeling better, you just let me know.
FRASER: Yes, of course. [Diefenbaker runs by, saddled up like a pack mule.] Oh, Ray.
VECCHIO: Yes?
FRASER: I'm a little thirsty.
VECCHIO: [He puts Fraser down and they both roll away.] You okay?
FRASER: Mm-hmm.
VECCHIO: [helping Fraser sit up and lean against a tree] All right, let me get the water. Here you go. [He tears the tab off the cap of a water bottle and drops it in the leaves, then gives the bottle to Fraser.] I'll be right back. [He steps over to another tree for a bio break.]
MR. VECCHIO: You're going to give him all the water?
VECCHIO: What's it to you?
MR. VECCHIO: You're doing all the work. You should keep it for yourself.
VECCHIO: Get away from me, Pop.
MR. VECCHIO: Yeah, well, don't blame me if you die out here.
Meanwhile, Bob Fraser is bothering Ben Fraser.
BOB FRASER: He's slowing you down, son.
FRASER: He's slowing me down?
BOB FRASER: When I first joined the Mounted Police, all the equipment we got was a paper bag and a pointed stick. We used the bag to boil tea, and the stick was for killing game, and if you lost either of them, they'd charge you for it!
FRASER: Are you ill?
BOB FRASER: There's nothing to be ashamed of, son. You've got a man to catch.
Vecchio returns.
VECCHIO: Okay! Let's saddle up. [Diefenbaker grumbles.] What are you complaining about? You want to trade? [gets his shoulder under Fraser] All right, let's try to do this, okay?
Vecchio picks Fraser up and trudges off. Diefenbaker follows them. Both dads watch them go, then look at each other for a moment. Bob sets off after the boys, and Mr. Vecchio shakes his head and follows too.
"Are you ill," Fraser asks his own subconscious, because he is in fact starting to lose it. His face is looking pale; nice work by the makeup team either before when it looked like he had a bit of a tan or now when it looks like he doesn't—one of those complexions was put on him with a sponge.
But let's all take a moment and boggle at Marciano, shall we? It's not that Gross is that big of a guy, but he's bigger than Marciano is, and remember how hard it looked like Fraser was working when he carried Vecchio up out of the lake last year? Now it's not like Vecchio is making this look easy, but if that's a dummy, it's a very realistic one; I think he's actually hauling the dude on his shoulder. Stronger than he looks.
And no matter what he says, Vecchio wouldn't leave Fraser and carry on without him, of course. (Frobisher didn't leave Bob, either.)
Scene 19
The hijacker is crawling through the woods. He pulls out a map and looks at it, then crumples it up, frustrated.
I can't really tell what this is a map of. A flight plan of some sort, but what land it covers is not obvious to me.
Scene 20
Vecchio is carrying Fraser through the woods.
VECCHIO: Tuesdays, Ma always made a big pot of pasta fazool. She starts boiling the beans early in the morning? Oh, man, you could smell it in every room. It's heaven.
FRASER: Bannock. My grandmother made it.
VECCHIO: Taste good?
FRASER: No, tasted like a hockey puck. Hard, flat, unleavened — I can still smell it burning in the oven.
VECCHIO: What are they going to tell them back home?
FRASER: The truth.
VECCHIO: It's a big responsibility when people rely on you. Ma always worries when I'm late home from work.
FRASER: You could set a clock by my father's schedule. Outbound the first snow, back again at spring breakup. Never changed, not even once. Well — until he died.
The hijacker finds the tab Vecchio dropped in the leaves.
I'm told by the internets that in Neapolitan, pasta e fagioli is in fact pasta e fasule, which is why it's called "pasta fazool" in the United States. Bannock is a wheat- or oat-based skillet biscuit that I can well believe Fraser's grandmother would have overbaked.
This scene is notable for being the beginning of the ass-cam portion of the episode.
Scene 21
Fraser and Vecchio are resting against trees. Fraser is working on something with his hands.
VECCHIO: What's that?
FRASER: It's called a bola, Ray. The Inuit use it to hunt.
VECCHIO: When I was a kid I had a slingshot.
FRASER: No, a bola is not a toy. It's a deadly weapon. It can bring down a good-sized elk or a man.
VECCHIO: The hijacker is probably at a Hilton sitting by the pool.
FRASER: Oh, no, he's not. We're closing in on him. Now, here, take this, stand up, and spin it.
VECCHIO: Spin it?
FRASER: Yeah.
VECCHIO: Okay. [He starts to spin it.]
FRASER: Now, when you get enough momentum, let it go. Let it go.
VECCHIO: I'm trying.
FRASER: Let it go now.
VECCHIO: [He lets the bola go; it gets stuck in the tree.] Benny?
FRASER: Yes, Ray?
VECCHIO: We're in trouble.
FRASER: Ray. I've stopped sweating.
VECCHIO: What does that mean?
FRASER: Well, a person ten percent dehydrated suffers from dizziness, nausea, swollen tongue. Fifteen percent, from dimmed vision, loss of muscle control, painful stools.
VECCHIO: [uncaps the bottle of water] Where are you at?
FRASER: The inability to sweat indicates a loss of anything from ten to fifteen percent.
VECCHIO: What happens at twenty?
FRASER: Death.
VECCHIO: [gives him the water bottle] Here. Easy, easy, easy — [Fraser drinks the last of their water.] I hope you're right about that river.
Fraser rests against the tree. Vecchio looks up into the branches.
I mean, if Fraser is ≥10% dehydrated, he's going to be lethargic or even unconscious, and just drinking some water isn't going to solve it—by that point he won't be telling Vecchio about his symptoms and he'll need IV fluids. But sure.
Scene 22
Vecchio is carrying Fraser over his shoulder. They've got the bola again; it's tied to their pack. Fraser is singing "I Can't Get Offa My Horse" by The Korn Kobblers.
FRASER: ♫ Well, I can't get offa my horse. All day and night I ride among the cattle. No, I can't get offa my horse, 'cause some dirty dog put glue — ♫
FRASER AND VECCHIO: ♫ — in my saddle. In my saddle, in my saddle, yes some dirty dog put glue in my saddle. ♫
Later, Fraser and Vecchio are singing "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & The Papas (and mashing it up just a bit with "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" by Tony Bennett).
FRASER: ♫ All the leaves are brown. ♫
VECCHIO: ♫ The leaves are brown. ♫
FRASER: ♫ And the sky is grey. ♫
VECCHIO: ♫ And the sky is grey. ♫
FRASER: ♫ I . . . left my heart in 'Frisco. ♫
VECCHIO: ♫ San Francisco. ♫
FRASER: ♫ San Francisco Bay. ♫
VECCHIO: [does a little dance move] ♫ San Francisco Bay. ♫
FRASER: ♫ California . . . ♫
VECCHIO: ♫ California. ♫ [Fraser can't remember what words should come next.] ♫ All the — ♫
VECCHIO AND FRASER: ♫ — leaves are brown, the leaves are brown. And the . . . ♫
Later, Fraser is singing Beethoven's Ninth ("Choral") Symphony.
FRASER: ♫ Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium . . . Deine Zauber binden wieder, beh, la la la, ba ba, ba bum . . . Freude! ♫
VECCHIO: Shh, shh —
FRASER: What? It's Beethoven and Schiller! ♫ Freude! ♫
VECCHIO: Shut up!
FRASER: What?
VECCHIO: I hear water.
He takes a few more steps, and they've reached the river valley.
I'm breaking here so we can talk about (a) the continued ass-cam (there's not actually a lot to say about that; there it is!); (b) the fact that Vecchio does a little dance move with Fraser on his shoulder, holy crap; and (c) the songs.
"I Can't Get Offa My Horse" is from 1947, and Fraser sings its refrain more or less accurately:
I always thought that I would be a cowboy
A-ridin' and a-ropin' where the winds are free
But now I wish that I was not a cowboy
'Cause look what's gone and happened to me.REFRAIN: Oh, I can't get offa my horse
All day and night I ride among the cattle
I can't get offa my horse
'Cause some dirty dog put glue on the saddle
On the saddle! On the saddle!
Some no good ornery, low down, sneakin', thievin'
Cussin', cattle rustlin', dirty dog
Put glue on the saddle.Some day they'll bury me out on the prairie
Out there among the sage brush where the skies are blue
But when they dig a hole for me to rest in
They better dig it big enough for two(refrain)
"California Dreamin'" is from 1965, and the leaves are brown and the sky is grey, but other than that they haven't got it:
All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (and the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (on a winter's day)
I'd be safe and warm (I'd be safe and warm)
If I was in L.A. (if I was in L.A.)REFRAIN: California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's dayStopped into a church
I passed along the way
Well, I got down on my knees (got down on my knees)
And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray)
You know the preacher like the cold (preacher like the cold)
He knows I'm gonna stay (knows I'm gonna stay)(refrain)
All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (and the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (on a winter's day)
If I didn't tell her (if I didn't tell her)
I could leave today (I could leave today)(refrain x∞)
(I always thought it was "I began to pray," but the entire Google says otherwise. TIL.)
The text of the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is "An die Freude" by Friedrich Schiller, and Fraser has snippets of its first stanza (but his accent is . . . not good):
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.(Joy, beautiful spark of divinity, daughter of Elysium, we enter your sanctuary fire-drunk, heavenly being! Your magic binds together what custom has sternly divided; all people shall become brothers, wherever your soft wings hover.)
In 1989, Leonard Bernstein conducted a Ninth in Berlin to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall in which every use of Freude, "joy", was replaced with Freiheit, "freedom." Fraser will have known that, but I bet he's too traditional to sing it that way himself except in moments of special fervor.
Scene 23
Diefenbaker comes to the river and drinks. Vecchio flings himself at the riverbank and gulps water. Fraser is sitting on a rock by the water's edge, drinking from the tin cup.
VECCHIO: This is great! Can you taste this? [Fraser nods.] This must be where they get Evian from. Most of the rivers around Chicago, you can walk on, but this is really beautiful.
FRASER: [sits up a little straighter] Ray, it may just be some property of the water, but I think I can feel a twitch.
VECCHIO: [going to get the plane's inflatable raft from their packs] Don't worry, buddy. I'll have you out of here in no time.
MR. VECCHIO: Now you're thinking. You're going to ditch him and take the raft. That's what you're going to do, right?
VECCHIO: No.
MR. VECCHIO: Look, a man would take that raft. A man would save himself.
VECCHIO: What are you, crazy?
BOB FRASER: Leave him, take the raft. You can still get your man.
FRASER: Absolutely not.
BOB FRASER: They'll have you up on charges.
FRASER: Do you ever listen to yourself?
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: Not you. Him.
VECCHIO: Who?
MR. VECCHIO: Like I said, looney tunes. Now, listen to me, why don't you?
BOB FRASER: Do you mind?
MR. VECCHIO: Yes, I do.
BOB FRASER: I know you'll do the right thing, son.
FRASER: How? I have no legs.
BOB FRASER: It's in our nature.
FRASER: Look, you don't just leave a man in the wilderness and hope that he'll survive. They don't thank you for it.
VECCHIO: I'm not going to leave you here.
BOB FRASER: They survive.
MR. VECCHIO: All right, if you're not going to do it, I'll do it for you.
VECCHIO: Get away from me.
FRASER: I'm nowhere near you.
VECCHIO: I'm not talking to you. [to his father] This man is going to die if I don't get him out of here. Now I don't care what that makes me, but what it doesn't make me is you. Now back off, all right?
FRASER: Ray, who are you talking to?
Vecchio rips the cord on the raft and tosses it into the water; it inflates and floats away empty. He looks at the cord in his hand as he and both dads watch it go.
FRASER: Well, shall we get in it?
VECCHIO: I don't think now is a good time.
The raft floats away to safety.
I'm a little bit hrmph about Bob Fraser and Mr. Vecchio interacting with each other, but I'll survive; I'm very pleased about both Ben Fraser and Ray Vecchio telling their subconscious minds to put a sock in it because their friendship is the most important thing here. (It's pretty huge for Fraser to agree that not abandoning his friend is more important than bringing in a criminal. It's totally huge for Vecchio to tell his father to his face that he doesn't care about trying to impress him anymore. "What it doesn't make me is you." YEAH YOU TELL HIM, RAY.)
Scene 24
The guys are sitting by the river.
FRASER: Well, I suppose we should start walking.
VECCHIO: You mean you suppose I should start carrying you.
FRASER: No, no. Ray, you remember that twitch that I mentioned earlier?
VECCHIO: Yeah.
FRASER: Protract my lower lumbar, would you?
VECCHIO: Well, what does that mean?
FRASER: Just put your knee in my back and pull.
VECCHIO: All right.
FRASER: Ah, now, you may have to really wrench it. You ready? On three. One —
VECCHIO: Two —
FRASER: Three. [Vecchio chiropracts him hard. Fraser screams.]
VECCHIO: Did that — did that hurt?
FRASER: Like a hot poker. But look, look — I seem to have found my legs.
VECCHIO: All right, that's great. Come on, let's get the hell out of here.
Vecchio helps Fraser stand up a bit, then runs up the riverbank.
Vecchio's knee wasn't anywhere near Fraser's lower lumbar, but whatever.
Scene 25
Vecchio is up on the bank chopping at a tree with a hatchet. He pushes one over and ducks to protect his head, but it doesn't fall. He chops some more.
VECCHIO: I got one, Fraser. I got one. [He brings the stripped trunk to Fraser.] Fraser, look out!
FRASER: [dealing with a spool of twine] What?
VECCHIO: Duck!
FRASER: What?
VECCHIO: Now!
FRASER: Oh. [He ducks as Vecchio goes by with the log and drops it with some others.] How many's that?
VECCHIO: Eight.
FRASER: Great. Here, take this.
VECCHIO: Toss it.
Fraser chucks the rope directionlessly at him. Later, Fraser is lashing the logs together into a raft.
VECCHIO: Looks like we're going to run out of rope.
FRASER: Well, we'll have to improvise.
VECCHIO: With what?
FRASER: The inside bark of a poplar is quite good, but it has to be boiled and then chewed. Inuit women do it all the time. It's good for the teeth.
VECCHIO: Oh, I'll remember to tell my dentist.
FRASER: You know, cedar roots make a suitable alternative.
VECCHIO: Boil or chew?
FRASER: Neither.
VECCHIO: Oh, I'm your man. Here, tie this off.
It's like Huck Finn up in here all of a sudden. (Where did they get a hatchet?)
Scene 26
Vecchio is trying to pull up a cedar root.
MR. VECCHIO: Look at you. Loser.
VECCHIO: You ought to know, Pop.
MR. VECCHIO: You never listened to me. You never knew what was good for you. You never listened, and you never learned.
VECCHIO: And when did you tell me, Pop? Huh? When you didn't come home for dinner five nights a week? Or when I found you passed out on the floor on Saturday night from too much partying with the boys?
MR. VECCHIO: Hey, hey, it wasn't up to me to talk, it was up to you to listen.
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, I'm not listening to you anymore.
MR. VECCHIO: I'm your father.
VECCHIO: That's right, Pop. You are my father.
He turns his back on him and goes back to his root. Then he hears twigs snapping. He can see motion in the woods. He runs back to the riverbank.
TURNS HIS BACK ON HIM. Attaboy, Ray.
Scene 27
The hijacker is moving through the woods near the river. Vecchio gets back to Fraser and ducks.
FRASER: Get down.
VECCHIO: I am down.
FRASER: Good.
VECCHIO: Fraser, I thought you said he wasn't going to risk a direct confrontation.
FRASER: Well, it would appear that I miscalculated, but I have a plan. We're going to draw him to the river and then lure him into the open using the raft as bait, and then you trap him with the bola.
VECCHIO: I can't use the bola.
FRASER: I didn't say it was a good plan. [The hijacker fires his gun at them.]
VECCHIO: You have any other plans?
FRASER: Ah, not at the present time, no.
VECCHIO: Okay, if nothing else springs to mind, I'd like to get something off my chest. [more gunfire] Go, go, go, go, go! [They run.] My dad? When I was a kid? [more gunfire] Down, down, down! Used to hang out at the pool hall, shooting pool, drinking espressos with the guys, and acting like a big jaloop, which he wasn't — [more gunfire] Go, go, go, go, go! Go, go, go, go, go! Okay, this is good, this is good. [They are hiding behind a tree.] So I'm ten, right? And I get this idea in my head that I want to go camping. I mean, I don't know where I get it, out of a book or something, but the point is, is that I just want to be with him, you know? I just want to spend some time with him. So finally he says yes, and I go out and I get a tent, right? [more gunfire]
FRASER: [as they're running some more] Is this a particularly long story, Ray?
VECCHIO: So my mom, being the sweetheart that she is, goes and gets me her best sheets, her really good sheets, right? So I get some wood — [more gunfire] — 'cause I want to start a fire, right? But what I really want is for him to teach me how to make a fire. [more gunfire] So I'm waiting for him to come, right? [more gunfire] And it starts to rain.
FRASER: Ray, the river. [They run for the river.]
VECCHIO: Go, go, go, go, go! I waited and waited, but he never came. So I go down to Fanelli's, and sure enough, there he is shooting pool with his friends. I go home, I take the tent down, and we never speak about it ever again.
FRASER: We can't choose our families, Ray.
VECCHIO: Fraser, I never camped with my father. Not once. [more gunfire] The raft. Go, go. Left, left, down, go! [They duck under the end of the raft.]
FRASER: [more gunfire] This is perfect. I think we've got him where we want him.
VECCHIO: Oh, I'm sure that's what he'll be thinking when he shoots us to death at close range.
FRASER: How far is he?
VECCHIO: [checks] Fifty yards.
FRASER: Angle?
VECCHIO: Ten o'clock.
FRASER: And where's the bola?
VECCHIO: Fraser, he's got a gun. I'm not going to leap out into the open and start flinging stones at his head.
FRASER: No, no, Ray. I am. I think I can find his range with your help.
VECCHIO: Fraser, you can't see!
He hurries over to their gear to get the bola. Fraser blinks and sees the gear, blurrily. The hijacker keeps shooting. Diefenbaker barks and comes running.
FRASER: Ray, I can see!
Fraser starts to sit up and hits his head on the bottom of the raft, knocking himself out. Vecchio hurls the bola. It flies through the air. The hijacker watches it coming at him. It hits an outcropping above his head; a small rockfall buries him.
VECCHIO: Wow. [He hurries back to Fraser, who is lying under the raft.] Benny. Benny!
FRASER: [looks up at him] Ray.
VECCHIO: How many fingers? [holds up four fingers]
FRASER: Four. What happened?
VECCHIO: Oh, you're not going to believe it. Nobody's going to believe it. It was the most improbable natural phenomenon I have ever seen.
BOB FRASER: Good work, son.
FRASER: Thank you.
VECCHIO: For what?
BOB FRASER: You got your man.
FRASER: We got our man.
VECCHIO: Yes, we did, Benny. Yes, we did.
BOB FRASER: But I think he's dead.
FRASER: Oh. Oh, dear.
Bob has been in wilderness gear including snowshoes up until now (although it's late summer), but now he appears in his red uniform.
Vecchio's story sounds typical of his father's parenting, but I don't know why he feels the need to tell it to Fraser. I mean, yes, he had been talking about how he'd been camping with his dad, but the fact that he didn't doesn't seem super relevant to his relationship with Fraser, does it?
Scene 28
Vecchio is driving the raft down the river with a pole. Fraser and Diefenbaker are sitting in front of him.
VECCHIO: This is good. A fresh breeze, a strong current — we should make this an annual event. What do you say?
FRASER: Ah, I would say you should watch the rock up on the left.
VECCHIO: I got it, I got it.
FRASER: Okay, now — now, we're coming up on a sandbar, Ray.
VECCHIO: All right, speak to me, sandbar!
FRASER: No, I, I, would avoid it if I were you.
VECCHIO: You can't avoid nature, Fraser, you got to work with it.
FRASER: Oh.
VECCHIO: See, we're perfectly fine. I know what I'm doing. Admit it. I know what I'm doing.
FRASER: You know what you're doing.
VECCHIO: Ray?
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: Is that a waterfall?
So I . . . guess they get home okay? From wherever they are? Which is in the north country (hence the episode title; there was a film called North in 1994, the story of a kid who decides to divorce his parents and pick new ones, about which the late, great Roger Ebert famously wrote "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it.", so the fact that the title echoes a film title is just a convenience if anything), but south of where they meant to be? And Bob's cabin stays un–fixed up, because they never got within some number of hundreds of miles of the place? Wherever it is? But they have completed the healing process begun in "Letting Go," apparently, so all of season 1 is well and truly behind us? Them?
Cumulative body count: 16
Red uniform: Does not appear in this episode
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