fox | return to Due South: season 2 episode 6 "Mask"

Mask
air date January 19, 1996

Scene 1

Fraser and Vecchio are in a museum that looks like a converted church.

FRASER: I'm almost done, Ray.
VECCHIO: Look, you touch that thing one more time, you're going to wear a hole in it.
FRASER: [adjusting a spotlight-and-security panel on the wall] Well, any job worth doing is worth doing well, Ray.
VECCHIO: You're protecting rocks, Fraser.
FRASER: They're not just rocks, Ray. They're transformation masks, hand-carved basalt over a thousand years old. Now, the Tsimshian people used them in a winter ceremony to pray that the gods would return the sun to them in the spring. [He stands on a pressure panel to test that it will beep. It does.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, they give me the creeps.
FRASER: Well, you should stop looking at them.
VECCHIO: They're looking at me.
FRASER: You know, it's interesting you should say that, because that's what they're intended to do. You see, the inner mask has its eyes open, and the outer mask has its eyes closed, and they interlock, one inside the other. The only matching set in existence. [He is slightly mesmerized by the masks.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, that's great. Can we go now? [He walks off. Fraser does not follow.] Fraser.
FRASER: Coming. [He is testing the beam on a security device.]
VECCHIO: Fraser.
FRASER: Coming. [He grabs his hat and goes to follow, then turns back and waves the hat in front of a beam.]
VECCHIO: Fraser!
FRASER: Yep. [He hurries to join Vecchio walking out of the museum.] In eighteen-seventy-nine, the masks were confiscated by an Anglican priest named Duncan. He'd been sent to convert the Tsimshian, and as was the custom in those days, he took their religious symbols from them. He later sold the masks to two separate countries, and they're finally being reunited after more than a hundred years.
VECCHIO: So?
FRASER: It's, uh, an important moment of history for both Canada and France. Not to mention the political, cultural, and religious significance it holds for the North American Native people.
VECCHIO: And?
FRASER: Worth over a million dollars.
VECCHIO: Oh, now you're talking. [Fraser has gone one direction, Vecchio the other.] The car is this way.

Fraser doesn't come back to go toward the car. Vecchio eventually follows Fraser in the other direction.

There really was an Anglican priest named Duncan who was sent to convert the Tsimshian, but according to this Wikipedia article he was booted from the Church Missionary Service in 1881 for being too controlling of his flock. He might well have appropriated religious relics, as was indeed the custom at the time; I expect it's a vaguely good thing that he sold the objects (which did not belong to him) to museums rather than destroying them. Here's Wikipedia on repatriation of cultural property (specifically focusing on settler-colonial plundering of Indigenous communities) and on this topic in Canada. Why these particular masks that were stolen from the Tsimshian by an Anglican priest in a pre-Canadian colony and sold to Canada and France are being reunited and displayed in a museum in Chicago is anybody's guess, but for once it does make sense that Fraser should be involved in the security and anti-theft efforts here, as this does seem to be up the Liaison Office's street.

Scene 2

Thatcher is flirting with the museum curator.

THATCHER: It was the summer I spent at the Sorbonne. I was young and a trifle naive, I'm afraid.
CURATOR: Yes, but what artist's model isn't? Do you still have the sketches?
FRASER: Ah, sir?
THATCHER: What is it, Fraser?
FRASER: I, I've completed my inspection of the security systems, I've checked the motion detectors, the emergency back-up system, the pressure plates, and examined the perimeter of the building.
VECCHIO: Twice.
THATCHER: Fine. Carry on.
FRASER: May I introduce Detective Vecchio? Mr. Robinson is the museum's curator, and I believe you know Inspector Thatcher.
VECCHIO: Hello, Mr. Robinson. [shakes his hand]
CURATOR (ROBINSON): Police? Constable, the museum has a well-deserved reputation for top-notch security. I think that we have it covered.
FRASER: Yes, sir. Still, I —
THATCHER: Thank you, Fraser. I think we should let Mr. Robinson get home to his family.
ROBINSON: Well, it'll be a long drive. My parents live in Pensacola.
THATCHER: Really? I love Pensacola. Where is that, exactly? [She takes his arm and leads him away.]
VECCHIO: [as he and Fraser watch them go] I think she wants him.
FRASER: For what?

Vecchio rolls his eyes and heads out of the building. Fraser follows. A guard starts turning off lights.

Okay so, Mr. Robinson the Curator, the Mounties are also police, you know that, right? I guess he's thinking of them as Canadians first and police second, but dude. Anyway the main purpose of this scene is for Thatcher, who apparently did some posing as a student in Paris that she now regrets (!), to hurl herself at the curator and for him to hurl himself back. At this point in Fraser's career, after Francesca and after Katherine Burns and after Victoria, for heaven's sake, how does he still not understand what a woman signaling her availability to a man looks like? "For what?" Please.

Scene 3

Someone is peering down into the gallery from a vent in the ceiling. Music cue: "Ragged Ass Road" by Tom Cochrane. Fraser and Vecchio are leaving the museum; Fraser looks back at the door.

VECCHIO: They'll still be there in the morning. Come on.

The vent cover in the ceiling is lifted away. The art thieves, wearing ski masks, look down into the gallery through infra-red or some other sort of security-revealing binoculars. There is a channel down to the display case inside the laser beams.

Moving out, can you see that shine
Feel the change as you roll on down the line
Where the shore fires burn out on a new frontier
Where the past don't haunt you and there's
Nothing else to fear

The art thieves get geared up with gloves and a harness clipped to a winch. The guy who's going to fly in has a device for opening the display case. His partner starts to lower him down.

Baby don't you hold out too long
They might not let you be
Movin' out feel the wind in your hair
Where the sun shines at night, I can take you there
To the land of the midnight sun
Ragged Ass Road

The thief on the harness signals that he's low enough. He starts to work on the top of the display case. Outside, Fraser and Vecchio are walking to the car.

VECCHIO: The dragon lady and Mr. Museum Guy. Oh, she must be desperate.

The thief on the harness is scoring a circle in the top of the display case.

I carried you, you carried me
Nothin' we can't hold, nothing we can't be

He lifts the circle away with a suction cup and reaches in to take the masks. He loads them into a bag.

They've taken everything and what have they put back
I really don't give a damn 'cause there's nothin here that we lack
Baby don't you hold out too long
They might not set you free

THIEF: Okay.

His colleague starts hoisting him back up again. The guard who turned the lights out is moving through the museum on a general security check. The harnessed art thief hears him coming and panics; he grabs the case to steady his swinging, and he knocks the circle he cut out of the case to the floor. It shatters. Alarms go off. Fraser and Vecchio run back toward the building.

Movin' out feel the wind in your hair
Where the sun shines at night, I can take you there
To the land of the midnight sun
Ragged Ass Road

The harnessed thief hands the bag up to his associate, but the winch is winding him up too slowly.

THIEF: Pull me up. Pull me up! Pull me up!

The winch shorts out.

THIEF: Pull me up!
GUARD: [into his radio] They're in the ventilation system.

Guards come into the gallery and see the harnessed thief hanging in midair.

THIEF: Hey, come on!

They might not want to let you see

The thief's partner crawls away from the winch into the duct.

THIEF: Don't leave me here!
VECCHIO: [to guard as he and Fraser arrive] All right, we got it. [pulls his gun] Freeze! Let's see the hands.

They can't hold on, as your soul might not let you be

The guard runs to steady the thief where he's swinging. Vecchio pulls his ski mask off. It's a young man; he looks back and forth at them.

Stand back while it burns
For the midnight sun
Ragged Ass Road
(Instrumental break.)

The other thief, the young man's partner, has made it out of the ducts into the roof. He runs around looking for a way down. Fraser, inside, is running up staircases. He quickly reaches the roof and sees the masked thief running. Fraser jumps from one roof to the next to chase the thief. The thief jumps into another area; he might be cornered, but he starts climbing. Fraser is on his heels.

All the time, again and again
Standin' out where you might see them shine

The thief looks down at Fraser. Fraser is looking around wondering where the thief got to. The thief jumps down and knocks Fraser over; he rolls to the edge of the roof and grabs on. His hat falls. There is a dumpster beneath him.

Oh did you find the midnight sun
Down on Ragged Ass Road

The thief comes and looks at Fraser hanging by his fingers. Fraser looks back up at him.

FRASER: Eric? [The thief runs off.] Eric!

Fraser starts to pull himself back up onto the roof.

In the land of the midnight sun
Ragged Ass Road

A crow comes flying at Fraser's face and surprises him. He falls from the roof and lands in the dumpster.

Okay so Fraser knows this guy, apparently? HUH.

Credits roll.

Paul Gross
David Marciano
Beau Starr
Daniel Kash
Tony Craig
Catherine Bruhier

(plus Lincoln the dog)

Camilla Scott, Lee Purcell, Rodney A. Grant, Denise Virieux, Nathaniel Arcand, Deborah Tennant, Lindsay Merrithew, Chris Earle

Scene 4

Fraser is leaning against a patrol car.

VECCHIO: So you fell?
FRASER: Yes. I fell.
VECCHIO: You fell.
FRASER: Yes, Ray, I fell.
VECCHIO: Oh, no, you see, that just doesn't make any sense, because Mounties don't just fall. They leap, they bound, they grand-jeté, but they don't just fall.
FRASER: I think I knew him.
VECCHIO: Who, the thief?
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: And you got a good look at him while you were dangling there?
FRASER: Well, no, Ray, of course not. The truth is, I'm not sure exactly what it was I saw.

They watch the thief who'd been hanging from the harness being put in the back of another patrol car. He glares at them as the car drives away. It's now clear that this is an Indigenous kid.

That's a pretty quick back-track from Fraser, from "I think I knew him" to "I don't know what I saw." Also a pretty big overgeneralization from Vecchio, from "I've never seen you fall" to "Mounties don't fall," eh? Especially given that one week ago it was Vecchio himself who saved Fraser from falling? Grand jeté is a ballet term (meaning "leap"), so how the hell is Vecchio using it in conversation?

The young person who got stuck at the end of the nonfunctioning winch is not an art thief but an Indigenous youth, making this a complicated situation, no?, because on the one hand, you can't go stealing things, but on the other hand, that's what the white man did who took the masks in the first place, so what, from what I presume is that young man's point of view, the fuck?

Scene 5

Vecchio and Fraser are talking to the kid in an interrogation room. The kid is looking pretty stoically at the wall.

VECCHIO: We've got your picture out on the wire. Sooner or later, it's going to come back with a name and a place. And you would have wasted a great deal of this detective's time and in the process made him very angry. So why don't you make it easy on yourself?
THIEF (INDIGENOUS KID) I told you. I came to see a Blackhawks game.
VECCHIO: You know, the museum's a funny place to be catching a game.
FRASER: Your partner took the masks and left you hanging there. Why are you protecting him?
INDIGENOUS KID: I got nothing to say.

Vecchio shoves the kid's head down onto the table. Fraser jumps up to stop him.

FRASER: Ray, Ray —
VECCHIO: Let me tell you something, tough guy —
FRASER: — Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray. [Vecchio lets the kid sit up.] He's right. There's nothing he can do for us.
VECCHIO: So there's nothing we can do for him.

Vecchio leaves the room. Fraser holds the door for him.

FRASER: Uh. Dm aksni? [subtitle: "Would you like a glass of water?" The kid looks at him, startled, then looks back at the wall. Fraser leaves the room.]
VECCHIO: So what was that? Some form of secret Canadian you only speak to one another?
FRASER: Tsimshian.
VECCHIO: Oh, well, that was going to be my next guess.
FRASER: I'm a little rusty, but he seemed to understand what I meant. [He goes to the water fountain to get the kid a drink.]
ELAINE: Oh, there you are. You were right. He's Canadian. Ah, one misdemeanor, charges dropped. David Kitikmeot is his name, from . . . Nakina? [She says NACK-in-a.]
FRASER: Nakina. [He says nack-EEN-a.]
VECCHIO: That's Canadian, Elaine, for frozen or cold or maybe even tundra.
FRASER: Thank you kindly, Elaine. [He starts to head back to the interview room.]
ELAINE: Not so fast. Welsh wants to see you. You've got visitors.

Elaine tosses her hair to describe the visitors. Fraser and Vecchio, puzzled, head to Welsh's office.

Thanks to several degrees in linguistics and the miracle of the internet, I found that the Tsimshian (better: Sm'álgyax) for water is aks and then I shook this website until it coughed up Gooyu hasa̱g̱n dm aksn? What do you want to drink?—and/so it looks like dm is a near-future particle; goo is what, and hasa̱x is want, and I can't possibly conjugate that verb based on what I can find on this internet; I'm going to conclude that -n is an infinitive suffix of some kind. I also find, miraculously, Dm xdiini? Would you have tea? in an entry telling me that dii is tea and xdii is have tea with, eat with, so it seems ni is an interrogative particle. With all that, it sounds to me like Fraser says something like "dm aksni?", which seems to in fact mean something like "Are you thirsty?"

Anyway, Nakina is in Northern Ontario (remember that that doesn't mean what "northern Ontario" would mean), but there's evidently also a Nakina River in northwestern British Columbia.

So, look, the kid can be from wherever he wants (and the Tsimshian can live wherever they want), and I am not Indigenous nor an expert on anything to do with Indigenous peoples, but according to my inexpert research the Tsimshian are historically a people of the Pacific Northwest (mostly northern British Columbia and coastal Alaska), which makes sense with Fraser's Yukon-and-western-NWT background; Nakina, Ontario, was amalgamated in 2001 into Greenstone, which is the administrative center for the band government of an Ojibwe First Nation, a whole other Indigenous people. But there isn't a community called Nakina anywhere near the Nakina River, as far as I can tell. I fear we are once again in Fictitious Canada when it comes to these people and their artifacts. (I'll buy the masks as Tsimshian basalt carvings, though. Here's a real-life Tsimshian stone figure in a maul or hammer head, so it's not as if the northwestern coastal peoples only decorated cedar bark and salmon skin.)

I'm extremely disappointed in Vecchio for "Some form of secret Canadian that you only speak to one another," as if he's never heard of other languages before. This is a level of bad writing we haven't seen since "Now we got two people noticing?" and I don't want to be as mad at this episode as I was at that one. I particularly don't want the episodes with the worst and clunkiest writing and the dumbest attitudes from our heroes to be the only ones that deal with issues of specific importance to people of color. (Not totally fair, because "Chinatown," but Vecchio wasn't exactly a polyglot rockstar in that one either, was he.) Let's clear this right up pronto, This Episode, shall we?

Scene 6

Inspector Thatcher is in Welsh's office with Welsh himself and two other women. She is in mufti: Blue jeans, open jacket, untucked shirt.

THATCHER: Miss Duchamp is here representing the French government, and Mrs. Kelly, the Canadian. [Both nod politely to Welsh as Fraser and Vecchio come in.] The masks?
FRASER: Nothing to report, sir.
THATCHER: You, ah, weren't able to apprehend the thief?
FRASER: No, sir, I'm afraid not.
THATCHER: That's not good enough, is it?
FRASER: No, sir, it's not.
VECCHIO: Look, he grand jetéd fifty feet off that roof trying to get that guy. He's lucky to be alive.
THATCHER: Of course.
VECCHIO: Nice shirt.
THATCHER: [tucking in her blouse] Yes, well, you caught me changing.
VECCHIO: I'm sure we did. [She buttons her jacket and glares at him.]
FRASER: We were interrogating a suspect, a Canadian citizen apprehended at the museum. May I — ? [He hands Thatcher the file Elaine gave him.]
WELSH: Are they all this polite?
THATCHER: He's Native.
FRASER: Yes, he is.
DUCHAMP: That makes sense. Lieutenant, my government is very concerned. You see, we have received demands by the Canadian Aboriginal people for the return of our half of the masks.
KELLY: As has our own government.
WELSH: Meaning?
FRASER: It's a Tsimshian religious symbol, sir, and apparently they would like it back.
WELSH: That's understandable.
DUCHAMP: But irrelevant. They sold it to us.
KELLY: And us.
FRASER: Well, that would appear to be a matter of considerable dispute.
DUCHAMP: [unimpressed] Really?
THATCHER: Needless to say, if the masks are not recovered by the gala opening on Saturday —
WELSH: I trust you can put aside your many open cases and give this one your complete undivided attention.
VECCHIO: Most definitely, sir.
WELSH: I thought so.
THATCHER: Thank you for your cooperation, Lieutenant.
WELSH: My pleasure.
THATCHER: We'll discuss this later.
FRASER: I'm sure we will, sir.
KELLY: Lieutenant.
DUCHAMP: Lieutenant. [Both government reps shake Welsh's hand, and everyone who isn't Welsh clears out of his office.] Detective Vecchio, I trust you will grant the French all the courtesy that you extend here to the Canadians.
VECCHIO: Of course.
DUCHAMP: Thank you.
VECCHIO: Au revoir.
DUCHAMP: Au revoir. [She noodles off with a smile.]
VECCHIO: Women one-oh-one. Learn at least one word in every foreign language.
FRASER: Understood.
ST. LAURENT: [from somewhere else in the squad room] Vecchio!
VECCHIO: For this one? ¡Vámonos! [They try to get out before she catches them.]
ST. LAURENT: Freeze, Detective.
FRASER: Ray, would you — [He hands Vecchio the water cup he's been carrying since before Elaine found them at the water fountain and keeps going; she didn't say "Freeze, Constable," after all.]
VECCHIO: Coward. [to St. Laurent] Louise! Did I tell you how good you look in green? Now, if this is about our date on Saturday night —
ST. LAURENT: My office tells me that you have a minor child in custody against all good sense and logic —
VECCHIO: Oh, come on, he's no choir boy, Louise.
ST. LAURENT: — without counsel. Would you please explain this to me, Detective? And please also tell me that you are not actually interrogating him under these circumstances?
VECCHIO: [He can't tell her anything of the kind, of course.] Louise. [He hands her the water cup.] Thank you.

Vecchio leaves. St. Laurent stares at the water cup for a moment, then hands it off to a passing uniformed officer and leaves the squad room.

You see, we knew Vecchio had heard of other language before, so I don't know what the fuck was up with his snark about Fraser busting out a couple of words of Sm'álgyax. Right away I don't like this French woman very much; when she says "makes sense" I'm sure she means it makes sense that an Indigenous Canadian might be motivated to recover the masks from settler governments, but it sounds like she also could mean it makes sense that someone stealing things would turn out to be brown, and that's gross. (Also, based on the way Fraser described it, it doesn't sound like the Tsimshian sold the masks to goddamn anybody, but that Anglican priest did, and practically everyone in the room is overlooking the fact that they weren't his to sell.)

Meanwhile, Vecchio is apparently going on a date on Saturday with Louise St. Laurent, and that's bound to end well, isn't it? . . . I have no feelings about Thatcher's casual mode of dress or Vecchio's comment on it, but I am sort of wondering why this whole business is Welsh's problem? Maybe he's in charge of both Violent Crimes and Property Crimes in his area, but if that's the case, how come his guys are always the ones investigating homicides?

Scene 7

Fraser goes back to the observation window outside the interview room. The Indigenous kid (David) is in there doing origami. Louise St. Laurent and another adult go in to talk to him. Vecchio comes to join Fraser.

VECCHIO: Well, since he's seventeen and juvie's full, child welfare's going to take him to the temporary shelter. St. Laurent made a deal with the public defender to pedal him until charges are laid tomorrow. In consideration of the conversation that we did not have with him.
FRASER: He'll disappear.
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, we don't have a lot of choice. It's out of our hands. [David gives them a big smug smile through the one-way window as he goes. Fraser raises his eyebrows at Vecchio.] All right. Come on.

They leave the observation area, but as they're passing the door of the empty interview room, Fraser sees something; he goes in and picks up the paper bird David was folding.

I don't know what "pedal him" means in this context. Does Vecchio mean they're going to soft-pedal the kid's criminal actions? I think they'd do that when they brought the charges, not between now and then. I'm stumped by the jargon.

Scene 8

David is in the back of a car. The guy St. Laurent brought into the interview room, who's from Child Services, comes around and lets him out.

CHILD SERVICES GUY: Okay, David, here we go. [They start walking down the street.] We're just around the corner there. Hungry?

Vecchio and Fraser drive up.

FRASER: So what happens now?
VECCHIO: Child welfare gets comfortable, turns on the cable, and we spend the rest of the night out here on our bunions, that's what. Waste of time. [David comes running around the corner.] Son of a — [Vecchio and Fraser jump out of the car.] He's ditching the social worker.
FRASER: I'll take David.

Fraser rushes off in the direction David ran. Vecchio goes to where a passerby is helping the social worker up, who has blood running from a cut on his forehead.

VECCHIO: You all right?
CHILD SERVICES GUY: Yeah — yeah, I think I'm all right.

Vecchio runs off after Fraser and David. Fraser has followed David into a subway station. A train pulls in; he sees David about to get on; David sees him seeing him. Another train pulls in going the other direction. David inches closer to the first train, challenging Fraser. Fraser inches closer to the train as well. They do this a couple of times. David slips into the train hidden by another passenger. Fraser steps onto the same train. David can see Fraser a couple of cars away. Then just as the doors are closing, he jumps out, runs across the platform, and hops on the other train. Both trains start to pull out. Fraser manages to wedge his train door open and get out before the first train leaves the station, and he chases the train David is on going the other way, but he'll never catch it and he knows it. David waves to him from the back window. Fraser hears a crow cawing. Vecchio and a handful of uniforms show up.

VECCHIO: I knew I didn't trust that kid.

I know it's called the el, but parts of the transit system in Chicago do go underground.

Scene 9

Fraser is returning home. His apartment door is standing open. He goes inside very carefully.

A VOICE INSIDE THE APARTMENT: I was wondering when you'd get here, Mountie.
FRASER: I was wondering when you would show up. [He turns around.] Hello, Eric.

Diefenbaker grumbles. The person in the apartment (Eric) leans forward into the light.

So those new door locks didn't last that long, I guess?

Scene 10

Fraser is serving tea.

A VOICE INSIDE THE APARTMENT (ERIC): David is young and idealistic. When we heard that the masks would be brought together, and David and another Tsimshian boy disappeared from their village, I knew where he would go. [He is looking at the bird David folded in the interview room.] This thunderbird is a symbol of a warrior society that is calling our youth together. Nowadays, when youth feel the power of the spirit, they are not patient and willing to leave this to the elders or the proper authorities. They will take things into their own hands.
FRASER: [gets up to take the kettle off the burner] It was you, wasn't it?
ERIC: Me?
FRASER: On the roof of the museum.
ERIC: What took you to the roof of a museum?
FRASER: A thief.
ERIC: David's friend, Joshua Springer, perhaps.
FRASER: I don't think so. It was you.
ERIC: I was here. You can ask your wolf. [Diefenbaker grumbles.]
FRASER: It was you.
ERIC: I heard a story once. It tells of a man who became a raven and went to skyworld to steal the sun. Raven stole the sun and brought it back to his people so that they could have light. This left skyworld blind. Perhaps it was the raven you saw on the roof.
FRASER: No. It was a man I saw on the roof. And I'm going to find him.
ERIC: You will?
FRASER: Yes, I will. And then I will arrest him. And I will return the masks.
ERIC: I'm going to find my nephew David. And I'm going to return the masks.
FRASER: Then we both seek the same thing.
ERIC: Maybe I could help you. David left a trail, could have left traces behind him.
FRASER: Good. So we understand each other.
ERIC: [nods, stands up] So this is where you sleep.
FRASER: Well, yes. You're welcome to stay.
ERIC: It's a bit cramped.
FRASER: It's not that bad. I mean, once you get used to it. [Diefenbaker grumbles.]
ERIC: You've changed, Mountie.
FRASER: I've changed?
ERIC: [props window open, ducks out onto fire escape] I'll be comfortable out here.

He closes the window behind him. Fraser goes to put his mug in the kitchen. Diefenbaker puts his chin down on the rug and whimpers.

It's not that cramped, Fraser's apartment, although I guess it would be if he had any stuff. But it's not outdoors, that's true.

Eric doesn't say to whom he's going to return the masks after he finds them (and David). Neither, for that matter, does Fraser, who of the white people in this episode is the most sympathetic to the Indigenous point of view. 🤔

Raven stealing the sun is a tale with many versions in the Haida, Tlingit, and other northwestern coastal traditions. (I googled "raven steals the sun" and got a half-dozen slightly different retellings on the first page of results alone.) He's not usually stealing it from the sky but from someone who was hoarding it, and Raven's theft is how it ended up in the sky, but there's no reason Eric's version couldn't also be a thing.

Scene 11

Fraser is sleeping. A little girl with a ball is watching him; a boy is behind her in the kitchen. The girl throws the ball at Fraser's head. He wakes up, startled. So does Diefenbaker. The girl gets the ball, and she and the boy run around the apartment. More people are in the kitchen and the dining area.

ERIC: Finally! Thought you were going to sleep all day.
FRASER: It's six in the morning. [leans over to whisper to Eric] What are they doing here?
ERIC: Cooking.
FRASER: Did you invite them?
ERIC: They're my family. I could hardly keep them away. [A couple, possibly Eric's parents, possibly David's, come in from the kitchen. Fraser stands up politely.]
FRASER: Ah. Victoria, Albert. It's been quite a long time.
VICTORIA: Hello, Fraser. Are you all right?
FRASER: Yes, I'm quite fine, thank you.
VICTORIA: Oh.
ALBERT: I brought a TV. I hope you don't mind. We don't want to miss our programs.
FRASER: No, please, make — make yourselves at home.
ALBERT: Chicago doesn't seem to have a very good selection.
FRASER: I was unaware of that.
VICTORIA: We're just happy to be here, Fraser.
FRASER: And why are you here?
VICTORIA: We were worried about David. And I've always wondered about the architecture here.
FRASER: Ah.
ALBERT: Have you found him?
FRASER: No, but we are looking.
ALBERT: Well, you've wasted half the day.
VICTORIA: Breakfast?
FRASER: No, thank you, I'm already quite full.
ERIC: Let's go. [The awkward conversation breaks up.]
FRASER: Eric, I have to confess to feeling a little bit of embarrassment. [He goes into his closet and closes the door.] Regarding my incompetence as a host. Ah, not to mention some real concerns about overcrowding.
ERIC: I guess none of us figured on the apartment being so small. Good thing Sarah and Patty didn't come. Those two girls couldn't pack light if their house was on fire.
FRASER: Right. Well. [He emerges from the closet fully dressed in the brown uniform.] Let's call Ray. [There is a knock at the apartment door. He answers it. Two young women with suitcases are there.]
YOUNG WOMAN: We left our shoes in the hall.

The two of them come into the apartment. There are several, one might even say many, pairs of shoes in the hall, as well as at least four more suitcases.

Victoria and Albert? After Diefenbaker, Mackenzie King, Esther Pearson, Arnold Benedict, and Jefferson Adams, I suppose I should have expected something like this. Other than that, though, I don't really understand what's happening here, and neither, it appears, does Fraser.

Scene 12

Fraser, Diefenbaker, and Eric are leaving Fraser's building.

ERIC: I'm sure they will be fine. Thanks for leaving them the guidebook.
FRASER: [opening Vecchio's car door] Ray — [clears his throat] — this is Eric, from the Territories. He's here to help us look for David and his friend, and he may be able to offer some assistance in finding the masks.
VECCHIO: Hey, Eric.
ERIC: David rented a car in Chicago using a stolen credit card. [Hands Vecchio a receipt.]
VECCHIO: Oh, yeah, I know where this place is. It's on the south side. [He goes to start the car and sees something out the window.] Fraser, there's black smoke coming out of your apartment.
FRASER: Not to worry. Let's go.
VECCHIO: Not to worry?
FRASER: It's a cooking fire, Ray. It's completely harmless. Believe it or not, there is an entire family of Tsimshian living up there.
VECCHIO: Yeah, what, are they trying to elect the pope?

When the cardinals meet in conclave, they burn the ballots after each round of voting and throw in something—apparently nobody knows what—to make the smoke burn black if no candidate has the two-thirds-plus-one majority they need to elect a new pope. (And then when someone does win, they throw in something to make the smoke white.) This is a joke it makes total sense for Vecchio to make, although probably the Tsimshian don't give a shit about the pope.

Scene 13

Vecchio is reading a restaurant guide while he drives.

VECCHIO: Let's see what we've got here. Belissima's — no. No, too expensive, I don't want her thinking I'm trying to impress her. Which I am, but we don't want her to think that.
FRASER: Ray, pedestrian.
VECCHIO: Where? Whoa. [swerves] Thanks.
FRASER: Who is this she you refer to?
VECCHIO: Oh, St. Laurent.
FRASER: State's Attorney St. Laurent?
VECCHIO: Yeah, yeah, I'm taking her out to dinner on Saturday night. Eric, could you hold the wheel for me? [Eric takes the wheel. He seems petrified. Vecchio turns a page in his book.] Oh, Belardi's. Thank you. [He takes the wheel back.] Nah. I go there too often. If it doesn't work out, I won't be able to go back there for a couple of weeks.
FRASER: What do you mean if it doesn't work out?
VECCHIO: Oh, you know it is with women. When they tell you nothing fancy, pick me up at eight, dress casual, what they really mean is, you'd better do it up first class and break the bank at every turn or they're going to fit you with goat's horns. [to Eric] You know what I'm saying.
ERIC: [to Fraser] Remind me to ask you later.
FRASER: I have no idea what he's talking about.
VECCHIO: Here, Benny, do me a favor, you pick one out.
FRASER: [looks in the book] Crabs and Things.
VECCHIO: Would you give that to Eric, please?
ERIC: [looks in the book] Hey, how about the Loose Moose?
VECCHIO: Give me that thing. You guys know nothing about wining and dining women. Eric, hold the wheel.

The car races down the street.

Okay so this Vecchio-and-St.-Laurent thing is B plot shoved in like a square peg in a round hole, innit? (Is that why both restaurants Vecchio mentions start with B, or is that just me going a little stir crazy this afternoon?) I admit my dating-as-an-adult days are behind me, and I was never that good at it when they were all around me, but the idea that Vecchio is consulting a restaurant guide to find a place to take St. Laurent feels very strange to me. And if he takes her someplace he goes all the time and it doesn't work out, why wouldn't he be able to go back there for a couple of weeks? That would make more sense to me (I mean, not a lot more, but any at all) if he were thinking about taking her someplace she goes all the time, where he couldn't go back there for a while if it didn't work out with her. Or I guess maybe by "if it doesn't work out" he means he expects the non-working-out might be pretty spectacular?

Scene 14

The young person working at Gemini Car Rental is reading a comic book and biting his nails. Vecchio rings the bell and slaps his badge on the counter.

CLERK: Cops. Cool.
VECCHIO: Look, I need you to look up the rental that was made using this credit card number.
CLERK: [punches numbers into his computer] Here we go. Oh yeah, I remember this guy. Uh, Indian. Uh, medium height, dark hair, rented a white mid-size. Very polite. Canadian driver's license.
VECCHIO: You got a Chicago address?
CLERK: Uh, the real one, or the one he gave me?
VECCHIO: You want to expand on that?
CLERK: Well, I'm pretty sure the one he gave me was made up, but, uh, when he pulled out his credit card, there was a receipt from a rooming house, so I put both the addresses in the computer.
VECCHIO: [to Fraser] Sneaky. I like that.
FRASER: Excuse me. If the information he gave you regarding his address was false, would it not follow that the information he gave you vis-à-vis his intention to pay for the car or to return said vehicle would also be false?
VECCHIO: Give us the second address.

First of all, I don't love that the clerk is just coughing up this information just because Vecchio asked for it one time, because I have been trained by Law & Order and similar programs to expect people in his position to at least make a gesture toward requiring a warrant. On the other hand, car rental history isn't library membership, is it, and the fact that the credit card was used is already known to the authorities, so.

Secondly, Fraser's use of "vis-à-vis" and "said vehicle" pings my spidey-sense. It's unusually, I might even say unnecessarily, fussy language. It reminds me of "An Eye for an Eye" when Fraser was inexplicably whittling at Vecchio's desk, which it shouldn't, because he wasn't being all fancy with his ninety-cent words in that scene, but it feels the same somehow. Like someone was writing Fraser's dialogue who didn't entirely understand how everyone else has been writing him for the past two years. The (solo) writer for this episode, Jeff King, was also on the writing team for "An Eye for an Eye"—but it's not as simple as blaming him for both of these episodes:
Pilot - written by Paul Haggis (series creator, obviously, so it's safe to assume his Fraser-voice is accurate and what everyone else is aiming for, right?)
Free Willie - written by Kathy Slevin & Paul Haggis (and I understand that in the WGA the ampersand is very different from the word and; it means these writers wrote the episode together rather than that they both worked on it)
Diefenbaker's Day Off - written by Kathy Slevin
Manhunt - written by Paul Haggis
They Eat Horses, Don't They? - written by Stephen Neigher (a detail I never noticed before; Neigher? on the episode about horses? oy vey)
Pizzas and Promises - written by David Shore
Chinatown - written by David Cole
Chicago Holiday - written by Jeff King & Paul Haggis
A Cop, a Mountie, and a Baby - teleplay by Kathy Slevin (story by Peter Colley & Kathy Slevin) (and the "story" vs. "teleplay" credit is a whole other WGA barrel of fish)
The Gift of the Wheelman - written by Paul Haggis
You Must Remember This - written by Peter Lefcourt
A Hawk and a Handsaw - teleplay by David Shore & Paul Haggis (story by David Shore)
An Eye for an Eye - teleplay by Carla Kettner and Kathy Slevin & Jeff King (story by Carla Kettner) (so you see this one was a giant mess, which was probably mostly Kettner's fault and needed Slevin & King to clean it up, is my uninitiated guess)
The Man Who Knew Too Little - written by Frank Siracusa
The Wild Bunch - written by Kathy Slevin & Jeff King
The Blue Line - written by David Shore
The Deal - written by Peter Lefcourt
An Invitation to Romance - written by Deborah Rennard & Paul Haggis (the same Deborah Rennard who plays Dr. Esther Pearson? that Deborah Rennard?)
Heaven and Earth - written by Phil Bedard & Larry Lalonde
Victoria's Secret - written by Paul Haggis & David Shore
Letting Go - written by Jeff King & Kathy Slevin
North - written by Jeff King
Vault - teleplay by Kathy Slevin (story by Jeff King & Paul Haggis & Kathy Slevin)
Witness - written by Peter Mohan
Bird in the Hand - written by Paul Haggis
The Promise - written by Michael Teversham
Mask - teleplay by Jeff King (story by Nancy Merritt Bell & Michael McKinley and Jeff King)
So it's hard to say what's going on here. I have no serious complaints about any of the other episodes Jeff King is credited as a writer (or story writer) on—or, critically, about "North"—but this one line bugged me so much that I just spent 20 minutes verifying the writing credits on every episode we've seen so far to see what link I could find between "Mask" and "An Eye for an Eye" (question now is, do I go back and put additional creative credits on all the episodes up to now?) because that was the last time the writing bothered me to this degree. I don't know, maybe it was just a blip.

Scene 15

The white mid-sized car David rented is sitting in a lakefront parking lot, stripped all the way down.

VECCHIO: Eight-four-five Dearness Street. Lying little clerk. Well, your pal David's probably sitting somewhere laughing at us right about now. We're never going to find him.
ERIC: Let's have a look. [He and Fraser approach the car.]
VECCHIO: It's been stripped.
FRASER: Oh, on the contrary, Ray, you just have to know what to look for. [He finds half a sandwich.] Hamburger. [Diefenbaker whines.] Oh, all right. [He gives Diefenbaker the burger.]
ERIC: Special sauce. McDonald's. His favorite.
VECCHIO: Really, 'cause I was hoping this trail of evidence would lead us to Wendy's.
ERIC: Fraser. Look.
FRASER: Ah, yes. Excellent preservation. [They are looking at wet asphalt.]
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: You don't see it?
VECCHIO: No, what? What is it?
ERIC: Footprint.
VECCHIO: Well, how do you know it's his?
ERIC: Mukluks leave odd indentations.
FRASER: Not as odd as a rez runner.
ERIC: No, those are tough. But you know, with a pair of mukluks his size, his weight, the wear on the soles, his knees are slightly bowed since birth —
VECCHIO: Oh, come on, there must be a hundred footprints here. You mean to tell me there's not one car stripper in this neighborhood with bowed knees?
FRASER: Ray, please. The man knows what he's doing.
ERIC: [tastes something off the ground] Special sauce. [He gets up and runs off.]
FRASER: [tastes something; nods] It's him.
VECCHIO: I don't believe this. We're tracking a Happy Meal.

The three of them and Diefenbaker follow the trail. Mme. Duchamp is watching from her car, smoking a cigarette.

Why conclude it was the clerk who was lying? Unless he had the same idea I had about the police not being entitled to that information without a warrant, I guess.

Mukluks are soft-soled leather boots that probably do leave different indentations than anything with a hard external sole. (David wasn't wearing mukluks when he bolted from one train to the other, but never mind, I guess.) Apparently a rez runner is a beat-up old car from a native reservation. I suppose that would be hard to track because it may have been so heavily modified over its lifetime that someone like Fraser, who can track a car as if it were a caribou (especially if he has the manual), wouldn't be sure what he was looking for? Even though every such car is probably unique?

Much more trivially, they can't be tracking a Happy Meal, because the special sauce (which aren't we pretty sure that's just Thousand Island salad dressing?) is only used on the Big Mac (and the protein in the Happy Meal is a hamburger, cheeseburger, or chicken McNuggets). I'm sort of wearily dismayed that I know this, but I'm sure Vecchio knows it as well and is just speaking figuratively. (Now I've got the clapping game ditty stuck in my head, so you have to also: "Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish, Quarter Pounder, french fries, icy cola, thick shakes, sundaes, and apple pies. You deserve a break today at McDonald's, and the dish ran away with the spoon." You're welcome.)

Scene 16

Fraser and Vecchio and Eric and Diefenbaker are following David's trail. Eric looks at something.

VECCHIO: Let me guess. French fries?
ERIC: No.

He keeps walking. Diefenbaker sniffs at the ground, grumbles, and looks at a doorway. Fraser stops and waits for Eric to realize they're not with him anymore. Eric, a little way further down the block, stops and looks back. Fraser and Vecchio and Diefenbaker are outside the doorway of a rooming house.

ERIC: Yes, of course. I would've missed it. You're still sharp, Fraser. [He goes in.]
VECCHIO: So what is it? Apple pie, chicken McNuggets?
FRASER: David ditched the car, doubled back, then went inside. Eric missed it. [He goes in.]
VECCHIO: Why is this my life? Mounties, wolves, Tsimshian?

Vecchio goes in. Diefenbaker follows him, right under the sign that says "no pets."

So . . . Eric didn't miss anything at all, right? The rental car clerk did say rooming house, and Eric walked right by it. He must have done that on purpose, and Fraser must be onto him?

Which probably means the special sauce is a crock of shit also? And Fraser's been pretending to agree with him (and gaslighting Vecchio, but it can't be helped if he wants Eric to believe he believes him) ever since he said "footprint"?

Scene 17

The guys are in the hallway of the boarding house. The manager gestures with his cigarette.

MANAGER: Second on the right.
FRASER: Thank you kindly.
VECCHIO: All right, beat it. [The manager beats it.] I hope this doesn't take too long. I've got reservations to make. [knocks on the door] Police! Open up!
ERIC: Don't we need a warrant?
FRASER: Oh, I'll let him explain it to you. [Vecchio draws his gun and kicks in the door.] You see? None required.

They look around the little apartment. Eric sniffs the bedding.

ERIC: David was here.
VECCHIO: Yeah, the kid travels light.
FRASER: The second boy from David's village?
ERIC: Joshua Springer.
FRASER: Joshua Springer. [There is only one plate in the dish rack.] Doesn't eat much, does he?
ERIC: Apparently.

Fraser nods. Vecchio is searching in the bathroom. He steps on a loose floorboard.

VECCHIO: Hey. Fraser. [Fraser goes to join him. He is coming out of the bathroom with a mask in each hand.] Look what I found. [He hands the masks to Eric, who looks surprised. The three of them leave the boarding house.] That was easy.
FRASER: Yes. Very.

They walk back toward Vecchio's car. Mme. Duchamp rolls down her window to watch them and throws away her cigarette.

Okay so Fraser doesn't believe there is a Joshua Springer, that much is clear. But if Eric was trying to miss this building on purpose, that is, to lead them on a wild goose chase, why did he sound so genuinely surprised when he said "David was here"? And if David was there and has already split, why would he leave the masks behind when they were the whole reason he came to Chicago in the first place? . . . And okay, they found the masks, but they didn't find David, and doesn't Eric care about that? His nephew is still missing?

Scene 18

The masks are being replaced in the display case at the museum. The card on the closed-eye mask says "The Thief."

ROBINSON: [to Eric] I'm sure you must feel very conflicted right now. But I want you to know, because of your efforts, thousands of people are going to be able to share in the beauty of those masks. Thank you.
ERIC: Will they pay?
ROBINSON: What, admission? Yes, of course. Three-fifty. Why?
ERIC: Oh, just doing some math.

They continue walking. Thatcher and the government representatives come through the gallery behind them.

KELLY: Very exciting. I'll call Ottawa.
THATCHER: I've already taken care of that.
KELLY: The newspapers should be told.
THATCHER: Already done.
DUCHAMP: And the French government?
THATCHER: I'll leave that to you.
DUCHAMP: Thank you.

She nods to Thatcher and Kelly and walks away, tossing her hair. She passes Fraser and Vecchio in mid-conversation.

VECCHIO: How do you know?
FRASER: I just know.
VECCHIO: Yes, but how?
FRASER: Well, how does anyone know anything, Ray? You just, you know.
THATCHER: Good work, Constable.
FRASER: I hope so, sir. Ah, sir, regarding the masks, is the curator quite satisfied?
THATCHER: Yes.
FRASER: And Mrs. Kelly and Ms. Duchamp?
THATCHER: Absolutely.
FRASER: And yourself, sir?
THATCHER: I don't want to hear this, do I?
VECCHIO: No. Constable Fraser believes it was too easy.
THATCHER: Ah. He does.
FRASER: Well, yes, sir. And I believe that if we were to bring in a Native expert, someone who was impartial —
THATCHER: There are no impartial Natives when it comes to these masks, Fraser. Why don't I suggest a more constructive use of your time? Sell these.
FRASER: Tickets?
THATCHER: For the opening night gala. You have a table to sell. Get cracking. [She tucks a bundle of tickets into his pocket and scoots off.]
FRASER: Yes, sir.
VECCHIO: How much?
FRASER: [looks] A hundred dollars a ticket.
VECCHIO: Wow.
ERIC: Party, huh?
VECCHIO: Black tie, a hundred a plate.
ERIC: Plus three-fifty admission . . .

The three of them leave the museum. The masks are safely back in the display case. The card says "The Thief / North America / Exact Date Unknown" and has four bullet points underneath with details about the objects.

PUT FRASER IN BLACK TIE YES PLEASE?

Ahem. Sorry, excuse me. I can't read the four bullet points on the display card; anyone else? Also, it's kind of shitty of Thatcher to say there are no Indigenous people who are impartial with respect to those masks, but why should they be?, and if that's true, what does that tell you about what the right thing to do with them is? I bet there aren't a lot of impartial Jewish people when it comes to artworks confiscated by the Nazis and sold to the Swiss, either. Fuck off with your opening night gala—and why should the liaison office be responsible for selling a table's worth of tickets? (At a hundred dollars a pop, please; of course this was when a hundred dollars was a lot more money than it is now.)

Scene 19

The Riviera pulls up in front of Fraser's building. Vecchio sees white smoke coming from the window.

VECCHIO: Ah, looks like we got a pope.
ERIC: We're late. We'd better hurry. There'll be a line-up.
VECCHIO: A line-up?
FRASER: Sweat lodge, Ray.
VECCHIO: There's a sweat lodge in your apartment?
FRASER: Yes.

They all go inside.

Okay, the "looks like we got a pope" line would have been INCALCULABLY FUNNIER if Vecchio hadn't already made a pope reference when the smoke was black. Fight me.

Scene 20

The guys are coming along the hallway in Fraser's building.

FRASER: Mrs. Garcia. [Mrs. Garcia nods hello.] Ms. Krezjapolou.
MS. KREZJAPOLOU: I think you cut in line.

They reach Fraser's apartment. There is in fact a sweat lodge in the middle of the room.

ALBERT: Did you find David?
ERIC: No.
ALBERT: Did you find the masks?
ERIC: Yeah.
FRASER: No. [Eric is surprised to hear him say this.]
ALBERT: Time's up. [He opens the flap on the sweat lodge and Mr. Mustafi comes out.]
MR. MUSTAFI: Hey! Fraser! Love your guests. Can I borrow this later?
ALBERT: Of course.
VECCHIO: They built a sauna in your living room.
FRASER: [having removed his jacket, now rolling up his sleeves] Sweat lodge, Ray.
VECCHIO: Like there's a difference?
FRASER: Oh, yes. A sauna eases tired muscles. The purpose of a sweat is for spiritual purification.
VECCHIO: Well, there's no way I'm getting purified. I'm not going to take my clothes off and sit in hundred-degree heat surrounded by other people sweating. [A young woman comes along wearing a towel.]
YOUNG WOMAN: Eric's gone with Albert, and I need a partner. [She smiles.]
VECCHIO: Okay, so where do I change?

Ugh, Vecchio can be exhausting. He can be xenophobic and sexist in practically the same breath and not even pull a muscle!

Fictitious Canada strikes again: The sweat lodge is not a Tsimshian tradition.

(Fraser sounds very hoarse in this scene, as if Gross was coming down with or getting over something but the shooting schedule couldn't wait any longer. 🙁)

Scene 21

Eric and Fraser are sitting in the sweat lodge.

ERIC: I remember you almost fainted the first time I brought you into one of these.
FRASER: I was ten.
ERIC: You were scrawny then.
FRASER: I still am.
ERIC: But you can still move fast.

He pours more water on the rocks. He and Fraser breathe the steam and close their eyes. By a fire, someone is beating a painted drum. Someone is singing. Fraser, in the sweat lodge, is watching; this is his vision. Someone is dancing by the fire, holding the mask in front of their face. A crow caws. The singer is singing. The drum is beating. The dancer is dancing. Fraser is watching. The dancer removes the mask: It is Eric. The crow caws. The mask is flying through the air. It falls to the ground and breaks in several pieces. The crow lands next to the fragments. The fire is burning. Fraser is sweating and delirious.

VECCHIO: Are you guys finished? Patty and I are ready to sweat.

Fraser and Eric look at each other.

Very hoarse. Oof.

So Fraser and Eric have known each other at least since Fraser was 10. Eric seems to be about the same age, doesn't he? Would he have been in the same class with the otter-swinging bully in Tuktoyaktuk?

The painting on the drum appears to be in the formline style we often associate with northwestern Indigenous art, so I'm not going to call BS on that. I am utterly unqualified to have any opinion about the music or the dancing, but the cloak the dancer wears looks not unlike what is pictured on the drummer in Wikipedia's article about the Tsimshian, so hey.

Scene 22

Fraser and Vecchio are in the car.

VECCHIO: You robbed me of a very important spiritual moment back there, Fraser.
FRASER: I saw Eric in a vision, Ray.
VECCHIO: No, what you saw was a dancing man and a big black bird. Where I come from, this is not called a vision.
FRASER: The bird is the raven. The raven is the trickster. The trickster came to return the masks to the Tsimshian people.
VECCHIO: Ravens do not break into museums.
FRASER: No, they don't, but Eric did. Eric is the trickster. Now, what he discovered is that the masks were fake. Now, he knew if he led me to the fakes, I would in turn lead him to the real ones.
VECCHIO: Oh, so that's what we're doing?
FRASER: Yes. It's all part of his game.
VECCHIO: Great. So now, we're playing his game, and you're tracking by vision.
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: Normally, that would be cause for concern, but seeing that we don't have any hard evidence or any real clues, dreaming some up might not be such a bad idea.
FRASER: Well, we at least have this much, Ray. If the masks he took were fakes, then someone must have stolen the real ones and replaced them.
VECCHIO: Well, that would require a forger.
FRASER: Yes, it would. [There is a pause.] Do you know any forgers?
VECCHIO: Yeah.
FRASER: Can we go and talk to them?
VECCHIO: Sure. Would you like to do that now?
FRASER: Preferably.

Okay so has it been a raven instead of a crow all this time? The one we saw in the vision (and what the hell else would Vecchio call it? probably a hallucination, if he's reserving "vision" for visions of loveliness) didn't look like it would have a four-foot wingspan to me.

One hundred points to Vecchio for making Fraser actually say what it is he wants.

Scene 23

Fraser and Vecchio are in a building even cruddier than Fraser's.

FRASER: This was your friend's only suggestion?
VECCHIO: This is Chicago, Fraser. Not a lot of call for forgers who carve in volcanic rock.
FRASER: That door is ajar.
VECCHIO: Yeah. Not a good sign.

Vecchio draws his gun before going in the door. He and Fraser go up the stairs into a studio full of carvings. The sculptor is lying on the floor, presumably having been hit on the head with the object that is lying broken near him. Fraser feels for his pulse. Vecchio hears a noise and follows it, but the person who made it shuts a door between them that locks in his face. The fugitive leaps to the ground outside and runs away. Fraser jumps out the window to a roof and runs along it; Vecchio runs back out into the hallway. Fraser is chasing the fugitive. The fugitive is running. Vecchio hurries down a fire escape. Fraser is running. The fugitive is going down a different fire escape. The fugitive reaches the ground and runs just as Fraser holds up a hand. Vecchio comes in at the other end of the alley.

VECCHIO: Freeze!
FRASER: Ms. Duchamp? [for it is she]
DUCHAMP: I didn't kill him.
VECCHIO: Tell it to the judge. Excusez-moi. [He cuffs her hands, and he and Fraser lead her away.] You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can not afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you without charge.

As he and Fraser lead her away, David is watching them from behind the corner of the building.

Anything you say may be used against you, Vecchio. May be used. (Fraser sounds fine on the way into the building and hoarse when he speaks to Mme. Duchamp. It's like forensic analysis of the shooting schedule up in here.)

Scene 24

Mme. Duchamp is in an interview room at the police station.

DUCHAMP: Thousands of dollars of art is stolen every year and finds its way into private collections, but for every dollar stolen, there's ten forgeries hanging in galleries all over the world. Even experts at the Louvre have purchased such fakes. Can I smoke?
VECCHIO: No.
FRASER: And what about the masks?
DUCHAMP: All I can tell you is this. When I left Paris, the French half of the masks was very and definitely real.
VECCHIO: So what's with all the cloak and dagger stuff?
DUCHAMP: When I, ah, saw that Constable Fraser was working with the Tsimshian, I felt it was in my government's best interest to find out where his allegiances rested. [She gets out a cigarette and doesn't light it, just fidgets with it in her hand.]
FRASER: Allegiance is based on trust. You don't appear to be a very trusting person, Ms. Duchamp.
DUCHAMP: Appearances can be deceiving.
VECCHIO: All right, let's cut through the bull. You killed the forger.
DUCHAMP: I did not. I did not kill him.
VECCHIO: No, you just dropped by to take his pulse.
ELAINE: [knocks on the door and pops her head in] Vecchio. [He takes the cigarette away from Mme. Duchamp and goes with Elaine. Fraser gives her another one; she smiles.] Ballistics. The bullet that killed him was a forty-five. She has a nine-mil. No match.
VECCHIO: Time of death?
ELAINE: Between noon and one.
VECCHIO: Thanks. [Elaine hands him the file and leaves.] Hey, Benny. [Fraser gets up and comes to the door to talk to him.] She didn't kill him.
FRASER: I know. Look out. [Here comes St. Laurent.]
ST. LAURENT: You have a French citizen with diplomatic immunity in there being interviewed, and I have a very angry French official in my office. Now, tell me, what do those two things mean to you?
VECCHIO: Just another opportunity to see your lovely face, Louise? [He gives her the file.] She's all yours.
ST. LAURENT: [surprised] Thank you. [Fraser nods and splits.] What's the catch?
VECCHIO: Oh, Louise, I'm hurt.
ST. LAURENT: Just wait till tomorrow night. [She goes into the interview room.]
VECCHIO: [thinks for a moment about what she meant by that, then follows Fraser down the hall] Hey, Benny! [catches up with him] How did you know? Okay, so if it wasn't her, then who was it? [Fraser is about to answer.] No, no, no, don't tell me. The curator.
FRASER: No. He may be guilty of the forgery and of switching the masks, but he's not the killer.
VECCHIO: David. He's an activist.
FRASER: No, he's a thief, not a killer.
VECCHIO: Well . . . Eric. No, no, no, he was in the sweat lodge with us. There's nobody else.
FRASER: Well, actually, there is.

Mrs. Kelly, the Canadian government official, walks into Robinson's office in the museum. He stands up at his desk.

KELLY: Change of plan. I'm leaving tonight.

Why does Mme. Duchamp have a 9mm handgun, and why was she at the forger's sculpture studio with gloves on her hands and a hood over her hair? "I wanted to see where Fraser's loyalties lay" doesn't explain any of that. Also, does diplomatic immunity protect a person from prosecution for homicide? (I mean they determine she didn't do it, but St. Laurent doesn't know that when she storms in.) Also, it's very gallant of both Fraser and Vecchio not to include Thatcher among those they are considering for who could be the killer.

B-plot-wise, it sure sounds like Louise St. Laurent has offered to hurt Vecchio if that's what he's into. Doesn't it?

Scene 25

Fraser and Vecchio are driving to the museum.

VECCHIO: The Canadian? The Canadian is the killer? Oh, that is so un-Canadian.

At the museum, Robinson and Kelly look at the real masks in a padded briefcase.

KELLY: This time tomorrow, we'll be rich.

They leave the museum together and put the briefcase in the trunk of a car. When they lower the trunk lid, David is at the other end of the car pointing a gun at them.

DAVID: You have something that doesn't belong to you.

Kelly looks at him for a moment, then opens the trunk again. David fires. Robinson ducks. Kelly grabs the briefcase and runs back inside. Vecchio's car comes screeching up. David runs; Robinson runs after him. Fraser runs after Kelly. Diefenbaker is barking. Vecchio draws his gun.

VECCHIO: Freeze! [Robinson freezes.] Hands behind your head.

Robinson puts his hands behind his head. Kelly is running down a museum corridor. She keys in a code on a security panel; a light turns green. She heads down another hallway. David is also in the museum. Kelly tries a door, but it is locked. She runs a different way. David sees that she is not at the locked door. He keeps looking for her. She is hiding quietly in a dark area. Vecchio is also running through the museum. David is creeping around looking for Kelly. Fraser is also slinking around looking for her. He is standing in front of a stuffed grizzly bear in a display case when he hears a crow (or raven, I guess) caw. He looks around and follows the sound. David is stepping quietly through the museum. Someone (apparently Eric, judging by the sleeves) takes the masks from the display case and puts them in another padded briefcase. David is creeping through the galleries looking for Kelly. Kelly takes aim and fires at him, shattering a display case. Fraser and Vecchio come running. Kelly is running. David, who ducked, fires after her. She is running. He is running. He fires again. She trips and falls and drops her briefcase, which slides across the floor into the shadows. David has her at gunpoint. Fraser and Vecchio arrive.

VECCHIO: Police! Freeze!
DAVID: Stop!

Kelly gets to her feet. She, David, and Vecchio are all armed. Fraser is not.

VECCHIO: You don't want to hurt anybody.
FRASER: I believe she already has, Ray.
KELLY: Quiet.
FRASER: Sorry.
KELLY: Get the case, please. Over there.
FRASER: I'm afraid those masks don't belong to you. Do they, Eric?
ERIC: [coming into the light, carrying two identical cases] I'm glad you agree.
VECCHIO: What about the other guy?
FRASER: There was no other guy. There was no Joshua Springer, was there?
ERIC: No.
FRASER: No. There was only you and David.
ERIC: Right.
KELLY: [turns to point her gun at Eric] Those are my masks.

Vecchio restrains her and takes her gun; now he and David are in a standoff. Fraser and Eric are staring at each other across them.

ERIC: [to Fraser] Maybe you haven't changed.
FRASER: No, I haven't.
ERIC: David, ndzu g̱a̱p'ilah. [subtitle: "Give me the gun."]
DAVID: Ayn! [subtitle: "No."]
ERIC: G̱a̱p'ilah! [subtitle: "The gun."]

David doesn't want to, but he gives Eric the gun. Vecchio turns and points his gun at Eric. Eric points David's gun at Fraser.

FRASER: Well, good. Now we all know where we stand. [He starts coming toward Eric.]
VECCHIO: Drop the gun, Eric, or I'm going to have to shoot you.
ERIC: I think you've got your hands full, American.
FRASER: Give me the gun. I'll return the masks, and perhaps the governments involved won't prosecute.
ERIC: I think that's highly unlikely.
FRASER: All right, let's explore another option. [He steps right up to the barrel of Eric's gun.] You kill me, you take the masks, and you escape.
ERIC: Now, that's a plan, too. [He cocks the gun.] I shot a caribou once. The next time I looked, he turned into a man.
FRASER: You saved my life. I was grateful.
ERIC: And now?
FRASER: And now you may have to shoot me.
ERIC: Wayi wah. Bu'ingaa. [subtitle: "Run. Now." David reluctantly leaves the museum.] You win, Mountie.

Eric leaves the museum as well, leaving both briefcases behind.

VECCHIO: [to Kelly] All right, hands behind your head.

Fraser opens the two cases. One has masks in it; the other is empty.

I feel very confident about the "give me the gun" dialogue and only sort of about the "run away now" dialogue, in which I think what Eric actually says is (basically) "Okay, get out of here." But more importantly:

HOLD THE PHONE—is Eric supposed to be the Indigenous dude from the pilot, who told Fraser the caribou drank too much and blamed Bob for not doing anything about the plant and shot Gerrard before Gerrard could shoot Fraser? In previous cases where we've met characters introduced in the pilot or recurring from previous episodes, we've been able to tell because it was the same actor back again. (In order of original appearance: Bob Fraser, obviously; Fraser, obviously; Staff Sgt. Mears; Gerrard; Vecchio, obviously; Inspector Moffat; Maria Vecchio; Maria's husband Tony; Francesca Vecchio; Mrs. Vecchio; the superintendent of Fraser's building; Mr. Mustafi; Willie Lambert; the public defender (Carolyn Wilson); Mrs. MacGuffin the housekeeper; Fr. Behan; Louise St. Laurent.) The picture Fraser is looking at at the end of "You Must Remember This" is clearly not a picture of Melina Kanakaredes (presumably because they hadn't cast the part yet, possibly not even decided what they were going to do with that story), but it's not recognizably a picture of anyone in particular, so when Victoria turns up it's fine, maybe she changed her hair since he tracked her up to Fortitude Pass.

But now here's this guy we could clearly see when we met him in the pilot, and this is clearly not the same actor, but . . . are we meant to recognize him anyway? Even though the dude in the pilot was never called by name? The actor in the pilot was Eric Schweig, but he's credited in IMDb as "Inuit hunter," so I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect us to know that a character identified as Tsimshian—which is not Inuit—and named Eric is meant to be the same guy. If it was important that they be the same guy, they should have used the same actor; assuming the same actor wasn't available, it should have been made clear much earlier in the episode that this was the same character. (Were we supposed to get it from the fact that he calls Fraser "Mountie" a few times, something the guy in the pilot did precisely once?) In short: SHENANIGANS.

Meanwhile, okay, one set of masks is here in the briefcase and the other has gone. I assume the ones we can see are the fake ones Eric put in there from the display case, and he took the real ones with him?

Scene 26

Outside the museum, Kelly and Robinson are being loaded into police cars.

VECCHIO: Let me guess. Eric's disappeared.
FRASER: He does seem to have a knack for that.
VECCHIO: Yeah, so I noticed. Well, at least you got your masks back.
FRASER: Yes. It would seem that everything's where it should be.

They get in the car. A crow (or raven) caws and flies away.

So was Vecchio just not paying attention when Fraser was talking about the fake masks? Did he not notice that there were two identical briefcases? Did Fraser put the fake masks back in the display case and not tell anyone (because clearly "everything's where it should be" means the real masks are back with the Tsimshian, where Fraser and the Tsimshian but none of the other white people in this shit agree they belong)?

Scene 27

Fraser is in his office, standing on a library stool or something, filing. Thatcher comes in.

THATCHER: Well. I'm off.
FRASER: Ah. Well, ah — good. [He steps down to ground level.] You're off.
THATCHER: Ah, have you written your report yet?
FRASER: It'll be on you desk in the morning, sir.
THATCHER: Thank you. I, of . . .
FRASER: Yes, sir?
THATCHER: Nothing. [She turns to go. He's about to sit down when she turns back; he un-sits quickly.] You won't be mentioning anything outside the case, will you?
FRASER: Excuse me?
THATCHER: In your report. Will anything of a personal nature about anyone be making it into your report?
FRASER: A personal nature, sir?
THATCHER: Don't be coy, Fraser.
FRASER: I'm not trying to be, sir, I —
THATCHER: You know damn well I had . . . communication with the curator outside of office hours.
FRASER: Well, n— no, actually, I, I wasn't aware that — I mean —
THATCHER: Look — [She knocks his pencil cup off his desk; they both crouch down to clean up.] — I had one perfectly innocent lunch with a criminal. [He looks at her and then goes back to picking up pencils.] All right, one lunch and one dinner. [He looks at her again, then goes back to picking up pencils again.] And a couple of drinks. I think.
FRASER: [looks at her a third time] Ah.
THATCHER: Never mind. Do what you will. [She stands up to go.]
FRASER: Ah, sir. [He stands up too.]
THATCHER: What?
FRASER: Quite honestly, I, I have no idea what you're talking about.
THATCHER: Oh. Good. [long pause] Thank you.
FRASER: Yes, sir. [She nods and leaves. Diefenbaker grumbles.] What? [Diefenbaker whines again.] Oh, please.

Last part first: I think it's clear Thatcher knows perfectly well that Fraser knows exactly what she's talking about and is doing a very diplomatic bald-faced lie when he says he doesn't. Which is not a super easy thing to convey with a limited amount of dialogue, so nice work, Scott.

But why on earth would anything about her "communication" with the curator be in Fraser's report? Is she suggesting that her work as the liaison officer was compromised by going on a couple of dates with someone the liaison office was working with in an official capacity? Wouldn't that preclude her dating . . . anyone at all, basically? Seems unreasonable. So I feel like the fact that she saw him socially once or twice is irrelevant to the case. Is she just panicking because he turned out to be in on the forgery? Maybe because she missed it? I don't know, I think they all missed it, except Eric. And finally: Hasn't she read Fraser's files from front to back? Doesn't she know about Victoria? Don't you think she could guess that Fraser is probably the last person who would ever throw stones about an officer's personal indiscretions with a suspect (especially in a case like this where the suspect was barely suspicious and the officer wasn't even that indiscreet)?

First part last: Her makeup is about three shades too light in this scene, which we can tell because it's only blended about halfway down her neck. Her face looks like a porcelain doll.

Scene 28

In Fraser's apartment, formal wear is strewn about the living room outside where the sweat lodge is still set up in the middle of the rug—a white shirt; a black tie; a pair of heels; a black stocking. There's also a five-gallon water bath canning pot on the floor outside the lodge.

ST. LAURENT (INSIDE THE SWEAT LODGE): Well, I have to hand it to you, Ray. You really know how to show a girl a good time. Different, but good.
VECCHIO (INSIDE THE SWEAT LODGE): Hey, that's me. And just wait until you try this. [He adds water to the hot rocks; steam hisses.]
ST. LAURENT (INSIDE THE SWEAT LODGE): Oh, Ray.

I'm rolling my eyes fairly hard over here, but sure, why shouldn't Vecchio and St. Laurent get lucky? I assume Fraser knows Vecchio is entertaining in his living room, although I'm not sure why Eric and his whole family wouldn't have disassembled the sweat lodge and taken its parts back home with them. (It appears Vecchio and St. Laurent went to the gala before retiring back to Fraser's apartment, though—although why would Fraser and Thatcher have been at the office rather than at the gala themselves?)

Scene 29

Eric is surrounded by family members. He pops a bottle of champagne and everyone cheers. He pours out for all the adults, including David; the kids from scene 11 are also present. Everyone is happy. They are all in black tie and similar finery, outdoors in front of a fire. The masks are displayed by the fire as well.

ALBERT: Hey, hey, all right. Good, yeah.
ERIC: Here you go.
ALBERT: All right.
ERIC: Hey.
ALBERT: To the masks, to the masks.
ERIC: To the masks!

So . . . it is right for the Tsimshian to have their sacred objects back in their possession. I don't even feel like that's controversial. I don't even mind David and Eric not getting in any trouble for liberating them. The fact that they're just a couple of guys and not (as far as we know) any type of Tribal Government isn't frankly any of any white person's business. But has Fraser really put the fake masks on display in the museum and gone on about his life without telling anyone? That . . . doesn't really seem like him, does it? He'd have made a serious effort to persuade someone that there's nothing shameful about a display card with the word "replica" on it, at the very least. Maybe the fact that the museum curator is under arrest for forgery and fraud means the gala was actually cancelled, which would explain why Thatcher wasn't there (and why Fraser wasn't in trouble for not selling a whole table's worth of tickets), and Vecchio and St. Laurent can have been dressed up fancy for the first part of their date somewhere else. Also, what ever happened to Mme. Duchamp? Also also, what's going to happen to Mrs. Kelly? Is the fact that they brought her a slam-dunk murder case why St. Laurent is so agreeable to Vecchio at this point? (I was going to say "swoony," but I'm sure it's the steam that's doing that.)

All in all, the ending of this episode is not unsatisfying? But it is a bit confusing and sort of "Oh. All right, then."

Cumulative body count: 18
Red uniform: Checking out the museum's security system, chasing the thief on the roof, at the station the next morning

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