![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
return to Due South: season 2 episode 7 "Juliet is Bleeding"
Juliet is Bleeding
air date February 1, 1996
Scene 1
Four guys in ski masks get out of a car. They go into a bar.
GUY IN A SKI MASK: No one move! [He picks up a bar stool and throws it at the shelves of liquor.]
BARTENDER: Hey!
GUY IN A SKI MASK: Stay where you are!
BARTENDER: Hey, what the hell are you doing? We're protected!
GUY IN A SKI MASK: Not anymore. [He knocks the bartender down; he and his buddies go into a back room.] This is from the D'Orio Brothers.
PATRONS: What's going on here? What do you want? Come on, take it easy.
The guys in ski masks flip over card tables and chuck patrons out of the back room. They smash up fruit machines with baseball bats.
BARTENDER: What are you, crazy? This is Frank Zuko's place.
GUY IN A SKI MASK: Tell Frank Zuko he's out of business as of now.
The guys in ski masks finish smashing up the place—Azzurri appears to be its name—and run back out to their car. They take off their masks when they get there.
GUY IN THE BACK ON THE RIGHT: Michael. Present.
He hands a wrapped gift up to the guy in the passenger seat, presumably Michael. The car drives off.
Maybe this bartender didn't hear that Frank Zuko got the shit kicked out of him by a cop a few months ago? Vecchio promised he wouldn't tell, but Charlie didn't.
Scene 2
Vecchio's car drives up to a restaurant.
HUEY: Look, you can't afford this. Let me stop you before you embarrass yourself.
VECCHIO: Eat your heart out, Jack.
GARDINO: Everything's on you? The whole check?
VECCHIO: This is a significant raise, my friend.
GARDINO: Yeah, I remember mine.
HUEY: Ha! Golden arches, here we come.
VECCHIO: Hey, let me tell you something, all right? This is the best restaurant in the world. They got a puttanesca like no other, and the wine cellar?
HUEY: Wine cellar? Please. You see this man? The last time he got a promotion he bought us a case of generic beer. That man.
GARDINO: Yeah, and he made us give him five cents for every bottle we didn't return.
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, this time it's first class all the way.
GARDINO: Okay, great. Then I'm going to have the calamari after the stracciatella. Followed by the mostaccioli primavera. Then I'm going to have pan-fried veal smothered in onions . . .
FRASER: Ray, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly does a detective first-grade make?
VECCHIO: Thirty-five thousand, five hundred and eighty dollars.
FRASER: And what did you make before that?
VECCHIO: Thirty-three five.
FRASER: The average cost of an entree?
VECCHIO: Oh, fifteen bucks.
FRASER: And the wine?
VECCHIO: I don't know, say twenty dollars a bottle. Why?
FRASER: Oh, nothing, nothing.
GARDINO: . . . pan-fried veal smothered in onions. And after the espresso, I'm going to top it off with a chocolate tartufo. No, I'm gonna have two.
HUEY: I think I'll have the same. Three maybe. [They laugh and go inside. Fraser looks at the menu in the window.]
VECCHIO: How much?
FRASER: I think I'm going to have the soup.
VECCHIO: Oh, you're a good man. [Diefenbaker yips.] Who invited him?
FRASER: You did.
VECCHIO: To stay in the car.
FRASER: Oh, well, then I misunderstood. I just thought it being a very special occasion, and that Diefenbaker was in part responsible for your —
VECCHIO: Responsible. He tagged along.
FRASER: Well, he's been looking forward to this, Ray. He hasn't eaten all day.
VECCHIO: Fraser, there are no wolf portions on the menu. [Diefenbaker whines.] All right, all right, I'll bring you a doggy bag. [He goes in. Diefenbaker grumbles.]
FRASER: I'm just having the soup.
Gardino's meal: Stracciatella is an Italian egg drop soup. Calamari is squid. Mostaccioli are ridgeless penne, that is, quill-shaped pasta. Primavera is a light cream sauce with fresh vegetables and is not genuinely Italian. (Puttanesca, which Vecchio recommends, is a tomato-based sauce with olives, anchovies, chilis, capers, and garlic, which is enough strong flavors that I don't know how you can taste any of it.) Alas, they didn't give Kash enough food to talk about while he ran ahead to the door and the camera stayed with the conversation about money, so he had to talk about pan-fried veal smothered in onions at the end of one line and the beginning of the next several moments later. Maybe he's just really excited about that veal. Anyway, chocolate tartufo is a constructed ice cream dessert with a molten center.
Vecchio's raise is $2,080 over the whole year, which assuming he's paid fortnightly is an extra eighty bucks in each paycheck. Before taxes. It's very nice that he wants to take his friends out to celebrate his big promotion, especially that he wants to do this rather than expecting them to take him out to celebrate his big promotion, but even at 1996 Chicago prices, come on, bro. And $35,580 wasn't big money even then. When I left my first job in Washington, D.C., I was making something around 35k. Sure, that was 2002, but I was a kid three years out of college, not a professional with ten years' experience who had to get promoted twice to get to that pay band. (My husband says he was making 42k as a new college grad in 1994, but he does admit that he felt at the time like that was a ton of money.) Current detective salaries in the Chicago PD apparently average between 100 and 125 (thousand), according to Glassdoor. Didn't I have an inflation calculator in an earlier episode somewhere? I can't find it right now, but according to this one, $100,000 in 2022 is worth $58,961 in 1996, which feels a lot more reasonable to me.
Oh! I found it; in "The Promise" I used this inflation calculator, which says that $35,580 in 1996 works out to $67,186 in 2022—not the kind of money where you can take four guys to a super fancy restaurant downtown, if you ask me. It also says $100,000 in 2022 would have been $52,957 in 1996, which is in the same ballpark as the figure in the previous paragraph.
Scene 3
The restaurant is crowded. "Funiculí funiculá" is playing on an accordion. Someone tries to stop Vecchio on his way back to the desk.
VECCHIO: Thank you, we have a reservation.
HUEY: "Happy Birthday Frank"? What is this?
GARDINO: Zuko. This is going to be good.
The proprietor works his way out of the crowd.
PROPRIETOR: Hey, Ray! How you doing, buddy? Look, I tried to call you. It's a private party.
VECCHIO: [quietly] What are you saying, Pat? You're kicking me out?
GARDINO: These guys hate each other, Pat. You didn't think about that before you made the reservation?
PROPRIETOR (PAT): It's Frankie Zuko's birthday. What am I going to tell him? No?
FRASER: The man does have a point, Ray.
VECCHIO: [quietly] You know the rules of the neighborhood. You cater for both sides, and you don't play favorites.
PAT: But, Ray, come on —
VECCHIO: [quietly] Hey, what do you say I walk in there and I see if I can find a valid carry permit for every gun in the house?
PAT: You, you trying to get me killed?
VECCHIO: [quietly] No, Pat. I'm just trying to get a table. [He goes past Pat and heads to Zuko's table, turning the good cheer up to 11.] Hey, Frankie, good to see you.
ZUKO: Ray! What brings you to Pat's on a night like this?
VECCHIO: A reservation.
ZUKO: What, no gift? [Laughs like a boss; everyone around him laughs too. A beautiful woman comes and sits down next to him. She and Vecchio exchange looks; they know each other.]
VECCHIO: Look, Frank, all I want is my table, all right?
ZUKO: [Looks at Charlie the Henchman; looks back at Vecchio.] Pat. Get him a table.
PAT: Jimmy, set up twenty-seven.
VECCHIO: [quietly] Come on, Pat. Look, twenty-seven's the side room, huh?
PAT: Ray —
ZUKO: Ray. You want to sit on my lap? [more brash laughter]
VECCHIO: No thanks, Frank. Your cheap cologne's giving me a headache from here.
Vecchio and the woman have another look. As Vecchio goes to table 27, Zuko's big beaming boss smile fades; he is annoyed, and it won't take much before he's angry.
Has Zuko forgotten that Vecchio kicked the shit out of him a couple of months ago? Maybe not, because the deal was about Joey Paducci, not about Ray Vecchio. So this is shitty, the restaurant getting taken over for a private party when Vecchio already had a reservation. I assume Vecchio made his reservation first; Pat wouldn't tell Zuko he couldn't book the whole place because he already had reservations, but for sure he'd have told Vecchio he couldn't take a reservation because the whole place was booked for a private party. In that case Vecchio would likely have made his reservation either elsewhere or for a different day—though it's not outside the realm of possibility that if he'd made his reservation for a different day, Zuko would have found out when that was and booked it out from under him with another private party, just to show him who's actually in charge.
Credits roll.
Paul Gross
David Marciano
Beau Starr
Daniel Kash
Tony Craig
Catherine Bruhier
(plus Lincoln the dog)
Lee Purcell, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jim Bracchitta, Hannes Jaenicke, Sherry Miller, Louis DiBianco
That Lee Purcell must have been a big deal in the 90s, huh? She outbilled Rodney A. Grant (Eric) in "Mask" and Ken Pogue (Gerrard) in "Bird in the Hand," although both those men played characters more important to those episodes than hers (I mean, I haven't really heard of any of them, but Grant was the third lead in both Dances with Wolves in 1990 and a 1994–95 "Hawkeye" TV series with Lynda Carter that I had never before heard of but which I assume was developed to capitalize on the success of 1992's The Last of the Mohicans; Pogue had been jobbing steadily since the mid-60s and was a series regular on Adderly, a late-night spy-adventure thing in the 80s [with which I am also unfamiliar, but hey, series regular]; Purcell also has a steady string of credits going back to 1969, but the biggest line before due South on her IMDb resume is playing four different characters in five episodes of Murder, She Wrote—so I conclude she also had, of the three of them, the best agent). (I mean, to the extent IMDb is reliable. Lee Purcell's IMDb resume also says "Victoria's Secret part 1 (uncredited)," and I'm here to tell you the reason she wasn't credited in that episode is that she didn't appear in that episode. So.)
Scene 4
Zuko is speaking to Charlie at his table. Charlie moves through the restaurant on his way to Vecchio's group. Different Italianesque accordion music is playing. The place is full of hair-and-nails women and men talking with their hands. Charlie reaches the side room where Vecchio and the gang have been seated. It's totally a storage area; they're in there with stacks of spare chairs and cases of wine.
VECCHIO: What do you want, Charlie?
CHARLIE: Mr. Zuko wants to say hello. To the Mountie.
VECCHIO: What, he can't wait?
Fraser gets up and goes with Charlie.
GARDINO: We're never going to eat. We're never going to eat.
Through the pass-through window it is obvious that Zuko is making the rounds, holding court, and smug about "generously" "allowing" Vecchio to have his evening ruined. He is effusing at some guests about how happy he is that they could come when Fraser reaches him.
ZUKO: No, I'm so happy, I'm so happy you could be here. And the food, the food is so delicious, don't worry about it, enjoy everything. Ah — Fraser, right?
FRASER: Yes.
ZUKO: I'm so glad you could be here for my birthday. Looks like the scars have healed pretty nicely.
FRASER: I beg your pardon?
ZUKO: I — I mean, I'm sorry. You know, I — sometimes the boys get a little carried away. [offers a handshake] Blood on the tracks?
FRASER: [shakes his hand] I have no idea what you're talking about.
ZUKO: [laughs] All right. Come here, I want you to meet some people. Hey, Jimmy, come over here, I want you to meet somebody. My boyhood friend, Jimmy Roastbeef, Constable Fraser.
JIMMY: How you doin'? Good to meet you.
FRASER: Likewise, Mr. Roastbeef. Is that your given name?
JIMMY: Yeah. Sure.
ZUKO: [laughs, heads over to someone else] Hey, where you been?
MICHAEL: Sorry, Frank. Just keeping an eye on things.
ZUKO: Keeping an eye on things, drive me crazy keeping an eye on things. Let me introduce you to somebody. This is my good friend and business associate, Michael Sorrento. Constable Fraser.
FRASER: My pleasure.
MICHAEL: How you doin? [He gives Zuko a birthday present.] Open.
ZUKO: Michael! You shouldn't have. [He opens the present. The woman at his table is distracted and gets up to walk away. The present from Michael is a box of cigars.] My favorites. Constable?
FRASER: No, thank you, I don't smoke.
ZUKO: Your loss. Jimmy? [Jimmy takes one.] Michael. [Michael takes one.] Thank you.
Fraser's "I don't know what you're talking about" meaning "Let's just agree never to speak of this again" is getting a workout lately, huh? But here's Zuko trying to bring Fraser into his circle. Feh. "So glad you could be here for my birthday" indeed. What a slimeball.
Michael, who gives Frank the present, was one of the guys in ski masks in scene 1. What's going on with him, hmm?
Scene 5
Vecchio, who can't get any service at his table, heads to the deserted bar with a bottle of wine, looking for a corkscrew. He goes behind the bar. The woman from Zuko's table comes over.
WOMAN: What's the matter, can't you say hello?
VECCHIO: [surprised; stands up slowly] Hi.
WOMAN: [waits for him to say something else; prompts him] Irene.
VECCHIO: Yeah, I know. [goes back to looking at the bar] I know.
WOMAN (IRENE): What are you looking for?
VECCHIO: I got it.
IRENE: It doesn't look like you got it.
VECCHIO: I got it.
IRENE: [laughs; joins him behind the bar] What are you looking for? How's your mom doing?
VECCHIO: [laughing] Oh, she's, uh. She's good.
IRENE: Good.
VECCHIO: She's good. How's, uh, what's-his-name? [Irene has found a corkscrew and hands it to him.] Yeah.
IRENE: Actually, we, uh — we split up.
VECCHIO: Oh. Um. Well, it's about time. [starts getting down wine glasses]
IRENE: Ha.
VECCHIO: No, what I mean is I'm sorry.
IRENE: Yeah, well, I'm not. It's really, it's really good to be home.
VECCHIO: [suddenly much cooler] Frank's house?
IRENE: My father left it to both of us.
VECCHIO: I'll try to remember that. [He looks at the three glasses he's gotten down; he sighs.] Four. There's four. [He gets one more glass.] Uh, so, uh . . . how's the kids?
IRENE: They're good. [They both nod.] You were always so good with kids. [She gets out from behind the bar.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm a hell of a catch.
IRENE: Yeah. Too bad you can't dance.
She heads back to the party. Vecchio watches her go.
Nice exposition! This is Irene, a divorced mother of at least two, who has moved back in with Frank, her brother, and who is (and maybe always has been) much friendlier with Vecchio than Frank is. She is uncomfortable with how much Frank and Ray hate each other. And look how they did that with so little dialogue! Nice work, writers, and nice work, Marciano and Moss. (Is this the woman who slipped through his fingers? Was what's-his-name "some goombah"? Answers, as usual, on a postcard.)
Scene 6
A waiter places a green salad outside the front door of the restaurant. Diefenbaker approaches it and grumbles. Irene is heading back to Zuko's table but stops to talk to some guests. At the table, Michael is trimming his cigar.
MICHAEL: Those young guns on the west side may be more of a problem than we thought.
CHARLIE: Punks. I never heard of them. Nobody's ever heard of them.
MICHAEL: Yeah, you'd better tell them that, 'cause they busted up another one of our places tonight. Bad. Frank, you can't sit on this any longer. People are starting to talk. Maybe we got a problem we can't handle.
ZUKO: Michael. Let me handle the D'Orio brothers, all right? I don't want to hear anything more about it. It'll spoil the party. Just relax. It'll keep.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, now, as I said, it was Michael and three other guys who busted up one of "our places" tonight. Witness my extremely raised eyebrow over here.
Scene 7
A waiter is going by with a couple of, what, cannolis? on a plate. From the window of the side room, Vecchio holds up his badge.
VECCHIO: You see this? This comes with a gun. Now do we get dessert?
GARDINO: Good one, Ray.
HUEY: Forget it. I'll go.
GARDINO: Get me an espresso while you're at it.
FRASER: Maybe we should go somewhere else for coffee.
VECCHIO: Ah, we get the side room, he gets the whole joint. He drinks hundred-dollar bottles of wine, and we get spit. [Across the restaurant, Zuko is smoking a cigar, drinking an espresso, and laughing at something hilarious that Michael has just said.] He still runs this neighborhood. Boy, what wouldn't I give to go another round with him.
FRASER: Well, perhaps we should just skip coffee altogether and go bowling.
VECCHIO: Ah, what the heck, I'm going to go shake his peaches.
ZUKO: [in the other room, shouting] Hey, Pat, a song for my birthday, huh?
FRASER: Shake his peaches?
GARDINO: Yeah. The part where we break chairs over their heads.
FRASER: Ah.
Vecchio is on his way across the restaurant. Music cue: "My Foolish Heart" (by whomever you want: Martha Mears, the Bill Evans Trio, Frank Sinatra; someone's going to sing it live in this scene). Frank Zuko is laughing; Vecchio heads to the table where Irene is talking to an older woman.
VECCHIO: Excuse me, Mrs. Zuko. May I say how lovely you look this evening? [She smiles and nods pleasantly. He turns to Irene.] Would you like to dance?
IRENE: With you?
VECCHIO: No, with the man in the moon. [chuckles]
IRENE: [looks at Frank] Okay.
PAT: [singing badly off key] ♫ The night is like a lovely tune; beware, my foolish heart. How white the ever-constant moon . . .♫
Irene follows Vecchio to the middle of the room; they slow dance. Frank is laughing at something Michael said but then notices Vecchio and Irene.
IRENE: You always did like to take chances.
VECCHIO: Well, you always looked good in blue velvet.
PAT: ♫ . . . take care, my foolish heart. ♫
Frank is straining to see Vecchio and Irene between the other couples dancing. Vecchio catches his eye and holds it as he keeps dancing with Irene.
PAT: ♫ There's a line between love and fascination that's hard to see on an evening such as this . . . ♫
IRENE: Who are you dancing with, him or me?
VECCHIO: What do you mean?
IRENE: You know what I mean. I can't do this. [She starts to pull away.]
PAT: ♫ . . . for they both give the very same sensation . . . ♫
VECCHIO: [pulls Irene back] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Come on. Come on.
They dance some more. Frank is trying to keep an eye on them.
PAT: ♫ . . . when you're locked in the magic of a kiss. Her lips are much too close to mine, beware, my foolish heart. ♫
Vecchio has been keeping an eye on Frank but turns back to Irene.
PAT: ♫ But should our eager lips combine . . . ♫
VECCHIO: You're beautiful, you know that?
IRENE: Thank you.
PAT: ♫ . . . then let the fire start. For this time it isn't fascination or a dream that will fade and fall apart. ♫
Vecchio and Irene kiss. Frank sees and doesn't like it. They murmur to each other and kiss again. Zuko whispers to Michael. Michael gets up from the table. Vecchio and Irene are still kissing.
PAT: ♫ It's love, this time it's love . . . ♫
MICHAEL: Irene. [She startles away from Vecchio.] Your brother would like you to cut the cake.
PAT: ♫ . . . my foolish heart. ♫
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, tell him to cut it himself.
ZUKO: Irene. Let's go. Now.
IRENE: Why don't you just go, Ray? [She heads back to Frank's table.]
MICHAEL: [stops Vecchio from following her] Perhaps you should leave.
VECCHIO: Hey. [shakes him off] I can leave on my own. [starts to go as "Funiculí funiculá" begins again]
MICHAEL: Pig.
Vecchio, not missing a beat, turns around and socks Michael in the jaw. Then he turns and hits the guy behind him.
ZUKO: Hey, no guns. Get in there. [Jimmy Roastbeef starts to help. Fraser pushes through the crowd to get to Vecchio, who is swinging at everyone he can reach.] Irene, back here.
Jimmy Roastbeef is keeping Irene away from the fray. A little boy is pretending to shoot a machine gun. People are leaving the party in a quick but orderly fashion.
DARK-HAIRED WOMAN: That guy broke my nail. I paid fifteen dollars for these nails.
BLONDE WOMAN: Fifteen dollars? Where?
Glass is breaking. Diefenbaker comes in as people are going out. Vecchio punches someone else. Michael, on the floor, nods to an associate, who flips open a knife. Fraser is punching someone and then hurries to the knife-wielder.
FRASER: Excuse me. I believe — [He quickly disarms the guy.] — that's an unfair advantage.
Michael glares. Jimmy Roastbeef hustles Irene out of the way. The fighters carry on fighting. Huey is punching people also. Diefenbaker is up on a chair eating food off the table. Fraser punches someone. Vecchio punches someone and gets ready for the next one. From behind Jimmy, Irene winces.
VECCHIO: [mouthing words to Irene] What?
IRENE: [mouthing words to Vecchio] You're an idiot.
Someone punches Vecchio, who falls down. The fight continues.
So there's about 15 percent of this that is sympathetic to Frank Zuko, which is that he doesn't want his party ruined. Of course, he could have been a lot less of an asshole about his sister dancing with someone he doesn't like, but I'll give him credit for "no guns," sure.
Scene 8
Vecchio, Huey, and Gardino are in Welsh's office all shouting at the same time.
HUEY: I didn't see a thing, sir —
VECCHIO: — pushed me —
GARDINO: — no, that's not what —
VECCHIO: — let me tell you what happened —
HUEY: — what I heard, what I heard —
WELSH: All right, enough, enough, ENOUGH! [They all shut up.] Constable?
FRASER: Mr. Zuko's sister was involved, Lieutenant.
VECCHIO: Oh, great.
FRASER: But Mr. Sorrento did start the altercation.
VECCHIO: What did I say?
FRASER: Although Detective Vecchio provided ample —
VECCHIO: Didn't I tell you to shut up?
FRASER: Yes, you did.
WELSH: Mr. Sorrento charges that Detective Vecchio punched him in the face, causing serious bodily harm.
VECCHIO: It was a love tap.
FRASER: Well, that's not entirely true —
VECCHIO: Okay, so I belted him, but he pushed me first.
FRASER: Well, that much is true.
WELSH: Thank you.
GARDINO: That's exactly how I saw it.
HUEY: Absolutely right.
WELSH: All right, shut up. Mr. Zuko's pressing charges.
HUEY AND VECCHIO: What?
GARDINO: Son of a bitch.
HUEY: Charges for what?
WELSH: Harassment, assault, trespassing —
VECCHIO: In Pat Scarpetta's place?
WELSH: — real charges. The kind that come with FOP lawyers, suspensions for misconduct, not to mention civil suits that could threaten your career.
HUEY: [points to Vecchio] It was his fault, sir.
GARDINO: We just, we just came there to eat.
WELSH: You two are on report. Go see the duty sergeant on your way out. [All three detectives turn to leave.] Not you, Vecchio. [Huey and Gardino leave the office. Welsh gets up from his desk.] Vecchio, how come every other cop in this station can sit in Scarpetta's side by side with the Zukos of this neighborhood and enjoy a meal without breaking up the place?
VECCHIO: You need an answer?
WELSH: The sister.
VECCHIO: Look, Lieu, this is my business, all right? This is private.
WELSH: I know, but when you went into Scarpetta's place breaking heads, you made it my business. Now, I'm telling you straight out. Go to Zuko, bury the hatchet. End this thing. [Vecchio stands there, a little defiant.] All right. A week's suspension without pay. You can leave your shield. [He goes back behind his desk. Vecchio slams his shield down and stomps out.]
FRASER: What about me, sir?
WELSH: Oh, you can go, too.
FRASER: Ah. Thank you kindly.
Welsh puts Vecchio's shield in his desk drawer.
Trespassing is a bit of a reach, and Vecchio didn't go to the restaurant looking for a fight—but once Zuko was there he decided to pick one, didn't he. "I'm going to go shake his peaches."
Scene 9
The four of them leave the station and walk down the street.
GARDINO: What a night!
HUEY: I think it was worth it. See that big guy go down?
VECCHIO: Yeah, you could hear his teeth pop.
HUEY: Which reminds me, one gold filling you owe me.
VECCHIO: I owe you?
HUEY: Yeah, you owe me, Vecchio.
GARDINO: I'm starving. Let's go eat.
VECCHIO: How can you still be hungry? You ate through half my raise.
GARDINO: What can I say? Fast metabolism.
VECCHIO: All right. Olympo's. [They start crossing the street.]
GARDINO: Keys.
VECCHIO: For what?
GARDINO: I'm gonna take the car for a spin.
VECCHIO: [laughs] I don't think so.
GARDINO: Hey, relax. My coat's in your front seat.
VECCHIO: All right. [He tosses the keys in the air; Gardino catches them on the way down.] Good catch.
GARDINO: [heading back to Vecchio's car] Order me pigs in a blanket.
VECCHIO: All right.
FRASER: [sees someone hurrying away from something on the other side of the street] Ah, Ray, would you order me pigs in a blanket as well?
VECCHIO: You don't even know what they are.
FRASER: They sound . . . yummy. [hurries off to the other side of the street]
VECCHIO: What did he leave in my car?
HUEY: I have no idea. [They go inside.]
FRASER: Louis?
VECCHIO: [to uniformed cops already at the counter and in a booth at Olympo's] Hey, Mario.
MARIO: Hey, Ray.
VECCHIO: What's up, Larry?
FRASER: Louis! [Gardino puts the car key in the lock.] LOUIS!
Gardino opens the driver's side door of the Riviera, and the car blows up.
The restaurant windows blow in, scattering shattered glass all over everyone. Outside, Fraser picks himself up off the street. There is burning wreckage around, and the Riviera is well on fire. Vecchio and Huey come running out of the restaurant. They run to Fraser and make sure he's okay; then Huey sees what exploded and tries to keep running.
HUEY: Louis! We've got to get him out! We've got to get him out of there! [Fraser and Vecchio hold him back.] We've got to get him out of there! We've got to get him out —
VECCHIO: It's over, man! It's over.
Holy shit.
Scene 10
Commander O'Neill is in Welsh's office. Welsh is getting Vecchio's weapon and shield out of his desk drawer.
O'NEILL: If it was a bomb — and they haven't even collected all the pieces yet —
VECCHIO: It was Zuko. He meant to hit me.
O'NEILL: Right in front of the station house?
VECCHIO: Look, he hit the Cadero brothers in their own bedroom. It was a pipe bomb. The kids were in the next room. [He clips his badge back onto his belt.]
HUEY: [in the squad room] Who's in charge of these?
GUY WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THESE: I got it.
HUEY: This is sloppy work!
GUY WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THESE: Just back off!
HUEY: [grabs the guy by the lapel] Hey, you — you break a seal, you tamper with evidence!
WELSH: [coming out to break it up] Jack —
HUEY: He's an idiot.
WELSH: — let go.
HUEY: He's going to destroy evidence.
WELSH: Go downstairs.
VECCHIO: It's okay.
ELAINE: Come on. [She starts leading Huey away. He goes with her.]
HUEY: The guy's an idiot!
Vecchio pats Huey's shoulder as Elaine takes him out of the squad room. Fraser watches them go, half-listening to the bomb expert who's talking to him.
BOMB EXPERT: Each one of these has a signature. A distinctive way in which the bomb is made. To us it's like a, a fingerprint. Sometimes you get lucky enough, a piece of this survives the blast. [He shows Fraser a piece of exploded pipe.]
FRASER: And double knots at either end? [He is looking at a bit of wire with two double knots in it.]
BOMB EXPERT: Yeah.
VECCHIO: What is it?
FRASER: It's a signature.
If it's true what cop shows always say about signatures, I don't know why people who make bombs don't deliberately do it differently every time. (Except the ones who, we're told, are taunting the police and sort of secretly hoping they'll be caught.) Also, the Cadero brothers had kids but slept in the same bedroom? Wha?
But who cares about any of that, because oh, Huey. This is good work from everyone in those four seconds that Huey is hysterical and everyone is taking care of him. I am misting up just transcribing and talking about it. Nice work, Craig.
Scene 11
Vecchio slaps a case of evidence down on the table in the interview room.
BOMB SETTER: I've got nothing to do with Frank Zuko.
VECCHIO: You helped take out the Cadero brothers.
HUEY: You went to jail for him.
BOMB SETTER: Ten years ago.
VECCHIO: And now you're out. Lucky for you.
BOMB SETTER: I want to talk to a lawyer.
VECCHIO: I'm sure Frank will be happy to supply you with one. All right, lock him up, and then call his lawyer.
I . . . feel like Huey should be sitting this one out. Don't you?
Scene 12
Vecchio is striding through the squad room.
VECCHIO: You got the warrant?
HUEY: Thirty seconds. [grabs his jacket, follows Vecchio]
FRASER: [following them] Ray, the plastic coating on the wire barely melted.
VECCHIO: So?
FRASER: Well, ammonium nitrate fuel oil at two thousand three hundred forty degrees Celsius and a burn rate of four thousand two hundred seventy meters per second — it should have incinerated.
HUEY: But it didn't.
FRASER: Look, nitric acid leaves a yellow coloration on the skin. Now, did anyone check his hands?
VECCHIO: Saddle up.
Whose hands, the bomb guy in the interview room? He couldn't have worn gloves?
Scene 13
There is a lot of police activity at Zuko's house. Zuko himself is on the phone.
ZUKO: Well, there's fifty of them, all right? They're all over the street. They're tearing up the lawn, they're ripping up the house, and they're terrorizing the kids. Do — Well, I'll tell you what I want you to do. I want you to get your three-hundred-dollar-an-hour butt over here and get these people out now! [He slams the phone down.]
CHARLIE: [showing him the warrant] It's in order.
ZUKO: Shut up. What are you, a lawyer?
IRENE: [at the top of the stairs, speaking to some kids] Nella, will you get this, please? Go see Nella, please. Now, come on.
ZUKO: [to Irene] Resta qui.
VECCHIO: Get the computer.
IRENE: What's this about?
VECCHIO: Why don't you ask him?
IRENE: Frank?
ZUKO: Stay upstairs.
OFFICER: Got a device.
MICHAEL: I couldn't stop him, Frank. They dug up the whole damn back yard.
OFFICER: Detonators under the floorboards in the tool shed.
ZUKO: In the tool shed? [A kid has come to the top of the stairs to see what's going on. Irene shoos him away.]
OFFICER: Cyclonite. Won't initiate without electricity.
WELSH: Okay, cuff him.
ZUKO: [spitting mad at Vecchio] You. You did this. You planted that crap in my back yard.
VECCHIO: [spitting mad at Zuko] You killed a cop. You think you were going to get away with this? Let me tell you something, pal — [Welsh holds him back.] — you're lucky you're not out of here on a stretcher, pal.
WELSH: Get him out of here.
ZUKO: Yeah, this is a setup! [to Michael] All right, you call the lawyer, you have him meet me downtown!
They take Frank out the front door. Vecchio looks up the steps at Irene. She is unhappy. Frank is being led furiously to a patrol car.
MICHAEL: [to Charlie] Get the car.
Charlie goes to get the car. Irene watches from an upstairs window. Fraser is looking in the case and talking to the bomb guy, but hurries to talk to Vecchio.
FRASER: You're arresting him?
VECCHIO: We got everything we need.
FRASER: Ray, it is not logical. The detonators in his own house, ten meters from his daughter's bedroom window?
VECCHIO: It's more consideration than he gave the Cadero brothers' kids. They're dead.
FRASER: The box was found in the shed in the back yard. Anyone could have planted it there.
VECCHIO: Maybe.
FRASER: Ray, think. Zuko constructs a bomb on his own. Plants it under your car in front of the police station?
HUEY: Come on, Fraser. Frank's a psycho. Everybody knows that.
FRASER: The man I saw on that street was not Frank Zuko.
VECCHIO: Look, you pay anybody enough money, they'll do anything, and Frank's got plenty of it.
FRASER: What about his alibi?
VECCHIO: He was home.
FRASER: Witnesses?
VECCHIO: None.
FRASER: None. Ray, please, think this through. Zuko kills somebody and does not arrange for an alibi?
VECCHIO: Who the hell do you think died out there, huh? So you got a wire that should be melted, but it's not. You got an absence of finger stains. You got Zuko without an alibi when he should have one. All right, maybe somebody did plant those detonators, and maybe they didn't. All I know is that we got a dead cop. A friend. And we got the guy who did it. Do you follow me?
FRASER: Yes. I think I do.
VECCHIO: Good.
Assume those are Irene's kids? Because Zuko has a daughter whom we met in the previous episode and which is neither of those children? He could have more kids, I suppose, so we don't know for sure about these ones. ("Stay here," Zuko says to Irene, in Italian, which does not seem to be their native language, but sure.)
This right here is why when an officer is killed, their own department shouldn't be the one handling the investigation.
Scene 14
Everyone is at the 27th precinct. Music cue: "Full Circle" by Loreena McKennitt. Welsh is sitting pensively at his desk. He gets up and looks out in the squad room. Everyone is sad. Elaine is making coffee. She brings it to Vecchio's desk, where Vecchio is sitting in his dress uniform. He looks up at her with a tiny sad smile.
Stars were falling deep in the darkness
The hearse opens, and a flag-draped casket is drawn out for the pallbearers to take.
As prayers rose softly, petals at dawn
And as I listened, your voice seemed so clear
So calmly you were calling your god
The pallbearers carry the casket across a snowy cemetery. We recognize Fraser's brown boots.
La la la lo lo lo, la la la la
La la la la, lo lo
The pallbearers are, in order: Fraser and Vecchio, Welsh and Huey, and two other guys. They reach the grave site. Many uniformed officers are there.
Somewhere the sun rose, o'er dunes in the desert
Such was the stillness, I ne'er felt before
The pallbearers set the casket down on the sling and move away to their places. An honor guard moves into place for a salute.
Was this the question, pulling, pulling, pulling you
Two officers lift the flag from the casket and begin folding it. Commander O'Neill stands at attention. Elaine is next to her.
In your heart, in your soul, did you find peace there?
La la la lo lo lo, la la la la
La la la la, lo lo
The family are seated in front of the ranks of officers: an older couple, presumably Gardino's parents; a couple of other women; and a few children. The older woman (Mrs. Gardino) dries her eyes. Diefenbaker is sitting quietly next to where Fraser is standing. The flag is presented to Mrs. Gardino, and she and her husband embrace sadly. The honor guard begins their salute.
Elsewhere a snow fell, the first in the winter
Covered the ground as the bells filled the air
The honor guard fire seven guns. Huey is pensive.
You in your robes sang,
The honor guard fire seven more guns. Fraser does not flinch.
calling, calling,
They honor guard fire seven more guns, for a total of twenty-one. Vecchio stands numbly.
calling him
In your heart, in your soul, did you find peace there?
Welsh is grim. People start to walk away from the graveside.
Funerals are tough, aren't they? They did a decent job with this one, except for the flag-folding, which was hasty and sloppy as all hell. A couple of guys visible in the background behind the honor guard salute while they're firing and snap those salutes down when they shoulder their guns, which I thought was a nice touch and probably everyone in uniform should have done it.
I notice that Welsh and O'Neill have black and gold checks on their hats, while everyone else has black and white. They're the only command-level attendees at this thing, I guess?, or else the extras just took the costumes that were available to them. Elaine is in uniform like everyone else, though I assume (it's hard to see) she has no badge on which to put a black band. Should Fraser have worn the dress uniform, that is, the web belt and no crossbody-and-lanyard arrangement he wore in "Chicago Holiday?" Isn't a funeral a formal occasion? I guess it's not a formal social occasion, like, guests out of uniform would wear a sober dark suit or dress rather than black tie or a plunging neckline or what have you, so if that's what the "formal" get-up of the red uniform is for, then this is right. He does stand out against all that CPD blue in the snow, which, of course he does.
I was curious about who the kids were until I saw the women who were presumably their mothers; remember that Gardino had at least one sister. (He was also married three times, but I assume none of his ex-wives have come to his funeral.) The parents did okay, but for my money the winner of Best Performance by an Extra in the Role of Bereaved Parent is this brilliant fellow:
That's Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), of course; the first clip is when John Hannah as Matthew has just said "strange experimental cooking," which is why the lady in the foreground as Gareth's mother is smiling even in her grief; the second is while Hannah-as-Matthew is still reciting W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues" and making everyone cry who wasn't already. Look at that dad there. He doesn't speak, so he's not named in the credits, and I can't find anything on Al Gore's internet to tell me who he was; but these two clips and another second and a half or so of him getting into a car and then sitting in the front row while John Hannah gets up to speak are the entirety of his performance, and if these 20 seconds of screen time don't say to you "My son is dead, I don't understand, I don't UNDERSTAND," I don't know what to tell you. That's the standard all parents-in-funeral-scenes are aiming for, if you ask me. Eat your heart out, Bernard Hill. (The Four Weddings dad always reminds me of Queen Mary in this picture from the funeral of King George VI:
That's a lady who had already buried two of her six children and was waiting to bury a third; I don't care what you're queen of, that's going to leave a mark.)Anyway, I made that second Four Weddings clip the length I did so we could also see the pallbearers carrying the casket on their shoulders, which I happen to find a lot more moving than pallbearers hauling the thing by the handles, and so I'd get the segue into talking about this wrt Gardino's casket: Why isn't Huey in front? I know, I know, it's because Gross and Marciano are the two stars of the TV show, but for crying out loud, put the man's partner up in the lead pair, what the hell. . . . I don't actually imagine there's a prestige position among pallbearers; they're not the ones who are important here. You want to match them for height, especially if they're toting the casket on their shoulders, but otherwise, whatever. But come on. What other TV and movie funerals can I compare this to?
I still think Huey is, after the actual family/in the police department, Gardino's chief mourner, and he should have been at the head of the casket with either Welsh or Vecchio. Fraser can go in the middle with the other one. Rant over.
- Mrs. Landingham in The West Wing s2e22 "Two Cathedrals"—Sam and Toby in the front, a couple of randoms in the middle, Josh and Charlie in the back (and they carry the casket by the handles but up on their shoulders)
- Leo McGarry in The West Wing s7e18 "Requiem"—Bartlet and Josh in the front, Charlie and the DNC chairman whose name I don't care about^ in the middle, Santos and Leo's son-in-law whose name we don't know in the back (and they carry the casket by the handles but at hip level) (^because Rob Lowe was simply not available, and apparently they couldn't alter the shooting schedule to do that scene when he was available, or put in an extra with his haircut or whatever, so we have to assume he was sitting with Toby quietly in the back or something because otherwise we have to live in a world where Sam Seaborn was not at Leo McGarry's funeral, which is absolutely bullshit and obviously still makes me mad after all these years)
- Peggy Carter in Captain America: Civil War—Steve up front and five other dudes we barely or never see (and they carry the casket on their shoulders but brace it with their hands, which is still not as good as the shoulders-only in Four Weddings)
- I’m looking at the cover of Superman: Funeral for a Friend, and the pallbearers are Green Lantern and Batman in front; Aquaman and Flash in the middle; and Robin and Wonder Woman in the back (and they're carrying the casket by the side rails at hip level, which is probably reasonable when they're so varied in height; at first I thought they were rolling it on a cart and just each resting a hand on a side rail, which is how my brother and my cousins and I did our uncle's casket, but he was a very big dude and we are not superheroes, so I'm glad the JL carried Supes themselves)
- In my movies and TV shows in Plex and I don't think I have many more where any of the leads are pallbearers. In Immortal Beloved (1994), Beethoven's funeral procession is the first thing, and his casket is carried by randoms, probably professionals. In The Two Towers (2002), Théodred is borne to his tomb by helmeted soldiers, and everyone we know is out where we can see their faces. Anyone got anything else?
End of watch, Detective Louis Gardino.
Scene 15
Fraser is in a bar playing dominoes with Charlie the Henchman.
CHARLIE: You want to help Frank Zuko?
FRASER: No, I have no interest in seeing Mr. Zuko anywhere other than in prison.
CHARLIE: So. How can I help you, Constable?
FRASER: A police officer, a friend, has been killed. And I would like to see the killer brought to justice.
CHARLIE: Agreed. Dead cop's bad for business. Even, ah, Frankie boy knows that.
FRASER: And yet every piece of evidence points to him.
CHARLIE: This bothers you.
FRASER: Yes, it does. If it means that the real killer of Louis Gardino goes free.
CHARLIE: What a piece of work. You've got Zuko in the wringer, and, ah, you don't want to pull the handle? And you call yourself a cop?
FRASER: What I would like for Mr. Zuko and what the law dictates are two different things, and right now that difference is the only thing that's keeping him alive.
CHARLIE: You're renewing my faith.
FRASER: Well, I'm glad. Now, someone has gone to a lot of trouble to help the police. That would presume a motive.
CHARLIE: To bring Frank down. Find me somebody who doesn't have one. He ain't like his father.
FRASER: Very few of us are. And yet you've stayed. You've protected him.
CHARLIE: Out of respect for his father.
FRASER: And now?
CHARLIE: Look. I'm fifty-six years old, and my arches have fallen. I don't run too good. And the young guys, they've got me, ah, winded before I'm down the front stoop. You gotta know when to get out before somebody decides you need a — a push.
FRASER: Is someone pushing you?
CHARLIE: Young men have ambitions. But, um, Frank's troubles are Frank's troubles. He's going to have to get somebody else to watch after him now. I wish him luck. [He finishes his espresso and turns to Diefenbaker.] Hey. Want to come to Florida with me?
Charlie laughs and gives Diefenbaker a cookie.
That's right: Fraser just said if it were up to him rather than the law, he would want Frank Zuko dead. I expect that's why three lines later he said he, too, is not like his father.
Scene 16
It is evening at chez Zuko. Irene is getting ready for bed. Music cue: "Ghost of a Feeling," an original song by Cindy Valentine. Irene puts on a nightie and is drinking something hot out of a mug. Her bed is a four-poster with heavy curtains.
Every time the night comes in
I feel the weight of what might have been
I see your face hovering before my eyes
Through empty rooms I walk alone
And echoes that are not my own
I hear your voice and it's calling (it's calling me)
I see your shadows on the wall, and
Irene pulls down the heavy curtains from around her bed.
What am I going to do?
I can almost touch you
Ghost of a feeling
Haunting me
She's pretty sure she hears a noise at the window; she looks to see what could be making it, but there's nothing there. She picks up her mug and sits down on the edge of the bed.
I'm never free from this
Ghost of a feeling
And I say stay with me, baby
Oh, you won't have to go
But it's a ghost
Just a ghost of a feeling
She hears the noise again. She puts down the mug and steps carefully to the window.
Awakened by a crying, then
I find your lips on mine again
And I hear my heart and it's pounding (so loud)
She opens the window.
I cover my ears but I can't shut the sound out
What am I gonna do?
I can't escape you!
Vecchio is climbing the wall outside Irene's bedroom window. She shrieks and recoils.
VECCHIO: Sorry.
IRENE: Damn it! What the hell are you doing? You scared me half to death.
VECCHIO: The signal. I thought you'd remember.
IRENE: That was fifteen years ago! Are you insane?
He starts to slip.
Ghost of a feeling
Haunting me
I'm never free from this
Ghost of a feeling
Never disappear
IRENE: Okay, get in, get in, get in, I've got you.
VECCHIO: Okay, pull.
IRENE: Shh!
He tumbles into the room.
And it feels so real
And I say stay with me, baby
Oh, you don't have to go
But it's a ghost
Just a ghost of a feeling
It's just a ghost of a feeling
IRENE: Are you okay?
VECCHIO: Oh my God.
IRENE: [laughs] Oh my God. [She closes the window, then goes and closes her bedroom door.] Shh.
VECCHIO: You know, uh, that vine is dead. I think you should have someone cut it down.
IRENE: I know. My father tried twice, but it grew back. [He just looks at her.] You look like hell.
VECCHIO: Thanks.
IRENE: [She pats the collar of his dress uniform.] That cop who died, huh? [She starts to stroke his forehead.] Oh, you're so cold. Let me warm you up, come here, come here, come here, come here.
VECCHIO: It's only snowing outside.
IRENE: I know. Come here. [She wraps him up using the bed curtain as a blanket.]
VECCHIO: Oh, wow. Yeah, I remember these. I always liked these. You were the only girl I ever knew who slept in a tent.
IRENE: [laughing] And that was information that you shouldn't have had.
VECCHIO: Well, I never told a soul.
IRENE: Yeah, right. Outside of the basketball team, maybe.
VECCHIO: [very serious] I swear. I never told anyone.
Ghost of a feeling
Haunting me
I'm never free from this
Ghost of a feeling
And it feels so real
Ghost of a feeling
They snuggle together. Fraser is walking in Zuko's neighborhood. Across the street, there's a house with an upstairs bedroom whose windows are uncurtained; a teenager is working there at a desk. Fraser knocks on the door, and after a moment the teenager answers.
FRASER: Excuse me. I couldn't help noticing that you have rather a good view of the house across the street.
(This is a very 80s-pop-style girl-ballad song.) Now it seems Vecchio has A History with Irene. They're not just more friendly than he is with Frank as it seemed back in the bar of the restaurant, or making out on the dance floor. At first you think the signal he thought she'd remember would be a signal for her to sneak out with him, but apparently it was a signal to let him sneak in? Oh my.
Fifteen years ago was 1981. Fraser was born in 1961, but I can accept a Vecchio who's a couple of years younger. Not too much younger, because Francesca is younger than he is and he's been bothering her for 30 years, but I can allow Vecchio to have been 18 when he was sneaking into Irene's room. Or, hell, he could have been 19 or 20 himself just so she was 18ish and—of course she hadn't yet left home, but one of them would have to have still been in high school for there to still have been a basketball team in their lives.
Scene 17
Irene kisses Vecchio. He lays his head on her shoulder.
IRENE: This was really stupid of you, coming up here, you know that?
VECCHIO: It's what I do best.
IRENE: Frank is going to get crazy.
VECCHIO: Yeah, well, let him.
IRENE: You know what? Go home. [She gets up.]
VECCHIO: What, what? [He gets up too.] The, ah, the little prince is gonna get —
IRENE: Don't, don't, don't talk to me — don't talk about him like that in his own house. Okay?
VECCHIO: I thought it was your house too.
IRENE: Yeah, it is.
VECCHIO: Yeah, but that doesn't matter, right? 'Cause nothing changes. You're just as scared of him as you were of your old man.
IRENE: Hey, how I deal with my family is none of your business.
VECCHIO: Yeah, and they keep going around killing people, and I gotta turn the other cheek because I'm in love with you?
IRENE: No. No, no, no, no. You'd be going after him even if it weren't for me. You two have been going at each other since you were kids.
VECCHIO: Your brother is a murderer, Irene. You know that. You've always known that.
IRENE: He did — he did not kill that cop. He was in this house. You know it.
VECCHIO: So what?
IRENE: What, that makes no difference to you?
VECCHIO: My friend is dead. [It sounds like a sob.]
IRENE: [whispers] He didn't do it. [Vecchio turns away from her.] He's my brother, Ray.
VECCHIO: I'm sorry. Look, I'm sorry. I didn't come here to get into this with you.
IRENE: What did you come for, then?
VECCHIO: I came for you. [She shakes her head.] I love you. I've always loved you.
IRENE: This is never going to end. [He hugs her.] This is never going to end. You're going to end up killing each other first.
Scene 18
Fraser is in a cigar shop. He's counting greenbacks, and the tobacconist just reaches across the counter and takes the whole stack. He leaves with his purchase, allowing a woman with a white Afghan hound in as he goes. He walks away from the shop, but Diefenbaker whimpers and stays looking at the dog, and Fraser has to come back and get him.
Scene 19
Zuko is at the police station talking to his lawyer.
LAWYER: I'm trying to get you into County, but I'm not getting much cooperation —
ZUKO: Of course you're not getting much cooperation. I'm surrounded by a hundred cops who want me dead. [Fraser knocks on the door and comes in.] It's okay. Your friend come to his senses yet?
FRASER: No, I'm afraid not.
LAWYER: Frank, you don't have to —
ZUKO: Eddie, do me a favor. Go make yourself useful, okay? [Fraser sits down at the table and opens a box of cigars.] My favorites. Good memory, Constable.
FRASER: Well, I like to study people's habits. For example, this is your brand, hand-rolled to your specification.
ZUKO: Yes, it is.
FRASER: And before smoking it, you cut off the tip. Like this. [He produces a cigar cutter and snips the end of one of the cigars.] Now, our friend the bomb maker, he also has his habits. He tells me he likes to use an articulating set of wire snippers. Now, we found these in his room, so I assume he is telling the truth. [He cuts some wire with the articulating snippers.] There, you see? A very straight cut. Very easy to attach to a detonator. Now, he has other habits. He likes to tie double knots at either end of his wire. Now, we can assume that this is his work. [He has the evidence bag with the double-knotted wire in it.] This was found at the bomb site. However, this wire was cut using a different implement. So either our bomb maker has changed his habits, or — [Fraser cuts the wire again, this time with the cigar cutter.] — well, now, isn't that strange. Especially for a bomb maker who doesn't smoke.
ZUKO: I like your thinking. What's the point?
FRASER: Your humidor tells me he doesn't sell very many of these — [He means the cigar cutter.] — they're too expensive — in fact, you are apparently his only customer for this item — and that you give most of them away as gifts. The police didn't plant the detonator caps in your back yard. Whoever cut this wire did.
ZUKO: Who?
FRASER: I can't imagine. Can you?
ZUKO: Yes, I can. The D'Orio brothers.
FRASER: Are they on your list?
ZUKO: Not that one!
FRASER: Well, then, you have a problem. Perhaps it is somebody closer to you. Someone who is on the list.
ZUKO: Who? Charlie?
FRASER: No. His arches have fallen.
ZUKO: You trying to turn me against my own people? People who are loyal to me? Huh? You cop? You Mountie?
LAWYER (EDDIE): [comes back in] Come on, Frank, let's go. Somebody just did you a big favor.
I'm really impressed with Bracchitta in this scene; he does such a nice job showing Frank getting Fraser's point one micron at a time and then not wanting to understand what he's ultimately driving at.
Scene 20
The bullpen is full of police department employees who are angry. Huey is there in civvies. Vecchio comes in, still in dress blues.
VECCHIO: What's up?
HUEY: The Mountie. He's in there with Zuko and the state's attorney.
Welsh's office door opens. Zuko and Eddie come out and are about to leave the building. Louise St. Laurent is behind them, along with Fraser and the teenager from the house across the street.
VECCHIO: Where the hell do you think you're going?
ST. LAURENT: His alibi's been confirmed.
WELSH: He was at home. The kid saw him. [The kid's dad takes him away to go home.]
HUEY: What?
ZUKO: Thanks again, Constable. See ya later, Ray. [He shoots Vecchio with a finger gun.]
VECCHIO: You're helping Zuko? Is this what you call justice?
FRASER: He didn't kill Louis.
HUEY: And what did you base that on? Mud you licked off his boots? Answer me!
ST. LAURENT: Don't put this off on him. You didn't even canvass the neighborhood. What were you thinking? No one would?
VECCHIO: So that's it? He walks?
ST. LAURENT: No, we'll get him. On conspiracy. His phone's tapped, and we have a surveillance truck on his house twenty-four hours a day.
VECCHIO: That could take weeks.
WELSH: All, right, Vecchio, Huey, in my office. [Neither of them moves to follow him.] Come on. Don't push it. [Huey carefully skirts around Fraser's shoulder and goes into Welsh's office. Vecchio stops to snarl at Fraser before he goes in too.]
VECCHIO: What is it with you, man? You've gotta know when to hold the line. You gotta know when to work the rule.
He bumps Fraser's shoulder out of his way as he goes into Welsh's office. Fraser is in the middle of the squad room full of people glaring at him. He hangs his head and leaves quietly.
It really sounds like he says "work the rule," but "work to rule" would make much more sense.
Scene 21
Fraser and Diefenbaker go into Arruzzi's. Zuko's henchman Michael and some other guys are there and notice him come in.
FRASER: Good evening, gentlemen.
MICHAEL: You must be lost.
FRASER: What makes you say that?
MICHAEL: Intuition. [Diefenbaker growls.] Is this your guard dog?
FRASER: He's a wolf, actually.
MICHAEL: Hi, buddy. [Diefenbaker growls.]
FRASER: I have a present for you from Mr. Zuko. [He gives him the cigar cutter.]
MICHAEL: I already have one.
FRASER: Yes, well, he thinks yours may be damaged. You know, these really should not be used to cut wire. Good night. [He turns to go.]
MICHAEL: You and Frank been spending time together?
FRASER: Not anymore, no. He's been released.
MICHAEL: Frank's out?
FRASER: Yes, an hour ago. And I have a feeling he'll be looking for you. [Fraser leaves. The phone at the bar rings.]
BARTENDER: [to Michael] For you.
So does Fraser get that it was Michael who set the bomb from the way Zuko doesn't like where the conversation goes? Someone with a cigar cutter, but not Charlie? Someone loyal to him? Why not guess it could be Jimmy Roastbeef? How do Fraser and Zuko both get to Michael Sorrento from there? I looked back at the party scene, and back there Michael trimmed both his own and Zuko's cigars, so sure, we know Michael has Chekov's Cigar Cutter, but Zuko must have one as well, and apparently (based on Zuko's assumption) so does Charlie; does Jimmy not have one? His boyhood friend? (I mean, maybe he does, and maybe Fraser paid a similar call to Jimmy and Jimmy didn't react in this extremely guilty way. But why not show us that scene too?)
Scene 22
Vecchio and Huey are in the surveillance van listening to Zuko's house.
ZUKO: I don't care if he's not there. That's not my problem. That's your problem. All right? I want you to find him. Now. [He slams down the phone and yells at Charlie.] Where the hell is he?
CHARLIE: Out keeping an eye on things.
ZUKO: Don't get smart with me, Charlie. I need you now. [Irene comes down the stairs with an overnight bag. Zuko sees her from his office door.] Irene, where are you going?
IRENE: I'm going to go see a movie, Frank.
ZUKO: No, no. Wait. [sees her luggage] Movie? Where's the movie? Toledo?
IRENE: Frank, something is going on here, and I, I just, I just don't want any part of it.
ZUKO: No. You stay.
CHARLIE: Let me take her to a hotel.
ZUKO: Look, she's not going to a hotel, all right? She is running off to see her boyfriend, isn't that right? [In the truck Vecchio hears this and laughs bitterly.]
IRENE: Ugh, Frank —
ZUKO: No, isn't that right, Irene?
IRENE: Frank, I just want to get out, okay?
ZUKO: Out? Of your own house?
IRENE: This is not my house, Frank!
ZUKO: This is half your house, Irene —
IRENE: No, it is not my house! It is your house! Full of guns and full of fear and full of hate. You stay, Frank. You earned it, you keep it.
ZUKO: No. No, you are not going to humiliate me like that.
IRENE: Oh, Frank —
ZUKO: You're not going to run off and leave this house and climb into his bed.
IRENE: Ugh —
ZUKO: I'm not going to have it. I won't have it.
IRENE: Frank! Get out of my way.
ZUKO: I will kill you first. [She slaps him. He slaps her. Charlie grabs him.] Don't you — don't you ever hit me.
IRENE: Go ahead, Frank. [She starts to go back upstairs.]
ZUKO: I'll kill you. [In the truck, Vecchio pulls off his headphones.]
IRENE: Just go ahead.
Vecchio jumps out of the van.
HUEY: Wait, wait —
Fraser is right there to catch Vecchio at the back door of the van.
VECCHIO: Get out of my way.
FRASER: Ray, listen to me. You are not thinking. And a police officer who doesn't think is dangerous.
VECCHIO: I know where you stand.
FRASER: No, you do not. You are so full of hate, all you can see is Zuko. That's all you've been able to see right from the beginning. But do you hate him enough to let the real killer walk free as a consequence?
VECCHIO: Let go of me.
FRASER: Ray, please. Do you honestly believe that by jailing him, you won't have to feel guilty anymore?
VECCHIO: [pushing him away] Get your hands off me.
HUEY: [leaning out of the van] Vecchio. Zuko's got company. Michael Sorrento.
VECCHIO: All right. I'm going in after her. Call for backup.
He starts to hurry toward the house.
Both Zuko and Vecchio are teetering back and forth over the point of sympathetic and not, aren't they? It sucks for Zuko that he's been framed, but why the hell does it matter to him whether his sister is at home or somewhere else? I mean, I know why, he says so himself, it's because if she splits he's humiliated, it's yet another bit of evidence that he doesn't have control of his family or his organization, but here's a grown adult who is not being allowed to leave her house, so fuck Frank Zuko. And Vecchio is right about Irene, but he's wrong about Frank, and Fraser is right about that, and ugh, it's so awful when everyone is miserable at the same time.
Scene 23
Frank Zuko is calling Michael Sorrento on the carpet.
ZUKO: The coffee bar was you. And the warehouse fire. And Gardino.
MICHAEL: Our business — it's a big responsibility. Needs a strong hand. You know that, Frank.
ZUKO: I should kill you right here. [Vecchio runs in and right past the office door.] What the hell is that? [Vecchio goes right up the stairs.] No, no, you get out. What the hell are you doing here?
Zuko goes back into his office. Outside, Fraser has a bad feeling about this and heads for the house. In the office, Zuko loads a handgun. Upstairs in Irene's room, Vecchio and Irene are arguing.
IRENE: I can handle him, Ray.
VECCHIO: That's what the cut on your face says. Let's go.
They head out to the stairs, but Zuko is halfway up to the landing with his gun drawn.
ZUKO: Take your hands off my sister.
VECCHIO: Easy, Frank, don't be stupid.
ZUKO: You're not going out of this house with my sister.
IRENE: For God's sake, Frank, no.
VECCHIO: I tell you what, let's take it outside. [Sorrento is at the bottom of the stairs with his gun drawn also.]
ZUKO: I'll tell you what. [cocks his gun] How about you get out of here before I kill you.
VECCHIO: [hands where Zuko can see them, moving slowly] Okay. Okay.
Fraser and Huey and Diefenbaker are running at the house. Sorrento is starting up the stairs.
FRASER: Frank —
Fraser tackles Sorrento. Sorrento's gun goes off. Everyone panics. Vecchio draws his gun.
IRENE: [pushes Vecchio out of the way] No!
Zuko fires his gun. Vecchio fires his gun. Huey has reached Zuko, his own gun drawn.
HUEY: Drop it! Drop it. Back off.
Huey disarms Zuko. Fraser is restraining Sorrento on the stairs. Vecchio turns around; Irene is sitting against the wall; she has been shot.
VECCHIO: [starts with a whimper, ends with a scream] Oh no, oh God, oh my God, OH MY GOD!
Everyone looks to see what Vecchio is howling about. Uniformed cops are arresting Zuko and Sorrento, but who cares. Vecchio picks Irene up and carries her down the stairs.
ZUKO: Irene, wait — no!
VECCHIO: CALL AN AMBULANCE! [Fraser rushes to call an ambulance.]
IRENE: You never listen. Promise me it ends here.
VECCHIO: Shh. It does. Of course it does.
IRENE: Promise me. Promise me, Ray.
He carries her down the steps in front of the house as sirens are already approaching.
I think Fraser had to tackle Sorrento, because I think Sorrento was fixing to shoot Zuko or Vecchio if not both. (Maybe Irene, too, for that matter.) Irene pushed Vecchio out of the way so Frank wouldn't shoot him, but also because she saw him drawing his gun and didn't want him to shoot Frank. The timing of this scene with the three guns firing is very, very good. But of course nobody had any intention of Irene stepping in front of Frank's bullet—not even Frank, who about 75 seconds ago said "I will kill you first, I'll kill you," because as soon as he realizes he's shot his own sister, it's clear he didn't mean it. (I was about to compare this beloved-caught-in-the-crossfire accidental shooting to the end of The Godfather Part III (1990), but it's not really fair to try. Michael Corleone was just going about his business, and the assassin shot Mary in an attempt to kill him; it's not really the same. Also, you know, the epic scale of a Godfather film against an episode of a TV drama. Still, I'll stack Vecchio's "OH MY GOD" against Pacino and Diane Keaton; Marciano is that good here. (Carrie-Anne Moss can kick Sofia Coppola's ass, but Sofia is doing great as a director now, so that's all right).)
Scene 24
The following dawn, Huey and Fraser are in the hospital waiting room. Vecchio comes out from the operating room. Frank Zuko is in the waiting room, too, handcuffed to a patrol officer. Vecchio leans against a wall.
HUEY: How is she?
VECCHIO: She didn't make it. [They start to walk away.]
HUEY: Look, before you say anything, we can still nail Zuko.
VECCHIO: It was an accident.
HUEY: All you've got to do is say he shot her with intent, and you got him for murder.
VECCHIO: It was an accident, man. It was an accident.
Huey watches Zuko being led away. Vecchio is about to go out of the waiting area into a hallway where security is corralling a lot of press.
FRASER: I don't think you want to go in there. [He steers Vecchio back into the waiting area and sits down next to him. Vecchio leans his head back against the wall.]
VECCHIO: You know . . . the first time I ever asked her to dance was in PE class. She kept trying to lead. Finally had to ask her to, to relax. That it would be okay. "Just put your head on my shoulder and close your eyes. Everything's going to be okay."
I think Zuko is going away for manslaughter even if not for murder, and if Huey wants to testify that he heard him threaten to kill Irene, I don't see why he needs Vecchio to do it, but it's right for Vecchio to protest that this was an accident, because it was and he promised Irene he was done feuding with Frank.
What about the kids?! Frank's wife will presumably still have custody of his daughter while he goes away, and probably his mother will help out. But if the kids in scene 13 were Irene's, I guess they'll probably go to their dad?
Once again the camera cuts to Fraser rather than staying on Vecchio after "close your eyes," and I was all set to be furious about it, but in this case, in the first raw wring of Vecchio's grief, I think it's okay for us to look away for a moment.
The title was a reference to "Romeo is Bleeding," a 1978 song by Tom Waits (that was also used for the title of a fairly unsuccessful 1993 film).
Cumulative body count: 20
Red uniform: Gardino's funeral and the rest of that day (talking to Charlie, canvassing the neighborhood, buying cigars)