return to Due South: season 2 episode 13 "White Men Can't Jump To Conclusions"

[fox]

White Men Can't Jump To Conclusions
air date April 4, 1996

Scene 1

Fraser and Vecchio are walking in a rough part of town. Fraser is in mufti.

VECCHIO: This neighborhood makes yours look like Astor Street.
FRASER: Well, this was your recommendation, Ray.
VECCHIO: Link's the best bindlestitch guy in the world. You got a problem with your footwear, you bring it to Link.
FRASER: I agree. These boots are as good as new. Probably the best one hundred and twenty-five dollars I ever parted with.
VECCHIO: Yeah, that's something I'll never understand, why anybody would spend a hundred and twenty-five dollars to fix up a stinky old pair of Mountie boots.
FRASER: Oh, Ray, Ray, Ray. Properly molded boots are a Mountie's prize possession. Well, that and his horse.
VECCHIO: Well, we're not picking up your horse.
FRASER: I don't have a horse. I mean, not here.
VECCHIO: Well, you know, you ought to think about getting one, 'cause I'm getting really tired of driving you around.

A gun goes off. Vecchio does not react.

FRASER: Ray, that was a gunshot.
VECCHIO: Yeah, if we stop for every gunshot we hear in this neighborhood, we'll never get home. [There is another gunshot.] See? [He gets in the car. A third gunshot rings out, and Fraser is off running, leaving his boots on the roof of the car.] Augh! I'm off duty! [He runs after Fraser.] You're off duty! And unless somebody shot a moose, you have no jurisdiction!

Fraser turns a corner into an alley and crashes into a young person coming out of the alley, knocking him down.

FRASER: Oh, pardon me. [The young man gets up. He has a handgun, but he is in no way threatening Fraser.] Excuse me, young man, you're carrying a — [The young man runs away as Vecchio arrives. There is another person in the alley, struggling to get up.]
VECCHIO: I'll get the shooter. [He runs after the guy with the gun.]
FRASER: I'll get the shootee. [He runs to the injured person, waving them to stop trying to get up.] Hold on, hold on.

Vecchio is chasing the guy with the gun.

VECCHIO: Give it up, man! I can run all day! Don't make me take you down, man!

The guy dives through traffic and rolls over a couple of cars. Vecchio chases him across the street, waving the cars to stop. Fraser is with the victim, a young man who has been shot in the leg.

FRASER: Who did this to you?
VICTIM: Nobody.
FRASER: [pressing his handkerchief to the wound] Hold that there. [The fingers of the victim's other hand curl around a handful of gravel. Someone passes by at the end of the alley, looking to see what's going on. Fraser calls to them.] Call nine-one-one! [The person hurries along, pretending not to have seen anything. Fraser turns back to the victim.] All right, come on, give me your hand.

Fraser picks the victim up over his shoulder. Vecchio is still chasing the shooter, who runs down an alley and jumps up onto and over a chain link fence.

VECCHIO: Oh, for God's sakes.

He jumps onto the fence, which separates from the walls and tips over, dropping him back to the ground. He keeps running. Fraser is coming out of the alley with the bleeding kid over his shoulder.

FRASER: Help! [He waves his hat at a passing car.] Sir, help! [The car does not stop. He speaks to a group of passing youths.] Is there a phone nearby?

All four of them pull out cell phones. In another alley, the chase continues; Vecchio has the shooter cornered at a dead end.

VECCHIO: Drop the weapon, unless you can fly.

The shooter turns around, as if he's about to surrender. Then he jumps and catches the bottom rung of a fire escape—but before he can climb away, it collapses and drops him back to the ground, where he lands in a couple of garbage bags.

SHOOTER: I hate this neighborhood!
VECCHIO: Get your hands on your head.

The shooter puts his hands on his head. As Vecchio leads him out to the street, Fraser is finishing up putting the victim into an ambulance. The four youths who lent him their phones are still hanging around.

PASSING YOUTHS: Good work, Fraser. You the man, Fraser. You the man, baby.
FRASER: Thank you kindly.
PASSING YOUTHS: No, no problem, man.
VECCHIO: Thank you kindly? Let's just hope my car is still there.
FRASER: Ray, this was worth it. We saved a life, you made an arrest, and the neighborhood is a safer place. [They reach the car.] Oh, dear.
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: My boots are gone. [He hangs his head.]
VECCHIO: [patting Fraser's shoulder] It's okay.

If properly molded boots are a Mountie's prize possession, what is the value in having them returned to being "as good as new"?

Astor Street is a real street in, as you might guess from the context, a fancy part of Chicago. Vecchio's attitude toward this neighborhood is a disappointing indictment of law enforcement in general and the Chicago PD in particular, isn't it? "This is a cruddy neighborhood, and if we try to fight crime here, we'll be here all day?" (a) Wow; (b) fuck off. (Plus, "you should think about getting a horse, because I'm getting tired of driving you around"? This is not something a guy's best friend says.) The neighborhood does demonstrate that it has an unusually high level of violence, and I'll grant that Vecchio is off duty, but come on.

Did anyone else think the focus on the shooting victim scrabbling in the gravel meant he was about to throw a handful of stones in Fraser's face? Just me?

Anyway, the neighborhood is also in a general state of poor repair, which is why the fence falls down so Vecchio doesn't have to climb over it and why the fire escape collapses so the shooter can't flee; but it hasn't shown itself to be a hotbed of theft, particularly, so it's additionally shitty of Vecchio to assume his car will have been stolen—and then disappointing when it turns out Fraser's boots aren't where he left them. (Spending the goodwill he had earned by remembering "bindlestitch," alas.)

Credits roll.

Paul Gross
David Marciano
Beau Starr
Tony Craig
Catherine Bruhier

(plus Lincoln the dog)

Camilla Scott, Leonard Roberts, Chauncey B. Raglin-Washington, Isiah Thomas, Tab Baker

Scene 2

Kids are playing basketball. Fraser, carrying a large encyclopedia-dictionary, knocks on an apartment door. He is in the red uniform but wearing white gym socks and sneakers instead, of course, of his boots. Someone answers the door.

FRASER: Ah, excuse me. I'm looking for a pair of boots —

The door slams in his face. A moment later, he is speaking through another door, which is only cracked open, still on the chain.

FRASER: RCMP regulation issue, son. Well, I suppose you wouldn't be familiar with —

The door closes. A moment later, he is showing someone a line drawing of a Mountie in his dictionary.

FRASER: They're, ah, just like the man on the horse is wearing, only, ah, mine are, mine are somewhat, ah, older, and therefore more faded, um —

The door closes; the person inside has kept the dictionary. People in a nearby apartment are arguing. Diefenbaker barks.

FRASER: Well, no matter what you may think, I remain undeterred. I am convinced that somebody took them in for safekeeping and they are spending as much time looking for me as I am spending looking for them. [He knocks on another door. Video game noises are audible from inside. A neighbor passes by.] Excuse me, sir, the residents of this unit would appear to be home, yet they're not answering their door.
NEIGHBOR: Well, now, ain't that a shock.
FRASER: Were you home, ah, yesterday at the time of the incident?
NEIGHBOR: Man, let me tell you something. I didn't hear a thing.
FRASER: Well, actually, I, I, I'm looking for a pair of — [The neighbor goes into his apartment and shuts the door.] Right. [He calls to Diefenbaker.] Let's go. [He leaves the building; Diefenbaker does not follow. Fraser comes back inside.] Are you deaf? I mean, I know you are literally deaf — oh, forget it. [He goes outside again, sits down, and takes off one of his sneakers as he speaks to Diefenbaker, who has apparently finally joined him.] All right, come on. I'm not having any success. Let's see how you do. [Diefenbaker grumbles.] Or would you rather go back to knocking on doors? [Diefenbaker sniffs Fraser's ankle and whines. Fraser sticks his nose in his shoe.] Yes, I see what you mean. These sneakers don't breathe quite the way my boots did. Okay, pick up the scent. That's it. [Diefenbaker runs off.] Good boy. [Fraser gets up and follows him. Some neighbors gather around him in a circle.] Good morning, gentlemen.
MAN: Yo, you hunting moose or something?
FRASER: Ah, no. Boots, actually. You wouldn't have seen someone wandering around —
ANOTHER MAN: Yo, yo, check it. I can give you two hundred–dollar Nikes for fifty dollars.
FRASER: Well, now, that offer sounds almost too good to be true, but I'm really only interested in boots, so thank you kindly. [He leaves the circle of local dudes. Diefenbaker leads him to the alley where he was helping the shooting victim.] Diefenbaker, for God's sakes, you're tracking the wrong thing. You're tracking my feet, not my boots. We know my feet were there. My boots were — oh, forget it.

He sees a thread caught on the corner of a building and is intrigued by it.

I can't decide whether the gym socks and sneakers are more ridiculous with the jodhpurs than they were with the socks pulled up over the cuffs of the blue sweatpants, or less. I think, based on the fact that the jodhpurs obviously tuck in better than the sweatpants, but the sneakers at least make sense with sweatpants whereas the uniform ensemble absolutely doesn't go, it's a draw.

How does Fraser expect his interlocutor to judge whether a given pair of boots are more faded than those depicted in a black and white line drawing. Honestly. (I'm not sold on the necessity of this montage in general. We've seen Fraser not entirely getting the hang of struggling neighborhoods before, particularly neighborhoods where a majority of the residents are people of color. We've seen him canvassing, both successfully and less so. And we've seen him being a bit of a dick to Diefenbaker. We've even seen him sniffing the insides of sneakers. This scene has all these things in one place. Woohoo.)

Scene 3

A man drives up in a car and rolls down his window to speak to Fraser.

DRIVER: Yo.
FRASER: Good morning.
DRIVER: Yeah, c'mon, just get in the car.
FRASER: Well, actually, I don't need a ride. I'm —
DRIVER: Look, Lou would like to talk to you, man.
FRASER: Do I know Lou? [There is another young man in the passenger seat who is not speaking.]
DRIVER: First you meet him, then you'll get to know him. Get in.
FRASER: Very well. [He opens the door for Diefenbaker.]
DRIVER: Hey, hey, no, no dogs in here, man.
FRASER: He's a wolf.

There is a song playing in the background here, possibly on the car radio, and I can only hear the words "to business" twice and absolutely can't identify it. Happy for any guidance.

Scene 4

Vecchio is interviewing the shooter.

SHOOTER: Man can't walk down the street in this part of town without getting harassed.
VECCHIO: You were running.
SHOOTER: I ain't see no foot traffic speed limit.
VECCHIO: You were carrying a gun and running from a shooting victim.
SHOOTER: He say that?
VECCHIO: You know as well as I do he didn't say that.
SHOOTER: Look, I was carrying a gun so I wouldn't wind up a shooting victim.
VECCHIO: Right.

I guess right now I should just be glad Vecchio isn't slamming this young man's face into the table.

Scene 5

At a neighborhood basketball court, some youths are scrimmaging.

PLAYER: All right, baby, here we go, here we go. Get that pick, baby, here we go. "Oh, Stamp drives the line! Oh my God, a reverse lay-up! Can anybody stop this teenage dynamo, Marv?" "I honestly don't think so, Dick."
COACH: Play the game, Reggie, not the crowd, man! [The two guys from the car approach with Fraser; this must be Lou.] Where y'all find him? [nods toward the court] You see that?
FRASER: Fine play.
COACH (LOU, APPARENTLY): He's a hot dog. A punk. They gonna be double-teaming him in eight seconds.
FRASER: Are you their coach?
LOU, APPARENTLY: Heh. Hey, these kids? They our hope. I watch out for them. I provide the balls, a few burgers, a place to stay if they need it. People look at me as a corporate sponsor. Check out the sweats I got 'em.
FRASER: Very magnanimous of you.
LOU, APPARENTLY: Magnanimous? Hey, I'm a magnanimous kind of guy. [offers Fraser a fist bump] Inside, Reggie! Look for the ball! [to Fraser] He's so dependent on his setup man. Hmph! He's not here, he just freaks.
FRASER: Where is his setup man?
LOU, APPARENTLY: You busted him.
FRASER: Ah.
LOU, APPARENTLY: So who are you, what do you want?
FRASER: Benton Fraser. I'm a Mountie.
LOU, APPARENTLY: Why do they call you that?
FRASER: Well, it's short for Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
LOU, APPARENTLY: So you're mounted.
FRASER: No. We mount horses, on occasion. Perhaps you're familiar with the Musical Ride —
LOU, APPARENTLY: Then in all factuality, aren't the horses the mountees, then?
FRASER: No, you see, we are mounted on top of horses. [He gives up.] It's historical.
LOU, APPARENTLY: So, my peoples tell me you been snooping around where the shooting went down. You looking for something?
FRASER: As a matter of fact, yes. I'm looking for my boots.
LOU, APPARENTLY: We'll let you know if we find anything.
FRASER: It's been a pleasure speaking with you. [He offers Lou, Apparently another fist bump before he goes.]
LOU, APPARENTLY: Get it in to Reggie! Reggie, Purdue see that garbage, you going to be sweeping up your pop's barbershop for a long time in your short stupid life!

Reggie is unhappy with this scolding.

Lou, Apparently has made a solid point that Fraser and his colleagues are mounters and the horses are mountees, and I love it. Relatedly, it's never occurred to me before, but shortening "Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman" to "Mountie" feels like an Australian thing to do, doesn't it? I don't know, maybe they'd find a way to do an -o suffix rather than an -ie one in Australia or New Zealand. (That is, officers of the hypothetical Royal Australian Mounted Police would be called Rampos rather than Rampies or Mounties, the latter of which would sound like "mannies" anyway . . .)

So anyway, though, Lou, Apparently is the local Godfather, basically.

Scene 6

The shooter is practicing his jump shots in the interrogation room. Vecchio is in the observation room watching him through the window; Fraser joins him.

FRASER: Good news, Ray. He didn't do it.
VECCHIO: [hangs his head] No. Not this time.
FRASER: Not what this time?
VECCHIO: Look, somebody shot someone, right?
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: And I have a responsibility to catch that someone that shot the other someone, right?
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: And if I catch that someone, it's good news, right?
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: Okay. Now, if that person turns out to be the wrong person, does that mean that there was no shooting?
FRASER: No.
VECCHIO: Does that mean that no one was almost killed?
FRASER: No.
VECCHIO: Does that mean there's one less bad guy in the world?
FRASER: No.
VECCHIO: Right. It just means that the real bad guy is still out there instead of locked up somewhere safe. So by you coming in here and telling me that our guy is innocent, this is just not good news!
FRASER: I, I'm sorry. I see what you're driving at, and I stand corrected. It is bad news. He didn't do it. [He follows Vecchio out into the hallway.]
VECCHIO: Look, Fraser, kids from that neighborhood, generally speaking, end up doing one of two things: Basketball or crime.
FRASER: Tyree plays basketball.
VECCHIO: Well, they all start out playing basketball, but if one of them is lucky enough, he'll make it to division one college ball. But if he's not talented enough, if he's not tall enough, if he's not dedicated enough, he's going to wind up like that kid and make life miserable for everyone else.
FRASER: Ray, please, look at this. [He shows him the thread from the alley.]
VECCHIO: What's that supposed to be? Evidence?
FRASER: The shooter wore this.
VECCHIO: Well, let's hope that's not all he wore. [They are back in the observation room. Vecchio holds the thread up to compare it to the sweatshirt the shooter (Tyree, apparently) is wearing.] Gray. Different shade? Different material?
FRASER: Actually, no.
VECCHIO: Then bag it and add it to my case file. [He heads across the squad room.]
FRASER: Ray, left-handed.
VECCHIO: What's left-handed? The thread?
FRASER: No, no. The shooter. [Vecchio heads back again to the observation room.] Aren't you even interested in knowing how I know the shooter is left-handed?
VECCHIO: Indulge me. [He points to where Tyree, Apparently is still practicing his jump shots. With his left hand.] What hand?
FRASER: I know what you're thinking. He hasn't made one right-handed shot.
VECCHIO: Is this your way of admitting you're wrong?
FRASER: No. It's my way of suggesting the young man is extremely dedicated. He's practicing his weaknesses, not his strengths. He's making left-handed shots because he is right-handed.
VECCHIO: All right, I'll buy that. Explain this. [hands him a file] Ballistics report. Gun matches the bullet that went through the victim. Your boy's fingerprints are all over the trigger.
FRASER: Well, we know he held the gun, Ray, because we found it on him.
VECCHIO: Turn the page. [Fraser turns the page.] Paraffin test. Gunpowder blowback all over his hands. He fired that gun, Fraser. All the tests match him to the shooter, so for the next hour I'm going to treat myself to thinking that he's the guy.
FRASER: Ray, what if —
VECCHIO: Look, sixty minutes, all right? Just don't talk to me for one hour.

Keen observers will have realized that by the end of this scene, Vecchio is in the men's room while Fraser stands in the open doorway with his back turned. Which, okay, you're giving your buddy a modicum of privacy, but seriously, maybe actually close the door?!

Fraser's point that the kid is practicing what he's not already good at is a solid one, but it's hard to avoid noticing that for once Vecchio has done some actual diligent police work, and Fraser's "but come on, Ray" isn't going to get as far as it's got him other times. (Also, he never does say how he knows the shooter was left-handed.)

I am disappointed in Vecchio's assessment that basketball and crime are the only career paths available to kids in that neighborhood. And in his zero-sum calculations about the numbers of bad guys in the world depending on whom he does and doesn't lock up. That's not . . . I don't like it.

Scene 7

Fraser is escorting Tyree, Apparently out of the station.

FRASER: I'm not asking you to tell me the truth. If you had wished the truth to be known, then I think you would have been more forthcoming with the authorities, so obviously you have reason to fear the truth. I think you're in some kind of trouble — well, manifestly you're in trouble, you've been charged with a capital crime, but that's not the kind of trouble that I'm actually referring to. You know, it might help perhaps if you simply told us why it is you're not telling us the truth. And, of course, if you were to tell me why you are not telling us the truth, that would probably indicate what the truth might actually be, and you realize I'm not actually asking you to tell me the truth.
SHOOTER (TYREE, APPARENTLY): Do you talk English?
FRASER: Ah, Canadian, actually.

The basketball player Lou, Apparently was scolding (Reggie) drives up to meet Tyree, Apparently.

PLAYER (REGGIE): Yo, Tyree!
FRASER: Perhaps we could speak later.
TYREE: Don't count on it.
FRASER: All right.
TYREE: Hey, Reggie, thanks for the ride.
REGGIE: Hey, it's the least I can do for a fine young man with a noble heart helping to assist his friend achieve personal greatness. Ha-ha!

They drive off. Vecchio comes outside just in time to see them go.

VECCHIO: That was him.
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: He's out.
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: He made bail.
FRASER: Yes.
VECCHIO: Well, where did the punk get the money?
FRASER: I lent it to him.

Vecchio hangs his head.

At this point one begins to feel more of Vecchio's pain.

Scene 8

Vecchio and Fraser are back in the station. Huey notices Fraser's sneakers.

HUEY: What's wrong with your pal, Vecchio? He can't think straight without his boots on?
FRASER: Well, I don't believe the loss of my boots has affected my ability to think, Detective Huey. However, ah, now that you bring it up, if you should happen to see my boots in the course of —
HUEY: Better hope I don't, Constable, 'cause you don't even want to think about where I'd like to put them.
VECCHIO: Pipe down, Jack. [to Fraser] In case you haven't noticed, your popularity rating around here is at an all-time low.
FRASER: The young man is innocent, Ray.
VECCHIO: No, you think he is innocent, which is still no reason to bail him out by yourself. Now, the next time you do something like that, you want to run it by me first?
FRASER: Well, I would've, but you told me to stay away from you for an hour.
WELSH: Detective, thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule to confer with me.
VECCHIO: Any time, sir.
WELSH: It must be even busier since your Canadian friend decided to release that dangerous felon that you worked so hard to incarcerate.
FRASER: I'd like to explain that, Lieutenant. You see, the young man has an extremely important basketball game scheduled —
WELSH: Oh, I see. So if Charles Manson had a kazoo concert scheduled, you would have bailed him out, too.
FRASER: I don't think so, sir. Ah, furthermore, I believe that the evidence will support my theory, ah, concerning the young man.
WELSH: Well, why don't we let the courts decide that, Constable? You see, he's due for a prelim in a few hours, and if he doesn't show up, you are out a lot of money. [to Vecchio] And you are in for a long, long stay in my doghouse. Understood?

I'm not sure Fraser's popularity should be lower now than it was when he got Zuko out on that technicality, as linked from the previous scene. I'm just saying. But his rules-lawyering "you told me to stay away from you for an hour" bullshit is bullshit.

When I was 11, I was babysitting my brother once and got fed up with him and told him I was going to my room and to leave me alone. A little while later I heard him crying and went to see what was up, and he'd been playing with his Swiss Army knife and had cut his hand, and while I was helping him clean it and getting him band-aids and so on, I asked him why on earth he hadn't come to get me, and he sobbed "You said not to bother you!" So of course I ate my heart out, and it's possible neither of us has ever breathed a word of that event to our parents, but the important reason for my telling this story at this time is that Benton Fraser is a grown adult who knows better than my brother did at the age of eight what is an appropriate way to leave someone alone for an hour and what is—what's the word I'm trying to think of here—not.

Charles Manson was the white supremacist leader of a cult whose members killed at least nine people; prosecutors argued that even though he didn't tell his followers to commit these murders, it was his influence that led them to do their crimes because they wanted to please him. (One of his adherents was Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who was convicted of attempting to assassinate Gerald Ford—an event entirely fictionalized in Assassins by Stephen Sondheim.)

Scene 9

Reggie and Tyree are in a liquor store.

REGGIE: You know what? You did Lou a good turn, baby. You his man. You know you my man, baby. "And the good times are going to roll in the clubhouse tonight, Marv." "Well, these fellas have earned it, Dick." Ha ha ha ha ha — [Tyree grabs the bottle from him.] What, man?
TYREE: You're such an idiot, Reggie.
REGGIE: Ain't you?
TYREE: I can afford to be an idiot. I ain't going nowhere. You got these college coaches licking your Nikes, man. You got a future. Me, all I got is a messed-up shoulder. Now what coach is going to give me the time of day?
REGGIE: Poor baby. Let's be out, man. Come on.

Reggie leaves the store. Tyree tucks the bottle into his coat and follows him, but he throws a couple of bills on the counter as he goes.

This is the second time Reggie has talked about Dick and Marv: He means Marv Albert and Dick Enberg, who used to be big play-by-play announcers.

"I can afford to be an idiot" is an interesting position for Tyree to take. He is evidently smarter than Reggie, but he doesn't think he's as good a basketball prospect, so he assumes he doesn't have a way out of the neighborhood and can therefore more safely make what he knows ahead of time to be bad decisions. 🤔

Scene 10

Vecchio and Fraser (and Diefenbaker) are driving back to the neighborhood.

VECCHIO: You see that, Benny? For the next five blocks down is the turf of the Two-Four Dragons. Now, if you're not a member of that gang and you cross this street, you're going to wind up getting shot. Now, that's what happened to Taylor Thomas, left-handed thread or not.
FRASER: Tyree was not the shooter, Ray.
VECCHIO: Then why was he carrying a gun?
FRASER: I don't know.
VECCHIO: Then why did he shoot the gun?
FRASER: I don't know.
VECCHIO: Then why did he make me chase him?
FRASER: Well, I haven't figured that out yet.
VECCHIO: Ah, at least we're getting somewhere.
FRASER: Yes, it's encouraging, isn't it?

I've been fortunate to have no experience whatsoever of how gangs operate. Will they shoot anyone at all who comes onto their turf if they're not a member of the gang? or just if they're a member of a rival gang? or just someone who's in the area for the wrong reason? (Such as being a cop, I suppose.) Basically, how offensively reductive is Vecchio being here?

Scene 11

Reggie and Tyree are practicing basketball again.

REGGIE: Rebound!
TYREE: Give it to me, dog.
REGGIE: Here we go, baby. [They dribble down the court.]
TYREE: [fakes out an imaginary opponent, passes the ball to Reggie] Oh! That's too bad for you.
REGGIE: [passes the ball back to Tyree] Set it up for me, baby, set it up.
TYREE: [sets him up for the shot] Go ahead, man.
REGGIE: [makes the shot] Oh! That's what I'm talking about right there! One-two punch, baby! That's it!

Lou, Apparently and the driver of the car from scene 3 walk up. Lou is applauding insincerely. Reggie and Tyree quiet down.

LOU, APPARENTLY: Tyree. [beckons] Come here a minute.

Tyree and Reggie are unhappy, but Tyree goes with Lou, Apparently.

So now both Reggie and Tyree have been visibly unhappy with Lou, Apparently's instruction. If he's this magnanimous, beneficent figure in the neighborhood, why are they both afraid of him? 🤔

Scene 12

Fraser and Vecchio are looking at the crime scene.

FRASER: The bullet was extracted from the wall here, which would mean that the gunman had to be where you're standing.
VECCHIO: Because this is where you found the thread.
FRASER: It had rained earlier that day. The wind was from the southwest, yet the thread was dry, there was no sign of mold. Also, the footprints at the site would indicate that a man approximately seventy-nine point five kilos stood there some time after the deluge.
VECCHIO: Well, that could have been anybody. Now here's how I see it.

A flashback begins. The shooting victim enters the alley, eating a cheeseburger. Tyree is at the other end of the alley.

TYREE: The hell you think you're doing? This is my hood.

Tyree shoots at the victim, ducks out of the way as the victim fires back, then shoots him again, hitting him in the leg.

The flashback ends.

VECCHIO: Tyree fires the first shot and misses. The victim fires back, misses by a mile, hits the garbage can. Tyree fires again and nails him, ba-da-bing.
FRASER: What did you just say?
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: You said "ba-da-bing."
VECCHIO: Yeah. Don't they say that in Canada?
FRASER: No, no, just listen to the sound of that. Ba da bing.
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: Well, remember back to yesterday. [Another flashback begins, this one just of hands firing guns.] The first two shots had the same sound. [The first shot is fired by the eventual victim shooting with his left hand. The second shot is fired by the right hand of someone we can't see, wearing one of Lou, Apparently's light grey sweatshirts.] The third shot was the bing. [The third shot is fired directly into the garbage can by the right hand of someone wearing that light grey sweatshirt. Flashback ends.] See, your scenario doesn't hold up, Ray. The bing was the shot that hit the garbage can, not the second shot. That was a bang.
VECCHIO: Oh, the judge is going to love this. "Your honor, we have no case because the bang is where the bing should have been."
FRASER: The sounds don't lie, Ray.
VECCHIO: All right, then tell me this. How does the bang being where the bing should have been —
FRASER: No, that's the bing being where the bang should have been.
VECCHIO: But how do — what does any of this mean that I busted the wrong guy?
FRASER: Perhaps Tyree was with a left-handed man.

I adore "the bang is where the bing should have been." I adore it so much that I don't mind that they did the bit three times when only one of them was actually necessary. (The subsequent back-and-forth feels enough like "Even if you were right, that would be one plus one plus two plus one, not one plus two plus one plus one." "Okay, fine. One plus two plus one—shut up!" that it also makes me happy.)

This is the first we've heard about the shooting victim shooting back (or first), though, isn't it? There's been no suggestion before now that he was even armed. Wouldn't that be in any way relevant? (A man approximately 79.5 kilos weighs approximately 175.25 lbs, and I don't see why it couldn't have been a woman approximately 79.5 kilos standing on that spot, eh, Fraser?)

Scene 13

Lou, Apparently and Tyree are walking and talking.

LOU, APPARENTLY: And yet the Mounting just, just bailed you out, just out the goodness of his heart?
TYREE: I don't know.
LOU, APPARENTLY: Hey, hey.
REGGIE: Man, Tyree ain't going to say nothing.
LOU, APPARENTLY: Anything.
REGGIE: What?
LOU, APPARENTLY: Anything. Tyree ain't going to say anything.
REGGIE: Oh. Right.
LOU, APPARENTLY: Reggie, go work on your jump shot. [Reggie dribbles away.] I'm worried, Tyree.
TYREE: Got nothing to be worried about, Lou.
LOU: You, you're due in court.
TYREE: In a couple of hours.
LOU: I want you there. I want this over. I want you to just plead it out.
REGGIE: [having dribbled back] Hey, we got finals tomorrow.
LOU: Go work on your jump shot, Reggie. Tyree ain't got to be there for you to show your stuff.
REGGIE: But Purdue's going to be there. Hey, Isiah Thomas is going to be there.
TYREE: Yeah, right.
REGGIE: No, for real. Everybody says so.
LOU: Reggie, hey, you going to make us all proud, Tyree or no Tyree. This man got business to take care of, ain't that right, Tyree? Ain't that right?
TYREE: Yeah. Yeah, Lou.
LOU: All right. Tyree, Junior, you a juvie. You going to do light time, man. I'll look out for your mom, make sure she okay. And when you get out, you and me. Get you some protection, you be making big money. Isiah Thomas? You can meet Isiah Thomas some other time.
TYREE: Thank you.

Tyree walks away from Lou, dismayed. Reggie joins him and puts his arm around his shoulder. The driver from scene 3 joins Lou to watch them go; he nods.

This is the second mention of Purdue, a university in Indiana whose basketball program is historically very successful. Isiah Thomas is a basketball hero who grew up in Chicago and retired from pro ball (with the Detroit Pistons) in 1994, at which point he became EVP of the Toronto Raptors.

So all these guys also know Tyree didn't do it, but he knows who did, and he's being instructed to take the fall rather than try to get off as he deserves. What is Lou's purpose here?

Scene 14

Fraser is sitting at his desk. Thatcher knocks on his doorjamb on her way into his office.

FRASER: Ah, ma'am. [He sticks his feet under his desk and does not stand up.]
THATCHER: I received a call from Lieutenant Welsh of the Chicago Police Department.
FRASER: Good man. Fine commander.
THATCHER: He was less enthusiastic about you.
FRASER: Oh. I'm sorry to hear that.
THATCHER: He mentioned that you had bailed out a gang member who's been accused of attempted murder?
FRASER: Yes, ma'am. As a matter of fact, I'm on my way shortly to attend his preliminary hearing.
THATCHER: Is there a good reason why you're not standing at attention, Constable?
FRASER: I beg your pardon?
THATCHER: You heard me.
FRASER: Yes, I did. [He pulls his trash can over to hide his feet and then stands up.]
THATCHER: Why did you do that?
FRASER: Do what?
THATCHER: You moved the garbage can in front of your feet.
FRASER: Did I?
THATCHER: Are you hiding something, Constable?
FRASER: No. No, no. [She keeps looking at him like the mother of a young child waiting for the proper response.] Yes. [He steps over the trash can to reveal his sneakers.]
THATCHER: You're wearing sneakers.
FRASER: [hangs his head and looks at the sneakers] I lost my boots.
THATCHER: They're not yours to lose.
FRASER: I understand that, sir. It was in the process of saving a life.
THATCHER: With your boots?
FRASER: No. You see, the seams had become frayed and, to be frank, I was less than enthusiastic about my prior cobbler's mastery of the bindlestitch —
THATCHER: Is this going to be a long story, Constable?
FRASER: Quite a long story, yes, ma'am.
THATCHER: The life you saved. Was this person a Canadian?
FRASER: I shouldn't think so.
THATCHER: Then you're paying for the new boots yourself.
FRASER: Understood.

As she is leaving his office, she turns back to say something else, then thinks better of it and just goes. He thinks carefully to remember the sounds of the three gunshots.

I can't work out the rhyme or reason of when Fraser calls Thatcher "ma'am" and when he calls her "sir." I'd have thought maybe it was "ma'am" in general because she outranks him and "sir" when he's done something wrong, but even that doesn't work now, does it? I'm stumped.

Expecting him to pay to replace his government-issued boots as they weren't lost in the line of duty for that government seems entirely reasonable to me, as does the fact that he apparently has a spare uniform but just the one pair of boots, but (a) doesn't he have footwear other than bright white sneakers he could be wearing until his knee boots are recovered or replaced, and (b) doesn't he have both a brown and a blue uniform, either of which he could be wearing instead of the red one given that this is not a special occasion and he's not able to wear the red uniform with the boots it requires?

She is wearing the 1996iest skirt suit ever (wearing it well, but it is unmistakably Of Its Time, as are the chunky-heeled shoes). Also, she pronounces "Lieutenant" in the more usual North American way, without the 'f'. Fraser, meanwhile, is terrible at gaslighting.

Scene 15

Fraser and Vecchio are sitting in the courtroom waiting for Tyree's preliminary hearing. Fraser has remembered the sound of the three gunshots.

FRASER: It was boom, bang, bing.
VECCHIO: What?
FRASER: It wasn't bang, bang, bing. It was boom, bang, bing.
VECCHIO: Look, Benny, I know what I saw. I know what I did. Now, I'm going to have to tell that all to the judge, and if it goes against the kid, I can't help that.
FRASER: Ray, please, just try to remember. The sounds are all stored in here. So just clear your mind. Imagine you're, uh — imagine, say, you're on an ice floe. You are thousands of miles from any conceivable distraction —
VECCHIO: Is this an Eskimo trick?
FRASER: No. Inuit. Now. Close your eyes. [Vecchio rolls his eyes.] Close your eyes. [Vecchio closes his eyes.] All right, now, put yourself back at that moment. What do you hear?
VECCHIO: The entire Chicago Police Department laughing at me?
FRASER: Ray, please, humor me.
VECCHIO: All right, all right.

Vecchio closes his eyes again and takes a deep breath, calling up his memory of what he heard. Tyree comes up the aisle behind him as he's thinking.

JUDGE: In the matter of Illinois versus Tyree Cameron, case number J-eight-seven-nine-six-five, how does the defendant plead?

Vecchio hears a boom, then a bang, then a bing. He opens his eyes, surprised.

TYREE: Guilty, your honor.
VECCHIO: [jumps to his feet] I was the arresting officer, your honor. He didn't do it.
TYREE: Yes, I did.
VECCHIO: No, he didn't.
JUDGE: How do you know that, Detective?
VECCHIO: Because, uh —
FRASER: [stands up] It was boom, bang, bing, your honor.

Vecchio nods.

The thing is, all the times Fraser has done this ("it was a clunk or a thud"), nobody has ever pointed out that onomatopoeia isn't actually evidence.

Scene 16

Fraser, Vecchio, and Tyree are outside the courtroom.

TYREE: What is wrong with you?
VECCHIO: Fraser was right, kid. You couldn't have done it. The shots went boom, bang, bing.
TYREE: Are you out of your damn mind? Look, I shot that fool. Why won't you let me pay for my crime?

A car is coming along the street toward them; it is about two blocks away. Music cue: "Peeps" by Cipher.

FRASER: Because it's a crime you didn't commit. The boom was clearly from the PPK three-eighty, Mr. Taylor Thomas's gun. He fired the first shot. The bang was from the thirty-two, the shot that hit Mr. Thomas. [The car is coming closer. Tyree notices it.] The bing was the shot that you fired from the same thirty-two into the trash can because you needed to have your prints on the gun and you wanted the blowback to be revealed in the paraffin test. [The car is about one block away. One of the rear windows rolls down, and the muzzle of a gun emerges.]
VECCHIO: Who you covering for, Tyree? Huh? Who was the real shooter? [Tyree runs. Vecchio sees the car he's fleeing from.] Fraser!

Vecchio takes off running after Tyree. Fraser thinks fast and interrupts a road crew with a fire hose or hydrant or something, aiming the water at the would-be shooter, a Black person in a hoodie, and propelling him back into the car. Tyree keeps running; Vecchio is pushing people out of the way to keep following him. The drive-by shooting car knocks into a parked car in which a woman is doing her makeup in the visor mirror with the driver's side door open; it bangs the door back on its hinges and zooms away, squealing around the corner.

FRASER: Are you all right, ma'am? [She is stunned, but she nods.] All right, I'll just, uh . . .

He replaces her driver's side door as best he can, nods and waves, and runs. Vecchio is in an alley and has lost track of Tyree. Fraser comes running around the corner and finds Vecchio by himself. They stare at each other for a moment. Meanwhile, Tyree is running around another corner, having lost them; he is brought up short by the driver of the car from scene 3 and the silent dude from that driver's passenger seat.

DRIVER: Yo, Tree. I think you and Lou need to talk. [starts leading him to the car] Move it.

I understand the ploy of firing an extra shot to get the blowback on Tyree's hands. I do not understand firing that shot into a tin trash can, the stopping power of which at that range is probably zero. Is that really safer than simply firing it at the ground? I guess Lou and Tyree weren't thinking about the subtle acoustic differences of the respective shots.

I can't find the lyrics to "Peeps" anywhere online.

But the main thing I've got right now is that I am really not fond of the casual way this show has just served us our hero, a white law enforcement officer, turning a high-pressure stream of water on a Black person. Jesus. I understand and appreciate the roles everyone is playing in this scene, and I know it's Chicago in 1996 and not Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, and I still DO NOT LIKE IT and would prefer the show had found some other way for Fraser to foil that drive-by shooting.

Scene 17

At the community basketball court, Lou takes some cash and hands someone a packet, exchanging fist bumps as well before the other person departs. Tyree comes in with the driver and the silent passenger.

LOU: I'd like to protect you, Tyree. Really, I would, but, um, you shouldn't have been walking away from that courthouse in the first place.
TYREE: Lou, it, it's the Mountie and the cop. They're not letting me take the fall for this. They not leaving it alone.
LOU: That Mounter know something, Tyree?
TYREE: He don't know nothing. Not from me, he don't.
LOU: He been asking a lot of questions, you know what I'm saying? I mean, if he was to find out anything, that wouldn't be good. You, you going to let that happen to your friend?
TYREE: I'm not going to let anything happen. I'm going to do the right thing.
LOU: I don't know. You worrying me, Tyree.
TYREE: Nothing to be worried about, Lou.
LOU: There is one way you can eliminate my doubt and eliminate my worries.
TYREE: Uh, all right?
LOU: Trevor. Give him your piece. [The driver from scene 3, Trevor, pulls a handgun out of his waistband and hands it to Tyree.] Show me where you stand. Do the Mountie.

Lou, Trevor, and the silent passenger leave Tyree alone.

Tyree hasn't given Lou any reason to doubt him, but here we are: There is something they know that they don't want Fraser to know, which would get Tyree's friend (so, probably Reggie) in trouble if it were known, and Tyree believes the right thing to do is to keep lying about it. And now the only time Lou has used the word "Mountie" without mockingly converting it to some other variant (Mounting, Mounter), it's been when he's ordering a hit on him.

Scene 18

Welsh has a dizzying array of perfectly round cold cuts in front of him, as well as Swiss cheese, lettuce, some sliced bell peppers, a box of sprouts, a bottle of yellow mustard, and an almost full jar of mayonnaise, some of which he is spreading on a kaiser roll to make a sandwich.

WELSH: Vecchio, you know, sometimes it seems like you make a full time job out of destroying your own career.
VECCHIO: I see how you can think that, sir.
WELSH: No, no, no, no, no. This is not a talking time. This is a listening time. Your job is to respond to crimes and arrest the offender, not to become a public defender. Now, your friend Fraser bailing this kid out does not make any sense to me, but I've learned to expect it from him. But you? Standing up in court attempting to have the charges dropped? That is nothing less than insanity.
VECCHIO: Ah, sir, insane is a very harsh word.
WELSH: Oh ho ho, no, no, no. The harsh words have not yet begun. You have not yet begun to hear how I feel about you being involved in a drive-by shooting in front of the courthouse.
VECCHIO: Lieutenant, new information has surfaced suggesting that Tyree Cameron was not the shooter in the incident and that the shooting was in self-defense. I had to make that information known to the court.
WELSH: And what would that new information be?
VECCHIO: Well, at first we believed the shots to be bang bang bing, but after further reflection we came to believe that the shots were boom bang bing. Sir, with a little time I now believe I can track down the real shooter.
WELSH: That's great, Vecchio, 'cause a little time is about all you got.
VECCHIO: Ah, sir, are you going to eat all these cold cuts?

I'm glad Vecchio is calling out the ridiculousness of Welsh's lunch spread. It's time someone did.

Scene 19

Fraser and Vecchio are at Tyree's apartment building talking to his mother.

MRS. CAMERON: Tyree's not here right now. This is his room, but he hasn't been here since yesterday. Why did you have to arrest him, anyway? Tyree's a good boy.
VECCHIO: Mrs. Cameron, I may be old-fashioned, but the way I figure it, good boys don't carry handguns.
MRS. CAMERON: I'm not defending Tyree having that gun.
FRASER: Does your son know Mr. Lou Robbins?
MRS. CAMERON: Everybody knows Lou.
FRASER: Mrs. Cameron, I understand your reticence —
VECCHIO: Is your son a member of any gang?
MRS. CAMERON: He plays basketball.
VECCHIO: This isn't the first time he's been in trouble.
MRS. CAMERON: Tyree lives by his own rules, but he is a good boy. Only been arrested once.
VECCHIO: Only once.
MRS. CAMERON: Fell asleep on the subway.
FRASER: That's a crime?
MRS. CAMERON: Oh, it is if you wake up in Lake Forest, got to walk five miles through white neighborhoods. He tries. He works on that basketball court. He ain't got the body to play pro ball ever since his shoulder went out on him. He tried at school. But there, even the teachers don't pretend a boy from here can make it to college. What's a young man to do but get frustrated?
VECCHIO: Do you have any idea who he might have been with yesterday?
MRS. CAMERON: Yeah. He had a practice like every day. Lou takes them out for a meal afterwards.
VECCHIO: Yeah, he's a regular prince.
MRS. CAMERON: It breaks me up inside to see that drug dealer being the only one who looks out for them kids. The only one who gets through to them. But you tell me. He doesn't look after them, who does? The government? The police?
FRASER: So you think it's possible that Tyree spent the day with Mr. Robbins.
MRS. CAMERON: Could be. It's a sure bet he was with his friend Reggie. Ain't nothing that separates those two but the need to shut they eyes every night. You talk to him.

She opens the door to shoo them out. They head down the steps to the sidewalk and head away from the building.

VECCHIO: His own mother thinks he did it.
FRASER: She didn't say that.
VECCHIO: She stands by her family.
FRASER: I suppose.
VECCHIO: You see, some people stand by their family, and some people stand by their friends, and then there are other people who stand by complete strangers, only to have their friends reamed out by their lieutenant.
FRASER: [concerned by some kids jumping up and down on the roof of a car] Ray.
VECCHIO: It's abandoned.
FRASER: Ah. [They keep walking.] Well, if it's any consolation, things aren't going very smoothly at the consulate, either.
VECCHIO: Consolation would have been you buying a new pair of boots instead of me taking you to my cobbler.
FRASER: Well, as I recall, it was you that insisted —
VECCHIO: I thought you were the one who was apologizing.
FRASER: Oh, right. I'm sorry.
VECCHIO: Now, I'm gong to go back to the crime scene and take a look around. You coming?
FRASER: No, I think I'm going to go and talk to Reggie.
VECCHIO: He probably won't talk to you.
FRASER: Well, he may not have to, Ray.

I appreciate the quickness with which Fraser hops from "Well, actually" to "right, I'm sorry." He's learning—slowly, but it's happening. I'm less impressed with how he hasn't learned yet that Existing While Black is indeed often treated as a crime and had to have Tyree's mother explain it to him.

Scene 20

Fraser arrives at the basketball court where Reggie is practicing.

REGGIE: Stamp, coming down court — for three! [He makes the basket.] Ahh, yes!
FRASER: Nice shot.
REGGIE: You're that mounting guy, right?
FRASER: It's Mountie, actually.
REGGIE: Heh. And why do they call you that?
FRASER: Well, that's a long story. Would you like to play some one-on-one?
REGGIE: You'll lose.
FRASER: I think that's very likely.
REGGIE: [makes a basket] You're already down two, baby.
FRASER: Your friend Tyree is in trouble. [He takes the ball back to the foul line.]
REGGIE: Man, everybody around here got troubles. You still trying to get him off.
FRASER: Well, yes. You see, there's certain elements of the crime that don't make any sense. [He starts to dribble, and almost immediately Reggie steals the ball and makes another shot.] I don't think Tyree shot that young man.
REGGIE: Oh, yeah, and how you figure that?
FRASER: To begin with, the shooter was left-handed.
REGGIE: You know, it's hard to prove something like that.
FRASER: Well, that's true. But it's also my belief that the third shot was fired to provide blowback on Tyree's hand and arm to make it appear that he was the shooter.
REGGIE: Now, why would somebody do that?
FRASER: Well, friends protect one another, and I think he was covering for someone. [He gets past Reggie and makes a basket.]
REGGIE: Hey, Mountie, if Tyree said he did something, then he did it. I mean, it's that simple. You know, when you live down here, sometimes you got to shoot somebody in self-defense.
FRASER: If it was self-defense, the man in the alley would have had a gun.
REGGIE: He had a gun!
FRASER: [eyebrows up] How do you know that? Were you there?
REGGIE: No.
FRASER: No. Of course not. Because if you had been, then you would have had to protect your friend. Thanks for the game.

In another callback to "The Deal" (besides the bindlestitch, I mean), this is not the first time Fraser has drawn someone out over one-on-one basketball. Of course, Reggie is not at all slimy, the way Frank Zuko was, and he beats Fraser fair and square on the court—and implicates himself much more easily with his words.

Scene 21

Vecchio is in the alley looking at the crime scene. He turns over some cardboard boxes with the toe of his shoe; nothing. He looks at the bullet hole in the back wall and then out at the corner of the wall where Fraser found the thread. As he's leaving, he feels something under his heel, and when he looks, there's a patch of loose gravel in the asphalt. He kicks it away and finds a very sloppily buried handgun.

Aha, you see, it was indeed Chekov's Gravel back in scene 1.

Scene 22

Fraser returns home in the evening. After he turns down the hall to his apartment, Tyree slips around the corner with Trevor's gun and hides. Diefenbaker whufs.

FRASER: Oh, you're hungry, are you? [Diefenbaker whimpers.] Well, perhaps you should learn how to use the stove. [Diefenbaker whines.] Just joking. [He starts to close the door. Tyree cocks the gun; his shadow is visible on the floor. Diefenbaker snarls and growls. Fraser leans out the door again. Tyree ducks behind the corner of the wall.] Hello? [Tyree runs away. Fraser speaks to Diefenbaker.] Stay.

Fraser leaves the apartment. Tyree runs down the street and ducks behind some corrugated tin into an alley where a building is under construction.

If we can see Tyree's shadow on the floor, so can Fraser, right?

Scene 23

Reggie slips into the construction site where Tyree is hiding. Tyree steps out of the shadow and points the gun at him.

TYREE: Whoa!
REGGIE: Man, it's me, man! Put that gun away!
TYREE: Man, don't do that!
REGGIE: Look, I brought you some chips, man. Geez. [Tyree looks out through a crack to be sure they're safe. Reggie moves to the side of the alley to share his snacks. Fraser appears out of nowhere.]
FRASER: Mind if I join you? [Reggie and Tyree jump, startled.]
TYREE: Don't come any closer.
REGGIE: Hey, be cool, Tyree.
TYREE: Reggie, go home.
REGGIE: Man, I ain't going nowhere.
FRASER: You were waiting outside my apartment.
TYREE: What if I was? Is it off limits? I ain't got a right to be in front of your building?
FRASER: Were you there to visit Ms. Krezjapolou? Mr. Mustafi? Or were you there to visit me?
TYREE: Maybe I was.
FRASER: Well, that's good. Because we still have a lot of things to talk about. For one thing, I don't understand why you're prepared to go to prison for a crime you didn't commit.
TYREE: Man, don't try to get into my head. You and me, we ain't nothing alike.
REGGIE: Shh! It's Two-Fours. [He looks out through a crack in the tin sheet to see a car driving past, then turns to Fraser.] So you're Canadian, huh?
FRASER: That's right, son.
REGGIE: So that means you been outside of Chicago.
FRASER: Yes.
REGGIE: [shrugs] Well, what's so different?
FRASER: Not that much. We have all the same stars, just more of them.
REGGIE: So you grew up under the stars with the birds and weasels and wolves and trees and whatnot, huh?
FRASER: There was an abundance of wildlife.
TYREE: We got wildlife. They gunned down my daddy in front of me when I was four.
FRASER: My father was also killed.
TYREE: You don't get over that.
FRASER: No.
TYREE: Life sucks, don't it?
FRASER: What are you afraid of?
TYREE: Nothing.
FRASER: You're not afraid of death?
TYREE: Are you?
FRASER: Yes, very much.

I thought Vecchio's position was that Reggie and Tyree were in the 2-4 Dragons, and the shooting victim (whose name is apparently Taylor Thomas) wasn't, and he was shot just for being on 2-4 Dragon turf. But if Reggie is scared of 2-4s here in or near Fraser's neighborhood, does that mean (a) they are not 2-4s themselves? (b) Fraser lives on 2-4 turf and is not considered a trespasser because he exists outside the gang structure? (c) They are 2-4s but this is someone else's turf and they're liable to be penalized by 2-4 leadership for wandering afield? . . . Basically I don't understand what's going on gang-wise in this episode.

I agree that Fraser has in common with Tyree that their fathers were both shot. I do not agree that Fraser's experience in his 30s of losing his somewhat estranged father is particularly similar to Tyree's experience at age four of seeing his father shot to death in his presence. But they are both fatherless, I'll grant that.

Reggie's question, "You've been outside of Chicago; what's that like?" is almost an afterthought in this scene, and it is so sad.

Scene 24

Diefenbaker is home alone when there is a knock at the door.

VECCHIO: Fraser, open up, it's me. [Diefenbaker whines. After a moment, Vecchio lets himself in to the apartment. Diefenbaker trots out into the hallway and whines again.] What is it, boy? [Diefenbaker woofs.] Is Fraser in trouble?

This is a nice little hat-hanging moment on the Timmy-and-Lassie of it all. 😄

Scene 25

Back in the hidden alley, Reggie has had enough.

REGGIE: You want to tell me what's going on, Tyree?
TYREE: Why don't you go home, Reggie? You got a game in the morning.
REGGIE: You too. I need you, man.
TYREE: You don't need nothing. Look, you're going to be golden, so why don't you just go on home? I got some talking to do with the Mountie, all right?
FRASER: You're not going to the game? This game you've practiced for all year? The game you love?
TYREE: Well, it doesn't love me. In this neighborhood, who lives and who dies is all set at birth. Either you got the genes to hoop or you don't.

Diefenbaker is leading Vecchio through an alley looking for Fraser. The graffiti on the wall says "WORK TO RULE." Diefenbaker barks, runs a little further, and turns around to wait for Vecchio, who eventually comes running in from around the corner.

VECCHIO: Okay. Good boy. We'll rest here. [Diefenbaker runs off.] Okay, maybe we won't rest here.

Tyree is still summing up.

TYREE: Reggie here, he's good enough. He's got a future. The rest of us? We'll flip burgers for a while. We'll sell drugs for a while. We'll keep busy until we piss somebody off, or we just happen to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, which happens too damn often. And somebody steps up with a gun, and they make you dead.
FRASER: Just because you have a gun doesn't mean you have to use it. You proved that tonight.

Diefenbaker runs around a corner. Vecchio comes around the same corner, knocking down a couple of trash cans.

REGGIE: See, they coming, man. Tyree, come on.
TYREE: [about to pull the gun out of his pocket, but Fraser is looking at him and he just can't do it] Man . . . [He runs off after Reggie. Vecchio and Diefenbaker come in through the corrugated tin.]
FRASER: Ray.
VECCHIO: You okay?
FRASER: Yes, I'm fine.
VECCHIO: You're sure you're okay?
FRASER: I'm fine.
VECCHIO: Did you hear him? He's fine! What did you drag me all the way down here for?
FRASER: He's probably just crying wolf.

There was some nice reaction work from Reggie in this scene, during Tyree's monologue, as if he hadn't realized how bad it was going to be for those who don't have his talent and luck. It's hard to think of a kid growing up in the circumstances the show has outlined for us re: that neighborhood as privileged, but Reggie does have some good fortune compared to Tyree, and this is the moment he realizes it.

I think the "crying wolf" comment is just there because they needed something to wrap up the scene with. It doesn't have anything to do with Diefenbaker's reasons for bringing Vecchio down to find Fraser in the alley.

Scene 26

The basketball game is in progress. Someone carrying Fraser's boots arrives behind the bleachers. In the bleachers, Lou looks over at Fraser and Vecchio. Fraser gives him a mimed fist bump and a thumbs up. Lou glares at him. Reggie makes a good shot; everyone applauds. Tyree sets him up again, and Reggie scores again. Vecchio is impressed. Some scouts in the front row are making notes. Lou leans forward to talk to them.

LOU: Young man's a talent, ain't he?
SCOUT: Yeah, he is.
SIDELINE COACHES AND SPECTATORS: [back to sideline coaching] All right! Reggie! Double team my man down low, Reggie! [The other team scores.] Damn, Reggie, where the D? Where's the D, man? [Tyree glowers at Reggie.] You got to impress everybody! Be straight, Reg! Be flowing, you hear me? [Tyree sets Reggie up; Reggie takes a shot and bounces it point blank off the backboard.] Oh! What's that? What was that?
TYREE: [shoves Reggie] What's wrong with you?!
REGGIE: [shoves back] Nothing, man!
TYREE: You're blowing it!
REGGIE: Then I blow it!

The whistle blows; one of their teammates makes a "T" sign to call for time out. Sideline spectators are shouting "play the game!"

TYREE: Hell, no, this is my ass that's on the line for you.
REGGIE: Look, I ain't ask you to do that, all right?
TYREE: You didn't have to.
REGGIE: You were going to kill that Mountie. Look, we can get out of this, all right? Both of us can.
TYREE: This is out of our hands. You do what you're told, and I do what I'm told. I mean, nothing happens around here, nothing!, that Lou doesn't want to happen. He wanted you free, and he wants the Mountie dead.
REGGIE: All right, so what happens if he wants you and me dead, huh? We kill each other?
LOU: [arrives from the sidelines and smacks Reggie up the back of the head] What the hell are you doing, Reggie?
REGGIE: Playing ball.
LOU: You play it better! Now check that attitude. You don't want to screw this up.

Fraser sees the person with his boots under their arm walking by.

FRASER: Ray, excuse me, uh, I'll be right back. [He hurries to follow the boot-carrier. Lou sees that Fraser has separated himself from Vecchio; he nods slightly to Trevor's silent passenger from scene 3, who nods and moves to tail Fraser. Fraser is looking for the boot-carrier and meets the silent passenger and Trevor.] Good afternoon, gentlemen. You wouldn't have happened to see a fellow carrying a, uh — [He realizes he is now surrounded by young men who are not pleased with him.] — Oh, dear.

Tyree passes the ball to Reggie. Reggie passes it back. Tyree takes a shot; Reggie dunks off the rebound. They are cheering; the game is over. Lou makes his way into the crush to talk to Tyree.

LOU: I'm impressed, Junior. I'm really impressed. That was a nice pass.
TYREE: Thanks.
LOU: Come on, game's not over yet. Coming through! [He leads Tyree outside. In the stands, Vecchio realizes something is up.] You had a job to do, but you ain't do it.
TYREE: We won, didn't we?
LOU: Hell, yeah, you know what I'm talking about. The Mountie, Junior, the Mountie.
TYREE: The time wasn't right. [Two of the guys who surrounded Fraser are hustling him along to join Lou and Tyree.]
LOU: Oh, yeah, here's your chance. The time is right, Tyree. [He puts a gun in Tyree's hand.]
TYREE: Man, who's he hurting?
LOU: He's been snooping around ever since the shooting.
TYREE: He don't know nothing, Lou.
FRASER: Actually, I do.
LOU: You hear that?
FRASER: But you're not going to shoot me.
LOU: Do it. Now.

Tyree raises the gun. Reggie comes running around the corner.

REGGIE: Tyree! stop!
LOU: Reggie, man, chill!
REGGIE: There's no reason!
LOU: Reggie, step back!
REGGIE: There's no reason. I did it.
TYREE: Reggie, don't do this to —
REGGIE: Tyree, it's over, man. It's over! [turns to Fraser] I shot Taylor.
FRASER: I know. [flashback as he describes what happened] Lou had taken you out for burgers after the practice, and the three of you split up. Taylor was waiting for Reggie in the alley. He fired first, but he missed. Then Reggie fired, resting his left arm on the wall. Taylor fell, and the gun went into the dirt, where he buried it. Tyree heard the shots. He ran back to help. He forced Reggie to give him the gun. Lou arrived, and then Tyree fired into the garbage can to get blowback on his hand and his arm. Then Lou and Reggie ran, leaving you, Tyree, to take the blame.
REGGIE: He came at me, all right? I mean, I guess he figured that shoot me, he'd get his rag. It was self-defense. Tyree ain't do nothing.
LOU: Both of y'all fools. End it. Now.

Fraser lifts his arms and punches his two escorts in their faces, then grabs and throws them both down. One of them rolls to his feet and pulls out a knife. Fraser picks up a trash can lid to use as a shield. The guy swings at him a couple of times; Fraser blocks him and then clangs him in the face with the lid. He goes down, but by now his buddy is on his feet coming at Fraser. Fraser blocks him a couple of times and then throws him over his shoulder. He turns around and Lou is holding a switchblade right in front of his face.

ONE OF THE TOUGH GUYS: Get him, man.

Tyree aims the gun at Lou.

TYREE: That's enough, Lou.
FRASER: You're not going to shoot him.
TYREE: What did you say?
FRASER: You're not a killer.

Tyree is lowering the gun, surprised by this. Lou rolls his eyes, grabs the gun from him, cocks it, and aims it at Fraser.

LOU: Now, let's make this right.
FRASER: You're not going to shoot either.
LOU: 'Cause I'm not a killer?
FRASER: No, I think you're an evil psychopath. [Vecchio has just arrived and places his gun against Lou's neck.] But if you try, Detective Vecchio will blow your brains off.
VECCHIO: Out.
FRASER: Out. I'm sorry, I stand corrected. He will blow your brains out.
VECCHIO: Give me the gun.

Lou gives him the gun.

I assume "get his rag" refers to a badge of gang membership Taylor Thomas would earn for killing (or at least shooting) Reggie. I'm not sure I see how Reggie blowing the game will get both him and Tyree out of there, but it's of course true that telling the truth is the right thing to do.

Fraser's mistaking the idiom is cute, and I guess it's there for a tiny amount of levity in an otherwise potentially very grim scene? I don't know, I feel like it doesn't exactly go, but it doesn't totally clang either. He hasn't spent the past two years trying to be hip and failing, so it's not obvious to me why we need this punch line for a joke that hasn't ever been set up, but whatever.

Scene 27

A uniformed officer is loading Lou into a patrol car.

VECCHIO: I'll see what we can do for you downtown.
TYREE: You better be straight, man. Reggie don't deserve to go down for this.
FRASER: We know that.

A man walks up and hands Fraser his boots.

MAN: I heard you was looking for these.
FRASER: Well — yes. Thank you.
MAN: I saw them in the streets. Looked valuable, so I took them in. This isn't a safe neighborhood.

We never see the boot savior's face, nor do we know why he brought the damn things to the game in the first place (how did he know Fraser would be there?). The trope of someone in a dangerous neighborhood pointing out how dangerous the neighborhood is (rather than or in addition to people from outside the neighborhood pointing out the same thing) is not uncommon, but it's also been well used in this episode already, hasn't it? I don't know what the whole boots-saved-by-this-guy thing is for.

Scene 28

Back at the basketball court, Tyree is sitting on the bleachers bouncing a ball listlessly. Fraser is lacing up his boots. A man in a business suit comes around to talk to them.

MAN IN A BUSINESS SUIT: Hey.
TYREE: [delighted] Hey!
FRASER: Hello.
MAN IN A BUSINESS SUIT (ISIAH THOMAS): Everybody gone?
TYREE: Yeah.
ISIAH THOMAS: Oh, sorry I'm late. Bad weather. Plane got off a little late leaving Toronto.
TYREE: Hey, can't change the weather.
ISIAH THOMAS: Did y'all play today?
FRASER: Yes, and he played very well.
TYREE: Not well enough.
FRASER: For what?
TYREE: Play ball in college.
ISIAH THOMAS: You and almost everybody else on this planet. So what else you going to do?
TYREE: Nothing to do, if not play ball.
ISIAH THOMAS: You have to put your other assets to work.
TYREE: What other assets?
ISIAH THOMAS: This kid got any other assets?
FRASER: Well, apart from his loyalty, his integrity, and his brains, no, I don't think so.
TYREE: What about my dashing good looks?
FRASER: Well, we're talking about assets, not drawbacks.
VECCHIO: All right, Tyree. I spoke with the state's attorney and she's considering dropping the charges. [offhand to Isiah Thomas] How you doing? [And then his eyes bug out.]
ISIAH THOMAS: I'm Isiah. How you doing? [shaking his hand]
VECCHIO: [shaking his hand, babbling and giggling] Yeah, I know who you are. Ray Vecchio.
ISIAH THOMAS: So we going to play today or what?
VECCHIO: Well, yeah! Give me the ball! Let's go! [Vecchio and Tyree hop eagerly out onto the court.]
ISIAH THOMAS: Mountie, right?
FRASER: Uh, that's correct, Mr. Isiah.
ISIAH THOMAS: You know, I was wondering, ah, since I'm in Toronto now —
FRASER: Oh, ah, we mount the horses. [Either Tyree or Vecchio makes a basket.] Do you play basketball?

Isiah Thomas chuckles.

Ray Vecchio, in "The Blue Line": "Now, I meet celebrities every day, and you can't make a big deal of it. . . . Point is, they're people just like you and me, only they're a lot richer, nastier, and more obnoxious." Ray Vecchio, in "The Promise": "Celebrities are no different than the next guy, Fraser. The only mistake you can make is treating them like they are." Ray Vecchio, meeting Isiah Thomas: [so starstruck he's ready to start dribbling, if you take my double meaning (rim shot) (that's a percussion, not a basketball, rim shot) (oh, I'll come in again)]

I like Fraser asking Isiah Thomas if he plays basketball. It's good for famous people to be reminded occasionally that there are people who don't know or much care who they are. (I did hear a story once about Karen Carpenter meeting someone at a party who hadn't heard of her, which she found very surprising, but hey, the guy was charming, and she enjoyed talking to him, and as they were saying good night she said it was fun and she hoped she'd see him again, and he winked and said "We've only just begun." Somehow the way I imagine that event is delightful rather than gaslighty or otherwise manipulative. Ditto the crown prince of Denmark meeting a girl in a pub and telling her his name is Fred and not revealing that he's royalty until after she's smitten. I think that's marvelous.) Anyway, the idea that a talented athlete should have other assets to fall back on because most people can't succeed at college or professional sports is a sensible one, and it's good to hear a professional athlete acknowledge that among his gifts is uncommon good luck.

The title is a reference to White Men Can't Jump, a 1992 movie with the (at the time) ubiquitous Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, in which one plot point is whether Harrelson's character can do a slam dunk. So the basketball connection is obvious, and I guess the conclusion Vecchio and Fraser are not supposed to have jumped to is that Tyree was responsible for shooting the guy in the alley—except Vecchio didn't jump to that conclusion, did he, he got there by following a solid deductive process including the fact that Tyree ran from the scene with the gun in his possession and had blowback on his hands. It's actually Fraser who normally jumps to conclusions, and the fact that he often turns out to be right doesn't change that fact (but it shows that White men can, in fact, do this thing). Sigh.

Cumulative body count: 21
Red uniform: Not in the first scene, but otherwise the whole episode, despite the fact that the boots are missing

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