return to due South: season 4 episode 10 (or season 3 episode 23) "Say Amen"

[fox]

Say Amen
air date March 4, 1999

Scene 1

People are leaving a movie theater. A young couple, a Black man and a white woman, are holding hands and making smoochy faces while they walk up the stairs. We can hear some voices we know, however.

KOWALSKI: How about those special effects? That spaceship flew over, I thought I was getting a brush cut.
THATCHER: That might be an improvement.
KOWALSKI: So what did you think?
THATCHER: I thought it was nonstop mindless violence.
KOWALSKI: Everything a movie should be.
TURNBULL: Well, I, for one, was quite drawn to the costumes.
THATCHER: Costumes?

A man with a walkie-talkie rushes past our heroes on the stairs.

WALKIE-TALKIE: Yeah, I found them.
TURNBULL: And the emotional landscape painted by the acting was delicious.
THATCHER: Acting? They could've been robots.
KOWALSKI: They were playing robots. [to Fraser] What did you think?
FRASER: Well, you know, Ray, I, I couldn't really hear it.
KOWALSKI: There was a huge sound, Fraser.
FRASER: Well, exactly. My ears are somewhat more attuned to the silence of the northern forests.
KOWALSKI: You're living in a city, Fraser. Come on, adjust.
FRASER: I'll try.

They reach the top of the steps and go out into the mall food court. The young couple are still smooching.

What do we think the movie was? The titles on the marquee are all previous episodes: "Dead Guy Running," "Good for the Soul," "Seeing is Believing" (at least two of these being titles based on film titles, viz., Dead Man Walking (1995) and Rashōmon (1950); "Good for the Soul" is not an obvious movie link-up to me but I'm more than willing to be corrected). Clues are spaceships and robots; this episode aired March 4, 1999, but who knows when it was shot? Could have been any time between sort of August 1998 and about mid-January 1999, right?, depending if they shot the whole season at once or (as seems more likely given the progress of Ramona Milano's pregnancy) on a rolling schedule with about, what, six weeks' lead time? In any case, it's too early for Star Wars (that is, The Phantom Menace), which wasn't released until May 19. Starting at March 4 and working backwards, I don't see anything obvious as a loud movie with spaceships and robots in the Wikipedia entries for 1999 or 1998 film releases until I get to Lost in Space, released April 3, 1998. On the other hand, our quartet are at the movies in the middle of the day, so who knows but maybe they're in one of those after-the-initial-release much-cheaper-ticket places catching a matinee.

But speaking of that, what is this: a double date? (And if so, who's paired with whom? Just for funsies I'm going to say Fraser/Turnbull and Kowalski/Thatcher, which of course is the one set of combinations that makes no sense whatsoever.)

KOWALSKI: Look at that. Still at it. I bet they didn't see five minutes of the movie.
FRASER: There's something to be said for young love.
KOWALSKI: Yeah, it sucks.
TURNBULL: I think it's beautiful.
THATCHER: How would you know?

The guy with the walkie-talkie goes by again.

WALKIE-TALKIE: Don't worry, I'll make it.
FRASER: Hmm.
THATCHER: I agree.
KOWALSKI: What?
FRASER: Well, that man. He seems to be taking an undue interest in that young couple.
KOWALSKI: Well, he's probably a security guard. Takes them for shoplifters.
TURNBULL: They don't look like shoplifters, Ray. [The kids are leaning against a wall, making out.]
KOWALSKI: Well, he's a security guard, and so that's sort of like a cop. He's got instincts, and, ah, you know, he thinks it's a cover and they're shoplifting.
FRASER: You know, I'm a police officer, and I have instincts, and my instincts tell me that they're not in a store and there's nothing to steal.
KOWALSKI: Ah, good point. Taken.

The kids head down what is probably a tunnel to the parking lot. The guy with the walkie-talkie hurries to follow them.

WALKIE-TALKIE: They're on their way out.

Fraser follows the guy with the walkie-talkie.

KOWALSKI: Fraser, the car's this way. [Diefenbaker barks.] Fraser!
TURNBULL: I believe he's following his instincts.

Fraser and Diefenbaker are following the guy with the walkie-talkie, who is following the young couple. Kowalski is following Fraser.

Scene 2

The kids have left the mall and are outside in the sun. They are still holding hands and chatting happily. The guy with the walkie-talkie stops on the sidewalk and doesn't follow them further.

WALKIE-TALKIE: They're outside. Let's go.

He steps off in the other direction. Fraser and Diefenbaker and then Kowalski reach the sidewalk and see him not following the kids, who have crossed the street.

KOWALSKI: See, the guy's gone the other way.
FRASER: Apparently they were unrelated.
KOWALSKI: Let's go. It's cold out here.

Fraser turns to follow Kowalski back through the mall to the car, which is parked at the other end, but Diefenbaker barks and he turns back around in time to see a white car pull up to the sidewalk where the kids are walking and someone jump out of the back seat and grab the young woman.

FRASER: Ray!
YOUNG WOMAN: No!

Fraser and Kowalski run.

ABDUCTOR: Get in the car.
YOUNG WOMAN: No!
YOUNG MAN: Let go of her!
YOUNG WOMAN: Leave me be —
YOUNG MAN: Hey, leave her alone! [He comes at the guy, unfolding a knife. The guy pushes him away and he drops it.]
YOUNG WOMAN: [screaming] Davy! [The abductor flings the young man away behind the car and turns to push the young woman back into the back seat.] Davy! Davy!
YOUNG MAN (DAVY): Eloise! [As Fraser and Kowalski and the still-barking Diefenbaker arrive, Davy has grabbed the rear bumper of the car and is being dragged behind it as it squeals away. He loses his grip as it turns a corner and rolls into the path of an oncoming truck, which honks its horn; Fraser dives and rolls him to safety just in time. Davy gets right back to his feet and screams after the departing car.] Eloise! Eloise — [He tries to run after her.]
FRASER: [holding him back] Easy, son. Calm down. [Kowalski, with his gun drawn, and Thatcher and Turnbull have come running as well.]
DAVY: [sobbing] They got Eloise!
KOWALSKI: It's all right. We'll get her back. [Diefenbaker drops Davy's pocket knife at his feet.]
THATCHER: Eloise what? What's her last name?
DAVY: I don't know. I just love her!
TURNBULL: Beautiful.

Kowalski holsters his gun. Fraser and Thatcher look at Turnbull like he's a lunatic. Diefenbaker barks.

Credits roll.

Paul Gross
Callum Keith Rennie
Beau Starr
Camilla Scott
Tony Craig | Tom Melissis
Ramona Milano
and Gordon Pinsent as Fraser Sr.

(plus Draco the dog)

Dean McDermott, Richard Chevolleau, Elisabeth Rosen, Nola Augustson, and David Fox as Rev. Albert Barrow

Scene 3

Davy is on his way into the police station with Kowalski.

KOWALSKI: Okay, okay — you love her, but you don't know her last name. How does that work?
DAVY: Well, we met at the mall.
KOWALSKI: When?
DAVY: Last week.
KOWALSKI: Last week? Oh, so this is a long-term thing.
DAVY: Yo, you think this is funny, man?
KOWALSKI: No, but it would help if we knew something about her.
DAVY: Okay. We met at the mall last week. We went out a couple of times, and she was just — yo, from the first time I met her, man, I knew, I knew she was the one. You know what I mean? I knew she was special. It's like, no one's ever let me feel like that. Never. [They pass through the squad room.]
KOWALSKI: Love at first sight.
TURNBULL: Romeo and Juliet. Tristan and Isolde.
WELSH: Abbott and Costello.
FRANCESCA: He's talking about love at first sight. Which does happen. Happened to me. [She looks significantly at Fraser, who whips his head around to look at her, alarmed.]
WELSH: That's a crock. Lust at first sight, maybe, but love? No. Never happens.
THATCHER: I'd have to agree with the lieutenant. What we refer to as love at first sight is actually just a combination of chemical reactions triggered by pheromonal stimulation.
WELSH: Say what?
THATCHER: It's about how you smell.
FRANCESCA: Ugh, that is so cynical, and — and so wrong, and — Fraser, what do you think?
FRASER: [deliberately misunderstanding the question] Well, there was a lot happening, and the boy was holding on to the bumper, which partially obscured the license plate, but I do know it was a white nineteen-ninety-six Cadillac four-door sedan, and the first three letters of the plate were H-A-P.
FRANCESCA: Okay, well, I'll just go and check that out, then.
FRASER: [as she goes] But I do think it happens.
WELSH: Do you have any proof of that, Constable?
FRASER: He was willing to lay down his life for her.

Romeo and Juliet, of course, are (as Reginald Jeeves would say) characters in a play of that name by the late William Shakespeare. They meet at a masked ball and fall in love more or less instantaneously, become engaged later that night, and sneak off and marry the following day—and we all know, don't we, how well that turns out for them. (Spoilers: Her cousin kills his best friend; he kills the cousin; she feigns death, possibly by consuming the gland secretions of a bouga toad or similar, so she can escape her family from the crypt rather than from home; he doesn't get the memo and poisons himself in his despair, though not before also killing the man her father had wanted her to marry; she comes out of her catatonia and stabs herself to death with his dagger; also his mother has meanwhile died from grief; so the body count in R&J is not fewer than six and this is not, in fact, a love story to be emulated.)

Tristan and Isolde is another tragic love story, in which the young man and his uncle's young fiancée fall in love as he is escorting her to the wedding because of an ill-timed administration of a love potion—so besides being hasty, can't it be speculated whether their love is even real, you know what I'm saying? Anyway, his uncle/her husband discovers them and they're doomed and separated forever blah blah blah.

Abbott and Costello were a comedy act in the 1940s, who, like many successful professional teams, didn't always get along personally at all.

Okay, listen, I've been trying for more than a year to come at this thing as if I didn't have long-term ideas about—well, all of it, because what people put in their TV shows and what we choose to see in those shows are often not the same thing at all, right? And we all interpret things differently. Or at least many of us do. But look: Fraser deliberately misunderstands Francesca's question when she asks what he thinks, and then when he does actually answer her question—he does in fact think love at first sight can happen—he is not looking at Francesca as she heads back to her desk but at Kowalski. (Davy is also sitting at Kowalski's desk, but his back is to the camera and the shot is well focused on Kowalski, who is speaking and gesturing, and who, on the first day they met, after saying "I don't risk my life for anybody," did.) Of course even without the Kowalski of it all, Fraser fell (what he thought was) in love with Victoria in practically no time; but I'm also saying, there's simply no denying that his relationship with Kowalski is different than his relationship with Vecchio and it would be, at a minimum, inattentive of us not to notice that.

Scene 4

Davy is, as we've said, sitting with Kowalski at his desk giving him as much information about Eloise as he can. Fraser has gone off somewhere else, but his hat is on Kowalski's desk.

DAVY: Yeah I know it sounds, like, really ridiculous, but she never really talked a lot about herself.
KOWALSKI: Look, you don't know where she lives, you don't know who her parents are — where she works or if, if she goes to school —
DAVY: Yeah, okay, what — yeah, but I know she was unhappy, man. You know, just, she never really liked her life much — augh. [He gets up and is ready to walk away, dejected.]
KOWALSKI: Unhappy? Was that all she ever talked about?
DAVY: No, we talked, all right? All the time.
KOWALSKI: About?
DAVY: Well, about us. About the future.

Huey and Dewey come in, in the middle of a different conversation.

HUEY: Well, the thing is, you really can't love someone until you know them.
DEWEY: Sure you can. The hard thing is to love them after you know them. [They continue on their way.] Lose the rose-colored glasses and see the whole picture.

Huey and Dewey pass where Fraser is looking over Francesca's shoulder at her desk. Thatcher comes to join them.

FRANCESCA: Okay, it looks like I've got three possible matches, Frase.
FRASER: A dentist in Bellwood, a plumber in Park Ridge, and the Unfettered Evangelical Church of the Holy Bible.
THATCHER: Holy Rollers.
FRASER: Well, actually, sir, the term "Holy Rollers" properly refers to the evangelical Pentecostals of the nineteenth century.

False. It originated with 19th century Methodists, at least a couple of generations earlier than (and giving rise to) Pentecostals, and continues to be used, not at all improperly, today. If this church is "unfettered" it is likely its members find themselves overtaken by their holy spirit and seem to act uncontrollably. Thatcher's use of "holy roller" is derisive in its tone but probably not incorrect.

THATCHER: Whatever. It's still just a lot of yelling and jumping around.

Kowalski and Davy are walking by.

KOWALSKI: Anything else to help us identify her.
DAVY: She's pretty.
KOWALSKI: Uh-huh.
DAVY: She's got a great voice.
KOWALSKI: Uh-huh.
DAVY: And she got a great southern accent.
KOWALSKI: Uh-huh.

Fraser and Thatcher look up when they hear "great southern accent." Diefenbaker grumbles.

Southern accent = evangelical church, apparently. So much for Fraser's sensitivity to cultural stereotyping.

Dewey, of all people, has the most astute observation in the scene, viz., that loving someone after you know them (warts and all) is how you know the love is real.

Scene 5

Kowalski pulls into a parking lot. Thatcher gets out of the front seat.

THATCHER: There's the car.

She goes to have a look at the white Cadillac. Fraser and Davy get out of the back of Kowalski's car.

FRASER: Ah, sir — sir, you needn't —
THATCHER: No, Fraser, I've been behind a desk too long. This is exactly what I need. Field work. It gets the blood pumping.
KOWALSKI: Same car?
FRASER: Very possibly, Ray. These handprints may well have been made by Davy as he was dragged all over hell's half-acre.
THATCHER: Exactly.

Davy starts to head for the building. Kowalski stops him.

KOWALSKI: Hey. Back of the line.

Kowalski, Fraser, and Thatcher go first; Davy falls in behind her. Diefenbaker grumbles and is about to go in with them.

FRASER: Ah, Diefenbaker, I think you should probably stay here. [Diefenbaker growls.] No, it's not discrimination. It's —
KOWALSKI: Health regulations.
FRASER: [nods] Health regulations.

Diefenbaker grumbles but stays outside as the four humans go in.

"Hell's half-acre" is the kind of expression Fraser would use, but we've never heard him say it until he's here specifically talking about a church context. Is that weird? Is it weirder than the fact that there are a nontrivial number of places named Hell's Half Acre?

Scene 6

In the sanctuary, the pews are packed and a gospel choir is singing.

CHOIR: ♫ I do believe, yes! I do believe in miracles. I do believe! I do believe, I believe, I do believe! ♫

Most of them hum as a couple of soloists start to sing. The preacher is waiting at the podium.

TENOR SOLO: ♫ When Jesus healed the sick and lame — ♫
ALTO SOLO: ♫ — healing me was part of the game! ♫
FRASER: A very interesting example of ecclesiastical archi— Inspector, are you all right?
THATCHER: I don't know. I feel kind of tingly.
TENOR SOLO: ♫ When Moses walked into the Red Red Sea, yeah — ♫
FRASER: Tingly, sir?
THATCHER: Flushed. [She pulls off her scarf.] My knees feel kind of weak.
CHOIR AND ALTO SOLOIST: ♫ — he did a miracle and set me free! ♫
KOWALSKI: Oh my God.
SOMEONE: To the Lord!
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe — ♫
THATCHER: [walking up the aisle, rapturous] ♫ I do believe! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe — ♫
THATCHER: ♫ I do believe! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe — ♫
THATCHER: ♫ I believe! ♫

The preacher realizes Thatcher is spontaneously converting and does a beaming smile.

CHOIR: ♫ I do believe — ♫
THATCHER: ♫ I, I do believe! ♫

The preacher takes Thatcher by the hand and welcomes her onto the altar.

CHOIR: ♫ I believe, I believe, I believe! ♫
TENOR SOLOIST: ♫ Yeah, yeah, yeah! ♫
CHOIR, INCLUDING THATCHER: ♫ I do believe in miracles, I do believe! Amen! ♫

Thatcher does a big wailing cadence on "Amen." The preacher holds the microphone in her face. Fraser and Kowalski and Davy, back in the aisle, are—to put it mildly—nonplused. The choir and praise band keep up a low background obligato on "I do believe" through the rest of the scene.

PREACHER: Thank you. That was beautiful. A special thank you to our guest. We always have a place here for another beautiful voice.
THATCHER: [taking her place with the choir] I do believe.
PREACHER: [laughs, delighted] Brothers and sisters, lift your voices. Lift your voices and praise the Lord!
KOWALSKI: So maybe we should come back later.
FRASER: Actually, I think the administrative offices are right through there. Someone might know about the car.
PREACHER: Praise Him with joy.
FRASER: Shall we?
PREACHER: [hurries down the aisle to greet them] Put it there. [shakes hands with all three of them] Welcome. Welcome to the Unfettered Evangelical Church of the Holy Bible.
FRASER: Thank you.
KOWALSKI: [as they move along] Churches make me nervous.
FRASER: [stiff smile] That's an odd reaction.
PREACHER: Brothers and sisters, listen —
KOWALSKI: Well, I'm more of a human sacrifice kind of guy, you know.
FRASER: Ah.
PREACHER: — lift your voices!
CONGREGATION: Amen!
PREACHER: Let Him hear you!

Well, Camilla Scott's got pipes, no denying that. (She sang well in "Dr. Longball," but this is another level up from that, isn't it.)

I guess the miracle is that Thatcher somehow knew the song after having only heard two or three bars of it, but to be fair, it's the kind of song that only has two or three bars and is designed to be easy to learn or even intuit. But the idea that Inspector Thatcher, of all people, even if they hadn't foreshadowed it with her scoffing attitude toward Holy Rollers, would be slain in the spirit is frankly astonishing. Is there some sort of drug being disseminated through the ventilation system in this church? And if so, why are Fraser and Davy and Kowalski not susceptible?

(The tenor soloist is listed in the credits as Dutch Robinson, whom we know from previous episodes this season. The alto (the one that isn't Camilla Scott) is Sharon Lee Williams, whom the internet tells me also has a long resume of vocal work. We'll come back to her shortly.)

Scene 7

Fraser, Kowalski, and Davy get through the sanctuary and come out into a hallway. Kowalski turns left.

FRASER: Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray.
KOWALSKI: What?
FRASER: [points to the right] It's this way.
KOWALSKI: Oh.

Fraser takes off his coat as they head for the offices.

Scene 8

Back in the sanctuary, the choir is still doing their background music thing. The preacher is on walkabout.

PREACHER: We can move mountains. We can heal the sick. We can live miracles. You know — [He rushes back to the front row and speaks to an old man in a wheelchair.] — you know — there are people who think that miracles are nothing but old stories from the Bible.

Fraser and Kowalski and Davy reach a church office. A lot of people are in there on phones. A woman in a pink suit comes and shakes their hands.

PINK SUIT: God bless you.
FRASER: Oh, well, thank Him kindly.
PINK SUIT: Well, we could always use more volunteers.
KOWALSKI: My dad always said never volunteer for nothing. Uh — [He shows her his badge.] — Chicago PD.

Back to the sanctuary.

PREACHER: Miracles are proof of His love and charity.

Back to the office.

PINK SUIT: Oh. I — I am sorry. I thought you were here to help with the collection. [She shows them back out into the hallway.]
KOWALSKI: Collection?
PINK SUIT: Yeah, from our radio audience. They like to contribute to the ministry, so we have phone volunteers to help take those donations. Um, it makes them feel like they're actually here at the service.

In the sanctuary, a man in the back row is overcome.

PREACHER: Then miracles are ours for the asking.

In the hallway.

KOWALSKI: Ah, you own that white Cadillac out there?
PINK SUIT: Well, the church owns a number of vehicles.
FRASER: We have reason to believe that a young woman may have been abducted by men who were driving that particular car. [Davy nods.]
PINK SUIT: Well, this is a church — Countstable, is it?
FRASER: Ah, yes, my name is Constable Benton Fraser of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I fi—
KOWALSKI: Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah —
FRASER: I'm sorry.
PINK SUIT: We don't go around abducting people.
FRASER: Oh, that's a — a commendable policy.
DAVY: Well, she's a, she's a young girl, about, ah, five-three. She's really, really beautiful, has got long blonde hair, and there's something about her, something special.
PINK SUIT: You know this girl.
DAVY: Oh, I love this girl.
KOWALSKI: Okay. Whatever. See, the point of the fact of the deal is, we've got to find out who was driving that car.
PINK SUIT: Well, I don't imagine anybody was, Detective, because we're having a service.

She says this with a rising intonation at the end of the sentence, the implication being a clear "duh." In the sanctuary, the service is indeed still in progress.

PREACHER: Let Him hear your voice! And call — [The choir abruptly changes up a key.] — call!

In the hallway, Kowalski is undeterred.

KOWALSKI: Okay, do you have a record? A vehicle log, anything like that?
PINK SUIT: No.
FRASER: Would you mind if we just had a look-see?
PINK SUIT: Well, this is private property, Countstable. [A man comes around a corner at the end of the hallway, sees the group talking, and turns back the way he came.] But we don't have anything to hide. I'll be happy to show you —
DAVY: Hey, hey, hey, there he is! Hey! [He runs after the guy.]

In the sanctuary, the preacher is still at it.

PREACHER: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

In the hallway, Davy catches up with the guy who'd come around the corner.

DAVY: [trying to tackle him] My question is — the first —

The guy turns around and smacks him to the ground. Davy gets up and charges him again. They fight; Fraser and Kowalski catch up and pull them apart.

KOWALSKI: Chicago PD. Up against the wall.
PINK SUIT: Addie?
ABDUCTOR (ADDIE): Yes, ma'am.
FRASER: Do you know this man?
PINK SUIT: Why, yes, he's one of our larger assistants.
KOWALSKI: [struggling to hold onto Addie] Assistant? He just kidnapped a girl off Baitland Street.
ADDIE: Eloise.
DAVY: Yeah, Eloise, yo, you heard the man — [He is about to come around and get in Addie's face, but Fraser stops him.]
PINK SUIT: Eloise is my daughter.

They all look at her, stunned. She scoffs and opens the doors to the sanctuary. The old man in the wheelchair is on the altar, flanked by two men in suits. Eloise is standing in front of him, in a white dress, her hands raised. The preacher is at the bottom of the steps, firing everyone up. Thatcher is in the choir clapping her hands. People are in the aisle whooping. Eloise turns and places her hands on the man's hands where they sit on the arms of the wheelchair. She moves one hand to his head.

CHOIR: ♫ I do believe in miracles, I do believe! ♫

Pink Suit is watching proudly from the doorway. Davy is skeptical; Fraser is surprised.

PINK SUIT (ELOISE'S MOTHER): She is blessed by the Lord. She can perform miracles.
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe in miracles, I do believe! I do believe, I believe, I do believe! ♫

Eloise removes her hand from the wheelchair user's forehead. The two guys behind him hold his chair in place. Slowly, he stands up. The place goes bananas.

The Chicago street index doesn't show a Baitland or Maitland, or Baitlin or Beytlin or anything like that. Anyone hear Kowalski more clearly?

Scene 9

Francesca is drinking coffee. (Is that a picture of Gandhi on the bulletin board behind her?) Eloise is sitting next to her desk.

DEWEY: Here's your statement. Read it and sign it. Okay, so you had no idea she knew this guy that put her in the car? [He and Huey are dealing with Davy at Kowalski's desk.]
DAVY: I'm telling you, I never seen him before.
DEWEY: She never mentioned him?
DAVY: Uh-uh. [He turns around and looks at Eloise. She looks at him.]
DEWEY: Okay. This is your permanent address, right?
DAVY: Yeah.
DEWEY: Forget it. [He comes over to Francesca's desk, where Eloise is craning her neck to keep her eyes on Davy.] All right, let me get this straight. Your guy —
ELOISE: Addie. His name's Addie.
DEWEY: Okay, Addie. When Addie put you in the car, it was of your own free will.
ELOISE: Well, I wanted to stay with Davy, but it was time for the service. He came to get me. It's his job. [Davy waves to her. Dewey gets up and walks away. Eloise turns to Francesca.] He's not in any trouble, is he?
FRANCESCA: Kinda like him, huh?
ELOISE: I know it's wrong.
FRANCESCA: No, it's not wrong. I mean, you know, he seems like a nice-looking guy. Kinda sweet.
ELOISE: It's wrong for me. I belong to God.
FRANCESCA: What do you mean, like a nun or something?

No, dear, she's one of those other religions.

I am not qualified to judge the authenticity of this young woman's southern accent. It might really be hers, for all I know. But it doesn't sound quite the same as the accents the preacher and Pink Suit are using. The young woman is played by Elisabeth Rosen, who's from Ottawa; the mother is played by Nola Augustson, whose internet details are sparse but who seems to be English; the preacher is played by David Fox (1941–2021), who was from the regrettably named Swastika, Ontario. Are all three faking it slightly differently, or what?

ELOISE: I've been blessed. I can heal the sick.
FRANCESCA: Really? I mean — for real, not, you know, fake or magic or something?
ELOISE: I can do it.
FRANCESCA: Wow! That's great!
ELOISE: No. No, it isn't. I mean, I know it's a gift and all, but to be perfectly honest, it's real hard. I don't have much of a life of my own, and I thought with Davy — I don't know why God gives me these feelings if they're so wrong.
FRANCESCA: Well, couldn't you just — you know, heal people and have a boyfriend too?
ELOISE: [shakes her head] I have to be pure.
FRANCESCA: [realizes what she means] Oh — oh. Wow. That's, uh — that's really too bad. I — [She wisely decides to stop talking.]
ELOISE: I should never have talked to him. Gotten to know him. Then this wouldn't be so hard.
FRANCESCA: Have you, um — known very many guys?
ELOISE: I've been raised up in the church all my life. He's the only one.
FRANCESCA: Yeah, that's what I kinda thought.

Davy mouths "I love you" to Eloise.

Francesca is back to looking kind of puffy in the face and wearing a jacket or overshirt, as though Ramona Milano hadn't had her baby yet, so I once again have no idea what order the episodes were shot in except that it apparently has no relationship to the order they were aired in. Which on the one hand I guess isn't unheard-of but I thought out-of-order-ness had mainly to do with getting all your location shots in one trip? Whereas Francesca we've barely seen outside of the squad room, much less the station? So I don't know. Anyway, if she, Francesca, were pregnant, that would make the awkwardness of the "I have to be pure" conversation feel a lot more authentic, so I'm going to keep waving that flag over here.

Scene 10

Dewey comes into Welsh's office, where Fraser and Kowalski and Addie and the preacher and Pink Suit are waiting.

DEWEY: She confirms his story.
PREACHER: That's good. So you can let us all go now, Lieutenant?
WELSH: Yeah. Take them outside and finish the, ah, paperwork. [Dewey takes Addie out of the office.]
PREACHER: You're lucky we don't sue you for false arrest.
KOWALSKI: I saw him grab your daughter, Reverend, and he did not do it in a very friendly manner.
ELOISE'S MOTHER: Well, Addie takes his responsibility very seriously.
FRASER: Perhaps a little too seriously. You might want to speak to him about that.
PREACHER (ELOISE'S FATHER): Eloise is a headstrong young girl. She needs a firm hand.

She didn't seem headstrong when she was talking to Francesca.

Scene 11

Huey comes by Dewey's desk as Dewey is finishing the paperwork.

HUEY: Kid's in the washroom, let's go get a coffee. [They head for the break room.] Can you believe this? I was just talking to the guy at the radio station that runs the church service. Did you know that they get over a million listeners every week?
DEWEY: The Filtered Church of the Holy Bible gets a million listeners?
HUEY: Unfettered.
DEWEY: Unfettered, unfiltered, whatever. A million listeners. Each one of those guys phones in for a buck, that's a million dollars a week. That's a scam.
HUEY: Not everyone is going to phone in, though.
DEWEY: Hey, they're not going to be listening if they're not going to phone in.
HUEY: Not necessarily. You ever watch PBS?
DEWEY: Yeah.
HUEY: They never get phone-ins.

In Welsh's office, Kowalski isn't done.

KOWALSKI: Addie's an old felon. Three assault convictions in Mississippi.
ELOISE'S MOTHER: A long time ago, Detective. Addie has been with us from the very beginning of our ministry.
ELOISE'S FATHER: One of our first converts. Sometimes lost sheep make the most fervent believers.
KOWALSKI: And sometimes people who like to hit, they just like to hit.

That, that sounds to me like a Vecchio line rather than a Kowalski line.

In the break room, Dewey is still doing math.

DEWEY: Okay, let's say half of them phone in, right, just for two bucks. That's still a million bucks.
HUEY: If half each gave, what, ten bucks —
DEWEY: Yep.
HUEY: — that's five million dollars. That's not bad.
DEWEY: See, religion is the way to go.
HUEY: Go?
DEWEY: Yeah, think about it. You and I aren't going to be cops forever, you know. Listen, we could make people feel good about themselves, cure a few hemorrhoids, make a few bucks. Everybody's going to be happy.
HUEY: What are you, trying to start a religion now?
DEWEY: Yeah. It's like country music: How hard can it be?
HUEY: What ever happened to that comedy club idea we had?
DEWEY: This is easier.
HUEY: [sees Davy in the hallway] Mm. There goes my man.
DEWEY: [considering his options] Comedy. Religion.

In Welsh's office, Eloise's parents are indignant.

ELOISE'S FATHER: That kid should not have been within one hundred miles of Eloise.
KOWALSKI: Davy was doing nothing wrong.
WELSH: Your man had no right to assault him, Reverend. Being this is a family thing and a bit of a misunderstanding, we'll let it go for now. But, ah, tell your man to keep his fists in his pocket next time.
ELOISE'S MOTHER: [leading her husband out of the office] We will do that, Lieutenant.
ELOISE'S FATHER: You tell that boy to stay away from Eloise!
WELSH: Oh, nice.
FRASER: It's not uncommon for parents to be protective of their daughter.
KOWALSKI: Especially when she's a miracle meal ticket.

Davy is a young guy, but when Fraser called him "the boy" I didn't feel gross about it, while in the preacher's accent, "that boy" doesn't sound to me like he's talking about his age. Ugh.

Meanwhile: Paul Haggis, who created due South, only got out of Scientology in 2009, but he wasn't involved with the show by this point in its career, so is it possible Dewey's idea of leaving the police force to create a moneymaking religion is those who were still involved with the show saying, 10 years earlier, Paulie, come on, man, it's a fucking cult, why can't you see that? Hmm.

Scene 12

Davy is on his way back to Kowalski's desk. Eloise's father pushes past him on his way from Welsh's office to Francesca's desk.

ELOISE'S FATHER: Eloise, we can go now. [She gets up but moves very slowly, still looking at Davy. Her father comes back to get her.] Eloise!

He hustles her out of the squad room. Davy starts to follow them; Huey stops him.

HUEY: Hey. Hey. Hey!
DAVY: Eloise!
ELOISE: No. No, Davy. You — you can't see me. You've got to stay away from me.
DAVY: Eloise, you know, you know I can't do that. [He tries to go to her.]
ADDIE: Step off.

Addie throws Davy to the ground. Davy gets up and tries to fight him, but Addie turns and throws a right hook to Davy's jaw. Eloise screams.

ELOISE: Don't! Stop! [She's trying to pull Addie back.]
HUEY: [taking care of Davy] Hey, take it easy. Take it easy.

Behind Huey, everyone in the squad room is kind of alert, seeing if they need to get in this. Diefenbaker growls. He doesn't like Addie.

ADDIE: If he comes near me again, I swear to God I'll shoot him. [It's not clear whether he means Davy or Diefenbaker.]
KOWALSKI: Yeah, you're pretty tough with kids and dogs. How about me? Come on!
ADDIE: Kid came after me first.
ELOISE'S FATHER: You keep him away from me and my daughter.
ELOISE: Daddy!
ELOISE'S MOTHER: Let's go. Right now. [hustling her away]
ELOISE'S FATHER: Now, you keep him away. You keep him away. I won't be responsible.

Kowalski glares after Addie and the family as they go.

WELSH: Let it go, Detective.

Davy is sobbing and holding his face where Addie hit him.

KOWALSKI: You okay? [Davy makes general not-okay noises as Huey and Kowalski lead him away. Francesca watches them go; Fraser is looking down the hall after the church family, concerned.]
FRANCESCA: Fraser, is he all right?
FRASER: [a little distracted] Mm-hmm.
FRANCESCA: You know, she is such a nice kid. I feel really sorry for her.
FRASER: Why?
FRANCESCA: Well, she never goes out, she's never been to school. Her parents keep her locked up in that church all the time. What kind of life is that for a kid? I mean, really, what kind of parents would do that?

Fraser is pensive.

Fraser is looking pensive as if he'd had a locked-up childhood himself, which—there's a lot to be said about Bob Fraser's parenting, and even more to be said about George and Martha Fraser's parenting when Bob apparently decided he couldn't or wouldn't be able to do it himself? But they didn't lock him up in a library (although I could argue that would be a better place to be locked up than a church, if you've got to be locked up anywhere) and keep him from going to school and having friends (Mark, Innussiq, June [Innussiq again]). Moved him to Alert when he was eight, about which I've got some notes, but bottom line, I don't think what's happening here is that Fraser is having any sort of epiphany about his own childhood, more's the pity.

Scene 13

Kowalski has brought Davy to the break room. Davy flings some things off a table and punches a couple of vending machines, crying and hurting himself even more.

KOWALSKI: You finished? Are you done? Look, I'm trying to help. Here's the deal of the thing. She's seventeen. Her parents don't want you hanging around. So you gots to stay away from the girl.
DAVY: I can't, man!
KOWALSKI: Look, I know what it's like to be in love and lose the girl. You think that your life is over, but it isn't.
DAVY: How would you know?
KOWALSKI: 'Cause it happened to me.
DAVY: Yeah? What did you do?
KOWALSKI: Well, this and that, and then I got mrd. [He mumbles the end of the line.]
DAVY: What?
KOWALSKI: I got married.
DAVY: You — you didn't even lose no girl, man.
KOWALSKI: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but eventually I got divorced.
DAVY: So, what, you get over it?
KOWALSKI: [hesitates; of course he still isn't over it] Look, the point is —
DAVY: Augh!
KOWALSKI: — look, you keep hanging around there, she's going to press charges. Look, I pulled your file. Drug possession, breaking and entering, shoplifting.
DAVY: What — I was a kid, man! I was twelve years old!
KOWALSKI: Look, that doesn't matter. Mr. and Mrs. Reverend file a complaint, you go down.

Davy does a to-hell-with-you wave and storms out.

Yeah Kowalski is probably not ideally situated to give Davy advice at this time. Got the girl, lost the girl, still carrying a torch, hard to believe him when he says it'll all be okay.

Scene 14

Davy is storming through the squad room, where Francesca and Fraser are at her desk investigating the ministry.

FRANCESCA: Looks like they started in Georgia.
FRASER: And at the age of seven she apparently cured a deaf woman.
FRANCESCA: Yeah. And after that, the Reverend's church thing really took off. [Kowalski comes over, is about to speak to Fraser, and then goes over to his own desk instead.] Went from a traveling tent show to a huge radio ministry in five years. Now they're looking at TV.
FRASER: Well, isn't that very expensive?
FRANCESCA: Yeah, but when you've got thousands of people mailing you money every week, pfft. You think she's for real, Frase?
FRASER: Well, a number of people seem to believe she is.
KOWALSKI: [on his way by again] It doesn't matter. Let's go, Fraser.
FRASER: Where are we going, Ray?
KOWALSKI: Follow the kid.
FRANCESCA: Why? He didn't do anything.
KOWALSKI: Preventative policing. He's going to see the girl, we're going to stop him.
FRANCESCA: [incredulous] Preventative policing. Can you do that?
FRASER: It might be a violation of his rights.
KOWALSKI: To hell with his rights, he's going to do something stupid. No one has the right to do something stupid. Well, except — well.

Kowalski points to Francesca and then biffs off. She rolls her eyes at him.

FRASER: He doesn't mean that, Francesca. Thank you kindly.
FRANCESCA: Any time, Fraser.

Preventative pol— Kowalski just said "to hell with his rights" about a Black man, remind me again why we love a cop show? Ugh.

Scene 15

Davy gets out of a taxi at the Unfettered Church. Kowalski and Fraser drive up from the other direction. Diefenbaker gets out of the car and approaches the building with them.

KOWALSKI: He's not coming, is he?
FRASER: Well, it's after hours, Ray.
KOWALSKI: Oh.

They all head in. Inside, Davy is creeping along an unlit hallway. He looks through a window in a door and keeps going, moving slowly. Our heroes are walking normally, looking for him. Davy goes past some framed pictures and comes to the office, whose door is open. Eloise's parents are in there and don't realize he's outside. Her father, the preacher, is at a desk; her mother, still in her pink suit, is standing in front of it. Suddenly, Addie comes up behind him and taps his shoulder.

DAVY: [whirling around and backing away] Yo, get your hand off me. [He opens Chekov's Pocket Knife.]
ADDIE: Huh. Just try it.
DAVY: Come on. Stay back.

Fraser and Kowalski are still looking for Davy. They hear a grunt from somewhere behind them. Diefenbaker barks. All three of them run; as they're running, they hear Eloise's parents.

ELOISE'S MOTHER: Oh, merciful Lord, no!
ELOISE'S FATHER: I told you to stay away!

Fraser and Kowalski come around the corner and find Eloise's father kneeling over Addie's head. Addie is dead. The mother is standing at his feet. Eloise comes in through the double doors from another area.

ELOISE'S FATHER: He killed him!
ELOISE: [screaming] No!
ELOISE'S FATHER: The boy killed Addie!
ELOISE: No, no! [falls on Addie] No, it can't be!

Diefenbaker grumbles. All the adults look very serious.

I still don't like the way Eloise's father says "the boy." Surely he knows Davy's name?

Scene 16

Kowalski is on the phone as some uniformed officers take away the remains of Addie in a body bag. Fraser is in the office with Eloise.

KOWALSKI: Davidson Abelard. Yeah, he's got a record. Ah, put out a picture and an APB. No, not much doubt, the murder weapon was his knife. Yeah. [He heads into the office, still on the phone. Fraser comes out and passes through the scene in the hallway.]
ELOISE'S FATHER: [giving a statement to Dewey] He came in the door, and I don't — I, don't know what was on his mind. Maybe he was wanting to kill us.
DEWEY: Then what?
ELOISE'S FATHER: He had this terrible look in his eye —
ELOISE'S MOTHER: [giving a statement to Huey] I just can't believe it. I mean, Addie has been with us from the very beginning. He is as much a part of the ministry as any of us.
HUEY: Mm-hmm. You said there was a fight.
ELOISE'S MOTHER: Um — yes. Um, that boy was lurking in the doorway, and then Addie grabbed him, and they came into the room fighting. And that boy stabbed him and ran. Addie was a good man.

Fraser has reached one of the crime scene investigators.

FRASER: Excuse me. What is that?
CSI: Ah, newspaper clipping. Dead guy had it in his wallet. It's a funeral notice from Arkansas. Probably his parents or something.
FRASER: Thank you kindly. [Diefenbaker is growling at a couple of guys nearby.] Oh, I'm terribly sorry, but, ah, I believe he recognizes you from outside the theater.
WALKIE-TALKIE: I don't think so. [Diefenbaker grumbles.]
FRASER: Ah, yes, I believe you were carrying a walkie-talkie. You were following Eloise.
WALKIE-TALKIE: Yeah, I look out for her.
FRASER: I see. Along with this gentleman?
WALKIE-TALKIE: Yeah, that's right.
FRASER: And are weapons necessary in your line of work?
WALKIE-TALKIE: She's very important to the church, and it's our job to protect her.
ELOISE'S FATHER: [from down the hall] Eloise, go to your room.
WALKIE-TALKIE: We're licensed and registered.
FRASER: I see. [He's more interested in Eloise's family now.] Will you excuse me?

Fraser heads back up the hallway where Eloise is going back through the double doors and her father is still speaking to Dewey.

ELOISE'S FATHER: — Addie pulled back — [He nods to Walkie-Talkie.] — and, ah, the boy stabbed him in the back, and cut and run.

Walkie-Talkie is hurrying to follow Eloise, but Kowalski stops him.

KOWALSKI: Hang on a sec, I gotta ask you a couple questions.

Fraser is able to follow Eloise without Walkie-Talkie following him.

DEWEY: And what were you doing then?
ELOISE'S FATHER: Uh, nothing. It all happened so fast, I couldn't even move.

The way Eloise's mother calls Davy "that boy" is, if anything, even worse than the way her father does it. Gives me the creeps.

And so yeah okay Davy's last name is Abelard, because of course it is, because his girlfriend's name is Eloise. Peter Abélard was a scholar and theologian and Héloïse d'Argenteuil his brilliant student in 12th-century France; they were secretly married (and she named their son Astrolabe, showing that famous people giving their children bonkers names is not a modern phenomenon); and then he sent her away to a convent to protect her from her furious uncle, who subsequently had him, Abélard, castrated. They continued to correspond but were never reunited. So we've completed the Doomed Lovers Trifecta introduced with Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Isolde in scene 3. Nice work, everyone.

Scene 17

Eloise is alone in her room. There is a knock at the door.

ELOISE: Come in.

Diefenbaker comes right over to her, whimpers, and starts licking her hand. Fraser sits down across from her.

FRASER: Are you all right?
ELOISE: Davy was always so gentle, so nice to me. He just couldn't kill anybody. He couldn't.
FRASER: But your parents saw it happen.
ELOISE: I know. But — but how could I be so wrong about him? About everything?
FRASER: It's difficult to know people, especially if you lack experience.

ASK HIM HOW HE KNOWS.

ELOISE: It's all my fault.
FRASER: No. You know, you can't be expected to predict the future.
ELOISE: Davy will come back. I know that. He'll want to see me. He'll get into trouble. Billy and Sandy —
FRASER: They're the men who look after you?
ELOISE: [nods] They're okay. They're like Addie.
FRASER: Former criminals. [A train whistle sounds in the distance.]
ELOISE: Lost sheep.
FRASER: Ah.
ELOISE: They kinda scare me. I couldn't stand it if Davy got hurt. [Someone else knocks on the door.]
FRASER: I'll do what I can. [He nods to Walkie-Talkie as he and Diefenbaker leave.] Good day.

Walkie-Talkie looks at Eloise being sad by herself and leaves her alone.

I'm so proud of Fraser for finally, after five years, learning to say he'll do what he can more of the time rather than promising nothing bad will happen. He still does the latter sometimes, but there's been some progress at last—just as he's repeatedly talking ("A Likely Story" scene 1, feeling suffocated at the consulate; this very episode scene 1, his ears being more attuned to the northern forest) about how homesick he's feeling. Hmm.

Scene 18

Fraser and Kowalski are back at the station.

KOWALSKI: Fraser, we can't just sit there and wait for the kid to show up.
FRASER: Well, she does have a point, Ray. He's powerfully drawn to her.
KOWALSKI: Yeah, well, he's in love. I get that.
FRASER: Well, I assume that you don't want Davy to be hurt.
KOWALSKI: I don't want anybody to get hurt, but he stuck a knife in somebody and we gotta catch him.
FRASER: Well, when you're hunting, Ray, the best policy oftentimes is to wait for the game to come to you.
KOWALSKI: Well, that's great, but this isn't a criminal drive-thru. We gotta go out and get him. Anything about the family?
DEWEY: Yeah, his parents are dead, his aunt and uncle haven't seen him in three months, and he lives on his own.
KOWALSKI: All right. They got any idea where he might be?
DEWEY: Nope. They didn't seem that close.
KOWALSKI: How about where he works?
HUEY: Works for a shipping company downtown. Everyone says he's a loner, stays to himself. Boss says he's a good employee, though. Never in trouble.
KOWALSKI: Ah, Francesca, any known associates?
FRANCESCA: Known associate. One Jimmy Lewis. They got busted together four years ago.
KOWALSKI: Okay, so we just gotta find Lewis, shake him down, and see what he knows.
FRANCESCA: Yeah, well, it won't be hard to find him. He's been in Joliet for the last year.
KOWALSKI: [grabs someone going by] Hey. You know anything about this?

He and Fraser follow whoever that was passing by them.

That's almost what Quinn taught Fraser when he was 12, but not quite: It's more important to know where the game is going than where it's been.

Scene 19

Back at the church, another service is in progress. Eloise is standing on the altar. Billy and Sandy are clapping their hands enthusiastically. The choir, with Thatcher robed up, is singing.

ALTO SOLO: ♫ — was part of the game! ♫
TENOR SOLO: ♫ When Moses walked into the Red Red Sea, yeah — ♫
CHOIR AND ALTO SOLOIST: ♫ — he did a miracle and set me free! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe — ♫
THATCHER: ♫ I do believe! ♫
KOWALSKI: So how long before the game shows up?
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe — ♫
THATCHER: ♫ I do believe! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe — ♫
FRASER: Hunting requires patience, Ray.
THATCHER: ♫ I believe! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe — ♫
THATCHER: ♫ I, I do believe! ♫
KOWALSKI: Go, Thatcher, go.
CHOIR: ♫ I believe, I believe, I believe! ♫
FRASER: She does seem to be powerfully drawn to the music, as though it touches something deep within her.
KOWALSKI: Mm-hmm.
TENOR SOLOIST: ♫ Yeah, yeah, yeah! ♫
CHOIR, INCLUDING THATCHER: ♫ I do believe in miracles, I do believe! Amen! ♫

The choir keeps doing the humming thing.

ELOISE'S FATHER: Pray that God's spirit will come down and bless us together. Pray that through his grace we will see a miracle done. [The congregation shout various affirmations.] Ellen has not walked in ten years. Her doctors have done everything they can for her, but they have failed. Only a miracle can take her out of that wheelchair. Pray for a miracle. Pray for the bountiful mercy of the Lord God our Father. [Eloise raises her arms. The choir is humming and I-do-believe-oo-ing. Eloise turns and takes Ellen's hands in hers.] Pray that God will reach out through Eloise and touch this poor troubled woman. [Eloise touches Ellen's forehead.] Get up, Ellen! [He comes and kneels next to Ellen's chair.] Get up and walk! [Eloise lets go of Ellen's hands. Ellen suddenly stands up out of her wheelchair and takes a couple of stumbling steps toward Eloise.]
ELLEN: Oh, praise the Lord!

Ellen starts to fall back. Billy and Sandy catch her. Eloise's father places a hand on her head. The choir does a key change. The congregation are clapping their hands happily. Fraser is contemplative. Kowalski is annoyed.

CHOIR: ♫ I do believe in miracles. I do believe, yes! I do believe in miracles. I do believe! ♫
ELOISE'S FATHER: [as Eloise leaves the altar sadly] Let us give thanks to God for the miracle that we have seen today.
CHOIR: ♫ I do believe in miracles. I do believe! I do believe, I believe, I do believe!

Eloise is in the hallway, but she can hear her father preaching and the choir singing from out there.

ELOISE'S FATHER: I do believe. You do believe. We all believe. [We're back with him for just a moment; Ellen is fairly dancing on the altar between Billy and Sandy.] We believe in miracles. We believe in the miracle that has just taken place!

There's some nice very creepy camera work on the preacher when he's insisting that Ellen get up and walk.

Scene 20

Eloise goes into the office. The sound of the choir mixes with the sound of the phone calls and some other noises into a general cacophony in her head. She goes through and sits down on a couch. After a moment Fraser and Kowalski come in the other door.

FRASER: Hi. [It's quieter in here, thank goodness.] That was very, ah, inspiring. [Kowalski nods unenthusiastically. The phones are still ringing and the call-catchers are still talking to donors. Fraser points to framed pictures on the wall.] And these are all of you. [There are a lot of them, including a newspaper article with the headline "Local child performs miracle".]
ELOISE: Momma and Daddy got more pictures of me than you can shake a stick at.
KOWALSKI: No baby pictures. [She has never noticed that before.] My mom had pictures of me when I was a week old. I hate that.
FRASER: When did you perform your first miracle?
ELOISE: [She's really somewhere else right now.] When I was five. I saw God.
KOWALSKI: You saw God?
ELOISE: [She seems to be tired of telling this story.] He came to me. In a fire.
FRASER: Must have been very exciting. The miracle you performed today, the woman — she didn't seem to walk very far.
ELOISE: Yeah. And she was real excited. Maybe she can even walk a little. Probably doesn't usually. But what with all the fuss and wanting to be cured and all —
FRASER: So she may have been able to take a few steps.
KOWALSKI: It was a fake.
ELOISE: Or maybe there was no way she could've gotten out of that chair. No way she could even move her legs. That it was a real miracle.
FRASER: Is that what you believe?
ELOISE: When I was five, I touched a blind woman and she regained her sight. That's true. They've always told me that. I've made deaf people hear. I've stopped cancers from growing. I've done that, but I don't know why it happens, or when it's going to happen, and it sure doesn't happen once a day and twice on Sundays.
FRASER: So some of the miracles are not quite so miraculous.
ELOISE: You know much about Babe Ruth?
FRASER: The chocolate bar?
ELOISE: No. The baseball player.
FRASER: Ah.
ELOISE: He only hit fifty-nine home runs in a hundred-and-sixty-two-game season. That's not even one home run every two games. You think I can do better than that? You think miracles are easier than home runs? Daddy says we have to do it to keep the ministry going. [Her father is on his way into the office.]
KOWALSKI: To keep the cash flow going.
ELOISE'S FATHER: To keep the faith alive. [Fraser stands up.] Money's a means to an end. Make my daughter's gift available to the world. [turns to Eloise] Eloise, you go to your room.
ELOISE: Yes, sir.
ELOISE'S FATHER: [once she's gone] Don't cast your doubts on her mind. You have no idea of the damage you could do.
FRASER: With respect, sir, I think the doubts are already there.
ELOISE'S FATHER: Do you have any idea what a delicate thing her gift is?
KOWALSKI: The gift of making money?
ELOISE'S FATHER: If you choose not to believe, I can't help you. [Kowalski does an unimpressed smile.] But we bring miracles to people who need them. The world needs that.

He oils back off down the hall. Kowalski scratches his head.

KOWALSKI: Is that guy for real?
FRASER: Be interesting to find out.

She's almost right about Babe Ruth. (The chocolate bar Fraser is thinking of is the Baby Ruth, but he probably knows that.) He hit 59 home runs in 1921 and 60 in 1927, but the season was only 154 games in those days—which is a little less than one home run every two and a half games, so the substance of her point stands. And it's a good one: Even if she can do miracles, can she do them on a schedule?

Scene 21

Eloise is in her room. She is in regular clothes and drapes the white robe on her bed. She hears tapping at a window in her sitting area and goes to pull back the curtain. Davy is there.

ELOISE: Davy. [She opens the window and leans out to him.] I miss you.

They kiss.

Scene 22

Fraser is on Kowalski's phone outside the church.

FRASER: Thank you kindly, Francesca. And, ah, anything else you find out would be greatly appreciated.
KOWALSKI: Now what with the hunting?
FRASER: I think perhaps a little tracking is in order, Ray. [He points to some footprints in the snow.]
KOWALSKI: Tracking?
FRASER: This is a high top cross-trainer with a full court press tread.
KOWALSKI: Uh-huh?
FRASER: It's a kind of running shoe. The kind that Davy was wearing.
KOWALSKI: Well, he was here last night.
FRASER: Well, true enough, but this track wasn't here when we went into the church. I would have noticed it.
KOWALSKI: You would have noticed it? There's thousands of tracks here.
FRASER: It has a very distinctive tread.
KOWALSKI: You can tell what he had for breakfast?
FRASER: No, in order to do that I'd have to pick through his stool.
KOWALSKI: That's disgusting, Fraser.

Ask a disgusting question, get a disgusting answer.

"Full court press" is a basketball term, but I don't think it's a special tread on a running shoe, and for all his tracking skill, I don't see how Fraser can tell from a footprint that the shoe had a high top.

Scene 23

Davy is in the room with Eloise now. They are making out very sweetly and tenderly. She goes to a door, probably to lock it, and realizes someone is coming.

ELOISE: Davy — [Walkie-Talkie barges in.] — Davy, run!

Davy has already run out another door. Walkie-Talkie runs after him. Eloise follows. Davy runs down some stairs. Walkie-Talkie is right behind him. Davy comes out a side door of the church with Walkie-Talkie hot on his heels; Diefenbaker is barking as he, Fraser, and Kowalski come running around the building chasing the chase. Eloise is behind them. Davy looks over his shoulder to see if Walkie-Talkie is gaining on him, which is a mistake, because the driver of an oncoming car lays on the horn and slams on the brakes but hits Davy, and Davy goes flying into the back window of a parked van. Eloise screams.

ELOISE: Davy!

I don't know, young men getting hit by cars in this show. Are the brakes of the automobiles of Chicago that sluggish?

Scene 24

Police and EMS have responded to the scene. Davy is on a gurney with IV fluids; Eloise is hovering over him. Fraser looks around for something or someone. Eloise's father and Inspector Thatcher—in her choir robe, but after all still a law enforcement officer—come running outside past packs of onlookers. The preacher goes to his daughter.

ELOISE'S FATHER: Eloise, come on. [He tries to pull her away from Davy, who is strapped down in a cervical collar and intubated.]
ELOISE: I'll go with him.
ELOISE'S FATHER: No. I forbid it.
ELOISE: I'm going. Maybe I can help him.
ELOISE'S FATHER: He's a murderer. Eloise!
ELOISE: He's innocent, I know it.
ELOISE'S FATHER: You know nothing. Nothing about life, nothing about the world, and nothing about that boy. Leave him be. [He pulls her away so the EMTs can wheel the gurney, at least.]
EMT: Okay, let's get him out.
ELOISE: If anything, he's a lost sheep. I know a lot about those.
FRASER: He can't hurt her now, Reverend Barrow, and she may be able to help.
ELOISE'S FATHER (BARROW): Then I'll go, too.
ELOISE: No. You've done enough. [She pulls away from him and gets up in the back of the ambulance.]
THATCHER: Maybe it would be better if you gave her some time alone.
ANOTHER WOMAN FROM THE CHOIR: I'll go along with her, Reverend.
BARROW: Would you mind, dear? [The woman nods.] Make sure she comes to no harm.

I feel like there's a glimpse here—a glimpse—of a man who loves his daughter and is affected by her distress. He wants to keep her safe to himself and away from this boyfriend he doesn't like, but I can see a glimmer of actual paternal care coming through. Is that because the actor is that good and he's really playing it? If so, nice work, Fox (no relation). Or am I only seeing it because I want to?

I assume Another Woman From The Choir is played by Sharon Lee Williams, the alto soloist.

Scene 25

In the hospital waiting room, Fraser is pacing by a vending machine. Eloise is sitting in a chair petting Diefenbaker. The choir lady is dozing in a chair across from her. Kowalski is also pacing, talking on his cell phone.

VOICE ON THE PA: Dr. Clooney, please report to ICU. Dr. Clooney to ICU.
KOWALSKI: Yeah. [He hangs up the phone.] Frannie finally got a hold of the aunt and uncle. They're not coming. But they wouldn't mind if we were to call and let them know how he was doing. Uh — how is he doing? Doctor said he was going to come out and tell us.
FRASER: Well, you know, Ray, surgery does take time. [Kowalski starts feeding coins into the vending machine. Fraser sits down next to Eloise.]
ELOISE: [distraught] I've been praying to God, but he won't answer me.
FRASER: You know, it has been said that God does answer prayers, he answers each and every one, it's just that — oftentimes, the answer is no.
ANOTHER VOICE ON THE PA: — Dr. Robert —
ELOISE: Well, he's never said no to me before. He always comes through in a fire. He can't let Davy die.
FRASER: Well, Davy's a strong boy. Eloise — you said that Davy was innocent.
ELOISE: He didn't stab Addie, y'all. They were fighting for the knife, he dropped it, and he ran.
FRASER: And you know this because?
ELOISE: He told me.
FRASER: I see.
ELOISE: No. You don't. You think he lied, but he didn't. He would never lie to me.
A THIRD VOICE ON THE PA: Dr. Crohn, please report to the information desk. Dr. Crohn to the information desk.
FRASER: Excuse me. [picks up his coat and hat] Ah, Ray, there's a couple of things I should look into.
KOWALSKI: I'll wait here and regulate his progress.
FRASER: Good. [Diefenbaker whimpers.] You stay here.

Diefenbaker yips and goes back to Eloise, who is crying. She hugs him. He licks her tears.

DIEFENBAKER IS THE BEST THERAPY WOLF.

I can't find a hard source for the "sometimes the answer is no" line. Dan Brown seems to have used it in Angels and Demons (2000). Former president Jimmy Carter seems to have said it in an NPR interview in 1996 (he is also quoted all over the internet as saying "God answers all prayers. Sometimes it's yes. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes it's you've got to be kidding me," which does sound like him, but there's never any specific attribution); Christopher Durang used it in Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You in 1979. The earliest I can find is M*A*S*H s4e10 "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?", in which the titular Chandler believes, or claims to believe, that he is Jesus Christ, and the series regulars argue about whether he is or isn't trying to fake his way into a medical discharge. (The only one who seems to consider that Chandler might actually be Jesus is Radar, whose teddy bear Chandler blesses in what is actually a very moving moment; he then blesses Radar as well.) Anyway, that episode was from 1975, but it hardly seems likely that the idea—that a refusal is in fact an answer, even if it's an answer you don't like—could have been new at that time, don't you think?

I think Kowalski means he'll stay at the hospital and monitor Davy's progress, or report on it, or something like that. I like that Fraser doesn't correct him; can he be learning about this, too, at this late date? As well as not overpromising people's safety?

The fact that the PA is calling for Dr. Clooney is vaguely amusing, George Clooney having become a Big Big Star as Doug Ross on ER in 1994; his last episode as a series regular had aired just two weeks before this one on February 18, 1999. 🤔 The PA also calls for Dr. Crohn, he of the eponymous disease. (I don't have anything on Dr. Robert.)

Scene 26

Fraser is back at the precinct, talking to Francesca.

FRANCESCA: Okay, I got everything, starting from the big miracle at age seven.
FRASER: That's odd. Eloise said the first miracle occurred when she was five.
FRANCESCA: Well, pfft. Who remembers what happened when they were five? I don't even remember what happened when I was seventeen. Well, except for one thing, but anyway.
FRASER: Well, it was a miracle, Francesca.
FRANCESCA: Yes it was. [She realizes Fraser is actually still talking about Eloise.] Oh. Well, okay, but hers couldn't be much of a miracle, because they didn't even report it, and they report everything down south, miracles being top of the list and fires being the number two attraction. This is the obituary the dead guy was carrying. Young couple died in a house fire.
FRASER: The fire occurred when Eloise was five. Hmm.
FRANCESCA: What is it, Frase?
FRASER: Just looking for a miracle, Francesca.

First of all, we now know a lot more about Francesca than we did a moment ago, yowza. Secondly, who says Eloise remembers the miracle when she was five? She says they've always told her that happened, not that she remembers it herself.

Scene 27

Fraser is in the church office, where Eloise's mother is now wearing a lavender suit.

FRASER: [placing a copy of the obituary on her desk.] A miracle occurred in McKinley, Arkansas, nineteen-eighty-four?
ELOISE'S MOTHER (MRS. BARROW): I don't know what you're talking about. [She gets up from her desk and starts to walk away.]
FRASER: Well, I think you do. A five-year-old girl cured a blind woman.
MRS. BARROW: I don't have to listen to you.
FRASER: You know, your story and your husband's differed slightly over Addie's death. And at first I put that down to confusion arising from shock, but I think you and I both know it was something else.

It's 1999, so if Eloise was five in 1984 she's 19 or 20 now—not 17, as Kowalski said in scene 13—which means legally she's an adult and doesn't have to stay with her folks if she doesn't want to. Not that it's easy for a young person to go out on her own, but she wouldn't even have to be emancipated, is my point. So are they lying about her age like she's an elite gymnast or something? (I guess they'd be lying about her age in the opposite direction if she were an elite gymnast.)

Anyway: Did the Barrows' stories differ slightly? I don't know, it looks to me like they told the same story slightly differently, which isn't quite the same as there having been discrepancies.

Scene 28

Kowalski is dozing in the waiting room at the hospital. A doctor comes out.

DOCTOR: Detective Vecchio. [Kowalski stands up. So does Eloise.]
KOWALSKI: Ah, how's he doing?
DOCTOR: He survived the surgery. Frankly, that was a miracle, considering all the blood he lost. [Eloise is coming toward them.]
KOWALSKI: So he's going to be okay?
DOCTOR: It's a little too early to say.
ELOISE: Can I see him?
DOCTOR: [skeptical] Are you a relative?
KOWALSKI: Yeah, she's, ah — his sister. [off the doctor's look, because Davy is Black and Eloise is, you know, not] Adopted, ah, sister.
DOCTOR: All right. We'll have him in a room shortly.
ELOISE: Thank you. [The doctor biffs off.]
KOWALSKI: You going to be okay?
ELOISE: Yes. [She looks at Diefenbaker.] Can he stay?
KOWALSKI: Yeah, but you're going to have to sneak him in on your own, 'cause I don't think he'll pass as a relative. [He chuckles, but the joke falls flat. His phone rings.] Vecchio.

Except for the Barrows' tone when they call Davy "that boy," this is the first acknowledgment that he and Eloise are of different races.

Scene 29

Fraser is interviewing Mrs. Barrow, who is sitting primly in an office chair.

FRASER: I assume I have the basic parameters correct? [She nods, a little stricken. Fraser speaks on the phone.] Ah, yes, Ray, Mrs. Barrow is prepared to make a full statement. Right. [He hangs up the phone.]
MRS. BARROW: [She has been crying. Her nose is still running a little.] They were just ignorant trash. They would have squandered that beautiful jewel that they were given by God.
FRASER: [unmoved] I see.

Walkie-Talkie is out in the hallway.

WALKIE-TALKIE: [whispering into his walkie-talkie] Elliot. Elliot, I'm at the quarters. Get everyone over here, quick.
FRASER: Perhaps we should go. [He is about to escort Mrs. Barrow from the room, but Walkie-Talkie meets them in the doorway, pointing a gun.] Oh, dear. I imagine you've thought this through clearly?
WALKIE-TALKIE: Yeah, I believe I have.
MRS. BARROW: Sandy, it's too late for this.
WALKIE-TALKIE (SANDY): [points the gun at her] Shut up.
FRASER: You know, sir, at the moment it doesn't appear that you've involved in any serious criminal activity. [Sandy is pointing the gun at him again. He takes a couple of steps to the side, putting distance between himself and Mrs. Barrow.] Perhaps it would be wiser to keep it that way.
SANDY: Well, it seems to me that Addie was on a pretty serious gravy train. Now it looks like I can get me a piece of that.
FRASER: By eliminating me?
SANDY: That's good thinking.
FRASER: I see. Well. [He turns to Mrs. Barrow.] He has thought it through clearly.

Suddenly Fraser pushes Sandy's gun hand away and knocks him down, then runs from the office. He runs down the hallway; Billy (for by process of elimination it must be Billy) is coming through the double doors at the end. Sandy is following Fraser. Fraser punches Billy to the floor and keeps running.

SANDY: Get him. Get him!

Billy gets right back up, and he and Sandy follow Fraser, who runs down the hall outside the sanctuary. He hears the choir singing and goes in. Billy and Sandy and another guy, presumably Elliot, follow him in but put their guns away.

CHOIR: ♫ — stand up and hear the word. ♫
BARROW: Listen to the voices of God in song! Listen even as He listens to His children! [He has reached his podium again and sees Fraser in the aisle.]
CHOIR: ♫ Stand up! Hear the word. ♫
BARROW: Listen to the love in their voices.
CHOIR: ♫ Stand up, stand up! ♫

Thatcher and the woman who went to the hospital with Eloise have noticed Fraser. Thatcher has also noticed that he's being treed by Sandy and Billy and Elliot, so she improvises.

THATCHER: ♫ All God's children! ♫ [Fraser snaps his head around to look at her.]
CHOIR: ♫ Stand up, hear the word! ♫
THATCHER: ♫ Hear the word from brother Fraser! ♫ [Fraser runs up onto the altar.]
CHOIR: ♫ Stand up, hear the word! Stand up! Stand up, hear the word! Stand up! Stand up, and — ♫
BARROW: What are you doing?
FRASER: I'm not really sure.
CHOIR: ♫ — hear the word of glory now! ♫
BOB FRASER: [pops up from the organ bench] Tell them a story, son. You know how to do that.
FRASER: May I? [He grabs the hand-held microphone. The choir starts ooohing in the background. Fraser starts to—well, to preach.] Ladies and gentlemen — [He clears his throat. In the aisle, Sandy is annoyed but asks if he can scoot into a row and sit down.] — brother Albert.
CHOIR: ♫ Stand up! ♫
FRASER: I'd like to tell you a simple story.
CHOIR: ♫ Ooh, hear the word. ♫
FRASER: Ah, well, a not-so-simple story, actually. It's a story about sin.
BOB FRASER: [thumbs up] Sin is good!
CHOIR: [as some congregants shout encouragement] ♫ Stand up! ♫
BOB FRASER: [to the organist] My son.
FRASER: The sin of greed.
CHOIR: ♫ Ooh, hear the word. Ooh, hear the word. Stand up! Ooh, hear the word. ♫

Fraser sees Kowalski come into the sanctuary. Billy is still in the aisle with his hand on his gun in his jacket. Thatcher is observing all of this as well as she sings. Kowalski starts edging around the back wall of the sanctuary.

FRASER: If there are any among you out there who believe that the sin of greed is something overlooked by the heavens above, then you are — you are wrong —
CHOIR: ♫ Stand up and hear the word. ♫ [Kowalski has reached Billy, puts his gun in the back of his neck, and detains him.]
FRASER: — for they see everything and overlook nothing.
THATCHER: ♫ Not one little bit! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ Not one! ♫
THATCHER: ♫ Not one little bit! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ Not one! ♫ [Kowalski is handcuffing Billy.]
THATCHER: ♫ Not even a — ♫
THATCHER AND CHOIR LADY: ♫ — single grain of — ♫
CHOIR: ♫ — mustard seed. ♫ [Kowalski cuffs Billy to a handrail. Fraser looks on with a smile. Kowalski borrows a Bible from a congregant in the front row.]
THATCHER AND CHOIR LADY: ♫ He's been watching you and all your scheming ways. ♫
THATCHER: ♫ Not one little bit — ♫
CHOIR: ♫ — does he miss, does he miss. ♫
KOWALSKI: [opens Bible, shoves it in front of Billy's face] Now, repent. [In fairness, Billy looks like he might in fact be repenting.]
CHOIR: ♫ Ooh, not one little bit. ♫ [Sandy is annoyed in his pew. Meanwhile, Turnbull comes in another door at exactly the right moment to knock Elliot to the ground.] ♫ Ooh, not one little bit. ♫
FRASER: And this story is one that brother Albert knows well. It's the story of Eloise.
CHOIR: ♫ Not one little bit! ♫
FRASER: The young girl who's performed miracles right here in this hall of God.
CHOIR: ♫ Not one little bit! ♫ [Barrow is angry and starts to leave.]
FRASER: No, brother Albert, please stay with me. You can help me tell this story.
CHOIR: ♫ Not one little bit does he miss! ♫
FRASER: As you know, there was once an itinerant preacher out of Arkansas. [Kowalski has come over and surprised Sandy with his gun to Sandy's neck. Sandy wordlessly hands Kowalski his own gun.]
CHOIR: ♫ Not one little bit! Ooh . . . ♫
FRASER: A man who was small in faith but great in his greed.
CHOIR: ♫ Not one little bit! Ooh . . . ♫
FRASER: So great in his greed that he stole from his God.
THATCHER: ♫ Not one little bit! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ Not one! ♫
THATCHER: ♫ Not one little bit! ♫
CHOIR: ♫ Not one! Ooh . . . ♫
FRASER: One day, he met a five-year-old girl named Marcy Davenport, who could make the blind to see. And this man realized that he could exploit her gift — that he could profit from it. So he did the unthinkable. He stole her. [Barrow scoffs.] He stole the miracle girl, and he set a fire that killed both of her parents.
THATCHER: ♫ If you're a sinner — ♫
CHOIR: ♫ — give up your sinning ways! ♫
BARROW: That is a patent untruth.
THATCHER: ♫ If you're a liar — ♫
BARROW: That man is lying.
CHOIR: ♫ — walk back your dying days! ♫
BARROW: Disgusting lies dressed in a crimson vest.
CHOIR: ♫ Walk with that big man, the big man above, and he will guide you to righteousness! Ooh . . . ♫
FRASER: [to Barrow] It's a tunic, actually. [to the congregation] But there was a witness to his dark deed, a blackmailer, who bled the man dry e'en as the young girl made him rich. And then one day, he saw his chance. [Barrow has heard enough. He starts to stalk out up the center aisle.] The blackmailer was struggling with an innocent young boy, and so this false man of God rose up and slew the blackmailer. [But Huey and Dewey come in and block his way. The choir is modulating toward a triumphant key change. Barrow heads back up to the altar, where he intends to go out a side door. Fraser has reached his peroration.] Now, we all know who this man is. We all know what he has done. The law can only punish him for his crimes, but a higher power will punish him for his sins!
THATCHER: [who has stepped out of her place in the choir and got in Barrow's way] There's nowhere to hide, Reverend! [And she—well, she smites him. She smites him with the heel of her hand, and he falls to the floor.] You've been heeled!
CHOIR: [coming down off the risers to swarm around Barrow and accuse him] ♫ You're gonna burn, gonna burn! You're gonna burn, gonna burn! You're gonna burn in hell for eternity. He's been watching you and all your scheming ways, and not one little bit does he miss, does he miss, does he miss, does he miss, does he miss, does he miss, not one little bit does he miss, yeah, amen! ♫
CHOIR LADY: Hallelujah!

At this point the congregation are all on their feet waving their hands; the whole place is ecstatic. Luckily, Kowalski dragged Sandy out before the people filled the aisles.

I don't know why this Fraser-on-the-altar business doesn't make me even one fraction as uncomfortable as I was when he jumped up on the stage and joined the ballet, also to escape armed pursuers. Maybe it's because this type of church service is meant to be participatory (even though the kind of testifying Fraser is doing is not what Barrow normally has in mind), while the ballet is incredibly not. I'm a little surprised that everyone in the room, choir included, immediately believes Fraser rather than the preacher they've been trusting for however long they've been coming to this church. Maybe Thatcher's been whispering in people's ears at choir practice. (Even if she hasn't, I'm glad when she got religion she didn't stop being a Mountie.)

I'm not super confident about the lyrics the choir is singing between "If you're a sinner" and "You're gonna burn;" if anyone has anything clearer, I'm happy to hear about it, but these choir numbers were purpose-written for this episode so there's not a lot of detail about them available on the internet. (Another soloist is credited, Sheree Jeacocke, in addition to Camilla Scott and Dutch Robinson and Sharon Lee Williams, on this "Not One Bit" number but not the previous one about believing in miracles, but I can't tell where she comes in. There's some descanty stuff on the "gonna burn" cadence; maybe that's her.)

Scene 30

Diefenbaker brings a bouquet of flowers and lays it on Davy's hospital bed. Eloise is following him. Davy smiles. In the hallway, the doctor is speaking to Fraser and Kowalski.

DOCTOR: He's really made a miraculous recovery.
KOWALSKI: Really? You mean, like, a real miracle? You're not just saying that, like somebody'd say, like, the Immaculate Reception, like that?
DOCTOR: What I mean is, I'm his doctor and I don't know why he's still alive.
KOWALSKI: And, and that's pretty strange?
DOCTOR: Well, I don't know about that. I'm not sure why most of my patients survive.
FRASER: [seeing that Kowalski finds this troubling] Medical humor.
KOWALSKI: Ahh.

The three of them look at Davy and Eloise, who are kissing.

DOCTOR: Guys? They seem to have quite an unusual brother-and-sister relationship. Perhaps you could try and get them some help.
FRASER: Yes, doctor.
KOWALSKI: Oh, yeah.
FRASER: We will. [The doctor heads off down the hall.] Thank you kindly.
DOCTOR: Mm-hmm.
KOWALSKI: So is she for real with this, ah, miracle thing?
FRASER: She believes she is. The event's in the past. It's hard to say.
KOWALSKI: What about him? Did she save him?
FRASER: Possibly. [They head down the hall and out of the hospital.] He might have recovered anyway, but — but she did give him a reason to live, and that's important.
KOWALSKI: Young love. Cute, but it won't last.
FRASER: Well, it might.
KOWALSKI: Never.
FRASER: It's possible.
KOWALSKI: No.
FRASER: Occasionally.
KOWALSKI: Not on my planet. [Diefenbaker grumbles.]
FRASER: Dief believes it will.

The Immaculate Reception was a "miraculous" catch of a fourth-down pass with 22 seconds left to play in the 1972 AFC divisional playoff game; a defensive (Oakland Raiders) player tackled the intended receiver (which apparently didn't count as pass interference?), and the ball bounced off his helmet (so it was still a live ball, as apparently according to the rules at the time if it had simply slipped out of the receiver's hands it would have counted as incomplete according to the rules at the time even before it hit the ground?). Anyway, another player on the offensive team (Pittsburgh Steelers) caught it and ran it in for a touchdown, winning the game, blah blah blah. (I believe it is often also used to describe Doug Flutie to Gerald Phelan at the end of Boston College vs. University of Miami in 1984, but I think generally what's impressive about that event was the pass rather than the catch.)

Cumulative body count: 38
Red uniform: The whole episode

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