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DA VINCI'S CITY HALL REVIEWS-SEASON EIGHT
A brief note—my friend Judith tells me that last week's title line was uttered by Charlie to Chick. See? I'm already tuning out every lie that little forked-tongue scuzzball is saying. My bad.
Imagine my happiness when I discovered today that the State of the Union address would be at the same time as this week's ep. Yeeha! Something to watch at 9pm with a little honesty in it. However, imagine my unhappiness when I discovered at the end of this ep no previews of next week's ep. Not that they've always (or even usually) had a preview the way they did last week, but the last two eps are usually shown on the same night and those last two are supposed to be coming up next week. Only, they're not. Instead, we have an unspecified ep next week and one on February 28th (what, Dom has to keep the police and fire department from going to war again? Haven't we done this already?). I'm gonna be a mighty unhappy bunny rabbit if CBC decides to preempt Da Vinci for three weeks to show some stupid Olympic preview next week. I can understand preempting for the Olympics themselves (which won't start until later next week), but an Olympic preview? Did I mention the mighty unhappy bunny state that would cause? Sheesh. Advertising, people. It's called advertising. Means you actually want people to watch the show.
Lloyd Manning gets the title line again this week, in a very intriguing conversation at the end of the ep. Manning is talking about being a flea taking on the American company that did him out of his contract at the beginning of the season, but he could be speaking for a number of our heroes this ep.
Why are Manning and Dom so chummy again of a sudden? Well, it seems Manning got a little investigation going of the contract he complained about losing to corruption in ep one. Dom then finds the bribed city councilperson who gave the contract out from under Manning's nose. Sandra Felinger (in another surprise turn and a couple of very well-done scenes) 'fesses up, but it's not her. It's (wait for it) Jack Pierce. Yes, that Jack Pierce who was shacking up with not-so-ex hooker/stripper Brenda in season six (and first appeared arguing with Dom about the red light zone in Fantasy near the end of season two). Jack Pierce who sparked Brenda's ex-boyfriend Rick's murder by asking Brian to make him go away. That Jack Pierce. Vancouver's very own answer to Teddy Kennedy.
There's a nice bit where Dom spells out exactly how Jack is going to fall on his sword in such as way that nothing is going to come back on Dom—he will resign quietly and quickly, making his speech short and sweet; he will cut a deal with the Crown, cooperating fully; and none of it will come back on Dom. When Jack tries his contrite little-boy-lost routine, Dom cuts him off: "I'm up to here in bullshit already." Go, Dom. That reality check to old Jack was long overdue.
So, Manning is happy again—and giving out free advice to Dom. I'm starting to think he genuinely likes Dom, but that he also likes sparring with him and matching wits with him. This is going to be a very thorny relationship. But it also opens political doors to Dom that might otherwise remain closed. So, I guess, on the balance, it's a good thing for Dom.
Which is good, because everything's coming at Dom at once this week. Toward the end of the ep, he asks Bob Kelley if he can have his old job back. Bob cheerfully refuses: "The new guy [Mick] is doing a bang-up job." He then tells Dom about the pedophile ring, which Dom fears will probably get twisted back on him. Not if your old buddy Mick can help it, Da Vinci, my friend. "That Irish boy", as your mother once put it, is out for blood and it ain't yours.
Da Vinci begins the ep by meeting up with an old friend from the Horsemen (played by the guy who played the father in This Shit Is Evil and the scuzzy ex-narc in season six who killed one of his snitches and sent his mummified finger to the guy's brother). This intro is well-done. The music compliments the scene and there's a funny guy selling sandwiches to the street people from a cart who appears on and off as a sort of connector character throughout the ep.
After they reminisce a bit about their Horsemen days fresh out of school (the friend ended up on buy and busts his first week; Dom got caught up in the Gastown riots), the guy warns Dom that "they" are out to get him. "You're a shit disturber," he says, stating the obvious. It's partly Dom's progressive policies that could spread to other cities, but a lot of it is about municipal control of the police. The Solicitor General's Office and the Attorney General's Office are at war and Dom is caught in the middle. They hope to discredit his office and get control of the municipal police. Bill is probably involved, but he's only a little fish. Ahah. Finally, a motive for messing with Dom's head.
This is a nice little revelation, but I couldn't help wishing it had come sooner in the season. I'm getting thoroughly sick and tired of all of the police corruption crap. Really, aren't there any uniformed cops in the Vancouver police department who aren't scumbags? And aren't there any firemen in the Vancouver fire department who have the brains God gave a gerbil? Enough, already! However, Manning's advice at the end of the ep was quite interesting, maybe even true. "Stick to your guns," he tells Dom about the Solicitor General. Manning dismisses the Solicitor General as a small fish, a political wannabe. If Dom stays steady, says Manning, the guy can't knock him down.
Some other things go Dom's way this week—he gets Phil Rosen to send his big file to the Solicitor General's Office and start off a new, broader investigation. This, of course, means that he will get investigated, too. But by the end of the ep, he's ready to give them everything to make the point that he is cooperating fully, even as the Police Chief isn't.
Meanwhile, Chick apparently solves the red light zone stabbing. The woman who did it had been seeing the dead man on and off. So, it appears to have been a domestic dispute and nothing connected with the red light zone itself. This, despite one stoned-out hooker telling Chick that it was some guy who stabbed the man in his car. Either way, the red light zone seems to be calm after the incident and even picking up speed. Dom's enemies better hurry up before it becomes entrenched or they'll never get rid of it.
It's nice to see more of Chick this week, even if it freezes out other Homicide characters like Kosmo, Joe, Carter and Carter's partner. Alex Diakun has been at his laconic best, walking the mean streets of the Downtown Eastside these past few eps, and it's been fun to watch.
Dom traces Mina Basra to Billie Simms' ex-husband. Billie, of course, denies all involvement, but I have a feeling that Mina Basra's suit will go away shortly. Billie, like Manning, seems to enjoy fencing with Dom. But with Billie, naturally, it's a good bit more sexual—more like foreplay.
The Police Complaints Commission comes back with an inconclusive verdict, blaming both the Fire Department and the Police Department for obstruction. Komori and his boys stage a plainclothes protest, which irritates the hell out of their Chief and Da Vinci. Meanwhile, Charlie tries to pass off the heat onto Constable P.E. and her buddies. Charlie especially tries to make the good constable look unstable. I really, really do not want to see this turned into a wacko lesbian storyline, but alas, that's where it appears to be heading. Ick. Particularly the way he hits on the blonde IAD cop he calls in to investigate. Please, somebody, just shoot Charlie in the crotch and have done with it. This storyline is making me very cranky.
Speaking of Charlie, Brian shows up briefly and he's still making trouble. Bill tells Charlie that the Crown is looking over charges against Dubreau and will probably make an arrest in the morning. Charlie acts surprised and says, "Well, what does the Coroner's Office think about this?" "I don't give a damn what the Coroner's Office thinks about it," Bill replies. Next we know, the same constable who warned Brian before comes out and tells him that Dubreau is going to be arrested. Brian immediately makes a call, telling the person on the other end to get his man out of town. And lo and behold, the next morning, Dubreau has fled to Costa Rica. I'm thinking the obvious assumption is that Charlie is the puppetmaster behind Brian's long reign of terror and leaked this through a third party to Brian. But why? Is he going after Mick without facing him openly? Is he part of the ring? Is he being paid off? All of the above? God, he so needs to go down.
Mick is, needless to say, pissed. In fact, Mick is looking a lot worse now than he was at about the same point last season. And he wasn't looking too good then, either. He's got stubble and he looks tired. He also looks incredibly angry and isolated. If he doesn't get this pedophile ring, he's gonna be in bad shape. Hell, even if he does get the pedophile ring, he may not be in good shape. He's obviously trying to exorcise old personal demons with this case and it's not working out too well.
Mick's response to Dubreau's flight is to have a chat with Bob Kelley (he does have a boss after all!) and raid the Century Club. Mick takes a couple of constables with him and turns loose Kosmo and Joe on the office, where they find many interesting and disturbing things, such as the fact that the hotel has been making reservations to Costa Rica for suspected pedophiles since 1993. The point of that, of course, is that Costa Rica has no extradition treaty with Canada. Normally, this would mean Game Over for Mick's investigation of Dubreau. However, there still being two eps left this season and all, I have a feeling that extradition (or some sort of reckoning) may happen anyway, especially if Canada cuts off the funds of those suspects. I seriously doubt that the Costa Ricans will be much thrilled to hear that they have a bunch of rich pedophiles hiding in their midst, either. They're a wee bit sensitive about that sort of thing in Central America.
Meanwhile, Mick turns himself loose on the hotel manager, who is a little weasel. I got the impression that if they had been alone, Mick would have taken the little bastard into a hotel room and beat the shit out of him. If I were in his place, I might have, too. The guy keeps demanding to talk to his lawyer, but later has an interview alone with Mick at the Coroner's Office. There, he admits that he knew what was going on at the Club. He remembers Dubreau being there and the whole set-up with the elevator and the parties. He even remembers Garth and Dennis because he could tell that they were very young and it made him uneasy. Did this motivate him to make a phone call to the police? Of course not.
The ickiest part is when he admits that he knew these guys were up on charges because he overheard the previous manager discussing their situations with the suspects and that they would call friends and family members to see them off. Again, the point being that they were planning to run off to Costa Rica forever. This, frankly, grossed me out. What, you go see Uncle Harry at the Century Club before he runs off to Costa Rica to beat a kiddie raper beef? That says something as ugly about the suspects' families as about themselves.
Finally, we get Zack and Mike Franklin (you know...Friedland) hitting Dom up for more permanent housing for the Crab Park squat. Seems they're worried that the Horsemen are trying to move in again to crack some heads. Dom gets them some housing—at an old apartment building right across the street from the cop shop. One of the funniest moments in the show is the two of them having a laugh over that irony, and Bill looking out his window after finding out. I'm definitely warming up to the buddy chemistry between these two. I hope it outlasts the season.
Next week: The Dogs In Sympathy With The Cats (This is listed for February 28 and is presumably Ep 113 not 112; no info yet for next week's ep): Da Vinci scrambles to prevent a war between the police and fire unions when rumours emerge of a cover-up in the grow-op shooting case. But his grip on the city is undermined by bad press, opposition from the Solicitor General, and defections on City Council. Bill and Charlie scheme to neutralize an increasingly unstable Jan Ferris. Suspects in the gay-bashing and pedophile cases try to negotiate deals with the Crown.
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This page was last updated on 2/1/2006
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