DA VINCI'S CITY HALL REVIEWS-SEASON EIGHT

• Review of Episode 112: Bumped from the Ball

  Boy, I bet this ep would make a heck of a lot more sense if they had broadcast it on the same night as the season finale, especially what's really happening as we see the writers neatly drop one major character into place as the detonator on the thermonuclear device that seems set to blow everybody into orbit. And worse for Bill and Charlie, it's a man who swore, in the ep just before Christmas, to "bury them all." Now, Dom has handed him the mandate to do just that. As yet, though, they remain blissfully unaware of the Karma Train headed their way with Mick Leary in the Conductor's chair, which makes this ep not as satisfying as it could be. The train isn't there just yet.

  In fact, a double-hander at the end of the season was exactly what they used to do. Instead, we now have to wait until February 28 because the Olympics start this week and every normal program is preempted. Seems kinda silly to schedule it like that, but hey, it was delayed in the first place because CBC couldn't get its act together long enough to broadcast the season premiere on time. Something about a strike that took forever to resolve partly because a certain government-run corporation wouldn't budge on some pretty reasonable demands. They could have resolved it easily by broadcasting an extra ep before Christmas or having the usual double-hander this week. But no. That was too hard. And here I thought the Bill and Charlie Revue were unrealistic in their stupidity. Mea culpa.

  Unfortunately, what makes this particular ep so maddening is the gross, self-interested and self-destructive actions of a whole lot of characters at once. Bill and Charlie I expect to be provocative idiots (though the explanation that they are doing so because they're baiting Da Vinci for the Solicitor General is really wearing thin). But is it too much to ask for the Xena wannabes to get a brain between them this late in the game? Klotchko meets with the two of them and when they say that he told them not to cooperate with the Police Commission, they call him on it. He smoothly tells them, "You must have misunderstood me" and they buy it! Or should I say, they don't exactly buy it, per se, but they do decide that telling Charlie's blonde IAD slut that they refused to cooperate to back up Constable PE is the way to go. It's a nasty way to describe her, but IAD slut is increasingly coming across as a real piece of work—a female mix of Charlie and Inspector Arkin. If that doesn't turn your stomach, I don't know what will..

  This, of course, just serves to bolster Charlie's attempts to isolate her and make her the scapegoat in the grow-op case by making it look as though the wannabes are trying to cover up for her (when, in fact, they're covering up for Charlie). God, those girls are stupid. Not that the good Constable is the brightest bulb on the Ferris wheel, either. I'm afraid I'm increasingly not buying this storyline (okay, I admit, I never did buy it) as it veers alarmingly into the Land of the Mad Lesbian Cliche. Everybody, including the writers, acts as if this woman is unstable. We even have the IAD slut suggesting forcible psych hospitalization to Bill and Charlie. So far, however, I am not seeing anything that indicates that she is, in fact, losing it. She feels isolated? That's because Charlie is isolating her and her supposed buds aren't backing her up. She feels used and set-up? That's because Charlie is doing just that to her. She feels partially responsible for the shooting? Well, that would be because she is. She's not certain what happened now? That's so common to the witness gig that it's been studied by psychologists. Of course she's not sure. She's been through it fifteen times with people with fifteen different agendas. There is no indication that her perception of reality diverges from actual reality. If anything, she needs to be more paranoid about her situation, not less, and that would apply just as easily to her earstwhile buds. If anything, she's more stable than Charlie, whose attempts to get to the police chief's position are growing bolder, more reckless and less rational.

  Just compare her behavior to Mick's at pretty much any point in season five from "At First It Was Funny" onward and you'll see what I mean. Mick's perception of reality was only parallel to actual reality, not in sync with it, until after "Bury My Own Bones". He thought he was maintaining okay and only maybe going crazy when he was completely around the bend. If Leo and Kosmo had not covered for him, he would have landed in a psych ward and been bounced out of the Department. Then, we have sociopaths like Charlie and Brian swanning around doing totally antisocial stuff and getting away with it. The only difference between her and them is that they're straight men (well...the jury's still out on Brian). No, sorry. It's not enough. I don't buy it.

  Speaking of irrational behavior, Bill files a complaint with the Police Complaints Commission against Dom saying that Dom is interfering with his police duties. Apparently, the Solicitor General is eager to muzzle Dom and reduce his ability to control the police. Specifically, he wants to fire everybody on the Police Board and replace them with pro-Bill people who will hobble Dominic. Why making it impossible for the local civic authority to have any control over the local police would be considered a smart thing by anyone in a democracy is totally beyond me, but hey, we've long since established that this season the bad guys don't really have to have agendas that make sense. They just have to be Very Bad. Dom has yet another blow-out with Kaspar and demands, "What's your agenda here?". Kaspar will only admit to a "mandate", but his true role remains unclear.

  But here's the other thing that Bill does that makes filing a complaint against his boss/enemy look like a stroke of genius in comparison—he "uninvites" Dom from the Police ball. This is where the title line, of course, comes from. First, he takes Dom off the speech list for the ball. "Can you RSVP being uninvited?" Dom rhetorically asks his minions. When Dom still insists on coming, Bill sets up demonstrators outside. Only a well-timed call from Chick (who cleans up fine in his formal uniform, my, my) prevents Dom from arriving in considerable humiliation at the very end of the ep. Instead, he passes by in his limo, hiding his face from the party. I felt, of course, immensely sorry for him. Of the many stunts that Bill and Charlie have pulled on him, this is easily the meanest and the lowest. But it is also the most confusing. Bill is complaining to the Police Commission that Dom is interfering with him doing his job and being mean-spirited. And yet, he does this crap. This is just the kind of petty thing that you don't want to do to your worst enemy when you are trying to play the angel and get somebody else to take him down. So, why do it? In fact, both Bill and Charlie just don't seem to have had the brains to stay in power this long. And all of the revelations in the past few eps aside, I'm still not seeing any compelling reason for them to remain in power once the Big Guns have muzzled Dominic. Unless those Big Guns really do benefit by having stupid puppets in the Police Department. But then, one has to ask if the puppets cannot, or will not, control their people (as Bill and Charlie categorically cannot do), are they really worth keeping in place or should they be discarded?

  Chick also appears at the beginning of this ep. Margaret Fielding, the suspect in the stabbing, turns herself in to the female constable who patrols the red zone. I like that constable and wish we'd see more of that character instead of the likes of those scumball union reps. She says that the guy was trying to get her into the car to go to rehab when she stabbed him. Chick comes and takes her confession.

  We get a good look at why police and fire management don't like crosstraining (and the rank and file do) and it's all about keeping their cushy jobs. We see the IAD slut meeting with the police and fire union reps and Komori. The police union rep is swanning around trying to discredit Da Vinci with copies of confidential memos about the crosstraining. Where did he get these? He is not forthcoming about that. Nor does he so much as break stride when Komori (who, you recall, supported Dom on the crosstraining) notes, "This memo is four months old." Poor Komori, he's had a hard season. Near the beginning of the ep, he meets with Dom right after getting released from jail. Dom apologises for it, but Komori is finally and firmly back in the mayor's court. "I made my own bed," he admits. It's true and Dom did warn him, but you still can't help feeling for him.

  Other brief appearances from Homicide are Carter and his partner, when they take the statement of Teenage Psycho Cow. TPC feeds them a story about the gay bashing that is so obviously a lie made up on the spot it's a wonder they don't burst out laughing right there. She blames it on the two guys who were with her, of course, and with nothing to corroborate her story—of course. As much as I'd like to see more of Carter, I'm frankly mystified why this storyline is still chugging along when it should have ended several eps ago. It's out of gas. We know she did it; we even know why. Either she goes away for it or she doesn't. Otherwise, who cares?

  Kosmo and Joe show up when Mick interviews the slimy little Century Hotel clerk, who tells them quite a tale. For one thing, he recognizes Cody, the boy who supposedly stepped in front of a truck. Seems that wasn't quite the whole story—Cody fled a room in the hotel, stark naked, ran screaming through the hotel out into the street and got hit by the car that killed him. So, that's homicide right there. He also admits that pretty much anyone who ever worked at the hotel would know what was going on and also that management installed a camera in the back service entrance. So, a host of witnesses and possibly even videotape. Hmm. Mick has increasing difficulty controlling his anger throughout the interview and the clerk definitely notices it. Mick even gives Kosmo an odd glance that indicates all is not very right between them these days. After the clerk gets back out on the street, we see Brian approach him. "Get away from me!" the rattled clerk says, clearly recognizing him. "I can't be seen with you!"

  Brian trolls through the ep trying to suborn various witnesses. He gets to Manny Zappata first. Manny fans will be devastated to hear that he may not be seen again, since he appears to jump at Brian's offer of putting him up in Mexico for the next five years on Dubreau's dime. On the other hand, while Brian insists on his leaving immediately, Manny now has concrete evidence of Brian trying to suborn him and we never do see Manny get on that plane...

  In fact, even if Manny did leave, Brian is only one for three in his witness intimidation plan this week (my, my. Is he losing his touch?). He also meets with Clarke (yes, folks, Glen Gould is back), but Clarke is totally uninterested in leaving the country: "I've been to Mexico." When Brian says that Dubreau could get Clarke fired with a single phone call (after having fled the country under suspicion of child molestation? Methinks not), Clarke just tells him that would be too bad for everyone and walks away. Brian gets that look he did right before he whacked Rick (because we know he did). Clarke better watch his ass. Of course, Brian better watch is ass, too, because Mick is just a few steps away from nailing it for good.

  We get to see a little of Lloyd Manning this week, to whom I am finally warming up. As usual, he is trying to play give-and-take with Dom, this time over his fight with the company that bribed Jack Pierce for that contract. But Dom's not playing. The banter is funny, though. Less funny is when Dom goes out to the racetrack (some fantastic shots of it under snowfall) and discovers that Roger Woo is trying to gut the infrastructure by luring all of the owners and trainers up to his new track. His meeting with Woo is equally unsatisfactory. He is, of course, hobbled by the fact that he's keeping secret the plan to snatch the racetrack out from under Woo. Woo isn't impressed by his threats to nix Woo's gambling permits, but if Dom really goes through with it, he may just change his mind.

  Now, let's get back to Mick, because Mick is quickly shaping up to be the kingmaker (and breaker) this season. Early in the ep, Dom has a dispirited conversation with Ben about what they can do about the Police Complaints Commission. They've already come with a warrant to search is office and actually got into Rita's before Dom was able to arrive and shoo them off persuant of a more detailed warrant. After Ben details all of the depressing details, Dom notes this but points out that he's already done what he's done and now what? Ben then says that if the Coroner said in his report on the grow-op shooting that there was a police cover-up, then the whole thing would go away and Bill would be finished. "So, it all comes down to the Coroner," Dom says cheerfully. He should be cheerful. The Coroner is one of his closest friends.

  The Coroner, however, is also a stubborn cuss with a Celtic temper and other things on his mind and Dom knows better than to push a mule. Dom has him over for coffee (Mick takes it with milk; maybe black coffee still rots his stomach after those benders he used to go on). It's a nice little conversation that is unfortunately broken up by the two idiot city counselors who oppose gambling announcing their intent to put forward a resolution to shut down the red zone. Dom squashes them, but Mick uses the interruption to take his leave before Dom can twist his arm too much for both of them. When Dom asks him how the grow-op investigation is going, Mick admits, "Not good." There's evidence of a complete lack of discipline in the lower ranks on both sides (since Mick hasn't been able to talk to the xena wannabes, it makes sense he wouldn't know that management put them up to the grow-op busts). This would seem like good news for Da Vinci except that Komori would get tarred as a leader who didn't know what his men were up to. And Dom doesn't want to let Komori get anymore screwed than he has been already. When Dom asks if Mick has looked into the possibility of the notice being planted, Mick admits he hasn't. Dom makes it a strong suggestion and Mick allows that he'll look into it if Bob Kelly's okay with it. Since Bob later compliments Mick on his performance with the pedophile ring, we can assume he okays the notice-plant idea, too. But we don't see it yet. Seems a sure thing we'll see it in the season finale, though. So, oddly enough, it looks like Mick is the one holding the trump card, not just with the pedophile ring but with the grow-op shooting, too. And you know he'll play it.

  Finally, Dom meets again face-to-face with Mike Franklin. Mike is in a hurry to go somewhere (we never find out where). But he does have a host of questions about the apartment building for Dom that Dom more or less answers. As he runs off, Ben says, "Look at him go! He's like a rabbit!" Dom doesn't miss the opportunity to rubthe new arrangement in the faces of Bill and Charlie as they go into the cop shop. Yup. The season finale's gonna be loud and explosive.

  Next week (actually February 28): The Dogs In Sympathy With The Cats: There was a big preview for this during this ep so I'll describe it for those of you who won't see it: we see a street scene with a body lying in the road and a constable leaning over him. The body appears to be dressed in constable's gear and looks remarkably like the police union rep (that would sure be a surprise move). We see a brief shot of Dom getting out of car, maybe nearby. Inspector Arkin walking down the hallway of what looks like a Century Club with two constables; Mick looking up during a phone call in his office; Constable PE behind bars looking depressed; Mick pulling on his gloves in front of a stairway where slimy little hotel guy lies dead; more of the dead body in the street; a shot of Brian in shadow; Bill throwing a report at Charlie's head (ooooer); Mick in the street leaning over to look at a car; Da Vinci in his limo; Lloyd Manning with a pool cue; Rita outside looking at a sign; more Dom. I'll give them this—it's sure looking crowded. All I can say is—BRING BILL, CHARLIE AND BRIAN DOWN.

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This page was last updated on 2/8/2006