All of last week's proactive posturing gets put on hold this week. We open cold in a Vancouver meat store, current workplace of one Aldo Baglia, would-be brother-in-law to Sonny Steelgrave and heir to the Baglia name. After a day of slamming meat around, he's brooding in his fleabag hotel room about the poor turn his life had taken since his sister's wedding. There's a fat ring on his finger that just might be the one he cut off the dead hand of Pat the Cat. As luck has it, he finds a photo of Vince with the Profitts in a society page and immediately calls the states for an okay to hit him.
His call reaches Mack Mahoney, just as No Money's looking to eat a .38. But that phone call might be important, so he picks it up. Alas, it's only Aldo telling him he's found Vinnie. Mack shrugs. He tells Aldo to let it go, to have a life instead of The Life. Mack has cancer, and it's not the good kind you eventually get better from. Oh, and Aldo hasn't heard. Joey Bags succumbed to a stress-induced heart attack. Devastated, Aldo lets Mack get back to his business but is undeterred in seeking vengeance on Vinnie, the most convenient target available.
While walking off the Hotei, Vinnie is shot twice. Roger, demonstrating himself as the most able of Mel's goons, returns fire and nearly hits Aldo on the distant balcony with nothing but his customary H&K 13 sidearm. Susan panic-rushes to the side of the fallen Vinnie, which does nothing to assuage Mel's raging jealousy.As Vince is moved to the OR, Roger launches a terrific makeshift forensic investigation of the sniper's nest. He uses duct tape, newly-purchased shoes, and cardboard to pick up evidence by wandering around the room dumbly. I have no idea how well this would work in the real world, but it handily gets by the suspension of disbelief check. He then drops off the evidence-laden tape and shoes with a mysterious contact. More secrets of Mr. Lococco!
Frank is beside himself, stalking the hospital as he waits for Vinnie to get out of surgery. He's met by Lilla Warfield, who is taking over from Shagrass (rehab; nose candy). Lilla is immediately ready to jump Frank, whose smoldering-nebbish persona is well desired by women everywhere.
Meeting his contact. Roger has come to realize that a sniper (a competent one, anyhow) would not hit the same non-moving target twice by mistake: Mel was not the intended victim. He wants to know everything there is to know about Vinnie. Now.
At the hospital, Vinnie bedside vigils are held alternately by Frank and Mel, with the latter giving Vinnie a crystal necklace. This will be important down the road. For now it's enough that they both manage to avoid bumping into one another on shift changes.
 |
| The "McPike Maneuver." |
At about that same time, Roger's meeting with his contact. Hmm, his contact also has a suspect list, with most likely four names highlighted. Roger's contact, Herb, is not happy with doing Roger favors like this, but Roger asserts himself. Roger's first stop is the right one, and he finds Aldo's NY Driver's License for later visual ID as well as the Society Page Photo that started it all.
Lilla arrives, and Frank is sure to kiss her in full view of Lifeguard, who looks on with disapproval. She too has fingered Aldo as the shooter (a print that Roger didn't destroy in his forensic bumble). Frank goes tearing off to get him even without any legal authority. Lilla protests, but then, if she didn't want to see more of Frank's raging testosterone, she'd have sent the RCMPs for him without ever telling Frank in the first place.
Still, Frank's too late. Roger's already on site and quick as you please Aldo's done a dive off the roof of a building. Exeunt the line of proud Baglias from the Bronx.
When Vinnie's released from the hospital, it's Roger who wheels him out the door. He recounts the last moments of Aldo Bagilia, and muses:"I'll bet you have a lot of surprises for me. I know I have a lot of surprises for you..."
Vinnie looks troubled.
* Lilla's tastes run to the exotic, in this case being Asbach Uralt, a German brandy that I could never determine the name of in the days before Google. It's relatively difficult to find in the states. Perhaps it is on the shelf of any Canadian Hotel bar.
---
Pros: Roger Lococco's CSI: Vancouver. Tying up more loose ends from Sonny Steelgrave.
Cons: This one's solid.
Then: A
Now: A
--
Episode 17: Squeeze
When last Mel was in need of arms dealing, he managed to evade US governmental pressure and pulled off the Exocet deal. Frank himself noted that Profitt clearly had someone powerful in his pocket. But now, after the manipulation by Herb, his arms business is in a shambles. Suddenly he's a billion-plus in debt, and as a result tries to throw his Arms Dealing frontman off a balcony. A balcony that bears a strong resemblance to a balcony Sonny once stood on while a sniper took potshots at a certain grandstanding special prosecutor.
Mel makes one mistake; he assigns Roger the task of finding out what's killing his arms dealing. The other half of his plan is to get connected with the NY mob and supply them with heroin. For this task he sends Vinnie.
Vinnie, having killed or arrested most of the mob in his last case, doesn't know of any good contacts. A meeting with Frank gives him some names of up-and-comers, third generation guys who're trying to fill the void left by their legally embattled fathers. The meeting takes place at Frank's hotel room, where Vinnie can be lightly squicked by his shacking up with Lilla. Interdepartmental collaboration was never so much fun.
In any event, he and the younger generation have little but contempt for each other, but Vinnie's adherence to old-mob tradition impresses him enough to set up a full dinner meeting with Mel.
Meanwhile in Vancouver, the origin of the mysterious Herb is finally revealed as he strolls in to a CIA datacenter just moments after Frank and Lilla leave it. They don't have the clearance to get Roger's full file, but Herb has enough mojo to obtain all of Vinnie's. He informs Roger and advocates speedy removal. Roger, however, balks at the execution of a "brother in arms."
In New York, Vinnie brings Mel to Aiuppo. At dinner, the don is sour and curt; he has no intention of striking a deal. Then Mel presents him with a piece of statuary taken from the ruins of Aiuppo's childhood church in Italy. Direct hit. Aiuppo is almost instantly reduced to tears and develops enormous regard for Mel.He still doesn't want the deal, but is gentle. He advises against it as a friend. Mel sends the help away and levels with with the don: He needs this deal, because he's on the ropes. This honesty is the last thing Aiuppo expects, and shortly after he and Mel are off to a bordello to celebrate the launch of business. Aside from Sue, Mel's tastes run toward mulatto redheads with voodoo overtones, which ties in next week.
While he's so disposed, Vinnie beds Susan, but when he wakes up it's the Profitt sitting at the foot. Deal's done, Vinnie is to wait for the first plane in a field with some goons. Thanks to Herb's meddling, the plane never leaves, which leads to the mob threatening Vinnie's mother. Then a sniper kills the goons guarding him. Meanwhile, the two would-be capos actually go trawling the streets of Brooklyn themselves to find and abduct Carlotta. Plausible! Just as they make their move, Vinnie and Roger arrive. Roger kills one with a BB, and Vinnie would have beaten the other to death if Carlotta hadn't freaked out, seeing her own son "like an animal."Aiuppo is aghast, and seems unfazed that his younger relatives, however distant, were killed or jailed. Rather, he's furious that they broke the rules, and begs that Vinnie forgive him. He doesn't seem to care about the deal falling apart, and neither he nor Mel try a second shipment. In parting, he says that Vinnie could be a don.
Mel's devastated, catatonic. Even his Malthus bust won't draw him out of the corner. He's now ready for Herb and Roger's scheme...
---
Pros: Solid moments from Mel. A nice introduction to Aiuppo, who would never receive consistent characterization in his following appearances.
Cons: Way, way too convenient wrap-up, the entire fourth act is full of contrivance.
Then: A-
Now: B-
--
Episode 18: Blood Dance
Herb and Roger's plan at last has taken center stage. Mel is coherent again, back in New York, and listening to the sales pitch of a very grave Louis Cabra, representative of the totalitarian regime of Isle Pavot, a Caribbean nation.
It's worth noting that even with the thorough crippling of Mel's business over the last two episodes, he has billions left in the bank, more than enough to finance this and probably other coups.
It's a tempting offer. Complete vertical integration for the drug trade and US-supplied arms for possible resale. And who knows how many contacts. Mel opts to mull it over for a few days.
Unfortunately for Roger and Herb, Cabra is a clear nutjob. Mel is convinced he's part of a Macumba sect and attempting to put some sort of Hoodoo curse on him. He has Vinnie investigate Cabra to see which of 2000 sects he belongs to and also determine why he wants Mora killed.Frank finds a dossier on Emanja while Vince follows Cabra, who heads straight to his Macumba church.
Then it's off to nonchalantly run into Emanja. Somehow, the line "Louis Cabra wants me to kill you," when delivered by a stranger hulking around in black leather is a successful ice-breaker. Vinnie has never dealt with anyone like her before. She talks about her favored-martyr status on Isle Pavot, how her father and brother were killed and dragged through the streets. This triggers Vinnie's protective streak. He decides she doesn't need killing and promises to protect her.
Roger discloses the problems with Cabra to Herb, who couldn't care less. Things are too close to the end for minor quibbles like allowing a lunatic to run an operation. Roger ought to be used to that. Herb also reiterates the need to kill Emanja, and Roger balks at the assignment of killing an innocent woman. "Innocent!" Herb is incredulous. "She's a communist!" And David Spielberg, playing Herb, really delivers the goods in full native-Spanish accent: "We lost Cuba! We lost Nicaragua! We're not going to lose another country!" It's passionate and certain; you know Herb has really bought into the cold war ideology. Roger, though, has been in the field for too long. He applauds, sarcastically. "Save that horsecrap for the high school recruits." Herb has the grace to look chastened.
Vinnie gives his report to Mel. His tone of voice shows his world expanded a little as he describes Cabra's temple: "And the Virgin Mary had black hair... I don't see why she shouldn't have black hair, it just seemed kinda weird..."
Mel has deduced that Cabra is in the Kimbanda sect, which is "the dark side of Macumba." He then launches into a terrified rant about the spell Cabra has placed on him. Vinnie attempts to talk sense into Mel, which mirrors the Herb/Roger rift in the previous scene: "This garbage only works if you believe in it!" "Yes, but..."
Naturally they are forced to go back to Emanja for help with Cabra's curse. She takes Mel to a Menina, watching carefully as Mel plays with his crystal pendant in the car. The Menina says Mel has been possessed by the low spirits. She hypnotizes Mel with a tarot card, and Emanja steals the crystal (oh-so-conveniently hanging outside his jacket, as it never has before). To defeat the possession, Mel lights a blue candle, prays to St. John, gives a limo full of new sleeping bags to the homeless, and gets a mermaid tattooed on his hand. Vinnie watches all this, shrugging.
By the time Cabra is back for dinner that evening on his second interview, Mel's not interested anymore. Cabra gives Roger a WTF look, but says nothing else. That night, improbably, Mel discovers his crystal ("my soul.") is gone. Somehow he didn't notice it throughout the intervening time, even though it was outside his jacket and he was playing with it constantly prior to its disappearance.
So, Vinnie goes back to Emanja for help.* She gives him another lesson in comparative spirituality, teasing him all the while for being a mobster. He tries to convince himself that even though she knows all this Hoodoo stuff, she's really Just A Simple Girl, as he told Mel.
It's not much of a date, and it ends badly when they return to her aunt's home to find the aunt dead and assassins waiting. Vinnie stashes Emanja at Pete's church, acting like it's a vacation for her.
The instant Vinnie leaves her, she goes out on the street to exact some revenge from Cabra. Vinnie tails him to a different Kimbanda shrine that's all skulls and bones. Cabra lights a candle, a cigar, dances spasmodically, and kills a rat with a ceremonial dagger.
In his hotel room, Vinnie works Cabra over (with a gentle slap seeming a little light to activate a blood capsule in Cabra's mouth) and learns the CIA tried to hit Emanja. Cabra also reveals that Roger's an agency man. Then he pulls a knife, drops a lamp on Vinnie, and flees the room. Off camera, we hear him scream in horror and then leap through a window.
In the bedroom, there's a dead goat hung over a bouquet of flowers on the bed.
Elsewhere, Vinnie has tracked down Emanja again. He's a little outraged that she killed Cabra. She blows his mind by revealing that she really isn't the simple girl he wanted to believe she was, and anyway, this is his fault for involving her in the first place. Roger, who always tails Vinnie when needed, appears from the shadows and she asks if he received Mel's crystal. "Every tyrant has a hungry right hand," she says, having dispatched a tyrant's right hand only hours before. That's great and all, except she's never met Roger. Or even heard his first name. Did Cabra have Roger's CIA dossier laying around his place when she strung up the goat?**
In a wrap-up meeting with Frank, Vinnie reveals that Mel's dead. The two most likely suspects are Susan and Roger. If it's Susan, it's simple. If it's Roger... it's a CIA conspiracy. Ooooh.
* Vinnie picks her up on a street with the distinctive "Save-On Meats" sign visible in the background; this was where Aldo Baglia worked in Vancouver, oops!
** There's some talk about this episode being revised heavily after shooting. Perhaps there was a scene with Roger and Emanja in the same place, and the "error" resulted from after-the-fact edits. Since I've never seen an original script nor details on the editing, this is little more than speculation.
---
Pros: Clutch scene by Spielberg, some entertaining Hoodoo stuff.
Cons: Vinnie acts especially dumb throughout, and how did Emanja know Roger?
Then: B
Now: C+
--
Episode 19: Phantom Pain
The first thing we learn in this episode is that following Mel's death, Susan is a big Rush fan. She's staying in room #2112. Last episode, they had a house...
Vinnie persuades her to open the door, and tries to get her to comment on the means of Mel's demise. Sue is highly evasive, yet Vinnie springs to her defense when police arrive. It's been long enough, amazingly, for toxicology reports to come back. And for them to have been effective on a burned body. Based on witnesses describing her injections (though they were always alone every time we saw it), the police arrest her.
Vinnie is sure Roger killed Mel, and wants to find out what changes with his Isle Pavot plot now that Mel's dead.
With Cabra dead, Herb presents Henri Lalonde, who is the new actor in the role of Future President of Isle Pavot. He comes across as a hammy-accent stooge, and Roger has visible pangs of doubt afterward.
We join Frank and Lilla in the warehouse. Lilla's playing passive-aggressive with Frank's reconciliation with his wife (she refers to her as Cathy, but next season when Mrs. McPike actually appears on screen, her name is Jenny) but it's just set up to get a scene that we haven't been shown in awhile. The old "Frank tells Vinnie he's off the case" briefing. Frank gets a bit ahead of himself, declaring Roger gone and never to return. He's sure that Susan killed Mel, and there's enough compiled so far to bust Aiuppo (which never happens) and his annoying relatives.
Vinnie accepts this, sort of, and goes off to see Susan in jail. No high priced lawyer here, she's still in the can. Vinnie hems and haws and tries to give her the old "I have friends who can take care of you when I'm not around" speech (I guess that's how mafiosos break up), but she drops a bomb. Pregnant! She hopes it's a boy to name Mel.Roger goes to visit her next, and starts to run a game on her. He's pretending Mel's still alive, and while Susan initially rejects that idea, she starts to crumble soon after; on Vince's next visit she's started to parrot Roger's "mistaken identity" claim.
Vinnie and Roger have a good scene together, each pretending they don't know the other's agenda. Roger sets Vince up to be framed, and Vince obligingly falls for it. This gets Susan out of jail and Vinnie thrown in, during which time Roger escalates the game on Susan -- using tapes of old Mel rants to be played in empty rooms, and shut off when Susan comes looking. It's not long before she opens up Mel's swiss accounts to Roger.
Vinnie goes to Lifeguard for moral guidance. He's not sure what to do regarding Susan and his possible child. But then, it could be Mel's, too. If it is his, he can't leave her. Lifeguard gives simple advice: get her tested.
He does, under the guise of a pre-marital blood test. Luckily, when the doctor contacts him, he learns that during her stay in the southern foster care system, Susan was sterilized, and so he's off the hook. She's having a hysterical pregnancy, which is another of her multiplying psychoses. Vinnie decides to have her institutionalized instead of marrying her. Which, if nothing else, keeps her out of prison.
Roger, armed with about 300 million in Mel's Swiss accounts, is now driving the Isle Pavot operation. He is to lead the planning and execution of the invasion or else the money can buy him his own island somewhere far from Herb.
And Frank, who's been tailing Roger, sees it all, which leads to a final ID of Herb; former agency legend in the Nixon years until Carter came in and cleaned house. Lilla remembers him from Vancouver, during the same period Roger was there.
In the coda for the Profitts, Vinnie looks in on Susan at the hospital. She's blank-eyed and clutching a book of Baby Names. Vinnie walks right up to her, but she never exhibits even a flicker of recognition.
---
Pros: A genuine moral dilemma for Vince.
Cons: Breakneck let's-wrap-this-up pacing.
Then: B+
Now: B
--
Episode 20: Dirty Little Wars
We open in Vancouver (I hope), where the OCB mop-up team is carting evidence off the Hotei. If it is Vancouver, the OCB has no legal authority. But nevermind! Frank is ecstatic at the records seized, records that will smash extremely rich criminals worldwide.
Vinnie, though, still wants to go after Roger. Frank gives the pat explanation that since they were both undercover, Roger's job here is done, too, but Vinnie's not buying. Given the vehement denial he received from Roger when asked about the Isle Pavot invasion, Vince is certain it's still going full speed. So Vince has decided to take his "vacation" in Vancouver, to see if Roger's at his loft. But wait, they were just in Vancouver! Unless Mel sailed the Hotei through the canal to get to New York...
Arriving, he runs into Preet, Roger's Chinese house-lady, she of the laconic nature and perpetually offered hot towel. She has packed up groceries and is on her way out when a shotgun-toting spook unloads in her chest. She had snatched some recovered ball bearings out of her pocket, but wasn't fast enough to throw.The mystery man toys with Vinnie while some excellent steel guitar bgm plays the "Dirty Little Wars" theme. He's too cocky, though, and when Vince gets an opening, he scoops up the BBs from Preet's dead hand and kills the man with a direct hit to the temple. He frisks the assassin, then follows the contents of his wallet to a restaurant meet he had scheduled with Herb. When spook doesn't show up for dinner, Vinnie tails Herb back to the loft where he finds the two bodies. Herb leaves, laughing (never mind the unlikely positioning of the bodies) and jumps on a plane to Stockton.
In Stockton, Roger's old Special Forces buddies have arrived to command the small mercenary force of would-be president-in-exile Andre Lalonde, whose chief qualifications are an accent one can spread on toast and the brave notion that his ideas are his own. He and Roger don't get along, and without Herb present to keep the peace it only gets worse.
Elsewhere, Vinnie's request for ID on the spook has resulted in an immediate summons to DC to discuss the Isle Pavot matter. This is the prototype scene for basically every arc episode installment to follow: a long infodump summarizing the story so far. The DC boys, one of whom being the Attorney General, are not privy to whatever covert ops nonsense Herb and Roger are planning and direct Vinnie to go break it up. All this doesn't exactly jibe with the third season arc that results from Isle Pavot, but if we assume Herb is under-reporting his problems, it's just barely plausible.
Vince and Frank head to Stockton. They sit in the bar where Kenny and Vince initially saw Roger, eight episodes ago. Nobody at the bar is helpful, but almost everyone seems to be watching them. Frank's overstimulated and goes to bed, where he's promptly knocked out and dragged away by Roger's mercs.Vinnie, still in the bar, receives Frank's eyeglasses from a bemused Roger. He says Frank will be released after he leaves for Isle Pavot. Vinnie draws him into a "why'dja do it, Roger?" monologue, and Mr. Lococco is up to the task. He describes the enemies of America and himself as the protector of the country. Vinnie scoffs, asking who was he protecting when he had Preet killed? Roger does some quick soul-searching and stops Vinnie from walking out in moral indignation...
At the hangar where the invasion force is gathered, Herb has found Frank and demands Roger get rid of him. When Herb turns up the volume, Lalonde, on the phone to the Unified Bottling Corporation, warns them to keep it down. Everyone can then overhear his bargaining with the UBC, promising cheap labor from Pavot natives. Strike two for Andre.
Roger asks for a training uzi and Frank, and summarily "executes" him.
Frank's "execution" is a bit of a TV conceit that's interesting to analyze from outside the box. Obviously there's no blood on Frank because it's television; but within the story it's also because it's a training weapon without the benefit of live ammunition. So what is Herb-the-character seeing in his television-character milieu? A man executed (by rights turned to hamburger with the full pointblank burst Roger "fired") for TV or really left without a mark on him? Frank did have the sense to fall down (faint?), but it's unclear that he's in on any plan, as Roger arrived immediately prior to all that.
At any rate, Herb is pleased and allows the boys to put Frank's bloodless body in a nearby car trunk. Roger then asks Herb what happened, and it's clear Herb lied about his plans for Preet. Roger's game is afoot.
As final preparations for departure are made, Roger makes sure
a briefcase is clean of fingerprints and is in Herb's hands at the hangar. Lalonde is recording a speech to broadcast after the island is taken, and, in case anyone had doubts about the guy, promises to hold free elections "sometime in the 21st century."
That's strike three from a glowering Roger.
At the hangar, where Gert brought in Roger's 30mm gatling-gun t-bird all those months ago, the final preparations are being made. Most importantly, Herb's brought his briefcase. Roger notes that with the LoftSpook dead, the command team is down 20% of manpower. He's been forced to call in a replacement. Vinnie steps out from behind a Winnebago. And for the next course, here's Frank McPike, alive, angry, and armed.
Herb melts down. Roger empties a second training clip at Herb, while the latter wails incoherently. It does have the useful effect of scattering Lalonde's men while Herb tries to rally them into killing Roger.
Then the OCB anti-terror strike force rolls up, and Roger's mercs load up to bail. Frank tries to stop them, but Vince made a deal for his safety if they went free. Frank reverts to his early-series straight-arrow self, telling Vinnie he had no right to make the deal, and the men could be charged with capital crimes (like killing Frank, maybe, if Vinnie hadn't made the deal?). It's the kind of nonsense argument that is nearing the end of its line for the series, but for now it's not quite dead. There's only one way suitably overwrought enough to end this: with Vinnie telling Frank if he wants to shoot them, he has to shoot him, too. Yawn.
Predictably, Frank does not shoot Vinnie, too, and Roger's boys leave. Then we awkwardly segue back to the matter of one Herb Ketcher. Roger's ready to execute him, but Vinnie, boundless idealist that he is, insists that Herb will be "[frog-marched] through the streets like a caged monkey. His name will be a curse!" Roger, who lives in the real world, sneers: "When all this flak dies down, he'll get his own talk show."
He turns back to Herb and tries to rattle him with a gunshot or two, but Herb is steely in his resolve. "Fifteen years!" Roger cries. "And for what?"
"For our children!"
"I don't have any children!" Roger shouts, voice close to breakage. In fact, he has nobody; only the man he's just sold down the river. And Mel's money. Maybe that will be enough.
And vengeance. For Preet. For a second time he's ready to execute Herb, but again Vinnie stops him, selfishly insisting that he gets "the whole pie" by taking Herb to face justice. He promises that if Herb skates and they manage to kill Roger, that he'll kill Herb himself. This vow from a Sicilian (however dubious of honor) placates Roger just enough to get us to an end of episode.
----
Pros: That killer BGM.
Cons: Lame Frank/Vinnie argument, Roger's awkward arguments he throws at Herb.
Then: A
Now: B
--
Episode 21: Date with an Angel
This episode, the finale of the Mel Profitt arc (as well as the first full season of Wiseguy) centers on that most viscerally exciting of all situations, testifying before a senate subcommittee. The proceedings are clearly influenced by the Oliver North hearings, with Herb the fall guy for the ambitions of shadowy people far above him; unfortunately they're people who cannot be definitely tied to the plot in any meaningful sense.
Herb's most direct superior is Admiral Walter Strichen, a member of the National Security Council whose office is in the White House. He's been very busy avoiding phone calls from Herb, confident he cannot be charged without further contact.
Vinnie, meanwhile, is ecstatic about his subpoena. He'll have immunity and knows where most all the bodies are buried. Except for one thing, which Frank gracelessly informs him of: He's not to break his cover if he testifies. Isn't that perjury? Shouldn't he already know this, even if the audience doesn't?
Also disturbing is Vince's change of heart. Without a mentor to avenge, he now views being a cop as "just a job" and one he "wants to get the hell out of, someday." He complains that testifying on TV as a mobster would make him a leper to anyone he cares about -- but as we've seen time and again, he already is a leper to most of his family who doesn't already know the truth. Vinnie has a regular shtick of spurious moral crises, but this one is among the weakest.
Further, if I were running the OCB I'd begin to worry about the apathy of one of my rising stars...
In session, Lalonde has been called to testify. It also introduces senators Delaney, Getzloff, and Pickering, who are here to basically personify left, right, and center, respectively. All three will return, with better depth, in the third season's Washington arc.Lalonde, predictably, yet between pro-USA platitudes, lays all blame for the invasion attempt at the feet of Herb Ketcher, who's stewing in his apartment while watching the hearing on TV. Oddly, he seems to have no legal counsel, thinking perhaps that Strichen can handwave all this bad stuff away if Herb just keeps calling him.
And he must be right, since after a cut he's talking to some sort of spin-doctoring underling from the NSC, promising to backdate a paper trail to discredit Lalonde. He's wrong, though, in baldly asserting there's no evidence; Roger made certain Herb was holding evidence when the feds rolled in. Regardless, Herb signs the to-be-backdated documents and hopes for the best.
Strichen is sitting at some DC fatcat club, smoking cigars and wowing his sycophants with his Roosevelt impersonation. We'll see more of that in third season, too. Oh, yay.
Strichen sees Herb, and walks to the men's room where they have an informal chat about legal strategy. Strichen is the sunny optimist, calming Herb a little with a vaguely unsettling promise of giving "everything [Herb] justifiably deserves." He also wants the two of them to avoid being seen leaving the men's room together; this is another bit of character ground laid for his third season return.
Roger's testimony is marred by Getzloff and Delaney's constant bickering. It's an interesting counterpoint to today's view of patriotism that Roger, a CIA operative, is referred to repeatedly as a "terrorist" and a "murderer." Still, Chairman Pickering has had enough, and recesses hearings for the weekend.At the safehouse, Vinnie is still complaining about perjuring himself, when a sniper takes a shot at Roger; this prompts him to finally go out alone to avoid further attempts. None occur in his absence. At some unspecified point during the weekend, Roger has Vinnie meet him, disclosing the location of those Swiss Account cards he conned out of Susan two episodes ago, just in case something happens. Vinnie interprets this as a farewell, though Roger insists he'll still be testifying on monday.
At Herb's love nest, there's trouble. Since Traci is telling him "It's enough to know that you want me," we can guess what kind of trouble. Herb is openly weeping to her about Roger. She suggests that another client of hers, involved in publishing, could help with legal fees or such.
Roger strolls in for another few minutes of testimony, answering extremely leading or open-ended questions from Delaney and Getzloff. Then Herb takes the stand, laying all the blame at Roger and Lalonde's feet, and exonerating Admiral Strichen. He says nothing of substance.
That night, Roger, luring Vinnie and his tail of feds foreign and domestic, fakes his death in a boat explosion in order to free Vinnie from any obligation to him. Oh, and also to keep the heat off, I guess.
Vinnie makes his ultimate choice of testifying as a fed, but via closed-circuit tv with his voice distorted. His protestations that delivering the truth anonymously would mean nothing are out the window, since there's no Roger to make the noble sacrifice for. Further, at this point, Getzloff has left Herb for dead and is interested only in being sure Strichen is exonerated.
Poor Herb. With no time left in the season, he's forced to freak out again and again after every development in the testimony. Traci lets the trap clang shut, and Herb agrees to meet her friend in publishing. Somehow, he's a Soviet agent who will offer him asylum for defecting. But Herb must act quickly, because the justice department could be kicking his door down any minute! Not that there's any evidence of this from sources within the justice department, of which all three of our central characters are members.Herb has time for one last freak out, vowing to turn the russkies over. But with a calm handwave the commies dismiss the idea, saying that Herb will never prove anything. Herb excuses himself, and, to hopefully no one's surprise, blows his brains out in the bathroom.
Back at the safehouse, Vinnie gives Frank his letter of resignation, charmingly vowing he never wants to see another lie ever again.
---
Pros: Very much an atypical Wiseguy wrap-up, with good supporting turns from all the guest players.
Cons: Vinnie's moral dilemma even more shoddy than usual.
Then: B+
Now: B
No comments:
Post a Comment