The Music Arc begins after a couple of single-story episodes dealing with Vinnie's leg injuries, incurred back in the Rag Trade's "Next of Kin." I'll get to them someday. The latter episode is a good one and has a dream sequence featuring Sonny Steelgrave.
The investigation into the music industry begins on a rather flimsy, external premise: an extra cast as a DEA guy tells Frank, "hey, you guys should look into this," and so they launch the fastest investigation ever, using the DEA's newly-confiscated record company as their entrance.
Though it was the first Wiseguy arc to hook me in as a regular viewer on the strength of its large and recognizable guest cast, stuffing the show to the gills with so many characters resulted in the majority of them being neglected and/or summarily discarded by the end of the arc. It was a lesson learned by the show, which never attempted to incorporate so many speaking parts again.
A more practical problem with the arc today is the thorny issue of music rights. Though only a small handful of recognizably popular songs were licensed, at this time no home video company has seen fit to obtain the clearances needed to get the arc to dvd. Until such a time comes, I have only my ca. 1990 VHS to prove these episodes existed.
Episode 35: Dead Dog Lives
Vinnie is a very happy agent 4587. He's running a record label. He doesn't even care that it's a nearly nonexistent vanity-project microlabel confiscated by the DEA and loaned to Frank for investigating very vague charges of major-label corruption.
One thing Dead Dog Records does have is that its drug kingpin owner made a savvy laundering investment in a respectable publishing catalog stretching back into the 40s and 50s. Selling it to a major would be entry to their business. But from the start, Vinnie's being rebuffed by the majors' execs.
Luckily, mere seconds after this is all established, in the door walks one Bobby Travis, a well-connected three-time industry loser. Bobby was trying to buy Dead Dog at police auction and he's mad (well, whiny; it is Glenn Frey) that he lost his chance to live out his adolescent dreams. Vinnie's casual mention of mob connections chills Bobby out, and smelling opportunity he demonstrates his worth as a lieutenant by setting up a meeting with one of the guys who refused Vinnie's calls a minute before. It's impressive enough to get him a no-salary position with nearly-dead label.
Further ingratiating himself with his new boss, Bobby takes Vinnie on a tour of the music business and their relative tiers of income generation, from rowdy bars in Jersey to the Meadowlands ($17.50 a head!) to dive piano lounges. It's at the last we meet Diana Price (Debbie Harry, who like Frey is a stroke of perfect casting), once a mega-act who now conveniently happens to be under contract with Dead Dog. Frey delivers the career summary of "She used to be a superstar, now she works for you," without quite winking at the camera.
Their final stop is the home of Winston Newquay, head of Diana's former label and her ex-lover. He made millions from her legitimately, and likely half again on "cleans" -- alleged industry jargon for records shipped out the back door and never reported as income, split between label fatcats during their power breakfasts. Modern research has yet to turn up any factual basis for this term.
It's the disparity between Price and Newquay's current circumstances that triggers Vinnie's altruistic streak; he returns to the lounge, hears one of her new songs (a piano-lounge version of Harry's Brite Side from Def, Dumb, and Blonde that has proven impossible to find 25 years after) and decides he's going to honor her contract and get her comeback record made. He then spends 30k of the OCB's money to hire the best producer in the business. Such a move makes Frank typically furious, but, as usual, incapable of stopping Vince from doing as he wants.
Dinner at the home of World's Best Producer Johnny Medley gives Vince plenty of his these-people-are-monsters grimace opportunities. Medley's a balding, manic cokehead, who naturally keeps lines ready on a silver tray at the dinner table just in case. Stacking the rock cliches, he also has a sixteen year old wife -- she isn't his cousin, at least. He can't understand why Vinnie wants to pay him this much for one song, but will do it for the money. Medley comes off like Mel Lite, all the way down to the mood swings and the gunplay. The idle rich...
Vince returns to the lounge again, and drops his cover. Well, his first one -- he'll drop the other later, of course, but right now he's just coming clean that he's the owner of Dead Dog. Diana, suddenly offered an opportunity, balks at the possibility of a failed last chance, to which Vinnie delivers another of his inspirational speeches. In the next scene, she's in the studio, recording a different (full band, poppy uptempo, equally impossible to find; I like it more than the official version, but then, I heard it first) version of Brite Side.
Uncle Mike shows up on behalf of Frank's temper just as Johnny is berating Diana's poor performance. Out comes the coke, and Vinnie has to step in, using some old mafia persuasion techniques to rein in Johnny, and then switches to his good-cop hat for yet another pep talk to get the session going for Diana. In classical TV fashion, the next take is a keeper.
At the end of the day, there's a good track in the can, and now Dead Dog Records has one more asset.
---
Pros: Great casting on Frey and Harry.
Cons: flimsy premise built around available guest stars, punch-drunk humor that falls flat, souring the end of a strong episode.
Then: B
Now: B+
--
Episode 36: And It Comes Out Here
This week's recap takes place back at OCB for the benefit of Paul and Mark. Nobody likes Vince putting Bobby Travis on the OCB payroll (he's working gratis, actually), and they like his decision to fritter away yet more cash on a Diana Price single even less. As per usual, they're all powerless to stop old Vince, whose love of his current assignment frightens them both.
Next on Vinnie's agenda is the first of the big fish he's supposed to be investigating. Isaac Twine is one of those extinct breed of rakish, self-made, music-first label suits, and Vince warms to him immediately. Isaac is also an inveterate gambler, and during the meeting he wins a chunk of change on sumo wrestling from the disembodied voice of Tim Curry, the music arc's prime antagonist. Like Kevin Spacey, he's too big to appear in his arc's first episode.
Twine is interested in Dead Dog's publishing catalogue, but not at fair market value. Vinnie, mindful of the man's weakness, agrees to cut cards for Dead Dog: double or nothing. He pulls a deuce, but Isaac chickens out before they show. In parting, Vinnie assures him that there's a deal to be done here, which seems clumsy shorthand for informing the audience that yes, always-likable old Paul Winfield is going to be Vinnie's ally for the next several episodes.
Enter Tim Curry at last, playing Radiance Recording owner Winston Newquay. While he has all the lifestyle being a corrupt recording mogul can afford him, he also has a volatile relationship with his onetime trophy wife, Claudia (Deidre Hall, more good casting). Instantly you can see that for all of his villainous riches, this is not a happy man. But there's more on that as we go. Vinnie and Travis arrive at the end of their marital sparring, leaving Newquay half-dressed. He's aristocratic and dismissive (the way Curry drawls his words with ennui is just one of the weapons he brings to the table here), ignoring Vinnie utterly while dealing only with Bobby.
Irked, Vince decides to crash Winston's party to hype his signing of a Soviet musician in order to promote Diana's return to recording. It's a good scene for the Newquays, establishing how well connected and informed of the industry Winston is, and how Claudia's harpy behavior stems from her deep insecurity (she's an ex-showgirl, but half-owner of Radiance, and so nearly impossible for Winston to actually divorce; this is the only early sign he has any real warmth for her) -- predicated on Winston's past infidelity with who else but Diana Price. Diana herself fares much worse, with her being a silent, well-dressed prop attached to Bobby's arm for most of the sequence. Then Claudia confronts her at the buffet table, leading inexorably to a pastry-splattered catfight. Honestly, this series should be better than that.
Though his wife caused the larger scene, and, having already decided Vinnie was beneath his notice, Winston decides to exact retribution on Bobby instead. One of his thugs delivers a punitive beating as a nightcap to the evening, breaking Glenn's generous beak.
Back at OCB, Vinnie's receiving a mid-episode briefing on Winston Newquay, aka Sam Fishbein, onetime dockyard thug turned DJ . He's also 51 years old, shocking Vinnie, who was certain he couldn't have been older than 42. Frank responds that the former Mister Fishbein, in a callback to a certain incestuous ex of Vinnie's, gets his blood doped four times a year. The rest of the news is nearly as useful -- there's nothing bad in his file, save a 30-year-old, pled-out radio payola case. Even worse, as half-owner of a huge label, he has enough money and connections to politicians who could receive access to Vinnie's agent file. Perhaps this is a complication the OCB might have anticipated prior to launching this investigation. Not only did the OCB have no clear idea of what crimes they were investigating, they failed to run even cursory background checks on the major NYC players; a far cry from the enormous flowchart that launched the Rag Trade.
Returning to Dead Dog, Vinnie sees that Bobby was roughed up by Winston's muscle, and Vinnie considers having a talk with Winston in "good old Brookyln-ese." Bobby tells him not to bother, there's no money in it. Exasperated, Vinnie asks the room: is there anyone unafraid of Winston? That gives Bobby an idea, and they're off to visit Jimmy Elliot (yet more great casting; Mick Fleetwood), who's described as a kind of John and Paul in one. Elliot has become a virtual recluse, hostage to his own deification.
When told they're going up against Newquay, though, Elliot comments one syllable: "Ah." Bobby attempts to provoke him further, but Elliot's mum. Vinnie, again, is annoyed at all this and wonders aloud: Who the hell would be afraid of a guy named Sam Fishbein?
That gets through to Jimmy. He'd once paid a man to get everything he could on Winston, and had been rewarded with one thing only: Sam Fishbein. When Winston found out, he paid Jimmy "every dime he owed me, and every dime he ever would." And now, what can he do for them? "Mighty big headline in Billboard," he notes, "James Elliot signs with Dead Dog.." Pending the outcome of an air hockey match, he will consult with Dead Dog once a month, telepathically, for one lean pastrami sandwich. He calls Winston at once to let him know, keeping back the details. The news angers Winston so much, it makes Claudia horny.
The following morning, Dead Dog meets with the heads of Shakala and Radiance. Radiance wants to buy them out completely, but will not accept continued contracts for Vince and Bobby. Shakala would do so, but can't even come close to the exorbitant sums Winston can throw around. Since the show has tipped its hand that it loves Isaac Twine, you know who will end up winning this bidding war, even with no money down.
Rebuffed, Winston asks U.S. Attorney Chekhov for a background check on Vince, which nets only Vinnie's cover.
But if someone higher up the government food chain should ask...
--
Pros: Mick Fleetwood
Cons: lame, lame catfight.
Then: A
Now: A.
--
Episode 37: The Rip-off Stick
60s recording legend Monroe Blue is in trouble. Jailed for larceny and a subsequent high-speed motor chase, he calls his label to hopefully effect his release. You may be surprised that his label is in fact Dead Dog Records. Dead Dog has been absorbed by Shakala, however, and Vince is busy conferring with the Twines and smoking a fat cigar. Blue establishes his bona fides with such elegantly phrased exposition as "Wrote more major tunes than you got teeth and toes." Our hero can only go along: "You're a great songwriter," Vinnie agrees.
Since Diana doesn't have a full album ready, Blue, who just stole a sack of quarters from a jukebox because of years of systematic royalty abuse by the record industry, jumps at the chance to work for some honest money. Oh. and, of course, get out of jail.
Blue will keep for now as we take a roundabout of the supporting cast. Isaac takes Vinnie out for further industry education: high-stakes poker with Newquay in a backroom game and taking away $55k in an hour. An important win, since Isaac writes his markers on Shakala stationery. Johnny Medley convinces Diana to work with Monroe. Bobby? He has a quick exit line and isn't seen for awhile.
And then it's time for the repeat of last episode's party in reverse. It's Diana's party, and now the Newquays are crashing, dragging with them Eddie Tempest, a flavor of the month rocker that Isaac once had his eye on. Vinnie finds Winston's behavior shameless, perhaps because it's exactly what he did to Newquay last week. A more serious problem is that Diana's a no-show.
Vinnie goes to get her, delivering yet another pep talk. When she expresses her doubts about writing a new album, he pitches Monroe Blue. Diana gamely pretends that Johnny Medley hadn't already done that in the previous act.
At the party, Isaac is tensing on Diana's absence. Winston wants to have a little set by Eddie Tempest. Claudia tries to reconnect with Amber Twine (Patti D'arbanville, adequate, but diminished when compared with the uniform great casting in this arc) who was her roommate from years ago. Was Amber a showgirl, too? They both envy each other, but Amber wins the tilt, and Claudia flees the event in tears. Diana eventually arrives, works through Brite Side (the producers certainly had their money's worth for that one), knocks everyone dead, and then falls victim to the old ex-hiding-in-her-limo routine. All because Vinnie and Bobby, her two guardians, "had some business to take care of," read: contrivance.
Nonspecifically later, Monroe is bitching about a cover of one of his old songs is climbing the charts (by the cleverly-for-Wiseguy named Ice Nine) but Newquay won't free up his royalties. Then a bill arrives for $57k: old vinyl returns from a retail chain.
Vinnie is infuriated at the returns (what is this, a news stand?) and tears off to the warehouse to examine the returns. Why does he suspect something? Because the script said so? Also, the returns are for 15-year-old vinyl, not Jersey Turnpike's latest, double-platinum release. Vinnie tells Isaac, who's equally furious, but ultimately decides not to rock the retail boat: Shakala needs the shelf space. He holds back saying that his profitteering from cleans with the chain's president would probably be in jeopardy, too.
Diana spends the night with Winston, and realizes that he's irresistible to her and that if she doesn't get away, she's going to escape Dead Dog, sign with Radiance again and resume being screwed both ways. Bobby, who's been nursing an obvious crush on her, is a tad bit devastated by the news. And so she flees to Jamaica where she can "work on the album." Without Monroe Blue, who knows how long this album will take.
Exit Diana Price, we hardly knew ye.
After, Vince gets the one-two punch from Frank and Lifeguard, overplaying the "beware of the seduction" card. Given Vinnie's history it's not really misplaced, but it's still artlessly delivered. However, the subject of the return scam lightens the mood; it's finally a tangible crime they can investigate. And with Winston furious over his loss of Diana, he's likely to make a mistake...
--
Pros: Um... Ice Nine?
Cons: Losing Debbie Harry, the return of second-rate Wiseguy contrivances and lame plotting.
Then: B+
Now: C-
--
Episode 38: High Dollar Bop
Following the obligatory opening-episode infodump at OCB.gov, we inch ahead. Some time has apparently passed, since Bobby's off to Japan to negotiate Diana's forthcoming album. Isaac is riding high, posting win after win. But his gambling continues to vex his wife, who can do nothing but wait for the good run to end, as it always does.
At Radiance, the departure of Diana Price has reignited the marital passions of the Newquays. The Twines, meanwhile, are champing for a new killer act. Vinnie suggests poaching Eddie Tempest from Winston, and soon aligns Blue and Medley to sweeten the project.
Naturally, Eddie is interested in the idea, but is contractually locked-up for the long term. Unfortunately, he takes the stupid road first, walking into Winston's office and delivers the ultimatum: Medley and Blue, or he'll walk to Shakala. More unfortunately, it's one of the least-convincingly delivered speeches in the series. And more unfortunately still, Winston responds by having Johnny thrown off a parking garage, resulting in a broken back and hasty exit to Fiji for recovery.
Good news! Diana Price's album is done. Well, it will be out in three weeks. But there's an EP already released in Japan, which Bobby has discovered and then deduced that Isaac's running off cleans. That charge is quickly confirmed, but Twine's prepared: both Vince and Bobby have Japanese accounts open and accruing skim as they speak. Given the difficulty of foreigners acquiring Japanese Bank accounts on short notice, this scene speaks volumes as to Twine's connections with the Yakuza.
Loading up on ill-gotten cash, Vince and Isaac head for Winston's house of underground poker. Winston Teddy KGB's Isaac, and after taking an all-night beating, the trap is finally sprung: Isaac loses Shakala, king-high boat versus four threes. Winston's only mistake was using a famous mafia lowlife to front his card games -- one that Vince suspects threw the threes to Winston.
After the takeover, Vinnie ingratiates himself with the Newquays, playing up his rapport with Eddie Tempest as his only means of keeping Winston's lawyers from severing his employment contract.
Isaac's invigorated by the loss. He's making grandiose plans to build a new company. In the short term, though, he has changed his mind, inexplicably, regarding the return scam. He drives down to Music Blitz and as promised, he beats president/owner/whatever Howard Cushman with "his own damned walking stick." This allows Frank to arrest him with an eye toward a rollover when the tax evasion charges are leveled.
Back at Radiance, it looks like we've dropped a scene in editing. Vinnie, Eddie, and Monroe are in Winston's office. Eddie's now on Monroe's side, vis-a-vis the royalties owed by Radiance. In the interest of labor peace, Winston lowballs Monroe, and the offer is accepted, allowing Monroe and Tempest to go record some sweet, husky blues in Tempest's basement studio.
No, really, that's what they do. I'm not alluding to something dirty.
--
Pros: One good scene with the Medleys before they're off the board.
Cons: A ton of unnecessary padding, and a major change in Isaac that smacks of last-minute rewrites.
Then: B+
Now: C+
---
Episode 39: Hip Hop on the Gravy Train
In the recap at OCB, Beckstead has grown tired of this case. He's unhappy about the manipulation of Bobby, the inability of Frank to flip Isaac quickly, and is especially put out at Vince being marginalized at Radiance. The last point is so important Paul actually mentions it twice; the second time Vinnie finally admits that it's true.
In response to having a managerial fire lit under him, Vinnie goes back to Music Arc Tactic #1: he crashes another Winston party. Effortlessly buttering up a needy Claudia, he finds a powerful ally -- she owns half of Radiance. Lucking into a moment with a pissed-off Eddie Tempest, Vince gains ally #2 -- Eddie publicly names Vinnie as his new manager.
At Shakala, Amber pleads with Isaac to get help with the gambling. A night in jail has again altered Isaac's disposition: no longer is he feeling certain he can build a new company. Further, he doesn't want to play ball with the feds for them to get Newquay, but Amber presses enough that he'll consider it. Then he finds one rapper and once again flip-flops, suddenly eager to build anew.
Further bolstering Isaac's good mood, Vinnie then brings him mafia poker guy, who will happily sell Winston out if it means Isaac can't hurt him. A meeting with Frank brings the Twines onboard to work on destroying Winston by whatever means available.
Amber goes to Winston to begin implementation of plan: takedown. Sammy would like a player-to-be-named-now as a sweetener, but Amber scoffs. Claudia barges in, anyway, and so Newquay accepts the offer: Isaac will run Shakala under Radiance's auspices while he awaits a payback opportunity.
In further great moments of vintage Wiseguy detective work, Vinnie further lucks into Eddie's financial records, revealing that Newquay's very probably draining all of his artists' money through the offshore financial management company he secretly owns. A man capable of this much financial subterfuge should have had no problem disowning his scarcely-aware wife of her 50%. He must really love her!
Unfortunately, all this case development is thrown out: rather than wait for a long-term legal solution, Eddie angrily heads off to Winston's, where he meets Claudia, learns firsthand of her angry-man fetish, and shortly after the two are dead from an unlikely skylight fall mid-act. In one move Vinnie loses both allies he's spent... well less than an episode cultivating.
--
Pros: At last! A tangible crime involving Winston!
Cons: Clumsy build-up and then deck-clearing of Eddie and Claudia.
Then: B-
Now: C
--
Episode 40: The One that Got Away
We begin with another recap, and since it takes place outside OCB with regular players in the arc (Amber, Vinnie, Isaac, and Frank) the rehashed exposition is painful. Their conversation defines "cleans" for the fourth time in as many episodes; and this time there's not one person in the room who doesn't already know what they are!
Isaac consoles Winston, urging Sammy to get into rehab. Curry puts in another scene of great work, describing how he found them. "For God's sake," says Twine, "When she was alive, you wanted to kill her." "Irony is such a bitter pill," Newquay sobs.
Then, nose-breaking, producer-chucking goon Bickle wanders through the office en route to Japan with camera-ready Eddie Tempest cd art -- huge posterboards of it. This helps Newquay overcome his sloppy-drunk Claudia grief and finally carries out his threat to unleash his lawyers on Vince and Bobby's contracts.
He obtains a court order to evict them from Radiance, but Frank shields Vinnie with an opposing order given the same day as Winston's, which shocks Newquay enough to regard Vinnie as a threat. So he places a call to...
Philip Kenderson, aide to Senator Richard Trent. Kenderson fires off a quick letter on Trent's letterhead to the FBI for Vinnie's complete file, just as Frank, Paul, Lifeguard, etc, etc, all feared! When it arrives, he glances at the first page (fortunately, there's no sensitive information there; just the prison stuff) and stuffs it in a mailer for Winston.
.... good thing Winston has just busted Bobby down to mailroom clerk. Yes, it's time for that favorite part of every Wiseguy arc: someone blows Vinnie's cover! This one is finally handled pretty well; featuring one of the very few times the series tried for understated comedy and had it work. Vince hauls Bobby off to the docks and threatens to kill him, leading to some classic Frey groveling.
With Bobby now enlisted as an official informant (to be restituted with Dead Dog Records, if his service proves valuable to the OCB) he pitches a sting to Frank by producing the aforementioned Blue and Tempest basement tapes. I guess Blue could've said something about this, but he's disappeared from the arc.
It's a flimsy sting, and Frank is sure it's doomed to fail. Vinnie, never willing to say die, wants to try it anyway. Instead they try plan "A," using Kenderson to attempt to sell Winston that file. The feds throw the word "treason" around in regard to this, so it's definitely a better crime than tax evasion.
Kenderson's horrible at selling the goods, though, and Newquay decides to take his briefcase with $50k in cash two tables down to the Twines, whom Vinnie has has directed to damn the torpedoes, try the sting.
Bobby's left his monstrous, briefcase-battery cellphone on speaker nearby (speaker-phone battery life: 15 minutes), and Winston, with zero prompting, cackles about how much he's making off Eddie's cleans now that the boy's dead. Not enough? Isaac offers him the Tempest/Blue tape in exchange for a cut of the cleans.
Winston reminds them that he legally owns the tape already; but no! Somehow Amber owns Monroe Blue. Yes, after Dead Dog was absorbed by Shakala, the Twines divided up its assets. Or maybe they just say that in the moment, and since the case will never last a minute in court, who cares?
Newquay breaks out his $50k of Kenderson money, takes the tape, and is abruptly busted by McPike and company. Twine loves it, and couldn't care less if the charges fail to stick. Sammy's been humiliated, and that's a good win.
The episode ends with a disbelieving Winston in a holding cell, approached by a derelict cellmate. Fearing what rich white people usually fear about prison, he's stunned when the man not only recognizes him (really, what are the chances?) but then auditions with a version of "Soul Man" so rousing, Newquay himself joins in as the credits begin.
--
Pros: "You're America's most common resource, Bobby. The adequate professional."
Cons: "I watch People's Court" ugh.
Then: A-
Now: B
--
Episode 41: Living and Dying in 4/4 time
Last episode's events get a wonderful summary by a livid Paul Beckstead, who may as well be talking to the writers' room: "A conspiracy charge based on an entrapment by private citizens during the commission of an OCB sting that yielded no case against the suspect but blew the cover of one of my key agents. And you guys get paid for this?" It's all Frank and Vinnie can do to stand and look abashed.
At Radiance, Winston is defiant. While his lawyers expect a rapid dismissal of the case, he wants maximum payback for all the indignities he's suffered. When the lawyers leave, he quietly deflates, mourning for Claudia and for the first time seeming like something approximately a human being.
Isaac, meanwhile, begins to doubt the path of vengeance; suddenly uneasy at the prospect of jailing Winston for 20 years -- which McPike expects is highly unlikely.
Then it's a Vinnie pep-talk roundabout. First he encourages Bobby to swoop down on what's sure to be a stable of Radiance contract escapees. Then, after Isaac suffers a heart attack, he points Isaac toward clean living. For the trifecta, he comforts an Amber despondent with fear for her husband's suddenly fragile life.
The day in court arrives and ends quickly; the judge levels harsh criticism at Winston's business practices, but saves the real contempt for Frank's case against Newquay, dismissing it summarily.
The law having been defanged, Winston turns his attention back to business, only to find insurrection on all sides. Incited by Bobby, his artists are fleeing Radiance en masse. Like Mel, Newquay grows angrier and abusive toward his flunkies as the control of his empire slips away. His only comfort comes from visiting Isaac in the hospital, where the two make one final bet: whoever lives longer gets to dance on the other's grave.
Oh, did I say final bet? Jaunty with recovery, Isaac ignores Doctor's orders, attempts a little conjugation with his wife, and dies.
Though fresh from attempting to murder Bobby Travis (following Yet Another Go-Nowhere Confrontation with the former Dead Dog partners -- one where Winston, full of chutzpah, acts outraged that Bobby is taking advantage of his legal problems!), the news of Twine's death shatters what's left of Winston, who has lost everyone.
Apparently on the day of Isaac's funeral (Amber is in full-mourning garb), Vinnie visits Shakala for a little support as well as to lay the groundwork for his ill-fated romantic interest in the Widow Twine. As he leaves, Winston, ever where he needs to be in his Rolls Royce, picks Vinnie up for a round of make-nice. Having killed, tried to kill, or otherwise driven off any competition in Manhattan, Newquay has decided to anoint Vince as Isaac the second. Amber, take note. If Vinnie were not due to wrap up the season shortly, he'd accept Winston's offer -- make some money, wait to rebuild a case -- but instead he refuses Winston flatly.
They drive to the cemetery, and, as-promised dressed as vintage Astaire, Newquay soft-shoes on Isaac's grave. A grave which Twine had rigged with a flashpot and recording of his mocking laugh: I got you, Sammy! For approximately the fourth time in two episodes, Winston breaks down, weeping copious tears against the marker. Life as Sir Fishbein knew it is over.
A more sensible man might have taken his Lococco-sized winter stash and left the country, but Sammy opts the Susan Profitt route: insanity. When next we see him, he is alone in his office, apparently drunk and dressed in a full 80s black leather ensemble, madly living out his rock star pipe dreams in a scene that ends with strobes and incoherence. It was almost surely a good idea on paper.
So clumsy is the set-up and execution of this scene that the actual events have to be summarized when Vince makes his last rounds of the supporting cast.
--
Pros: Ending aside, Curry delivers yet again in this one.
Cons: Out with a whimper.
Then: A
Now: B-
No comments:
Post a Comment