TV: Wiseguy, Washington

Season three's middle arc chiefly occurs in Washington, D.C., bereft any undercover work. It's an interesting change of pace for the series, and enjoyable for longterm fans by having its roots deep in Isle Pavot.   Fans of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington will spot many an homage throughout the arc.

Episode 48: Day One

The first scene of the arc is for devotees only, as it features two very minor characters from the end of season one's Profitt arc. One is the increasingly-Hillaryesque Senator Getzlof, and the other is Herb Ketcher's boss, Admiral Walter Strichen. Almost immediately, they reference two other senators from the Isle Pavot hearings: Pickering and Delaney. Right off the bat we know this arc will deal with some of the series' established history. Strichen and Getzloff are meeting with a third man, General Leland Masters (Norman Lloyd, a go-to man for adversarial professional roles in the Alan Dale mode) and are discussing votes on Getzloff's trade bill, the importance of which will be clear shortly.



When the Senator leaves, Masters and Strichen discuss and then shred a treatise on Non-Genuine Destablization by Andrew Valenti. "We can't let any of this stuff get traced back to us," says Masters, all but twirling a mustache. Strichen then calls in Dewitt Clipton, second assistant to the Attorney General.  Masters references a vague "dire situation" for national security and requests the loan of an OCB agent. You can probably guess who.

Clipton, a put-upon Washington insider in the mold of Dan Quayle, scurries off so, once again alone, Masters and Strichen can go back to twirling their mustaches and congratulate one another on their plans. "Reparations are going to be paid by this boy," says Masters. And again, for the devotees: "Isle Pavot is our island!"

That smirk doesn't reach his eyes.

Vinnie has arrived in D.C, and is immediately a dick to Frank: "A promotion from [Clipton]'s office would technically make me your superior. Is that what's bothering you?" he asks with such smugness you sort of want to hit him. Perhaps it's Wahl's best acting in ages; you believe that Vinnie really is this stupid.

Frank weathers this with his usual stoicism, and lays down the law: Paul Beckstead has been sent to Thailand on an extended training program (he'll return in the following arc), Mark Surmac's in charge, and Vinnie's been summoned to Washington with an "opportunity." Vince, incurious about the timing of all this (he is one of the least-curious investigators in TV history) pats Frank on the head and thanks him for his concern, he'll take it under advisement. Soldiering on, Frank, in another callback to the end of the Profitt arc, warns Vinnie about the danger of insiders corrupt with power. To which Vince blithely asserts that corruption never lasts, and truth will always win out, and then forces Frank to stop the car (on the Mall, no less) for a short civics-class speech about Our Grand Democracy.

During this, someone's watching them.

Having  delivered an anti-corruption, power-to-the-people, America Uber Alles speech, Vince sees no irony in his receiving a suite with welcoming fruit basket and champagne.  Certainly a just reward for his many years of distinguished service.  Nice to live off the taxpayers, eh, Vinnie? Who's the mob in this room?

The next scene continues to illustrate Vinnie's hypocrisy: a black-tie party hosted by Clipton, full of the elite. Espying Getzloff, Strichen, and Delaney, Vince does, finally, acknowledge there are some actual vipers. They're relatively innocuous here, though, supplying only exposition about Getzloff's restrictive trade bill, the subject of the opening scene.

Then we're introduced to another tie to that scene: Dr. Andrew Valenti, Mark's favorite professor and a renown economist mistrusted by both parties. Sharing Brooklyn ties, he and Vince are well-met, and Valenti's wife even extends an invitation for a Redskins game. Across the room, Strichen watches Vinnie when he's attacked by Kay Gallagher, the most prominent lobbyist in Washington, who urges him to do his Roosevelt. He complies, briefly and sourly, and in return bids Kay to do someone, too: one Vince Terranova, who he baits irresistibly as the future of Washington. She prances down the stairs to Vinnie, propositioning him at hello.

And so in the space of two minutes we have Vinnie making connections to two people mentioned in the initial plot. Valenti's a typical bit of TV happenstance, but having Strichen sic Kay onto Vince, ever mindful of her social-climbing proclivities is a borderline genius stroke for this series. Kay drags Vince out to the Widow's Walk for a summary of her character indicating the lit Mall: "The center of power on Earth," she breathes. Vinnie, annoyed, slaps down her blasphemy: "It's the center of principle, Katherine."

Elsewhere, Dr. Valenti walks his dog to the corner shop to buy a paper. A man bursts in, shoots him. What follows is a bit of television cliche; though Valenti is obviously carrying ID as well as his security clearance, only the latter is noted by the DC police as they page Mark to the scene.  This allows for the maximum horrible reveal, which shatters Mark to pieces.

But killing Valenti is a classic Fatal Flaw move. His death does not service the villains' plotting in the least.  Valenti knows nothing about the approaching conspiracy; he can only verify the same things that Kay knows. Killing him at all is stupid, to obviously assassinate him is amazingly stupid; it's done simply to finally get Vinnie to wake the hell up.

At OCB, where the war room is being renovated, we're already into the investigation. Frank notes that ballistics are worthless, that the .22 round mushroomed on impact. Strangely, there's no mention of the curare that's later discovered. Wouldn't the substance be present, even if they didn't know immediately what it was? Second, who cares about ballistics anyway? This isn't a sniper from the book depository leaving only a bullet to trace back: There's security camera footage of the assassin stepping in and firing -- the best television security camera angle since Sonny and Patrice.

Clipton arrives and personally drives Vince  to his "opportunity" meeting for the National Security Commission. To Vinnie's disgust, he finds Strichen waiting and immediately calls him out on Isle Pavot. Strichen, rapidly becoming one of the best minor Wiseguy characters, brushes off the attack with a sly response: telling the absolute truth he knows Vinnie will never believe: That the Isle Pavot coup could never have been created at his level. I like to think it's Walter's private joke that he follows this up by introducing Vince to the man at whose level it was possible: Leland Masters. And then it's Masters' turn to play the Pavot card, rejecting Vinnie's charge the invasion was "morally bankrupt" by producing Killing Fields pictures from the current Marxist-Leninst Pavot regime. He leaves Vinnie's other charges, that it was illegal and unjustified, off the table.

Masters then lays into the spiel of Vince's opportunity. A printing plate for Yen has been shipped to a Washington lobbying firm, and he's needed to stop it. Here's a replica he had made for just such an occasion. Inspect it by hand, Agent Terranova. Notice the heft, the craftsmanship. Isn't it truly amazing?

Vince rightly scoffs at the scope of the idea, but Masters gives him a day to consider the job. Vince runs to Frank for a personal reference on Masters, receiving the American History for Dummies biography of General Leland Masters, four-star icon. And then the toxicology report comes in: Valenti was shot with curare-packed bullets. There's a conspiracy.  Or a dope fiend who stole James Bond's gun. And shortly, Valenti's publishing history shows that it's all one conspiracy: to destroy Japan's economy through counterfeiting Yen.

This leads to a lengthy discussion of the Valenti's principles of Non-Genuine Destablization, which breaks down a hefty infodump into 5 small nuggets. At each step, Vince and Frank arrive at a plausible conclusion to believe that Masters and Strichen are implementing Valenti's theory, and, using his hatred of them to buoy their credibility, will have Vince take down Kay Gallagher's lobbying firm as the patsy. It's kind of charming the way none of our heroes think that any of this is going to be directed at Vinnie. That "shocking" revelation, two episodes away, is of course deflated by the opening scene's mustache twirling.

And even with the over-the-top counterfeiting plot brought into the realm of believability, X's most important question, the "why?" is one that's never much addressed. Why would Kay Gallagher, a pro-Japanese lobbyist, conspire to destroy their economy? And why would Vince? Nothing about the 'why' even begins to pass the smell test.

Armed with this knowledge, Vinnie agrees to do Masters' hatchet work on the assumption that he can now avoid the trap. As often happens, Vince is very wrong.


--

Pros: Good development for Strichen, overall series continuity.
Cons: Vinnie is an idiot.

Then: A
Now: B


Episode 49: Day Four

Continuing the third-season trend, there's no in-show recap, just a more conventional "previously, on Wiseguy.." opening. When the episode begins we're at Valenti's funeral, one packed to the rafters with the same potentates as the black-tie party. Plus one, in fact: Senator Pickering, the sole holdout from last episode's returns.

Daddy! Stop hurting me!

After the eulogy, Masters seeks out Vince and berates his taking time from the investigation to attend a funeral. This allows Masters to feign surprise at Valenti's involvement with the case and to then be genuinely surprised when hears about the toxicology report. He's so angered by this that he beelines to Strichen and slaps him across the face. A loud reproach follows, nearly in full view of a large crowd of their peers, who like many crowds in Wiseguy, fail to notice anything suspicious. For his part, Strichen looks quite chastened, economically illustrating that Masters is to him what he was to Herb.

After an OCB raid on Gallagher's firm turns up the copy of Valenti's NGD thesis that was commissioned by a Mr. Wilson, Vinnie invites Kay to a $400 taxpayer-expensed apology dinner as a means of questioning her without her attorney present (he's a real pro about it; concern trolling her regarding whether she can trust her attorney more than him!). For a (very) little quid pro quo, he informs her that Valenti was assassinated, and that she is a fall guy for that, and possibly "the fall of a sovereign nation," without further specifics. He does not mention the printing plate that Masters alleged her firm received, nor was anyone at her firm's mail room ever questioned in connection to it. Instead, Vince attacks her role as an enemy agent, lobbying for foreign entities to "gobble up" property all over the US. This, he says, is handily enough for government spooks to wish her jailed for treason. How would Wiseguy's government react to 9/11? Pushed too far, Kay disavows any knowledge as to Wilson's identity or whereabouts, takes back her meeting proposition, and exits in a huff.

Stymied on the investigation, Vinnie and Frank go to see Senator Pickering about Getzloff's trade bill. Vinnie has reasoned that whatever else the current status of the case, Masters, assuming he's pulling the strings, won't release the yen until the trade bill has been passed. Pickering notes that while this bill has been introduced every year, this time Getzloff is making a strong push, and that the NGD scheme is so outrageous Leland Masters must be responsible. He further fills in a critical blank: Masters harbors a grudge against Kay for lobbying that resulted in the Japanese government building their own FSX fighters rather than buying F-16s from the US.

Clipton, completely marginalized in all of this, goes up his chain to Strichen for answers. Strichen, still a canny judge of character, buys him off with a soothing word and an invite to a state dinner. Strichen then has Masters nudge Vinnie and company toward the next point on the line: the origin point of the printing plate's parcel, Dawn Valley, Utah. For the double play, he masterfully manipulates Kay Gallagher, ratcheting up her insecurities and then play-acting a charade* of abusing his office to track down the elusive Mr. Wilson. Prescott Wilson, America's hermit billionaire. Who owns the entire town of... Dawn Valley, Utah. She runs off to see him at once, and Strichen sets a pet marine on her.**

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* Strichen keeps a boy on the side, here played by Jeff Irvine, another of those Wiseguy bit-players who played multiple roles over the years. He was seen before as Winston Newquay's pocketed congressional aide, and while it would be amusing to think this is Philip Kenderson post-career demise, it's a different character.

** What makes little sense here is that he waits until after Gallagher has left for Utah to send Biggs, who was last seen watching Vinnie in his hotel. A lynchpin of the case against Vinnie and Kay is a photograph of them meeting with Wilson, whatever contrivances exist to obtain it. Wouldn't it be taking less of a chance to have someone waiting on the ground in Utah?

Pros: Strichen's manipulative skills.

Cons: Asking only enough questions to further the plot.

Then: A
Now: B-

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Epsode 50: Day Seven

Vinnie and Lifeguard are en route to Utah in the OCB plane. Maybe Ricky Pinzolo's jet? That would be another good nod to continuity. Frank faxes them a pitifully small dossier on Prescott Wilson, who hasn't been seen in public since an interview with Edward R. Murrow. He's the genuine Greatest Generation renaissance man; self-made billionaire, scores of patents, well-connected in Washington until JFK.

In Utah, they tour a transport depot closed since 1978, finding more crumbs of evidence: ink, crumpled Y5000 note. They also supply Major Vernon Biggs with pictures of Vince entering the depot. How exactly Vernon has arrived in Utah ahead of them, when they left (at least) several hours before him is unexplained. Again, having some other military stooge of Strichen would have handwaved that.

Because now Biggs is at the airport, taking pictures of Kay's arrival, following her Wilson's estate. Somehow she arrives before Vinnie, though not by much. While Kay's obstinacy accomplished nothing on Wilson's guards, Vinnie's threat to bring reporters is enough. They're allowed up on a skilift to have a few minutes of Wilson's time. Our man Biggs, ace photographer, is able to get beautiful shots of the skilift meeting, which conveniently is easily seen in snowy, autumn mountain conditions from ground level outside the property line.

Wilson flatly denies any dealings with Kay: no phone, no cashier's checks. Vinnie namedrops Leland Masters, which draws a better response: "I wouldn't...spit... on the best part of him." But he won't discuss how he knows Leland. So Vinnie pulls out a copy of the NGD treatise for a perfect Biggs photograph. Note how it's apparently taken on the same horizontal plane as the subjects who are dangling from a ski lift? Biggs is amazing! When Vinnie names Masters as his prime suspect (something he had heretofore avoided mentioning to Kay), Wilson agrees that it's likely, and admits he could've easily fronted the money for the entire operation, but he didn't. And by the way, he's too rich for anyone to touch.

Returning to the ground, Uncle reports that Wilson's guards saw a C-130 that left two days ago. They return to Washington. Rather than do something constructive, he harangues Kay again for her Japanese lobbying, verifying Pickering's FSX story in the process. By way of both response and foreshadowing her mental state, Kay describes her deceased mother, a successful novelist, who committed suicide when she found that the characters were now writing her life. Manipulated to the brink of ruin by her own cast of characters, she finally understands.

In DC, the trade bill is being voted on. Frank and Vinnie brace Senator Pickering. Vince's loud bad-cop fails, but Frank's good-cop appeal to Pickering's Washington-compromised ideals strikes a chord. Strichen has sent Biggs on ahead to "launch point," and then bundles up the "fake" Yen plate with Vinnie's fingerprints all over it in a parcel addressed to Kay Gallagher. He receives Biggs' photos of the Wilson meeting, orders Clipton to ready a search warrant for Kay's office, and, smugly, drops the envelope of photos into a drawer containing a thick dossier labeled "Mel Profitt."

While the Senate prepares to vote (Pickering opting to throw in a critical, vote-delaying filibuster) the C-130 has been found on Guam. Two passport authorities, the only available members of Justice, seize the plane and shoot Vernon Biggs, ace photographer. The plane, as it happens, is registered a corporation owned by the late Melvin Profitt. Frank resists an I-told-you-so as Vinnie delivers a now rare and unpracticed Look of Horror. Kay's not going down alone, Vincent!

Soon, in the kind of backroom dealing the arc is a warning against, Masters, Strichen, Clipton, and Attorney General Ferris (old reliable Jason Bernard) privately meet to hear Strichen and Masters' entire case against Vince and Kay. Masters quickly backs off a legal run at Prescott Wilson, but there's enough probable cause to send an openly hostile Frank out to arrest Vinnie.


--
Pros: Wilson's some good casting, Pickering's filibuster.

Cons: The dawning that this plot is really a flimsy house of cards, and Masters' case against Vinnie will take only a puff of air to knock down.

Then: B+
Now: C


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Episode 51: Day Nine:
Frank arrests Vinnie, who's brooding at Jefferson. Frank notes that the Yen plot is so ugly a can of worms that everyone will be looking to cut a deal. Vince could accept an early retirement to keep it hushed up -- and immediately complains about the compromising nature of Washington, even when it's in his favor. Frank, one act away from making an idealistic plea to Obadiah Pickering now urges Vince to face reality.

Attorney General Ferris harangues Biggs, who's on the plane full of Yen back to the US mainland. It's Biggs who's the obvious weak link here: why was he on the plane? Under whose orders? He didn't fly it to Guam, so who did? Questions without answers; and more, they're questions that nobody ever asks.

Kay, more disheveled by the moment, babbles half-coherently to her attorneys and then tries cutting her wrists in the bathroom.

Prelude over, the last act begins with another nod to Profitt: a closed senate hearing! In classic Perry Mason fashion all the principals are here, minus the recuperating Kay Gallagher. When he learns of her condition, Vince is contemptuous but unsurprised, mindful of Herb Ketcher's fate. The Attorney General bids the prosecution to begin, and Strichen and Masters weave a brazen, bullshit record of events. It's so easy to poke holes in that anyone with a passing interest in defending Vinnie could've shredded the case with a few follow-up questions. Instead, we get a remarkably conventional lame TV courtroom scene, rife with emotional outbursts and surprise witnesses.


In Masters' version, he brought Vinnie to Washigton in order to confront him about the scheme, and Vinnie just decided he'd throw off suspicion by leading the investigation. Of himself.
Vinnie asserts it's payback for Isle Pavot, and uses the opportunity to mention Valenti's assassination. This is news to the Attorney General, who finally asks why this wasn't public knowledge. Clipton raises further suspicion on Strichen by noting it was Strichen who insisted OCB return all evidence on the Valenti murder to the DCPD. Strichen, knowing he's on thin ice, baldly expresses his fear that the evidence would be tampered with if left to Vinnie.

Frank then connects the dots of Valenti's murder and the NGD treatise. Pickering notes that it was exactly the kind of plot Masters would attempt, and the timing of the trade bill made it more credible. He also takes a calculated shot by referencing Masters' relationship with Getzloff, drawing a perfect moment of phony outrage from both of them.

Surprise witness #1 arrives: Vernon Biggs, ace photographer! He's vital to Masters' case, as he can honestly claim to have followed Vinnie around to all manner of suspicious locations. Ferris finally asks an important follow-up: How do we get to Guam? It would've been much more interesting to hear Biggs' response; but Lifeguard jumps in and changes the subject to the C-130 which leads to a digression about Mel Profitt.

Having written the arc into a corner, we devolve into pure crap TV. Vinnie gets to stands up, walk around the room, make a speech, accuse everyone of apathy regarding Valenti's murder (and his phrase "or does this come under the heading of 'an acceptable level of death'" is a finalist for the "worst line in Wiseguy" award), and then follow it up with some patriotic bleating. It gives a good note to end day one of the hearing on.


Frank tears off to Utah to confront Wilson, resulting in another terse ski-lift meeting with no clear result; Wilson says he won't help... In Washington, Ferris bunks Vernon and Vinnie together in an attempt to crack Biggs' loyalty to Strichen. It doesn't help...

On the second day of the hearings, the remains of Kay Gallagher are wheeled in, where she reads a rambling statement about how much she loved her job, and that her life was destroyed the day she met Vinnie Terranova. Frank's eyerolling response is terrific, but at that point, Ferris calls an end, declaring that if this case went to trial, there is no doubt in his mind that Vinnie would be convicted. Apparently in deference to the weakness of Masters' case, he revokes Vinnie's badge but keeps his paycheck and pension (!) intact so long as Vinnie keeps quiet about the affair.

Masters musters another round of faux outrage. He stands up and delivers an angry, Gallagher-level incoherent speech about America's fall from preeminence. He's about to complete his bitter exit when...

Oh God, do I even have to say it? Yes, Prescott Wilson, America's Hermit Billionaire walks in. He answers no questions; his rousing and charismatic defense of Vinnie Terranova consists mainly of opining that Leland Masters is a bitter old SOB who's been rotting the government for forty years. As a bonus, Wilson lays the Bay of Pigs at Leland's feet and then saunters out, job finished.

Wait, you mean that's it? That's going to save Vinnie? Well, no. Luckily, the sight of his Jacob Marley completely demolishes Leland Masters, four-star icon. He lurches around the chamber, uttering a string of frantic denials to the charges against his character.

This sight is pathetic enough for Biggs to turn on his masters, and the house of cards collapses. He stands up, admitting, basically, everything. On Strichen's orders, Biggs made the yen. He arranged the transportation. He had Valenti killed. Masters grabs the only lifeline possible: I had no idea! Strichen did it all without my authority! Strichen looks hurt, suddenly learning how Herb must have felt, but he quickly recovers and comes slugging right back at Leland: You told me to do it! You didn't care how!

Masters tires of all this back and forth, producing a two-shot derringer from his sleeve (one wonders how he gets that into the Capitol, his White House office, etc) and kills Strichen. He then readies to shoot himself, but Vinnie, ever a master of the obvious, dismisses the idea: "You don't have the nerve." Whatever's left in Leland Masters departs, and he lets the gun drop. As Strichen is shrouded, Biggs and Vinnie share a silent moment of reconciliation.

The arc ends with a quiet scene where Frank reinstates Vinnie as an agent. Vinnie's chastened by his time in Washington, and now recognizes the flaws in democracy. But now it's Frank's turn with the idealism hat; he notes all the parts of the system that worked in Vince's favor, because the system is a good one, no matter what damage is done by a bad apple or two.

While this is a nice sentiment to end the arc on, it's more than half nonsense. The system utterly failed Vince. In a closed hearing with a loose legal framework, his life was nearly ruined by the mere word of corrupt government officials. What thwarted their plans was not the legal system, not democracy, but just their own personality flaws. And in the end, the larger evil, Leland Masters will suffer Vinnie's fate: he'll face no criminal charges,  events will be hushed up, and he'll retire from his White House office with a fat pension intact based on his silence. Only Strichen truly received punishment.

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Pros: Hrmm. I'll think of one, sometime.

Cons: Terrible TV courtroom scene, pretty much everyone involved just goes along with a ridiculous plot.

Then: B
Now: C-