Laurie's Review
Melanie's Review
Laurie's Review:Add me to the list of those who love this ep! One of my top three faves from Seasons 3/4. It's fast paced, madcap, crazy, weird, silly, bizarre, puzzling, totally engrossing, hysterically funny, unsettling and occasionally distasteful with an undercurrent of potentially serious and career-threatening, life-changing consequences. Absolutely brilliant!
So many people have wonderful moments in this ep: Fraser, Ray, Welsh, Frannie, Bob, Mort, the desk sergeant, Stanley Smith and of course the unseen Ray Vecchio, one of the focal points. It would have been fun and interesting if Turnbull and Thatcher could have been squeezed in.
It's totally chaotic at the station and everyone seems to be on an adrenaline high. I get dizzy watching them buzz around. Fraser leaves briefly to talk to Dinardo at the construction site but other than that the entire ep takes place at the 27th. That's unusual for Due South.
The Kuzma-related injuries, bandaged appendages and ear anecdotes add a ridiculous element but this theme isn't nearly as funny as the attempts to hide Rankin's body. The bathroom scene with Welsh and Fraser adds nothing at all to the story but it is funny (well, stupid), especially Fraser's overly dramatic, almost compulsive hand washing. Moose burgers indeed.
The conversation that Ben and Bob have in Ray's car is one of their best, and I enjoy Ben's lame attempt to justify his intentions to his father, who's not buying it.
The Oscar for best portrayal of a dead man goes to James Kirchner.
The Grammy for best vocal performance by a duo comprised of a ghost and a coroner goes to Robert Fraser and Mort Gustafson.
Ben gets my vote for most ridiculous attempt at unnerving someone when he explains that shellacking Rankin, wrapping him in Saran Wrap and placing him in a hole in the wall may have been pure panic: "It's understandable. I'm sure it happens every day."
How ironic is it that Kuzma takes Rankin hostage and threatens to kill him?
The music and the buzzing sounds are fabulous.
I love the way Fraser and Francesca interact. Fraser is comfortable with her and there's not a hint of nervousness, well except when Frannie gives her "Talking to a Mountie from Canada is kind of like talking to a priest" speech, which really is a duesie.
I can't nitpick anything, not even Fraser and Ray K discussing Ray Vecchio. Anyone who works there knows who Vecchio is and their conversation was just cryptic enough to an outsider that it wouldn't give everything away. I don't think their conversation in the corridor was overheard among all the activity; likewise, Fraser and Frannie's conversation wasn't overheard.
A minor nitpick after all. When Fraser and Francesca are discovered by Mort, Francesca says Fraser just wanted to see the morgue, like it's his first time there, which it's not.
Dief moment:Taking the front seat in the car because Bob is occupying the back and forcing an apology from Ben.
Duesies:As Fraser and Ray move the body from the wall:
Fraser: Careful, Ray, careful.
Ray: Like I'm gonna hurt him.
Fraser: No, you're standing on my foot.Stanley: I ain't got to stay in no room with no dead guy. All right? This is cruel and unusual punishment, okay. This is America and I know my rights.
Ray: They always know their rights. How about the rights of the guy with the Mercedes?
Stanley: He don't need no rights, he's got a Mercedes.Fraser: If you could just cast your mind back 92 days ago.
Desk Sergeant: 92 days ago. That would be Tuesday night, wouldn't it?
Fraser: Yes.I think it's so silly that the Desk Sergeant knows what day of the week it was 92 days ago and that Fraser doesn't find it odd, but that's the sort of information he retains too.
Grade:A+. Near perfection with no major flaws.
Melanie's Review:One of the things that impresses me most about Dead Guy Running is its raw energy. The episode is intense, crowded, angry, and complex. The two plots were seamlessly integrated, as the two interrogation rooms and their shared wall took center stage. Much of the episode is slam-bam action, as characters bounce through the unusually overcrowded police station like so many ping pong balls.
There is quite a bit of gruesomeness in this story. Rankin's lonely death by suffocation inside the wall was disquieting, and Guzma's degenerate, almost inhuman behavior is repulsive and fascinating at the same time. Mort's observations about the nature of random workplace violence committed by postal workers is a sober note of reality in a series that often has a very cartoonish view of crime.
Even in the quieter moments, there's always two or three things going on at once. When Fraser talks to Huey about Rankin's arrest, the scene is both about Rankin and Guzma. RayK's conversation with Stella manages to include Rankin, Guzma, and a touch of flirting. In the morgue, Fraser manages to converse simultaneously with Frannie and his father. Try to imagine the desk sergeant telling Fraser that she distinctly remembers Rankin leaving the station after his release, without her also carrying on the bizarre phone conversation with Nicky about different kinds of chickens. Or Dinardo discussing the construction project with Fraser without constantly barking instructions for his assistant into his walkie-talkie.
The Kuzma plot was amazing. While James Kirchner (as Guy Rankin) had the more physically demanding role to play, I have to hand it to Greg Kramer (as Adolph Kuzma) for the intensity of his performance. It was great to see Ford and Deeter back again, and I have to say that this may be one of the most sensible plots they were ever involved in. No question that they screwed up, but their error seems to have been one of lousy judgement rather than abject stupidity. (I loved how Ford got his comeuppance when he got too close to Guzma: "Mommy mommy mommy.")
I got a big kick out of the wise-cracking car theif Stanley Smith. He gave the otherwise bleak episode a needed measure of levity, spread evenly througout the hour. I was cheering for him! (Richard Chevelleau returned in Say Amen as the star-crossed Davey Abelard.) Not everything in this episode is so laudible; the climax, for example, left me quite disappointed. Tricking Dinardo into peeking into the hole in the wall was very clever, but if he hadn't pulled a gun (if he hadn't had a gun) he could have walked calmly out of the station and nobody wuld have been able to prove a thing. They were damn lucky he snapped. Guzma's delicate touch in lifting the keys to his bonds was an amazing note of impending doom--as insanely violent as he had been shown to be, I expected earth-shaking chaos to explode when he broke free--but by the time he did the chaos was over and there was nothing left for him to do but make a lame joke ("He's a dead man!") and be easily recaptured.
Nitpick of the Week:Fraser and RayK twice discussed Ray Vecchio as a third person in front of outsiders. In the corridor:
Fraser: If internal affairs investigates, they will undoubtedly discover that you are not the real Ray Vecchio.
Ray: Maybe. Personally I don't give them that much credit.
Fraser: Well, perhaps, but lets just say it becomes public that you're not the real Ray Vecchio. That will probably put the real Ray Vecchio's life at risk.And later, in front of Stanley in the interrogation room:
Ray: You got a file on him?
Fraser: No, that's what's intriguing. There are no files.
Ray: So, Vecchio had them destroyed.
Fraser: Ray Vecchio didn't do this.Okay, so maybe Smith doesn't know that the officer who's questioning him is named Ray Vecchio. But later we have this:
Frannie: Ray didn't do this.
Stanley: Hoo yeah. Hey, let me ask you something. She said, 'Ray didn't do this'?
Ray: Right.
Stanley: But I thought you were Ray.Fraser and RayK are taking far too many chances with the undercover operation in this instance--this is very poor continuity, and I have to take off points for this. But they get a few points back for the lovely self-referential moment when RayK says, "Like there's only one Stanley Smith in the world?" Since "Kowalski" is the Polish word for "Smith," there are actually two Stanley Smiths in that very room!
Duesies:Stanley: Can't be doin' this, man. Can't just hold me, know what I'm sayin'? That's what they do to people in them places like Sweden, and Canada, and all of them other torture places.
Fraser: Ray Vecchio's not capable of an act so monstrous. . . so heinous. . . so repulsive. . . so repugnant to the human condition . . . so. . . . Can I borrow your car?
Dewey: Let's try this again. Were you the shooter?
Huey: Were you on Alcorn Street when the cop was shot?
Dewey: How long do you cook a 14lb turkey?Bob: I thought I taught you how to uphold the law.
Fraser: And I will.
Bob: When?
Fraser: Later today.Desk Sergeant: Oh, there'll be no parking spot for Nicky at NASA.
Fraser: Perhaps Rankin provoked you. Perhaps you didn't intend to kill him. The fact that you shellaced him, wrapped him up in saran wrap, put him in a wall, dry walled it, taped it, plastered it, sanded it, painted it, maybe that was pure panic.
Snacks to eat while watching Dead Guy Running:A capon, a bantam rooster and a guinea hen, with giblets, but not prepared in the microwave. With a *drink.*
Grading:
The Corpse A The Psycho A- The Kid A Overall Grade A
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