It Happened One Night - Summary and Review

by Melissa Rivers
Written by: Graeme Koetsveld
Directed by: Geoff Bennett
Original Air Date: 13^th February, 2001

Country hospitality is remiss and they have to get a lift with the tow-truck to Port Bligh. Arriving, they are met by Snr Sgt Bock who, contrary to Jack's suspicions, is quite amiable to Jack interviewing Dugdale prior to Dugdale coming before the Magistrate on Snr Sgt. Bock's charges. However, Snr Sgt. Bock refuses to allow Julia to interview Dugdale prior to his own charges being heard before the Magistrate. Dugdale refuses to speak to Jack, not trusting him

Without cars, both Jack and Julia have to resort to pedal power. Jack interviews Miranda Richards, the owner of the boat Dugdale is accused of attempting to blow-up, who claims that she doesn't know why anyone would want to blow up her boat. She's not very forthcoming to Jack's interviewing techniques and tells him that she will deal with Snr Sgt. Bock. Jack asks Helen to investigate the financials on Miranda Richards and her company. His mobile phone is running out and Jack forgot to bring his charger. Gaining the number for Julia's mobile, he gives the number to Helen so that she can contact him.

The local Magistrate has been detained out of town and the hearing has been adjourned until 10.00 a.m. the next day. Jack and Julia realise that they are going to have to stay in Port Bligh and seek Snr Sgt. Bock's hospitality in providing the 'tradition of providing food and accommodation to visiting members'. Snr Sgt. Bock is unwilling to assist since it's 4.30 p.m. and he's got to go to the darts match.

Lack of suitable diners have Jack and Julia meeting that night at the same restaurant for dinner. After sharing a couple of bottles of red and a questionable meal together, they end up spending the night together. In the morning, Jack and Julia are in bed hung over from their bout of drinking the night before. Helen calls Julia on her mobile wanting Julia to get Jack to ring her. When Jack begins groaning as he wakes, Julia covers his mouth to stop the noise being overheard and tells Helen that she'll get him to ring her when she sees him. They are both struggling with their hangovers when a knock at the door makes them realise they don't even know whose room they are in. Jack hides behind the door and Julia opens it to Snr Sgt Bock carrying two cooked breakfasts for them. Snr Sgt. Bock had a bet with the local publican that the two of them would sleep together.

The local Magistrate refuses Jack's application to have Dennis Dugdale remanded to Sydney on the basis that he has insufficient evidence. Julia concurs that the evidence is circumstantial. Now that Snr Sgt. Bock's charges have been heard, he refuses to allow Julia to interview Dugdale on the basis that she has no morals. Jack does a deal with Julia that if she helps him nail Dugdale, she'll get the first interview.

Jack and Julia go to the local marina to interview Miranda again. They can't find her at first, but finally locate her sitting in the river drinking, weighted down by an anchor. She was waiting for the tide to come in and drown her. Jack interviews Miranda in between her bouts of vomiting, finding out that she had attempted to get her business going placing money on the share market. Instead of making money, she lost it. Through connections, found that she might be able to salvage her life through the insurance scam. After placing a coded ad in the Yachting Classifieds, Dennis Dugdale turned up.

Dugdale still refuses to speak to Jack. Alex contacts Jack on Julia's phone and tells him that Dugdale's wife, Mary, has been injured trying to bomb a yacht. When Jack discloses the information to Dugdale, he breaks down and tells the truth of the insurance operation.

Jack rings Helen to tell her the what he's discovered, only to find out that she has managed to piece together the fact that it was Arthur Marks, Mary Dugdale's father, who was responsible for the scam.

In the morning, Jack will apply to the Magistrate to have Dugdale remanded to Sydney and Jack states to Snr Sgt. Bock that he'll be counting the days until he can offer Snr Sgt. Bock the same type of hospitality that he has shown him during his stay.

Julia finally has the chance to interview Dugdale and finds it was a complete waste of time. Julia heads off that night, despite the Jack's offer to spend another night in Port Bligh in 'one of those crappy rooms' and dinner with the 'waitress from hell', using Jack's ticket back to Sydney.

Arriving back to the Sydney Water Police Station, Jack is welcomed by Donna and then manages to announce his arrival to the whole station when he accidently triggers a home security sensor pad alarm of Sykes'. Jack is finally cornered by Hawker about his lack of reporting of the car accident and Jeff wants to have a meeting with him. As Hawker is berating him, Helen comes down the stairs wanting to introduce him to Acting Inspector Julia Goodwin, who she understands Jack met in Port Bligh. Under her breath, she expresses her annoyance at Jack for telling her that Julia ran the local fish shop. Jack is given the responsibility of looking after Julia since she is in the midst of a multiple homicide which has shifted locally.

PLOT 2: GROUND WORK
Jack has Mick and Alex doing his background work into the yacht bombings. They question Arthur Marks, Dennis Dugdale's father-in-law, about Dennis' whereabouts, both today and on each of the three previous explosions. Arthur claims that Dennis has gone away on a fishing trip. When told of his arrest and possession of explosives, he doesn't believe it. He goes in search of Mary, Dennis' wife, but can't find her.

Mary arrives at her father's marina in response to their call on her mobile phone. She claims that her husband has phoned this morning and explained that he had only been looking at the boat moored at the jetty at Port Bligh. He claims to have found the explosives on board. Alex asks for details of her husband's whereabouts for each of the three explosions. Mary claims that her husband couldn't blow up a balloon.

Alex and Mick are having trouble interviewing Mrs Cartland for details about the bombing of her deceased husband's yacht since she is in the middle of a scuba diving lesson. Her husband had the boat towed to Marks Marina the day before it blew up. She claims to be ignorant of all dealings with the yacht as it was his way of escaping her. Upon the death of her husband, she inherited the company Cartland Incorporated which was the sole importer of the timer and detonator found in the possession of Dugdale. Mrs. Cartland claims total innocence, explaining that it was her husband's business.

Further investigation reveals that Mrs. Cartland is 'more shrewd than dotty'. Her husband belonged to a yacht club and the night of the bombing of his boat, Mr. Cartland claimed that his wife had it blown up because she had just discovered that he was having an affair. Jeff tells them that they are going to need a little more than hearsay.

Donna directs Gavin & Matt to investigate a suspicious person on a yacht at Putney moorings. Guiding the Nemesis between the moored boats, they find a woman leaving a yacht in a small dinghy. She doesn't answer their questions and moments later, the yacht explodes tossing Matt backwards and flipping the dinghy. The injured woman is Mary Dugdale. She is seriously injured, on life-support and with burns. Matt has injured his shoulder and Gavin's ears are still ringing from the explosion.

Alex and Mick go to Marks Marina to take Arthur Marks into custody. He is sitting writing a letter. Alex explains that he doesn't need to write out his statement as they will do it for him. Arthur informs them that he's writing a letter to Mary and Dennis to say sorry for ruining their lives with his business. He has lost his house, superannuation - everything on the Marina. Blowing up boats was a way of recouping his money. However, last time he almost blew himself up and that's why his daughter and son-in-law became involved.

MISCELLANEOUS PLOTS
With Jack having crashed Hawker's pride and joy (See Country Hospitality), Donna and Helen are caught in the web of lies and subterfuge that Jack brings upon them when he tries to avoid detailing the accident to Jeff. The insurance requirements unravel his best-laid plans and Hawker is on the war-path with Jack as the fly in his web.

Gavin is looking for security for his apartment. After seeking advice from different people, he ends up purchasing an alarm system which he tests in the police station causing havoc.

It would appear that Michael and Alex have determined to keep their relationship professional since Jack's talk to them last year. Michael points out to Alex that he can do that but only if she doesn't touch him.

REVIEW: "It Happened One Night"
It is always difficult when starting a new season, to not only come in with an episode that impacts, which last week's episode 'Domino' fulfilled, but to maintain the interest of the viewer in the following episodes. Tonight's episode did just that.

Graeme Koetsveld approached the script with a light-hearted pen. It was a script laden with laughs, but also the seriousness of the rivalry between country and city cops. Last week, we witnessed rivalry between Alex and the drug squad, with her wanting to receive credit for the drug haul she had supposedly discovered. We also saw them using police protocols to ensure they weren't stepping on anyone's toes.

Snr Sgt. Ray Bock, from the outset, wasn't keen to have either Jack or Julia on his turf. He made it clear with his subtle, and some not so subtle, rebuffs and his lack of communication with the two of them. The writer did a superb job of not overdoing it, having Ray being co-operative enough not to step over the line and impede another officer's investigation. Jack was his ususal self, and surmised that Ray was going to impede his investigation after their initial encounter at the car accident scene. His assumption was incorrect for that part, but he had hit the nail on the head insofar as any other extensions of hospitality.

I enjoyed having Acting Inspector Julia Goodwin introduced this week, in a fairly unobtrusive way, as a lead in for next week's intense episode. The opportunity to see her away from her turf, along with Jack, was a delight, both of them facing the challenges offered by the small town community. Julia is a good match for Jack, her casual acceptance and level-headedness a stark contrast to Jack's brusque and boorish nature. They are an interesting match and it will be good to see them in next week's continuing episode.

In the last couple of weeks, the Victoria Police have been doing a recruitment drive. The advertisements on the TV depict both the exciting and the ordinary grunt work required with being a cop. It was good to see that happening with Mick and Alex. The whole episode encompassed a basic investigation and the quality of the writing managed to stop it from being onerous.

I enjoyed the miscellaneous plots that were thrown in. None of them took over from the main plot but all served to carry it through. I was glad to learn the result of Mick and Alex's decision regarding their relationship.

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS:

• The first few minutes set the tone of the episode and it kept getting better.

• Trust Jack to drop his mobile phone and have an accident. Not a wonder Jeff was so concerned about Jack having his car.

LOTW1
Jack: "Ask Jeff, which brass he had to do to get a good car like this."

LOTW2:
Jeff: "He's using the hands free, isn't he?"
Jack: "Oh, come on, what's Jeff think, I'm a total moron?"

LOTW3:
Jack: "I'll have [the car] attended to in Port Bligh and he'll never know."
Julia: "Imbecile, is he?"
Jack: "Okay, are there any procedures I need to follow?"
Julia: "Tell the truth."

• Donna's reaction to Hawker turning up during her discussion with Jack over the accident was excellent.

• It's also never wise to leave the boss out of the loop, particularly in an organisation which prides itself on dotting the i's and crossing all t's. Unless Jack was going to pay for the repairs personally, there was no way Jeff was not going to know about it.

LOTW4:
Jack: "Excuse me, have you reported your accident yet?"
Julia: "Ah, no. No, I haven't."

• Everyone had a bicycle as a kid, didn't they? Jack looks as if it's been a while since he last rode one... maybe the last time was when he was a kid. I loved the look of concentration and worry as he's trying to steer it and talk on the phone. And did Julia truly ride the bike with those heels?

• Jack and Julia - it's not a good example to kids to not wear your stack hats.

LOTW5: Jack: "Oh, my own private little barnacle."

LOTW6: Julia: "I admire the delicacy of your interview technique."

• The writer has managed to destroy the assumption of small town hospitality in one foul swoop. <g> It was excellent to have the waitress acting so distant and annoyed that they had come to the restaurant, which could prevent her from attending the darts semi that she was involved in.

• Nice touch with Julia's hand over Jack's mouth during the telephone conversation with Helen. Reminded me very strongly of the scene between Jack and Rachel in 'A Day In The Office'. I love how Jack and Julia both suddenly come to wakefulness with the knock on the door and the fact that neither regret the night together.

LOTW7:
Snr Sgt Bock: "Well, it hasn't been a totally wasted trip. You got to test drive a Port Bligh inner spring."

• I liked the look of shock on everyone's face when Donna mentions about the commonality of husband's having affairs.

• Hmm... Emma, you like Mick, huh? With his possible relationship with Alex on the shelf, I'll be interested to see if this progresses.

• Interesting that Jack never finds out what she was there to interview Dugdale over.

• I noticed that this episode doesn't carry through from last week. I'm wondering if we are going to see some resolution of some of the issues that were brought up by different members of the squad over the loss of their colleague. I'm not going to pass judgement yet as I am hopeful it will unfold over several episodes in subtle ways. No baseball bats, please. But I will be disappointed not to see some small references to it.

missy@lexicon.net