"Mates Rates" - Summary and Review"Mates Rates" - Summary and Review
by Melissa Rivers
Written by: Rhett Gable
Directed by: Lynn Hegarty
Original Air Date: 20th March, 2001
Steve arrives at the police station, begging Matt to do another shift for him that night, pointing out that Matt can do with the extra cash. Steve has an early interview in the morning for a job which has more amiable hours. They are interrupted by Jeff who asks Matt 'if he should be somewhere?' Matt takes off to the CAS tests (See Plot 3)
During his shift that night, they have to lock down Bay 1 due to a burst water main, resulting in a delivery having to be stored in Bay 7. The driver is not happy about the change but reluctantly agrees when Matt offers him an ultimatum of leaving it there or taking the shipment back with him.
The next day, Steve turns up on Matt's doorstep claiming that his landlord has upped the rent on him and he needs a place to stay. Donna agrees to him staying as long as it's only for a couple of days and he sleeps on the couch.
Donna is on a RDO and heads out shopping. As she goes to get her keys, the screen door is violently pushed open, knocking her to the ground and the offender flees the scene. Gingerly checking out the house, Donna finds Steve on the floor, battered and bruised. Steve is unable to give a description but Donna saw the offender running from the house and is able to give a fairly accurate description of the offender apart from his face.
At the station, Jack asks if Steve could work with a police artist to try to get a facial id. Steve agrees to give it a go, but admits the offender might 'end up looking like Elvis.' As Jack and Alex throw up ideas for possible motives, Steve denies that there is any reason for anyone to attack him.
Helen informs Jack that the local police have spoken to a neighbour who heard arguing around the time of the attack. She also tells him that Steve was Matt's police partner in Perth. Both were involved in a high speed pursuit which resulted in the death of a family of four (Season 5 "Reunion")
Jeff questions Matt about Steve, pointing out that since he's been around that Matt's performance at work has dropped. Matt tells Jeff that Steve has come to Sydney to start over, the accident having caused him to be kicked off the force, have a breakdown and his marriage collapse. Helen mentions the neighbour overhearing arguing coming from the house prior to the attack. Jack notes that as they are investigating, it looks more like Steve was the target, although Steve denies it.
Emma is helping Donna clean up the mess left in the house after the attack. As they are cleaning, they find a small packet with white powder. Donna quickly stuffs it into Steve's bag, hoping that it's not what they both think it is. Jack picks up Steve from the house for further questioning. Steve's contention that the arguing was a midday movie are quickly negated when Jack points out that there were no midday movies listed in the TV guide. Alex walks in greeting Steve with 'Hello, Liar.' telling him that she's just been out to his Landlord who denies Steve's version of events. Steve becomes defensive, refusing to discuss the case further until they've got the suspect in a line-up.
Matt is reading the paper on the Nemesis about a drug bust at the container yard where Steve works as a night watchman. Leaving the boat, he runs into Donna who tells him she doesn't want drugs in her house. Matt sees Steve leaving the station and races after him, finally catching him on the street. He tells Matt that he's got caught up in the middle of a drug deal but is not involved. Matt denies it, saying that Steve's been paid off with cocaine and now Steve needs to tell the story to Jack. Sgt Daly (Drug Trafficking Squad) arrives and shows Jack & Alex an edited video surveillance tape for the background on the case. They spot Matt doing his 'moonlighting' and Jack asks if Matt knew about the drugs. Matt denies it saying that the worst problem he had to deal with was a burst water main.
During the interview, his mate Steve disappears before being interviewed by Sgt Daly. Checking Donna's place, they note that Steve has been and taken his belongings. A comment by the detectives about the stuff up with the drug raid on the container yard and Matt reveals that the drugs delivered by Skunk are in Bay 7 and not Bay 1.
At the container yard, they spot the truck that delivered the drugs and chase it. Jack corners the driver and utilises his own method for disarming him with a steel rod (See Plot 3). Alex tells Jack that Con Poulos would not approve. They locate the fifty kilos of cocaine hidden in china.
Matt wants to find Steve and Gavin tells him that they'll take his car but Matt realises he doesn't know where Steve is heading for. Matt explains that he had to believe Steve; he owed him. Gavin denies that Matt caused any of his problems, that Steve had in fact put Matt in danger of losing his own job by having him work at the container yard.
Returning to the house, Matt finds Steve in the backyard asking for more help. Matt goes to call the detectives and Steve attacks him. Matt fights back and breaks the bond between them.
PLOT 2: BALANCING THE FACTS
A recreational diver's report of finding 'something' at an underwater ledge has Emma combing the waters for 'something'.
She locates clothing jammed in a rocky outcrop and when she tugs at it to release it, bones fall from the material.
Retrieving the bones is painstaking and Chopper informs Jack and Alex that the bones have probably been in the water for
about three years. From the multiple fractures of the long bones, head and verterbrae, Chopper thinks he has fallen from a
height onto concrete or water.
Chopper comes up with a description of the skeleton and there are 23 men who match the description who disappeared during the time frame. Dental records are being forwarded for comparison. After the attack (See Plot 1), Alex tells Jack that Chopper has found a dental match. The bones belong to Ryan Collins, reported missing three years ago by his wife, Tanya. Alex goes to see Tanya and as they are talking a friend of the family, Malcolm Reeves arrives. They both recognise the clothing that was retrieved as being the clothes he wore on his last day. Malcolm makes a comment that it is still a shock after all this time because they expected him to suicide - Ryan had been diagnosed with Huntington's Chorea, a debilitating disease with no treatment, robbing the sufferer slowly of their mind. Ryan's own father had suffered from it and had committed suicide as well.
Alex is upset by the discussion with Tanya and discusses the case with Jack. She comments about how terrible it must have been to know you were going to die the same illness that had afflicted his father. On a hunch, Alex and Jack head out on Jack's bike to The Gap (Watson's Bay). Ryan's doctor confirmed his illness, stating that in the week prior to his death, he was having trouble walking. Alex points out that with this problem, she doesn't think he would have been able to kill himself on his own and that they are assuming that Ryan wanted to die. Alex is concerned that maybe he was murdered and if Ryan had been healthy, they would be doing more to investigate his death.
Malcolm runs a sky diving business and Tanya is a pilot, having obtained her licence two years previously. He is offended by Alex's insinuation that Ryan possibly jumped or was pushed out of the plane to his death.
A maintenance report reveals damage to the nose wheel of the plane and Alex questions Malcolm about it. Tanya interrupts them, telling her that Ryan knew what it was like to watch someone die of a debilitating disease. Taking Alex aside, she reveals that she took Ryan up in the plane for a last jump - without a parachute - his intention being to go out on a high. When it came to him jumping, she didn't want him to do it begging him not to, but he still did.
Jack has been checking out the maintenance log and Alex tells him it was all explained and the investigation is finished. Jack asks if her theories didn't pan out and she just looks at him. He points out that 'she wouldn't be dead for quids' bringing a laugh from Alex.
PLOT 3: WHAT'S PROCEDURE?
During a performance assessment, Jack and Matt are run through the rigors of a hostage situation under cover of darkness.
Shots are fired with the end result being that Matt shot Jack. Both of them are failed - Matt for shooting his partner and
Jack because he is the senior officer and he is responsible.
The next test is self-defence. While Gavin is being tested, Jack tries to convince Jeff that he doesn't need this type of testing. Jeff quickly points out that he failed his last test and he might actually learn something. Gavin has successfully used the baton to subdue the offender and hands it over to Jack for his turn. Jack is his usual self, brash talk and wielding the baton carelessly out wide, distracting the opposition and then striking low o n the opposition (think the crown jewels <g>) with his knee. A collective groan of pain and muffled laughter from his co-workers and Jeff winces. Sgt Poulos gasps out in pain that his actions "are not recommended procedure." Jack responds candidly, "I use it and I recommend it."
At the end of the investigation (Plot 1), Matt assures Jeff that he will only be doing one job in the future - his police work. Jeff tells him to improve his image and put in a decent performance on the self-defence test. A moment later, Matt has the offender subdued after utilising Jack's method.
REVIEW: "Mates Rates"
While this episode revolved essentially around the main plot of Matt and his former partner, Steve, it was nice to see how
the writer managed to entwine another relatively major plot into the picture, complimenting the main plot and contrasting
the differences between them.
Steve Ferguson had a good job, marriage and friends. But he allowed it all to be destroyed by his guilt over the accident. The guilt overshadowed everything in his life and like a cancerous disease it invaded and ate away at all the good things that filled his life. It robbed him of his job, his marriage and his morals.
Ryan Collins knew from a young age that he had the deadly Huntington's gene, that he had been marked for a cruel and debilitating illness that would eventually take his life. Up until the manifestation of the symptoms of his illness, Ryan had lived a full and healthy life. When signs of the illness began to show, he decided to take the easy way out, the easy way out. By doing this, he had saved his wife, family and friends from having to care for him and he had also broken the cycle of inheritance of the disease.
I don't think the writer intended us to feel sorry for Steve, but I did. Sorry for the fact that he had been unable to rise above his guilt and see what the future held for him, a future that was no longer available to the family of four that was killed in the accident. In effect, that accident took five lives and not four.
I was glad to see how Matt has grown since the accident. He still feels guilt that the family died; there won't be a time when he won't remember them. But he has managed to realise and understand that it was an accident, there is nothing to change that and he needs to move forward. I wonder if the counselling which he went to following Lance's death (Season 6 "Domino") has helped him move forward from the point where we saw him last year in "Reunion" where the accident was still affecting his work. The only reason his work was affected in this instance was due to his taking on an additional job. Lack of sleep can screw anybody's ability to perform their job.
The only thing that annoyed me about this storyline were Matt's words to Steve at the end. They were almost a reiteration of Gavin's words to Matt only moments ago. It didn't seem right. Personally, I wish that Matt had come to this realisation on his own merits and the whole scene ambushed by the Gavin/Matt scene. It took away some of the power of the final scene between Matt and Steve. I believe what had happened to Matt throughout the episode was enough to have pushed Matt into pushing Steve away.
This year I have enjoyed the growth in the relationship between Jack and Alex. In my first review, I mentioned how the detectives (including Mick) had grown as a team. I have appreciated how the writers this season are succeeding with a mix of humour and seriousness between these two. As in Family Values/True Believer, Jack realises that Alex needs to investigate further, to be able to satisfy herself that the truth has been found. However, this time uncovering the truth didn't make her feel good at getting a killer off the streets. She ended up deciding to turn a blind eye to the law because she recognised it would only cause more grief; there would be guilt for herself for uncovering the truth and not disclosing it. Jack knew what she'd done and, in that, he also knew that Alex was growing as a detective.
Finally, I'll finish up with the clothing debate.<g> Hmm, Alex is a detective and as such has to deal with a wide range of community members. Members who may not take kindly to be interviewed by someone dressed the way she has been dressing this year. I could accept the casualness in 'Domino' and in 'Another Man's Poison' because the whole team were casual and they had just come off a drug bust. If the show wants to realistically portray detectives, they do wear suits. Both men and women and I think they should stick with the facts in this case.
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS:
LOTW1:
Alex: "Did you know that there are two hundred and six bones in the human body?"
Jack: "Where did you get that off? Your desk calendar?"
LOTW2:
Alex: "Hey, you wanna bite?
Jack: "No thanks."
Alex: "You're dead."
Jack: "Yeah, that's what happens when you get shot by your own partner."
Gavin "You shot the Sarge?"
Jack: "Yeah, he shot me."
Gavin "Why did you go and shoot the Sarge for?"
Jack: "You're usually not such a complete moron. So, what happened? "
LOTW3:
Jack: "I am supposed to defend myself, subdue you and arrest you, while using this little stick."
Alex: "It's called a baton, Jack."
LOTW4:
Jack: "I use it and I recommend it."