INTELLIGENCE REVIEWS-SEASON ONE

• Review of Episode 9: Cleaning Up

  The theme this week is "What goes around comes around". Heck, it might even end up being the title for this week's ep. This is what Jimmy tells Mary (in echo of his worried mourning over Colin at the end of ep 1) after he explains that the shooting at the end of last week was a "robbery" gone wrong. It's also what Ronnie says when he hears about the shooting by way of telling Jimmy "I told you so" about using Phan's boys to do the raid on the Disciples. But it could also apply to Ted (who discovers that he's not even in the running for Mary's old job, let alone her new one) and Roger (who gets unexpectedly rescued from the career gallows by Mary).

  This ep picks up right where the last one left off--with a Disciple lying dead in the street and Jimmy and Winston the Narc getting arrested at a traffic stop. We start off with the Disciple and Phan and his boys racing off in a getaway SUV. Phan tells the shooter to give him the gun, which he wraps in a towel and tosses out the window. "This is a drag," he says with classic understatement.

  I had noticed the gun left in the Disciple's hand at the end of the last ep and wondered what the cops might do with it. Turns out its being so noticeable wasn't an accident--two major plot points this week turn on that gun. First, it turns out the dead Disciple is Dante's nephew. Second, the gun was the one that shot Colin. Dante is naturally shocked and upset to hear about his nephew's death (as I said before, those who live by the sword...). But he's also extremely worried when he finds out about the gun. He tells the messenger of this news, "This can't get out" right before Jimmy shows up. He and Jimmy then lie to each other--Jimmy about not knowing who shot the nephew, Dante about not knowing who shot Colin. They agree to a temporary truce of sorts, but this may not last.

  As we find out more about Dante, it becomes clear that he is every bit as dangerous as Ronnie thinks he is. But he is also intensely vulnerable and he has a lot more respect for Jimmy as an enemy than he is willing to let on. One could almost say that he is very anxious not to allow Jimmy to realize this, lest Jimmy become an even bigger threat. Dante acts as though he has dangerously overstepped in testing Jimmy's weak points and knows it. This wary respect could change radically to cold vengefulness if he ever makes a connection between Jimmy and Phan's shooter. Fortunately for Jimmy, Phan has decided it's a good week to take a vacation in Hawaii. Fortunately for Dante, Jimmy has decided that this latest murder, however unfortunate and unplanned, has evened the score for Colin and Mike and tells his people to back down. An equilibrium between the two groups has been reached.

  But.

  Another possible reason for Dante to get a lot angrier next week comes near the end of the ep when Mike, who had recognized the guy who cut his throat earlier this week, discovers the guy at a music club that he's thinking of buying. Mike is so shaken that he puts down his drink mostly unconsumed (a big thing for Mike) and, hands trembling, calls his brother. Jimmy and Bob come over and Bob follows the guy into the restroom. What happens next so far remains unknown, but he comes out a few minutes later, totally deadpan, before joining Mike and Jimmy in Jimmy's car. A slow pan back from Jimmy driving to Bob's reflective, almost serene, face is very creepy. If you've ever seen the final shot of The Long Good Friday, you'll know what I mean.

  Another interesting--and rather sad--thing is that Ronnie is left out in the cold by Jimmy, Mike and Bob for large sections of this episode. When they come back from doing whatever they did to the guy who cut Mike, Ronnie asks them where they've been. Jimmy says casually, "Out for a drive" and walks into the club with Ronnie while Mike ends the ep with a quiet "thank you" to Bob. Earlier, when Jimmy goes to meet with Dante, Ronnie asks him if he wants backup and Jimmy says that he'll do it alone. In the ongoing seesaw game of "Who's in the loop", Ronnie shows that he's out in the cold by telling Jimmy "I told you so" about what's just happened while Jimmy is clearly three steps ahead into the future. You have to feel sorry for Ronnie, who senses that a balance has shifted, but isn't quite sure yet how or why.

  He's also distracted by his relationship with Sweet. They go drug-money-tax-shelter hunting together. All they find this ep is a place that is way too hot and under cop surveillance. Meanwhile, Kristina-Tina, Sweet's erstwhile rival, gets taken for an impromptu ride by Mary. After Kristina gives up the now-rather-old info about Jimmy's raid on the Disciple's bank exchange, Mary tells her just how much that two-day-old bread is worth and tells her to start coughing up both better and timelier info or expect a call from Immigration. Ha. So there.

  Speaking of blondes, Jimmy gets a little action this week (almost completely off screen) and Francine finds out (completely on screen) when she shows up to take Stella on their exchange day. She is furious, feeling that they were achieving some sort of understanding aside from over custody of Stella. She is also hurt when she lets herself in (after Stella expressly told her not to do that) and makes herself a cup of coffee, only to hear Jimmy in his room talking about having breakfast with his lover. So hurt that she tosses the coffee all over Jimmy. Funny...I could have sworn that they were divorced and that Francine was sleeping with half of Vancouver, which things would negate her having any right to judge Jimmy. My mistake.

  We don't see the woman with whom Jimmy was having the sleepover, but she sounds like the one we see in the pilot having morning coffee at Jimmy's ridiculously gorgeous (albeit with way too much glass for my liking) seaside cabin. I'm rather curious to see if she appears again, since she came across as a sort of anti-Francine. She was even blonde.

  In a probably deliberate echo of the cabin scene in the pilot, we also get another gratuitous beefcake shot of Jimmy when he pulls open his shirt after Francine dumps coffee all over him. You can tell it's gratuitous because he always wears an undershirt under his nice silk shirts and in this scene, he doesn't--the better, no doubt, to show how fit he is. I have to admire Ian Tracey's professionalism. If his choice of roles over the years is any indication, playing a Thomas-Magnum-style "let me rip my shirt off at every opportunity" lead is definitely not his thing. But he still does the scene like a pro with no apparent distaste and still gets across the basic unease that Jimmy feels at having Francine inside his space. In fact, her tossing the coffee on him is sparked by Jimmy's pointing out that she is not, by the terms of their divorce, allowed inside his house. In typical Francine fashion, she expresses her feelings of insult and outrage in exactly the way most calculated to make sure Jimmy never willingly allows her inside his house ever again.

  Later, Francine visits Ronnie and tries to weep and wail her way into his sympathies. Ronnie is intimidated, but refuses to get involved in her conflict with Jimmy. "Don't leave me to drown!" Francine, ever the drama queen, declares before driving off with her usual cold and manipulative expression. Hmmm. That's starting to get a bit predictable. One could see her as a master manipulator if she were only trying to bring Jimmy down. But since her main goal is actually to get back into Jimmy's graces and she is doing everything to make sure that never happens, she comes across as both dangerous and pathetic. She honestly does not understand why Jimmy won't take her back. And yet, the only genuine emotions we ever see from her are rage, jealousy, fear and hate. If she shows anything that resembles a positive emotion, rest assured that she's faking it. Talk about a classic borderline/narcissistic personality.

  I also have to laugh at her ranting at Ronnie about being left poor. Please. I should be that poor.

  Winston the Narc makes a similarly bad showing with Jimmy for most of this ep. After Winston talks his way out of the traffic stop, he comes back with a ticket for "no insurance". Jimmy, having had a Maglite stuck in his face while keeping his hands on the dashboard for several minutes, is not amused. He rips Winston a new one, then stalks off into the night, the lord of his urban jungle.

  But between the repercussions of Colin's murder and the rumblings from Phan and his boys screwing up, Jimmy is desperate for "product" and Winston has a lot of it. So, against Ronnie's advice, Jimmy agrees to buy Winston's 200 pounds of dope, though it's Bob who actually takes the shipment. Ironically, after Jimmy seals the deal with Winston in the club, he has a guy come in to the sweep the place again for bugs.

  Winston gets Ted to persuade the traffic cop that stopped him to keep quiet, but Ted is pretty unhappy about being brought into the picture. "Next time you get into a situation, fall on your knife," he snarls at Winston. I can't help feeling sorry for Winston. From this perspective (and not, say, the usual American macho cop one), you can see just how their vulnerability turns even the toughest-looking narcs into nervous little dogs. Winston is genuinely afraid of what Jimmy would do to him if he caught him, due to Jimmy's fearsome rap. And let's face it, while Jimmy himself never chooses the murderous option, plenty of those around him with their own agendas do choose that option whenever he's threatened. That Jimmy unfairly gets the blame for these killings doesn't make him any less dangerous to cross. I also doubt that Winston would be reassured by Ronnie's assessment and dismissal of him as "an amateur" and a screw-up, as opposed to the Enemy.

  Ted needs to watch his own backside. He asks George if they can get Jimmy by Christmas and George assures him that they can. But Mary, Eddie and Eddie's ex-spy buddy (played by Stuart Margolin, who directed this ep) are discovering that George's involvement with Luiz Falcone may go far beyond DEA business. In fact, George may be freelancing for his own benefit and snowing Ted all down the line. Mary doesn't know yet about Ted's involvement, but it's only a matter of time and probably not as much time as Ted would like. Things get even stickier when Randy the Stockbroker shows up on Falcone's boat--seems Falcone isn't just a coke dealer from Mexico. He's also into gunrunning. Randy, you've got some explaining to do.

  Mary is also apparently snowing Ted. Early in the ep, Mary meets with an older patrician woman (she calls her "senator") about her transition to CSIS. The woman asks her if she has her transition team in place. Mary says yes, but expresses her concerns about Royden. The woman assures Mary that she will be fine as long as she keeps her cards very close to the vest. The two of them then talk about long-term plans to reform CSIS, something that requires a few more political pawns in place first. Oooer. More strong women in power. I like.

  Mary then meets with Roger and offers him a deal that will give him the chance to retire honorably with his pension intact if he cooperates. He agrees (some nicely quiet cornered-rat acting from Tom McBeath in this scene) and she immediately asks him who told him to make the call to Hong Kong. We end the scene with her waiting with bated breath for his answer. Presumably, this is because we already saw him meeting with Royden last week, but the transition still seemed a bit abrupt.

  Later, Mary gathers in Martin, asking him if he's ready to move over to CSIS (he is) and telling him to stonewall Mallaby, who is trying to gather up Mary's informant files for Royden. "The plot thickens," Martin purrs. Mary calls Ted in and tells him that she has a list of people who could replace her at the OCU. "You're not on that list," she says. "But you could be." Ted looks disappointed, but then asks her what he can do to get on the list. Mary tells him that she needs someone she can trust, who won't stab her in the back when she moves on. It is to laugh. She then tells him that she needs his absolute loyalty to her "from this moment onward". Obviously thinking that this is a sufficiently large loophole under which he can hide his dealings with George, Ted agrees.

  Now, this makes Mary seem kinda stupid, considering Ted's actions in the pilot (the ones that she knows about). But then she says something strange. She asks Ted to keep an eye on Roger and make sure he doesn't bottle out. Except that she's already met with Roger and has his full measure. She already knows that Roger's not going to bottle out. So, what's up there? I can only think that she is planning some sort of trap for Ted. It could be a test of loyalty and it could be that she is working to get him out of the OCU once and for all. Not before time, I have to say.

  Finally, I have to comment on the music. There's some nice new stuff from this week and last week. Also, starting last week, they began using the piano chord from Da Vinci's Inquest that I always mentally dubbed "Crazy Mick" because it always appeared whenever Mick Leary (Ian Tracey's character in DVI) was probably hearing his voices. Most notable is the scene where he discovers the two young girls in their bedrooms in "Bury My Own Bones". Whenever they use it for the spy scenes between Mary, Eddie and Old Spy Guy, I therefore can't help wondering if Jimmy is about to lose it somewhere.

  ---

  Next week: Eps 10: Ian Tracey directs this one, I'm told. Mary frets about losing her informants: "What am I without my informants? Out the door." Ted moves up the timetable on the Reardon operation (this looking to be the last ep before Christmas and all). Jimmy makes a deal with Dante involving creating an offshore bank (something that his lawyer suggested last week). Mary tells Katarina, "I need you to seduce someone for me." She also turns the screws on Randy, begs Jimmy to do her a favor and makes a promise to Old Spy Guy.

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This page was last updated on 12/6/2006