Spy vs. Spy

Season 3, Episode Number: 148

Original broadcast dates:

Written by David Cole, directed by Paul Lynch

Episode Synopsis

When Fraser's friend Hanrahan, an old man who believes he's a spy, intercepts a secret message, Fraser and Kowalski find themselves at the centre of a deadly arms transaction. In order to solve the case and save lives, Fraser and Kowalski must match wits with Nautilus, an infamous Russian spy whose true identity is unknown.

Fraser's friend Albert Hanrahan plays chess in the park, receives taxi signals on the metal plate in his head, and waits for the day he will be "activated" in the service of his country. Then, one day, he intercepts a secret message. Kowalski saves Hanrahan from a mysterious assailant, but the attacker dies. Using some unorthodox northern post-mortem techniques, Fraser discovers that the man bit down on a cyanide-capped tooth. Fraser and Dief track Hanrahan to his girlfriend Ruth's apartment and discover a clue: a ticket to the ballet.

At the ballet Fraser is seated next to Nada, a mysterious woman who was clearly expecting someone else. Gunmen in pursuit, Fraser takes to the stage, is swirled into the ballet, swept up by a flying horse onto a catwalk and escapes into a back alley. In the alley he's rescued by Pike, a man who claims to be part of a top secret government organisation, so secret that even they don't know what they do. Fraser learns that when the Soviet Union broke up, ex-members of the KGB formed two private enterprise operations, which have become deadly competitors.

Fraser and Kowalski hide Ruth and Hanrahan for their own safety, while they try to sort out who's who in the world of smuggling and espionage. The case seems to involve the sale of Russian-made arms, but who are the buyers and who are the sellers? And is Nautilus--the infamous Russian spy who can stay in deep undercover for years at a time--trying to intercept the shipment?

Significant Guest Stars

ALBERT HANRAHAN - Eric Christmas
NADA - Martha Burns
RUTH HENRY - Susan Douglas Rubes
MORT - Jan Rubes
PIKE - Maury Chaykin
VICTOR PEDTCHENKO - Yuri
LON E. KATZMANN - Karl Almazov
GEORGE GHALI - Taxi Driver
ANDREW DAN - 2nd Gunman
MILTON BARNES - Boombox Guy

Music

FLORA'S AWAKENING
Performed by: Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec
Written by: Ricardo Drigo
Conducted by: Simon Streatfield
Courtesy of: CBC Records/Les Disques SRC

The opera piece is credited by the show as "Flora's Awakening," the actual piece is "Pas de Deux" from the Minkus opera 'Don Quixote'. Also, the dance being performed is not "Pas de Deux" or "Flora's

(The above information was cheerfully and unrepentantly stolen from the official Due South website – www.duesouth.com – which is, all in all, a pretty good site except for its inexcusable tendency to refer to RayK as ‘Stan.’)

Interesting Trivia

Martha Burns (Nada) is Paul Gross' wife. She also appeared again on the series as Caroline Fraser, Benton's mother, in the Season 4 series finale, "Call of the Wild." Maury Chakin (Pike) has appeared with Paul Gross in the movies Cold Comfort and Whale Music. He also appears on DS as Jasper Gutman in the Season 4 episode "Mojo Rising." It is revealed in this episode that the real Ray Vecchio is impersonating a Mob lieutenant in Las Vegas known as Armando 'the Bookman' Langoustini. Ray's a dead ringer for the Bookman, who died in a car crash.

 

From: Viridian5@aol.com
Date: Sun Jul 30, 2000 9:48pm
Subject: The Good Parts review of "Spy vs. Spy"

"Spy vs. Spy" is supposedly about spies and an arms shipment and somebody called Nautilus and some crotchety old guy who claims to be an ex-secret agent who gets involved. Blah blah blah. Like that's what I watch this episode for. The problem is that this supposed plot is excruciating. It's not quite up there with a root canal or 98% of "Mountie Sings the Blues," but it's close. Its worst offense is that it's nestled around a whole lot of great scenes of Ray and Fraser that deserve a framing episode worthy of them. There are more good things in here than just the admittedly excellent teaser, and they don't get watched because we're too busy avoiding the rest of the episode. Well, I have a fast forward button, and I'm willing to use it.

Thus ::fanfare:: we have the handy dandy Viridian5 (with a bit of input from LaT and some help from WolfWalker's transcript site) Good Parts review of "Spy vs. Spy." It's not linear, but neither am I....

*General Comments*: Everybody gets to be snarky here, even Frannie in her two minutes of airtime. Welsh has many great moments. Fraser and Ray spark and snap in a way that's a joy to watch. This is the snarkiest peacetime Fraser (as opposed to the scared and angry snarky MotB Fraser) you will see concentrated in one episode. We have Fraser in civvies and his brown uniform, and lots of Ray in his glasses (with the blue flip-down lens covers as an added bonus). Plus, we get plenty of Action!Ray. Leaping on and off of pickup trucks, breaking hollow cyanide teeth with one punch, leaping into and out of cars in a hail of gunfire, shooting at escaping cars, landing on top of boomboxes. Playing chess.

*Just Teasing*: Ray and Fraser are looking for apartments for Fraser together. The way Ray says that Fraser shouldn't volunteer that Dief's a wolf "this time" sounds like Ray was there for last time. These two look very relaxed and happy with one another's company. And they know one another. Fraser cuts Ray's chess match with H short in the certainty that Ray would lose another game and more money, and Ray *knows* that's why. That Ray asks if H is good at chess and he plays wearing his glasses and for money suggests to me that he's serious about this game in particular but maybe even chess in general. Ray thinks H is a nutter but is friendly with him and not in a condescending way either; this viewer gets the feeling it's because H is Fraser's friend. Then there's the immortal exchange with Fraser being very defensive about Dief getting them lost.
Fraser: "Maybe it's a combination of electromagnetism, cellular phones, radio waves - something's confused him."
Ray (grinning): "Oh, yeah, that must be it."
Fraser: "You know, Ray, it's sad. It's sad and pathetic to watch a grown man gloat over besting a dog."
Ray: "You have your hobbies, I have mine."
But when danger calls from a nearby alley, they immediately go into action together as a well-oiled team with no hesitation.

*Partners Share part 1*: Fraser goes out of his way, with Mort as cheerful accomplice, to repulse Ray in the morgue, stopping just short of the "licking things" that Ray promised would drive him out. Fraser's gleefully blase as he sniffs the corpse's fingers and face, then wrenches the body into a sitting position to get a gust of scent from the now open mouth. Then he leaves Ray there to fingerprint the body. Is it payback for mocking his dog or just Fraser's sense of humor? And Ray may hate the "cold meat party" but he puts the dead man's coat on to help ward off the chill.

*Partners Share part 2*: Ray and Fraser are working their mojo hard in the scene with the RCMP database, and it's one of my favorite segments of theirs from the series. Unable to ID their John Doe from the FBI database (and it's Ray who did the legwork trying on that one, once again showing that he's a good cop willing to go all out on research), Fraser opens the RCMP one, which is far more helpful. Alas, he soon realizes that he can't let Ray see this classified information and tries to block Ray's view with a file folder, which is about as successful as you'd expect. After the file folder and Ray's head do the up and down a few times, Fraser gets snippier ("You will have to close your eyes!") and Ray walks off. But Ray has a plan... which involves him grinning and tiptoeing closer behind Fraser's back to get a look, prompting this rapid-fire exchange:
Fraser: "No peeking!"
Ray: "Wasn't."
Fraser: "You were."
Ray: "Wasn't."
Fraser: "Liar. . . is believed to have entered the United States during sometime between June 23 through - Stop it!"
Ray: "Stop what?" Fraser: "You know very well what!"
But when Welsh walks by, Ray helps Fraser block his view of the screen.
(By the way, SvS's snarky Fraser even sasses Welsh, who isn't having it:
Welsh: "All right. I'll clear you with the shooting team, but you're to have no further involvement in this. If you do, you'll be teaching traffic directing in Zaire."
Ray: "Yes, sir."
Fraser: "Sir, Zaire has changed its name. It's now the Democratic Republic of the Congo."
Welsh: "I don't care."
Fraser: "Ah." )

*Partners Share part 3*: Fraser volunteers Ray's apartment as a safe house for Ruth and H and later his bed. Ray, who had no say in this, is pissed off. He says he doesn't want them in his bed because "old people smell funny." Fraser's rapid retort that maybe Ray is the one who smells funny prompts poor Ray to start checking himself. Then Ray has a problem with Dief staying as guard:
Ray: "Fraser, the wolf can't stay here."
Fraser: "Why not?"
Ray: "Because of the. . . uh. . . turtle."
Fraser: "Dief has no interest in the turtle."
Ray: "The turtle and the wolf are natural enemies, Fraser. Grrr. Fighting and they. . ."
Despite how cute Ray is as he illustrates the eternal conflict between the wolf and the turtle through hand gestures, Fraser does not change his mind. Something else Fraser should pay for later, hopefully from Ray.

*Partners Share part 4*: Ray isn't happy about Fraser neglecting to tell him about Nautilus:
Ray: "You never mentioned Nautilus."
Fraser: "I realize that."
. . .
Ray: "Hello, am I the only one here who doesn't know who Nautilus is?"
Fraser: "Yes, it would appear so, Ray. I had my suspicions when I first disarmed you. The way you laid your finger along the trigger guard. Very professional."
Ray: "Partners means sharing. You ever hear of that, Fraser?"
Fraser: "Yes, I understand that. Could we deal with it later?"
Ray: "Partners means sharing."
Whether they're lovers or still simply friends at this point is up to you, but they already sound like a married couple.

*The Most Interesting Evening in the Theatre*: It's great watching Fraser bore the hell out of Nada and annoy all the theater-goers around him with his anecdotes, thus confirming that he's the last guy you want to have sitting near you at the theater. Or the movies. Or anywhere else. No, folks, it's not just that Ray is an impatient guy; it's that Fraser can be obnoxious without even really trying. He's just so thrilled to be out for night of culture that he can't help himself. Nada trying to exchange code passages with him is also amusing:
Nada: "The white raven waits for the right wave."
Fraser: "Oh. Ahm, ahem, Rusty Ruggles rode his wet reindeer through the red window."
Nada: ". . . You play games?"
Fraser: "I thought we were, yes."
Nada: "I don't like games."
Fraser: "Oh."

*Don't You Ever Sleep?*: Snarky Fraser claims he needs only a few brief naps to get by. "As a matter of fact, I just had a 30-second nap coming down the stairs. It's very refreshing." Ray's "suuuuure, Fraser" attitude remains so intact that he doesn't even dignify that statement with a response. Ray himself is grabbing naps in a cell at the station, where he gets to be woken none too gently by Frannie:
Ray: "Aahhh!?" (jumps back, hands up in a defensive posture)
Francesca: "Oh, look, you're an early riser. Well, seeing as you're up, a Miss Hanrahan's here to see you."
As far as wakeups go, Frannie's clanging on the bars is only slightly nicer than a boot to the head. Frannie also gets to tip him off later that Miss Hanrahan isn't Miss Hanrahan. (And I love Ray walking through that impromptu game of basketball in the squad room, catching the ball, and tossing it back. It gives a nice sense of his and Fraser's lives just being a small part in the goings on at the 27th as well as Ray being a part of the squad room ecosystem.)
"Miss Hanrahan" a.k.a. Nada (a.k.a. Martha Burns, Paul Gross' wife) is surprised by Ray's sleeping arrangements, which prompts Ray to respond, "I, uh, live by my wits, uh, a calling that affords me at times no great, uh, measure of security." The guy's smooth.

*I'm Nuts*: The welcome return of Ray playing a psycho. He does it so nicely.... (Of course, I have to admit that I decided I loved the character instead of merely liking him after I saw BDtH's Motherwell interrogation.) But he's crazy like a fox, because Pike is following him. Though I still don't know how he recognized that Pike would help him get out of the situation. Was he even familiar with Pike's car at this point? I don't think so, but this is one of the pitfalls of watching only the Good Parts version. Am I going to wade through the rest to find out for sure? Hell, no!
Ray: "Go ahead. (accelerates hard, with a wall not too far down the road) Go ahead, shoot, 'cause I don't care, lady. Go ahead, shoot! I don't care if you kill the both of us. I'm nuts. Come on, let's go!"
Nada: "Slow down."
Ray: "I'll kill both of us! Let's go!"
Nada: "Slow down."
Ray: "Yeah. Okay." (slams on the brakes)

*Maybe You Should Show Me Some ID*: And how nice is it that Pike kindly provides viewers and fic authors with vital statistics on Ray? Of course, a lot of us don't believe the height and weight provided....

*I Killed a Guy*: I appreciate it that Ray feels bad about accidentally killing the spy. He doesn't sound it in the beginning because he's so busy trying to convince Welsh that it was an accident, that he barely touched the guy, but it shows later on. (And Welsh has one of his many great sarcastic segments in that first conversation, especially when he counters Ray's defense that the dead guy couldn't even be a native with the response that *that* will be great for tourism.) For all of the Fraserian tormenting going on in the morgue, there's some comfort to be found there:
Fraser: "I don't think you killed this man, Ray. When you hit him in the jaw, he bit down on a cyanide cap he had in his tooth and poisoned himself."
Ray: "Good. Good. . ."

*Get the Lead Out*: I love Fraser in his brown uniform crouching in the street following the gas trail (which Sharpshooter!Ray ::mrrrr:: was good enough to get for them by shooting a hole in the escaping car's tank) while Ray paces him with the car they borrowed. And you have to appreciate KnowledgeableChicagoan!Fraser.
Ray: "Hey, you think I'm losing my hair?"
Fraser: "No, it's full-bodied and bushy, Ray. It's this way. . . At the rate he's losing gas, he couldn't have gotten much farther than this."
Ray: "Maybe he got gas."
Fraser: "Oh, Ray, come on, you know it's impossible to find a gas station in downtown Chicago."
Later, Fraser checks the crates for weapons and carelessly bops Ray on the head with the crate top and some rubber duckies the shippers were using as cover for the guns, then shushes him which he's on the ground recovering. Uhm, Fraser, that was a grunt of pain. I really hope Ray made him pay for that later too.

Conclusion: The regular cast--especially Paul Gross, Callum Keith Rennie, and Beau Starr--makes even the awful episodes watchable if you know where to fast forward and when to stop, and this episode is a good romp if viewed this way. Lots of fun bits, and Fraser and Ray are a joy to watch. There are more Good Parts here than most people realize. Now if only the Good Parts here could be transplanted into a good framing episode....


Viridian5

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