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Post by topbilled on May 1, 2023 13:58:42 GMT
087 Wanting and Needing
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
The captain is back at work full time, and he’s been drinking, but so far has been concealing the truth from everyone. Amanda gets a call from Bernice who is checking in about the captain. Since the captain gets annoyed that the women are talking about him behind his back, Amanda pretends she’s talking to someone else when the captain walks by.
The captain walks over to the reception area and meets a man that just showed up. He has the guy follow him back to his office. In the office, with the door closed, we learn the captain is hiring this man, Enrique Ortiz, to go to the Philippines. Ortiz is a detective, and the captain wants him to track down Nenita and his son.
As the captain hands Ortiz a check and tells him to get started, we cut to Jude who has gone to Birdie’s hospital room with Ryan. They want Birdie to tell them everything she remembers about being shot. She verifies that Tony was the assailant and that she had seen him earlier and was suspicious of him. They ask if Tony had help.
Birdie says nobody helped Tony shoot her, but that there was a woman who had come to see Tony. In fact, Birdie gave the woman directions to Tony’s suite and there should be security footage of that. Jude thanks Birdie, and on the way out of her room, he sends Ryan back to the hotel because clearly Fronklin did not turn over all the footage that Ryan and Amanda recently were sent to check. Ryan sees a text from Schuyler, it’s the fifth one he’s received this morning, but he’s ignoring Schuyler.
After Jude and Ryan leave, Birdie receives another visitor. It is Adrian. Birdie has a flashback from the previous episode where Cordelia told her that Adrian knows the truth. But when she lovingly puts her hand on his arm, he recoils a bit, still uneasy about things between them. Birdie can read what’s on his mind and makes a decision on how to proceed.
We then cut to the hotel. Ryan is in Fronklin’s office and says he and Jude know there is more footage. He needs to see it, right now. Fronklin admits he held back some footage because someone walked down the hall at the same time Birdie gave directions to Tony’s visitor. The person is an important person that was meeting their lover across the hall.
Ryan doesn’t care about the V.I.P’s sex life. He wants to see who Tony’s visitor was. As Fronklin loads up the footage, Ryan gets a call. It’s Schuyler, which he silences and lets go to voicemail. Meanwhile, Fronklin has finished loading the footage on his computer and plays it. Ryan recognizes the woman in the hallway with Birdie as nurse Wendy Plout.
At the precinct Jude is telling Amanda that Ryan is going over footage at the hotel. He notices Bernice is in the captain’s office. We cut to Bernice’s conversation with the captain, telling him that if he came back to work too soon, everyone would understand if needed to take time off again. But he says staying at home doing nothing was the problem. He admits he’s hired a P.I. to go to Manila to track down his missing wife and child.
Back at the hospital, Birdie gets a visit from Cordelia. Cordelia asks if Birdie’s talked to Adrian. Birdie says Adrian came by earlier, but she did not reveal she is aware that he knows she’s his real mother. Cordelia is surprised and thought for sure Birdie would have finally wanted it all out in the open.
Birdie says what she wants and what Adrian needs are different things. It’s clear that Adrian is still uncomfortable about the truth. Birdie tells Cordelia she decided she won’t play mother to Adrian, until he’s ready. So for now, she is going to act like she doesn’t know Cordelia told Adrian everything, and things will go back to how they were. Cordelia reacts.
We cut to the precinct. The captain is in the reception area with Ryan, Jude and Amanda. Ryan returned from the hotel and says the woman who saw Tony was Wendy Plout. Jude knew Wendy was lying when they questioned her recently. The captain wants Wendy brought in for more questioning. They don’t know where her new job is, but will find out.
As everyone goes off to follow leads and track Wendy down, the captain walks back to his office. Bernice had returned because she left a scarf. She found the scarf on the desk, but dropped it on the floor. As she bent down to pick it up, she noticed a drawer part way open and could see the bottles of booze inside.
The captain walks up, closes the drawer and tells Bernice that’s none of her business and she needs to leave. She knows how self-destructive he gets when he drinks and references the end of their marriage due to his alcoholism. He says their marriage ended, because he found out the truth about Lance, who was not his son but her son with Hugo Dunne.
Bernice tries to gloss over that and says Hugo was never the love of her life. The captain says he heard through the grapevine (Amanda) that Hugo recently asked Bernice to marry him. She doesn’t deny this but makes a point of showing him there’s no engagement ring on her finger, which means she did not say yes. At least not yet.
We then cut to Ryan who is following a lead to find Wendy. Snow is coming down hard, and as he rounds a corner in a neighborhood, he sees that someone is having car trouble in the storm. He stops to help.
The person having car trouble is Schuyler, who called a tow truck. Schuyler is upset that Ryan’s been avoiding him. He says Ryan used him to get information about Berto, and when that didn’t go anywhere, Ryan had no further use for him. Ryan admits he did use Schuyler and is sorry about everything. Schuyler says they were good together in bed. Ryan says he’s not gay and there was never going to be anything between them. Schuyler is very hurt.
We then cut to the Salerno home. Wendy is looking after Vito, while Sandra and Naldo are out shopping. Wendy has been waiting to hear from Tony, but so far he’s not replying to her texts.
We go back to Ryan and Schuyler. The tow truck has arrived and takes Schuyler’s car away. Schuyler says he’s in the process of buying a new car but can’t pick it up till tomorrow. Ryan offers to drive Schuyler to the campus. The snow is still coming down hard. Schuyler doesn’t feel like waiting for a ride share in the cold and accepts Ryan’s offer.
In the next scene, we reveal that Ryan didn’t take Schuyler to the frat house on campus. He took Schuyler back to his place where they had sex again. While Ryan sleeps, Schuyler notices a text from Berto that he is back in Chicago with Tony.
Meanwhile at at the Salerno mansion, Sandra and Naldo are home and Wendy is now off duty. As she exits the front door and walks down the sidewalk, she gets a long-awaited text from Tony. He has sent her instructions that when the time is right, she is to bring Vito to him in a car that Berto is providing. She reacts.
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Post by topbilled on May 3, 2023 7:00:25 GMT
088 Tangled Web
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
We follow up on some unresolved plot points from ‘Black and White.’ It is said that Gregg Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Sonja’s brother Karl Jr., and that the Jablonski family dropped the civil suit against the Carters, because the two mothers threatened to leave their husbands if the families didn’t try to overcome their differences and make peace.
It is also said that Sonja’s brother Eric and her sister-in-law Darnell, who moved to Mississippi at the end of ‘Black and White,’ are expecting a child. Jude senses that Karl Sr. is unhappy about this due to his ongoing racial views, and when Jude says something about this to Karl Sr., it does not go over well. This leads to Sonja getting highly defensive on her dad’s behalf, even though she knows he’s not perfect.
Jude tries to clear the air with Karl Sr. to make Sonja happy, but Karl Sr. says Jude is right, he still hates n-words. And he is praying that there’s a miscarriage and his son will leave that n-wife. When Sonja hears this, she realizes Jude’s been right about her father all along, and that Karl Sr.’s extremist views won’t go away overnight and this could disrupt peace between the two families.
But when the Jablonskis and Carters get news that Eric and Darnell’s baby was born prematurely, and it is healthy, everyone seems happy. Even Karl Sr. is happy. He looks at photos of the baby and thinks it looks like him, which means it will be able to ‘pass.’
While the stuff with Jablonskis and Carters plays out, we have a short scene of Jude, who’s off for the day, calling Ryan. Ryan is on duty and says a lead he had on the whereabouts of his father led to a dead end, literally.
Meanwhile, Schuyler meets with Berto at a large home Berto has rented in the near North area. Though Schuyler isn’t allowed to see Tony, he learns that Berto is keeping Tony hid in a secret room inside the house. Berto is confident Tony won’t be found by Ryan.
The subject changes to Schuyler’s relationship with Ryan. Schuyler tells his stepfather that he is in love with Ryan and that Ryan seems equally committed to him. After Schuyler leaves to meet up with Ryan, Tony comes out of hiding and confirms he overheard what Schuyler said. He and Berto hope to use Schuyler’s connection to Ryan to their advantage.
At the precinct Ryan is now clocking out and he leaves to meet Schuyler for dinner at Biggie’s bar and grill. A few tables over, we see nurse Wendy Plout. She is eating alone and thinking about Tony’s recent request that she abduct little Vito. She is conflicted and doesn’t want to hurt Sandra and Naldo by kidnapping their son. But then she gets a text from Tony, who is summoning her to a meeting with him and Berto.
After they’re done at the restaurant, Ryan and Schuyler stop by the Salerno mansion to see Naldo and Sandra. They learn that Vito loves his new nanny (Wendy). In the next scene Ryan and Schuyler leave, and they just miss Wendy, who’s finished meeting Tony and Berto, and is back at the mansion under the pretext that she forgot something earlier. She has really come to take Vito to Tony.
While Wendy gets ready to steal Vito, we cut to the hotel. Birdie has been released from the hospital and just returned to her suite. Fronklin is overly nice to her, which throws Birdie slightly off balance and amuses Jarrett. In the next scene Adrian comes by to check on Birdie with Cordelia. They all continue the charade that nothing’s changed, ignoring the fact that Birdie is really Adrian’s mother.
It is said Cordelia is on her way to the airport, since she has business to attend to in Houston. On the way out of the hotel, she asks Adrian if he plans to talk to Birdie about the truth. But he says he won’t, because he doesn’t feel it’s the right thing to do… Birdie needs to be comfortable with being his mother.
Adrian gives Cordelia a peck on the cheek and helps her into a ride share that is taking her to O’Hare so she can get a flight to Texas.
We cut to the precinct where Amanda is working the graveyard shift. Bernice comes by at a late hour to chat. She tells Amanda that the captain is drinking again, which Amanda finds hard to believe. After Bernice leaves, the captain shows up to get something from his office. Amanda notices slightly erratic behavior and asks him if he’s been drinking. He angrily denies he’s drinking and says Bernice exaggerates.
The captain then leaves the precinct, making Amanda feel bad that she questioned him the way she did. But she does think Bernice may be right. We see the captain get into his car outside and drive off. A short time later, he has arrived through a back entrance at Sugar’s motel. He is here to spend the night with one of her new girls, Ariel.
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Post by topbilled on May 4, 2023 13:36:32 GMT
089 Second Thoughts
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
We start with the captain arriving at Sugar’s motel, coming in through a back entrance. He is here to see her new girl Ariel, and this isn’t the first time he’s been with her. She’s Asian, not Filipina, but she does resemble Nenita, whom he calls her when he downs a few drinks.
Meanwhile, we cut to Bernice’s place. She gets a visit from Hugo. He is here to ask if she’s reconsidered her decision not to marry him. She references how they lost Lance, who disappeared in a South American jungle six years earlier. She says Lance’s disappearance and the truth that Lance was Hugo’s son, not Colm’s, let to Colm’s drinking and the end of her marriage. She doesn’t want to go through anything like that again.
Hugo tells Bernice he is nothing like Colm O’Reilly, and she should know that by now. He says he lost Lance too, since he had always been close to Lance as a friend of the family, and it didn’t cause him to drink. He wants to know why she’s bringing all this up now.
She says the captain has hit the bottle again, since Nenita left with Shannon, which is a reminder of how he lost Lance. Hugo tells Bernice that she is not responsible for any of what happened with Nenita, and she deserves to be happy. He would like it very much if Bernice reconsidered and said yes to his proposal.
We then cut to the Jablonski home in Hegewisch. Jude and Sonja are planning to get married in May. Sonja informs her mother that she’s making her brother and sister-in-law a part of the wedding, and she hopes Olga will help convince Karl Sr. to accept this.
In the other room Jude is talking to his future father-in-law. He tells Karl Sr. that his attitudes about race are putting Sonja on edge. He’s already lost a son that died, plus a son he disowned. Does he want to lose a daughter too?
We cut to Wendy Plout downtown. She has taken little Vito from the Salerno home. Using a car Berto provided she nears the spot where she is supposed to turn Vito over to Tony. But she gets a call from Sandra asking if she has Vito. Wendy decides she cannot go through with this after all, turns the car around and drives back to the Salerno mansion.
In the next scene Wendy returns Vito to his parents and admits she’s been in cahoots with Tony, which she regrets. Naldo and Sandra won’t turn her into the police, if she leaves quietly. Wendy says a tearful goodbye to Vito.
Later Wendy returns to her apartment and finds an angry Tony there waiting for her. She expected he would be here. He wants to know why she didn’t bring his son to him. She says she couldn’t, because the child is already where he belongs. Tony calls her a dumb bitch and shoots her.
We cut back to Sugar’s motel downtown. The captain has dozed off from the booze. Ariel seems to be asleep beside him. There are a series of dissolves which shows the passage of time and sunlight start to come in through a window. It is early morning. The captain wakes up with a bad hangover. He sees Ariel dead to the world, whom he thinks is still asleep. He kisses her on the cheek then finishes putting his clothes on and goes.
At the same time Kokoy is working for Sugar as a maintenance man. He installed a hidden camera in the room the captain uses when he stops by to be with Ariel. After talking to Sugar about some things she wants him to fix, Kokoy steps off to a supply closet and takes out his phone. He looks at a live feed in the room where Ariel is still “asleep” on the bed.
Sugar knows the captain already left and she comes in to speak to Ariel. She is horrified to realize Ariel is dead. As she dials 911, we go back to Kokoy watching all this on his phone.
In the next part there’s an investigation into Ariel’s death to see if foul play occurred. The captain is afraid his having been with the girl, who was barely 18, will be exposed. He texts Sugar to meet him.
Meanwhile, Kokoy is now off duty. He is at the park rewatching the footage he recorded on his phone. Will he use any of this against the captain, or will he have second thoughts? At the same time Jude and Amanda have found the hidden camera in the motel room and ask Sugar about it. She doesn’t know how it got there. They want to know who was with Ariel when she died, but Sugar remains evasive.
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Post by topbilled on May 5, 2023 15:13:13 GMT
090 Evasion
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
We start with the captain meeting up with Sugar along the lake shore area. As they walk and talk, he learns that she didn’t tell Jude and Amanda he’s the one who was with Ariel when she died.
The captain knows about the hidden camera in the room, but Sugar insists she had no knowledge it was there. But she thinks she knows how put it there. The captain asks who, and she says Kokoy works for her and he has a history with the captain and it may have been him.
At the precinct Jude and Amanda bring Ryan up to speed on things at the motel and discuss how Sugar’s been evasive. This is interrupted when a call comes in that someone found Wendy Plout’s dead body in a dumpster near her place. Ryan heads over there with Amanda, while Jude stays behind to talk to the captain who came in from meeting Sugar.
In the captain’s office, Jude mentions Sugar’s lack of cooperation, but the captain tells Jude to cut Sugar some slack since she’s been helpful on a lot of criminal matters in the past. Jude doesn’t quite understand the captain’s change in attitude, since his stance is usually more hardline.
This is interrupted when Bernice comes in to talk to the captain. Jude exits but not before noticing the ring on her finger. Bernice admits that Hugo wouldn’t take no for an answer, and she decided that she will marry him after all. The captain tries to be happy for her. Bernice says after the marriage, she may move to South America, where Hugo has business. This reminds them both of Lance’s disappearance.
One of the secretaries brings in a message that was left by Ortiz, the man the captain hired to track down Nenita and Shannon. Bernice asks if the captain is any closer to finding his son. The captain calls Ortiz back, but gets a voicemail and leaves a message.
We then cut to the alley behind Wendy Plout’s place. A neighbor had found her dead body disposed in the dumpster. As Amanda continues to ask the neighbor questions, Ryan looks at how Wendy was shot and asks a forensics expert on the scene when she was probably killed. The man says she was shot late last night. The camera zooms in on Wendy’s bullet wound as her body is hauled away.
We match the image of Wendy’s wound with an image of Birdie. She’s in her hotel suite, standing in front of a mirror looking at the wound on her body from where Tony shot her before Christmas. It is healing.
This is interrupted when there’s a knock at the door. Birdie puts her blouse back on and goes to answer it. She’s surprised to see Agnes. The nun comes in and joins her for some tea.
While they talk, Agnes recalls in a newly constructed flashback, a scene she had with Adrian recently. He described how he did not tell Birdie he knows she’s his mother. Out of the flashback, it is obvious that Agnes came by to check on Birdie and find out if she knows more than she’s letting on about Adrian.
During this chat Birdie starts to have second thoughts about her relationship with Adrian. Especially when she ushers Agnes out a short time later, and she sees a loving mother and son checking in to a nearby room. It reminds her of when Adrian was that age as a child.
Birdie is snapped out of her reverie when the kid fires a toy gun. She instinctively puts her hand over her healing wound, forces a smile and goes back inside her suite.
At the same time we see Jarrett’s at the front desk telling Fronklin that Birdie seldom comes out of her room anymore. Fronklin has learned to tolerate Birdie and feels sorry for what she went through, but he can’t stop to worry about her. They have a hotel to run.
We cut to the precinct. Ryan and Amanda are telling Jude what they know about Wendy’s death. Jude thinks they need to begin a more intensive manhunt across the city for Tony Salerno, and this will require the use of other law enforcement personnel.
Meanwhile Tony is back in hiding at the house Berto rented. Berto summons Schuyler to see him and says Schuyler will help him with Tony or else Schuyler won’t get any more advances on his trust fund to pay for the new car and anything else he desires.
In the next scene, when Schuyler shows up, he learns Berto is arranging for Tony to get a new face by a plastic surgeon who owes him a favor. This will help Tony evade the law. As Tony looks in the mirror at himself, Schuyler gets a call from Ryan. Ryan wants to meet up.
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Post by topbilled on May 6, 2023 7:17:43 GMT
091 Ortiz
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
Schuyler meets up with Ryan at Biggie’s bar and grill, and he ‘learns’ from Ryan about Wendy’s death. Of course Schuyler already knows about Wendy’s death and Berto’s plans to help Tony get away with it. There is a brief flashback of the scene from the previous episode where Berto intends to hire a plastic surgeon that owes him a favor.
A few tables over Bernice is meeting with Amanda’s mother Gisselle. Gisselle has had a little nip and tuck down recently, and she advises Bernice to do the same, so Bernice can look her best on her wedding day to Hugo Dunne. After all, photos of the wedding will be in all the society columns. Bernice realizes Gisselle is right.
Amanda shows up to join them. Bernice asks about the captain. Amanda says the captain isn’t acting like himself, which they both know is related to the captain’s drinking. Gisselle wants to know if there is any new man in Amanda’s life. She is still hoping that Amanda will marry a suitable man from their social class and quit her working class job as a cop.
We go back to the table where Ryan and Schuyler are finishing their meal. Ryan opens up to Schuyler about what it was like growing up with his mom, how his world changed when he learned Tony was his father. And how he has never been able to reconcile all the things Tony’s done.
At the precinct, Jude tries to have another discussion with the captain about the death of Sugar’s girl Ariel, but the captain doesn’t seem too concerned in getting to the bottom of it. The captain experiences brief flashes of having sex with Ariel, before they both dozed off. Out of the flashback, Jude’s phone rings. Jude is getting a call from Jim who says he heard from Sonja about the wedding plans.
Jude asks Jim if he will becoming in from San Diego for the wedding. Jim says he’s already on his way there. He’s hitching a ride with a woman named Candace he recently met. Apparently Jim is broke and can no longer afford his retirement place in San Diego.
After the call ends, Jude wants to resume his chat with the captain about Ariel, but the captain has ducked out. He’s driven over to the motel to speak with Sugar. She tells him that Kokoy hasn’t shown up for work and has seemingly quit his job. The captain tells Sugar to let him know if she hears from Kokoy again. Meanwhile, it is said that Sugar had the hidden camera ripped out of the motel room, so she can use it for other guests.
We cut to Bernice who has gone to see a Dr. Sandy Judd, the plastic surgeon recommended by Gisselle. During the consultation, Bernice learns about various procedures and costs. She still needs to think about this. As she leaves, Sandy gets a call from Berto Salerno who finalizes plans for her to redo Tony’s face. He says his stepson Schuyler will bring Tony to her at the agreed upon time.
We go back to the captain who is returning to the precinct when he gets a call from Kokoy who’d like to meet and talk. The captain asks where.
In the next part the captain meets with Kokoy in a parking garage at the Bloomingdale’s building. Kokoy says he has footage of the captain with that dead girl (Ariel). He will hand over the footage, if the captain gives him $100,000 which he intends to send to Nenita to raise Shannon.
Back at the precinct Jude gets a copy of the coroner’s report on Ariel. Her death has been ruled the result of a diabetic shock. So technically no foul play is involved. When the captain returns from his meeting with Kokoy, he learns about this and seems relieved.
This is interrupted when Bernice comes by to the see the captain. She mentions her idea of getting plastic surgery. The captain says she is still a very beautiful woman and doesn’t need any nip and tuck. This makes her feel good, and she decides against any cosmetic procedures.
The captain’s phone rings. It’s Ortiz getting back to him. He says he has not been able to track down Nenita, since she’s been elusive. The captain is annoyed and tells him if he doesn’t find Nenita and his son, Ortiz will be out of a job.
We stay with Ortiz after the call ends. We see that he did find Nenita. She says her cousin Kokoy is sending her $100,000 and she will give Ortiz $25,000 of it, if he goes back to Chicago and furnishes “proof” that she and her son are dead, so that the captain will give up trying to find them. They seem to have a deal.
Later when Ortiz leaves Nenita’s apartment in Manila, he is picked up by some goons still working for Shiro. It is the last ride he will ever take.
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Post by topbilled on May 9, 2023 14:27:37 GMT
092 Recollections of a Shooting, Part 1
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
Jude is spending the weekend with Sonja at her folks’ place on the south east side. It is Sunday afternoon, and they are meeting with the priest at St. Florian’s about the upcoming wedding. When the priest asks if Karl Jr. will walk Sonja down the aisle, Sonja is unable to give a concrete answer since things are still awkward between her and her father.
Later when they return to her parents home, Sonja and her father reach an understanding. There is additional progress when Olga invites the Carters over for dinner, and Karl Sr. seems to enjoy playing cards with Earl Carter, especially since Karl Sr. is winning.
The next morning Sonja and her mother go shopping downtown while Jude clocks in at the precinct and hears from Jim. Jim says he is in the area with his new friend Candace, but is lost. Jude goes to meet them.
Candace is a former pro bowler, and Jim wants to stop off somewhere to bowl a few games. Mainly so Candace and show off. Jude is convinced to pull a sickie and take the rest of the day off, to bowl with Jim and Candace. Sonja will meet up with them later when she’s done shopping.
While Sonja and Olga are at Bloomingdale’s they run into Birdie, who has made a rare venture out of the hotel. But Birdie seems uneasy. When the women are exiting the store and a car backfires, Birdie has a panic attack. Sonja and Olga help take her back to the hotel, so she can rest.
After Sonja and Olga leave, Birdie is visited by Adrian. She tells him what had happened earlier. He says she is still experiencing post traumatic stress from the shooting and suggests counseling. There is a very good psychiatrist he knows. At first Birdie is reluctant to speak to a shrink, but then agrees she should. Adrian makes a call and sets it up for her.
We then cut to Dr. Sandy Judd’s clinic. Schuyler has brought Tony over for surgery. Tony entered the building through a side door wearing a disguise. All of Sandy’s regular staff are gone today, since this is usually her day off. Just her partner is here helping, and the partner also seems to owe Berto a favor. Schuyler leaves and will be back in a few hours.
We go to the bowling alley where Jude is bowling with Jim and Candace. They are having fun at first. Jude gets two strikes in a row, then a split. In the background, a group of teenagers are starting to harass a cashier.
We cut to Schuyler who has gone to Ryan’s apartment. Ryan doesn’t work till later, and they enjoy spending time together. When Schuyler gets a call from Berto asking how things are going with Tony, Schuyler can’t talk since Ryan’s just come back into the living room.
Schuyler keeps getting calls and texts from Berto. He realizes he needs to go back and check on Tony, though he gives Ryan a flimsy excuse for why he has to go. Suspecting that Schuyler is up to something that may involve Tony, Ryan plays along and lets Schuyler go. But then he starts to tail Schuyler at a discrete distance.
Schuyler realizes he’s being followed by Ryan and leads Ryan on a wild goose chase. Eventually he eludes Ryan and arrives at the clinic after Tony’s procedure is finished.
Back at the bowling alley the teen hoodlums are robbing the till. The leader of the gang shoots at the cashier who just came back and caught them. Jude sees what’s going on and springs into action. He takes down the leader, a black kid. Before the kid dies, he manages to get off a shot that hits Jude in the back.
After commercial it’s a few hours since Jude was shot at the bowling alley. He’s been taken to St. Joseph’s hospital and undergoes an operation. Sonja was on her way to the bowling alley when she got a frantic call from Jim and changed course to the hospital.
As they wait for Jude to make it through surgery, Jim introduces Sonja to Candace. Candace feels that if she wasn’t trying to impress everyone, they wouldn’t have gone to the bowling alley and none of this would have happened. But Jim tells her not to blame herself.
Meanwhile we learn that the main reason Schuyler was able to elude Ryan who had been tailing him, is because Ryan got a call from Amanda that Jude had been shot. Ryan is now on duty and arrives at the hospital.
Since Ryan can’t do anything to help anyone here, he decides to head over to the bowling alley where Amanda is getting evidence about the shooting. The cashier was only nicked in the shoulder, and he’s able to give a full statement of everything, which is later corroborated by Jim and Candace when Ryan returns to the hospital.
At the same time Amanda has gone back to the precinct, where she finds the captain in his office. He’s taken the news about Jude hard and has been drinking. Amanda calls Bernice to come help take the captain home before others in the precinct realize he’s drunk on the job.
At the hospital, Jim and Candace are still waiting for news on Jude. Sonja has gone down to the lobby to meet someone she phoned, who just showed up. We learn that this person is Marty Fredericks. Marty drove up as quickly as he could from Kankakee.
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Post by topbilled on May 10, 2023 8:55:58 GMT
093 Recollections of a Shooting, Part 2
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
We start at the hospital. Marty has just arrived. Jim is grateful that Marty drove up and knows this will help Jude when Jude wakes up. It is said that Jude just got out of surgery and is in the recovery room. Ryan fills Marty in on details of the shooting at the bowling alley. Marty recalls the time he had been shot on duty (in ‘The Long and Deadly Night’).
Amanda calls and learns Marty is at the hospital. She says the leader of the teen gang is on suicide watch after the other members of the gang ratted on him. Amanda asks about Jude and Ryan tells her that Sonja and Jim have just gone in to be with him.
We stay with Amanda as the call ends, because she is getting another call from Bernice. Bernice has driven the captain to his home. He is sleeping off a drunken stupor. Bernice tells Amanda that before he fell asleep, Colm kept mentioning something about $100,000. Amanda doesn’t know what that’s about.
We then cut to Birdie’s hotel suite. The psychiatrist that Adrian called was coming this way on other business and was able to stop off and have an initial session with her. Birdie is grateful. As they talk Birdie tells the shrink was it was like when Tony shot her.
This is intercut with Jude at the hospital trying to tell Sonja and Jim what it was like when he was shot earlier. But they tell him not to think about that and focus on his recovery. They tell him that he has a special visitor, and Marty is brought into the room. This brings tears to Jude’s eyes, since Marty is his best friend.
We dissolve to the next morning. Jude has been moved to a better room. He is talking with Ryan and Amanda about the shooting. He learns that the kid who shot him tried to commit suicide but was revived. Jude doesn’t know what to feel about that. Amanda says the captain would have been by to see Jude, but he’s dealing with another matter. And she leaves it at that.
We go to the captain’s place. Bernice spent the night to make sure he would be okay. This was to the frustration of her fiancé Hugo, who was supposed to take her to the opera last night. Bernice is avoiding calls from Hugo.
The captain is now up and eating breakfast that Bernice prepared. He recalls when she used to cook like this when they were first married. She gently interrupts this stroll down memory lane and asks him why he mentioned $100,000. He tries to say she must have misunderstood some of his drunken speech. But she’s not letting it go.
In the next scene he admits that he was with a young woman who died at Sugar’s motel and Kokoy has incriminating footage of it. And that Kokoy is blackmailing him for a hundred grand which Kokoy claims will go to Nenita and Shannon. Bernice asks if he can trust Kokoy. No, the captain says. But he thinks if he plays along, it can lead him to where he is son is located in Manila. Bernice reacts.
We go back to the hospital. Sonja and Jim are in the room when Jude’s doctor comes in to discuss his surgery. The doctor does some tests on Jude’s legs, but it is as the doctor suspected. Jude may not walk again.
Back at the captain’s place, Bernice has just transferred a hundred grand from one of her accounts to Colm’s account and tells him to dial Kokoy. In the next shot Kokoy picks up, and they both listen on speaker phone. The captain says he got the money and he will only agree to give the money to Kokoy, if Kokoy leads him to where Shannon is in Manila.
At the hospital, Candace learns from Jim about Jude’s prognosis. She feels even guiltier now. Jim says Sonja and Jude’s happiness seems to have been ripped away from them. The wedding will undoubtedly be postponed now, but Jim intends to stick around until Jude is back on his feet. He didn’t always do right by Jude before, but he will now.
We cut to Jude’s room. Sonja is there with him, and she tells him that the feeling will come back in his legs and he will be able to walk again. But Jude isn’t sure he believes it.
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Post by NoShear on May 11, 2023 15:51:59 GMT
 (c) 2022-2023 Jarrod McDonaldSeason 1 IndexA Picture Is Worth a Thousand Deaths Danny One Way Ticket to Freedom The Lost Get Found OutThe Case of the Missing Murder Victim What If We Could Kill the Rude Ones? The Policeman’s WidowFather’s WifeSugar and ViceSanta’s SlayActs of Violence and Contrition Jim’s GirlShadows of the PastBirdie and Bobo The Mastermind’s Error Brenda Fairchild and Her Son LonnieThe Long and Deadly Night Breakfast at Birdie’sEcho in the DarknessTiger’s Out Right by RitaThe Day Ida Driscoll Had a BarbecueNightmare Maker, Part 1
Nightmare Maker, Part 2 TopBilled, I like a pair of those back-to-back titles of yours: "Sugar and Vice" and "Santa's Slay"! |
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Post by topbilled on May 11, 2023 16:03:41 GMT
(c) 2022-2023 Jarrod McDonaldSeason 1 Index TopBilled, I like a pair of those back-to-back titles of yours: "Sugar and Vice" and "Santa's Slay"!
"Santa's Slay" is one of my favorite episodes. I wanted to do a self-contained piece that functioned like a holiday short story and I think I succeeded.
A friend of mine and I were discussing my overall goals with the series. Since Jude's name is in the title, my only rule is that he has to appear in every episode. The other characters are used frequently but nobody else is in every single episode.
Birdie is the recurring character I feature the most, and I think it's safe to say that by season 3, she has pretty much become a regular cast member, though I only use her when it suits the plot. Aside from Jude, I don't ever want to feel like I have to shoehorn the most important characters into every storyline. Sometimes the audience needs a slight break from certain characters, so some of these characters will recede into the background for awhile before we refocus on them.
Re: Amanda, I decided early on that she would be in charge of the precinct during the graveyard hours. So we see her shift slightly overlap with Jude's...and if there is an episode that focuses mostly on her, it will take place at night, because that is when she is on duty. This also explains why she doesn't appear in all the episodes, because sometimes she will be off duty when we are following Jude and Marty or Jude and Ryan around on specific cases.
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Post by topbilled on May 11, 2023 16:43:55 GMT
A few more notes about the characters...
On the key differences Marty and Ryan...I went into writing the first season knowing that Marty would not last and I would spin him off onto his own series. But I wanted to keep him around long enough to establish him and to give Jude a best friend. Also we see Marty get romantically involved with Amanda and they have an on-again/off-again relationship, but eventually he marries someone else and that marriage facilitates his exit at the end of season 2/beginning of season 3.
When I developed Ryan, I knew he had to fill the same role as Marty, as Jude's partner on the big cases...but I wanted to give Ryan a lot of uncertainty...he has a lot of skeletons in his closet. Not only is he the illegitimate son of a mobster (Tony Salerno) but he is also struggling with his sexuality. If I gave all these personal struggles to Ryan, he would have a lot more mileage as a character, because it takes him a long time to feel comfortable about his identity and to come into his own, as a man, so to speak.
The sexual orientation storyline I devised for Ryan which is playing out in season 4 and will continue into season 5, meant I had to bring in a lover for him. And that is how Schuyler was created. But I didn't want Schuyler to be a stereotypical gay, I wanted Schuyler to be someone who was sexy and already was out of the closet and much more confident than Ryan...but I also wanted Schuyler to deal with the mob issues. And I wanted Schuyler to do bad things or questionable things that would disrupt his increasing happiness with Ryan.
The mistake I think a lot of shows make when a main character comes out of the closet is they imply that once they person has declared their sexuality, then the trouble is over. But in this situation, the trouble is only beginning because Ryan will have a lot of ongoing problems with Schuyler who is unpredictable and will make loving him very hard...and that is exactly the type of stuff I like to write.
I am kind of doing a similar thing with Jude and Sonja. Theirs is a hetero relationship, obviously, but the path to the altar is not smooth for them...and even after Jude marries Sonja at the end of season 4, we know that there will be plenty of additional problems ahead. The marriage is not the happy ending, it's only the beginning of more crises and identity issues.
When we have either Jude or Ryan distracted by problems in their personal lives, it affects how they do their jobs.
In the meantime, we will also see Amanda's personal life a bit more in season 5 and season 6. A guy from her past comes back into her life (not Marty, a different person we have not seen yet), and he's someone who works with Amanda on a few cases. This causes Amanda to wonder about the road not taken, as it were...if she had not been so unforgiving of this guy when he made a blunder in their relationship years earlier, she might still be with him and be in a happy marriage.
The storyline with the captain is one that I have enjoyed writing. I knew he wouldn't get as much screen time as Jude, Marty, Amanda and Ryan...but he still had to be a major presence at the precinct. And I wanted him in a shaky marriage that could compromise his integrity as a revered law enforcer. But in addition to his problems with Nenita, we also see his ex-wife Bernice hanging around and we tap into all the old issues in that failed first marriage of his.
I kind of used the dynamic between Pernell Roberts and Jessica Walter on the old 'Trapper John M.D.' series as the blueprint for the captain and Bernice. I wanted it to be that they had a difficult marriage, but managed to somehow remain friends after the divorce. And mixed into this is the fact that the captain is a recovering alcoholic who is prone to fall off the wagon when everything in his current marriage to Nenita goes bad.
There is an 'unexploded bomb' if you will, from the past, that will require the captain and Bernice to band together in season 5. I have been hinting at the fact that there was a son named Lance who is no longer around. We have seen the daughter Heidi, and the captain now has an infant son with Nenita. But there was this other older son who vanished. And in season 5, we will find out what happened to him. I didn't want to play the story with Lance until the stuff with the captain and Nenita had run its course, because that seems like a logical time for him and Bernice to grow close again. Then all this stuff with Lance is revisited, and it affects them deeply.
Some of these storylines play the way a long-running serial does. But we never get too much like a soap opera, because the show is at its core a crime drama about the men and women who work in this Chicago precinct, and how they must interact with the public each day.
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Post by NoShear on May 11, 2023 19:04:21 GMT
TopBilled, I like a pair of those back-to-back titles of yours: "Sugar and Vice" and "Santa's Slay"!
The cool - no pun intended - title reminded me of the TALE FROM THE CRYPT, "...And All Through The House...", TopBilled. |
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Post by topbilled on May 12, 2023 1:42:15 GMT
Re: "Santa's Slay" is one of my favorite episodes. I wanted to do a self-contained piece that functioned like a holiday short story and I think I succeeded.
The cool - no pun intended - title reminded me of the TALE FROM THE CRYPT, "...And All Through The House...", TopBilled. |
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Post by topbilled on May 13, 2023 12:41:38 GMT
094 Ryan Gets Married
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
Jude and Sonja are still dealing with his prognosis, and whether or not he will be able to walk again. Tests show that Jude is paralyzed, but the specialist believes this is merely a temporary condition and Jude will get full use of his legs back. Jude is determined to work hard and do as much physical therapy as possible to regain mobility.
While Jude’s still in the hospital, Jim has settled in at his place with his new gal pal Candace. Mrs. Lee the landlady is jealous of Candace and is upset that Jim now has a new girlfriend, since Mrs. Lee always likes hopping into the sack with Jim when he’s in town.
Jim doesn’t pay much notice to Mrs. Lee’s feelings, since he’s consumed with thoughts about Jude getting better. However, Candace notices the Asian woman does not like her, and she escalates her own behavior to be just as mean to Mrs. Lee in return.
One day Sonja comes by to get something for Jude, and she notices the tension between the women. She talks to Jim about it, who claims he was clueless. But now that he knows, Jim finds it amusing. In fact, it is downright great that two women are fighting over a man his age!
When Sonja returns to the hospital she tells Jude about Jim’s love triangle. Jude would smile about it but he doesn’t feel much like smiling these days. After a grueling session with the physical therapist that resulted in Jude falling when he tried to stand and walk, he is frustrated and angry. He lashes out at Sonja and she decides to leave.
The next day Sonja tries again, but Jude is still in a foul mood. He tells her that he thinks they need to take a break for awhile. He doesn’t want her coming around anymore. Jim will bring him the stuff he needs. Sonja goes away hurt and rejected.
While the stuff with Jude is playing out, Ryan is having problems with Schuyler. He learns that Schuyler recently visited a plastic surgeon. But Schuyler denies this when asked about it, then tells another lie that he was looking at having some alterations done on his face. But in reality he took Tony to the surgeon for reconstruction, at Berto’s request.
In the next part, Ryan goes to visit Dr. Sandy Judd and sneaks a peak at records which indicate Tony was a recent patient. Ryan guesses Schuyler brought Tony here at Berto's request. But Schuyler will only lie again, so Ryan decides to resort to a drastic measure to get Schuyler to open up and lead him to Tony.
That evening, Ryan comes back from a jewelry store with a ring. He proposes to Schuyler, who agrees to marry him. This is something Schuyler had been hoping for, and maybe on some level Ryan did too, though he’d never admit it, would he?
The following morning at the precinct, Ryan announces that he is getting married. The captain and the office ladies want to meet the lucky lady, but Amanda tells them it’s no lady. She says Ryan’s engaged to Berto Salerno’s stepson Schuyler Bogart. The captain knows Schuyler is Bernice’s nephew, and he thought Ryan was straight.
The office staff wish Ryan well. But later inside the captain’s office Ryan assures the captain he is not gay and that he is using Schuyler to find out where Berto has been hiding Tony. The captain reacts.
At the same time Schuyler is lunching with his aunt Bernice. She is happy for him when he says he is engaged. When she asks who the lucky person is, he says it’s one of Captain O’Reilly’s own men. Just then Bernice sees a missed text from the captain.
We dissolve to a few days later. Schuyler and Ryan are getting married. It is a simple outdoor ceremony held at Grant Park. Ryan did not invite anyone from the precinct to attend, except the captain who is there with Bernice. The captain doesn’t let Bernice know this isn’t a ‘real’ marriage.
Bernice’s significant other Hugo was not able to break away from a business appointment. As the nuptials take place, she stands between the captain and Berto, her former brother-in-law. There is also someone else of importance in attendance; a guest with a new face: Tony, dressed like an old man. Sandra and Naldo couldn’t make it; they’re out of town.
After vows are exchanged, Ryan realizes the old man looks familiar. But there is no chance to talk to the “guest” since Ryan needs to finish taking wedding pictures with Schuyler. Then everyone leaves the park and heads to Navy Pier, for a party on the Salerno yacht.
That evening the yacht is cruising on Lake Michigan under the stars. Schuyler is happy and in love with Ryan, who seems just as happy and in love. Some more pictures are taken on board, casual ones. Bernice snaps a pic using her phone of Berto, Schuyler, Ryan and the old man (Tony) who just so happened to be in the shot. Ryan is still eager to talk to Tony.
A bit later Berto goes out on deck where a band is playing to have a dance with Bernice, but she is waltzing with the captain. Bernice and the captain reminisce about old times. She asks if Kokoy decided whether or not he will take the captain to Nenita and Shannon in Manila. But so far, the captain hasn’t heard anything.
Meanwhile Ryan goes down below with Schuyler to get some more wine. Ryan takes a call from Jude who is still at the hospital. Jude wanted to congratulate Ryan on his marriage.
After the call, Schuyler and Ryan start getting frisky and they kiss passionately. Just then, Ryan hears something in one of the nearby closets. He opens the door and sees a bomb ticking.
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Post by NoShear on May 13, 2023 17:06:45 GMT
The cool - no pun intended - title reminded me of the TALE FROM THE CRYPT, "...And All Through The House...", TopBilled. Thought of your post here with TCM's screening of Picnic last night, TopBilled: the sunset talk! |
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Post by topbilled on May 15, 2023 14:42:44 GMT
095 Pushed Away
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
We replay the part where Jude calls Ryan to congratulate him on his marriage to Schuyler As the call ends, we stay with Jude this time who gets an after hours visit from Jim. Apparently Jim poured on the charm, and a sympathetic nurse agreed to sneak him in.
Jim wants to discuss how Jude is pushing Sonja away, but Jude isn’t in the mood to go over this. He tells Jim to focus on his own romantic problems. Jim guesses Sonja told Jude about Candace and Mrs. Lee.
We go to the yacht where Schuyler and Ryan are getting frisky down below. As they kiss passionately, they hear something ticking in one of the closets. Ryan opens the closet and there’s a bomb ticking.
Meanwhile Jim has left the hospital and returned to Jude’s apartment. He comes in on Candace packing her suitcase. She and Mrs. Lee had a fight, and hair was pulled. She is leaving. Jim doesn’t want Candace to go, but Candace has had enough. As she storms out, Jim sees Mrs. Lee on the stairs acting all triumphant. He tells Mrs. Lee she is a naughty woman. She says she can show him just how naughty now that Candace is gone.
Back at the yacht, Berto has been informed about the bomb. He lets Tony know and tells Schuyler not to worry. But of course, they will need to inform the guests on board what’s happening.
At the same time Ryan has found the captain on deck having a drink with Bernice. They can tell by the expression on his face something is seriously wrong. He calmly tells them about the bomb down below.
Soon, specialists are being flown over in a helicopter. They make it on to the yacht and hurry down below with Ryan who shows them where the bomb is located, so they can defuse it.
Up above everyone else is being evacuated. There are a series of quick scenes with the guests being put on another boat and taken to shore. This includes Bernice and Schuyler. The captain has remained on the yacht with Berto, Ryan and the specialists. Tony seems to have vanished.
Amanda pulls up in a squad car along the pier and finds Bernice with Schuyler. She is glad they are safe. She then helps other officers with crowd control.
In the next scene Schuyler is worried about Ryan who is still on the yacht helping defuse the bomb. Schuyler fears something will go wrong and he tells Bernice he doesn’t want anything to happen to his husband.
While this occurs, we cut back to the yacht. Berto tells the captain and Ryan that he has no idea who planted the bomb. Berto is scanning the distance to see where Tony went. He doesn’t see his brother anywhere.
News comes from the leader of the specialists that the bomb has been successfully deactivated. The captain relays this information to Amanda on shore, who has now been joined by Ashley Clark and a cameraman who want an official statement from Amanda. Off to the side, Bernice and Schuyler are relieved the bomb scare is over. Schuyler realizes that Bernice was afraid that the captain might die.
Back on the yacht, the captain and Ryan are helping the specialists remove the deactivated bomb. At the same time Berto gets a text from Tony who took a rowboat and disappeared in the fog. Berto will send someone to get him later, after everyone’s left.
After commercial, Ryan, the captain and the bomb squad are reaching the pier. Schuyler kisses Ryan, and Bernice takes a pic of this with her phone. The captain asks Amanda to help Bernice get home. As they leave, Bernice tells Ashley it was a memorable wedding reception.
We dissolve to later. Berto’s henchman has retrieved Tony from the middle of the lake and brought him to Berto's hotel suite. Berto asks Tony if he knows who planted the bomb. Tony has an idea. He recalls in flashback his previous conflicts with the D’Amicos. It’s something with Felicia D’Amico’s name all over it, since she blamed Tony for A.J.’s death.
We cut to Ryan’s place. He and Schuyler are settling in after the huge day they’ve had. Ryan can see how much Schuyler really loves him, and this makes him feel guilty given how he’s been using Schuyler to get close to Berto and nab Tony. He has a flash of the old man at the wedding who was also on the yacht, and he knows it was Tony. But Schuyler isn’t very forthcoming when Ryan quizzes him about that man.
We go back to Berto’s hotel suite. As Tony looks on, Berto orders his henchman to go out and find Felicia D’Amico and kill her. After the henchman leaves, Berto gets a text from Schuyler who says Ryan has been asking about the old man (Tony). Berto thinks Tony should disappear again. Tony has already decided where he will go next.
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