Top-rated
Mon, Oct 24, 2005
This episode and the series picks up where "Da Vinci's Inquest" left off. We see Dominic Da Vinci has moved from the halls of the city coroner's office to those of City Hall as the newly elected Mayor of Vancouver. One of his first official PR opportunities as Mayor takes place at a night out at the local Hastings Park horse racetrack. With his two aides, Sam Berger and Rita Mah, running detail duty, Da Vinci is introduced to Lloyd Manning and Roger Woo, who independent of each other have the potential to be the savior of the financially troubled racetrack as its new owner. Further PR for Da Vinci takes place the next morning when Da Vinci is invited to a pancake breakfast at an elementary school located in a poorer section of town. The school's principal voices to Da Vinci her opposition to a proposed park nearby. More green space appears to be a motherhood issue, however her opposition stems from her fears that it will be a breeding ground for drug dealers and pimps preying on her students. The pimps are especially troublesome in her mind as the school is located close to the City's known "kiddie stroll". Two homicides investigations are also underway the morning after. The first is of a formerly diagnosed mentally ill man living in a half-way house in a effort to get readjusted to community life. The investigation is led by reinstated Homicide Det. Angela Kosmo and her new partner Det. Joe Finn, formerly of Internal Investigations. In that previous life, Finn did investigate some unfounded allegations of police impropriety by Angela which led to her demotion from Homicide. On the surface, their new partnership does not seem to be suffering from their past animosity. Also on site are Kosmo's former partner Mick Leary, who is there in his new role as City Coroner - Da Vinci's old job - the detective's superior Police Chief Bill Jacobs and his opportunistic second in command Sgt. Charlie Klotchko, the latter two who voice their opposition to such half-way houses located in residential neighborhoods. Kosmo and Finn eventually solve this homicide, perpetrated by a half-way house neighbor with night vision goggles and a high-powered rifle, but not before Finn is attacked and bitten by the neighbor's dog, who Finn shoots dead. The second homicide looks to be a gay-bashing which took place along what is known as the gay stroll in Stanley Park. Councillor Jason Horne has taken a special interest in this case as a representative of the gay community. Det. Chick Savoy, also new to homicide from his previous role as police forensics expert, and Lou from the coroner's office undercover two bodies of young boys found buried deep in a city park. Long deceased and found near the site where another body had previously been found, Leary suspects that they are the bodies of two missing aboriginal youth and that the three bodies are associated with a possible pedophile ring from about 10 or 15 years earlier. The political differences between Da Vinci and Jacobs resurface - not that they ever probably went away - in the police's handling of a squat in a commercial building which is planned for redevelopment, the squat led by homeless activist Joe Friedland. Jacobs uses the force of the police department to harass the squatters, while Da Vinci prefers to negotiate with Friedland, with whom he promises to find suitable permanent accommodation for those homeless in the squat. This episode with the squat is just start of the power struggle between the Mayor and the Police Chief in their roles as City officials. They also clash on manpower issues, the unresolved conflict resulting in each side plotting against the other while Jacobs and Klotchko continually feign cooperation with the Mayor. Back with the homeless issue, Da Vinci calls in retired traffic detective Zack McNab to act as his undercover eyes and ears at the squat. Two developments take place back at City Hall. The first has Manning, who looks to be the main contender for purchasing the racetrack, accusing that there was a leak in information which caused him to lose the City's lucrative advertising contract during the previous administration. Da Vinci needs to placate Manning in the continuing negotiation for the racetrack purchase, but also believes there may be some merit to Manning's accusations. With the racetrack, part of the selling feature may be Da Vinci's ability to influence Council to install slot machines at the track to increase revenues both for its owner and for the City. The second is Da Vinci's first meeting with City Administrator Julia Forsythe, who discuss the possibility of cross training between the police and fire departments in an effort to increase efficiency, increase overall manpower and save money. Forsythe supports the idea in theory and promises to look further into this issue. This ends a busy first week for the new Mayor.
Top-rated
Mon, Oct 31, 2005
A band of renegade police constables, led by Jan Ferris, start raiding suspected grow-ops. Da Vinci's team meets with Tom Venice, the race track owner, to discuss measures to save the track such as installing slot machines, but Da Vinci is more interested in the attractive and wealthy Billie Simms, a stable owner at the track. Zack continues his undercover work at the squat at the Watson's Building. After Zack tells them that Friedland plans to move the squat to touristy Queen Elizabeth Park, Da Vinci and Mah tell Zack to try and manipulate a move to Crab Park instead, which is on federal land and thus would additionally become a federal problem. Da Vinci tries to find the leak in City Hall regarding the advertising contract, the leak either in the Administrator's office or on the previous Council. Initial evidence points to Councillor Ferlinger, who admits to the evidence being correct but denies she being the leak. Kosmo and Finn continue their investigation of the half-way house shooting, with the constable on the scene admitting that he used a stun gun on the attacking dog, and in the ensuing scuffle with the dog's owner, who was wielding a machete, he and his partner shot the man. The constable decides to speak to a lawyer before deciding to hand or not hand over the stun gun. As the investigation of the half-way house shooting is going on, Jacobs attacks Da Vinci publicly about the shooting being the result of his soft policies of drugs. Irked, Da Vinci starts the process to find a new Police Chief. Kosmo and Finn also investigate a fatal stabbing at a pawn shop. Leary starts his investigation of the two dead aboriginal boys, Garth and Dennis, whose bodies were buried fifteen years prior. Clark Messner, who knew Garth and Dennis, recounts stories from them of a wealthy pedophile john who continually picked up aboriginal boys. Carter leads the investigation of the beating death in Stanley Park. Councillor Horne presses him to prosecute the crime as a gay bashing regardless of the evidence.
Top-rated
Sat, Nov 5, 2005
The Mayor proposes a drop-in center for the hookers in the fenced and gated red-light district for their health and safety - they would be required to go there following any business transaction in the district. He now needs to sell the concept to everyone, the biggest hurdle being Jacobs. However Da Vinci, Mah and Berger don't see it as an issue as they can get rid of the chief under the ploy of an early performance review tied to budget overruns in the department. Da Vinci learns it may be financially costly as they may need to buy-out the chief's contract. Jacobs and Klotchko meet with union chief, Earl Sweeney, to discuss police department PR problems. Although the aboriginal community is uncertain Leary can accomplish anything, they cooperate with him on his investigation of the repeated rapes of young aboriginal boys, including the deaths of Garth and Dennis. Messner admits that he knows more than he previously told Leary. Leary also receives information that the perpetrator could have been a radio talk show host and that the police may have been involved. Ferris and her gang of renegade constables decide to take down what they suspect is a biker grow-op regardless of if there are any other investigations on the house. There, they find that the fire department, in a new initiative, has placed a notice on the door stating that they are investigating the house, a suspected grow-op, as a fire hazard. This measure clears out the house, which irks Ferris and her gang who want the glory. Based on a tip, Carter brings in a youth, Colin Rainier, as a suspect in the Lost Lagoon beating death. Rainier implicates some of his colleagues, among which are a bunch of girls, led by someone named Katie. Kosmo and Finn investigate a series of car shooting deaths, some of which look to be mistaken identities. Tom Venice gives Da Vinci short notice that he is selling the racetrack. Da Vinci negotiates with Manning possibly to buy the track. Zack convinces Friedland to take the squat to Crab Park instead of the touristy Queen Elizabeth Park. Zack and Da Vinci also know that Jacobs has a mole in the squat, but Zack doesn't yet know who it is. Just as they are about to move, the police raid the squat and haul off Friedland while Da Vinci, Zack's supposed protector, is doing a PR stint with Billie Simms.
Top-rated
Mon, Nov 14, 2005
The Red Light District opens relatively smoothly, despite both the johns and the girls being wary about the openness. Businesses in the area are starting to rally against it, the business coalition led by Mina Basra. Klotchko and Sweeney get tipped that the city is doing a search for a new police chief. The city starts their interviews and get valuable first hand information on the value and effectiveness of cross training. There seems to be unofficial cooperation happening already with the fire department posting inspection notices on suspected grow-ops, which has the effect of the house being vacated. However Ferris and her gang have different ideas, Ferris who wants to make a name for herself in the police ranks. Klotchko and Jacobs also do whatever they can to thwart the fire departments measures as well as the success of the Red Light District. Despite the police raid, the squat successfully moves from the Watson's Building to Crab Park. However Da Vinci is dismayed to learn that Zack has taken a leadership role in the squat, which would not look good if that were ever made public. Kosmo and Finn continue their investigation of the drive-by shootings, one of the deaths who looks to be the victim of mistaken identity. The real target of the shootings seems to be an ex-police officer, Vijay Kumar, who was fired from the force due to suspicions of corruption. In his investigation of the aboriginal boys' case, Leary discovers the name of the suspected ex-deejay involved, his name being Anthony Mottola. Mottola's daughter provides Leary with some incriminating evidence against her father. The evidence also points to there being an organized pedophile ring. Both Manning and Woo independently show interest in buying the race track, only if the slot machines are approved.
Top-rated
Mon, Nov 21, 2005
Both sides continue gathering their support on the cross training issue. The side against, led by Jacobs and Klotchko, are spreading the word amongst their and the fire department's union chiefs. They're all saying that there are some senior people amongst their ranks who are in favor of crossing training, and it's those people who have to go. These people include Komori and perhaps Parmir. And although Jacobs has issued a directive to his constables not to support the fire department when they post inspection notices on suspected grow-ops, some constables are unofficially defying the directive. On the side for, Da Vinci needs to make his moves a little less public until he plots his entire strategy around the issue. Berger and Forsythe, feeling the heat, convince Da Vinci to put the issue on the back burner for the time being. Ferris and her gang are relishing in the positive publicity in their take-down of a grow-op. The next one, however, does not goes as well, as both the grow-op sitter and Constable Barb Tremaine are killed in the process. Ferris is devastated as it not only puts a crimp on her long term plan, but she was attracted to Tremaine. Ferris' defense is that a warrant was on its way and that the fire department unknowing to her and her colleagues placed an inspection notice on the door which warned the home owners. Tremaine's death places the issue of cross training back on the table. To deflect attention away from Tremaine's death, Jacobs orders his constables to stir up action in the Red Light District. Things turn again when there is a beating in the Red Light District after Da Vinci orders Jacobs to stop harassing people in the district, which Jacobs interprets, for his own purposes, as not having any police presence at all in the district. Da Vinci orders Zack from the squat at Crab Park, saying that his work is complete. But Zack now has an emotional investment in what's happening at the squat. Da Vinci meets with Friedland about an extended stay at Crab Park, this news which gets back to Jacobs by his undercover operative. Friedland is aware that the police have someone amongst his midst and asks Da Vinci to investigate. Leary gets some positive results from the photographs provided by Mottola's daughter, including the identification of some of the boys involved, and the hotel where the boys were taken. This evidence leads to the suspected involvement of a prominent businessman named James Dubreau. Kosmo and Finn learn more about Kumar's investigations into South Asian gangs in an effort to clear his name. Kosmo and Finn are looking for a undercover officer to infiltrate the gang activity.
Top-rated
Mon, Nov 28, 2005
The investigation of the grow-op deaths gets under way. Jacobs, in an effort to distance the police department from the killings, calls in the Organized Crime Unit, stating that it is their jurisdiction since it is purported that a major drug organization is involved. This is only one area of disagreement as Chick, the lead investigator, states that the grow-op involved was a "Mom and Pop" operation. The other major disagreement is between Ferris, Winters, by association the police department and the fire department. Ferris and Winters emphatically state that they saw a inspection notice at the grow-op issued by the fire department, that notice which was not recovered at the scene. Ferris and Winters imply that the fire department, protecting their own, took the notice away from the crime scene. Komori flatly denies that a notice was issued at that house. After Da Vinci gets police and fire together to discuss the situation amicably, an inspection notice is found at the crime scene, five days after the fact. Leary's investigation into Dubreau gets deeper. Leary investigates a former charge against Dubreau, that issued by a former street hustler, Manny Zapata. Zapata names a former narc as an accomplice of Dubreau's, that narc being Brian Curtis. The Red Light District gets a little quieter following the beating of a john. Both the johns and girls in the district are nervous. An official citizen's coalition of purported business owners of the district has lodged a complaint against the district. Mah however can't find any of the "names" on the coalition as being business owners of the area. It seems as if Billie Simms may be involved. Da Vinci tries to maintain control of the squat at Crab Park, especially as it is on federal land and the Port Authority, to whom the land belongs, wants the land back for major development. Katie is brought in for questioning regarding the gay bashing death in Stanley Park.
Top-rated
Mon, Dec 5, 2005
The issue of the fire inspection notice at the grow-op site comes into question. Da Vinci thinks it a little too convenient that one was found after a series of seasoned investigators didn't find it in their initial walk-through. Winters admits in confidence to Klotchko that she is unsure that a notice was at the scene. And even Jacobs admits he is skeptical. Klotchko tries to manage the situation internally, seeming to support Ferris in whatever she needs, while not allowing her back to work. He will not even allow her to attend Tremaine's funeral. The fire and police committee does however come back with a recommendation for a coordinated approach to grow-ops, which delights Da Vinci. A B&E occurs at the Coroner's office, and Leary's computer which was stolen. This may have something to do with Dubreau, as Dubreau, Norton and Curtis confer about managing the situation, which includes keeping tabs on Manny Zappata. Despite the theft, the investigation continues: Leary has identified the hotel where the boys were taken and Kosmo and Finn try to determine Curtis' actual role in the pedophile ring. However, Zappata and Messner get nervous about actually testifying, which may kibosh Leary being able to lay charges. The hookers are now wary of the safety of the Red Light District and move back to their old haunts. Jacobs uses the missing women's case as a smoke-screen for police under-funding, not tying it in with the purpose of the Red Light District. With City Hall business, Da Vinci shores up support for slots at the racetrack and negotiates between all the players regarding development on the waterfront in and around Crab Park. Katie is brought in on assault charges, displaying that she is capable of violent crime. Friedland may not be as he seems, and Zack does some digging into his possible real identity.