Chicago Holiday, Part 1 is the seventh episode of Due South's first season.
Storyline: Constable Fraser has to chaperon the daughter of a Canadian diplomat and entertain her during her stay in Chicago, but the rebellious young woman has projects of her own.
Original Air Date: November 10, 1994
Written by Paul Haggis and Jeff King
Directed by Paul Lynch
Synopsis
With Canada's senior trade representative visiting Chicago, Fraser has been assigned to escort his 16-year-old daughter, Christina Nichols, for the duration of their stay. Arriving at a formal dance, Fraser finds that he is ill-prepared for the event and calls Ray, pulling him away from an important murder case; the murder victim, Frank Calibri, was a prominent figure in Chicago's drug underworld, and he possessed a list of every distributor and dealer he knew. The list has gone missing from the body, and Ray's prime suspect, one Eddie Beets, is potentially in control of the entire west side. Very upset that Fraser sidetracked him for a trivial matter of dress code, Ray storms back to work.
Fraser meets Christina, who is unenthused that he is acting as her escort. She slips into the ladies' room, changes clothes, and slips out of the hotel, with Fraser realising her identity almost too late. Cruising down a city street in parallel taxis, Fraser and Christina argue about the latter's troubled relationship with her father and the former's duty to look after her. Christina demands to go to one place of her choosing for the evening; eventually Fraser agrees, and they end up at a loud and wild S&M club, which (unbeknownst to Fraser) is being staked out by Ray, Huey, and Gardino. The club's adult nature inspires Fraser to continue spoiling Christina's fun, and she once again heads for the ladies' room to try to get away from him.
Elsewhere in the club, Eddie and his girlfriend, Janice DeLuca, argue over possession of the list, which is written on the inside of a matchbook. Janice exercises her fondness of smashing empty bottles over Eddie's head and escapes to the ladies' room with Eddie chasing her. When Eddie corners her, she tosses the list into Christina's purse and escapes through the stalls. Eddie comes after her again, but Fraser subdues him just before Ray and his team storm the club. Janice and Eddie elude arrest - with Janice revealing to Eddie that she disposed of the matchbook in Christina's purse - but the rest of the patrons, including Fraser and Christina, are hauled downtown.
The patrons are uninformative, and it isn't long before Mr. Nichols arrives to spring Christina from custody. To her disbelief, Fraser takes responsibility for endangering her; Nichols reluctantly agrees to let him take her back to the hotel. After bidding him good night, Christina immediately changes clothes and sneaks out of the hotel again, unaware that Eddie is following her, and even less aware of the matchbook - which has just found its way into the hotel's garbage chute. She boards a double-decker tour bus and meets a young Latvian man to whom she is immediately attracted, offering to help him find his way around the city. Outside the hotel, Fraser spots her on board the passing bus and gives chase on foot. Before he can catch up, Christina disembarks and heads for a nearby department store.
Despite the futility of searching for the list in Eddie's apartment, Ray returns to relieve Huey and Gardino and takes one last look around. When Janice shows up, he catches her palming a fistful of jewelry; she takes him out with a bottle over the head and steals his wristwatch before she leaves. Meanwhile, Fraser, utterly unable to locate Christina, shouts her name from the top deck of the tour bus as the gap widens.
Cast
- Lisa Jakub as Christina Nichols
- Stacy Haiduk as Janice DeLuca
- Ron Lea as Mr. Nichols
- Stephen Shellen as Eddie Beets
- Deborah Rennard as Dr. Esther Pearson
- Peter Williams as Gerome
- Kevin Rushton as Henry
- Beth Amos as Mrs. MacGuffin
Memorable Quotes
Ray Vecchio: Frankie's a very hands-on kinda guy. He kept a meticulous record of every distributor and dealer he ever knew. You own Frankie's list, you own the entire west side.
Louis Gardino: We checked the body. There's no list.
Lt. Welsh: All right, everybody's on this.
Jack Huey: Lieutenant...!
Ray Vecchio: Aw, c'mon, I don't wanna work with Screwy and Louie!
Benton Fraser: I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to break the speed limit.
Henry: How much?
Benton Fraser: By as little as necessary.
Henry: How much money?
Benton Fraser: Oh! ...Here.
Henry (looking at a 50$ CDN bill): It's red.
Benton Fraser: It's Canadian.
Henry: It's got your picture on it.
Benton Fraser: No, that's the RCMP Musical Ride.
Henry (handing it back to Fraser): It's not a good likeness at all.
Benton Fraser (handing a 20$ US bill): Here.
Henry (speeding up): Now this guy I know.
(after Christina pays Gerome to speed up)
Henry: I need more, too.
Benton Fraser: Well, all I have left is Canadian.
Henry: Fine, then, I'll drive thirty percent slower.
Christina Nichols: When do I get my own life? When do I get to do what I want to do? When do I get to stop being the perfect little princess and go skinny-dipping?
Gerome: Public pool, coming up!
Benton Fraser: You, keep driving.
Christina Nichols: I want to stay out all night and come home when the sun comes up, and I want to fall in love with somebody I just met, and I want to kiss somebody who's not related to me!
Gerome: I can pull over right here...
Benton Fraser: Keep driving!
Jack Huey: (on the radio in his smoke-filled car) There's no sign of Beets.
Ray Vecchio: How can you see anything? I can't even see the hand in front of my face!
Jack Huey: I hope we're not wasting our time.
Louis Gardino: My source says he'll be here, he'll be here.
Ray Vecchio: Yeah, the only problem is, we'll be dead by then from second-hand smoke. (Gardino lights a cigarette) Oh, yeah, that's it, light up another one! God forbid you should consider somebody else's lungs! (to Huey) How do you put up with this guy?
(Huey pulls out a giant cigar)
Ray Vecchio: Oh, great.
Benton Fraser: (after subduing Eddie) Would anyone here happen to have a pair of handcuffs?
(three dozen pairs of handcuffs are dangled in front of him)
Louis Gardino: (questioning a club patron) Name?
Dominatrix: Madame Defarge.
Louis Gardino: D...A...F...A...
Jack Huey: Louis... (shakes his head)
Louis Gardino: Name!
Dominatrix: Marat Sade.
Soundtrack
- "Neon Blue" by the Holly Cole Trio [album: Yesterday and Today; also available on the Due South Volume I Soundtrack] (dance scene)
- "Butterfly Wings" by Machines of Loving Grace [album: Concentration] (club scene)