Starman is the tenth episode of Due South's second season.
Storyline: Ian MacDonald returns, seeking Constable Fraser and Detective Vecchio's help to find his fiancée, whom he claims has been abducted by aliens.
Original Air Date: February 23, 1996
Written by Frank Siracusa
Directed by David Warry-Smith
Synopsis[]
Ian MacDonald, the escaped perjurer who caused a world of trouble for Fraser and Ray in The Man Who Knew Too Little, proposes to his beloved Audrey McKenna just before their room in the Constellation Motel is invaded. Backed by a blinding white light, two strange-talking men in glaring white uniforms haul Audrey out of the room, knocking Ian unconscious. Convinced that it is an alien abduction, Ian makes haste to Chicago and asks Fraser and Ray for help. Though Fraser lends him an ear, Ray resists Ian's mere presence. Only after Ian takes a polygraph - which, given his pathological lies, is even less reliable than usual - does Ray grudgingly agree to go along on his lunch break. Joining a busload of senior citizens, they visit the fictional town of Rosewell, Illinois and stop at the Constellation Motel.
Ray's cynicism is in full flower as Fraser looks around the room, finding no trace of any abduction; but an odd character named Bob volunteers information that two men in a Ford Explorer dropped by the room in the wee hours of the morning. Unaware that they are being watched, Fraser, Ray, and Ian visit a bar next door to the hotel, where to Ray's fury, Ian reveals that he only met Audrey the previous night. The bartender recalls Audrey and opines that she works at a U.S. Army base outside of town. At the base's back entrance, Ian calmly breaks through the gate; his tour bus is promptly surrounded by heavily armed security personnel.
The base commander, Colonel Shank, impatiently denies Audrey's existence and orders Fraser, Ray, and Ian off the premises posthaste. Ian is not so easily scared off, and as night falls, he crashes the base perimeter again, bent on retrieving the ring - his mother's engagement ring - from Audrey. Fraser gives chase, but finding himself cut off by a helicopter, Ian bolts for Hangar 57; in a radar station inside the hangar, Audrey and her staff are watching the progress of some unidentified air traffic when Ian shows up. He hollers for Audrey to give him back the ring, but she ignores him as the radar station is sealed off and Ian is once again apprehended.
Colonel Shank informs the trio that the governments of Chicago and Canada have cited "diminished mental capacity" to secure their release. Before their departure, Audrey returns to tell Ian that they might have had more time together if not for her work, and that they may still have time in the near future. Ian is overjoyed even as Ray resumes grumbling about finding their way back home.
Cast[]
- Rino Romano as Ian MacDonald
- Amanda Tapping as Audrey McKenna
- John Bourgeois as Colonel Shank
- Douglas O'Keeffe as Lieutenant
Soundtrack[]
- "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" written by Scott Wiseman, performed by Willie Nelson (hotel room scene)
- "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" by Klaatu [album: 3:47 EST; also available on Due South: The Original Television Soundtrack] (bar scene)
- "See the Light" by Jeff Healey [album: See the Light] (Ian's break-in)