Vault is the second episode of Due South's second season.
Summary: During a bank robbery, Fraser and Ray are trapped in a time-locked vault with only a limited supply of air left.
Original Air Date: December 7, 1995
Written by Paul Haggis, Jeff King and Kathy Slevin
Directed by Steve DiMarco
Synopsis[]
Fraser is summoned to an interview with the new boss of the Canadian Consulate, Inspector Meg Thatcher, and is promptly placed on probation (and also ordered to adopt the blue police uniform in general use by the RCMP). At the same time, Ray finds to his dismay that he has been pronounced legally dead after padding an insurance claim related to his bullet wound in Letting Go. With his identity erased from every computer in the system, he has to depend on Francesca to drive him to the bank so he can make a withdrawal, but he finds that even his bank account is frozen.
As he argues with the manager at closing time, Fraser notices some disturbing behaviour from the cleaning crew, one of whom pulls a gun and initiates a robbery - none other than Caroline Morgan, whom Fraser and Ray arrested in Free Willie. Seeking revenge, she sends them diving for cover in the bank's vault, but learns from the manager that the door is time-locked and won't open until 8:00 the next morning.
As Morgan and her crew (including her boyfriend, Betts, who busted her out of prison) prepare to drill the deadbolts, Fraser and Ray discover that the vault is hermetically sealed, giving them only a few hours of breathable air. In the meantime, Francesca, still waiting in the car, grows impatient and "causes a scene" at the door of the bank; when she lets it slip that her detective brother is inside, Morgan takes her hostage along with the rest of the bank's employees. Only Diefenbaker is left to make a mad dash in search of help.
Fraser devises a plan to escape the vault and halt the robbery by breaking the sprinkler inside the vault, causing it to fill slowly with water, calculating that the vault will be completely full - with only about an inch of air left to him and Ray - by the time Morgan's gang can finish drilling the deadbolts and break the door open. Francesca unknowingly complicates the plan, and Diefenbaker eventually reaches the consulate, enlisting the aid of "Mountie Will", who has been standing guard in Fraser's absence.
In the vault, Ray remains fatalistic as the water level rises, but Francesca - making one last attempt to sabotage Morgan's plan - accidentally sets off the plastic explosives stuffed into the drill holes. The door gives way under the weight of the water, literally overwhelming Morgan's henchmen; Morgan herself tries to escape the bank, but she and Mountie Will knock each other out as he comes to the rescue.
In the final scene, Fraser calmly tells Inspector Thatcher that he refuses to switch from his favoured brown uniform to the new blue. Just as calmly, Thatcher tells him, "You're fired."
Cast[]
- Christina Cox as Caroline Morgan
- Boyd Banks as Betts
- Vince Corazza as Lenny
- Nicholas Kilbertus as Harold
- Scott Gibson as Ovitz
- Ken Quinn as Mountie Will
Soundtrack[]
- "Leading Me On" and "Cha Shooky Doo" by Colin James [album: Colin James and the Little Big Band] (Francesca's driving music)
Memorable Quotes[]
Ovitz: (watching Mountie Will stand guard) The man works twelve-hour shifts, never moves a muscle. Not even a twitch.
Benton Fraser: Who is he?
Ovitz: I don't know. Some yutz in a hat.
Ray Vecchio: Well, I'm a dead man, Fraser. Some yahoo down at City Hall reads my insurance report, and flags my name in the city's central computer. Take a look at this: "Vecchio, Raymond: Deceased." So then the city computer instructs the federal and state computers to cancel my driver's registration, my driver's license, and my social security card. So now I'm being buried on Thursday, and I can't even get my good suit out of the cleaner's! (to Francesca as he turns the Riv's radio off) Will you shut that off?!
Francesca Vecchio: (turning the radio back on) No! I'm driving, I should get to hear what I want.
Ray Vecchio: This is my car, okay? You've merely been given temporary dispensation as driver, which means you can keep your butt in that seat, your hands on the wheel, and your feet on the pedals and that's it.
Francesca Vecchio: Well, thank you, Your Eminence. I'll remember that the next time you need somebody to back up your phony insurance claims!
Ray Vecchio: Phony insurance claims? Well, let me tell you something - I have latent muscle damage which inhibits me from making three-point turns. (Francesca scoffs)
Caroline Morgan: It's you! The Mountie!
Ray Vecchio: Friend of yours?
Benton Fraser: Ours. Last year, she robbed a brokerage firm.
Ray Vecchio: The one who shot you in the hat?
Benton Fraser: Yes.
Benton Fraser: The upshot of this, Ray, is that we need a plan.
Ray Vecchio: Well, there is a plan, Fraser. And it goes something like this. They drill the door, they blow the door, they shoot us with automatic weapons, and we die.
Benton Fraser: Hmm. What about a happier plan, Ray? One in which we surprise them, we disarm them, and we rescue the hostages?
Ray Vecchio: And we do all this with a tuning fork? Look, Fraser, if I had a choice between one of their plans and one of yours, I'd choose theirs. It's probably safer.
Benton Fraser: You know, Ray, there's only one way to break out of here, rescue your sister, and prevent this robbery.
Ray Vecchio: Yeah, how's that?
Benton Fraser: It'd be dangerous. You'd be risking your life. You'd have to trust me implicitly.
Ray Vecchio: Yeah, well I don't trust you at all.
Benton Fraser: You don't really mean that.
Ray Vecchio: Oh, yes I do. I mean, why should I trust you? In the last two years, you've risked our lives twenty-four times.
Ray Vecchio: Okay. Okay, what is it? No, don't tell me - just do it! Because if you tell me, two things are going to happen. One, I'm gonna know it's stupid, and two, you're gonna do it anyway. This way, you can just do it, and I won't know that it's stupid.
Benton Fraser: So you've given this some thought?
Ray Vecchio: Yes.
Benton Fraser: And you're quite sure?
Ray Vecchio: Oh, I'm positive.
Benton Fraser: All right. (smashes the vault's sprinkler head with a broken lever)
Ray Vecchio: HEY! What the hell did you do that for?!
Benton Fraser: Well, you said you didn't want to know.
Ray Vecchio: Yeah, well now I want to know!
Ray Vecchio: Admit it, Fraser - you feel unappreciated. Can you do this one thing for me? Can you do this one small thing for me? Can you admit that at least once in your perfect existence, you have felt the need to put yourself before another human being? Because if you do that, I can float peacefully to my death.
Benton Fraser: Why, Ray?
Ray Vecchio: I just will. Now humour me.
Benton Fraser: All right. Occasionally - only very occasionally - I do feel...is this really necessary?
Ray Vecchio: Fraser, I'm drowning on dry land.
Benton Fraser: All right, Ray, all right. Occasionally, I do feel...what was it?
Ray Vecchio: Unappreciated!
Benton Fraser: Unappreciated! Occasionally, I do feel unappreciated.
Ray Vecchio: You do?
Benton Fraser: Occasionally.
Ray Vecchio: Well, thank you! Good! So, from now on...at least, for the next minute or two...can you try to stick up for yourself a bit more?
Benton Fraser: Yes, I will try, Ray.