With episode 10 airing tonight I am a little behind with my synopsis but I will endeavor to catch up over the next week or so. This seasons is fast coming to an end with only 3 episodes left to air so I will resolve to carry on my posts about the books after the seasons finishes on November 29th but for now onto the post about Deadweight!
The episode kicks off at the carnival, a body of a young man falls through the poster advertising the boxing tent. A white powder is thrown over the body and we see a bloody blade swinging.
Credits roll
Dot and Hugh are sat at the dining table. Dot is cleaning Hugh's head wound. She asks him if he was wearing his helmet. It appears Hugh has been trying to stop a gang fight. He says that's why they started the gymnasium as it keeps the gangs off the streets. Phryne enters the dining room wishing the couple good morning and Hugh tells her about the gang fight. Phryne tells them how a policeman was stabbed the week before in a gang fight and died of his injuries. Dot is unhappy that Hugh lets these gangs box at the gym. Mr Butler announces Jack is on the phone and requires Hugh at the St Kilda foreshore as there has been a murder.
Hugh heads to the foreshore where the carnival is set up. Jack directs him to the murder victim and Hugh recognises him as Kevin Bradley head of the Woolpackers gang. Phryne appears and tells Jack she gave Hugh a lift as he couldn't travel on the tram with his head injury. Jack wonders is Kevin Bradley was killed in the brawl the night before but Hugh says that he didn't see Kevin Bradley there. Hugh says that the stabbing could be police retaliation for the killing of the policeman but Jack tells him not to pursue that line of investigation. Jack send Hugh to the gym to get some statements and Phryne suggests she and Jack talk to the boss of the boxing tent.
Mr Biggs says he has never seen Kevin Bradley before. Mr Biggs wife comes in to back up the story and says the gangs are trouble. Mr Biggs says the first time he saw the victim was when his boxer Giorgos the Greek found the body.
Phryne goes to talk to Mrs Biggs who has stormed from the tent to peg out laundry. Phryne tells Mrs Biggs she is looking for the ticket office and Mrs Biggs says that the tent opens at 5 if the police still let them. Phryne says 'due to that poor boy' and Mrs Biggs tells her not to waste her sympathy as he is a gang member. Mrs Biggs says it could be the police that did it in revenge for the killing of the policeman.
Phryne catches up with Jack and asks him why he isn't investigating the police. Jack tells her the same night the policeman was stabbed an aboriginal Portsider was left on the hospital steps so this killing is probably tit for tat. Jack says accusing his fellow police officers would be the last thing he did. Phryne agrees he needs to be careful but she doesn't and asks for the address of the gym.
Phryne and Dot attend the gym to see Hugh training Tom Derrimut. Phryne introduces herself to Tom just as the Woolpackers gang storm into the gym. Freckles threatens Tom. Freckles says that Tom threatened Kevin. Hugh says that Tom said he was out of the gang. Tom says that he only punched Kevin once. Phryne notices flour on Freckles shoulder. Hugh tells Tom that he has to take him down to the station and Freckles tells him to lock Tom up or he'll come after Hugh. Dot steps in and tells Freckles not to threaten Hugh.
At the station Jack and Hugh have Tom in the interview room. Tom tells Jack that he was running with the Portsiders in the brawl the week before when the policeman got stabbed but he is out of it now. Tom says he doesn't know why Kevin came after him but he did on the beach. Tom says they should be looking at the cops not the gangs. Jack says the have to find the murder weapon.
Back at Phryne's house Hugh and Dot are having lunch in the kitchen. Dot asks Hugh why he didn't tell her about the policeman being stabbed. Hugh says Tom was trying to stop the fight but got dragged into it and the policeman chased one of the gang members down an alley way and never emerged. Hugh says the policeman had four kids that now don't have a dad and Dot says Hugh knows how that feels because of his Dad.
Giorgos spots Phryne spying and lifts her from her pearch. Phryne says she was looking for him. Giorgos gives Phryne tickets for the next nights fight. Phryne then bumps into Jack and directs him to where the murder weapon is hidden on top of the green tent. Jack asks Mr Biggs about the knife.
Tom and the aboriginal woman are talking and she tells Tom he can fight for another month. Tom asks why they still have to pay and she says that Freckles has taken over from Kevin and people can't find out about Dan. Tom says Freckles saw it and knows Dan did nothing.
Phryne goes over to talk to the lady. She tells her that Hugh is worried about Tom. The lady says cops don't like their kind but she will not see Tom go to jail for a crime he didn't commit. She says Tom is all she has left after her husband died in the war. She remarried to a white man but welfare came and took her younger son. Phryne asks her if there's something shes not tell her and if Tom needs money. The lady says it is between her and her son and Big Arthur.
Back at the boxing gym Hugh and Tom are sparring. Hugh is angry at Tom for fighting the night before with Freckles. Tom says he was fending him off and Freckles is a bully who makes no sense. Phryne breaks up the fight by ringing the bell. Hugh says there's something Tom isn't telling them. Tom says there was a fight between Bradley and Freckles about who would take over the Woolpackers. Phryne tells Tom to tell Hugh why he was boxing at Big Arthur's as his mother implied he was doing it for the money. Tom storms out telling Hugh its his own business.
Hugh and Dot are back in Phryne's kitchen and Dot asks Hugh what happened to his Dad. Hugh tells her that his Dad had stepped in to break up a fight and had got beaten up. He fell back and hit his head on the gutter which killed him. Hugh shows Dot a picture of his Dad.
Phryne and Jack go to the morgue to inspect the body and the clothes. She tells Jack about Bradley and Freckles vying to be head of the gang and about the fact that Freckles works in a bakery so can get flour. Phryne says the boy dumped at the hospital was covered in flour. Phryne sees a picture of the boy and recognises him but she can't remember where from. She is sorting through Bradley's belongings when something pricks her. She finds corner of pound notes pinned to his jacket. It looks as though he has been robbed.
Phryne and Jack go back to the foreshore to interview Freckles. They take him back to the station and show him the murder weapon. Freckles says it wasn't him that did the murder. He says Tom did the murder. Phryne says that Bradley was irrational and maybe the killer did it in self defense. She says they should have Dr Mac look at the body. In the morning Mac looks at the body and says that Bradley must have been a boxer due to the brain injuries he had. Jack says Big Arthur must have lied about not knowing him.
Jack and Phryne return to the boxing tent. Jack asks Mr and Mrs Biggs if Tom boxed at the tent and they said just as challenger and Bradley had also boxed as challenger so they did not box each other. Jack says he has statements from all the troupe except for the 'Black Belter'. Mr Biggs says he took off. Mrs Biggs seems upset about his going missing.
Back at Phryne's house Phryne asks Cec, Burt and Mr Butler if something underhand is going on at the boxing tent what could it be. She gives Cec and Burt some money to go to the boxing to find out what is going on. At the boxing tent Arthur Big introduces the Black Belter who turns out to be Tom. She also notices some boys in the crowd picking up money of the floor. Phryne notices Tom doesn't look anything like the advertised Black Belter. Phryne goes to investigate and Dot notices one of the boys handing a wad of money to Tom from the side of the stage. Tom quickly grabs it to hide the money.
Phryne finds the Black Belter poster and then overhears a conversation a woman is saying 'you're bleeding me dry' and a man saying I need my money I'm in charge of the gang now. Phryne sees it is Tom's mother and Freckles. Freckles says she better pay up or he will talk about Dan.
Phryne is back at her home with Jack and tells him not only is illegal betting going on but the matches are fixed so challengers make money if they take a dive. Dot tells Jack about the boy pick pocketing and giving the money to Tom but Tom wouldn't take it. Mac says she asked around about the boy dumped at the hospital and someone had tried to covered his injuries although he was beaten to death and was covered in white powder. Jack says the powder was flour but Mac says it is not it is washing soda that smelt of eucalyptus. Phryne remembers that Mrs Biggs uses eucalyptus in her washing soda so goes to see her.
At the circus tent Mrs Biggs is distressed that Mr Biggs painted over the picture of the Black Belter with white wash she screams ' you had no right to paint over my Jimmy'. Jack takes Mr Biggs in for questioning. At the station Mr Biggs says he doesn't know anything about an aboriginal kid dying in hospital and Phryne says they didn't mention he was aboriginal. Mr Biggs says Jimmy got badly hurt in the ring so he tried to disguise him as a gang member. It was Kevin Bradley that beat Jimmy.
Jack goes through the autopsy of the dead policeman and finds he was killed with a serrated blade the same as Bradley. Phryne notices a symbol on the bayonet murder weapon and sees it is a possum. Phryne remembers that Toms mothers husband went to war and it could be his knife. They look into Tom's file and see his fathers name was Wallet. Phryne bets Jack a ride on the scenic railway that Wallet is aboriginal for possum. Jack tells Hugh to bring Tom and his mother in.
Tom and Mrs Derrimut arrive. Tom does runner and Mrs Derriut blocks Hugh's way so he can't catch Tom. Hugh says he thinks he knows where Tom will go and follows him. Hugh finds Tom at the boxing tent getting ready for the fight. Hugh asks Tom why he ran and Tom says they all think he is guilty. Hugh says he has to take Tom in but Tom says after the fight. Tom bets on himself with all the money he made in the ring. He says when he is done with this fight he is walking away.
Cec and Burt are at the fight and see the challenger (a friend of Freckles) putting weights into his gloves. Phryne and Dot are in the crowds. Mrs Biggs drags Mr Biggs away saying the fight will be like Jimmy all over again as the challenger is a lot bigger than Tom. Phryne walks in on there conversation and sides with Mrs Biggs. Phryne then bumps into Giorgos and he offers to take her for a drink after the fight.
Arthur drags his wife outside and Phryne follows she sees Arthur trying to get money off his wife to bet against Hugh but his wife says the money is for Jimmy's headstone. Phryne notices Mrs Biggs dropped one of the notes she picks it up and sees one of the corners is missing. She returns to the fight which Hugh wins the first by knock out.
After the fight Jack takes Tom back to the station for questioning and tells Hugh to arrest Freckles for extortion. Jack is leading Tom away when the young boy runs up and tells Jack not to take Tom. Tom's mother follows calling the boy Dan and dragging him off. Dan says he wants to confess so they take him to the station.
At the station Mrs Derrimut tells Phryne that Dan had run away from the welfare and she couldn't send him back. She says Dan started following the Portsiders because Tom did and he couldn't tell the police what happened.
Jack is questioning Freckles to ask what Freckles had over Tom. He says it was over Dan and that Dan had stabbed the policeman by accident as the policeman followed him into the alley and set about him. When Tom came to help the policeman started on him. Tom kicked the policeman away as Dan picked up his fathers blade and the policeman fell back onto the bayonet. Freckles says he saw it was an accident and told Bradley so but Bradley walked into the alleyway after it happened and saw it as a way to make money out of Tom.
Mr Derrimut tells Phryne that Bradley kept asking for more and more money. Phryne says she was not the only one that wanted Kevin Bradley dead and shows her the ripped note. Phryne shows Jack the ripped notes and matches it to the corner pinned to Bradley jacket. She says a mother needs to protect her child but only another mother knows how far she will go.
Jack walks in on Mr and Mrs Biggs as Mr Biggs says he wants to cut and run before the police do something about the betting. Mrs Biggs is crying whilst cleaning Jimmy's poster. Mrs Biggs says Jimmy was like a son to her. Mrs Biggs says she was barren but Jimmy says she was like his Mum. Phryne asks if that was why she killed Kevin Bradley.
We see a flash back of Bradley trying to extort money from Mrs Derrimut she pulls her husbands bayonet on him but he fights her off. Mrs Biggs arrives and stabs Bradley with the bayonet. She tells Mrs Derrimut to run and takes Bradley's money and puts the soda on him to make it look like a gang fight.
Back at home Phryne and Giogos are wrestling in her bedroom. She tries to turn the situation into something more amorous but he is too self absorbed with his looks and she soon gets bored. Phryne is saved by a knock at the door and it is Mr Butler telling her Jack is downstairs. Jack tells her he owes her a ride on the great scenic railway as Wallet does indeed mean Possum and the episode ends with them riding the rollercoaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment