A Brother in Arms – Director: Mina Shum/Writer: Karen Hill, Ley Lukins
This one starts with Frankie and Trudy hanging out at Wendy Quon’s new speakeasy. They notice a newspaper headline about a local Chinese factory worker (Li Chang) who’s been sentenced to hang for murdering his boss and Wendy speculates that it’s racism more than facts that got him convicted. Flo comes in and complains about her new morgue assistant, Bart, who’s blessed with neither brains nor looks. When Frankie and Trudy return to the office, they notice a light and go inside to find a guy making himself at home. He claims to be Jack Drake, Frankie’s brother.
Actually, Jack is Frankie’s half-brother, since they share the same father but different mothers … something confirmed by Nora when she shows up in response to Frankie’s call. Frankie and Trudy don’t trust Jack and Nora really doesn’t trust him, since she assumes he’s dishonest like his father.
But Jack says Li Chang is a friend and he needs Frankie’s help to clear him of the murder charge (insisting that Chang is innocent). Raymond Fordham (owner of a mannequin factory) was shot in the back and the murder weapon (along with $500 in cash that Fordham was carrying) was found in Chang’s home. Jack says Chang isn’t a killer and since Wendy believes Chang is being railroaded, Frankie and Trudy decide to check into it. At the police station, Mary gets Chang’s file from the detective on the case, whose attitude confirms Wendy’s suspicions about racism. Frankie and Trudy visit Chang in prison and he tells them 
Fordham fired all the Chinese workers at the factory a couple of weeks before he was shot, and refused to give them their final weeks’ wages. Chang kept asking him to reconsider and Fordham seemed to be coming around, but was shot before he could do anything. Chang admits that he stole the cashbox containing the payroll after Fordham was shot, but denies shooting him. Chang also says he had a gun at his place, but never brought it to work. At Quon’s diner, Mary shows Frankie and Trudy the file on the murder case. Besides Fordham, a security guard was also shot and the bullet they took from his leg was a .38, the same calibre as the gun found in Chang’s place. But no ballistics test was done to match the bullet, and the bullet that killed Fordham went right through him and was never found. The file says Fordham’s son (Bruce) identified Chang as the killer, but Frankie doesn’t let that faze her. Trudy goes to the office to
get something and runs into Jack. They talk and Trudy seems to find Jack somewhat attractive. Mary asks Flo to check Fordham’s autopsy report and spills the tea about Frankie’s newly-discovered brother. Frankie asks Wendy about Chang and Wendy says his family used to live in Halifax but left after the anti-Chinese riot there. She also says that Chang is known as an advocate for workers’ rights, and not just Chinese workers. Frankie and Trudy talk to Bruce Fordham, who insists he saw Chang shoot his father, which he witnessed while looking out the office window. But when he identifies a photo of a random Chinese guy as Chang, he admits he might’ve made a mistake and gives Frankie his blessing to keep investigating.
Nora warns Frankie not to trust Jack, but Frankie says she needs to make up her own mind without Nora’s interference. She seems to take some of Nora’s words to heart though, as she gets upset when Trudy brings some 
groceries in for Jack (who’s been living at Frankie’s office since he showed up). Frankie and Trudy talk to the security guard, who insists it was Chang who shot him and Fordham. Frankie and Trudy see some Chinese workers at the factory and talk to one of them (Zhang), who says Fordham fired them because Chang talked them into staging a protest. Bruce re-hired some of them and Zhang doesn’t want to rock the boat by getting involved in the murder investigation. Frankie and Trudy bullshit Bruce’s secretary (Dolly) by pretending to be efficiency experts and she gives them access to the business records. At the morgue,
Flo shows Mary the autopsy report and tells her there’s no way a .38 could’ve killed Fordham. Nora sees Jack taking a bag of stuff from Frankie’s office and follows him. Mary and Flo go to the crime scene to reconstruct the murder and they find the missing bullet, which definitely isn’t a .38. Since the bullet taken from the guard’s leg was a .38, Mary figures there must’ve been two people shooting that day.
At the factory, Frankie and Trudy find out Zhang was hired at double his previous wages right after the murder, so they wonder if he saw what really happened and Bruce is buying his silence. Nora follows Jack to a seedy warehouse, but it turns out he’s just bringing provisions to Chang’s mother 
and sister. Nora feels stupid, especially when Mrs. Chang invites her to have tea with them. At the factory, Bruce isn’t happy about Frankie and Trudy’s subterfuge, so Frankie tries to connect with him by talking about her own father’s death. She also notices a photo of him in uniform and mentions her own service. Bruce lets them go without calling the cops and outside Frankie points out that there’s no way Bruce could’ve seen the murder from his office window. Trudy did manage to grab some files while Frankie and Bruce were talking. When they get back to the office, they find out Chang’s execution has been moved up to take place tomorrow.
After she and Flo tell the others what they found, Mary suckers the guard into showing up at the office (to collect some raffle winnings) and they force him to admit he lied. He says he tried to pull his gun after hearing the shot that killed Fordham and accidentally shot himself. Frankie recognizes the bullet Mary found as from a .303 Ross sniper rifle, like the one Bruce would’ve used when he served. The records that Trudy took show that Bruce
didn’t receive a phone call in his office at the time of the murder (as he claimed) and since Zhang was his alibi, they figure Bruce must’ve shot his father and hired Zhang back at exorbitant wages to alibi him. The evidence is circumstantial but Frankie figures she can bluff Bruce into a confession. Frankie tells Bruce she’ll take $5,000 not to turn the bullet over to the cops. Bruce tells her to meet him outside the factory at 5:00 that evening. Frankie brings everyone together to help catch Bruce and she and Jack talk about why he stayed away so long. Bruce gives Mary the slip, but Frankie figures she knows his game. Bruce hides on the roof across the street with his rifle, ready to shoot Frankie when she 
shows up. But she plants a mannequin on the street to fool him and decks him when he tries to get away. Chang is released and thanks Frankie and her brother for helping him. Jack tells Frankie he’s heading to New York, but they seem to have come to an understanding and he leaves on a happy note. Later, Frankie finds Nora in her office and they kinda reconcile when Frankie admits she’s been too hard on Nora, not realizing she left because Frankie’s dad was screwing around on her.
This is a pretty good episode that brings in another family member for Frankie and finally settles the bad blood between her and her mother. Bruce Fordham is a rather cold villain, played really well by Jake Epstein (aka Craig
in Degrassi the Next Generation). Flo and Mary are great as usual and we get some insights into what they have to deal with in their daily routines, with Flo’s idiot assistant and Mary’s racist detective. There’s some real-life history too, with the Halifax riots, and we actually see some contemporary newspaper headlines as Wendy talks about the event. There’s some humour too, with Mary’s terrible pigeon impression and Trudy comparing Frankie to a naked mannequin.
Noticeable Things:
- Tickles Malone (who we last saw in The Last Dance) makes another appearance at Wendy’s club.
- The Halifax riots apparently started when some asshole refused to
pay his bill at a Chinese restaurant and stole some money from the cash register. He and some friends came back later to vandalize the place and that touched off a two-day riot where a mob destroyed numerous Chinese-owned businesses. - According to the gravestone in the first episode, Frankie’s dad died in 1912. Jack says their father died twelve years ago, so that means it’s 1924 now; that basically fits my timeline, where I figured the first season took place in 1922, if we assume a year is passing for each season.
Favourite Quotes:
- “I can promise not to have any surprise children, that’s for sure.” Nora’s reply when Frankie asks her to promise to stay out of things
between her and Jack. - “I guess I will take that as a compliment.” Frankie’s reply when Trudy compares her to a rather well-endowed mannequin.
- “I never get to work with a looker … unless he’s on a slab.” Flo complaining about her lack of job benefits.
