Out on a Limb – Director: Ruba Nadda/Writer: Carol Hay
This one starts with a couple of very attractive women dancing on the roof of the Tiptop Club. It’s a publicity stunt put on by the club’s owner Jake Irwin, a New Yorker who’s brought some of his money north. Later, we see the two dancers talking on the roof and one of them (Josie Timmins) seems rather upset about something. Her friend tries to cheer her up, but it apparently doesn’t work because the next morning Josie’s body is found on the street in front of the club.
The newspaper is calling Josie’s death an accident, but her brother (Harry) doesn’t buy it and wants Frankie to investigate. Harry says Josie called him shortly before her death and said she had something important to tell him, so he figures that might have something to do with her death. At the morgue, Mary tells the others that an almost-empty whiskey bottle was
found on the roof, so the cops assume Josie got drunk and fell while trying to recreate her dance number. But Flo (who we learn is very handy with electrical stuff) says there’s no evidence to indicate Josie was drunk. At the Tiptop Club, Frankie meets Jake and overhears him talking to his father Bruce (who is apparently the one providing the cash for Jake’s business ventures). She also sees Jake talking to a slick-looking guy named Richard Cole, who’s also flush with money. Frankie talks to Annabelle (the girl who danced on the roof with Josie the night she died), but she won’t say anything. Frankie checks out the roof and 
finds a gold pendant with Josie’s name on it. Annabelle comes up and tells her she thinks Josie killed herself because she’d gotten into a bad situation with a man and could see no other way out. Annabelle says the man is almost certainly Jake Irwin, the club owner. Harry doesn’t think Josie killed herself and mentions a letter he found from a Hollywood agent. Apparently, Josie was supposed to go to Hollywood to work in a fancy club, and she was recommended for the job by Jake. Frankie figures she needs the inside scoop on the Tiptop Club, so she decides to audition as a dancer (specifically, a mermaid).
When Frankie goes for her interview, she sees Annabelle coming out of Jake’s office, having just gotten a new Hollywood contract. Frankie doesn’t really impress the secretary doing the interview (Ruth Holden), but Jake decides to hire her immediately. When Frankie tries to talk to Annabelle
again, she says she was wrong about Josie and Jake, but Frankie knows she’s changed her story because Jake just got her this big Hollywood job. Later, Trudy tells Frankie she traced the pendant and it was bought by Ruth Holden from a fancy jewellery store, so Frankie wonders if Ruth bought it on Jake’s orders. Flo suggests they talk to some disgruntled former dancers, who might be more willing to talk than the current bunch. Frankie goes to work at the club (where she starts as a hostess … she has to work her way up to mermaid) and meets Cole’s fiancée, Pamela. Frankie takes photos of the personnel records, pretending she was just trying to get an advantage over the other girls when Ruth catches her. Trudy, Mary, and Flo will talk to former employees to find out if they had any problems with Jake at the club (and they have quite the semantic debate, finally settling on “unwanted advances” to describe what might have happened to the women). At the club, Frankie doesn’t appreciate being pawed by horny customers, but she is glad to see Moses Page there … so glad that Jake gets a photo of them making out. The three women Trudy, Mary, and Flo talk to confirm there were some pretty shitty things going on at the 
club, like Jake taking advantage of the dancers in return for promotions. One of them says she reported it to the cops and they didn’t do anything, and all three say they don’t want to go public with anything they’ve said. At the club, Ruth tells Frankie that Jake wants her to be a mermaid, but during the costume fitting, he puts the moves on her. Frankie is pretty freaked out, but ends up punching him and taking off. She tells the others what happened and wants to go public, but Trudy shows her a newspaper with a photo of her kissing Moses. Obviously, Jake is trying to discredit her before she can accuse him of anything.
Frankie confronts Jake, but he just acts like an arrogant prick. At the morgue, Flo admits to Mary that she was once assaulted by a guy. She’d never told anyone because she blamed herself (and felt humiliated for
“letting” it happen), which is basically how Frankie feels. Harry shows Frankie a letter from a lawyer named Haynes that just arrived for Josie, and wonders if it might have something to do with her death. Flo and Mary talk to one of the ex-dancers (Maxine), who isn’t eager to come forward until she hears Flo’s story. Frankie talks to the lawyer, who says Josie wanted to sue her boyfriend for breach of promise because she was pregnant. He refused to take the case since she had no real proof, but he does mention the boyfriend bought her an expensive pendant. Frankie talks to Ruth, who admits she bought the 
pendant … but it was Richard Cole, not Jake, that asked her to. Frankie confronts Cole, who doesn’t deny banging Josie but says he never intended to marry her (and doesn’t believe she was pregnant). Pamela, Cole’s fiancée, doesn’t seem too bothered by the affair, blaming Josie instead of him. Frankie and Trudy realize Josie must’ve killed herself once she knew Cole didn’t really care about her. They’re feeling rather depressed when Mary and Flo bring Maxine by, who says she’s read to help them take Jake down.
Maxine tells them her story, mentioning how Jake turns a light on outside his office when he’s “interviewing” a dancer. Maxine agrees to help bring Jake down and goes back to audition for a mermaid job, knowing full well
what that “audition” entails. Later, Jake debuts the newest attraction … Maxine in a mermaid costume swimming in a gigantic tank in the club. But while he’s giving his spiel, a recording comes on over the PA system, a recording of Jake forcing Maxine to bang him to get the mermaid job … and admitting this isn’t the first time he’s done that. Turns out Flo used her electrical skills to wire a recorder into Jake’s sex light, so his advances on Maxine are all on tape. Jake’s father is apparently a decent guy and tears up the cheque he wrote, telling Jake he’s 
ashamed to have him as a son. Harry thanks Frankie and the others for exposing Jake and punches Cole in the face. Since Harry works for the Tax Office, he promises Cole he’ll be audited within the week. Later, Mary tells Flo she’s almost ready to swear off men, since they all seem to be scumbags. Flo tells Mary not to let a few bad apples spoil it for her, and thanks her for her help. Frankie confronts Ruth, trying to get her realize how wrong enabling Jake’s behaviour is, but Ruth just doesn’t seem to get it … or maybe she just doesn’t care.
This is a pretty good episode, although it does come off a bit preachy at times. Obviously, it’s highlighting a very real problem that women have
faced forever (and women in the 1920s had even fewer ways to push back than they do now), showing that even tough, self-confident women like Frankie can be victimized … and that it leaves a mark. Even though she stopped him before it went too far, Frankie was having flashbacks to Jake putting the moves on her, so I guess it’s less about what actually happens and more about how it makes you feel. Frankie said she felt guilty and humiliated, as did Flo and Maxine. That feeling of helplessness and self-blame is probably why so many women don’t talk 
about it when they are assaulted or harassed. It was nice to see the women supporting each other, and both Flo and Maxine felt better after talking about it. Unfortunately, not all women are so supportive of each other (like Ruth or Pamela), which contributes to the problem. Overall, a good (and necessary) episode, I just wish it had sounded a little less like an after-school special in places.
Favourite Quotes:
- “Well, I only started having those theories when I worked with you.” Flo’s answer when Frankie accuses her of having a devious theory.
- “The cheese is off the cracker now!” Flo’s reaction to the photo of Frankie and Moses in the paper.
- “I didn’t say a word. Seems to me you did all the talking.” Maxine’s reply when Jake accuses her of betraying him.