Post by CC Fan on Jun 1, 2005 0:39:36 GMT -5
Recap Provided By Cellogal
December 19, 1976
Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” plays. A movie marquee advertises “Rocky,” but we’re not going to the movies. We’re going to the Top Dog Boxing Club, where a poster advertises “Rocky vs. Apollo: The Real Thing,” a fight between Maurice “Mad Mo” Bell and “Stubborn” Jerry Stone.
Oh, yay. Boxing. I hate boxing. I find it barbaric and nauseating. As a result, I don’t know much about it, so if you’re looking for detailed descriptions of the fight, I’m afraid I can’t help you. I’ll do my best, though, and I’ve got a barf bag nearby just in case.
We’ve entered the club and can now see the ring, where Mo and Jerry are beating the crap out of each other in the fifteenth round. Jerry is bleeding profusely, and the referee tries to stop the fight, but Jerry insists that he’s okay, and he’s not going down. Jerry manages to land a couple good punches, and one of the spectators, a nattily dressed black man, leaps to his feet and calls Jerry the “Great White Hope.” Hope, though, seems to be fading fast for Jerry, as Mo lands some mean punches. A priest in Jerry’s corner throws in the towel, but Mo continues punching Jerry. A pretty dark-haired girl in the crowd whispers to Jerry that she loves him. The priest protests that Mo is killing Jerry, but Mo isn’t listening. The bell rings, signaling the end of the round, and the referee pulls Mo off Jerry. Jerry raises an arm in triumph, but then collapses in the ring. The dark-haired girl looks stricken as the priest and referee shout for a doctor and try to revive Jerry.
PPD. An envelope marked “Stone, J.” is placed into a box marked “Miscellaneous Records and Storage.”
Present Day
University Hospital of Pennsylvania. A chaplain escorts Lilly and Stillman into a patient’s room, explaining that the patient, Sonny Carroll, has taken a turn for the worse, and wanted to talk to the detectives before making his last confession, as he has information on a boxer who was killed during a fight. The chaplain introduces Sonny to the detectives, and Sonny says that it serves him right that the police would be represented by a “pretty young gal.” When prompted by Stillman, Sonny goes on to say that he has information on Jerry Stone. Calling himself a “gutless wonder,” Sonny explains that he should have stopped the fight, because Jerry was badly hurt, but didn’t because his hand was in the pot: someone paid him $1500 to keep the fight going. Lilly asks Sonny who paid him off, but Sonny’s fading fast. He looks at the chaplain, asks him if he thinks God will forgive him, and then breathes his last. Oh, snap! The doctors enter as Lilly and Stillman leave and discuss in the hallway what they just learned: that someone wanted to pay Sonny to allow Jerry to get hurt. Unfortunately, Sonny will never be able to tell them who.
Credits.
Scotty’s apartment. Still wearing that gray hoodie we saw last time and looking like he hasn’t shaved in a couple days, Scotty opens the door to find Jeffries standing there. Jeffries asks him how it’s going, figured he’d stop by on his way to work. Jeffries says he tried to call. Scotty shrugs and says he must have been in the shower. Well, that’s an unexpected little surprise for us to picture! Jeffries presses him, saying he tried his cell phone a couple times too, but Scotty says he must have left his cell at work. Jeffries asks if he can come in, and Scotty reluctantly agrees. Noticing that all of Scotty’s furniture has been shoved up against the wall, Jeffries asks him about it, saying the setup is horrible and couldn’t be more awkward. Scotty explains that he was about to skip some rope. Jeffries asks how long he’s been doing that, and Scotty tells him he’s been doing it since pee-wee wrestling. Heh. Jeffries clarifies, asking how long he’s been pushing back the furniture. Scotty says he doesn’t like the gym; too many people. Poor Scotty. He’s in so much pain, and he’s trying so hard to avoid it. Jeffries smiles with comprehension, stands up, and starts to talk about when he lost his wife, but then simply says that he’s been where Scotty’s been (right underneath that giant, multicolored Banner of Avoidance, apparently), and that if Scotty ever wants to talk…
He’s interrupted by the ringing of Scotty’s cell phone, the cell phone Scotty claims to have left at work, which is actually in the pocket of that gray hoodie. Scotty silences it, but he’s still totally busted. Jeffries finishes with a slightly bitter-sounding, “Guess you’ll let me know,” and lets himself out. I keep hoping Scotty will start skipping rope while the camera’s still on him, but alas, he doesn’t.
Evidence warehouse. Lilly, Stillman, and Vera are going over the evidence, confirming that Jerry went fifteen rounds and cause of death was massive swelling in the brain. Stillman explains that the boxing match was meant to recreate the fight from Rocky, which Vera thinks is gimmicky, but Stillman maintains that it lived up to the hype. Vera says the police talked to Mo, but concluded that since Jerry died during the fight, no crime was committed. Lilly points out that now that they know Sonny was on the take, that changes everything, and theorizes that maybe Gina who was both Jerry’s girlfriend and Sonny’s daughter, would know. She was ringside at the fight, but after Stillman reflects on the fact that Gina’s father allowed her boyfriend to die in the ring, Lilly muses that this might be why Gina wasn’t ringside for her father’s death. Stillman instructs them to start with her.
Gina’s place. Gina says Jerry was short on talent, but big on heart, and that was why they picked him for the fight, because he’d never quit, no matter how badly he was hurt, making him the perfect real-life Rocky. With the addition of a referee who would let the fight go on, things were bound to go downhill fast. Gina doesn’t know who paid Sonny off, but adds, when asked, that Sonny didn’t like Jerry. She says her dad told her at fifteen that she wasn’t to date Jerry; that Jerry was a bum, an unemployed high school dropout who somehow always managed to scrape together enough money for booze. But Gina goes on to explain that on just another Friday night, going nowhere, Gina saw something in Jerry that Sonny couldn’t.
Outside the movie theater, where we hear “Dance With Me” by Orleans. The adorably dimpled Gina and a girlfriend are leaving “Rocky,” commenting that Rocky’s apartment, and his habit of drinking eggs, were both “so gross.” Suddenly, Gina spies Jerry, and her friend starts to tease her about him. Gina shushes her friend and says a flirty hello to Jerry. Gina’s friend asks Jerry, with an astonished expression, what happened to his face. At Jerry’s confused look, she explains that Gina can’t stop looking at it. Hee. Gina laughingly shoves her friend away, saying she’ll see her in a minute, and then she and Jerry smile endearingly at each other. Jerry asks if she liked the movie, and she replies that she liked the love story part. Jerry explains that he’s seen the movie three times, and that fifteen bucks for a corner locker, five for a shower and a towel, is very true to life. I’ll take his word for it. Giggling, Gina tells Jerry that he looks different, and he says he feel different; that the movie’s got him thinking that if some bum wants to be President of the United States, he really can be. I’ll just pause for a few seconds so you all can come up with a joke about the president of your choice. Got one? Okay, then on we go. “President, huh?” Gina asks with a smile, and Jerry says maybe he should work on winning a few fights first, then says he has to go do his road work. Gina stops him and asks if he’s looking for his own Adrian, and he asks if she’s for real. She nods, and he can’t believe his luck.
Gina tells Lilly that that was the beginning of her and Jerry, and Lilly correctly surmises that that was the end of her and Sonny. Gina agrees, saying that she tried to tell her father that Jerry had changed, but he didn’t believe her. Lilly tells Gina that Sonny was genuinely sorry about the fight on his deathbed, and Gina bitterly comments that it’s too bad he didn’t feel that way before letting Mad Mo kill Jerry.
Boxing club. Jeffries and Vera have located Mad Mo, and ask him about his comment at the weigh-in that he was going to murder Jerry. Mo protests that this was just trash-talking to sell tickets. Vera mentions that some of the comments had racial overtones, and Mo says he wasn’t being racist, just illustrating the differences, how blacks were into James Brown and whites were more interested in square dancing. Vera points out that, yeah, actually, that is kinda racist. I agree with Vera. I’ve never square danced in my life, and I’m gonna go out on a limb and take a guess that Vera probably hasn’t, either.
Mo concedes the point, and Jeffries reminds him of his juvenile record, including nine arrests before age fifteen and two years in lockup for putting his step-pops in a coma. Mo glowers at them, saying those records are supposed to be sealed, and Vera assures him that they taped them back up. Hee. Mo insists he didn’t even want to fight Jerry in the first place, that it was such a mismatch that it wouldn’t do anything for Mo’s career. Vera asks why he agreed to the fight, and Mo says the promoter, Tommy Sugar, talked him into it; that Sugar could sell you a house in the Atlantic Ocean.
Parliament’s “Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off This Sucker)” plays. Mo and Sugar walk into the club, and Sugar points out Jerry, who’s in the middle of a fight. Mo thinks fighting Jerry is a waste of his time, but Sugar brings up Mo’s outstanding record, but says that none of the big-time contenders will fight Mo because they don’t know anything about him. Sugar promises to promote the heck out of this fight, that it will put Mo on the map, in large part because Jerry’s “one of the great bleeders of all time.” To illustrate this point, Jerry takes a punch and showers the spectators with blood, and I feel queasy. Sugar tells Mo that if Jerry bleeds like this against his usual chump competition, what will Mo be able to do to him? Apparently sold by the promise that a bloodbath will make him a household name, Mo agrees.
Mo protests that Sonny should have stopped the fight, because Jerry wasn’t right in the head. He recalls Jerry saying something about taking the ring back, which made no sense to him. Vera points out that Mo’s career didn’t take off after the fight, and Mo replies that killing someone has a way of taking a man off track. Jeffries muses that Tommy Sugar’s career didn’t go off track, that he’s been the top boxing promoter in Philly for the last 25 years. Mo says that the night Jerry died, Tommy Sugar was born.
Sugar’s office, with Lilly and Jeffries. Sugar explains that it was 1976, the year of the bicentennial, and “Rocky” was as American as it gets. Lilly views the fight as a way to exploit that, Sugar calls it seeing an opportunity for one and all. Lilly muses that he must have been under a lot of pressure to recreate the movie, and Jeffries points out that people going fifteen rounds in a movie is one thing, but doing that in real life is something else. Sugar calls this “a tribute to the young men who fought.” Lilly and Jeffries theorize that Sugar paid off Sonny to keep the fight going; the fact that Jerry bled a lot was good, but they didn’t want too much of a good thing. I’m sitting here questioning their definition of “good.” Sugar, previously unaware of Sonny’s taking a bet, laughs and says he wishes he’d known Sonny was open for business. He then says where the detectives should look is the Catholic Youth Organization, where Sugar found Jerry. Sugar says several other boxers were upset that he picked Jerry for the fight. Lilly asks if he’s saying one of the other boxers paid off the ref, and Sugar says that the best fighters always hold a grudge. Not that Lilly would know anything about holding grudges.
Church. The priest we saw earlier, whose name is never mentioned, but who TV.com assures me is Father McGuire, explains that the CYO helped get kids off the streets and gave them something productive to do, and that Jerry was part of the boxing program. He sleazily says that Jerry would serve Mass with him on Sunday mornings and then fight for him on Sunday nights. Lilly asks if the other boxers were jealous of Jerry, and Father McGuire confirms it, and when pressed, he points to one who seemed to have a real beef with Jerry: Buck Larson, who was actually a better boxer than Jerry, but was passed over for the fight because he wasn’t enough of an underdog. Father McGuire says Buck didn’t like coming in second to Jerry at anything.
Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See” plays at Sonny’s bar. Father McGuire sits at the bar, and Jerry comes in and tells him he’s been working with the bags at the gym. Jerry then awkwardly greets Sonny, who returns the greeting by saying Jerry must think Rome was built in a day. Father McGuire hands Jerry some quarters and tells him to go play some records, then urges Sonny to give Jerry a chance. Sonny doesn’t see the point, as “a bum is a bum is a bum.”
Jerry, standing by the jukebox, is approached by a galoot the size of a Buick. This must be the famous Buck Larson. He tells Jerry he’s been looking for him, that he’s upset that Jerry was picked for the fight. Jerry protests that this is Mr. Sugar’s fight, and Buck should talk to him. Buck mouth-breathes that he did, and that the only way he’s in the fight is if Jerry’s out. Jerry says he’s staying put. Buck grabs him by the arm, and Father McGuire intervenes, saying that if he wants to “start a donnybrook,” he should start with him. Buck surrenders and starts to leave, but on his way out, he asks Sonny if he’s seen Jimmy the Jeweler lately, and lets it slip that Jerry has purchased a fancy engagement ring for Gina. Father McGuire tells Buck to give it a rest, and Buck’s parting shot to Jerry is that maybe him being in the fight isn’t such a bad thing. After all, when Mo puts Jerry in a coma, Gina will have Buck’s brawny shoulders to cry on.
Father McGuire explains that Buck and Gina were childhood sweethearts, and that Buck has been carrying a torch for her ever since. Lilly and Jeffries conclude that, since Buck lost both the fight and the girl to Jerry, he was having a rough go.
Squad room. Vera is at his desk, finishing up a phone conversation with Scotty. Lilly, clearly intrigued, asks how Scotty’s doing. Vera says they’re going to grab some drinks later that night. Jeffries is encouraged by this, as it’s better than Scotty was doing yesterday. I don’t know how much of an improvement getting drunk with Vera is over rearranging furniture and skipping rope in the living room, but least Scotty’s willing to leave his apartment now, so it’s definitely progress. Lilly is surprised that Jeffries has also seen Scotty, and looks hurt for a brief instant.
Stillman comes up and says that Buck has a record; two days before the fight, Buck robbed a convenience store. Lilly is momentarily confused, saying that he wasn’t arrested until 1978, but Stillman says that’s because it took two years to catch him. Vera, reading the report, informs us that Buck got away with $2,000 and a jar of peanut butter, and Lilly says that gave him two years to spread it around. Wait, does she mean the money, or the peanut butter? In either case, the detectives realize this means that, two days before the fight, Buck had the amount of money Sonny accepted to keep the fight going.
Loading dock. Buck is loudly protesting to Vera and Lilly that he doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Vera says he might even believe Buck if it weren’t for the timing, and the fact that Buck never stole anything else in his life. Lilly asks him to explain the timing, and Buck says he can’t. Vera asks Buck what he did with the money, reminding him of his ill will toward Jerry and his feelings for Gina. When Buck still doesn’t answer, Vera tells Lilly to let Buck call a lawyer, and the detectives start to walk away. Buck protests that he can’t afford a lawyer; Lilly says they’ll make sure he gets a PD. Buck scoffs at this, saying a public defender won’t care about him, but Vera makes it clear that unless he talks, their hands are tied. Lilly asks him softly why he’s hedging, and Buck replies it’s because he doesn’t “want to hurt her.”
Steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has now been fortunate enough, in its illustrious history, to have TWO boxers sprint up its steps. We hear Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” Gina sits on the steps, watching Jerry work out. Buck jogs by, and Gina greets him, making small talk and saying she’s waiting for Jerry. Buck scoffs at the notion of Jerry doing early morning runs. She points him out, and Buck looks over at him, saying Jerry’s a clown, that maybe Jerry can run the steps like Rocky, but that doesn’t make him Rocky. Gina protests that Jerry’s been working real hard, and he sprints by on his way up the steps. Buck then bursts her bubble, telling her that the fight is fixed: Mo will take a dive in the first round so Jerry will win. Gina frowns adorably as she figures out this won’t be a real fight, saying it will hurt Jerry real bad. Buck then explains how Gina can take advantage of it: the odds of Jerry winning in the first round are 20-1. He instructs Gina not to burst Jerry’s bubble now, when there’s real money to be had. He then leaves, and Jerry, finished with his run, comes up to Gina. They flirt endearingly and then kiss as Buck glowers at them.
Buck explains that Gina was a gambler, and that he robbed the convenience store to give her money to bet with. He didn’t tell her where he got it, saying he wanted to impress her. The detectives sympathize with Buck, who admits to having had it bad for Gina his “whole stupid life.” They then get suspicious of Gina.
December 19, 1976
Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” plays. A movie marquee advertises “Rocky,” but we’re not going to the movies. We’re going to the Top Dog Boxing Club, where a poster advertises “Rocky vs. Apollo: The Real Thing,” a fight between Maurice “Mad Mo” Bell and “Stubborn” Jerry Stone.
Oh, yay. Boxing. I hate boxing. I find it barbaric and nauseating. As a result, I don’t know much about it, so if you’re looking for detailed descriptions of the fight, I’m afraid I can’t help you. I’ll do my best, though, and I’ve got a barf bag nearby just in case.
We’ve entered the club and can now see the ring, where Mo and Jerry are beating the crap out of each other in the fifteenth round. Jerry is bleeding profusely, and the referee tries to stop the fight, but Jerry insists that he’s okay, and he’s not going down. Jerry manages to land a couple good punches, and one of the spectators, a nattily dressed black man, leaps to his feet and calls Jerry the “Great White Hope.” Hope, though, seems to be fading fast for Jerry, as Mo lands some mean punches. A priest in Jerry’s corner throws in the towel, but Mo continues punching Jerry. A pretty dark-haired girl in the crowd whispers to Jerry that she loves him. The priest protests that Mo is killing Jerry, but Mo isn’t listening. The bell rings, signaling the end of the round, and the referee pulls Mo off Jerry. Jerry raises an arm in triumph, but then collapses in the ring. The dark-haired girl looks stricken as the priest and referee shout for a doctor and try to revive Jerry.
PPD. An envelope marked “Stone, J.” is placed into a box marked “Miscellaneous Records and Storage.”
Present Day
University Hospital of Pennsylvania. A chaplain escorts Lilly and Stillman into a patient’s room, explaining that the patient, Sonny Carroll, has taken a turn for the worse, and wanted to talk to the detectives before making his last confession, as he has information on a boxer who was killed during a fight. The chaplain introduces Sonny to the detectives, and Sonny says that it serves him right that the police would be represented by a “pretty young gal.” When prompted by Stillman, Sonny goes on to say that he has information on Jerry Stone. Calling himself a “gutless wonder,” Sonny explains that he should have stopped the fight, because Jerry was badly hurt, but didn’t because his hand was in the pot: someone paid him $1500 to keep the fight going. Lilly asks Sonny who paid him off, but Sonny’s fading fast. He looks at the chaplain, asks him if he thinks God will forgive him, and then breathes his last. Oh, snap! The doctors enter as Lilly and Stillman leave and discuss in the hallway what they just learned: that someone wanted to pay Sonny to allow Jerry to get hurt. Unfortunately, Sonny will never be able to tell them who.
Credits.
Scotty’s apartment. Still wearing that gray hoodie we saw last time and looking like he hasn’t shaved in a couple days, Scotty opens the door to find Jeffries standing there. Jeffries asks him how it’s going, figured he’d stop by on his way to work. Jeffries says he tried to call. Scotty shrugs and says he must have been in the shower. Well, that’s an unexpected little surprise for us to picture! Jeffries presses him, saying he tried his cell phone a couple times too, but Scotty says he must have left his cell at work. Jeffries asks if he can come in, and Scotty reluctantly agrees. Noticing that all of Scotty’s furniture has been shoved up against the wall, Jeffries asks him about it, saying the setup is horrible and couldn’t be more awkward. Scotty explains that he was about to skip some rope. Jeffries asks how long he’s been doing that, and Scotty tells him he’s been doing it since pee-wee wrestling. Heh. Jeffries clarifies, asking how long he’s been pushing back the furniture. Scotty says he doesn’t like the gym; too many people. Poor Scotty. He’s in so much pain, and he’s trying so hard to avoid it. Jeffries smiles with comprehension, stands up, and starts to talk about when he lost his wife, but then simply says that he’s been where Scotty’s been (right underneath that giant, multicolored Banner of Avoidance, apparently), and that if Scotty ever wants to talk…
He’s interrupted by the ringing of Scotty’s cell phone, the cell phone Scotty claims to have left at work, which is actually in the pocket of that gray hoodie. Scotty silences it, but he’s still totally busted. Jeffries finishes with a slightly bitter-sounding, “Guess you’ll let me know,” and lets himself out. I keep hoping Scotty will start skipping rope while the camera’s still on him, but alas, he doesn’t.
Evidence warehouse. Lilly, Stillman, and Vera are going over the evidence, confirming that Jerry went fifteen rounds and cause of death was massive swelling in the brain. Stillman explains that the boxing match was meant to recreate the fight from Rocky, which Vera thinks is gimmicky, but Stillman maintains that it lived up to the hype. Vera says the police talked to Mo, but concluded that since Jerry died during the fight, no crime was committed. Lilly points out that now that they know Sonny was on the take, that changes everything, and theorizes that maybe Gina who was both Jerry’s girlfriend and Sonny’s daughter, would know. She was ringside at the fight, but after Stillman reflects on the fact that Gina’s father allowed her boyfriend to die in the ring, Lilly muses that this might be why Gina wasn’t ringside for her father’s death. Stillman instructs them to start with her.
Gina’s place. Gina says Jerry was short on talent, but big on heart, and that was why they picked him for the fight, because he’d never quit, no matter how badly he was hurt, making him the perfect real-life Rocky. With the addition of a referee who would let the fight go on, things were bound to go downhill fast. Gina doesn’t know who paid Sonny off, but adds, when asked, that Sonny didn’t like Jerry. She says her dad told her at fifteen that she wasn’t to date Jerry; that Jerry was a bum, an unemployed high school dropout who somehow always managed to scrape together enough money for booze. But Gina goes on to explain that on just another Friday night, going nowhere, Gina saw something in Jerry that Sonny couldn’t.
Outside the movie theater, where we hear “Dance With Me” by Orleans. The adorably dimpled Gina and a girlfriend are leaving “Rocky,” commenting that Rocky’s apartment, and his habit of drinking eggs, were both “so gross.” Suddenly, Gina spies Jerry, and her friend starts to tease her about him. Gina shushes her friend and says a flirty hello to Jerry. Gina’s friend asks Jerry, with an astonished expression, what happened to his face. At Jerry’s confused look, she explains that Gina can’t stop looking at it. Hee. Gina laughingly shoves her friend away, saying she’ll see her in a minute, and then she and Jerry smile endearingly at each other. Jerry asks if she liked the movie, and she replies that she liked the love story part. Jerry explains that he’s seen the movie three times, and that fifteen bucks for a corner locker, five for a shower and a towel, is very true to life. I’ll take his word for it. Giggling, Gina tells Jerry that he looks different, and he says he feel different; that the movie’s got him thinking that if some bum wants to be President of the United States, he really can be. I’ll just pause for a few seconds so you all can come up with a joke about the president of your choice. Got one? Okay, then on we go. “President, huh?” Gina asks with a smile, and Jerry says maybe he should work on winning a few fights first, then says he has to go do his road work. Gina stops him and asks if he’s looking for his own Adrian, and he asks if she’s for real. She nods, and he can’t believe his luck.
Gina tells Lilly that that was the beginning of her and Jerry, and Lilly correctly surmises that that was the end of her and Sonny. Gina agrees, saying that she tried to tell her father that Jerry had changed, but he didn’t believe her. Lilly tells Gina that Sonny was genuinely sorry about the fight on his deathbed, and Gina bitterly comments that it’s too bad he didn’t feel that way before letting Mad Mo kill Jerry.
Boxing club. Jeffries and Vera have located Mad Mo, and ask him about his comment at the weigh-in that he was going to murder Jerry. Mo protests that this was just trash-talking to sell tickets. Vera mentions that some of the comments had racial overtones, and Mo says he wasn’t being racist, just illustrating the differences, how blacks were into James Brown and whites were more interested in square dancing. Vera points out that, yeah, actually, that is kinda racist. I agree with Vera. I’ve never square danced in my life, and I’m gonna go out on a limb and take a guess that Vera probably hasn’t, either.
Mo concedes the point, and Jeffries reminds him of his juvenile record, including nine arrests before age fifteen and two years in lockup for putting his step-pops in a coma. Mo glowers at them, saying those records are supposed to be sealed, and Vera assures him that they taped them back up. Hee. Mo insists he didn’t even want to fight Jerry in the first place, that it was such a mismatch that it wouldn’t do anything for Mo’s career. Vera asks why he agreed to the fight, and Mo says the promoter, Tommy Sugar, talked him into it; that Sugar could sell you a house in the Atlantic Ocean.
Parliament’s “Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off This Sucker)” plays. Mo and Sugar walk into the club, and Sugar points out Jerry, who’s in the middle of a fight. Mo thinks fighting Jerry is a waste of his time, but Sugar brings up Mo’s outstanding record, but says that none of the big-time contenders will fight Mo because they don’t know anything about him. Sugar promises to promote the heck out of this fight, that it will put Mo on the map, in large part because Jerry’s “one of the great bleeders of all time.” To illustrate this point, Jerry takes a punch and showers the spectators with blood, and I feel queasy. Sugar tells Mo that if Jerry bleeds like this against his usual chump competition, what will Mo be able to do to him? Apparently sold by the promise that a bloodbath will make him a household name, Mo agrees.
Mo protests that Sonny should have stopped the fight, because Jerry wasn’t right in the head. He recalls Jerry saying something about taking the ring back, which made no sense to him. Vera points out that Mo’s career didn’t take off after the fight, and Mo replies that killing someone has a way of taking a man off track. Jeffries muses that Tommy Sugar’s career didn’t go off track, that he’s been the top boxing promoter in Philly for the last 25 years. Mo says that the night Jerry died, Tommy Sugar was born.
Sugar’s office, with Lilly and Jeffries. Sugar explains that it was 1976, the year of the bicentennial, and “Rocky” was as American as it gets. Lilly views the fight as a way to exploit that, Sugar calls it seeing an opportunity for one and all. Lilly muses that he must have been under a lot of pressure to recreate the movie, and Jeffries points out that people going fifteen rounds in a movie is one thing, but doing that in real life is something else. Sugar calls this “a tribute to the young men who fought.” Lilly and Jeffries theorize that Sugar paid off Sonny to keep the fight going; the fact that Jerry bled a lot was good, but they didn’t want too much of a good thing. I’m sitting here questioning their definition of “good.” Sugar, previously unaware of Sonny’s taking a bet, laughs and says he wishes he’d known Sonny was open for business. He then says where the detectives should look is the Catholic Youth Organization, where Sugar found Jerry. Sugar says several other boxers were upset that he picked Jerry for the fight. Lilly asks if he’s saying one of the other boxers paid off the ref, and Sugar says that the best fighters always hold a grudge. Not that Lilly would know anything about holding grudges.
Church. The priest we saw earlier, whose name is never mentioned, but who TV.com assures me is Father McGuire, explains that the CYO helped get kids off the streets and gave them something productive to do, and that Jerry was part of the boxing program. He sleazily says that Jerry would serve Mass with him on Sunday mornings and then fight for him on Sunday nights. Lilly asks if the other boxers were jealous of Jerry, and Father McGuire confirms it, and when pressed, he points to one who seemed to have a real beef with Jerry: Buck Larson, who was actually a better boxer than Jerry, but was passed over for the fight because he wasn’t enough of an underdog. Father McGuire says Buck didn’t like coming in second to Jerry at anything.
Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See” plays at Sonny’s bar. Father McGuire sits at the bar, and Jerry comes in and tells him he’s been working with the bags at the gym. Jerry then awkwardly greets Sonny, who returns the greeting by saying Jerry must think Rome was built in a day. Father McGuire hands Jerry some quarters and tells him to go play some records, then urges Sonny to give Jerry a chance. Sonny doesn’t see the point, as “a bum is a bum is a bum.”
Jerry, standing by the jukebox, is approached by a galoot the size of a Buick. This must be the famous Buck Larson. He tells Jerry he’s been looking for him, that he’s upset that Jerry was picked for the fight. Jerry protests that this is Mr. Sugar’s fight, and Buck should talk to him. Buck mouth-breathes that he did, and that the only way he’s in the fight is if Jerry’s out. Jerry says he’s staying put. Buck grabs him by the arm, and Father McGuire intervenes, saying that if he wants to “start a donnybrook,” he should start with him. Buck surrenders and starts to leave, but on his way out, he asks Sonny if he’s seen Jimmy the Jeweler lately, and lets it slip that Jerry has purchased a fancy engagement ring for Gina. Father McGuire tells Buck to give it a rest, and Buck’s parting shot to Jerry is that maybe him being in the fight isn’t such a bad thing. After all, when Mo puts Jerry in a coma, Gina will have Buck’s brawny shoulders to cry on.
Father McGuire explains that Buck and Gina were childhood sweethearts, and that Buck has been carrying a torch for her ever since. Lilly and Jeffries conclude that, since Buck lost both the fight and the girl to Jerry, he was having a rough go.
Squad room. Vera is at his desk, finishing up a phone conversation with Scotty. Lilly, clearly intrigued, asks how Scotty’s doing. Vera says they’re going to grab some drinks later that night. Jeffries is encouraged by this, as it’s better than Scotty was doing yesterday. I don’t know how much of an improvement getting drunk with Vera is over rearranging furniture and skipping rope in the living room, but least Scotty’s willing to leave his apartment now, so it’s definitely progress. Lilly is surprised that Jeffries has also seen Scotty, and looks hurt for a brief instant.
Stillman comes up and says that Buck has a record; two days before the fight, Buck robbed a convenience store. Lilly is momentarily confused, saying that he wasn’t arrested until 1978, but Stillman says that’s because it took two years to catch him. Vera, reading the report, informs us that Buck got away with $2,000 and a jar of peanut butter, and Lilly says that gave him two years to spread it around. Wait, does she mean the money, or the peanut butter? In either case, the detectives realize this means that, two days before the fight, Buck had the amount of money Sonny accepted to keep the fight going.
Loading dock. Buck is loudly protesting to Vera and Lilly that he doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Vera says he might even believe Buck if it weren’t for the timing, and the fact that Buck never stole anything else in his life. Lilly asks him to explain the timing, and Buck says he can’t. Vera asks Buck what he did with the money, reminding him of his ill will toward Jerry and his feelings for Gina. When Buck still doesn’t answer, Vera tells Lilly to let Buck call a lawyer, and the detectives start to walk away. Buck protests that he can’t afford a lawyer; Lilly says they’ll make sure he gets a PD. Buck scoffs at this, saying a public defender won’t care about him, but Vera makes it clear that unless he talks, their hands are tied. Lilly asks him softly why he’s hedging, and Buck replies it’s because he doesn’t “want to hurt her.”
Steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has now been fortunate enough, in its illustrious history, to have TWO boxers sprint up its steps. We hear Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” Gina sits on the steps, watching Jerry work out. Buck jogs by, and Gina greets him, making small talk and saying she’s waiting for Jerry. Buck scoffs at the notion of Jerry doing early morning runs. She points him out, and Buck looks over at him, saying Jerry’s a clown, that maybe Jerry can run the steps like Rocky, but that doesn’t make him Rocky. Gina protests that Jerry’s been working real hard, and he sprints by on his way up the steps. Buck then bursts her bubble, telling her that the fight is fixed: Mo will take a dive in the first round so Jerry will win. Gina frowns adorably as she figures out this won’t be a real fight, saying it will hurt Jerry real bad. Buck then explains how Gina can take advantage of it: the odds of Jerry winning in the first round are 20-1. He instructs Gina not to burst Jerry’s bubble now, when there’s real money to be had. He then leaves, and Jerry, finished with his run, comes up to Gina. They flirt endearingly and then kiss as Buck glowers at them.
Buck explains that Gina was a gambler, and that he robbed the convenience store to give her money to bet with. He didn’t tell her where he got it, saying he wanted to impress her. The detectives sympathize with Buck, who admits to having had it bad for Gina his “whole stupid life.” They then get suspicious of Gina.
