Post 2
Richie comes to Duncan's fixer upper house to tell Duncan that he has
to kill Roszca for Tessa's sake. Duncan says he can't do anything for
Tessa. Richie says he doesn't get it.
Richie seeks assistance from Joe to help him understand why Duncan
won't go after Roszca. Richie says that Duncan is taking "the Zen
thing" too far. He could see that Duncan wanted to take Roszca apart
when he first saw Roszca in the police station, but he didn't follow
through. Joe says it's none of his business. Richie wants to know
what happened that is causing Joe to distance himself this way. Joe's
uncommunicative. He says he's just fine. Richie doesn't believe
that, but he leaves Joe's.
Richie goes to the Roszca apartment. The girlfriend is still there,
but Mark is gone. She says he left her. "So why are you packing his
shoes?" he demands. She claims they're hers. She tries to give
Richie a necklace which was her engagment present from Roszca as a
bribe to get Richie to leave them alone. Richie refuses it and
leaves.
When Richie goes to the loft, he finds that Duncan's clothes are
bloody. Duncan tells Richie about Kanis and his use of dogs. Duncan
says "He's running me like a deer trying to wear me down until he
comes in for the kill." Richie says it looks like it's working. He
asks Duncan if he has a plan to counteract Kanis' strategy. Duncan
says he's going to find Kanis and kill him. Richie says that Joe
probably knows where he is. Duncan says that Joe may know, but he's
not going to ask. Richie then tells Duncan about his discovery that
Roszca has moved out of his apartment. Duncan responds that he
knows. He watched Roszca move. Richie doesn't understand how Duncan
could just watch without stopping him. "That girl loves him and she's
pregnant," Duncan points out. "So what!" Richie returns angrily.
Duncan doesn't want to make her widow. He tells Richie what he did
after the Battle of Culloden. "Are you going to stop me?" Richie
asks. Duncan shakes his head. Richie leaves.
Out of concern for Duncan, Richie returns to Joe's. He insists that
Joe should help Duncan because Joe is Duncan's friend. Joe says
Duncan doesn't want his help. Richie says he's the one who's asking.
"Forget it, Richie. The doctor isn't in." Richie gives him an
incredulous look and exits.
Richie finds Roszca's workplace. Roszca fights him and then flees up
a fire escape. Richie follows. They fight on the fire escape.
Roszca admits that he has gaps in his memory due to substance abuse.
Then Richie tells him that he was wearing a denim jacket with an
Indian on the back. Roszca remembers the jacket. He says he lost it
a year ago. He realizes that he did kill Tessa and tells Richie that
he's sorry. Richie dangles him off the fire escape. "Please I'm
going to have a kid. We're going to get married," Roszca begs. "So
was she!" says Richie savagely. We don't see Richie decide to let
Roszca go.
Richie returns to the fixer upper. He sees the dogs there and says "I
guess you took care of Kanis." Duncan asks Richie about Roszca. "It
didn't feel like I thought it would," says Richie. "It never does,"
Duncan responds. Richie reveals that he couldn't kill Roszca.
"Where's the justice?" he asks Duncan. Duncan says "There's no
justice, just mercy."
Questions For Further Study
1)When would Richie have learned accounting? Do you think Richie took
accounting cl***** or did he pick it up on his own?
2)Richie says that Duncan's medieval history class isn't practical.
Could Richie learn to value knowledge for its own sake or do you think
his background would make that impossible?
3)How does Richie feel about being judged on the basis of his juvenile
record?
4)Richie says that he's avenging Tessa by going after Roszca, but is
it possible that on an unconscious level he also resents Roszca for
ending his illusion of mortality? Is Richie thinking that Roszca
deprived him of a "normal life"?
5)Did Richie think at any point that Duncan didn't go after Roszca
because Duncan didn't love Tessa enough?
6) Neither Duncan nor Joe were willing to tell Richie about the events
in "Brothers in Arms" that derailed their friend****p at that point in
the series. How would Richie have reacted if he had found out about
how and why Charlie died? Would he have agreed with Duncan's decision
to distance himself from Joe, or would he have considered Duncan's
attitude unreasonable?
7)Why did Richie decide to spare Mark Roszca?
This is one of the episodes in which the B story seems more
significant to the arc of the series and the characters than the A
story.
Next time I'll be posting a lecture about Tessa's killer, Mark Roszca
Professor Shomeret
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