The Discount Suit

Season 2, Episode 39, Aired

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Everything seems to be coming together for Wayne when he finds friendship with Sal D'Angelo and his son Tony. After restoring an old motorbike in Sal's garage Wayne's thrilled to learn that the bike is worth thousands of dollars.
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  • Through his friend, garage owner Sal, Wayne looks set to make a packet selling his restored vintage motorbike. But when Maggie books Sal for driving under the influence, Sal leans on Wayne to lose the blood test evidence. A pretty good tale...moreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Jay-Spacedust, May 11, 2011
    This review contains spoilers.

    After the frustratingly off-form 'Juggling with Smoke' previously, 'The Discount Suit' is a welcome return to a more evenly executed tale.

    The main plot, of Wayne coming under pressure from garage owner friend Sal to loose the blood test evidence that will see him charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, is played out well, and develops even further when the blood test sample does indeed go missing, leaving everyone who was present particularly Wayne under suspicion.
    (It is also nice to see the return of Wayne's vintage motorcycle, after he brought it in 'Just Desserts' previously, as I wondered what had happened to it.) One thing I did feel, was that the secondary story, of the caf owners who have recently moved into the area and opened up shop being terrorised by a protection racket, was badly underdeveloped. After being introduced at the very beginning of the episode, this plot was then not touched for at least 20 minutes, and when it was revived, it was handled in a very sketchy manner. This isn't a negative against the episode as a whole, but I felt this secondary plot needed much more development (as it is, by the end, we are never really given any clues to the racketeers and the whole case, and there just feels like more of this tale explained), and maybe should have been left for a separate episode.

    There is also the more soap opera-like thread of Chris planning to go to an upcoming family wedding, and trying to tell Adam that he can't go with her. Although typically I'm not into such soap opera-esque proceedings, in 'Blue Heelers', the characters are so well brought to life, and it fits in with the more interesting Police matters, that I can easily forgive this, and maybe even secretly enjoy it in a way (so long as it doesn't dominate the episode).

    Back to the main plot regarding the missing blood sample evidence, my heart did slightly sink when it led into (yet) another internal Police investigation. Despite Tom's trying to hold off, we all knew Monica Draper would be called in as Peta Doodson is credited with the guest cast on the opening credits; but more pressingly, as I've commented on a couple of past reviews, they do seem to crop up very frequently in the series. Admittedly I'm watching the series at a much sped-up pace on DVD, but even so, they do come rather regularly. That said, is all carried out very credibly, and Adam's missing pen a running gag as it is continually going missing throughout the episode actually turning out to be a clue where things are disappearing too (things are rolling off the top of a filing cabinet into a filing drawer yes really) is actually a more satisfying payoff than it sounds.

    I was surprised we didn't get any scene(s) of officers enquiring if the confused Elderly Man, who was present at the time, had picked up the sample in his deluded state. (Also, as a side note, I did feel that the man's evident case of dementia was handled rather brazenly with Nick even telling him that Tom is Winston Churchill! As someone who has experienced mental health issues in my own family, I've commented on past episodes (see 'Out of Harm's Way' earlier this season) that the series' attitude to such sufferers is a little too insensitive at times, but I know that it was done in good humour, and would like to see it as a marker of how such attitudes have improved in the 15+ years since this episode was made.

    Anyway, despite the few niggles I've pointed out, I mostly enjoyed this episode and I liked the running "Discount Suit" motif of the title, regarding how officers sometimes use their Police position (and uniform) to entitle them to money off and freebies in the local community, with innocent intentions but leaving them open to accusations of bribery, and thread that appears throughout the episode in various forms.
    Although it is indeed yet another "internal investigation", the episode hooked me enough to keep my interest up. I give 'The Discount Suit' a reasonable 9/10.moreless
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Season 2 Episodes

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Ep 41
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Ep 40
Brotherly Love (1)
Ep 39
The Discount Suit
Ep 38
Juggling With Smoke
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Unnatural Death
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The Best of Rivals
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