Greetings,
And now, for the final movie, and also the official finale for The Commish, Redemption. I know I said yesterday that the second movie was the one I found most entertaining and interesting. Still true. This one, however, may be the best, overall. The story is extremely well-done, to the point of being heartbreaking, and the acting is as top notch as it ever was on this show. And it's pretty powerful, too. I'll get to why soon. Let's begin.
In the first scene, we see two different things happening. First, there are people working in what is, no doubt, a sweat shop. Then, it cuts to someone installing a phone bomb. Within moments, we hear a phone ring, and there is a huge explosion. Miraculously, no one is killed, but Tony and Paulie immediately begin to investigate, especially motivated because there were children in the building.
As it happens, the factory was owned by Bel Chemise, a fashion company, run by Oskar Rothman and his daughter, Carla. When Tony arrives at one of their shows, he meets with Carla, played by Natalija Nogulich, who calls herself Kitty Jordan, as to give her fashion line a better name. He asks for some financial records, since the fire must be investigated, and she understands. Then, enter her father, Oskar, played by the masterful Rod Steiger, who is absolutely at his most brilliant here. He's a bit standoffish with Tony, but ultimately gives him what he needs for the investigation. As he waits backstage, Tony runs into his father-in-law, Ben, played by Mike Nussbaum, who has been working as a subcontractor for Bel Chemise. Also, he's dating one of the models named Cindy. Yeah, that's not going to do much to fix his relationship with his daughter, Rachel, which has been strained for her entire life. Still, Tony invites Ben to dinner that night, as a surprise. Funny thing, I'd think that Tony would be the one most upset about this, considering that this model is his wife. No, seriously, I'm pretty sure that Cindy is being played by Michael Chiklis' wife, Michelle. And played very well, I might add.
Now, one thing we learn about Rothman and his back story is that he is a Jewish man who survived the concentration camps. This is an important plot point for a few reasons. One is that Tony is having to deal with some hate groups that are wreaking havoc in Eastbridge. They've been attacking a lot of synagogues, including the one Rachel and David go to. So, he also has to be investigating that as he is investigating the fires. Gee, if they were connected, it might make this a little easier.
Anyway, we see Tony, Rachel and the kids having dinner with Ben at their house. He has brought his new, young girlfriend, Cindy, whom Rachel was not expecting. As I said, this does not help the tension of their relationship, but the two women manage to have a moment of kindness to each other. After they leave, Rachel vents to Tony that Ben hasn't changed, even reminding him of when her father was supposed to take her to the circus, and he never did, though she kept the tickets. Tony tries to get her to let go of the anger, but she can't. It's sad, though, because shortly thereafter, Ben has a heart attack. Rachel and her father do get a chance to have one last talk, wherein Ben reminisces about taking her to the circus, something that obviously didn't happen. Sadly, he passes away and we see the funeral. Here's where I have to give some major props to Theresa Saldana's acting. Everyone is standing in the cemetery, visibly upset, especially Tony and David, who are crying. But Rachel is just standing there, stone faced, not an emotion in sight. Yet, somehow, there is so much behind this look on her face. She did love her father, no doubt, but there was so much hurt that he brought to her, that it's almost as though she truly has no clue how to react. Like she wants to shed tears for him, but that wounded part of her doesn't think he deserves it. And her being that way, at this point, is way more effective than having her cry and grieve as much as her family was. Brilliant.
In the aftermath of that, Rachel and Tony go to Ben's apartment to clean it out. Rachel finds a stuffed bear he had given her, intending to take it home for her daughter, Sarah. Unfortunately, Tony finds something, too. It's notebook with circled dates and locations, which pretty much could be evidence that Ben was behind the fires at the Bel Chemise factories. Yes, fires, because there were more. He goes back to talk to Rothman, to determine if he was involved, especially since they got some proof that the fires might have been intentional to get insurance money. Rothman is personally offended accusing Tony of persecuting him, understandable due to his history. He is assured that the investigation will be done honestly and the police will follow nothing but the evidence.
The bad news is that a lot of the evidence continues to point at Rachel's father, like her finding one hundred dollar bills stuffed into that teddy bear and a lot of dead people turning up, including Ben's girlfriend. Then again, a lot of evidence is also pointing to one of those hate groups that had been causing trouble. In fact, Tony and Paulie go to this rough looking bar to pick up a suspect, and everyone there tries to be scary to them, but Paulie pulls out a huge, Terminator-style gun, so they back off. Why does Paulie have a huge Terminator-style gun? Because he's Paulie, and that's how he rolls. Turns out, the guy they picked up used to date Cindy, but she dumped for an old, Jewish guy, which is going to make someone in a hate group not so happy. They really think he's guilty until another fire is set while he's in custody. They also eventually find out that someone robbed an armory and is planning an even bigger explosion. That technically sucks, but Tony and Paulie do find this out by way of an informant named Magic, and the scenes with that guy are priceless.
Anyway, Tony is more motivated than ever after David is beat up by members of the hate group at the synagogue. A clue they manage to find is the initials "C.W." Unaware of what it means, they continue to investigate Oskar Rothman. What they find out there is that Oskar Rothman died in the camps back in the forties. So, what's going on? Well, it turns out that the man they have been talking to who calls himself Oskar Rothman is actually Carl Wolfe, the "C.W.", and not only is he not Jewish, but he is a German who left the country and fled to America with this false identity to escape being prosecuted for war crimes. Can you even imagine? But we're not even done yet.
Wolfe plants another phone bomb at Rachel's and David's synagogue whilst several people are there. They manage to get everyone out, and Tony finds Wolfe, drags him back inside, and makes him dial the phone number, which would set off the bomb. Of course, he doesn't do it and ends up being arrested. Outside, Tony demands that Wolfe tell Rachel that her father was innocent and to explain himself and why he did this. The only response he gives at first is to very coldly and nonchalantly say, "He was a Jew". You know, sometimes it takes just one little statement like that, just a few chilling words, for you to feel a lifetime worth of hatred in a person. He does go on to say a few more things to explain himself, but the way they are said is so overwhelming to me. And I give credit to Rod Steiger for being able to do this, because he delivers these words, these utterly hateful words in such a flippant way, but that's how someone like this character would say it. It's as though he's saying, "Of course, I framed him. He was Jewish. Who cares?" Sorry to use this word again, but it was so chilling, this accepted hatred. It's also a bit frightening.
We, then, see Wolfe led away to jail, and, as his daughter, Kitty, stands there, he shouts out that he loves her. Kitty, with her back turned to him, just says, "Papa" and cries. It's so devastating, because you realize that this woman's entire world has literally collapsed, because she knows now that the person she loved most has been building that world on lies. Rachel goes to comfort her, and that moment is just so moving between them. And it's that moment that, I think, leads us to the final one.
The last scene is Tony and Rachel at her father's grave, where she is finally able to let go and cry. And I believe that her seeing Kitty weep over losing her own father, despite the horrible things he had done, made Rachel realize that, while her father may have made a lot of mistakes, it could have been much worse. And the last thing we see, the final image for the entire series, is Tony comforting Rachel, holding her up and loving her as always. And I cannot even imagine a better way to go out. I mean, as I've been saying over and over, yes, this was a cop show, but it was so much more. And, frankly, the love between Tony and Rachel was always the heartbeat of the show. It was where we got the life and the warmth, and seeing them be there for each other is the last image I would have wanted to see from this series.
So, that was Redemption, and what else can I say about it, other than it was excellent. Also, it has emotionally drained me, so I will stop. Until tomorrow, that is. Because we have one more day to The Commish tribute week. Just one more day.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
