Episode description[edit | edit source]
The Splits, Bluff City - ★★★ (3 Stars)
Reviewed by Janey L.
Yesterday I realised that I hadn't been bowling for ages and I LOVE bowling! I used to go Bowling down at the McInlay Lanes on 4th but when I went to their website I found they'd closed down after the flood and that's such a dang shame because while their fries were soggy the lanes were great and Mrs. McInlay was always there to talk about where to place your foot, or what was on the television, and for five out of six months in 2009 my friend Mike and I were number 2 on the leaderboard so while I might be a LITTLE biased I miss that place a lot, anyway, I decided to check out The Splits to get my bowling fix and let me tell you guys it's not bad it's not bad at all, it's not great, but like they say in the TV show, "it's not bad!"
First: the lights: I was there on galaxy bowling night and it looked like it probably looked great four or five years ago but if i'm honest it had "charm" and that's what I always used to like about McInlay, there was a big pink moon with a happy astronaut on one of those oxygen cords and there were a good number of lanes and a good variety of balls and settings on the lanes, and while I was definitely a bit rusty I had a great time playing a few rounds. I went to get some food and here's where I have to take a star off because the food was really bad and for the whole round I played afterwards (which I won) I felt ill and it was definitely because of the nachos which I was NOT in love with.
I want to give The Splits more stars and maybe I'll update my review after I've come back a few times which I definitely will. It wasn't McInlay and I missed Mike a lot but under the light of that big pink moon and the happy astronaut, and the slightly soggy fries and the attendant who told me how to place my foot, and the sound of the balls against the pins, I remembered what it had been like to play with him and it wasn't so bad. Three stars.(edited)
This week on Friends at the Table: A Bowling Alley, A Boxer, and A Bird, Pt. 2
Maria S., Manager of The Splits Responded:
So glad that you decided to visit and so sorry to h
Contents[edit | edit source]
Opening[edit | edit source]
“
A harbor bell hangs in the Bar and Grill attached to the Splits, Bluff City's finest bowling establishment. Its ring is deep, foggy, like the ocean got inside. Metal, but sounds like the wood of an old ship. It ain't the right bell to ring in a fight night - too heavy, too dense - but ain't much right in Bluff City anyway, and it's never stopped anyone in this town before.
It ain’t stopping Sonny Veranda, scion of a crime family he wants nothing to do with, from planning the worst heist in the city's history. It ain't stopping Finnegan Hands, dive shop owner and mentor to Sunny, from helping his friend rob from the richest and most dangerous families in the tri-state. Ain’t stopping the IRS either - every minute brings Tawny Buck and Jodie O'Brian closer and closer to the criminals they're supposed to be taking down. It ain't stopped that bird either, all red-orange anger and sharp-taloned cruelty. And it's certainly ain't stopping the underground boxer and handyman Doyle MacKaye from being a pawn in a game he don't understand. That young blood keep going, that pure heart keep beating, keeps pumping fury into punches, shadow boxing in preparation for the biggest brawl in years...
Get ready, Bluff City. It's Fight Night, and ain’t no one stopping until the final bell rings.”
Plot[edit | edit source]
Doyle has fallen asleep in a deck chair by the dock as he waits for Finnegan to return with the stolen bird. Maggie watches from the parking lot across the street from the dock, watching Finnegan’s arrival through binoculars. Finnegan emerges from the sub, bleeding from the ear and yelling at Doyle to “get the net”. Doyle wakes in time to see the bird rush from the sub and begin to attack Finnegan, chasing him across the beach.
Doyle runs and grabs a fishing net, throwing it in an attempt to catch the bird. The bird slips through the netting and catches Finnegan instead, leaving the bird loose. As it flies by Doyle, Doyle grabs it’s foot, catching it. The bird calms somewhat once Doyle is holding it.
In order to let the Verandas know that the Whitakers are in town, Sonny arranges for the two fighters to do a weigh-in. He waits outside the bowling alley for Doyle and Finnegan. Finnegan has brought the bird, as he believes that Sonny was wanting to weigh the bird (and not Doyle).
As Finnegan gets out of the car, heavily injured from the bird, and the bird escapes from the car, running loose. Sonny is angry that they have brought the bird, as he needs to keep the fact that it has been stolen from his uncle. Finnegan tells Doyle to put the bird back in the car, and Sonny says he can’t as Doyle has to weigh in. Finnegan gets in the car and tells Doyle to put the bird, which he has named Rupert, into the car. The car speeds away, crashes into a fence post, and then speeds in the direction of the Scuba Shop.
Doyle and Sonny briefly discuss the fight before they head into the bowling alley for the weigh in. Finnegan comes back, insisting that he had to come back with the bird as he could not stand being in the car with it. The bird walks in behind him.
Meanwhile, Tawny returns home to the apartment to discover the toucan has vanished. She stomps down the hall of her apartment complex to Ricky Delaney’s place, as she is sure that he has stolen the toucan. As she speaks to him, she can hear the toucan inside his apartment.
He insists that she doesn’t need the bird as she has four others. He tells her that he took the bird as he saw an ad online for someone looking for a bird similar to the toucan. He brings the toucan back, and he has painted the beak black and the bird’s feather orange as he had misread the ad. Tawny takes back the toucan.
Back at The Splits, Sonny and Finnegan attempt to hide the bird as the weigh-in continues. The bird is loose in the back behind the bowling pins as Doyle and Apollo weigh in. Sonny thanks everyone for coming and hypes up the fight. He asks Finnegan to get the scales. Finnegan refuses to get them as they are in the back with the bird, and so Sonny goes to get them instead.
Apollo asks what happened to Doyle’s arms, which have been cut up by Rupert, and Doyle tells him that the scratches are from a work accident. Doyle and Apollo get into an argument, and Apollo knocks Doyle out cold. Rupert escapes out of the back door.
After people have dispersed from the weigh-in, Sonny enters his office to find Jodie sitting in his chair. Sonny is startled to see her there, as she is not due at work for another five hours. Jodie says she knows he has “something going on” and that she wants in. Sonny says that there’s not enough to go around to bring someone else in.
Sonny begins to clean a cut on his face from the bird, and Jodie takes the cotton from his hand and takes over. She tells him that she wants to be equals in business and that she loves him, and insists he let her in on whatever scheme he’s working on. Sonny is flustered and says that he has too much going on to consider it. Jodie is insistent (“Dammit Sonny I don’t want to get boardwalk cheese fries, I want your cheese fries!”), and Sonny eventually relents. As they kiss, Jodie texts Maggie “I’m in”.
Meanwhile, Finnegan calls Tawny. Tawny is in her bathroom washing the toucan in an attempt to clean the paint off. Finnegan tells her that he no longer wants the original bird as it is too vicious and also has escaped. Tawny asks if he wants one of the birds in her apartment. Finnegan says that he is done with birds personally, but needs her help finding the bird that has escaped before either the Whitakers or the Verandas know that it has gone. In doing so, he reveals Sonny’s entire plan to Tawny.
Tawny agrees to help if Finnegan will help her get rid of the other birds. Finnegan agrees, and says he will drive over right away so that they can begin searching for the bird. They drive along the coast, tracking the bird by the trail of destruction that it has left behind. As they drive, Tawny texts the details of Sonny’s plan to Maggie, including all the details of the fight.
The next night, the bowling alley’s bar area has been decked out for the fight. Sonny is made nervous by Apollo’s strong entrance. Doyle tries to show that he is not nervous by making a show of stretching.
Finnegan brings the bird to the bowling alley, and so Sonny locks everyone in the bar area, letting the bird roam free in the bowling alley.
The fight begins, and although Doyle is getting beat, he is able to take a hit and hold his own. A few rounds in, the bird opens the door, flying in to deliver a defeating blow to Apollo. Rupert is hurt but mostly fine, but Apollo gets severely injured by the bird’s beak and talons, and is knocked unconscious. The crowd is dead silent as Doyle yells in victory.
Vinny, Sonny’s uncle, stands up on seeing the bird, taking out his phone to make a call. Sonny rushes to Jodie, telling her to wait outside by the car (“Honey, we gotta go, right now, we gotta get out of Bluff City”), before he rushes to his office.
The IRS rolls in headed by Maggie in a bulletproof vest at the same time as the rest of the Veranda family arrives from the opposite side of the bowling alley.
Tawny realises that the Veranda family are on site, and so she dives behind the bar and gets a bag of bar peanuts to create a carpet of peanuts in the hope that the bird will be attracted to the nuts. Maggie opens the kitchen door slightly, triggering Doyle’s entrance music again before she kicks down the door, announcing the IRS’s presence.
The bird dives for the peanuts as the Veranda family also enters. The Veranda family are reluctant to shoot as they fear hitting the bird in the crossfire. Tawny directs the IRS to arrest Sonny in the office. Vinny, hearing this, also heads towards Sonny.
Sonny reaches the car holding a pair of bowling shoes, a briefcase, and a bright blue jacket. He is startled to see the cars of the Veranda family and the IRS. As he puts his bags in the car, Jodie cuffs him. Sonny is shocked to discover that she is an IRS agent.
Vinny steps out of the bowling alley. Sonny, on seeing him, begs Jodie to let him go. Jodie and Vinny have a brief standoff before Sonny takes off running towards the water, chased by Jodie and Vinny. Sonny, although not the most athletic, has a slight advantage as he is the only one not wearing bowling shoes. Behind them, he is also chased by Maggie and Walt Whitaker.
Sonny reaches the boardwalk, kicking up sand as he runs down the coastline. He trips and falls into the sand and stays down. Vinny catches up to him, kneeling down next to him (“this will go bad for you”). Sonny begs Vinny not to tell his parents, and Vinny replies that they’re past that.
Jodie reaches them, telling Vinny to back away from Sonny and that Sonny is under arrest. Vinny tells her to leave them, and Sonny echoes him. Jodie tells him she can’t, because she does have feelings for him (“It’s not just about the papers. It’s the cheese fries”), and attempts to tackle Vinny.
Vinny turns the tackle around on her, but before he can shoot her Maggie steps in and tases him. As Vinny and Sonny are being put into the back of seperate police vans, Vinny asks Sonny who stole the bird. Sonny is reluctant to do so, not wanting to implicate Finnegan, and tells Vinny that he stole the bird.
Later, Vinny visits "The" Scuba Shop to tell Finnegan that he knows it was really Finnegan who stole the bird. Finnegan is bundled out of the scuba shop and forced to get into one of his subs. Finnegan takes the sub out further and further, trying to find a place that the Veranda family can’t get him but is unable to find one before the sub runs out of fuel.
Doyle returns to work at the Scuba Shop and notes that Finnegan isn’t there. Although it’s not so unusual for Finnegan not to come in, as days go by Doyle becomes more concerned. Eventually the local community helps Doyle to become the owner of the Scuba Shop. He organises a grave for Finnegan, visiting it through the years and talking to it about his life.
As word of mouth spreads about Tawny’s work training Doyle for the fight, her gym becomes wildly popular. Although she has moved away from helping law enforcement, Maggie convinces her to join animal control to chase down Rupert. We last see her in her car, watching Van McLaren.
Jodie excitedly talks to her dad on the phone, giving him a play-by-play of her first big arrest. After she hangs up both of them are violently attacked by the Whitakers, leading to Jodie’s father’s death and Jodie being blackmailed into working for them.
Sonny goes to jail, writing postcards to Finnegan without any response. He gets back in touch with his family, and is welcomed back into the fold after he is released from prison, working in a similar role to Jodie.
Cast[edit | edit source]
- Austin Walker (Sonny Veranda)
- Jack de Quidt (Finnegan Hands)
- Janine Hawkins (Tawny Buck)
- Sylvia Clare (Doyle MacKaye)
- Andrew Lee Swan (Jodie O’Brian)