The fourth and final season of the lighthearted cop show Due South finds the naïve but sharp-witted RCMP Constable Benton Fraser (Paul Gross) still attached to the Canadian consulate in Chicago, enabling him to assist his friend, Chicago police detective Stanley Kowalski (Callum Keith Rennie), in various investigations on an unofficial basis. It should be noted, however, that to the world at large, Kowalski is known as Det. Ray Vecchio, the name of Fraser's former partner, who has gone undercover as a mob "mole" named Armando Logustini. Ray's sister Francesca (Ramona Milano), who has always had a thing for Benton, is now working with the 27th Precinct as a civilian aide, answerable to Kowalski's superior Lt. Welsh (Beau Starr). In the series' final two episodes, the real Ray Vecchio (David Marciano) makes a return appearance, just in time to nab the illegal arms dealer who, years before, had murdered Benton Fraser's mother (Ray and Benton received outside help in this matter from the ubiquitous ghost of Fraser's father). An epilogue then fills in the viewer as to what happened to all the main characters once the series was over. Without giving too much away, it should be no surprise to reveal that Benton's longtime rival detectives, Huey (Tony Craig) and Dewey (Tom Melissis), eventually quit the force to become a comedy team -- "The Duck Boys." The 13 episodes of Due South's fourth season were filmed at the same time as the 13 installments of the series' third season. Though telecast over a two-year period in Canada, these two seasons were combined into one for American syndication.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
