Frankie Drake Mysteries Review: Ward of the Roses (Season 3 Episode 8)
Frankie herself takes a back seat in Frankie Drake Mysteries Season 3 Episode 8, “Ward of the Roses,” an hour which tells a story set in Toronto’s famous immigrant community, The Ward, and allows Trudy a chance to shine.
The episode focuses on Trudy’s decision to help her old friend Etta Ross run for Alderwoman in The Ward, an area of 1930s Toronto that was known for its high immigrant population, as well as run-down houses and wide variety of businesses, some shady and some not.
Etta, as you probably could have guessed without my telling you, is very in favor of helping The Ward and the communities who live in it, rather than allowing developers to move in and take over the land that’s provided a home to waves of immigrants since the 1800s.
The Ward is also, by the way, home to Toronto’s Chinatown, which is where Quon’s cafe and whiskey speakeasy is located, a frequent hangout of Frankie, Trudy and their friends. Frankie Drake Mysteries’ commitment to diverse history and characters is legit, y’all.
It’s possible that we don’t tout that enough — that this is a show that doesn’t whitewash history, and deliberately includes a variety of characters, and communities of color in its storytelling. This is particularly rare in the world of period dramas, which do this sort of thing very infrequently.
That Frankie Drake Mysteries never treats Trudy as a sidekick, but as a fully rounded character in her own right is honestly one of the best things about the show. (Though, admittedly, I wish she got more “main” storylines like this more often.)
Trudy wrangles Frankie, Mary and Flo into helping with Etta’s campaign, which becomes an investigation when a bomb explodes at her campaign headquarters. The local police seem deeply uninterested in finding out what happened – whether that’s because Etta is a woman, black or excited about the idea of getting justice for poor people is unclear – so it’s time for the Drake Detective Agency to figure out what’s up.
As cases go, this one is pretty underwhelming, involving a lot of jerkish men who do jerkish things and constantly undervalue the abilities and performance of the women around them, from Etta to Frankie to Mary.
Also, surprise, rich white men like to keep poor communities of color oppressed, and have since time immemorial. Who’s shocked?
A more interesting subplot gets under way with the arrival of Boyzey Pembroke, another friend of Trudy’s from way back when, arrives on the scene determined to help Etta’s campaign.s
it’s a rare thing to see a period drama named after its white woman lead spend so much time focusing on the stories of side characters of color, but it’s great to see in action.
Frankie Drake Mysteries takes the time — even though it’s only a few scenes — to really allow its audience to see the long-standing connection between these three black characters. Their race isn’t the thing that binds them, it’s the experiences they’ve shared that do. And that makes such a difference.
Unfortunately, Boyzey is also a developer and ultimately doesn’t believe Etta can win over the rich businessmen of the district, given that she wants to do things like raise taxes and prevent their cronies from exploiting the resources and residents of the area.
So, instead of helping her figure out how to do that in a way that doesn’t involve her compromising who he is, Boyzey decides to run for Alderman himself. Men! Ugh!At least he promises that Etta can be part of his planning committee. Eyeroll forever.
It all turns out okay in the end, though, when Frankie and friends discover the entrenched (white) existing Aldermen has been paying local college kids to cause trouble and help him sway votes through fear. Etta wins after Boyzey sees the light and throws his support behind her, and Trudy and her old friend celebrate with a fairly shoehorned-in rendition of “AIn’t Nobody’s Business if I Do” at her victory party.
All’s well that ends well, right?
Stray Thoughts and Observations
- I realize this moment had very litlte real relevance to the episode’s larger story but my English major nerd heart LOVED Mary and Flo reading James Joyce’s story “The Dead” from Dubliners in questionable Irish accents so much.
- Mary’s constant cheerleading for Flo – see also: her insistence that her friend will be city coroner some day – is so wonderful. And they remain the cutest undercover duo.
What did you think of this episode of Frankie Drake Mysteries? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Frankie Drake Mysteries airs Saturdays at 7/6c on Ovation.
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Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.
3 comments
Such a well-written piece, this episode tell-tale gives me exactly what I needed without spoiling it, thank you! I *love* your detailed insightful observations, and also YES to the eyeroll forever! The strengths of the series, which you so aptly describe, outweigh the weaknesses, but I do wish someone with your skill were on the writing team (I find the writing on the series can be pretty clunky at times, slightly annoying). Thanks for increasing the fun factor for this series!
Why isn’t there a review for episode 7?
sounds so much like what us people of color
go through in the united states of america; this is a canadian perspective…
how they gone through what we do in the u.s.? glad etta won.
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