Blue Heelers S05E03

Smoke and Mirrors

Episode 5.03 (173)
March 04, 1998
Written by Cassandra Carter
Directed by Karl Steinberg

Adam's mate, Wazza Tully, is in trouble — Mandy Barnes wants him charged with sexual assault after an incident at the Imperial where a drunken Wazza tried to grabs her breasts. Tom sends Adam to "have a few words" with his mate and warn him to stay off the grog — especially at the footy club fund-raiser.

The benefit features Justin de Carlo, an illusionist and stage hypnotist. All the Heelers are there, and some of them even find themselves up on stage as volunteers, as does Wazza. But when Justin suggests that his hypnotised volunteers go into the audience and kiss the person they fancy the most, the whole town is astounded when Wazza heads straight for Adam and kisses him full on the lips! Although Tom is inclined to play down the situation the following morning, believing the less fuss made, the sooner it will be forgotten, Wazza demands police action, convinced that he has been tricked and defamed. Nick discovers an obsure law that makes stage hypnosis against the law, but when they point this out to de Carlo, he challenges them to prove that he actually hypnotised anyone, it was all just an act.

Adam tries to calm down his embarrassed friend, but when Adam goes to Zoe for a professional opinion about hypnotism, he is far from reassured when she tells him that subjects rarely do anything against their nature when under the influence. So the chances are that Wazza is actually gay and over-compensating. This is obviously what his footy mates believe when they attack Wazza for trying to join a practice session. Adam arrives in time to witness the fight but doesn't intervene, not wishing to be branded with the same stigma. Wazza refuses to charge his attackers.

Wazza is soon in trouble again when he attempts to talk his fiancée out of breaking off their engagement but is interrupted by her fist-wielding brother. Adam breaks up the fight, but is cool towards his former mate. By now Adam is not feeling proud of his betrayal of friendship, but when Justin De Carlo's car is found run off the road, he has to believe that Wazza may have been responsible, even though there are other suspects. When Wazza is found swilling down pills and swaying drunkenly on the football grandstand roof, it is Adam who talks him down. The next day there are a couple of surprise confessions with regard to De Carlo's accident, only one of which turns out to be correct. And Adam is at last able to persuade his friend to charge the bigots who made it impossible for him to stay in the town.

Guest Starring: Catherine Wilkin as Sally Downie, Ritchie Singer as Justin De Carlo, Karen Davitt as Dr. Zoe Hamilton, David Walters as Wazza Tully, Brett Tucker as Steve Camilleri, Jessica Gower as Sophie Camilleri, Jenny Lovell as Gail Russell, Peter Hosking as Jim Tully, Laura Fitzpatrick as Mandy Barnes

(encoded with Handbrake - Blue Heelers - from Complete Fifth Season DVD - the early years)

Duration: approximately 45 minutes
Aspect ratio: 4:3 standard
Audio: linear hi-fi/stereo
Size: 493MB
Video format: MPEG-4 (MP4)

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