A terrorist pretending to make a documentary about the RCMP Musical Ride hijacks the train carrying the group on its exhibition tour. One of the more awesome episodes of Due South, complete with action-packed sequences for all of the principals (Ray V gets aboard the train, and brings along Dief for the ride), lots of Mounties waking up in unison... oh, and Fraser and Thatcher finally kiss.
Tropes
- The Big Damn Kiss: Fraser and Thatcher have one on top of the train shortly after Fraser gets back on after a presumed death by falling, and before they confront the terrorists.
- The Cavalry: The other Mounties on the train are knocked out for most of the episode, but they reawaken in time for the climax (immediately singing, as they were before falling unconscious), where they all get on horseback to chase down and apprehend the terrorist leader.
- Damsel in Distress: During the climax, the terrorist leader takes Thatcher hostage, but she's rescued with assistance from The Cavalry.
- "Die Hard" on an X: The majority of the episode takes place on a moving train where only a handful of characters (including Benton, Thatcher, Frobisher and later Ray and Diefenbaker) have any agency, as there is no way to stop the vehicle and the characters have to stop Randal and the rest of the terrorists from detonating a nuclear device.
- Failed a Spot Check: Fraser and Thatcher are too distracted by The Big Damn Kiss they're having to notice a Low Clearance bridge clipping off Fraser's hat. Even when Robert points out the damage later, Fraser claims his hat's just fine.
- Faux Affably Evil: The psychopathic White Supremacist terrorist leader, who plans to cause a nuclear explosion and kills his own men (including his girlfriend), all with a smile on his face.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: When the Chicago police are able to identify the White Supremacist terrorist, they learn he was a demolitions expert in the military who was dishonorably discharged after blowing up a mess hall.
- Gasshole: Buck Frobisher has been passing gas "for the past week", the medical complications of which being why he's seemingly immune to the Knockout Gas.
- Handcar Pursuit: After falling off during the Traintop Battle, Fraser manages to survive, and catch up to the train with a handcar before pulling himself back on with a lasso.
- High-Speed Train Reroute: Sergeant Frobisher is able to reroute a train by shooting the switch stand.
- I See Them, Too: Buck Frobisher, soon after Benton Fraser manages to reach out to him for help, sees and interacts with the ghost of Robert Fraser. When they both tell Robert to mind his own business during a key moment, Benton and Buck confirm that the other one sees him too.
- Knockout Gas: At the start of the episode, most of the RCMP Musical Ride is completely knocked out due to terrorists pumping in anesthetic gas, leaving just Fraser, Thatcher, and Buck to save the day.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: At the end of the episode, Thatcher makes it clear to Fraser that The Big Damn Kiss they had was inappropriate, and should never happen between them again...unless the exact same circumstances ever reoccur, including a train full of Mounties and a potential nuclear explosion. Taking a scene from the Grand Finale of the series (which was removed out of syndicated airings) into account, she ended up breaking this rule.
- Love Triangle: Both Buck Frobisher and Robert Fraser loved Benton Fraser's mother enough to have a trick shot competition to see which one of them would be permitted to woo her. However, even after he lost, Buck never had ill will towards his friend, and even claims he intentionally lost (which Bob doesn't believe).
- Low Clearance: During The Big Damn Kiss on top of the train, both Fraser and Thatcher are too distracted by it to notice an incoming bridge...or that it completely cuts off the top of Fraser's hat when they pass under it.
- No Honor Among Thieves: The terrorist leader ends up killing his own men (and girlfriend) to avoid splitting the ransom money they obtained as a byproduct of their plan, calling himself "greedy".
- Off Bridge, onto Vehicle: In order to offer assistance after learning there's a bomb onboard the train, Ray carries Diefenbaker in this way onto the train.
- Ransom Drop: After receiving a call with the terrorists' demands for cash, Ray is tasked with obtaining a bag of money and leaving it in a catcher pouch (a mail bag used by old-fashioned trains), which is then picked up with a hook when the train passes by.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Ransom Drop turns out to be one huge decoy to distract police from the terrorists' actual goal: crashing the Runaway Train into one coming in the opposite direction carrying nuclear material in order to cause a nuclear explosion. The White Supremacist leader claims he's doing this as a statement, because America is no longer following their forefathers.
- Runaway Train: Upon trying to find and activate the train's breaks, Buck Frobisher (and the ghost of Robert Fraser) find that the terrorists have rewired them to connect to a bomb.
- Something Only They Would Say: Astonished when the ghost of his old friend Robert Fraser appears before him to help, and doubting if he's the real deal, Buck asks if he remembers what they always called the near-impossible trick shot that decided which one of them got to woo Caroline Pinsent. Robert takes a few moments to recall, but when he states it was "The Great Yukon Double Douglas Fir Telescoping Bank Shot", Buck completely believes it's really him.
- Throwing the Fight: At the end of the episode, Buck claims that he intentionally lost the trick shot competition because he could tell Caroline loved Bob more, but Bob claims he's just trying to save face.
- Time Bomb: After eliminating his fellow terrorists and taking Thatcher hostage, the terrorist leader activates a timer on the bomb, so the heroes will have to choose between disarming it or chasing him down. They decide to split up, with Fraser, Ray, and Dief disarming the bomb while Buck and Robert delay the leader until The Cavalry wakes up.
- Toilet Humor: Early on, Buck makes a notable fart when talking about his age. Soon after, he has to talk to Fraser through a toilet when the Knockout Gas prevents a direct meeting, and briefly gets his hand stuck in it.
- Traintop Battle: After first escaping their captors, Fraser ends up fighting an axe-wielding terrorist on top of the train, only for them both to fall off into some trees during the scuffle.
- The Unreveal: We never learn how Robert really performed "The Great Yukon Double Douglas Fir Telescoping Bank Shot", because when he decides to finally reveal it to Buck with a whisper, a train horn blares.
