The Comedy About a Bank Robbery

About the show

The year is 1958. Convict Mitch Ruscitti, currently imprisoned at the British Columbia Penitentiary, hatches an escape plan with Neil Cooper, one of the guards, with the intent of traveling to Minneapolis to steal a diamond worth half a million dollars. Unfortunately, due to Cooper's big mouth, word gets out about the plan, and the whole prison wants to join the heist. Mitch and Cooper are able to escape, however, and they drive down to the Twin Cities to find the diamond. Meanwhile, at the Minneapolis City Bank, manager Robin Freeboys oversees preparations to ensure the bank is secure enough to store the diamond in question, owned by Prince Ludwig of Hungary. This proves tough, as the bank is victim to more crimes than any other bank in the state (in fact, Mr. Freeboys' car and furniture are stolen by robbers who were mistaken as bank staff). Luckily, Ruth Monaghan, a teller at the bank (who always says "everyone in this town's a crook"), persuades bureau officer Randall Shuck to allow the bank to store the diamond, much to his superiors' anger. Over the next few days, Caprice Freeboys, Mr. Freeboys' daughter and Mitch's ex, starts dating Sam Monaghan, Ruth's son and a pickpocket, in the hopes of sweet-talking some money out of him (the money she currently gets from her father and other three suitors will barely cover her rent). While at her apartment, however, Mitch and Cooper arrive with the tools needed to pull off the bank heist (including ventilation blueprints and an electric drill), along with the codes for the diamond case. The two crooks rope Sam and Caprice into joining them, mainly because the former can pose as Mr. Freeboys, and the latter as Prince Ludwig's attaché. Before they leave for the night, however, Mitch privately tells Caprice that he's not cutting Sam in, noting "as soon as we got the diamond, Sam's dead." The next several days pass with the bank finishing preparations, Ruth and Randall dating, the heist team going over their plan, and Sam asking Ruth for relationship advice. On the night of the heist, things don't go according to plan (Cooper initially sedates Sam instead of Mr. Freeboys, for one), but the team is able to shut down the AC and access the air ducts. As they crawl past the back office, they're forced to knock out and bring along intern Warren Slax as he attempts to check the vents. Eventually, Mitch and Cooper get separated from the rest of the team, and find themselves directly over the vault. Unfortunately, the vent below Cooper buckles, and Mitch, having no further use for Cooper, shoves him into the still-running fan below, killing him. Once Sam and Caprice arrive, Mitch convinces them that he tried to save Cooper, and they continue with the heist. Once inside the vault, the team is able to access the casing containing the diamond, but Mr. Freeboys (who was planning on stealing the diamond himself to cause a stir in the newspapers) walks in on them, forcing Mitch to shoot him and Prince Ludwig (who was hoping to resolve the situation). With the diamond in hand, Mitch tells Caprice to shoot Sam, but she refuses out of love for Sam; Mitch responds by shooting Caprice, but Sam dives in front of her and takes the bullet in his shoulder. Before Mitch can kill either of them, however, Warren falls out of the vent and lands on Mitch, allowing Sam and Caprice to escape. The two of them make it to Caprice's apartment, where she attempts to patch up Sam's shoulder. Before she can get started, though, Mitch catches up to them and attempts to shoot Caprice, but Randall shoots him first. At Ruth's persuasion, he misdirects the police, patches up Sam's wound, and gives him and Caprice his car to cross over into Ontario and lie low (it's a good thing Caprice knows someone there). Once they leave, Ruth takes the diamond from the dead Mitch, handcuffs Randall to Caprice's bed, and spills a trail of liquor onto the ground. She then warns Randall to be careful who he trusts, before holding up a lighter and giving one last remark: "It's like I always say; everyone in this town's a crook." (This ending was changed about a month into the run of the show as it was seen as quite a dark ending to a funny show. Ruth takes the diamond from the dead Mitch and handcuffs Randall to Caprice's bed. She then warns Randall to be careful who he trusts, giving one last remark: "It's like I always say; everyone in this town's a crook." She leaves and does not set fire to the apartment.)