Rewatched the Murder She Wrote episode 'Thicker Than Water' earlier and god these brothers still give me all the feels like firstly Mort, alright, Mort's interesting because he left New York to get away from things and now the past has come back to haunt him, but while he's stunned to see Wayne there...he's not exactly shocked. Like there's way he wouldn't have known when Wayne's release date was so he must've known there was a chance that Wayne would come looking for him, even if he's tried to tell himself that maybe, just maybe he wouldn't. He's angry and upset to see him because the fact is he likely did keep trying to reach out to Wayne again and again, over the years...
But the thing is, there's only so much you can do for someone and on some level you see Mort's point about this - he's thrown and out of sorts by Wayne's appearance and even by what Wayne's trying to say because it's probably not the first time he's heard 'I've changed' or 'Things are gonna be different now' only for it to turn out not to be, but at the same time...he doesn't take the out Wayne gives him. "Check-out's at twelve noon. If I don't see you by then, I'll go. Okay?" Like that's an out and the unspoken words are 'and I won't ever come back' and I think Wayne really would've done that, he'd have left Cabot Cove and never returned again, all Mort had to do was either not show up or even outright tell him there and then to leave town, and Wayne would've done so...
Yet Mort can't bring himself to do it. He looks at the family album, sees that photo of him and Wayne, a photo that shows that yeah, there were times they were talking, a photo that reminds him of this, he leaves it til the very last minute to make a point but he still shows up, still finds him a job. Course, he's pushing a lot down, claims that he's just fine with pretending Wayne isn't his brother - 'that's the way I want it' he says to Wayne, even though his eyes tell a very different story, and when Jessica parrots that same phrase back to him he doesn't actually say 'yes' because his emotions are already complicating things. He claims he doesn't really care but he did his best to find something Wayne could do, made an effort to find someone he thought would be firm but fair (because it's not like he knew what was gonna happen), apparently keeps tabs on him enough to know he really has been working hard-
But problem is, he's expecting it to all to go wrong like it always does. During that conversation with Jessica it's just so clear he's projecting - 'I am just trying to save you some grief' he says, 'Trouble follows him wherever he goes. And I just don't want you to get hurt' but he's really talking about himself, he's been hardening his own emotions because of what happened three years prior, because he doesn't want himself to get hurt yet again and it's shocking to see him immediately assume his little brother's guilty of murder when even he's not given any indication that this is something he was worried about...but it's because he's been pushing all of this down and now it's so bad he doesn't even do his job right and pursue every lead and doesn't even bring in Jessica even though part of him must want to...
Now Wayne's one of my favourite characters in the whole series and again, he's an interesting character, like he's a reformed ex-con who's genuinely trying his best, who really does want to change for the better because his time in prison was a wake-up call, the wake-up call he needed. He's able to look back on his past actions and realise how badly he screwed up and how hard he made things for his older brother when Mort was just trying to keep the family together and trying to be a good role model - even outright agrees that yes, it's understandable why Mort did that after their father died. He knows Mort's not gonna be pleased to see him, gives him the out because he also knows there's every chance he can't fix things...
Yet he came to Cabot Cove anyway and he's clearly so pleased when Mort does give him the chance, literally leaps up to answer the door in excitement because he's gonna get to prove himself to his big brother, make things up to him - but he's so clearly gutted when Mort tells him that he's all but disowning him as his brother, like that is not a possibility that ever occurred to him and he's really hurt by that. It doesn't stop him from reaching out at first, even teases his brother early on, 'Zach's kind of a bear, but he'll treat you fairly' 'Reminds me of somebody else I know' *gives a brief grin when Mort gives him a Look*, really works hard over the next three weeks and offers to buy Mort lunch when he's next on dry land...but gets rebuffed. He admits to Jessica it's as much about earning Mort's forgiveness as proving something to himself, but doesn't think he's ever gonna get it, believes Mort's written him off.
'Give him a little more time." Jessica tells him. "And if you don't want him to give up on you, then for heaven's sake's don't give up on him' and this is sound advice because it does have to work both ways and if it wasn't for the Plot this would likely have worked out eventually...but Plot does happen, his boss vanishes overnight, possibly murdered, Wayne's panicked and frightened and tries to sort it out by calling the Coastguard and explaining to Mort...
Only to get accused of murder, gets that flung at him in response and it's clear this is the last straw for him, his own brother believing him capable of murdering a man in cold blood to the point of not even considering another suspect and Wayne doesn't take this lying down, he gets angry and rightly so because much as he's hurt Mort it doesn't warrant this and at this point it's clear to him it's too late because Mort has already given up on him so he runs, twice, because if Mort didn't believe him then he certainly won't believe him now-
Only it turns out that isn't true.
Because deep down Mort knows he's letting his emotions cloud his judgement - Jessica questioned earlier on whether the fact he'd been so hurt wasn't in fact the point and after explaining what happened three years prior Jessica again points this out, reminds him of his job...and he already knows this. 'Mrs F, I really need your help' is the response because this is probably what Mort's been wanting to ask since it all went down because the truth is he really doesn't want Wayne to turn out to have been guilty, and when he later puts out an APB on him for Terry's murder he doesn't revert back, he goes on to question Keller and investigate Zach and doesn't even consider the fact he might've killed Terry despite the evidence. The rest of the episode is spent trying to prove his brother innocent, he works with Jessica to find the secret compartment, heads off to the warehouse to confront Zach-
And this is the thing, right, at this point in time Wayne obviously doesn't know any of this, and during said confrontation he doesn't appear until near the end so still doesn't know that Mort did this, he's convinced Mort is gonna throw him in prison without a second thought...but doesn't hesitate to save his life, takes a bullet in the process because no matter what they've gone through he can't stand by and watch his big brother get killed.
And for Mort this is his worse nightmare, especially in that first couple of seconds when Wayne's lying motionless because in the end what his attitude boiled down to was anger born of worry! There's no question he's seen how bad gang violence can get over the years, especially in New York, he's probably seen a lotta kids badly hurt or even killed because of it so it's clear the one thing he's feared all this time was Wayne in that situation because he'd never have recovered from it. Whatever their problems, he just wants his little brother safe...and now he's lying there, bleeding out from a bullet wound, only it's not because of a gang problem, it's because he just took a bullet for Mort, despite everything, and his guilt in the hospital scene is plain to see. If he'd been supportive of Wayne from the start this might not've happened because Wayne should've at least been able to trust that Mort would be fair, and he wasn't.
But it's one of the best resolutions of any episode because they do reconcile and the hug they share is just so sweet and it makes me so happy every time I watch it, they've both missed each other these three years but now they get to make up for it and I just love that so much and it's just a shame we never get an update on this but it doesn't take away from the episode at all, it's a fine piece of television and never fails to give me the feels every single time.
