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your whole life is in here
Today in weird nostalgia, I have discovered We Didn't Start the Fandom, which is a filk about the Harry Potter fandom, and ... wow, I spent about four straight minutes going "HAHA OH MY GOD I REMEMBER THAT." I think only a small portion of my current internet acquaintance carries over from the dark ages of HP fandom in the first half of this decade (Three Year Summer, anyone?) but if you were there, this will probably induce at least knowing laughs.
Back in the realm of the current (HAHA FUNNY JOKE, s3 was airing just a few months after Philosopher's Stone came out -- wow, I had not bothered to do the math before, and while I would definitely have been old enough to watch and understand even s1 dS on its original run if we'd had a TV at the time, I was still really young; moving on!) I have more due South commentary. In fact I have only four more episodes to go, counting both parts of CotW; part of me is doing the digging-in-my-heels thing I do when I get near CotW, because I don't want it to be over, but on the other hand if I am done, I will suddenly free up my time off work for other worthy pursuits, not least trying to crank out a draft of that crazy!Fraser fic. :D
4x07 Mountie Sings the Blues
I have trouble taking this episode seriously because it guest starsSaul Tigh with a ridiculous mustache Michael Hogan. Canadian cross-pollination ruins everything, by which I mean makes me giggle a lot.
Speaking of Canadian cross-pollination, the episode guide tells me that this episode is in fact one giant in-joke. The guy who plays Earl writes songs with Paul Gross, the song Huey and Dewey are composing throughout the episode is a song David-Keeley-who-plays-Earl and Paul Gross actually wrote (RUINS EVERYTHING; by 'makes me giggle' I possibly mean 'makes me laugh uncontrollably') and of course Tracy Jenkins is entirely made of meta. Sometimes I suspect that I'm just watching everyone happily mess around for an hour under a thinly disguised veil of plot; in fact I suspect this a lot of Paul Gross.
When I watched this episode with Rigby, she was able to name a country song with a donkey in it in about five seconds. Sadly I have zero recollection of what it was, but I do know that I am extremely fond of the Frannie-Huey-Dewey-Turnbull subplot in this episode. This is possibly one of the best episodes for using the full cast in an ensemble capacity, second only to, mm, Mountie on the Bounty, when you're probably too caught up in the Fraser-and-Ray stuff to pay proper attention anyway.
And oh god, I really adore Fraser and Tracy's relationship. They both think each other are the bee's knees or some other appropriately silly Fraserish phrase, and I like that Tracy isn't even remotely a love interest -- and also possibly one of the most fully realized one-shot characters, come to that -- but they still kind of have a Thing; it never goes anywhere, and it doesn't need to, and I think Fraser would absolutely benefit from more healthy relationships of this kind.
This episode is just made of warm fuzzies, too. Turnbull wining and dining Frannie is another one of those single favourite scenes; they're so completely insane that they might actually work for one another, although I don't ship it particularly. And meanwhile Fraser is being all talented and self-deprecating over at Tracy's recording studio, and we also have Ray's lovely line, "Moving like a block of wood; singing like a bird." Of course he says he didn't tell Fraser what kind of bird, but we all know a compliment when we hear one, Ray.
And just -- the end, Ray shoving Fraser into the stage and Fraser looking momentarily petrified but then just going with it as earnestly as possible, it just gives me a face-splitting grin. Ladies Man is good srs biznes due South; this one is really good unsrs biznes dS. <3
4x08 Good for the Soul
I love that Ray and Fraser go Christmas shopping at the mall together. <3 I love even more, though, the look on Fraser's face when Warfield hits Tommy the waiter; Warfield missed that look and even if he hadn't I doubt he would've apologized, but it was the Fraser look of unforgiving censure, and it only happens a couple of times ever, and it's actually ... kind of terrifying. (Also uncappable. Damn Paul Gross and his expressive face in motion.)
Ray's too jaded to actually fight the system -- which actually is quite sensible, because when Fraser tries it he nearly gets beaten to death; perhaps the point of the episode is that enough people standing up for what's right does make the right thing possible, but a heavy application of the Fraser-magic is still necessary -- but that doesn't mean he doesn't agree with Fraser, and he's as unpleasant as he possibly can be to Warfield's people. And even when he's busy bitching Fraser out for being dumb enough to go to Warfield's, the fact remains that Ray knew he was going to do it, and followed him just in case. I think it's a case of Ray knowing this thing is too big for them but mostly being terrified for Fraser, which of course comes out as aggression as per usual.
Frannie and Fraser bond over not wanting to study nudes in an art class! I love that they actually bond over Fraser's somewhat Victorian upbringing. This is another of those moments I want to hold up on display for why Fraser and Frannie would be awesome friends if only Frannie could stop trying to get into his pants every five seconds. (Also, Frannie is now talking to Dief. I think it's contagious, but justifiably so.)
Oh Stella. I think I just had an epiphany about Stella, actually, which is that she is in fact a lot like Ray. She knows trying to get Warfield on an assault charge is stupid and pointless, so what does she do? She lays out the facts, she says things like, "In the spirit of Christmas, Ray? Drop dead," and just when one might be entirely boggled by how short and callous she's being about the whole thing, her parting shot is, "My god, you can practically beat someone to death in this city and not get convicted! I'm sorry." And that right there makes her entire previous scene suddenly a very Ray scene: she deals with fear and frustration by getting aggressive about it, albeit in a less twitchy and more polysyllabled way than Ray. I have no idea why this is and I am kind of blindsided by it, because I forgot Stella was even in this episode, but suddenly both Stella's marriage and divorce with Ray make perfect sense to me, and I also really genuinely like her. Of all the scenes to make me unexpectedly like her! Still, YAY.
Hello, Bob! Gosh, he hasn't been in any of s4 thus far -- so of course they make up for it in the latter half. One of the things I love about Bob is that he can be absolutely perceptive but still incorrect at the same time; he's a helpful guide but Fraser still has to use his own judgment, is what it comes down to. Like in this case: "I've learned a few things since I died," he says; "I wish I'd spent more Christmases with you. And the branch that cannot bend must break." Fraser wants to know if that means Bob thinks he should give up on this; Bob says, "No, of course not. Some trails are solitary and must be taken alone." And the thing is ... those two bits of advice are at some level contradictory. Fraser can't bend, most of the time -- it's surprising he doesn't break more often, honestly, and the only time in recent memory when he does bend is MotB -- but if we're going with the tree metaphor, if there's too much pressure and the branch can't bend, in order to keep from breaking what it needs is support. Which is why, to switch metaphors, Fraser can't take the trail alone: in order to keep from breaking, he needs Ray's support. Sdkjds hi I love their partnership, and I think Bob would've been able to see the in-between option if he wasn't ... seeing his own mistakes in Fraser, I think that's part of what's going on here.
"Look, you know what you are? You're selfish. You're selfish -- you get a thing stuck in your head, you won't let it go no matter how hard it is on anybody else." That's ... an interesting accusation Ray's making, but I think it might be valid. Two seasons of Ray Vecchio getting frustrated with Fraser for taking crazy risks and acting kind of perfect trained me to more or less tune out partner-objections (a habit I suspect Fraser shares) because Vecchio just sort of kept up a steady stream of minor complaints about everything and projected all sorts of insecurities and frustrations onto Fraser because Fraser was able to more or less take them cheerfully in stride. Ray Kowalski meanwhile has a whole boatload more of insecurities than Ray Vecchio did, but he really doesn't project them -- so when he has a complaint about Fraser, it's damn important, it's not friendship white noise. He thinks Fraser's being selfish because he's scaring the hell out of Ray for a start; he also is legitimately screwing up the CPD's future chances of nailing Warfield and he's putting Tommy in a lot more danger than the kid would be in if Fraser wasn't standing up for him. The fact that Fraser doesn't have a limit on his principles is selfish. (That doesn't mean it isn't also the right thing to do, but it's a fair point.)
...Damn, I still love Stella. "I was thinking maybe if you had some time," Ray says, in the most ill-timed, ridiculous, and probably 'I'm worried enough about Fraser that it might be love and I have to convince myself that it's still about you'-motivated bid for Stella's time ever, "we could, uh, have some eggnog, maybe trim the tree..." and Stella responds at once, "Yeah, and I can shoot moonbeams out my --" Of course we're on TV and she can't finish that sentence, but I actually cracked up and was not indignant on Ray's behalf. You tell him, Stella! Ray, move the fuck on.
"You think I'm being selfish and single-minded?" Fraser asks his dad. Bob replies, "Oh, you're more than that, son, you're obsessive, overbearing, possibly even arrogant. But you've been right." And -- ahh, yes, exactly. I have a recollection of being completely bewildered by this assessment the first time through, possibly because I'd imprinted on Vecchio-era Fraser, who still is those things but Vecchio'd rather dwell on the perfectionism and didn't call him on that stuff, so no attention's really drawn to it. And I think it's important that Fraser have those things pointed out to him, not because single-mindedness and obsession and even the conviction-of-rightness that is sometimes arrogance are necessarily bad, but because he has to curb them; he can't solve the world's problems by himself, even if he's right. I think that's probably the point of this episode, and is in fact the point of a lot of the show but is most clearly spelled out here: Fraser likes to be the one who's needed, but he needs people too.
And oh, Ray's proud of him, and able to say it. I figure that episodes like MotB are explicitly about trying to achieve a symbiosis of partnership, but episodes like this one are implicitly about the same thing, and not just about taking a first few tentative steps towards genuine mutual support, but actually making it there.
The Christmas party at the end, too, is just wonderful. Fraser making a David for Frannie is priceless (although ... she tries to give him a kiss on the cheek and he flinches back; it kind of makes my heart hurt for both of them). The fact that Thatcher and Turnbull as well as Fraser got invited to the 27's party makes me deeply happy. Ray donating his really obnoxious plastic laser gun thingie to Turnbull is just adorable; "Assassin Santa coming through!" I love Turnbull really. And Bob gives Fraser a photo of the family. (I find it fascinating that Fraser was raised by his grandparents after the age of six but still consistently and definitely identifies Bob and Caroline as family, the important part.) Both this and Gift of the Wheelman are pretty wonderful Christmas episodes. <3
4x09 Dead Men Don't Throw Rice
"In the truth of the matter, you used the vehicle this morning in the commission of a felonious act, and now you've only reported it stolen to absolve yourself of any responsibility or connection to said vehicle?" Mm. Fraser thinks that's a beautiful paragraph. I think that's a beautiful paragraph too, not least because Ray obviously said it specifically to impress Fraser (which absolutely worked) and also because he used phrases like molecular integrity and I think it's seriously attractive when Ray Sounds Smart. I mean, I often think that Ray sounds smart -- I think it's fun to write him as losing words a little more than the average person does, because coming up with alternate words makes me laugh and I also enjoy reading it as a character trait, but the point is that [a] rumors of Ray's word misplacement are greatly exaggerated and [b] even if he does occasionally lose one or get a little inarticulate, he's still able to keep up with Fraser 95% of the time and if he specifically decides to put in the effort, he can pull out paragraphs about absolving oneself of a felonious act. <3
Francesca wants to know how someone can know something like how much a pound of nails weighs on Pluto but not notice something under their own nose; of course the answer is "Fraser can't learn how to handle personal relationships from a book," or possibly "Most of the ones he's attempted have crashed and burned spectacularly, so he uses cluelessness as a defensive weapon." Ray twigs at once that Frannie's talking about Fraser; I'm not inclined to read too much into that, both because it's obvious and because Ray later asks Fraser in a slightly flummoxed way whether he knows what's under his nose, but really Fraser is terrible at noticing the obvious things. And poor Frannie, seriously; she's pursued Fraser enough that she's become one giant Do Not Touch blind spot in Fraser's mind. I really don't know what to do with Frannie in this episode; I think she's making a sort of ill-conceived dual effort to get Fraser to notice her and to move on. Of course neither of these things actually work, and I'm not sure Frannie's pain is worth the laugh of Paul Gross speaking German and wearing funny glasses; at least Frannie looks pretty in a wedding dress?
She does have a point, though, which is that Fraser does have this tendency to hide behind honor and justice instead of actually dealing with things. On the other hand, the time Frannie chooses to make her point shows exactly why they couldn't possibly work out, because Fraser is busy agonizing over lying to get Van Zandt's flunkies to give up information and that is the Listening To Fraser time, not the It's About Frannie time. I think it's kind of fascinating that Fraser has learned how to lie, though; he kind of procrastinates on the truth in Dead Guy Running, lies by omission in Odds, and helps participate in an outright lie here, albeit with Ray basically holding his hand. The shipper in me suggests this is because he's accustomed himself to emotional dishonesty about Ray in order to not affect their partnership, but there's probably a good alternate explanation I haven't thought of.
I know Fraser feels desperately lonely sometimes, but I think it's worth pointing out that it took possibly thirty seconds, if that from the moment the words 'Fraser' and 'dead' were uttered in the same sentence to the whole station completely flipping out about it. This is a lot of people for one wacky Canadian.
Oh Huey. I love this line he has: "Fraser's like Superman. He can't die." Which I think perfectly justifies Fraser feeling alone even if everyone would apparently come to his funeral: look, he's Action Mountie, come to save the day! Ray on the other hand is genuinely upset that Fraser's not waking up, because he knows what the drill's supposed to be and he also knows that Fraser is fallible. Of course he knows this; he just saw Warfield's guys beat Fraser to a pulp an episode ago. But the important thing is that, unlike with Huey, this particular fact sticks.
And now we come to the Borderland, or the reason that I massively and possibly somewhat irrationally adore this episode. Fraser, who should be doing things like waiting for as short a time as possible, in as shallow a trance as possible, before waking up and going searching for a body, instead decides that it might be a good idea to go towards the light. And the only reason he doesn't go through the door with the light is that Bob calls him away, and even kind of argues with him about it a little; Fraser needs to be convinced. This is alarming in the best possible way. What is possibly even more alarming is that Fraser has a definite job to do and doesn't do it because he's too calmly fascinated with this place he finds himself in. Ladies and gentlemen, I put forth a theory: Fraser is probably not a very sane and healthy person.
The Borderland sequence makes me entirely happy, because for once the things Bob says ring absolutely true: "You see, son, in the Borderland all the questions you ask are unique to you and the answers are yours alone." And, argh, then he goes pointing at Fraser's chest and says, "Your whole life is in here, pressed into a single point in space in time so that no matter what direction you step, your destination is the same." And I think ... this is probably just good advice for life, not even for weird afterworlds, and a large part of me is tempted to make a sign with the salient points on it. (In fact the Borderland has a sign with the salient points on it! No, not in the episode, I just thought this was a good time to make vague gesturing motions at Katabasis in case you wanted any more of my thoughts about the Borderland and Fraser's unhealthy attitude about death and how Ray would totally be a better Orpheus than Orpheus. Moving on.)
Mostly though GOD I LOVE THAT THE SNOWY WILDERNESS TURNS INTO THE CHICAGO SKYLINE. Most of the time I have this working assumption that Bob and his world are definitely really there, but that they're also absolutely shaped by Fraser's perceptions of them -- Bob more than anything else I think is from pure Fraser POV. So that the Borderland is some Canadian wilderness and Chicago? that's important, and really lovely.
And Fraser will come back if someone's in trouble. That's important too. It's kind of lovely that he came back for Frannie, even, although she doesn't know it. I think it's kind of a shame he couldn't hear Ray well enough to come back for him, but that's ... one of those things they still need to work on.
Back in the realm of the current (HAHA FUNNY JOKE, s3 was airing just a few months after Philosopher's Stone came out -- wow, I had not bothered to do the math before, and while I would definitely have been old enough to watch and understand even s1 dS on its original run if we'd had a TV at the time, I was still really young; moving on!) I have more due South commentary. In fact I have only four more episodes to go, counting both parts of CotW; part of me is doing the digging-in-my-heels thing I do when I get near CotW, because I don't want it to be over, but on the other hand if I am done, I will suddenly free up my time off work for other worthy pursuits, not least trying to crank out a draft of that crazy!Fraser fic. :D
4x07 Mountie Sings the Blues
I have trouble taking this episode seriously because it guest stars
Speaking of Canadian cross-pollination, the episode guide tells me that this episode is in fact one giant in-joke. The guy who plays Earl writes songs with Paul Gross, the song Huey and Dewey are composing throughout the episode is a song David-Keeley-who-plays-Earl and Paul Gross actually wrote (RUINS EVERYTHING; by 'makes me giggle' I possibly mean 'makes me laugh uncontrollably') and of course Tracy Jenkins is entirely made of meta. Sometimes I suspect that I'm just watching everyone happily mess around for an hour under a thinly disguised veil of plot; in fact I suspect this a lot of Paul Gross.
When I watched this episode with Rigby, she was able to name a country song with a donkey in it in about five seconds. Sadly I have zero recollection of what it was, but I do know that I am extremely fond of the Frannie-Huey-Dewey-Turnbull subplot in this episode. This is possibly one of the best episodes for using the full cast in an ensemble capacity, second only to, mm, Mountie on the Bounty, when you're probably too caught up in the Fraser-and-Ray stuff to pay proper attention anyway.
And oh god, I really adore Fraser and Tracy's relationship. They both think each other are the bee's knees or some other appropriately silly Fraserish phrase, and I like that Tracy isn't even remotely a love interest -- and also possibly one of the most fully realized one-shot characters, come to that -- but they still kind of have a Thing; it never goes anywhere, and it doesn't need to, and I think Fraser would absolutely benefit from more healthy relationships of this kind.
This episode is just made of warm fuzzies, too. Turnbull wining and dining Frannie is another one of those single favourite scenes; they're so completely insane that they might actually work for one another, although I don't ship it particularly. And meanwhile Fraser is being all talented and self-deprecating over at Tracy's recording studio, and we also have Ray's lovely line, "Moving like a block of wood; singing like a bird." Of course he says he didn't tell Fraser what kind of bird, but we all know a compliment when we hear one, Ray.
And just -- the end, Ray shoving Fraser into the stage and Fraser looking momentarily petrified but then just going with it as earnestly as possible, it just gives me a face-splitting grin. Ladies Man is good srs biznes due South; this one is really good unsrs biznes dS. <3
4x08 Good for the Soul
I love that Ray and Fraser go Christmas shopping at the mall together. <3 I love even more, though, the look on Fraser's face when Warfield hits Tommy the waiter; Warfield missed that look and even if he hadn't I doubt he would've apologized, but it was the Fraser look of unforgiving censure, and it only happens a couple of times ever, and it's actually ... kind of terrifying. (Also uncappable. Damn Paul Gross and his expressive face in motion.)
Ray's too jaded to actually fight the system -- which actually is quite sensible, because when Fraser tries it he nearly gets beaten to death; perhaps the point of the episode is that enough people standing up for what's right does make the right thing possible, but a heavy application of the Fraser-magic is still necessary -- but that doesn't mean he doesn't agree with Fraser, and he's as unpleasant as he possibly can be to Warfield's people. And even when he's busy bitching Fraser out for being dumb enough to go to Warfield's, the fact remains that Ray knew he was going to do it, and followed him just in case. I think it's a case of Ray knowing this thing is too big for them but mostly being terrified for Fraser, which of course comes out as aggression as per usual.
Frannie and Fraser bond over not wanting to study nudes in an art class! I love that they actually bond over Fraser's somewhat Victorian upbringing. This is another of those moments I want to hold up on display for why Fraser and Frannie would be awesome friends if only Frannie could stop trying to get into his pants every five seconds. (Also, Frannie is now talking to Dief. I think it's contagious, but justifiably so.)
Oh Stella. I think I just had an epiphany about Stella, actually, which is that she is in fact a lot like Ray. She knows trying to get Warfield on an assault charge is stupid and pointless, so what does she do? She lays out the facts, she says things like, "In the spirit of Christmas, Ray? Drop dead," and just when one might be entirely boggled by how short and callous she's being about the whole thing, her parting shot is, "My god, you can practically beat someone to death in this city and not get convicted! I'm sorry." And that right there makes her entire previous scene suddenly a very Ray scene: she deals with fear and frustration by getting aggressive about it, albeit in a less twitchy and more polysyllabled way than Ray. I have no idea why this is and I am kind of blindsided by it, because I forgot Stella was even in this episode, but suddenly both Stella's marriage and divorce with Ray make perfect sense to me, and I also really genuinely like her. Of all the scenes to make me unexpectedly like her! Still, YAY.
Hello, Bob! Gosh, he hasn't been in any of s4 thus far -- so of course they make up for it in the latter half. One of the things I love about Bob is that he can be absolutely perceptive but still incorrect at the same time; he's a helpful guide but Fraser still has to use his own judgment, is what it comes down to. Like in this case: "I've learned a few things since I died," he says; "I wish I'd spent more Christmases with you. And the branch that cannot bend must break." Fraser wants to know if that means Bob thinks he should give up on this; Bob says, "No, of course not. Some trails are solitary and must be taken alone." And the thing is ... those two bits of advice are at some level contradictory. Fraser can't bend, most of the time -- it's surprising he doesn't break more often, honestly, and the only time in recent memory when he does bend is MotB -- but if we're going with the tree metaphor, if there's too much pressure and the branch can't bend, in order to keep from breaking what it needs is support. Which is why, to switch metaphors, Fraser can't take the trail alone: in order to keep from breaking, he needs Ray's support. Sdkjds hi I love their partnership, and I think Bob would've been able to see the in-between option if he wasn't ... seeing his own mistakes in Fraser, I think that's part of what's going on here.
"Look, you know what you are? You're selfish. You're selfish -- you get a thing stuck in your head, you won't let it go no matter how hard it is on anybody else." That's ... an interesting accusation Ray's making, but I think it might be valid. Two seasons of Ray Vecchio getting frustrated with Fraser for taking crazy risks and acting kind of perfect trained me to more or less tune out partner-objections (a habit I suspect Fraser shares) because Vecchio just sort of kept up a steady stream of minor complaints about everything and projected all sorts of insecurities and frustrations onto Fraser because Fraser was able to more or less take them cheerfully in stride. Ray Kowalski meanwhile has a whole boatload more of insecurities than Ray Vecchio did, but he really doesn't project them -- so when he has a complaint about Fraser, it's damn important, it's not friendship white noise. He thinks Fraser's being selfish because he's scaring the hell out of Ray for a start; he also is legitimately screwing up the CPD's future chances of nailing Warfield and he's putting Tommy in a lot more danger than the kid would be in if Fraser wasn't standing up for him. The fact that Fraser doesn't have a limit on his principles is selfish. (That doesn't mean it isn't also the right thing to do, but it's a fair point.)
...Damn, I still love Stella. "I was thinking maybe if you had some time," Ray says, in the most ill-timed, ridiculous, and probably 'I'm worried enough about Fraser that it might be love and I have to convince myself that it's still about you'-motivated bid for Stella's time ever, "we could, uh, have some eggnog, maybe trim the tree..." and Stella responds at once, "Yeah, and I can shoot moonbeams out my --" Of course we're on TV and she can't finish that sentence, but I actually cracked up and was not indignant on Ray's behalf. You tell him, Stella! Ray, move the fuck on.
"You think I'm being selfish and single-minded?" Fraser asks his dad. Bob replies, "Oh, you're more than that, son, you're obsessive, overbearing, possibly even arrogant. But you've been right." And -- ahh, yes, exactly. I have a recollection of being completely bewildered by this assessment the first time through, possibly because I'd imprinted on Vecchio-era Fraser, who still is those things but Vecchio'd rather dwell on the perfectionism and didn't call him on that stuff, so no attention's really drawn to it. And I think it's important that Fraser have those things pointed out to him, not because single-mindedness and obsession and even the conviction-of-rightness that is sometimes arrogance are necessarily bad, but because he has to curb them; he can't solve the world's problems by himself, even if he's right. I think that's probably the point of this episode, and is in fact the point of a lot of the show but is most clearly spelled out here: Fraser likes to be the one who's needed, but he needs people too.
And oh, Ray's proud of him, and able to say it. I figure that episodes like MotB are explicitly about trying to achieve a symbiosis of partnership, but episodes like this one are implicitly about the same thing, and not just about taking a first few tentative steps towards genuine mutual support, but actually making it there.
The Christmas party at the end, too, is just wonderful. Fraser making a David for Frannie is priceless (although ... she tries to give him a kiss on the cheek and he flinches back; it kind of makes my heart hurt for both of them). The fact that Thatcher and Turnbull as well as Fraser got invited to the 27's party makes me deeply happy. Ray donating his really obnoxious plastic laser gun thingie to Turnbull is just adorable; "Assassin Santa coming through!" I love Turnbull really. And Bob gives Fraser a photo of the family. (I find it fascinating that Fraser was raised by his grandparents after the age of six but still consistently and definitely identifies Bob and Caroline as family, the important part.) Both this and Gift of the Wheelman are pretty wonderful Christmas episodes. <3
4x09 Dead Men Don't Throw Rice
"In the truth of the matter, you used the vehicle this morning in the commission of a felonious act, and now you've only reported it stolen to absolve yourself of any responsibility or connection to said vehicle?" Mm. Fraser thinks that's a beautiful paragraph. I think that's a beautiful paragraph too, not least because Ray obviously said it specifically to impress Fraser (which absolutely worked) and also because he used phrases like molecular integrity and I think it's seriously attractive when Ray Sounds Smart. I mean, I often think that Ray sounds smart -- I think it's fun to write him as losing words a little more than the average person does, because coming up with alternate words makes me laugh and I also enjoy reading it as a character trait, but the point is that [a] rumors of Ray's word misplacement are greatly exaggerated and [b] even if he does occasionally lose one or get a little inarticulate, he's still able to keep up with Fraser 95% of the time and if he specifically decides to put in the effort, he can pull out paragraphs about absolving oneself of a felonious act. <3
Francesca wants to know how someone can know something like how much a pound of nails weighs on Pluto but not notice something under their own nose; of course the answer is "Fraser can't learn how to handle personal relationships from a book," or possibly "Most of the ones he's attempted have crashed and burned spectacularly, so he uses cluelessness as a defensive weapon." Ray twigs at once that Frannie's talking about Fraser; I'm not inclined to read too much into that, both because it's obvious and because Ray later asks Fraser in a slightly flummoxed way whether he knows what's under his nose, but really Fraser is terrible at noticing the obvious things. And poor Frannie, seriously; she's pursued Fraser enough that she's become one giant Do Not Touch blind spot in Fraser's mind. I really don't know what to do with Frannie in this episode; I think she's making a sort of ill-conceived dual effort to get Fraser to notice her and to move on. Of course neither of these things actually work, and I'm not sure Frannie's pain is worth the laugh of Paul Gross speaking German and wearing funny glasses; at least Frannie looks pretty in a wedding dress?
She does have a point, though, which is that Fraser does have this tendency to hide behind honor and justice instead of actually dealing with things. On the other hand, the time Frannie chooses to make her point shows exactly why they couldn't possibly work out, because Fraser is busy agonizing over lying to get Van Zandt's flunkies to give up information and that is the Listening To Fraser time, not the It's About Frannie time. I think it's kind of fascinating that Fraser has learned how to lie, though; he kind of procrastinates on the truth in Dead Guy Running, lies by omission in Odds, and helps participate in an outright lie here, albeit with Ray basically holding his hand. The shipper in me suggests this is because he's accustomed himself to emotional dishonesty about Ray in order to not affect their partnership, but there's probably a good alternate explanation I haven't thought of.
I know Fraser feels desperately lonely sometimes, but I think it's worth pointing out that it took possibly thirty seconds, if that from the moment the words 'Fraser' and 'dead' were uttered in the same sentence to the whole station completely flipping out about it. This is a lot of people for one wacky Canadian.
Oh Huey. I love this line he has: "Fraser's like Superman. He can't die." Which I think perfectly justifies Fraser feeling alone even if everyone would apparently come to his funeral: look, he's Action Mountie, come to save the day! Ray on the other hand is genuinely upset that Fraser's not waking up, because he knows what the drill's supposed to be and he also knows that Fraser is fallible. Of course he knows this; he just saw Warfield's guys beat Fraser to a pulp an episode ago. But the important thing is that, unlike with Huey, this particular fact sticks.
And now we come to the Borderland, or the reason that I massively and possibly somewhat irrationally adore this episode. Fraser, who should be doing things like waiting for as short a time as possible, in as shallow a trance as possible, before waking up and going searching for a body, instead decides that it might be a good idea to go towards the light. And the only reason he doesn't go through the door with the light is that Bob calls him away, and even kind of argues with him about it a little; Fraser needs to be convinced. This is alarming in the best possible way. What is possibly even more alarming is that Fraser has a definite job to do and doesn't do it because he's too calmly fascinated with this place he finds himself in. Ladies and gentlemen, I put forth a theory: Fraser is probably not a very sane and healthy person.
The Borderland sequence makes me entirely happy, because for once the things Bob says ring absolutely true: "You see, son, in the Borderland all the questions you ask are unique to you and the answers are yours alone." And, argh, then he goes pointing at Fraser's chest and says, "Your whole life is in here, pressed into a single point in space in time so that no matter what direction you step, your destination is the same." And I think ... this is probably just good advice for life, not even for weird afterworlds, and a large part of me is tempted to make a sign with the salient points on it. (In fact the Borderland has a sign with the salient points on it! No, not in the episode, I just thought this was a good time to make vague gesturing motions at Katabasis in case you wanted any more of my thoughts about the Borderland and Fraser's unhealthy attitude about death and how Ray would totally be a better Orpheus than Orpheus. Moving on.)
Mostly though GOD I LOVE THAT THE SNOWY WILDERNESS TURNS INTO THE CHICAGO SKYLINE. Most of the time I have this working assumption that Bob and his world are definitely really there, but that they're also absolutely shaped by Fraser's perceptions of them -- Bob more than anything else I think is from pure Fraser POV. So that the Borderland is some Canadian wilderness and Chicago? that's important, and really lovely.
And Fraser will come back if someone's in trouble. That's important too. It's kind of lovely that he came back for Frannie, even, although she doesn't know it. I think it's kind of a shame he couldn't hear Ray well enough to come back for him, but that's ... one of those things they still need to work on.
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