aria | you were looking for someone latvian?

Awesome link du jour:

roadrunner made me some due South gifs. Both of them are Ray Kowalski in the Riv in Burning Down the House, yelling at Dief for makin' intimate with him, and I love those gifs to the depths of my soul.

I'm doing about an average of three episodes a day, which ain't bad. And now I sleep.

1x06 Chinatown

I love Ray's completely stunned look when Fraser can speak Chinese (I don't know any myself, so I don't know if it was Mandarin or Cantonese, but Fraser does know both). I love even more the fact that Fraser's efforts to help people and understand them extend so far as not bothering to posture as Ray does but just to get as many facts as possible, like knowing languages and customs and how to relate to people. I know a lot of the fandom suspects that his grandparents screwed Fraser up emotionally, but they also gave him a comprehensive and applicable knowledge of useful things. I bet Fraser knows other languages too (besides French, which I think we can take as a given).

I mentioned Welsh's evolution earlier: Huey's got the same sort of thing going on. I mean, it's not like he and Fraser ever become best buddies, but in time he comes to like having Fraser around and to trust his judgment about all things weird. (He also becomes way less of a jerk after Gardino dies. Ouch.)

Ray is really deeply concerned about being humiliated, I've noticed. He hates it when Fraser makes him look dumb in front of Huey and Louis. He hates it when Fraser makes him look dumb in front of Welsh. He hates it when Fraser makes him look dumb in front of rats. I want to hug him and tell him not to worry about his reputation and point out that, seriously? as long as Benton Fraser has a good opinion of you, you're pretty much solid. I think this is a good time to also register my observation that, given this particular hang-up of Vecchio's, if Fraser/Vecchio is going to happen, then along with his obvious attachment to his straightness and my suspicion that his Catholicism would probably get in the way, Ray's also going to have this deep crippling fear of what will happen if anyone ever finds out. Which ... actually makes me want to ship them more, because I have this slightly sick love for emotional turmoil.

First use of the supply closet! I love the supply closet. It's a much more useful and widely-recognized metaphor than the crazy thing Fraser and Kowalski do where they both hide in ... one bathroom stall ... No, that's pretty damn straightforward too. I still approve of Vecchio sitting in a closet with Fraser. And then of course Elaine finds them in the closet and gets the look of "I actively do not want to know." I kind of love Elaine, have I mentioned this? Also I bet there is a total of zero Elaine/Fraser fic in the world, but if there was, I would happily read it; they're both nice, fairly even-keeled, and slightly snarky people. (Honestly what I am discovering this time through is that I will happily ship Fraser with a lot of people. Vecchio, Elaine, Stephanie from They Eat Horses ... It's Paul Gross's insane chemistry with everything. I can't help it.)

"You let a wolf save your life, they make you pay and pay and pay." That's where that line is from! I know I remembered it and love it, but here is where it is actually said (for the first time? it's certainly a good enough line to be recycled). I had forgotten Ray's fantastic response, though, which is a grinning, "That's why I don't own a wolf."

Fraser, by the way, is always willing to take responsibility for his actions. He tries to help someone; he screws up; that person lashes out at him in anger; he doesn't bother to point out his original intent, but merely accepts the truth of the consequences and works to correct the situation. (This is something to keep in mind when I rewatch Letting Go; I don't actually recall if he and Ray talk about it, because it's really obvious that he fucked up big-time with Victoria, and the fact that Ray shot him in the back probably evens it out a little.)

Of course in the tradition of all good cop shows, the FBI have to look like the idiots. More importantly, though, it isn't really about the FBI at all in this case -- it's about how the FBI guys want to be in charge, and Huey and Gardino want to get some of the credit, and of course that's exactly the wrong way to go about it: Fraser wants to help these people because they're good people in a bad situation, and Ray wants to help them not because it'll help his career or make him stop looking dumb or anything but because Fraser wants to help; and this is a show where, at least around 90% of the time, intention and success/reward are strongly correlated. Which makes me very happy.

Aw, and the coda with Elaine talking to Diefenbaker! It's a good thing he's a wolf, or he'd probably get tired of being everyone's therapist. Mostly, though, I love Elaine, as I seem to be mentioning a lot this episode. She eats ice cream and hums Carpenters songs! And there is nothing pathetic about her Frasercrush (by which I mean, there is none of the cringing I feel sometimes around Francesca). Date me instead, Elaine!

1x07 & 1x08 Chicago Holiday

You know, I'm absolutely sure that the writers are trying their best to think up the worst possible venues to take a sixteen-year-old girl, and in the case of Christina, it's absolutely correct to imagine that the opera or a Gilbert & Sullivan show is the wrong way to go, but I've got to say, even five years ago if I'd had Fraser pick me up and say the words "modern-dress production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Ivanhoe" at me, I would have nearly swooned with joy. Then again, I am probably a freak of the Fraser order, and quite pleased to be so.

Apparently Fraser started talking to Dief on an ice floe. Out of sheer boredom. And now Dief won't keep his opinions to himself. I don't think I've made much mention of Dief, but the Fraser-Dief relationship is seriously one of my favourites. It's adorable and hilarious.

Can I mention that Gerome the Jamaican cab driver is possibly one of my favourite one-shot characters? His genuine enjoyment of the whole wacky deal is mad infectious. <3 Also here is the first time Fraser crawls around on top of a moving car! I think he should do that every episode, instead of just this one and Burning Down the House (I ... can't think of any others?) because it is, much like Dief, adorable and hilarious.

HOLY SHIT UNEXPECTED JAMES ALLODI. Since my primary association for this man is Dan in Wilby Wonderful, the fact that he's standing around being a leather-clad pantless Mountie just BROKE MY BRAIN. Like. Possibly permanently. Brain. Broken. (Aw, and he's also an undercover cop! This is a massive crossover that never needs to be written.)

Incidentally, I love that the gentle PSAs About Equality are not limited to the problems of racial stereotyping and the suggestion that people still deserve respect if they live on places like Racine or street corners; today's is the bartender calmly pointing out that "People are people, no matter how much leather they're wearing." This does not actually mean that the show escapes things like everyone in the club having a ready pair of handcuffs or the running joke of the masochist (who is a dentist during the day), but it's still pretty awesome. I mean, if your show is about Fraser, who is a bit odd, and you are not willing to be cool about the other perceived oddities of the world, you might have a problem, but I still want to hug the show and thank it for being good about this stuff.

And I kind of want to hug Vecchio and thank him for being good about this stuff, because for Fraser treating everyone with respect pretty much goes without saying, but Vecchio making the effort is really him making a conscious effort, and he can kind of do it. (It also lets me assume that even if he did have some kneejerk homophobia, which I would be kind of astonished if he did not have, he'd be able to take a deep breath and get over it. Which, yay.)

Aha, here is the story about the tortured scenario Fraser ran away from, the one that involved the goldmine, the boomerang, and the tankful of gasoline! This is one of those stories where Bob sounds like he was actually there for his son, and tells him the right thing, and I kind of love those flashes. Bob wasn't absent, just ... not right for the job, without Caroline and with the being a Mountie > everything attitude. I remember

ds_flashfiction had a few versions of what specifically happened in that particular episode of Fraser's life, but I wish there were more.

And I ... actually kind of like Christina, too. Like, I find it mildly astonishing that a sixteen-year-old can be that stubborn and run away so many times and do so much stupid stuff, but then I always find it mildly astonishing when people are stupid, and I still believe her as a person. Oh Christina. I hope she doesn't get in too much trouble before she manages to finish growing up.