in some small way you have something to offer them

[aria]

2x01 North

North: a fifty minute treatise on why, exactly, I pretty much never believe a story about Ray Vecchio settling down happily in Canada. He wants to bring too many clothes, he hates tiny airplanes, he doesn't understand how to even begin to learn the etiquette because he's too busy being a neurotic Chicagoan, he'd probably have an aneurism if he went for too long without a gun ...

Incidentally, the beginning of this episode gives me terrible flashbacks to Hatchet, which for unknown reasons was a staple of my elementary school classroom bookshelves. It's entirely possible that Hatchet wasn't actually more upsetting than, say, My Side of the Mountain or Julie of the Wolves (except that the latter had WOLVES, which makes everything better), but I never found out because I was too traumatized by the pilot's heart attack and the plane crash to continue. Traumatized enough that the plane crash in this episode makes me jittery! IDK. (Also, I think my childhood love of Jean Craighead George books possibly has a lot to do with how much I love due South now.)

I remember the first time I saw this episode I was vastly confused by Fraser, because it is the first time Fraser is unconcealed in his irritation and willingness to bitch Ray out. On a rewatch it is less weird, if only because I have seen Burning Down the House and Mountie on the Bounty more times than is healthy and so snippy Fraser is basically a staple to me, but I think it's worth noting the context of the first time he does it to Ray Vecchio. One, it is Fraser forced to rely more heavily on another person than he wants to (which is of course the same reason he gets snippy in BDtH): he hates not being in total control of a situation, and I imagine the helplessness must be particularly upsetting just after being jerked around by Victoria and laid up in a hospital for a while. Two, Fraser's willingness to let his annoyance show is indicative of a certain comfort level -- I mean, as a rule he gets annoyed at Vecchio a lot less than he does at Kowalski (which is something I want to pick up again later! because it is interesting and also because I don't think it has any relation to how much he actually enjoys their company) but this is the first time he's actually able to show irritation; possibly it is circumstance more than comfort level, but I think it's a bit of both.

...Okay, and also a bit of the fact that Fraser's been hit on the head and Paul Gross decided that was a good opportunity to be a complete fruitloop and make me laugh myself sick for half an hour. (It must be overexposure; I didn't think Fraser stumbling about in the woods was the height of hilarity the first time.) Also I have this nagging suspicion that I am watching young Geoffrey Tennant wandering blindly through the Canadian wilderness, convinced that he's Benton Fraser because he got walloped on the head, because he keeps using Geoffrey inflections and he also did the "I'm in trouble and I do believe that calls for a rueful and slightly hysterical laugh" thing. Or maybe it's just that Fraser's hair is a bit longer this season. Now it is ruffleable and slightly curly. <3

And this is where we hear about Bob taking Benton into the woods when he was six years old and leaving him there to build a fire! I wonder if this was before or after Caroline died. I also wonder how many similar things Bob did. This seems to be an episode of Father Angst! I want to take both of their daddy issues and pack them away in a big box. In fact I want to take both of their ghostly fathers and pack them away in a big box. Jeez. (It occurs to me quite belatedly that Vecchio is never at all surprised to see his father, but takes it as a matter of course. Can we give his psyche a comforting blanket or something?)

I FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHERE STEVE COMES FROM. This is a freaking revelation; fandom occasionally writes Fraser as having a pre-series boyfriend named Steve, and for months now I've been wondering who started that one and how come I've been able to track down the Paul Gross Arms and the alternate end of the CotW script and the rationale for smoking!RayK and everything, but I've never been able to track down that damn Steve guy. And all the time he was a weird head-trauma Freudian slip! I feel enlightened.

The part where they're tramping through the woods, Fraser slung over Ray's back and the two of them singing duets horrible, puts me into GALES OF LOVING LAUGHTER. Apparently Paul Gross just made up the wacky Can't Get Off My Horse song? I am so unsurprised. And my god, men, what a way to mangle California Dreamin'! <333

I know the general consensus is that they never got around to rebuilding Fraser's dad's cabin, but they might have! Ray even seems to be enjoying the nature thing a little bit by the end.


2x02 Vault

I wonder what happened to Ovitz, Thatcher's secretary? I kind of would like to see him and Turnbull interact, but sadly Turnbull is not here yet; instead there is Generic Dumb Mountie #26 standing guard duty -- although the episode guide tells me that his name is Will and that he did a lot of Fraser's stunts. Bless. (And wow, I just got this HUGE GRIN seeing Camilla Scott in the credits. Heh.)

I'm thoroughly confused as to why Vault is the second episode and North the first; clearly they go up to Canada after Ray's shoulder is healed. Like, it should perhaps take place mid-season? Or on the other hand they already did go north, and Vecchio just wants the insurance claim so he scrounged up his arm sling and is trying for pity. I have no idea. Oh well, air it any way you like! Apparently North didn't air first anyway, so that's all right.

I think I may have been right about the second reason Fraser was willing to be snippy at Ray in North, the fact that he's comfortable enough with Ray that he can show his annoyance -- because he's being snippy at Ray here, too! It's to a far lesser degree, but he doesn't bother hiding his annoyance with Ray's panic and insistence on his own selfishness. Fraser has also -- and this breaks my heart a little, but it is completely unsurprising given Victoria -- also lost a little of that shiny solid faith in people. He supposes that some passing police officer will notice the problem at the bank and come to their aid; Ray says, "In Chicago?"; Fraser says, "Good point." Fraser points out that Frannie is an intelligent and resourceful young woman capable of handling herself in any situation; Ray wants to know if he really believes that; Fraser readily admits that it's not true at all. Of course it doesn't matter whether or not he does believe these things, because either way he'd come up with a brilliant solution to their predicament, but still, ouch. It's not so much that Victoria has damaged him for romance as that she's damaged him for people.

Speaking of the intelligent and resourceful young woman capable of handling herself in any situation, I am mad fond of Frannie in this episode. Wearing hot pink, demanding respect, bitching out her family, wanting to make the headline news, attempting heroics! And here's the start of her malapropisms; they need to watch out for that Norwegian Syndrome and not identify with the bank robbers in any way! Ohhh Frannie. I really wish she had ended up going to the Police Academy, hat problem or no.

Aw, in the past two years Fraser has risked their lives twenty-four times! I kind of love that Ray kept count; I suspect that in part he kept count so that sometime when he was seriously annoyed with Fraser he could whip out a concrete number. At least Fraser is slightly taken aback and apologetic about it. By the way, Fraser's plan leaves something to be desired -- like, if they had a bit more air left they would still have plenty of water to knock the robbers over with. Maybe he could've waited five or ten minutes? Also I want to know how all the money didn't get soaked, but maybe it was all in plastic bags or something.

And then he follows Ray's advice about standing up for himself and Thatcher fires him. Good god, baby long-haired Thatcher is smoking hot.


2x03 Witness

OH MY GOD MEG MAKES SENSE TO ME. I mean, not a lot of sense, and I don't have any Coherent Theory of Meg Thatcher conveniently drawn up, but I was as dumb as Fraser the first time through about the glasses exchange -- Meg, don't worry, thick-rimmed black glasses are like an extra patina of awesome in this universe! But, all right, Thatcher is attracted to Fraser, so she tries to spend as little time with him as possible, tells him that he should transfer, and still feels a need to take off her glasses and look pretty for him when he's in the room. The fact that she makes him do her dry-cleaning and such ... Clearly it isn't (only) that Thatcher is aware of the problems inherent to dating a subordinate officer, but she's kind of threatened by Fraser, or at least by her attraction to him. On the surface that's mostly just the neurotic high-powered woman trope (which, I do not watch a lot of telly but I still recognize the type, and I'm wondering if it's a 90s specific/prevalent thing or if it started earlier), but I think it's mostly that Thatcher is a lot like Fraser in terms of needing some control of the situation, and she's pretty damn aware of the normal gender dynamics here. Thus: dry-cleaning.

Is it too much to ask for Fraser to have a love interest that does not have weird issues about controlling him? (Answer: no it is not; that is what Rays are for. Mumble which is yet another reason I want to visit the alternate universe where Camilla Scott is also a Ray because I would definitely ship it and then we could help dispel that weird slash myth about 'only two people of the same sex can have a truly equal relationship' because an ideal world with girl!Ray would have a pretty damn equal relationship mumble.)

Also I like that Fraser balks at the idea of a transfer. This gets me just as much in MotB, and in the same way: the entire point of the show is that Fraser is constantly quietly homesick, and simply weathering it in Chicago as best he can, but he wants to stay anyway, because Chicago's where Ray is, despite how difficult everything else might be.

I wish that Elaine would do stuff with Fraser and Ray more often! I want many scenes of Elaine and Ray snipping at each other in the front seat while Fraser helpfully hands Elaine all her hair care products. <333 Seriously, Elaine is just drastically underused.

Meanwhile Fraser should never be allowed to drive cars. Sleds and horses only for this guy! He nearly kills people here, and I know in s3 he has to ask Ray which pedal is gas and which is brake, and in s4 Ray is all "wtf why are you driving the GTO at like five freaking miles per hour?" but I think this is vastly preferable to the alternative. I love that there is something Fraser is just horribly bad at.

My god, I love Welsh's speech about women in authority. It starts off so well, too, and with something that might be good perceptiveness, and then for no discernable reason it trails off into waxing poetical about how women are beautiful and put ice-picks through your heart, and Fraser is utterly flummoxed. (Although he shouldn't be; he knows about beautiful women and ice-picks through the heart. I think it's the context of Welsh saying it that's totally bewildering.)

Sdsdl;kdsfj Fraser's inability to steal anything at all! I love that Huey and Louis have to actually force him to, and I love that Louis steals some Milk Duds of his own on the way out. Way to be, guys.

Dear god, Ray thinks that The Ten Commandments, The Poseidon Adventure, and Saturday Night Fever (with his man Travolta, omgwtfbbq Ray) are classic films. Seriously, those are the first three that he thought of? I want to give him a big hug and hit him with a Good Taste Bat (since someone seems to have already hit him with the Reasonably Good Dress Sense Bat). On the other hand, I'm inclined to think that Fraser has good taste, so I'm probably just a complete freak.

I love that the terrifying bruiser of a guy appreciates Fraser's courtesy and that's what saves them. Love that.

I am slightly worried that Ray has such a thing for SA Louise St. Laurent when she clearly despises him, but I do not think Ray is a masochist so he probably just does it for his own entertainment. Anyway it's more than made up for by the fact that Thatcher has this flash of understanding for Fraser at the end, which is lovely.


...Oh god, I just made the horrible mistake of curiously opening the due South page on TV Tropes. I have five extra tabs already. GOOD JOB, SELF.