Entry tags:
wherever you go, you are actually walking in the sky
And now s3! I think the s3 rewatch should probably come with a header warning, which is that I am probably going to be a little bit insufferable around Kowalski. Fraser is basically my One True Character but this Ray has a small piece of my soul. Part of it has to do with the fact that I am extremely specific about what I think Kowalski is like as a character, and I am extremely specific in ways that I've noticed most people aren't about Kowalski, which means I want to figure out why I have this character concept that's slightly off-center from the usual. Because of this I'm probably going to spend a lot of time prodding at Kowalski the way I've been prodding at Fraser, and the way I have not really been with Vecchio. Kowalski owning a small piece of my soul also has to do with the fact that he has the easiest narrative voice ever and thus I am incredibly fond of him, and, uh, also really, really pretty eyelashes. Hi, I am really shallow for Callum Keith Rennie.
I should possibly also give an OTP warning, which is that I ship Fraser/Kowalski something fierce. This does not mean I do not also adore Vecchio (and, well, pretty much everyone) but it does mean the meta is going to be kind of shippy.
3x01 Burning Down the House
The deliberate mirroring of the actual pilot is pretty wonderful. Fishing over the limit, excessive volume of littering ... I'm not sure whether there's any significance to the first pilot being in winter and this one being in summer, or if it's just when they did their filming. I do know there is damn well significance to the fact that in the first pilot Fraser gets in from his criminal pursuit and has a telegram message that his father's dead, and in this one he gets in and has a phone call from Ray that seems innocent but really amounts to the same thing. It's not that Ray's actually dead, and at least in this case although he doesn't know it he gets something approaching a proper goodbye, but it is basically equivalent, because until Fraser finds some rhythm with Kowalski, losing Vecchio is like losing the last member of his family.
I always find the end of the phone conversation to be a little odd, though. "You understand that I will be in touch?" "As a friend?" "Yeah, Benny, as a friend." As ... opposed to what? Some small part of me wants to insist that the combination of Red White or Blue and Flashback hit them with the collective Clue Bat, but Ray wanted to have a bit of space to figure things out, so Fraser offered to take a few weeks' vacation to Canada; then in the meantime Ray got called in for the Vegas job, and was mixed up enough that he thought it was a good idea to take it (besides which one gets the impression he had very little real choice in the matter). So Fraser thought the phone call was ... Ray saying he still wasn't sure but definitely wanted to continue working with Fraser, which makes getting back to Vecchio-less Chicago even more of a shock? The only problem with this theory is that it makes my heart ache something fierce for both of them in a world where I don't need to manufacture any additional angst to the stuff right there in the text, and also it makes me unhappy and squirmy about the Stella/Vecchio at the end. I suppose the good alternate reading is that Fraser and Ray are just happily bromancing their lives away and that's just another part of their normal weird banter, but either way that little conversation is full of so much unspoken love. Oh Ray Vecchio, I will miss you for the next twenty-three episodes.
Literal and symbolic destruction of Fraser's life, example the first: goodbye, West Racine! I'm particularly sad about this one because Fraser clearly liked the place, and because we the audience got to know some of the other tenants in the apartment, most of whom would be way more screwed over than Fraser by the loss of their home. I think, though, that the fairly horrible sense of loss is best encapsulated by Five Things Benton Fraser Lost in the Apartment Fire, which I love because it's not about things at all, but about people; hence the symbolic destruction as well as the literal.
I like Bob's "Something good might come of it," although I have a vague desire to question the wisdom of that statement. Something good coming of the apartment fire is not Fraser moving into the Consulate. I back Mr. Motherwell the performance arsonist's suggestion that Fraser move in with his friend Vecchio, but I guess that's what all the fic is for. I suppose in the larger sense something good does come of all the arson, though, because Fraser is off-kilter enough for the whole episode that Ray Kowalski gets a pretty damn good idea of exactly what he's getting into, and they do manage to bond something fierce what with all the driving Rivs into the lake they call Michigan and things. So I suppose Bob is right.
Something that I particularly enjoy about Ray Kowalski's opening scene is that it is both an extremely accurate and an extremely inaccurate impression of what the guy is like. The full-body-contact hug and the bouncing-right-back asking random women in the station on dates with him? those things are his Vecchio impression. The flirting-with-women thing goes right out the window after that, pretty much never to be seen again, because Kowalski's Vecchio patina is pretty cool and casual around women, but the Ray underneath is still hung up on Stella and really deeply unsure of himself around anyone else he's attracted to. The full-body-contact does not go right out the window, which I love, because I'm convinced that hugging Fraser and having his arm over his shoulder and all that good stuff are also part of the Vecchio impression; he's observed the friendly Italian gestures of the Vecchio family and is going with it. In the main Kowalski is this high-energy bundle of "Get less than a foot from me and I will kick you in the head," enjoys his jittery personal space, and gives it up only with the aim of intimidation, but apparently he made a grave error in judgment by hugging the attractive Mountie, because pretty much from the get-go Ray is incapable of standing more than no inches away from Fraser. Meanwhile he is also giving Fraser the partner patter, which is pretty much pure rambling Kowalski and par the course. <3
Hang on, I think it's time for a gif courtesy of![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roadrunner. You have probably already seen it, but it is in fact very important that Ray and Diefenbaker become sufficiently acquainted in the middle of this commentary. GET OFF ME EXCLAMATION MARK. (I really want to know if the spoken punctuation was in the script or if CKR is just a nut. I am inclined to think the latter.)
I am curious about the part where they get to the Vecchio house, Ray says they should stay in the car, Fraser insists they go out, Ray says, "Look, pal, I don't risk my neck for anyone," and Fraser returns, "Ray Vecchio would." Fraser's assertion certainly scans, because Vecchio might freak out a bit and complain the whole way but he would also damn well follow Fraser into a burning building, and if it was his family he'd be in there first, no question. I'm pretty sure Kowalski's assertion doesn't scan, though. Not only does Fraser rattle off a fairly impressive list of neck-risking citations in the following episode, but at the end of this one Ray takes a bullet for Fraser, vest or no vest. So I really honestly don't know what to do with Ray right there. Does he figure he's done his job by calling the fire department and that the people who know what they're doing should handle it? Is he getting annoyed back at Fraser and therefore responds in a childish and unhelpful way? I'm actually guessing it's that second option, which, Ray, grow up and also get used to it.
Another mirroring I am fond of is the "Wait, Ray, let these other people through the door first, it only takes an extra second to be polite." Because when Fraser pulled it with Vecchio, eventually Vecchio just snapped "Are we getting on the elevator or what?" whereas Kowalski, albeit rather sarcastically, says "After you," and lets Fraser go first. I don't have anything concrete on what exactly the differences mean, but I do like that the Rays react to Fraser quite differently.
I want it on record that I fell in love with Ray Kowalski the moment he took out that lighter and more or less hypnotized Motherwell and threatened violence and was generally a scary fucker. Kowalski interrogation technique: one of my favourite things. I also love that Fraser stands there in fascination and lets him, and I suspect only in part because his shiny faith in humanity makes him assume that Ray's just putting it on. Basically Fraser plays the good cop perfectly. He sets 'em up, Ray knocks 'em down.
The only problem with driving the flaming Riv into Lake Michigan is that Ray can't swim. I'm guessing they had not yet decided that, since he's pretty cool about driving a car off a wharf for someone who barely knows how to doggie-paddle. On the other hand, I can shrug and move on because FLAMING RIV, and also lots of Fraser inappropriately groping Ray's inner thigh and calf, and most importantly Fraser and Ray actually tell each other that it's been weird but it's been a pleasure despite the fact that they've just had the day from Twilight Zone hell. Once Ray takes the bullet for Fraser, too, the "You're not Ray!" "I'm Ray!" thing becomes magically bantering and non-irritated. I think the take-home lesson from this episode is that Fraser and Kowalski are both totally insane and extremely well-suited to working together.
The postcard from Vecchio kind of breaks my heart, though. Cold out here, heat me up? I know there is a perfectly practical reason for those particular words, but still. And oh, the way Vecchio's leaning into him and the brilliant smile on Fraser's face! But it does reassure Fraser, because Vecchio kept his promise to be in touch, and that Fraser's okay is the important thing for the moment.
And then of course Fraser asks the new Ray out to dinner, and Ray's grin is brilliant. (It is also impossible to screencap, because it's the sort of thing that needs to be seen in motion.) And the awkwardness with which Fraser asks! And Ray's palpable joy at the invitation! I just want to draw little hearts around everyone.
3x02 Eclipse
Wow, I forgot how much I adore this episode. It's just -- perfect distilled character introduction, I guess? You find out Ray's name and you find out about Stella, yes yes &c &c, but you also find out the stuff that's important to Ray, Right now this is a man who really needs to get his head on straight -- he's supposed to be protecting someone's life by being undercover and he blows off the whole district to head out for a vendetta against someone he met when he was thirteen. Also, argh, I just, the first scene with Ray! He wears stupid striped boxers and puts Smarties (we can pretend they're M&Ms, though, this is fake!Chicago) in his coffee and we get our first glimpse (out of maybe two total?) of The Tattoo and later there are dancing footprints painted on his floorboards. I love all the little details because in his own way he's just as much a freak as Fraser is.
I also have this idea that Ray really doesn't have many friends. His landlady says that she gets to know most of her tenants, but not him, which says he's probably been living there for a while; it's possible he stays to himself because he shuffles through undercover jobs a lot, but I get the impression that being Vecchio is the first serious long-term thing he's done, and that, among other reasons (he already answers to Ray, he's a damn good cop, and he'd be willing to say yes) he got chosen for the job because his Kowalski life doesn't have a lot of strings still attached. In s1&2, we frequently run into Vecchio's old girlfriends or school friends or friends of the family; with Kowalski we've got Stella, his parents very briefly, a couple of people who knew him in his old district, and a smattering of criminal contacts. The "Stella got all the friends in the divorce" theory is probably a good one, except that I'm not sure Stella's kind of people were ever really Ray's kind of people. Again what I want to conclude is that Ray's just as much a freak as Fraser is; people know him and respect him, but he's too jittery or aggressive or quirky or whatever-it-is to get people to stay on with him, Stella and then Fraser aside. (This: one of the many reasons Fraser/Kowalski ended up being my actual OTP for this show; UST and subtext aside, they're alarmingly well-suited to really understanding each other.)
Another thing I love is that Ray really does listen to all the crazy stuff Fraser says. I had this idea that maybe I'd made that up because it made my shippy heart happy, and that really he does as much eye-rolling get-to-the-point as Vecchio did, but fanon schmanon, guys, even if Kowalski is completely bewildered by what Fraser is saying about caribou carcasses or the pride and honor of the job or walking around touching the sky, he still listens to the whole thing and internalizes it before he delivers the verdict of freakdom at the end. (At this juncture I also gesture happily at the story of Louuuuu Skagnetti and how into it Ray eventually gets, but that's from far in the future.)
I'm not sure Ray didn't want to be a cop and wanted to be something else. I'm sure he thinks it's true -- his dad certainly wanted him to be something else, and I suspect Stella wasn't really thrilled either -- but since I doubt Ray wanted to be a professional dancer and I suspect mechanic stuff counts in his brain as doing something rather than being something, I don't think he ever had anything else specific in his head. But of course this episode is about Ray remembering that being a cop really is the right thing for him, even if all the Stella-related motivation has gone away, and about him becoming a little less jaded about the whole thing.
In other news I am so extremely fond of how Ray likes using the word 'queer'. (Actually I like how he will use probably ever known synonym for 'weird' without actually saying weird. Something's hinky, you're a freak, wildly bizarre ways. OH RAY.)
Hello, "Do you find me attractive" conversation! I remember the first time through I was completely bewildered to discover that it was so early in the season, especially because I knew it was a fairly major Fraser/Kowalski point. I think I like it where it is, though; the whole thing is massively odd, but Ray is already having a massively odd day, and I kind of like that he's basically just asking Fraser for another kind of validation. I also like that we have text that Fraser finds Ray sexually attractive. And by "like" I mean "Wait, are you sure it's Vecchio's birthday? Because I think it is mine now."
I also kind of love the fact that they're having this conversation in a crypt also occupied by a little old lady and two adorable guys who are smuggling cigars illegally; I love that the five of them manage between them to carry on a fairly intellectual and philosophical conversation, albeit a seriously weird one. How the sun will feel blocked by the moon! The border between life and death is very poorly guarded, and who the hell has all the passports! You have to go back to go forward! I want to take all of them home and have weird conversations with them. <3
Oh god, and Fraser's speech about seeing the whole person. I love that he looked Ray up, and I love that he already deeply respects him, and I love that Ray is so fucking needy and wants Fraser to repeat the bit where they're friends. And what's perfect about this is that Fraser is constantly trying to fix people and take them on and make them better, which ... was not something he ever did with Ray Vecchio, because Vecchio's brand of screwed-up is all healed-over scars and all Fraser ever could do was just be a good friend and companion; but Kowalski is screwed-up in a way that demands reassurances and physicality and affirmations, and he gets that from Fraser, while Fraser meanwhile makes the effort and in turn gets someone who is absolutely responsive to it, and -- basically what I am saying is that Ray is needy and Fraser needs to be needed and did I mention that they are my OTP right now.
Ray throws the dreamcatcher and Marcus Ellery catches it! The dreamcatcher catches bad dreams! I SEE WHAT U DID THAR but it still makes me really happy every time. Have some epic symbolic Fraser-helping-Ray to go with your literal. And I really love the shot of Ray lying in the grave as the sun comes back out. I mean, then I get Ellen Fanshaw in my head talking about Geoffrey jumping into Ophelia's grave and not coming out for seven years, which is not the same thing thank you, except that it kind of is in that I suspect Ray's been sort of buried since things got bad with Stella, and possibly for far longer if he feels guilt over always having been a con job, and it's not until the combination of talking to Fraser and seeing Ellery again that he gets to come out from that.
I love Ray's little tap-the-side-of-his-nose I-have-a-plan thing. I also love that he did it at Welsh and that Welsh did it back; I have a completely unfounded theory that Welsh recommended Ray for the Vecchio gig because he knew Ray from way-back-when, although all I have to back this up are his assurances to Fraser that Ray's a good cop and the fact that Ray and Welsh seem able to communicate well and are a lot more comfortable around each other than Vecchio ever was. I sort of think of Welsh as Kowalski's grumpy lovable surrogate uncle, honestly.
And I don't know if they ever do the little refrain of "You're a freak" "Understood" again, but I am quite wedded to the notion that every time Ray calls Fraser a freak, it is much like Wesley and Buttercup and as you wish.
I should possibly also give an OTP warning, which is that I ship Fraser/Kowalski something fierce. This does not mean I do not also adore Vecchio (and, well, pretty much everyone) but it does mean the meta is going to be kind of shippy.
3x01 Burning Down the House
The deliberate mirroring of the actual pilot is pretty wonderful. Fishing over the limit, excessive volume of littering ... I'm not sure whether there's any significance to the first pilot being in winter and this one being in summer, or if it's just when they did their filming. I do know there is damn well significance to the fact that in the first pilot Fraser gets in from his criminal pursuit and has a telegram message that his father's dead, and in this one he gets in and has a phone call from Ray that seems innocent but really amounts to the same thing. It's not that Ray's actually dead, and at least in this case although he doesn't know it he gets something approaching a proper goodbye, but it is basically equivalent, because until Fraser finds some rhythm with Kowalski, losing Vecchio is like losing the last member of his family.
I always find the end of the phone conversation to be a little odd, though. "You understand that I will be in touch?" "As a friend?" "Yeah, Benny, as a friend." As ... opposed to what? Some small part of me wants to insist that the combination of Red White or Blue and Flashback hit them with the collective Clue Bat, but Ray wanted to have a bit of space to figure things out, so Fraser offered to take a few weeks' vacation to Canada; then in the meantime Ray got called in for the Vegas job, and was mixed up enough that he thought it was a good idea to take it (besides which one gets the impression he had very little real choice in the matter). So Fraser thought the phone call was ... Ray saying he still wasn't sure but definitely wanted to continue working with Fraser, which makes getting back to Vecchio-less Chicago even more of a shock? The only problem with this theory is that it makes my heart ache something fierce for both of them in a world where I don't need to manufacture any additional angst to the stuff right there in the text, and also it makes me unhappy and squirmy about the Stella/Vecchio at the end. I suppose the good alternate reading is that Fraser and Ray are just happily bromancing their lives away and that's just another part of their normal weird banter, but either way that little conversation is full of so much unspoken love. Oh Ray Vecchio, I will miss you for the next twenty-three episodes.
Literal and symbolic destruction of Fraser's life, example the first: goodbye, West Racine! I'm particularly sad about this one because Fraser clearly liked the place, and because we the audience got to know some of the other tenants in the apartment, most of whom would be way more screwed over than Fraser by the loss of their home. I think, though, that the fairly horrible sense of loss is best encapsulated by Five Things Benton Fraser Lost in the Apartment Fire, which I love because it's not about things at all, but about people; hence the symbolic destruction as well as the literal.
I like Bob's "Something good might come of it," although I have a vague desire to question the wisdom of that statement. Something good coming of the apartment fire is not Fraser moving into the Consulate. I back Mr. Motherwell the performance arsonist's suggestion that Fraser move in with his friend Vecchio, but I guess that's what all the fic is for. I suppose in the larger sense something good does come of all the arson, though, because Fraser is off-kilter enough for the whole episode that Ray Kowalski gets a pretty damn good idea of exactly what he's getting into, and they do manage to bond something fierce what with all the driving Rivs into the lake they call Michigan and things. So I suppose Bob is right.
Something that I particularly enjoy about Ray Kowalski's opening scene is that it is both an extremely accurate and an extremely inaccurate impression of what the guy is like. The full-body-contact hug and the bouncing-right-back asking random women in the station on dates with him? those things are his Vecchio impression. The flirting-with-women thing goes right out the window after that, pretty much never to be seen again, because Kowalski's Vecchio patina is pretty cool and casual around women, but the Ray underneath is still hung up on Stella and really deeply unsure of himself around anyone else he's attracted to. The full-body-contact does not go right out the window, which I love, because I'm convinced that hugging Fraser and having his arm over his shoulder and all that good stuff are also part of the Vecchio impression; he's observed the friendly Italian gestures of the Vecchio family and is going with it. In the main Kowalski is this high-energy bundle of "Get less than a foot from me and I will kick you in the head," enjoys his jittery personal space, and gives it up only with the aim of intimidation, but apparently he made a grave error in judgment by hugging the attractive Mountie, because pretty much from the get-go Ray is incapable of standing more than no inches away from Fraser. Meanwhile he is also giving Fraser the partner patter, which is pretty much pure rambling Kowalski and par the course. <3
Hang on, I think it's time for a gif courtesy of
roadrunner. You have probably already seen it, but it is in fact very important that Ray and Diefenbaker become sufficiently acquainted in the middle of this commentary. GET OFF ME EXCLAMATION MARK. (I really want to know if the spoken punctuation was in the script or if CKR is just a nut. I am inclined to think the latter.)I am curious about the part where they get to the Vecchio house, Ray says they should stay in the car, Fraser insists they go out, Ray says, "Look, pal, I don't risk my neck for anyone," and Fraser returns, "Ray Vecchio would." Fraser's assertion certainly scans, because Vecchio might freak out a bit and complain the whole way but he would also damn well follow Fraser into a burning building, and if it was his family he'd be in there first, no question. I'm pretty sure Kowalski's assertion doesn't scan, though. Not only does Fraser rattle off a fairly impressive list of neck-risking citations in the following episode, but at the end of this one Ray takes a bullet for Fraser, vest or no vest. So I really honestly don't know what to do with Ray right there. Does he figure he's done his job by calling the fire department and that the people who know what they're doing should handle it? Is he getting annoyed back at Fraser and therefore responds in a childish and unhelpful way? I'm actually guessing it's that second option, which, Ray, grow up and also get used to it.
Another mirroring I am fond of is the "Wait, Ray, let these other people through the door first, it only takes an extra second to be polite." Because when Fraser pulled it with Vecchio, eventually Vecchio just snapped "Are we getting on the elevator or what?" whereas Kowalski, albeit rather sarcastically, says "After you," and lets Fraser go first. I don't have anything concrete on what exactly the differences mean, but I do like that the Rays react to Fraser quite differently.
I want it on record that I fell in love with Ray Kowalski the moment he took out that lighter and more or less hypnotized Motherwell and threatened violence and was generally a scary fucker. Kowalski interrogation technique: one of my favourite things. I also love that Fraser stands there in fascination and lets him, and I suspect only in part because his shiny faith in humanity makes him assume that Ray's just putting it on. Basically Fraser plays the good cop perfectly. He sets 'em up, Ray knocks 'em down.
The only problem with driving the flaming Riv into Lake Michigan is that Ray can't swim. I'm guessing they had not yet decided that, since he's pretty cool about driving a car off a wharf for someone who barely knows how to doggie-paddle. On the other hand, I can shrug and move on because FLAMING RIV, and also lots of Fraser inappropriately groping Ray's inner thigh and calf, and most importantly Fraser and Ray actually tell each other that it's been weird but it's been a pleasure despite the fact that they've just had the day from Twilight Zone hell. Once Ray takes the bullet for Fraser, too, the "You're not Ray!" "I'm Ray!" thing becomes magically bantering and non-irritated. I think the take-home lesson from this episode is that Fraser and Kowalski are both totally insane and extremely well-suited to working together.
The postcard from Vecchio kind of breaks my heart, though. Cold out here, heat me up? I know there is a perfectly practical reason for those particular words, but still. And oh, the way Vecchio's leaning into him and the brilliant smile on Fraser's face! But it does reassure Fraser, because Vecchio kept his promise to be in touch, and that Fraser's okay is the important thing for the moment.
And then of course Fraser asks the new Ray out to dinner, and Ray's grin is brilliant. (It is also impossible to screencap, because it's the sort of thing that needs to be seen in motion.) And the awkwardness with which Fraser asks! And Ray's palpable joy at the invitation! I just want to draw little hearts around everyone.
3x02 Eclipse
Wow, I forgot how much I adore this episode. It's just -- perfect distilled character introduction, I guess? You find out Ray's name and you find out about Stella, yes yes &c &c, but you also find out the stuff that's important to Ray, Right now this is a man who really needs to get his head on straight -- he's supposed to be protecting someone's life by being undercover and he blows off the whole district to head out for a vendetta against someone he met when he was thirteen. Also, argh, I just, the first scene with Ray! He wears stupid striped boxers and puts Smarties (we can pretend they're M&Ms, though, this is fake!Chicago) in his coffee and we get our first glimpse (out of maybe two total?) of The Tattoo and later there are dancing footprints painted on his floorboards. I love all the little details because in his own way he's just as much a freak as Fraser is.
I also have this idea that Ray really doesn't have many friends. His landlady says that she gets to know most of her tenants, but not him, which says he's probably been living there for a while; it's possible he stays to himself because he shuffles through undercover jobs a lot, but I get the impression that being Vecchio is the first serious long-term thing he's done, and that, among other reasons (he already answers to Ray, he's a damn good cop, and he'd be willing to say yes) he got chosen for the job because his Kowalski life doesn't have a lot of strings still attached. In s1&2, we frequently run into Vecchio's old girlfriends or school friends or friends of the family; with Kowalski we've got Stella, his parents very briefly, a couple of people who knew him in his old district, and a smattering of criminal contacts. The "Stella got all the friends in the divorce" theory is probably a good one, except that I'm not sure Stella's kind of people were ever really Ray's kind of people. Again what I want to conclude is that Ray's just as much a freak as Fraser is; people know him and respect him, but he's too jittery or aggressive or quirky or whatever-it-is to get people to stay on with him, Stella and then Fraser aside. (This: one of the many reasons Fraser/Kowalski ended up being my actual OTP for this show; UST and subtext aside, they're alarmingly well-suited to really understanding each other.)
Another thing I love is that Ray really does listen to all the crazy stuff Fraser says. I had this idea that maybe I'd made that up because it made my shippy heart happy, and that really he does as much eye-rolling get-to-the-point as Vecchio did, but fanon schmanon, guys, even if Kowalski is completely bewildered by what Fraser is saying about caribou carcasses or the pride and honor of the job or walking around touching the sky, he still listens to the whole thing and internalizes it before he delivers the verdict of freakdom at the end. (At this juncture I also gesture happily at the story of Louuuuu Skagnetti and how into it Ray eventually gets, but that's from far in the future.)
I'm not sure Ray didn't want to be a cop and wanted to be something else. I'm sure he thinks it's true -- his dad certainly wanted him to be something else, and I suspect Stella wasn't really thrilled either -- but since I doubt Ray wanted to be a professional dancer and I suspect mechanic stuff counts in his brain as doing something rather than being something, I don't think he ever had anything else specific in his head. But of course this episode is about Ray remembering that being a cop really is the right thing for him, even if all the Stella-related motivation has gone away, and about him becoming a little less jaded about the whole thing.
In other news I am so extremely fond of how Ray likes using the word 'queer'. (Actually I like how he will use probably ever known synonym for 'weird' without actually saying weird. Something's hinky, you're a freak, wildly bizarre ways. OH RAY.)
Hello, "Do you find me attractive" conversation! I remember the first time through I was completely bewildered to discover that it was so early in the season, especially because I knew it was a fairly major Fraser/Kowalski point. I think I like it where it is, though; the whole thing is massively odd, but Ray is already having a massively odd day, and I kind of like that he's basically just asking Fraser for another kind of validation. I also like that we have text that Fraser finds Ray sexually attractive. And by "like" I mean "Wait, are you sure it's Vecchio's birthday? Because I think it is mine now."
I also kind of love the fact that they're having this conversation in a crypt also occupied by a little old lady and two adorable guys who are smuggling cigars illegally; I love that the five of them manage between them to carry on a fairly intellectual and philosophical conversation, albeit a seriously weird one. How the sun will feel blocked by the moon! The border between life and death is very poorly guarded, and who the hell has all the passports! You have to go back to go forward! I want to take all of them home and have weird conversations with them. <3
Oh god, and Fraser's speech about seeing the whole person. I love that he looked Ray up, and I love that he already deeply respects him, and I love that Ray is so fucking needy and wants Fraser to repeat the bit where they're friends. And what's perfect about this is that Fraser is constantly trying to fix people and take them on and make them better, which ... was not something he ever did with Ray Vecchio, because Vecchio's brand of screwed-up is all healed-over scars and all Fraser ever could do was just be a good friend and companion; but Kowalski is screwed-up in a way that demands reassurances and physicality and affirmations, and he gets that from Fraser, while Fraser meanwhile makes the effort and in turn gets someone who is absolutely responsive to it, and -- basically what I am saying is that Ray is needy and Fraser needs to be needed and did I mention that they are my OTP right now.
Ray throws the dreamcatcher and Marcus Ellery catches it! The dreamcatcher catches bad dreams! I SEE WHAT U DID THAR but it still makes me really happy every time. Have some epic symbolic Fraser-helping-Ray to go with your literal. And I really love the shot of Ray lying in the grave as the sun comes back out. I mean, then I get Ellen Fanshaw in my head talking about Geoffrey jumping into Ophelia's grave and not coming out for seven years, which is not the same thing thank you, except that it kind of is in that I suspect Ray's been sort of buried since things got bad with Stella, and possibly for far longer if he feels guilt over always having been a con job, and it's not until the combination of talking to Fraser and seeing Ellery again that he gets to come out from that.
I love Ray's little tap-the-side-of-his-nose I-have-a-plan thing. I also love that he did it at Welsh and that Welsh did it back; I have a completely unfounded theory that Welsh recommended Ray for the Vecchio gig because he knew Ray from way-back-when, although all I have to back this up are his assurances to Fraser that Ray's a good cop and the fact that Ray and Welsh seem able to communicate well and are a lot more comfortable around each other than Vecchio ever was. I sort of think of Welsh as Kowalski's grumpy lovable surrogate uncle, honestly.
And I don't know if they ever do the little refrain of "You're a freak" "Understood" again, but I am quite wedded to the notion that every time Ray calls Fraser a freak, it is much like Wesley and Buttercup and as you wish.
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ughhhhhh fraser/kowalski *___* I really don't generally do that much ~shipping~ or whatever but OH MAN. OHHHH MAN.
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I know! I do not really get ~epic OTPs~ very often, but Fraser/Kowalski qualifies A LOT.
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asking for specific scenes is best, or if there are certain episodes you'd rather I do. I can attempt Due South as a general request though if you want.