due South musing plus a new icon

I've been watching the episodes (well, the Kowalski episodes) in order. Well, in the order that the due South official site tells me that they should be in. Apparently, this may or may not be the order they were aired in. If not, then that is a true shame, as it clears up some of what people thought were character continuity problems. (Or so it seems from reading back posts of serge. And may I say that the way some RayV fans treated RayK and his fans to have been absolutely appalling. People sent Callum hate mail. Sending hate mail to an actor because you hate that things are changing and he's a part of it? I do not get that, at all. But that's all water under the bridge, from all accounts. But it does make me a bit glad that I wasn't around as a dS fan back then. I would have hated Vecchio because of his fans, the way I did with Spike for a while. Instead, I like Vecchio while knowing that he does not turn my crank.)

Anyway, according to the official site, Dead Guy Running is the episode right before Mountie on the Bounty. Which just makes Ray's frustration make sense. He'd just seen Fraser bend the rules for Vecchio. A part of him must have been wondering if Vecchio had been closer to Fraser than Kowalski was or could ever be. Makes his behavior in MotB ring very true for me.

And check out my new icon. Grr. Such a sexy moment.

Question:

Is my 'OhmyGod!dueSouthrules!' thing at all annoying? I'm not planning to cut back or anything, but I am curious.

I mean, it's all so new to me. How much it rules.

It's on a par with Buffy.

It has fascinating characters, witty writing, depth, some killer symbolism, and offers up some interesting philosophical ideas (Fraser as ego, Dief as id, Fraser Sr. as superego). It's amazing. Plus, the couple I like ends up together, which hasn't happened yet on Buffy (notice the hopefullness of the 'yet'). Fraser and Kowalski end up going on the big adventure together.

More due South

I will not yet attempt to write about The Ladies' Man as it would require many more viewings to even touch upon its brilliance.

I will instead mention that Mojo Rising supports the 'they are so fucking during the series' theory, because they climb over each other to change places in the car. Who does that? I have never seen that. That speaks to a remarkable lack of personal boundaries in a relationship. Anyone else would get out of the car to change places. I point to Huey and Dewey in A Likely Story.

'Normal Again' thoughts

I can never remember whether it's Normal, Again or Normal Again. Ah, well, no one's perfect.

I was just thinking about Buffy's anger. Or rather, the anger that she has that she isn't willing to express directly. She goes after Willow, then Xander, then Dawn. Not Spike. Spike may have been the catalyst for her dumping the potion, but I don't think she was mad at him during this episode. Or really, at all. She was mostly pissed at herself over the Spike thing.

But Willow, Willow was Head Girl in the 'Bring Buffy Back' campaign. Dawn is a huge burden. And Xander...

Xander did what all of Buffy's guys do. He left. And yeah, he was leaving Anya at the altar and all that stuff, but he left. And I imagine that Buffy was harboring some anger over that. 'Cause Xander was the only guy who hadn't ever done that. And now he was just like the rest of them.

In fact, I bet, though not with money, but I bet that Spike's leaving hurt Buffy more than his attempt at raping her (although, of course, I'd never argue that the rape attempt didn't hurt or spook her, as it obviously did). But Buffy can stop a rape attempt.

She can't stop someone from leaving.

Her dad left. Angel left. Parker left. Her mom left, though through no choice of her own, of course. Oz left, which has nothing to do with Buffy but does reinforce her belief that everyone leaves. Riley leaves, after accusing her of not loving him enough. Giles leaves when she arguably needs him the most. Xander leaves, though again, this had nothing personal to do with Buffy, yet I imagine it was not fun. Spike leaves, after betraying her trust.

People leave. Which is just a fact of life. But it does set a nice, big abandonment complex for the Buffster.

Hmm. One that I imagine Benton Fraser shared. Until Ray Kowalski, everyone he loved left him. Though through no fault of his, of course. Still, hurt feelings are rarely if ever logical.

Anyway, the reason that I started thinking about this was that I just saw the dS episode Good for the Soul, which features Fraser getting beaten up by mob goons. At the end of the episode, he proposes a rather odd toast, where he mentions the spare sadness (sad sparseness?) of his past Christmases, then mentions that forgiveness is the spirit of Christmas. And then he tells everyone Merry Christmas, obliquely forgiving them for not being there for him. Which meant that he was, in fact, hurt or he wouldn't have implied that there was something to forgive.

And then my mind went off on a tangent to Buffy, as it so often does.

Finnish lambs

If you want one, let me know.

<-taken

Head trip...

I've been thinking about my own levels of... well, my ability to suspend belief when watching tv. I do have lines, which are both fairly firm, yet extremely malleable.

When I truly care about a show, I don't think of it as a tv show. Rather, I think of it as an alternate universe. Which means that I don't consider out of show reasons for things. I can accept that the 'real-life' reason Giles leaves is because Anthony Stewart Head wanted to go home, but that isn't taken into account in my view of the storyline. For me, the 'real' reasons for what happens must take place in-story.

Giles left because a) he wanted Buffy to stand on her own two feet and b) he couldn't watch her die again. He was tired.

Similarly, the reason that Spike's around may be because he is extremely popular with the fans, but I won't accept that as an 'in-story' reason. Which leads to some interesting trains of thought. Thoughts that are much more interesting and fulfilling than simply accepting the 'real-life' reason.

This also means that most of time, I don't notice things like stunt doubles or bad acting.

Actually, I've never noticed the stunt doubles. I watched the B/A fight in Becoming part 2, looking for the double and I never found him. I suck at that. People point them out and I still don't see them.

Anyway, this means that if a show breaks the magic, then I'm gone. You have to keep the magic, the suspension of belief, alive, or I can't operate in my fantasy world. I have boundaries.

Why do I mention this? Because, very recently, (in a dS episode) I actually said, "Or, he might not believe you because you're a bad actor." Which, as I have just pointed out, is not something I tend to do. Luckily, as it turns out, the guy was, you know, lying his ass off, so it worked for me. In-story reason for the worst excuse for crying since Dawson Leery.

Anyway, I have my Buffyverse, my Angelverse (the two have separated in my head totally), and (now) the dueverse. Smallville is still not fully formed in my head (may not ever be, considering the sheer lameness of some things). Nor is Firefly, but we just met. And I haven't seen all of Andromeda and thus do not want to judge hastily.

Angel got some hits with the Lamest Romance Ever (Cordy/Angel, if anyone's keeping track), but has really revived this season with the way it's handled stuff. And Buffy has never caused him to doubt my suspension of belief. due South is amazing so far. Just amazing. And the parallels between the pilot and the finale are beautiful. It fits, the story fits perfectly in the length that it was written in. It was exactly as long as it need to be. The circle was complete, and Ben ended up back home where he belonged, but only after he took the journey that he needed to take. And found someone to take back with him.

*nsync Pairings

So, rositamia asked me why JuC and trickyfish would 'fit' together, because she liked the elegance in my description of Fraser and Ray's love. So, I'm going to go over why, in my head, each pairing is, in some way, a match. Or at least take a stab at it.

Chris/JC: One of the harder pairings for me to imagine. Actually, anyone else willing to field this one? I've got nothing.

Chris/Joey: I can see Joey just being able to *take* Chris' bitter humor. And not take it personally. And Chris is a cynic, and maybe being with Joey would help with that. Again, not one of my strong pairings.

Chris/Justin: Best friends make the best lovers. Which, I can see, in general, just not in this specific case. Still, no one can pierce Justin's star mask like Chris can. Which is worth a lot.

Chris/Lance: The Snarky Pairing. It's the sense of humor thing. I just see these two egging each other on.

JC/Joey: With JoeC, I always picture this great dynamic where each thinks that he's taking care of the other. Which would be true.

JC/Justin: The Mouse Boys. The Perfectionists. The Songwriters. The (almost) Solo Artists. The Leads. There's a lot to choose from here. They're probably the most equal in terms of talent (Joey is more of a Broadway man, in his soul, and I'd argue that he has the most flat-out talent of the group. God, he was amazing in Rent). Equals. Competitors, even if they'd never admit it. It has the potential to be an interesting dynamic. Though not one that I generally explore.

JC/Lance: Hmm. I can really only see this in the younger days, when these two were thick as thieves. Which, I may add, is an interesting expression.

Joey/Justin: Eh. I really can't think of anything here. Anyone?

Joey/Lance: Again, with the best friends thing. But they're almost too close for me to buy as lovers. They're so... best friend-y. I mean, yes, they could be 'hiding in plain sight' but they just strike me as... friends. Close friends.

Justin/Lance: 'My' pairing. This one should be easy, right? Only, it's hard for me to explain why I love them. They just. They're similar enough that I bet they can find much to bond together on, but they have many differences as well. They just... I. They. Meh. They make my heart shiver and my head tingle.

End of an era...

I've now seen all of the Kowalski episodes (at least)once through.

I'm thinking of doing the Vecchio ones now. Concentrate on really examining the way Fraser grows and changes. Also, looking at how his dad and Dief are parts of his psyche. Though, naturally, that's not all they are. But all characters in a series are there to illustrate the character of the main character(s). Everyone and everything in Buffy is about Buffy, ditto with Angel in Angel.

And due South is about Benton Fraser's journey to Chicago and then back home, and how he changes in the process. He develops a relationship with his father, most notably, he learns how to forgive his father for not being present. He discovers that he does have a family connection in the Great North. And he finds love. And he finds out that home is just where you left it, but maybe you need to get lost to really know that.

And as the show is about Ben's journey, every character is, at least in theory, a reflection of Ben or of something that he needs to face. This is both less and more true in the third season, where Paul Gross made it more of an ensemble show (I love Paul Gross). Because everyone we know has been changed by Fraser in a few ways. And he by them. Rather like life, but since the show focuses on Fraser (though also on Ray, especially in the third season, as I understand it), his view of life is what we see.

We see what Fraser is like with his walls down. Vecchio doesn't. He doesn't see Ben crying. In the crying Vecchio episode, is Fraser there? (I have not seen it.) Fraser is there to see Ray cry in The Ladies' Man.

Also, Vecchio is not in the livejournal dictionary, but Kowalski is.

Buffy: Conversations with Dead People

This appears to be another 'special format' episode. The only other episode I remember getting the title of on-screen was Once More, With Feeling.
( Read more... )

Best episode ever. And it doesn't even have Xander! So for me to say that is... huge.

Smallville

Am I supposed to be on Lana's side? Because... she's a brat.

And I don't consider that a spoiler, because she's a brat pretty consistently.

Conversations

( Xander theory )