due South realization (BdtH; Eclipse)

[butterfly]

Now, these episodes have to occur closely together because the IRS starts looking at the station in BdtH and they're still doing it in Eclipse. In Eclipse, it's Ray Vecchio's birthday.

Fraser timed his vacation to end in time for him to be there for Ray's birthday. Ouch.

Also, a recent rewatching of Manhunt made me go all, "aww" over Fraser's watch, which is his dad's watch and... aww. He wears that in every episode.

I adore Benton Fraser so very much. I just did a quick overview of some vital S1-2 episodes (I'm dubbing) and... Benton Fraser is so strong-willed, morally-centered, and funny as hell. But so essentially lonely. He doesn't have anyone who'll... well, do exactly what Ray Kowalski does. Ray adapts to him, not only accepting his quirks but embracing them whole-heartedly. Ray trusts him and more than that, demands his trust in return. Ray Kowalski is a smart ass. So is Ben, but he hides it a lot better.

Also, I love that time is running out, the funeral is over, but Fraser now understands how important this is to Ray and completely changes his attitude, tells Ray that they have time to wait.

Stella note: Ray mentions in his Eclipse flashback that she went to private school. I thought I'd pulled that from somewhere.

There are various things that I want to keep track of when I rewatch the series -- Fraser's hat, his relationships with Dief and his father, Welsh's growing fondness toward Fraser, the growth of Frannie to Francesca to Miss Vecchio. Things like that. Fraser's moments of snark. All the little reveals of his deep inner emotional nature (the few times that he's used incomplete sentences, which seem to be a sign of him being very deeply emotionally disturbed). With due South, everything that I want to track is an emotional thing. It's about relationships and people. Mostly in relation to Fraser, because I adore him, but the world of dS is very rich.

And they start the homesick storyline as early as I Coulda Been a Defendant.
Benton: "You don't want to stay in Chicago?"
Bruce: "No. No, I don't think so."
Benton: "I understand."
Which is much more personal than his more common 'understood'. There's a depth of feeling in those words. He understands the desire not stay in Chicago.

Comments

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

I really want to get you to watch Stargate, you know.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

From what I've read about it, it sounds like an interesting show. It's out on dvd, yes? I could rent the first season from netflix... see how I like it.

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

EEEK YES YES YES YES YES!
In a way, the movie is the first episode, so the pilot can move kind of bewilderingly fast at points, but everything important from the film does get recapped, so it's not a problem. I mean, I haven't seen the movie.

And look. Can you possibly resist the pretty?

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I've put the first dvd from the first season at the top of my queue (so, it was like dS in having a movie that was turned into a pilot?).

*tilts head*

He is cute. Looks a bit like Crichton, but... slightly rounder... softer. Neither of those is quite the word that I'm looking for, but they'll do.

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Well, ordinarily he has glasses, and omg his EYES and his delicate features and oh boy, but that man can work his eyelashes. Sometimes conversations go by and I'm positive the script looked like this:

JACK: [words]
DANIEL: *eyelash thing*
JACK: [more words]
DANIEL: *blinks furiously*

In the first season, Daniel has long hair and looks absolutely adorable. In later seasons, he has short hair and biceps and sometimes replaces the glasses with contacts, and well, still looks absolutely adorable.

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Take a look at saeva's 'Oh, really?' icon for pure Daniel nonverbal sarcasm. And take a look at her other Daniel icons for, well, the pretty. And the J/D.

Daniel takes over the world in an alternate universe in one episode. I nearly dissolved from the sheer hotness.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

He does seem to have a very expressive face.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Hee. So, pretty, then?

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[zoetrope.livejournal.com]

Which is much more personal than his more common 'understood'. There's a depth of feeling in those words. He understands the desire not stay in Chicago.

Which makes his decision not to transfer in MotB that much more telling, don't you think? Already he feels committed to this new Ray, after a relatively short time.

The same can also be said of Ray, of course. His desire to be 'himself' - vocalised in MotB - is eclipsed by his desire to be who he is when he's with Fraser, culminating in his life-changing decision in CotW.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Which makes his decision not to transfer in MotB that much more telling, don't you think? Already he feels committed to this new Ray, after a relatively short time.

Exactly -- everything happens so fast for Fraser with RayK. Rewatching early S3, it's easy to believe that he did fall in love at first sight -- his actions and reactions to Ray work well with that assumption. Eventually, he settles into the strong partnership that seems to be all that Ray wants, but in the early episodes... just the way he looks at Ray sometimes -- soft and studying and slightly bemused, like Ray is this new, unique creature different from anything else Ben's ever seen.

I mean, take the issues of Stella. Fraser gets emotionally hurt every few minutes in Strange Bedfellows, as Ray keeps ignoring him in favor of Stella -- after that, he's always keeps his distance from Stella. He calls her ma'am in Seeing is Believing. I don't think that it's a coincidence that Fraser's one real love interest of the season occurs just two episodes after Ray batters his heart in SB. I think Fraser was reaching for someone that felt like home, because he thought he couldn't have who he wanted.

The same can also be said of Ray, of course. His desire to be 'himself' - vocalised in MotB - is eclipsed by his desire to be who he is when he's with Fraser, culminating in his life-changing decision in CotW.

Mmmhmm. Where Fraser fell hard and fast, Ray took a little more time. He was still in love with Stella, he was running from himself. It's not the best time to start a relationship in any case. The most telling early moment is in Asylum, when Ray trusts Fraser to save him ("How you do know? How can you be so sure?"). He's still fighting against it -- each time they have a bout of closeness, Ray then goes after a blonde, which must be hell on Fraser (no wonder he stopped being as open about his feelings -- though they were still there, just more subtle). This happens four time, and doesn't count his continued... um, relationship with Stella. He knows that she'll shoot him down, but he'd rather deal with her shooting him down than Fraser. I can only remember SiB and GftS re: Stella moments, but I can't remember hearing him ask out Stella when Fraser isn't there (post-Strange Bedfellows).

[zoetrope.livejournal.com]

I can only remember SiB and GftS re: Stella moments, but I can't remember hearing him ask out Stella when Fraser isn't there (post-Strange Bedfellows).

Completely. And even more telling is that during the key Ray (and Ray/Fraser) episodes, Stella is nowhere to be seen.

In CotW Ray doesn't mention her even once (the glory of ctrl-F!). You'd think that if he was so in love with her he'd at least consider her when making the huge decisions that he does in that episode. I watched MotB and CotW before any of the others, and after seeing how barely-there she is to Ray in those episodes I always had trouble believing that Ray was still so in love with her. Still wanted his old, easier life, maybe. But still madly in love? I just don't believe they sell it that way.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think he really wanted the ease that he'd once had with Stella. He'd fallen for her so young (and now I wonder how much of that was in response to her belief in his heroism) and had felt so unworthy (con-job).

With Fraser, he gets all dependent, yeah, but he feels worthy. He gets the love thing -- he doesn't fight with Fraser or chase Fraser. He just waits to see what Fraser decides. We know how deep in Ray is from his speech earlier in the episode, but he still does the "I'll understand if you don't pick me," which he could never do with Stella, because his love for Stella was ultimately immature. It wasn't about her, it was about him. Without Fraser, he knows that he'll feel lost and alone again, but he wants Fraser to be happy, despite the cost to himself.

[zoetrope.livejournal.com]

Without Fraser, he knows that he'll feel lost and alone again, but he wants Fraser to be happy, despite the cost to himself.

Exactly. *sigh* Ray/Fraser OTP!

;)