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).
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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).