Due South shipping meta!

[bigmamag]

I know many of you are waiting for more Star Trek meta, particularly the TMP novel analysis (IT'S TAKING SO LONG BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO MISS ANYTHING), but I've been toying with some Due South meta for a while and finally I decided to just post it already, even though it's not the fanciest thing ever and gets rambly. Also, you may notice that this

Comments

[mijmeraar]

Hi there :D

I'm puttering around LJ and thought I'd look over your posts, and good thing I did. I loved this. Of course, I can't agree with you more. The way you've expressed it is the same way I see it but have never thought to put it in words, really. It is just so obvious to me. I like that this fandom - even though there were full blown 'wars' on the matter - can look at a mere three seasons of television and see such different things!

I've had a few people - one in particular - talk about my opinions like I was dismissing Vecchio. Considering this is my all time favourite show, I would never do that. Just seeing Fraser's heartache in Burning Down The House, that conversation over the phone at the start, it's all so palpable. They had something really special - something that Fraser, as a lone wolf, and Ray Vecchio, as a hard nosed [no pun intended], trusts-you-as-far-as-he-can-throw-you cop never had.

Isn't it interesting that they were SO, SO close as friends, but it was Kowalski - who once trusted too soon, and wears his heart on his sleeve - that bared all but everything within the first few episodes, to Fraser. I mean, how long was it before Fraser knew Vecchio was married, and he didn't really get much information on that, did he? Kowalski told him why he was a cop, who Stella was, what the problems were. It wasn't long before he knew the story about his dad, too. Fraser has had a string of people in his life - Bob, Victoria, Vecchio - who kept so much from him, and then here comes Kowalski, with all his baggage, and says, here, have this, it's getting heavy.

Good Lord, I love that.

There was a lot of overly homoerotic stuff with Kowalski, too, and we know it's probably becuase Paul became familiar with slash. However, you're so right, that there's so much underlying stuff. Just little things, I notice. In Easy Money he has this really beautiful moment with Dief, while making coffee and chatting with Fraser. In Bounty Hunter [even though he obviously couldn't stand Janet] he reassures Fraser they will be okay. In Good For the Soul, when Fraser's walking home - and before that, I'm proud of you scene - he looks so genuinely worried to see Fraser leave, and tells him he'll take him home. OMG, in Ladies Man, when they're at his house, he's all, I suppose you'll be wanting some of that bark tea! [I assume he remembers 'cause he was ticked off about the woman, he definitely looked ticked off]. Also, all the little snide comments whenever Frannie or Thatcher are being obvious, like 'Oh, I bet you will' etc etc. GUH.

I love what you say about Ray being a firecracker. He just, brings this new heat, and unpredictability, to Fraser's life. That in itself is sexual. That is basically Fraser's sex life. The only woman he truly loved was a nutter, and the women after her were killers and tricksters. There's something buried in him that he sees in these people, and he sees in RayK. The fact that RayK NEVER, not once, apologised to Fraser, even though he did some shity thing to him, just speaks volumes to me about the kind of relationship they have. Dysfunctional, yes, but not brotherly, no sense of obligation, RayK NEEDED Fraser, but not on a partner level, or a familial level, like Vecchio.

Also, the one thing I would have liked to have seen you talk about, was the campfire scene at the end of COTW. It fits in so well with what you were saying about there being something so, subliminal, about their sexual relationship. Earlier he had basically said to Thatcher, fuck, who am I now that I'm not Vecchio, that I'm not Fraser's Vecchio. By the campfire he straight away accepts that it's over, that Fraser's going to be gone, just like everyone else. Then - as you so wisely pointed out to me one day - Fraser basically says, Vecchio will be fine on his own. There is SO MUCH packed into that two minute scene AND TO TOP IT OFF Thatcher comes by and Fraser says duty and Kowalski's all, huffy, BARKS. Oh my God, show, shoot me.

ANYWAY, gone a little overboard here, but thank you for this :D It's so nice to talk about them like this again <3 I hope you're doing well, love

[bigmamag]

I absolutely hate whenever Fraser/Vecchio shippers say that I don't like Vecchio. Look, just because I don't see him with Fraser doesn't mean I dislike Vecchio. That's just stupid and it assumes that you can't like characters unless you ship them.

I absolutely LOVE the point you made about Kowalski telling Fraser so much. And you know, Kowalski doesn't do that. Remember his landlady saying how secretive he was? Something about Fraser makes Ray want to open up.

And yes! Those little snide jealous moments. I love the bark tea thing, because Ray purposefully says it to get a reaction because he immediately grouses 'well, I don't have any.' LOVE IT.

I don't think I talked about it because that scene doesn't seem too SEXUAL to me, just one of those classic romantic comedy scene in which both characters are talking about different things. I suppose you can see that as sexual because there's obvious romance going on, but yes, I loved that scene. The deleted kiss is interesting because it's clear that they never see each other again, so while Fraser is saying goodbye, Kowalski is thinking, "FML, he's going back to Chicago and marry the Ice Queen and have a bunch of super mountie babies while I travel around in an RV like my parents."