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

From Tortiecat

[anonymous]

This is a very good essay that made me think a lot.

I'll say up front that I can't agree with everything you wrote because I'm not a F/K shipper. In fact I'd rather not think of Fraser having a romance with either Ray, because the emphasis on Fraser being paired off with a Ray just led to the nasty Ray Wars. And, IMO, the effects of the Ray Wars still remain - particularly with fans' attitudes toward RayV. He has never received the love from fans that he deserves because the slash took over the fandom for the most part, and RayV lost out. :-( If there had been more emphasis on friendship than slash all along, then RayV wouldn't have lost out, and he would receive as much love as RayK seems to have.

So I can't completely agree with what you wrote about Fraser and RayK because I don't ship them, and I haven't seen anything sexual or romantic about their relationship on screen. But I definitely agree that Fraser and RayV are having a wonderful bromance that goes beyond their being "just friends." It's one of the most loving, caring friendships between two males that I've ever seen on television, and to me, that's just as important as romance. Which makes the slash fandom idea that Fraser and RayV are separated after Fraser settles in Canada with his boyfriend RayK very sad to me. I think Fraser and RayV need to be near each other in ways that others who love them probably don't understand.

I'm also bothered at your idea, and the fandom idea, that Fraser is flirting with RayK during the series - because by doing that, Fraser doesn't seem to view RayV as very important to him. If RayV was important to him, he would not flirt with RayK and risk blowing RayK's cover as RayV - which could lead to danger and even death for RayV.

I've seen the list of so-called "slashy" moments between Fraser and RayK, but I think there's just as many moments between Fraser and RayV that can be considered equally "slashy" - the two dancing in "Some Like It Red," Fraser rescuing Ray in "P&P," and Fraser holding Ray after Ray takes a bullet for him in LG," for starters.
But I don't always agree with what others see as "slashy" for Fraser and either Ray. It's just a matter of interpretation and, as I said, I wish less emphasis could be placed on slash in Due South so that the Rays could be treated more equally.

As for Bob Fraser's opinions about the Rays - I think Bob was a terrible judge of others anyway, as he had one friend who killed his wife and another who killed him! So I disregard Bob's advice to Fraser concerning Ray as a suspect in "DGR" (which I also think the writers included to diss RayV and build up RayK as the "better" Ray :-().

And the use of "partnership?" Overdone during the RayK seasons, IMO.

It wasn't necessary to say that Fraser and RayV were "partners" - their relationship with each other showed that they were work partners. But they were first and foremost close friends in a bromance, and that's more important than a "partnership," IMO. And "partners" was probably intended to be used in the work sense, not the romantic partners sense, during the RayK seasons. The slashers have applied it to mean romance, however.

Re: From Tortiecat

[bigmamag]

I respect your opinion and you're quite eloquent with it. I'm often baffled by the Ray Wars because, well, I was never in them and only found out about this show in 2008, so that colors my perspective a LOT.

The only thing I have to really disagree with is Fraser risking RayV's cover by flirting with Kowalski. First of all when an actor says flat out like Paul Gross did that the "new guy" is sexy and the slash fans will love him, not to mention the gag reel where there's all kinds of innuendo being thrown around, you simply can't say it wasn't at least jokingly put in for fun. As for blowing cover, the show is ludicrous in itself. I mean, think of all the people RayV met during his lifetime. Did they tell each and every single one about the undercover assignment? Clearly someone from, say, Ray's high school will know in an instant that RayK is not RayV, and so if you want to get technical, they're risking RayV's cover every damn day. That's what makes the show hilarious, that it has its own logic and, frankly, if you've ever had a crush, it's fucking impossible not to flirt with them and Fraser (as evidenced by Victoria) is not immune to matters of the heart. Of course I don't think any relationship would happen until well after the series and I don't think any overt flirting happens in front of others, just in private.

Now whether Fraser is actually flirting with RayK is up for debate and I can certainly see how others don't see it like I do. But I don't think this particular argument can be made.