Ray Vecchio (Due South)
Title: Ray Vecchio, Prince of Chicago
Fandom: due South
Character: Ray Vecchio
Spoilers: Lots for seasons 1 and 2
Author: aingeal8c
E-mail: aingeal8c at yahoo dot co dot uk
Thanks: Many thanks to pulsar4529 for answering my plea for an 11th hour beta. Also thanks to all who have discussed Ray Vecchio with me during the time I have been in fandom.
Way back in 1995…
I first ‘met’ one detective Ray Vecchio way back in 1995 when the pilot episode of due South aired in the UK.
Ray was the main American, he was the one with the loud shirts, and the even louder personality. These things helped to make him, as well as the show standout among viewers.
I was reintroduced to him on finding some old dS tapes a few years ago. On watching the show again I was older, more thoughtful and was able to give a lot more time to Ray’s character and appreciate it more.
Making an Impression
First impressions are a bit hazy. So I’ll go with the impression I got when I rediscovered the character.
Ray certainly makes an impression on you the first time you see him. To me he came across as bit a loud, perhaps a bit rude but at the same time he had depth to him. One thing that always sticks in my mind is that you right away you notice his eyes. In some episodes they look hazel, in others green, but you can’t miss them.
You can see his hidden depths in the pilot when he brushes off Fraser’s case as ‘the dead Mountie thing’ but when he realizes the dead Mountie is Fraser’s father he suddenly looks shell-shocked and remorseful at what he’s said. In fact he is so shocked he is unaware of what Fraser says about the man in the cell. He’s still processing what a faux pax he’s made. You can see this in his response to what Fraser is saying:
Fraser: I was told that you were in charge of this case.
Ray: Ah yes, the dead Mountie thing, like I couldn't have guessed. Look, I've got your list of names in my basket here. The moment I get a chance I'm going to go to the computer, pick up the phone and call you with the information so you can go get your Boy Scout points. Now, is there anything else?
Fraser: Yes. The dead Mountie was my father. And I would appreciate it if you'd check the names while there's still a chance of catching the man who killed him. Oh and by the way, he's not in the garment business.
Ray: What?
The facial expressions really help to solidify this scene. They help to show us that whilst Ray might be rash he is also aware of other people and their feelings.
When we first meet Ray in the Pilot he has 41 open cases and no partner to help share the caseload. He’s also resorted to trying entrapment on a man he thinks is a big garment buyer. To a lot of people this might suggest, on a first impression, a bad cop who is struggling with his work or to others it might suggest that he is on burnout. Either way first impressions show a character capable of a lot more as perhaps Fraser notices:
Fraser: Your man, in the cell. He had a hole in his shoe. I'm not familiar with your city but I'd assume a big garment buyer wouldn't be caught dead with a hole in his shoe, so, like you, he is pretending to be someone he's not.
The Mountie recognises there is more to Ray than the loud brash manner.
In the Pilot we do see him undertake some very solid police work as he provides help to Fraser in the hunt for the killer of Fraser’s father. In fact he checks himself out of hospital and flies all the way to Canada in order to impart some important information. The way Ray describes it might be an exaggeration but there is no doubt his actions were extremely self-sacrificing:
Ray: Exactly--You knew?
Fraser: Yes.
Ray: You couldn't have called and told me this?
Fraser: I'm sorry.
Ray: Dropped me a post card saying 'Hi, I've solved the case.'
Fraser: My mistake.
Ray: 'Don't bother crawling out of your deathbed and flying up to the armpit of the frozen north. I figured out who did it?'
It’s clear that Ray Vecchio is prepared to what he feels is right and in the case of the pilot that was going North to make sure Fraser got the piece of information about who arranged the death of his father. Considering he seemed so dismissive of the case at first, and also considering the fact he has 41 cases, this really does change that first impression by highlighting his good qualities, his strengths.
The friend you wished you had
Ray Vecchio has many good qualities. Sometimes it can be hard to see that when you compare him to the character of Fraser. As David Marciano, the actor who plays Ray, said, ‘The inclination, when you’re comparing yourself to someone so perfect is to look at your own imperfections. You start to feel a little inferior, a little insecure, then you realise your character also has good qualities. Ray is very loyal, he’s brave and he’s clever in his own way. He can be brash but he has a generous heart.’
We know that clearly Ray Vecchio is a good police officer, after-all he made Detective before he met Fraser. In episode ‘The Duel’ we can see Ray using his police skills to solve a case that is very personal for him and hits at his lack of self-confidence. In the end he is able to figure it out.
Ray’s key strengths lie in the fact he cares, he’s very loyal to his friends and family. Although perhaps sometimes this can backfire and become a weakness as it leaves him open to being betrayed by those he cares for most, as we will see in the episode ‘Victoria’s Secret’ which will be discussed later on.
He cares a great deal more than perhaps he would let on. He is a big city cop with a desk full of cases, he simply doesn’t have the time to devote all his energies into each one in the same way we see Fraser do. He has a solve rate to maintain but clearly he will take time over cases and he will not neglect the human side of it if he can.
Hiding behind the armour
Of course Ray does have his weaknesses. Perhaps the biggest one is his lack of self-esteem.
In a number of episodes, mostly Victoria’s Secret and North, we see the ghost of Ray’s father berate his son, constantly belittling him and his actions toward Fraser in particular. It’s not hard to imagine that this same kind of comment carried on whilst Ray’s father was still alive.
Ray: Don't you have things to do in Hell or wherever you are?
Mr. Vecchio: Purgatory and for my sins I've got to watch you make stupid mistakes. And who gave you permission to use my pool table.
Ray: Give it a rest Pop.
Ray seems to try and hide this lack of confidence behind his loud clothes and loud attitude. He doesn’t like people getting too close to see the real him. He is not happy with the real him. His clothing, which could be described as his ‘Armani Armour’ is his protection from having other people see exactly who he is.
He complements this with a loud attitude that can come across as brash and bravado. In fact it can be seen as offensive and helps to keep people at arm’s length. A good example is in the episode ‘A Cop, A Mountie and A Baby’. In this episode Ray’s heart is in the right place as he and Fraser are trying to get a baby back to his mother but the way he goes about tackling the adoption lawyer is very indicative of his attitude:
Miss Morisot: Now just what the hell is this all about?
Fraser: Miss Morisot we have reason to believe that that child has been put up for adoption without the full knowledge and agreement of both parents.
Ray: which makes you a fraud, a kidnapper and not a very nice person.
Miss Morisot: Detective, I can't decide whether you are just naturally offensive or just naturally ignorant and I'd be checking your facts before shooting your mouth off.
Although in this case it also shows how much Ray does care; he’s willing to confront the problem head on and not waste time on niceties.
Another reason he might want to try to keep people away is because he is afraid that his own emotions may overwhelm him. We can see how much he does for Fraser and what it costs him both in terms of time, money and emotion. If he let everybody get close, if he let every case affect him, he wouldn’t be able to cope because emotionally he’d feel it too much, so he keeps most people at a distance.
Tracing his journey
One of the great things about the character of Ray Vecchio is you can clearly see his path, his growth, his journey. What helped him in that way was the actor who played him, David Marciano really wanted the character to improve.
As already mentioned to a lot of people Ray Vecchio perhaps does not give off a good impression. He can be seen as loud, abrasive and perhaps aggressive. The character was created as being the typical ‘American stereotype’ as it were.
Gradually thorough his association with Fraser we can see Ray change in subtle and not so subtle ways.
One of the markers for this change is perhaps his clothing. Early on in the series Ray is wearing loud, brash shirts which highlight that part of his personality, but toward the end of season 1 we’ve seen a subtle change. He’s wearing darker colours, less loud in their colouration. He’s wearing more greys, blacks, darker colours. Not necessarily meaning he’s becoming more serious or more sophisticated but perhaps he is becoming more comfortable with himself and doesn’t feel the need to clothe himself in a way to deflect from his personality.
By the second season Ray’s clothes are darker in general, he’s wearing a lot of suits showing again he is much more comfortable with himself as a person. He is able to have faith in himself because someone, in this case Fraser, has faith in Ray as a person.
It’s really clear he does start to have faith in himself. He’s also a lot less brash. He’s calmed down. That is not to say he still doesn’t confront things head on, he does as evidenced by his handling of a sensitive case involving a senator in the episode ‘The Promise’:
Welsh: Now that takes real vision. Shaking down a United States Senator.
Ray: Honest to God sir all we did was ask Mrs. Johnstone a couple of questions, she completely over reacted.
Welsh: Oh you think. You did accuse her husband of consorting with a world famous prostitute.
Ray: Suggested sir, never accused.
Ray is still tackling things head on only he now has the confidence to be able to back his convictions up. He is not afraid of people who have a position that might seem untouchable. It shows again his much he cares about seeing justice done even if the guilty party is indeed ‘important’.
Some have said that Ray is corrupt but there is very little evidence to really suggest this, at least in seasons 1 and 2. Sometimes we see Ray perhaps bending the rules a little but sometimes he doesn’t have any choice but to do so in order to get the job done.
A man is nothing without his friends, family and enemies
Ray is very much a person who seems to be shaped by his relationships with others. We learn about him through his interaction. We learn about his character, his past and what has influenced him.
The Zukos - the enemy and the lover
This family, specifically two members of it, have played a very dramatic role on Ray’s life since he was a teenager. They are Frank Zuko and his sister Irene.
We first meet Frank Zuko in the episode ‘The Deal’ and we can tell from the meeting between Ray and Zuko that there is a lot of history between the two men. Zuko even stated this:
Zuko: You know, I'm ignoring your tone because we have a history. But don't push it. This may seem penny-ante to you, Vecchio, but somebody did commit a crime here.
What that history will be revealed through the course of the episode which is very much a landmark episode for Ray’s character and gives great insights into his past. That first meeting with Zuko is the foreshadowing of Ray coming to terms with events that happened twenty years previously and which involved Frank Zuko.
Ray is clearly on edge around Zuko and does his best to distance himself from the mob boss, particularly when it comes to the aspects they share, such as the same neighbourhood and the local church:
Zuko: What's the matter with you, Ray? Huh? Your mother doesn't live in this community? Your sisters don't walk home past that church every night? You think some guy who robs the church is going to think twice about mugging the women in your family? Or mine?
Ray: Let's not compare your family and mine, okay Frankie, 'cause we don't walk down the same block.
Ray doesn’t want to be associated with Frank Zuko, although it’s clear that Zuko does not share the same feelings on the subject, almost taunting Ray with the familiarity they have:
Zuko: You still play basketball, Ray? You oughta come down to the gym on Saturday. Work off some of that pasta.
Ray: I don't think so, Frankie.
Clearly Frank Zuko bothers Ray; he wears a look of what can be described as contempt when he is around his old childhood acquaintance. Of course they now follow quite different paths. Ray is a cop and Frank Zuko is the local mob boss. Yet the fact they operate on different sides of the law is not the only reason why Ray is so reluctant to deal with Zuko. There is an incident in the past that Ray still struggles with.
When Ray first describes it, it sounds awful but we are still not aware of the significance at this stage:
Ray: I went to school with Frank, we used to play pick-up basketball together. There was this one kid, Marco Metroni, couldn't make a basket to save his life. No matter whose side he was on he always managed to lose the game, and Frank didn't like losing. So one day, a couple of Frank's buddies held him down while Frank drilled a basketball in his face for about a half-hour. Marco just lay there choking on his blood. He never came near a court again.
What Ray doesn’t reveal at this stage is that Marco was his friend and that he watched the entire incident. It could have been scenes like these which led Ray down the route of becoming a police officer, he grew up surrounded by such cruel actions toward other people.
He is haunted by the fact he was too afraid to do anything. When Fraser is beaten up, in a direct comparison to what happened to Marco, Ray finally feels the need to impart what happened 20 years ago on the basketball court.
Ray: Marco Matroni. The kid Zuko worked over with the basketball? Two guys held him down while Zuko dribbled the ball all over his face. I'm talking like this thing happed twenty years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. [Ray stops for a few seconds] So the kid hits the concrete, right? And he looks up at me with those eyes. Those eyes that say help me. Call the cops. Do something. I just stood there while Zuko rearranged his face. I didn't try to stop it. I didn't say a word. When I got home that night, I felt like I was eighty years old. I shoulda done something, Benny.
The tone of his voice and the haunted look on his face speak volumes. It was a stark wake-up call to Ray that a boy he considered a friend was cruel, nothing more than a cowardly bully. It’s clear that he did consider Frank Zuko a friend, they played basketball together, but somehow seeing what Frank Zuko did changed his feelings toward his former friend. He didn’t become an enemy as such, because he didn’t do anything. However all these years later he makes the decision to confront Frank Zuko.
The catalyst for Ray’s actions was seeing Fraser beaten up by Zuko’s goons it reminds himself of the incident with Marco. Remembering it causes him to work up the courage to actually go and do something to silence his demons. It helps him to protect the innocent shoemaker, the man who lost everything, due to Zuko’s actions.
In a way Ray lost something to Zuko. It was a wake-up call to how cruel the world could be. It pushed him from childhood toward adulthood.
After the confrontation on the basketball court, Frank calls off the hit of Padducci. However, he doesn’t promise that Ray is safe. This come back to cause more pain in Ray’s life in a year’s time and involves Ray’s childhood sweetheart, Irene.
Irene appears in the episode ‘Juliet is Bleeding’ and the comparison with the Shakespearean couple is obvious. Ray is the ‘unlikely Romeo’ as the episode summary puts it and his Juliet is the sister of his long-time rival. Although in the episode ‘The Deal’ it seems that at one point Ray and Frank Zuko were friends it’s clear that Ray has harboured a grudge toward his nemesis for a long time.
Irene: No, no, no... You'd be going after him even if it weren't for me. You two have been going at each other since you were kids.
Irene is caught up in the middle. Ray dies seem to genuinely love her but his hatred for her brother is very strong and perhaps his relationship with Irene is one way he sees to try to undermine his old rival at the same time:
Ray: Your brother is a murder, Irene, you know that, you've always known that.
Irene: He did not kill that cop. He was in this house. You know it
Ray: So what?
Irene: What that makes no difference to you?
Ray: My friend is dead.
Irene: He didn't do it. He's my brother Ray.
Ray: I'm sorry, look, I'm sorry. I didn't come here to get into this with you.
Irene: What did you come for then?
Ray: I came for you. I love you. I've always loved you.
Ray even climbs up the vine into her bedroom in the same way Romeo does in the Shakespearean play. The difference is this act is something Ray did long ago before Irene moved away. When she returns he rekindles it as if he is trying to bring back those days of his youth.
Ray: The signal I thought you'd remember.
Irene: That was 15 years ago. Are you insane? Get in... get in... I got you. [She helps him through the window.]
His love for her stretches back into childhood and with great emotion in his voice he relates the story to Fraser:
Ray: You know the first time I ever danced with her was in PE class. She kept trying to lead. I finally had to ask her to relax, that it would be Okay, just put your head on my shoulder and close your eyes. Everything's going to be okay.
Of course as with anything that involves the Zuko’s, and because of the Romeo and Juliet metaphor, things end tragically.
Ray doesn’t want to let Irene go and neither does Frank. She is still caught up in the middle between othe two them knowing it can only end badly:
Irene: This is never going to end, this is never going to end you're going to end up killing each other first.
Finally she makes the decision to break free from her brother but it is at a critical moment. As Ray arrives to take her away Frank Zuko appears with a gun. At that point Michael Sorrento, the man who has been trying to topple Frank and take over for himself, also takes his shot.
In the ensuing chaos Irene throws herself in front of Ray and takes the force of the bullet her brother intended for Ray. Ray’s cry of anguish says it all. Irene is fatally wounded.
Ray is an emotional wreck when he passes on the news to his colleagues that Irene didn’t make it. He’s tired and clearly deeply affected. Huey, his colleague, pushes for Ray to get Zuko for murder. Ray has plenty of motive to follow this through and have his old adversary jailed for murder but he doesn’t.
It seems Irene sacrifice makes him honour her dying request:
Irene: You never listen. Promise it ends here.
Ray: It does.
Irene: Promise me, promise me it does…
Ray can finally move on from Zuko.
There are of course may others who have affected him, in positive, and not so positive, ways.
The Vecchio family - family and home
When we first me meet Ray we see what an integral part of his life his family is. Right back in the pilot episode Ray takes Fraser home for dinner (the whole family appear to live together) and we can see Ray’s interactions with the rest of his family. And the Vecchio family seem to fall into the Italian stereotype of being loud and loving all at once. As Ray says ‘they only attack the ones they love’.
They are typical loving Italian family as is clear from their interactions:
Mrs. Vecchio: Maria, you are not getting an annulment.
Maria: Ma, how can you say that? The man is an animal.
Mrs. Vecchio: You're among friends, use your fingers.
Maria: Ma. Ma. He's a beast.
Mrs. Vecchio: A man who buys his wife a leopard print house coat is no beast.
Maria: For our anniversary? Five years we've been together. All he can come up with is a used house coat.
Tony: It was not used. The guy just happened to sell lingerie out of the trunk.
Ray: You make any sense out of the dead caribous?
Fraser: Uh no. Um.
Mrs. Vecchio: Francesca, you stay out of this.
Francesca: Ma! Thank you!
Fraser: Is it always like this?
Ray: It's okay, they only attack the ones they love.
Ray’s father is dead by the time he meets Fraser in The Pilot but it’s clear that his father has made an impact on his life and not necessarily in a good way. Ray doesn’t talk about his father in an affectionate way:
Ray: Look. I know how you must feel. I mean if it was my old man? Well, if it was my old man, I'd be the last person you'd want on the case. He pretty much thought that I screwed up everything I ever touched. You know he's been dead for five years now and I still feel like I'm trying to prove myself to him.
Despite the fact his father is dead this doesn’t stop him. Ray’s father appears as a ghost in a number of episodes - ‘Gift of the Wheelman’, ‘Victoria’s Secret’ and ‘North’. Whether he is an actual ghost or a way for his voice for Ray’s subconscious to voice those doubts he had when his father was still alive - a personification of his own inner demons as it were- is never made clear.
When it comes to specific family relationships perhaps the one we see most is the one he has with his younger sister, Francesca. This is a typical big-brother/younger-sister relationship which is full of the typical arguments siblings suffer from. It’s been going on since their childhood as this anecdote illustrates:
Ray: That was supposed to be a flash roll.
Francesca: Yeah, well consider it a payback.
Ray: For what?
Francesca: You killed my hamster.
Ray: Yeah--twenty years ago.
Fraser: You killed her hamster, Ray?
Ray: How was I supposed to know they couldn't swim?
In fact very often it seems that Ray gets frustrated with his sister. For example when she has to drive his car after he has been declared dead in the episode ‘Vault’:
Ray: So then the city hall computer instructs the Federal and State computer to cancel my driver's registration, my driver's license and my Social Security card. So now, I'm being buried on Thursday and I can't even get my good suit out of the cleaners. WILL YOU SHUT THAT OFF! [Ray reaches over and switches off the radio.]
Francesca: No, I'm driving, I should get to hear to whatever I want. [She turns the radio back on.]
Ray: This is my car, okay? You've merely been given temporary dispensation to drive it; which means you can keep your butt in that seat, your hands on the wheel and your feet on the pedals and that's it!
Despite the arguments they have and the gruffness Ray seems to have toward her she is his sister and he does care about her very much as was revealed in the episode ‘Heaven and Earth’ when we see Ray display his softer side toward his sister when he is worried she’s slept with Fraser. He is concerned about her:
Ray: Hey, hey, hey. Come here... Come here. Did you sleep with him?
Francesca: Oh god. Why? Why? Would it matter to you if I did?
Ray: Yes, it would. You're my sister... I care about you. [they hug. Francesca leaves. Ray leans heavily against the table. Remember, he's been up for over 72 hours]
This tender moment shows how much Ray does care about the ones he loves. Although the arguments he and Francesca have he does care about his little sister and deep down they both know it. Of course their brother-sister relationship means we don’t get to see this side very often. It’s another example of Ray Vecchio hiding his softer side although in his various relationships with close family members or friends it does peek out.
The ex-wife - the surprise
One aspect of his relationships that certainly took me as a viewer by surprise was the revelation in the second season episode ‘One Good Man’ that Ray had an ex-wife. Even then it wasn’t made too obvious:
Fraser: A friend?
Ray: Yeah. . . She's also my ex-wife.
Fraser: Oh.
Ray: What?
Fraser: Nothing.
The only insights we get into his relationship with his ex-wife are in flashback in this episode and in the later episode ‘The Duel'. In the former we get to see the good side of the relationship, the gentle teasing they obviously had throughout their marriage:
Ray: Come on, let's not go there. Come on, give me a kiss.
Angie: Why?
Ray: 'Cause you like the car.
Angie: I don't.
Ray: You will.
Angie: In your dreams.
However the fact that she is an ex-wife and not really mentioned by Ray before Fraser meets her does suggest things were not as rosy in the marriage as the flashbacks might suggest.
We get a glimpse into why they divorced in the episode ‘The Duel’. Ray mentions that eight years ago the marriage was in trouble.
Ray: I never done it before. Look, me and my wife, we were having some problems, okay? Our marriage wasn't going too well. We had a fight that morning, and I just stopped home around lunchtime just to smooth things over.
We get further proof when it’s clear Ray’s ex Angie doesn’t believe that he is innocent of planting evidence. To Ray this lack of belief must have really hurt:
Ray: What are you saying, Ange? That I planted that heel?
Angie: Well, it's kinda weird, Ray. A guy that careful leaving a heel like that, and your coming home carrying it in your pocket?
Ray: You really think I would do something like that?
Angie: I think you wanted him off the streets. I think you were right.
Ray: Take it easy, Ange.
Perhaps this is an insight into why they divorced.
Whatever the reason it seems that Ray likes to keep this part of his past private, even from those closest to him. It could be because of his background or his beliefs but either way we are never really able to learn why he divorced Angie, although it’s clear from the expression on his face at the garage in 'One Good Man' that he still cares about her.
The co-workers - colleagues and rivals
When we first meet Ray it’s clear that he isn’t the most popular cop in the district. In fact the opposite is true. When Ray asks: ‘Who let the Mountie into the holding cell?’ the whole squad room put their hands up and don’t seem the least bit bothered by what’s happened to Ray In a way Ray seems to expect this reaction.
He doesn’t have a partner when he meets Fraser. Why this is, is never actually made clear in canon and there are a number of theories that the partner was killed, left because they couldn’t work with Ray or left for another reason.
We know that at one point Ray did have a partner. Around 1988, six years before we meet him in the show he had a partner called Laurie Zaylor. They worked together on the Carver case after which she left the force. Although she left she still has fond memories of working with Ray:
Laurie: Ray was pretty intense back then. That put a lot of people off, but I liked him. He really cared.
Again the fact that Ray cares is underlined by how other people say they see him.
After Laurie Zaylor it is unclear whether Ray actually had another partner. He is certainly on his own in 1994 when he meets Fraser for the first time and as a result it seems no surprise that he struggles with his workload of 41 open cases.
His relationships with his colleagues Detectives Huey and Gardino are strained early on in the episode ‘Free Willie:
Huey: Nice job Vecchio.
Ray: Is that a compliment Jack or do my ears deceive me.
Louis: Oh don't be so hard on yourself, Ray. Sooner or later you have to solve one case. Did your Mountie friend help you?
Fraser: Benton Fraser, Deputy Liaison Officer.
Louis: Jack Huey, Louis Gardino, actual detectives.
Ray: Or as we call them, Huey and Lewie.
Louis: It's Louis, Vecchio and I don't like your mouth.
Ray: Touchy Lewie.
Louis: You want to see touchy?
Ray: Yeah, I do.
But gradually we see a thawing as Ray develops so does his relationship with his colleagues. He plays poker with Huey, Louis and Fraser in the episode ‘You Must Remember This’ and is happy to discuss his past love life with them, even his parent’s love life:
Ray: He was at his brother Angelo's wedding in Gary? And everyone was having a great time. They were drinkin wine, makin toasts and eatin. And all of a sudden he looks across the room and he sees this woman sitting there all by herself eatin cheese cake with a knife and fork. I mean, come on, how often do you see a person eaten cheese cake with a knife and fork? They either eat it with their fingers or just the fork.
Louis: It that why he married her? Because she was eating a piece of cheesecake with a knife and a fork?
Ray: No Gardino, it was a sign. That's how he knew she was the right woman for him. She was a lady.
It’s clear that he garners some respect by the time of ‘Victoria’s Secret’ as Gardino is willing to defend him, although with a personal touch:
Louis: Sir, I know that Vecchio's a real weasel but he's a straight up cop.
They are friendly enough for Ray to take Huey and Gardino, with Fraser and Dief, out to dinner to celebrate his raise. Although that will end in tragedy Ray has a loyalty to his colleagues that shows though.
He has good relationships with his superiors, although it might be that obvious on first glance.
His first superior was Lieutenant Will Kelly and Ray really did look up to him as a mentor, a substitute father figure as it were. Although he later finds out that Kelly was not the great cop Ray had once looked up to. Kelly planted evidence in the Carver case for Ray to find and showed no qualms when eight years later Ray was investigated for officer misconduct.
This must have been seen as betrayal by Ray who had already suffered the failure of one father figure - Pop Vecchio. It had been Kelly who had thought Ray could do the job and be really good at it. When Ray says that he seems proud. When he tells Fraser this he has found out for himself that that’s true. He seems to appreciate Will Kelly’s words more in retrospect than he perhaps did at the time.
His superior throughout the series is Lieutenant Harding Welsh a man who does live up to the father figure image Ray would seem to need. Although Ray can shoot his mouth off in Welsh’s presence he clearly respects his superior:
Ray: Uh, a moment of your time sir. Of a personal nature.
Welsh: If this has to do with people smoking in the men's room, I don't want to hear it.
Ray: It's a little more delicate than that sir. You see I have this friend who through unfortunate set of circumstances happened to be in the club at the time of the raid.
Welsh: And you want to bounce him. May I ask who this friend is? (Fraser waves) Really.
He trusts Welsh to ask him for help and Welsh gives it, he clearly sees a good officer in Ray.
Fraser - The best friend
Of course the most important relationship is really Fraser. This is the person we see Ray interact the most and the person to whom Ray will open up the most. Fraser acts as a way for us to see past Ray’s barriers and appreciate Ray as a character from a more intimate perspective.
It’s around Fraser that Ray opens up and we can see that softer tender side that is hinted at. It is to Fraser that he first admits the pain his father caused in his childhood:
Ray: I learned two things from my father. One -- timing. Mostly when to duck and two you never hit a kid, cause it doesn't teach him anything. I'm going to go to the gas station. I'll be right back.
This quote has often being interpreted as Ray admitting his father was an abusive alcoholic and it certainly seems that way. We never really see Ray drink and we certainly never see him hit a kid and if it wasn’t the fact that he admits these secrets about his past and his father to Fraser we would never know that that was the case.
For Ray, Fraser represents something that Ray may have thought he had lost. Fraser sees the good in people and has faith in the human race. Ray’s childhood and subsequent career as a cop may have eroded his faith but all of a sudden when he sees Fraser acting out that faith Ray is able to find part of his own.
He believes in Fraser absolutely there is never any doubt about that. He is seen to be doing all kinds of crazy things simply because Fraser asks him to, and although Ray might whine at the time he still goes on and does it. In that way Ray’s actions speak much more and are much more important than his words, and his actions toward Fraser show a huge amount of love and appreciation.
He does a heck of lot for Fraser, going above and beyond the call of duty to help out his best friend.
The turning point in his friendship with Fraser comes during ‘Victoria’s Secret’ when his faith in Fraser’s righteousness takes a severe blow. This was the episode that showed Fraser was a human being with human weaknesses and left Ray reeling. Fraser was arrested for murder having been framed by his lover Victoria, the only woman Fraser loved, and a criminal he arrested ten years previously. Ray knows that Fraser didn’t do it and he knows that Victoria is bad news:
Ray: Ah He meets a lot of people that way. Listen hurt him and I'll kill you. This is my room right across the hall, if you hear anything you bang.
People have wondered if Ray actually meant those words. The way Ray cares so much about those close to him it seems as though he could very well have meant it. He doesn’t like to see those he cares about get hurt and it isn’t too much of a stretch to think that he could have meant those words. If he didn’t mean them at the time it’s very likely he meant them toward the end of the episode as we shall see.
Despite his obvious misgivings about Victoria, that he doesn’t trust her, Ray lets her stay in his own family home simply because Fraser wants her safe and loves and cares about her. Ray does not share those feelings but he wants Fraser to be happy and confident and if that means allowing Victoria to stay at his house then that is what he will do and take the consequences. This is one of the starkest examples of Ray going that extra mile for someone he cares about and, in the case of Fraser, someone who is not related by blood.
By this point Ray’s faith is so strong that when Fraser is framed for murder by Victoria Ray wastes not time in getting the bail together to release Fraser.
Ray: I put together your bail you should be out within the hour.
Fraser: You can't do that Ray it's too much.
Ray: The judge considers you a flight risk. But I don't.
Fraser: But you don't have that kind of money, you'd have to mortgage your house.
This is a huge act of sacrifice that in a way puts Fraser above Ray’s own family. If Fraser skips bail then Ray loses his home, as does his entire family, but his faith in Fraser is so strong that he believes there will be no danger:
Ray: Are you going to skip on me?
Fraser: No.
Ray: Then there's nothing to worry about. I'll meet you out front.
Sadly he doesn’t count on the way Victoria effects Fraser. She asks Fraser to go with as she escapes on a train. Fraser runs after the train and the love of his life. At this point Ray sees a gun in her hand. What is interesting is that we the audience see this. We see Ray’s view of a gun in her hand just as we see Fraser’s view without. At the thought she has a gun Ray wastes not time in shooting, showing that he did mean his words of 'hurt him and I’ll kill you' earlier. Unfortunately for Ray he shoots just as Fraser gets on the train and the bullet hits his best friend.
Even with Fraser lying bleeding and badly injured with Ray’s bullet in his back on the platform Ray is there at his side and still protects Fraser, despite the fact Fraser has betrayed him. When Fraser says he should be with Victoria Ray refuses to repeat it for Lieutenant Welsh and his colleagues, who are also on the platform. Ray is right there, his face shows the anguish at shooting a person who means so much to him but still he protects that person.
He even spends the next three weeks at Fraser’s bedside.
Ray forgives Fraser but in a way never forgives himself. He adds that to his inner demons.
Ultimately though the two men are able to move on from that incident and Ray still does what he can for Fraser. It isn’t out of guilt either because we saw him doing just as much for Fraser before he shot him. Ray seems bound to help Fraser in any way he can. In the second season he gives away money simply to get people listen to Fraser filibuster.
Ray values Fraser and their friendship and that is one of the most appealing aspects of Ray. No matter how annoying, or demanding, Fraser might be, no matter how far he might push him Ray will always be there at his side, doing the right thing. They might have their squabbles but Ray feels a lot stronger having Fraser as a friend.
Figuring him out
I never grow tired of trying to figure out Ray Vecchio. He has such a rich back story that has been hinted in canon that it opens up all kinds of possibilities. He’s the kind of character who has the ability to surprise you but in way that fits with how his past has been built up and continues to build up.
He’s loyal, passionate, capable, intelligent and embodies some excellent qualities. That’s what keeps you interested, you really want to know more about and then you do find out things it just enriches his character.
Either that or it’s just those beautiful eyes.
References:
Transcripts from Real Due South
Episode information from Episode Guide at William and Elyse's Due South Site
lozenger8's post on Ray Vecchio at ds_recs: Here
Fandom: due South
Character: Ray Vecchio
Spoilers: Lots for seasons 1 and 2
Author: aingeal8c
E-mail: aingeal8c at yahoo dot co dot uk
Thanks: Many thanks to pulsar4529 for answering my plea for an 11th hour beta. Also thanks to all who have discussed Ray Vecchio with me during the time I have been in fandom.
Way back in 1995…
I first ‘met’ one detective Ray Vecchio way back in 1995 when the pilot episode of due South aired in the UK.
Ray was the main American, he was the one with the loud shirts, and the even louder personality. These things helped to make him, as well as the show standout among viewers.
I was reintroduced to him on finding some old dS tapes a few years ago. On watching the show again I was older, more thoughtful and was able to give a lot more time to Ray’s character and appreciate it more.
Making an Impression
First impressions are a bit hazy. So I’ll go with the impression I got when I rediscovered the character.
Ray certainly makes an impression on you the first time you see him. To me he came across as bit a loud, perhaps a bit rude but at the same time he had depth to him. One thing that always sticks in my mind is that you right away you notice his eyes. In some episodes they look hazel, in others green, but you can’t miss them.
You can see his hidden depths in the pilot when he brushes off Fraser’s case as ‘the dead Mountie thing’ but when he realizes the dead Mountie is Fraser’s father he suddenly looks shell-shocked and remorseful at what he’s said. In fact he is so shocked he is unaware of what Fraser says about the man in the cell. He’s still processing what a faux pax he’s made. You can see this in his response to what Fraser is saying:
Fraser: I was told that you were in charge of this case.
Ray: Ah yes, the dead Mountie thing, like I couldn't have guessed. Look, I've got your list of names in my basket here. The moment I get a chance I'm going to go to the computer, pick up the phone and call you with the information so you can go get your Boy Scout points. Now, is there anything else?
Fraser: Yes. The dead Mountie was my father. And I would appreciate it if you'd check the names while there's still a chance of catching the man who killed him. Oh and by the way, he's not in the garment business.
Ray: What?
The facial expressions really help to solidify this scene. They help to show us that whilst Ray might be rash he is also aware of other people and their feelings.
When we first meet Ray in the Pilot he has 41 open cases and no partner to help share the caseload. He’s also resorted to trying entrapment on a man he thinks is a big garment buyer. To a lot of people this might suggest, on a first impression, a bad cop who is struggling with his work or to others it might suggest that he is on burnout. Either way first impressions show a character capable of a lot more as perhaps Fraser notices:
Fraser: Your man, in the cell. He had a hole in his shoe. I'm not familiar with your city but I'd assume a big garment buyer wouldn't be caught dead with a hole in his shoe, so, like you, he is pretending to be someone he's not.
The Mountie recognises there is more to Ray than the loud brash manner.
In the Pilot we do see him undertake some very solid police work as he provides help to Fraser in the hunt for the killer of Fraser’s father. In fact he checks himself out of hospital and flies all the way to Canada in order to impart some important information. The way Ray describes it might be an exaggeration but there is no doubt his actions were extremely self-sacrificing:
Ray: Exactly--You knew?
Fraser: Yes.
Ray: You couldn't have called and told me this?
Fraser: I'm sorry.
Ray: Dropped me a post card saying 'Hi, I've solved the case.'
Fraser: My mistake.
Ray: 'Don't bother crawling out of your deathbed and flying up to the armpit of the frozen north. I figured out who did it?'
It’s clear that Ray Vecchio is prepared to what he feels is right and in the case of the pilot that was going North to make sure Fraser got the piece of information about who arranged the death of his father. Considering he seemed so dismissive of the case at first, and also considering the fact he has 41 cases, this really does change that first impression by highlighting his good qualities, his strengths.
The friend you wished you had
Ray Vecchio has many good qualities. Sometimes it can be hard to see that when you compare him to the character of Fraser. As David Marciano, the actor who plays Ray, said, ‘The inclination, when you’re comparing yourself to someone so perfect is to look at your own imperfections. You start to feel a little inferior, a little insecure, then you realise your character also has good qualities. Ray is very loyal, he’s brave and he’s clever in his own way. He can be brash but he has a generous heart.’
We know that clearly Ray Vecchio is a good police officer, after-all he made Detective before he met Fraser. In episode ‘The Duel’ we can see Ray using his police skills to solve a case that is very personal for him and hits at his lack of self-confidence. In the end he is able to figure it out.
Ray’s key strengths lie in the fact he cares, he’s very loyal to his friends and family. Although perhaps sometimes this can backfire and become a weakness as it leaves him open to being betrayed by those he cares for most, as we will see in the episode ‘Victoria’s Secret’ which will be discussed later on.
He cares a great deal more than perhaps he would let on. He is a big city cop with a desk full of cases, he simply doesn’t have the time to devote all his energies into each one in the same way we see Fraser do. He has a solve rate to maintain but clearly he will take time over cases and he will not neglect the human side of it if he can.
Hiding behind the armour
Of course Ray does have his weaknesses. Perhaps the biggest one is his lack of self-esteem.
In a number of episodes, mostly Victoria’s Secret and North, we see the ghost of Ray’s father berate his son, constantly belittling him and his actions toward Fraser in particular. It’s not hard to imagine that this same kind of comment carried on whilst Ray’s father was still alive.
Ray: Don't you have things to do in Hell or wherever you are?
Mr. Vecchio: Purgatory and for my sins I've got to watch you make stupid mistakes. And who gave you permission to use my pool table.
Ray: Give it a rest Pop.
Ray seems to try and hide this lack of confidence behind his loud clothes and loud attitude. He doesn’t like people getting too close to see the real him. He is not happy with the real him. His clothing, which could be described as his ‘Armani Armour’ is his protection from having other people see exactly who he is.
He complements this with a loud attitude that can come across as brash and bravado. In fact it can be seen as offensive and helps to keep people at arm’s length. A good example is in the episode ‘A Cop, A Mountie and A Baby’. In this episode Ray’s heart is in the right place as he and Fraser are trying to get a baby back to his mother but the way he goes about tackling the adoption lawyer is very indicative of his attitude:
Miss Morisot: Now just what the hell is this all about?
Fraser: Miss Morisot we have reason to believe that that child has been put up for adoption without the full knowledge and agreement of both parents.
Ray: which makes you a fraud, a kidnapper and not a very nice person.
Miss Morisot: Detective, I can't decide whether you are just naturally offensive or just naturally ignorant and I'd be checking your facts before shooting your mouth off.
Although in this case it also shows how much Ray does care; he’s willing to confront the problem head on and not waste time on niceties.
Another reason he might want to try to keep people away is because he is afraid that his own emotions may overwhelm him. We can see how much he does for Fraser and what it costs him both in terms of time, money and emotion. If he let everybody get close, if he let every case affect him, he wouldn’t be able to cope because emotionally he’d feel it too much, so he keeps most people at a distance.
Tracing his journey
One of the great things about the character of Ray Vecchio is you can clearly see his path, his growth, his journey. What helped him in that way was the actor who played him, David Marciano really wanted the character to improve.
As already mentioned to a lot of people Ray Vecchio perhaps does not give off a good impression. He can be seen as loud, abrasive and perhaps aggressive. The character was created as being the typical ‘American stereotype’ as it were.
Gradually thorough his association with Fraser we can see Ray change in subtle and not so subtle ways.
One of the markers for this change is perhaps his clothing. Early on in the series Ray is wearing loud, brash shirts which highlight that part of his personality, but toward the end of season 1 we’ve seen a subtle change. He’s wearing darker colours, less loud in their colouration. He’s wearing more greys, blacks, darker colours. Not necessarily meaning he’s becoming more serious or more sophisticated but perhaps he is becoming more comfortable with himself and doesn’t feel the need to clothe himself in a way to deflect from his personality.
By the second season Ray’s clothes are darker in general, he’s wearing a lot of suits showing again he is much more comfortable with himself as a person. He is able to have faith in himself because someone, in this case Fraser, has faith in Ray as a person.
It’s really clear he does start to have faith in himself. He’s also a lot less brash. He’s calmed down. That is not to say he still doesn’t confront things head on, he does as evidenced by his handling of a sensitive case involving a senator in the episode ‘The Promise’:
Welsh: Now that takes real vision. Shaking down a United States Senator.
Ray: Honest to God sir all we did was ask Mrs. Johnstone a couple of questions, she completely over reacted.
Welsh: Oh you think. You did accuse her husband of consorting with a world famous prostitute.
Ray: Suggested sir, never accused.
Ray is still tackling things head on only he now has the confidence to be able to back his convictions up. He is not afraid of people who have a position that might seem untouchable. It shows again his much he cares about seeing justice done even if the guilty party is indeed ‘important’.
Some have said that Ray is corrupt but there is very little evidence to really suggest this, at least in seasons 1 and 2. Sometimes we see Ray perhaps bending the rules a little but sometimes he doesn’t have any choice but to do so in order to get the job done.
A man is nothing without his friends, family and enemies
Ray is very much a person who seems to be shaped by his relationships with others. We learn about him through his interaction. We learn about his character, his past and what has influenced him.
The Zukos - the enemy and the lover
This family, specifically two members of it, have played a very dramatic role on Ray’s life since he was a teenager. They are Frank Zuko and his sister Irene.
We first meet Frank Zuko in the episode ‘The Deal’ and we can tell from the meeting between Ray and Zuko that there is a lot of history between the two men. Zuko even stated this:
Zuko: You know, I'm ignoring your tone because we have a history. But don't push it. This may seem penny-ante to you, Vecchio, but somebody did commit a crime here.
What that history will be revealed through the course of the episode which is very much a landmark episode for Ray’s character and gives great insights into his past. That first meeting with Zuko is the foreshadowing of Ray coming to terms with events that happened twenty years previously and which involved Frank Zuko.
Ray is clearly on edge around Zuko and does his best to distance himself from the mob boss, particularly when it comes to the aspects they share, such as the same neighbourhood and the local church:
Zuko: What's the matter with you, Ray? Huh? Your mother doesn't live in this community? Your sisters don't walk home past that church every night? You think some guy who robs the church is going to think twice about mugging the women in your family? Or mine?
Ray: Let's not compare your family and mine, okay Frankie, 'cause we don't walk down the same block.
Ray doesn’t want to be associated with Frank Zuko, although it’s clear that Zuko does not share the same feelings on the subject, almost taunting Ray with the familiarity they have:
Zuko: You still play basketball, Ray? You oughta come down to the gym on Saturday. Work off some of that pasta.
Ray: I don't think so, Frankie.
Clearly Frank Zuko bothers Ray; he wears a look of what can be described as contempt when he is around his old childhood acquaintance. Of course they now follow quite different paths. Ray is a cop and Frank Zuko is the local mob boss. Yet the fact they operate on different sides of the law is not the only reason why Ray is so reluctant to deal with Zuko. There is an incident in the past that Ray still struggles with.
When Ray first describes it, it sounds awful but we are still not aware of the significance at this stage:
Ray: I went to school with Frank, we used to play pick-up basketball together. There was this one kid, Marco Metroni, couldn't make a basket to save his life. No matter whose side he was on he always managed to lose the game, and Frank didn't like losing. So one day, a couple of Frank's buddies held him down while Frank drilled a basketball in his face for about a half-hour. Marco just lay there choking on his blood. He never came near a court again.
What Ray doesn’t reveal at this stage is that Marco was his friend and that he watched the entire incident. It could have been scenes like these which led Ray down the route of becoming a police officer, he grew up surrounded by such cruel actions toward other people.
He is haunted by the fact he was too afraid to do anything. When Fraser is beaten up, in a direct comparison to what happened to Marco, Ray finally feels the need to impart what happened 20 years ago on the basketball court.
Ray: Marco Matroni. The kid Zuko worked over with the basketball? Two guys held him down while Zuko dribbled the ball all over his face. I'm talking like this thing happed twenty years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. [Ray stops for a few seconds] So the kid hits the concrete, right? And he looks up at me with those eyes. Those eyes that say help me. Call the cops. Do something. I just stood there while Zuko rearranged his face. I didn't try to stop it. I didn't say a word. When I got home that night, I felt like I was eighty years old. I shoulda done something, Benny.
The tone of his voice and the haunted look on his face speak volumes. It was a stark wake-up call to Ray that a boy he considered a friend was cruel, nothing more than a cowardly bully. It’s clear that he did consider Frank Zuko a friend, they played basketball together, but somehow seeing what Frank Zuko did changed his feelings toward his former friend. He didn’t become an enemy as such, because he didn’t do anything. However all these years later he makes the decision to confront Frank Zuko.
The catalyst for Ray’s actions was seeing Fraser beaten up by Zuko’s goons it reminds himself of the incident with Marco. Remembering it causes him to work up the courage to actually go and do something to silence his demons. It helps him to protect the innocent shoemaker, the man who lost everything, due to Zuko’s actions.
In a way Ray lost something to Zuko. It was a wake-up call to how cruel the world could be. It pushed him from childhood toward adulthood.
After the confrontation on the basketball court, Frank calls off the hit of Padducci. However, he doesn’t promise that Ray is safe. This come back to cause more pain in Ray’s life in a year’s time and involves Ray’s childhood sweetheart, Irene.
Irene appears in the episode ‘Juliet is Bleeding’ and the comparison with the Shakespearean couple is obvious. Ray is the ‘unlikely Romeo’ as the episode summary puts it and his Juliet is the sister of his long-time rival. Although in the episode ‘The Deal’ it seems that at one point Ray and Frank Zuko were friends it’s clear that Ray has harboured a grudge toward his nemesis for a long time.
Irene: No, no, no... You'd be going after him even if it weren't for me. You two have been going at each other since you were kids.
Irene is caught up in the middle. Ray dies seem to genuinely love her but his hatred for her brother is very strong and perhaps his relationship with Irene is one way he sees to try to undermine his old rival at the same time:
Ray: Your brother is a murder, Irene, you know that, you've always known that.
Irene: He did not kill that cop. He was in this house. You know it
Ray: So what?
Irene: What that makes no difference to you?
Ray: My friend is dead.
Irene: He didn't do it. He's my brother Ray.
Ray: I'm sorry, look, I'm sorry. I didn't come here to get into this with you.
Irene: What did you come for then?
Ray: I came for you. I love you. I've always loved you.
Ray even climbs up the vine into her bedroom in the same way Romeo does in the Shakespearean play. The difference is this act is something Ray did long ago before Irene moved away. When she returns he rekindles it as if he is trying to bring back those days of his youth.
Ray: The signal I thought you'd remember.
Irene: That was 15 years ago. Are you insane? Get in... get in... I got you. [She helps him through the window.]
His love for her stretches back into childhood and with great emotion in his voice he relates the story to Fraser:
Ray: You know the first time I ever danced with her was in PE class. She kept trying to lead. I finally had to ask her to relax, that it would be Okay, just put your head on my shoulder and close your eyes. Everything's going to be okay.
Of course as with anything that involves the Zuko’s, and because of the Romeo and Juliet metaphor, things end tragically.
Ray doesn’t want to let Irene go and neither does Frank. She is still caught up in the middle between othe two them knowing it can only end badly:
Irene: This is never going to end, this is never going to end you're going to end up killing each other first.
Finally she makes the decision to break free from her brother but it is at a critical moment. As Ray arrives to take her away Frank Zuko appears with a gun. At that point Michael Sorrento, the man who has been trying to topple Frank and take over for himself, also takes his shot.
In the ensuing chaos Irene throws herself in front of Ray and takes the force of the bullet her brother intended for Ray. Ray’s cry of anguish says it all. Irene is fatally wounded.
Ray is an emotional wreck when he passes on the news to his colleagues that Irene didn’t make it. He’s tired and clearly deeply affected. Huey, his colleague, pushes for Ray to get Zuko for murder. Ray has plenty of motive to follow this through and have his old adversary jailed for murder but he doesn’t.
It seems Irene sacrifice makes him honour her dying request:
Irene: You never listen. Promise it ends here.
Ray: It does.
Irene: Promise me, promise me it does…
Ray can finally move on from Zuko.
There are of course may others who have affected him, in positive, and not so positive, ways.
The Vecchio family - family and home
When we first me meet Ray we see what an integral part of his life his family is. Right back in the pilot episode Ray takes Fraser home for dinner (the whole family appear to live together) and we can see Ray’s interactions with the rest of his family. And the Vecchio family seem to fall into the Italian stereotype of being loud and loving all at once. As Ray says ‘they only attack the ones they love’.
They are typical loving Italian family as is clear from their interactions:
Mrs. Vecchio: Maria, you are not getting an annulment.
Maria: Ma, how can you say that? The man is an animal.
Mrs. Vecchio: You're among friends, use your fingers.
Maria: Ma. Ma. He's a beast.
Mrs. Vecchio: A man who buys his wife a leopard print house coat is no beast.
Maria: For our anniversary? Five years we've been together. All he can come up with is a used house coat.
Tony: It was not used. The guy just happened to sell lingerie out of the trunk.
Ray: You make any sense out of the dead caribous?
Fraser: Uh no. Um.
Mrs. Vecchio: Francesca, you stay out of this.
Francesca: Ma! Thank you!
Fraser: Is it always like this?
Ray: It's okay, they only attack the ones they love.
Ray’s father is dead by the time he meets Fraser in The Pilot but it’s clear that his father has made an impact on his life and not necessarily in a good way. Ray doesn’t talk about his father in an affectionate way:
Ray: Look. I know how you must feel. I mean if it was my old man? Well, if it was my old man, I'd be the last person you'd want on the case. He pretty much thought that I screwed up everything I ever touched. You know he's been dead for five years now and I still feel like I'm trying to prove myself to him.
Despite the fact his father is dead this doesn’t stop him. Ray’s father appears as a ghost in a number of episodes - ‘Gift of the Wheelman’, ‘Victoria’s Secret’ and ‘North’. Whether he is an actual ghost or a way for his voice for Ray’s subconscious to voice those doubts he had when his father was still alive - a personification of his own inner demons as it were- is never made clear.
When it comes to specific family relationships perhaps the one we see most is the one he has with his younger sister, Francesca. This is a typical big-brother/younger-sister relationship which is full of the typical arguments siblings suffer from. It’s been going on since their childhood as this anecdote illustrates:
Ray: That was supposed to be a flash roll.
Francesca: Yeah, well consider it a payback.
Ray: For what?
Francesca: You killed my hamster.
Ray: Yeah--twenty years ago.
Fraser: You killed her hamster, Ray?
Ray: How was I supposed to know they couldn't swim?
In fact very often it seems that Ray gets frustrated with his sister. For example when she has to drive his car after he has been declared dead in the episode ‘Vault’:
Ray: So then the city hall computer instructs the Federal and State computer to cancel my driver's registration, my driver's license and my Social Security card. So now, I'm being buried on Thursday and I can't even get my good suit out of the cleaners. WILL YOU SHUT THAT OFF! [Ray reaches over and switches off the radio.]
Francesca: No, I'm driving, I should get to hear to whatever I want. [She turns the radio back on.]
Ray: This is my car, okay? You've merely been given temporary dispensation to drive it; which means you can keep your butt in that seat, your hands on the wheel and your feet on the pedals and that's it!
Despite the arguments they have and the gruffness Ray seems to have toward her she is his sister and he does care about her very much as was revealed in the episode ‘Heaven and Earth’ when we see Ray display his softer side toward his sister when he is worried she’s slept with Fraser. He is concerned about her:
Ray: Hey, hey, hey. Come here... Come here. Did you sleep with him?
Francesca: Oh god. Why? Why? Would it matter to you if I did?
Ray: Yes, it would. You're my sister... I care about you. [they hug. Francesca leaves. Ray leans heavily against the table. Remember, he's been up for over 72 hours]
This tender moment shows how much Ray does care about the ones he loves. Although the arguments he and Francesca have he does care about his little sister and deep down they both know it. Of course their brother-sister relationship means we don’t get to see this side very often. It’s another example of Ray Vecchio hiding his softer side although in his various relationships with close family members or friends it does peek out.
The ex-wife - the surprise
One aspect of his relationships that certainly took me as a viewer by surprise was the revelation in the second season episode ‘One Good Man’ that Ray had an ex-wife. Even then it wasn’t made too obvious:
Fraser: A friend?
Ray: Yeah. . . She's also my ex-wife.
Fraser: Oh.
Ray: What?
Fraser: Nothing.
The only insights we get into his relationship with his ex-wife are in flashback in this episode and in the later episode ‘The Duel'. In the former we get to see the good side of the relationship, the gentle teasing they obviously had throughout their marriage:
Ray: Come on, let's not go there. Come on, give me a kiss.
Angie: Why?
Ray: 'Cause you like the car.
Angie: I don't.
Ray: You will.
Angie: In your dreams.
However the fact that she is an ex-wife and not really mentioned by Ray before Fraser meets her does suggest things were not as rosy in the marriage as the flashbacks might suggest.
We get a glimpse into why they divorced in the episode ‘The Duel’. Ray mentions that eight years ago the marriage was in trouble.
Ray: I never done it before. Look, me and my wife, we were having some problems, okay? Our marriage wasn't going too well. We had a fight that morning, and I just stopped home around lunchtime just to smooth things over.
We get further proof when it’s clear Ray’s ex Angie doesn’t believe that he is innocent of planting evidence. To Ray this lack of belief must have really hurt:
Ray: What are you saying, Ange? That I planted that heel?
Angie: Well, it's kinda weird, Ray. A guy that careful leaving a heel like that, and your coming home carrying it in your pocket?
Ray: You really think I would do something like that?
Angie: I think you wanted him off the streets. I think you were right.
Ray: Take it easy, Ange.
Perhaps this is an insight into why they divorced.
Whatever the reason it seems that Ray likes to keep this part of his past private, even from those closest to him. It could be because of his background or his beliefs but either way we are never really able to learn why he divorced Angie, although it’s clear from the expression on his face at the garage in 'One Good Man' that he still cares about her.
The co-workers - colleagues and rivals
When we first meet Ray it’s clear that he isn’t the most popular cop in the district. In fact the opposite is true. When Ray asks: ‘Who let the Mountie into the holding cell?’ the whole squad room put their hands up and don’t seem the least bit bothered by what’s happened to Ray In a way Ray seems to expect this reaction.
He doesn’t have a partner when he meets Fraser. Why this is, is never actually made clear in canon and there are a number of theories that the partner was killed, left because they couldn’t work with Ray or left for another reason.
We know that at one point Ray did have a partner. Around 1988, six years before we meet him in the show he had a partner called Laurie Zaylor. They worked together on the Carver case after which she left the force. Although she left she still has fond memories of working with Ray:
Laurie: Ray was pretty intense back then. That put a lot of people off, but I liked him. He really cared.
Again the fact that Ray cares is underlined by how other people say they see him.
After Laurie Zaylor it is unclear whether Ray actually had another partner. He is certainly on his own in 1994 when he meets Fraser for the first time and as a result it seems no surprise that he struggles with his workload of 41 open cases.
His relationships with his colleagues Detectives Huey and Gardino are strained early on in the episode ‘Free Willie:
Huey: Nice job Vecchio.
Ray: Is that a compliment Jack or do my ears deceive me.
Louis: Oh don't be so hard on yourself, Ray. Sooner or later you have to solve one case. Did your Mountie friend help you?
Fraser: Benton Fraser, Deputy Liaison Officer.
Louis: Jack Huey, Louis Gardino, actual detectives.
Ray: Or as we call them, Huey and Lewie.
Louis: It's Louis, Vecchio and I don't like your mouth.
Ray: Touchy Lewie.
Louis: You want to see touchy?
Ray: Yeah, I do.
But gradually we see a thawing as Ray develops so does his relationship with his colleagues. He plays poker with Huey, Louis and Fraser in the episode ‘You Must Remember This’ and is happy to discuss his past love life with them, even his parent’s love life:
Ray: He was at his brother Angelo's wedding in Gary? And everyone was having a great time. They were drinkin wine, makin toasts and eatin. And all of a sudden he looks across the room and he sees this woman sitting there all by herself eatin cheese cake with a knife and fork. I mean, come on, how often do you see a person eaten cheese cake with a knife and fork? They either eat it with their fingers or just the fork.
Louis: It that why he married her? Because she was eating a piece of cheesecake with a knife and a fork?
Ray: No Gardino, it was a sign. That's how he knew she was the right woman for him. She was a lady.
It’s clear that he garners some respect by the time of ‘Victoria’s Secret’ as Gardino is willing to defend him, although with a personal touch:
Louis: Sir, I know that Vecchio's a real weasel but he's a straight up cop.
They are friendly enough for Ray to take Huey and Gardino, with Fraser and Dief, out to dinner to celebrate his raise. Although that will end in tragedy Ray has a loyalty to his colleagues that shows though.
He has good relationships with his superiors, although it might be that obvious on first glance.
His first superior was Lieutenant Will Kelly and Ray really did look up to him as a mentor, a substitute father figure as it were. Although he later finds out that Kelly was not the great cop Ray had once looked up to. Kelly planted evidence in the Carver case for Ray to find and showed no qualms when eight years later Ray was investigated for officer misconduct.
This must have been seen as betrayal by Ray who had already suffered the failure of one father figure - Pop Vecchio. It had been Kelly who had thought Ray could do the job and be really good at it. When Ray says that he seems proud. When he tells Fraser this he has found out for himself that that’s true. He seems to appreciate Will Kelly’s words more in retrospect than he perhaps did at the time.
His superior throughout the series is Lieutenant Harding Welsh a man who does live up to the father figure image Ray would seem to need. Although Ray can shoot his mouth off in Welsh’s presence he clearly respects his superior:
Ray: Uh, a moment of your time sir. Of a personal nature.
Welsh: If this has to do with people smoking in the men's room, I don't want to hear it.
Ray: It's a little more delicate than that sir. You see I have this friend who through unfortunate set of circumstances happened to be in the club at the time of the raid.
Welsh: And you want to bounce him. May I ask who this friend is? (Fraser waves) Really.
He trusts Welsh to ask him for help and Welsh gives it, he clearly sees a good officer in Ray.
Fraser - The best friend
Of course the most important relationship is really Fraser. This is the person we see Ray interact the most and the person to whom Ray will open up the most. Fraser acts as a way for us to see past Ray’s barriers and appreciate Ray as a character from a more intimate perspective.
It’s around Fraser that Ray opens up and we can see that softer tender side that is hinted at. It is to Fraser that he first admits the pain his father caused in his childhood:
Ray: I learned two things from my father. One -- timing. Mostly when to duck and two you never hit a kid, cause it doesn't teach him anything. I'm going to go to the gas station. I'll be right back.
This quote has often being interpreted as Ray admitting his father was an abusive alcoholic and it certainly seems that way. We never really see Ray drink and we certainly never see him hit a kid and if it wasn’t the fact that he admits these secrets about his past and his father to Fraser we would never know that that was the case.
For Ray, Fraser represents something that Ray may have thought he had lost. Fraser sees the good in people and has faith in the human race. Ray’s childhood and subsequent career as a cop may have eroded his faith but all of a sudden when he sees Fraser acting out that faith Ray is able to find part of his own.
He believes in Fraser absolutely there is never any doubt about that. He is seen to be doing all kinds of crazy things simply because Fraser asks him to, and although Ray might whine at the time he still goes on and does it. In that way Ray’s actions speak much more and are much more important than his words, and his actions toward Fraser show a huge amount of love and appreciation.
He does a heck of lot for Fraser, going above and beyond the call of duty to help out his best friend.
The turning point in his friendship with Fraser comes during ‘Victoria’s Secret’ when his faith in Fraser’s righteousness takes a severe blow. This was the episode that showed Fraser was a human being with human weaknesses and left Ray reeling. Fraser was arrested for murder having been framed by his lover Victoria, the only woman Fraser loved, and a criminal he arrested ten years previously. Ray knows that Fraser didn’t do it and he knows that Victoria is bad news:
Ray: Ah He meets a lot of people that way. Listen hurt him and I'll kill you. This is my room right across the hall, if you hear anything you bang.
People have wondered if Ray actually meant those words. The way Ray cares so much about those close to him it seems as though he could very well have meant it. He doesn’t like to see those he cares about get hurt and it isn’t too much of a stretch to think that he could have meant those words. If he didn’t mean them at the time it’s very likely he meant them toward the end of the episode as we shall see.
Despite his obvious misgivings about Victoria, that he doesn’t trust her, Ray lets her stay in his own family home simply because Fraser wants her safe and loves and cares about her. Ray does not share those feelings but he wants Fraser to be happy and confident and if that means allowing Victoria to stay at his house then that is what he will do and take the consequences. This is one of the starkest examples of Ray going that extra mile for someone he cares about and, in the case of Fraser, someone who is not related by blood.
By this point Ray’s faith is so strong that when Fraser is framed for murder by Victoria Ray wastes not time in getting the bail together to release Fraser.
Ray: I put together your bail you should be out within the hour.
Fraser: You can't do that Ray it's too much.
Ray: The judge considers you a flight risk. But I don't.
Fraser: But you don't have that kind of money, you'd have to mortgage your house.
This is a huge act of sacrifice that in a way puts Fraser above Ray’s own family. If Fraser skips bail then Ray loses his home, as does his entire family, but his faith in Fraser is so strong that he believes there will be no danger:
Ray: Are you going to skip on me?
Fraser: No.
Ray: Then there's nothing to worry about. I'll meet you out front.
Sadly he doesn’t count on the way Victoria effects Fraser. She asks Fraser to go with as she escapes on a train. Fraser runs after the train and the love of his life. At this point Ray sees a gun in her hand. What is interesting is that we the audience see this. We see Ray’s view of a gun in her hand just as we see Fraser’s view without. At the thought she has a gun Ray wastes not time in shooting, showing that he did mean his words of 'hurt him and I’ll kill you' earlier. Unfortunately for Ray he shoots just as Fraser gets on the train and the bullet hits his best friend.
Even with Fraser lying bleeding and badly injured with Ray’s bullet in his back on the platform Ray is there at his side and still protects Fraser, despite the fact Fraser has betrayed him. When Fraser says he should be with Victoria Ray refuses to repeat it for Lieutenant Welsh and his colleagues, who are also on the platform. Ray is right there, his face shows the anguish at shooting a person who means so much to him but still he protects that person.
He even spends the next three weeks at Fraser’s bedside.
Ray forgives Fraser but in a way never forgives himself. He adds that to his inner demons.
Ultimately though the two men are able to move on from that incident and Ray still does what he can for Fraser. It isn’t out of guilt either because we saw him doing just as much for Fraser before he shot him. Ray seems bound to help Fraser in any way he can. In the second season he gives away money simply to get people listen to Fraser filibuster.
Ray values Fraser and their friendship and that is one of the most appealing aspects of Ray. No matter how annoying, or demanding, Fraser might be, no matter how far he might push him Ray will always be there at his side, doing the right thing. They might have their squabbles but Ray feels a lot stronger having Fraser as a friend.
Figuring him out
I never grow tired of trying to figure out Ray Vecchio. He has such a rich back story that has been hinted in canon that it opens up all kinds of possibilities. He’s the kind of character who has the ability to surprise you but in way that fits with how his past has been built up and continues to build up.
He’s loyal, passionate, capable, intelligent and embodies some excellent qualities. That’s what keeps you interested, you really want to know more about and then you do find out things it just enriches his character.
Either that or it’s just those beautiful eyes.
References:
Transcripts from Real Due South
Episode information from Episode Guide at William and Elyse's Due South Site
lozenger8's post on Ray Vecchio at ds_recs: Here