Case(s) Closed
zabira and I put our coconuts together and discussed the following meta issues. We've solved them all, folks. No further debate is necessary*
*Except, of course, that it is
1. RayK and Fraser: why are they boyfriends?
Their core of compatibility lies in shared attitudes toward duty and responsibility (um, they like it?), internal vulnerability masked by either reserve (in Fraser's case) or hostility (in Ray's) and similar worldview and shared socio-economic circumstances (disadvantaged working class).
2. Where did Ray get his idealism?
If you buy that Kowalski is as idealistic as Fraser (mitigated by a veneer of urban cynicism that he sloughs off pretty damn easily, when push comes to shove) where did it come from? His parents? Pere Kowalski certainly seems rather cynical ("You'll have the stink of bad people all over you") and Barbara's intense love and focus on being supportive doesn't seem conducive to Kowalski's strain of wounded idealism. So where? We think Stella. Which leads us to...
3. Why Stella is Actually Totally Awesomesauce
We've concluded that Ray and Stella's marriage didn't fall apart because of Stella's materialism, or classism or careerism. She's an ASA. She fights for the little guy. She's upset with Orsini when he lies about the housing project numbers, she's very protective of battered women, she has that same sense of justice that drives Kowalski. She and Kowalski raised each other and grew up together, and Z and I think that Ray was far more likely to be influenced by Stella's values and goals and beliefs than anyone else's. So those stories where writers draw clear parallels between Fraser and Stella? Are pretty great. Stella's cool. Stella could be a Mountie.
4. What's With Bob Fraser Anyway?
Bob Fraser puzzles us. We were discussing the timeline of RCMP involvement in the North, and we decided that Bob would have joined the force in the 1940s (or, at the latest, in the early 1950s). At that time the RCMP's mandate was to facilitate trade relations with the Inuit and First Nations groups and make sure the traplines were being manned, at least in the far North. During the 1960s and 1970s the RCMP began to resettle Inuit populations to permanent villages, which greatly harmed the traditional culture and social/familial relationships of the People.
So Bob would have had two very different roles to play during his time on the force: he'd a) have had to work closely with Native groups to establish good trade/policing relationships and quell the violence that would have threatened the fur supply and then b) facilitate resettlement and genocide, which canon shows us he tried to subvert. (Remember that story in "Asylum" about the fake town he and the Inuit boy set up on Elsemere Island? Bob plays by his own rules). But Bob is also a hero of the RCMP, a decorated officer, a man of distinction. By all accounts he was seen to have served loyally and served well, unlike Fraser, who seems to be a thorn in everyone's side even before he is exiled to Chicago.
Our big question (and nothing really adds up about Bob, so we had quite a few) is: was Bob's decision to fight the dam project in the Pilot perhaps motivated by the example set by his son? If he had quietly been subverting a few of the more unpleasant policies of the RCMP (and wow, horrifying thought that Bob is perhaps more politically savvy than Fraser) did he feel guilty about not speaking out/quitting the force/taking more direct action beforehand? Why did he wait until he had been an RCMP officer for almost 40 years before committing a moral act that put him in direct conflict with his superiors? And how did his guilt over Muldoon's "murder" influence his conduct in the RCMP?
5. The Hockey AU: Best Fic Ever, or the BESTEST?
6. Podficcing is hard.
7. Fraser and Kowalski may, in fact, be boyfriends. This was an issue that divided us for two seconds, and then peace was declared and we threw them an imaginary wedding.
8. Vecchio has really, really pretty eyes, and is solely responsible for getting zabira to read threesome fics. (Z is concerned that these observations about Vecchio aren't nearly intellectual enough. To that I say pffffft).
9. Why is Fraser, who grew up in isolated and incredibly challenging circumstances, able to identify rare, exotic or unusual items/tastes/smells? Where would he have access to such things? Would he learn how to identify the ingredients in expensive perfume (like in "Burning Down the House") by reading a book, or ordering a bottle of the scent to be shipped at great expense up to one of his isolated postings juuuuuust in case it might come up during an investigation somewhere down the line?
10. Do we believe in a Ray who only loved Stella, and whose only sexual partner was Stella? And is Fraser as virginal as he seems? These are critical issues, folks, and we spent many hours debating and discussing and probing them! And then there were illustrative drawings!
Which are imaginary, just like that wedding.
I'm so sleepy. G'night!
*Except, of course, that it is
1. RayK and Fraser: why are they boyfriends?
Their core of compatibility lies in shared attitudes toward duty and responsibility (um, they like it?), internal vulnerability masked by either reserve (in Fraser's case) or hostility (in Ray's) and similar worldview and shared socio-economic circumstances (disadvantaged working class).
2. Where did Ray get his idealism?
If you buy that Kowalski is as idealistic as Fraser (mitigated by a veneer of urban cynicism that he sloughs off pretty damn easily, when push comes to shove) where did it come from? His parents? Pere Kowalski certainly seems rather cynical ("You'll have the stink of bad people all over you") and Barbara's intense love and focus on being supportive doesn't seem conducive to Kowalski's strain of wounded idealism. So where? We think Stella. Which leads us to...
3. Why Stella is Actually Totally Awesomesauce
We've concluded that Ray and Stella's marriage didn't fall apart because of Stella's materialism, or classism or careerism. She's an ASA. She fights for the little guy. She's upset with Orsini when he lies about the housing project numbers, she's very protective of battered women, she has that same sense of justice that drives Kowalski. She and Kowalski raised each other and grew up together, and Z and I think that Ray was far more likely to be influenced by Stella's values and goals and beliefs than anyone else's. So those stories where writers draw clear parallels between Fraser and Stella? Are pretty great. Stella's cool. Stella could be a Mountie.
4. What's With Bob Fraser Anyway?
Bob Fraser puzzles us. We were discussing the timeline of RCMP involvement in the North, and we decided that Bob would have joined the force in the 1940s (or, at the latest, in the early 1950s). At that time the RCMP's mandate was to facilitate trade relations with the Inuit and First Nations groups and make sure the traplines were being manned, at least in the far North. During the 1960s and 1970s the RCMP began to resettle Inuit populations to permanent villages, which greatly harmed the traditional culture and social/familial relationships of the People.
So Bob would have had two very different roles to play during his time on the force: he'd a) have had to work closely with Native groups to establish good trade/policing relationships and quell the violence that would have threatened the fur supply and then b) facilitate resettlement and genocide, which canon shows us he tried to subvert. (Remember that story in "Asylum" about the fake town he and the Inuit boy set up on Elsemere Island? Bob plays by his own rules). But Bob is also a hero of the RCMP, a decorated officer, a man of distinction. By all accounts he was seen to have served loyally and served well, unlike Fraser, who seems to be a thorn in everyone's side even before he is exiled to Chicago.
Our big question (and nothing really adds up about Bob, so we had quite a few) is: was Bob's decision to fight the dam project in the Pilot perhaps motivated by the example set by his son? If he had quietly been subverting a few of the more unpleasant policies of the RCMP (and wow, horrifying thought that Bob is perhaps more politically savvy than Fraser) did he feel guilty about not speaking out/quitting the force/taking more direct action beforehand? Why did he wait until he had been an RCMP officer for almost 40 years before committing a moral act that put him in direct conflict with his superiors? And how did his guilt over Muldoon's "murder" influence his conduct in the RCMP?
5. The Hockey AU: Best Fic Ever, or the BESTEST?
6. Podficcing is hard.
7. Fraser and Kowalski may, in fact, be boyfriends. This was an issue that divided us for two seconds, and then peace was declared and we threw them an imaginary wedding.
8. Vecchio has really, really pretty eyes, and is solely responsible for getting zabira to read threesome fics. (Z is concerned that these observations about Vecchio aren't nearly intellectual enough. To that I say pffffft).
9. Why is Fraser, who grew up in isolated and incredibly challenging circumstances, able to identify rare, exotic or unusual items/tastes/smells? Where would he have access to such things? Would he learn how to identify the ingredients in expensive perfume (like in "Burning Down the House") by reading a book, or ordering a bottle of the scent to be shipped at great expense up to one of his isolated postings juuuuuust in case it might come up during an investigation somewhere down the line?
10. Do we believe in a Ray who only loved Stella, and whose only sexual partner was Stella? And is Fraser as virginal as he seems? These are critical issues, folks, and we spent many hours debating and discussing and probing them! And then there were illustrative drawings!
Which are imaginary, just like that wedding.
I'm so sleepy. G'night!