ESSAY: Two Rays, Both Alike In Dignity
Yes, that was really the title. Yes, I submitted this for a class. Yes, I got an A on it and the teacher noted "I seriously need to see this show"" on it. OHOHO!
So there it is below the lj-cut, although I also have a gdocs version up that's easier to read since it's in the right format and all (though I did not use MLA citation correctly. OH WELL?).
Two Rays, Both Alike In Dignity
The multiple award-winning Canadian television show due SOUTH, created by Paul Haggis and starring Paul Gross, David Marciano and Callum Keith Rennie as well as the dogs Newman, Lincoln and Draco, was a comedy-drama cop show from the 1990s. Paul Gross played a model and almost stereotypical mountie, Constable Benton Fraser, who was "for reasons which don't need exploring at this juncture" transferred to Chicago, where he befriended a Chicago cop, Detective Ray Vecchio (David Marciano) and later Detective Ray Kowalski (Callum Keith Rennie) posing in-show as Vecchio. The series had an overall cop buddy theme with a fish-out-of-water trope as well as later magical surrealist elements; much of the show's humour revolved around differences between America and Canada, stereotypes or otherwise. The show also brought up many social issues, such as poverty, oppression, environmentalism and corruption. due SOUTH ran for four seasons with a hiatus in between the second and third seasons; this hiatus resulted in the replacement of a main character, Ray Vecchio, with a new character posing as him, Ray Kowalski. For a while, this caused turmoil within the fanbase over who was the better Ray, Vecchio or Kowalski, though this turmoil has largely died. The true question is not which Ray was "better", however, but in what ways did each Ray serve both the story and serve as Fraser's friend, partner and foil.
The first and second seasons of due SOUTH (1994-1996) actually began as a television movie. Constable Benton Fraser learns of his mountie father's accidental death in the Yukon; upon his own investigation, however, he comes to believe it was no accident and follows the trail to Chicago with his half-deaf half-wolf Diefenbaker (played by a mixed breed, Newman, and later a husky, Lincoln), where he meets Detective Ray Vecchio. The two strike up an unlikely friendship; Fraser is calm, capable and polite while Vecchio is loud, easily angered and boisterous. Fraser was raised in the Northwest Territories by librarian grandparents, immersed in Inuit culture; Vecchio was raised in Chicago in a very Italian-American culture. The two are very stereotypically Canadian and American, respectfully, but together they connect and solve the mystery of Fraser's father's death, revealing deep corruption within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and a betrayal by an old family friend.
This sets the stage for the show proper; Fraser, while doing the right thing, has shamed the RCMP and been transferred to less-than-deskwork at the Canadian Consulate in Chicago - a punishment that not only sets Fraser's career back, but also strikes at Fraser's love for the arctic wilderness, making him not only a fish out of water but a fish out of water and into the desert. Luckily, he already has a solid friend in Vecchio and the two begin unofficially working together to solve crimes - reported and otherwise - while both try to enlighten the other to their own worlds; Fraser attempts to make Vecchio into a nicer, more open person while Vecchio attempts to educate Fraser in what he sees are the ways of the American city - assertiveness, attitude and amazing Italian cooking, as prepared by Ma Vecchio. Throughout the first two seasons, Vecchio's character goes from being a bumbling sidekick to a more competent equal, all the while serving a role akin to a big brother figure for Fraser, even going so far as to challenge and hit a local Mafia don who had Fraser beaten for interfering in a case ("The Deal"); while the show was always a comedy-drama, the first two seasons feature quite a bit of drama, especially for Fraser, including being demeaned at the Consulate, guarding his father's best friend who ordered his death and a run-in with the criminal love of Fraser's life. Throughout all these upheavals, Vecchio is there as Fraser's closest friend and only solid support outside Diefenbaker.
After the second season in 1996, funding issues put due SOUTH on hiatus until 1997. By this time, Vecchio's actor David Marciano had decided to leave show business to spend more time with his family, which left the series with a problem: how could you have a Canadian-American cop buddy show without the American cop? The answer was to replace him, but in a way that signaled a turn in the show for the more surreal.
In the third season, Fraser returns from a vacation up north to find a complete stranger at Vecchio's desk. The man calls himself Vecchio, everyone around calls him Vecchio and even his family calls him (Ray) Vecchio. Fraser eventually gets to the truth of the matter: Ray Vecchio has gone deep undercover in the mafia out in Las Vegas and the new man, Ray Kowalski, has been hired to "be" Ray Vecchio to keep his cover. It is, of course, an absurd concept - the two men look and sound nothing alike, they have very different personalities and they work with Fraser in entirely different ways. The almost-but-not-quite acknowledged absurdity of the situation serves to usher in the stronger emphasis on magical realism that last two seasons feature; coincidences, miracles, wildly ridiculous adventures and mysterious spiritual phenomenon make semi-regular occurrences and Gordon Pinsent, playing the hilarious and sometimes obnoxious ghost of Fraser's deceased father, Sergeant Bob Fraser, becomes a main character while before he had only shown up on occasion (and sometimes while Fraser was of questionable mind).
The lessening of personal drama suits Kowalski's role nicely, because Fraser's life becomes less troubled (despite his apartment complex burning down and spending the rest of the series living on a cot in his office) and more about solving cases and daily life shenanigans. Kowalski has personal troubles of his own (such as his recent divorce from his childhood love and the assistant district attorney, Stella), though they rarely reach the level of intense drama seen in the first two seasons; in fact, a fair amount of the drama comes from Fraser and Kowalski learning to work together and fit into each other's lives despite differing personalities and outlooks on life. Despite a two-part season three finale during which the two decide to split, Kowalski and Fraser come even closer while solving "just one last case" together; by the series finale next season, contemplation of going their separate ways becomes a large source of internal angst for Kowalski, as revealed in the following line of dialogue:
KOWALSKI: You ever feel like you don't know who you are? Like if you weren't around somebody, or that someone wasn't around you, then you wouldn't be you, or at least not the you that you think. You ever think like that? ("Call of the Wild, Part 1")
An entire season ago, Kowalski was angry and ready to walk away from his partnership with Fraser; a year later, the idea of separating terrifies him, because it means losing a part of himself. Over the course of seasons three and four, the audience watched as Kowalski, still hurting from his divorce and insecure over his identity, grew closer to a Fraser who had started to become more attuned to the emotional and social needs of others; and at the end of the series, Fraser and Kowalski dogsled off into the Canadian sunset together while Vecchio runs off to Florida with Kowalski's ex-wife, Stella, the two having met and subsequently fallen in love during the finale.
On the surface, Fraser's relationships with each Ray seem the same - polite Canadian mountie works with loud American cop. A look further, however, reveals that the nature of each relationship is complex and different, similar only in the nature of both Rays as foils for Fraser. Despite bigger differences in personality, Fraser has a smoother relationship with Vecchio; they rarely fight on a serious level and past the pilot, their differing abilities work well right away. Semi-constant turmoil in Fraser's life leads to constant stability and support from Vecchio, giving the two a relationship akin to that of an older, world-weary brother (Vecchio) and a younger, somewhat sheltered brother (Fraser). Vecchio even has an endearing nickname for Fraser, calling him "Benny" most of the time and certainly viewing him as someone with little common sense when it comes to the city who needs guidance and protection. Kowalski, on the other hand, has a more passionate relationship with Fraser. The two bicker often, especially in the third season and once even came to blows over a minor matter. They have to strive to understand each other and even find themselves changing a little; when they are considering splitting up in the third season finale, butting heads over Fraser's cool logic versus Kowalski's hot instinct, the ghost of Fraser's father councils his son that "partnership is like a marriage" ("Mountie on the Bounty, Part 1"). Marriage is exactly what Fraser and Kowalski have, especially at the end of the series, when they ride off into the sunset together; they must work to fit, but when they do, it is like two pieces of one puzzle.
While Vecchio was a big brother to Fraser, Kowalski is a life partner; both Rays, however, are crucial not only to the growth and development of Fraser's character, but to the nature of the show itself and the change in tone between the first two seasons with Vecchio and the second two seasons with Kowalski. Vecchio's emotional support and role as a fun, wild yet still stable pillar for Fraser to lean on as he transitions from living nearly alone in the Canadian wilderness to living in a crowded American city and going through some of the greatest personal struggles of his life greatly contrasts Kowalski's emotional codependence with Fraser, as both learn to adapt and lean on each other not just through great emotional upheaval but the minor struggles of every day life as well.
Works Cited:
1. "The Deal." due SOUTH. CTV and CBS. 30 March, 1995.
2. "Call of the Wild, Part 1." due SOUTH. CTV and CBS. 14 March, 1999. Television.
3. "Mountie on the Bounty, Part 1." due SOUTH. CTV and CBS. 15 March, 1998. Television.
So there it is below the lj-cut, although I also have a gdocs version up that's easier to read since it's in the right format and all (though I did not use MLA citation correctly. OH WELL?).
Two Rays, Both Alike In Dignity
The multiple award-winning Canadian television show due SOUTH, created by Paul Haggis and starring Paul Gross, David Marciano and Callum Keith Rennie as well as the dogs Newman, Lincoln and Draco, was a comedy-drama cop show from the 1990s. Paul Gross played a model and almost stereotypical mountie, Constable Benton Fraser, who was "for reasons which don't need exploring at this juncture" transferred to Chicago, where he befriended a Chicago cop, Detective Ray Vecchio (David Marciano) and later Detective Ray Kowalski (Callum Keith Rennie) posing in-show as Vecchio. The series had an overall cop buddy theme with a fish-out-of-water trope as well as later magical surrealist elements; much of the show's humour revolved around differences between America and Canada, stereotypes or otherwise. The show also brought up many social issues, such as poverty, oppression, environmentalism and corruption. due SOUTH ran for four seasons with a hiatus in between the second and third seasons; this hiatus resulted in the replacement of a main character, Ray Vecchio, with a new character posing as him, Ray Kowalski. For a while, this caused turmoil within the fanbase over who was the better Ray, Vecchio or Kowalski, though this turmoil has largely died. The true question is not which Ray was "better", however, but in what ways did each Ray serve both the story and serve as Fraser's friend, partner and foil.
The first and second seasons of due SOUTH (1994-1996) actually began as a television movie. Constable Benton Fraser learns of his mountie father's accidental death in the Yukon; upon his own investigation, however, he comes to believe it was no accident and follows the trail to Chicago with his half-deaf half-wolf Diefenbaker (played by a mixed breed, Newman, and later a husky, Lincoln), where he meets Detective Ray Vecchio. The two strike up an unlikely friendship; Fraser is calm, capable and polite while Vecchio is loud, easily angered and boisterous. Fraser was raised in the Northwest Territories by librarian grandparents, immersed in Inuit culture; Vecchio was raised in Chicago in a very Italian-American culture. The two are very stereotypically Canadian and American, respectfully, but together they connect and solve the mystery of Fraser's father's death, revealing deep corruption within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and a betrayal by an old family friend.
This sets the stage for the show proper; Fraser, while doing the right thing, has shamed the RCMP and been transferred to less-than-deskwork at the Canadian Consulate in Chicago - a punishment that not only sets Fraser's career back, but also strikes at Fraser's love for the arctic wilderness, making him not only a fish out of water but a fish out of water and into the desert. Luckily, he already has a solid friend in Vecchio and the two begin unofficially working together to solve crimes - reported and otherwise - while both try to enlighten the other to their own worlds; Fraser attempts to make Vecchio into a nicer, more open person while Vecchio attempts to educate Fraser in what he sees are the ways of the American city - assertiveness, attitude and amazing Italian cooking, as prepared by Ma Vecchio. Throughout the first two seasons, Vecchio's character goes from being a bumbling sidekick to a more competent equal, all the while serving a role akin to a big brother figure for Fraser, even going so far as to challenge and hit a local Mafia don who had Fraser beaten for interfering in a case ("The Deal"); while the show was always a comedy-drama, the first two seasons feature quite a bit of drama, especially for Fraser, including being demeaned at the Consulate, guarding his father's best friend who ordered his death and a run-in with the criminal love of Fraser's life. Throughout all these upheavals, Vecchio is there as Fraser's closest friend and only solid support outside Diefenbaker.
After the second season in 1996, funding issues put due SOUTH on hiatus until 1997. By this time, Vecchio's actor David Marciano had decided to leave show business to spend more time with his family, which left the series with a problem: how could you have a Canadian-American cop buddy show without the American cop? The answer was to replace him, but in a way that signaled a turn in the show for the more surreal.
In the third season, Fraser returns from a vacation up north to find a complete stranger at Vecchio's desk. The man calls himself Vecchio, everyone around calls him Vecchio and even his family calls him (Ray) Vecchio. Fraser eventually gets to the truth of the matter: Ray Vecchio has gone deep undercover in the mafia out in Las Vegas and the new man, Ray Kowalski, has been hired to "be" Ray Vecchio to keep his cover. It is, of course, an absurd concept - the two men look and sound nothing alike, they have very different personalities and they work with Fraser in entirely different ways. The almost-but-not-quite acknowledged absurdity of the situation serves to usher in the stronger emphasis on magical realism that last two seasons feature; coincidences, miracles, wildly ridiculous adventures and mysterious spiritual phenomenon make semi-regular occurrences and Gordon Pinsent, playing the hilarious and sometimes obnoxious ghost of Fraser's deceased father, Sergeant Bob Fraser, becomes a main character while before he had only shown up on occasion (and sometimes while Fraser was of questionable mind).
The lessening of personal drama suits Kowalski's role nicely, because Fraser's life becomes less troubled (despite his apartment complex burning down and spending the rest of the series living on a cot in his office) and more about solving cases and daily life shenanigans. Kowalski has personal troubles of his own (such as his recent divorce from his childhood love and the assistant district attorney, Stella), though they rarely reach the level of intense drama seen in the first two seasons; in fact, a fair amount of the drama comes from Fraser and Kowalski learning to work together and fit into each other's lives despite differing personalities and outlooks on life. Despite a two-part season three finale during which the two decide to split, Kowalski and Fraser come even closer while solving "just one last case" together; by the series finale next season, contemplation of going their separate ways becomes a large source of internal angst for Kowalski, as revealed in the following line of dialogue:
KOWALSKI: You ever feel like you don't know who you are? Like if you weren't around somebody, or that someone wasn't around you, then you wouldn't be you, or at least not the you that you think. You ever think like that? ("Call of the Wild, Part 1")
An entire season ago, Kowalski was angry and ready to walk away from his partnership with Fraser; a year later, the idea of separating terrifies him, because it means losing a part of himself. Over the course of seasons three and four, the audience watched as Kowalski, still hurting from his divorce and insecure over his identity, grew closer to a Fraser who had started to become more attuned to the emotional and social needs of others; and at the end of the series, Fraser and Kowalski dogsled off into the Canadian sunset together while Vecchio runs off to Florida with Kowalski's ex-wife, Stella, the two having met and subsequently fallen in love during the finale.
On the surface, Fraser's relationships with each Ray seem the same - polite Canadian mountie works with loud American cop. A look further, however, reveals that the nature of each relationship is complex and different, similar only in the nature of both Rays as foils for Fraser. Despite bigger differences in personality, Fraser has a smoother relationship with Vecchio; they rarely fight on a serious level and past the pilot, their differing abilities work well right away. Semi-constant turmoil in Fraser's life leads to constant stability and support from Vecchio, giving the two a relationship akin to that of an older, world-weary brother (Vecchio) and a younger, somewhat sheltered brother (Fraser). Vecchio even has an endearing nickname for Fraser, calling him "Benny" most of the time and certainly viewing him as someone with little common sense when it comes to the city who needs guidance and protection. Kowalski, on the other hand, has a more passionate relationship with Fraser. The two bicker often, especially in the third season and once even came to blows over a minor matter. They have to strive to understand each other and even find themselves changing a little; when they are considering splitting up in the third season finale, butting heads over Fraser's cool logic versus Kowalski's hot instinct, the ghost of Fraser's father councils his son that "partnership is like a marriage" ("Mountie on the Bounty, Part 1"). Marriage is exactly what Fraser and Kowalski have, especially at the end of the series, when they ride off into the sunset together; they must work to fit, but when they do, it is like two pieces of one puzzle.
While Vecchio was a big brother to Fraser, Kowalski is a life partner; both Rays, however, are crucial not only to the growth and development of Fraser's character, but to the nature of the show itself and the change in tone between the first two seasons with Vecchio and the second two seasons with Kowalski. Vecchio's emotional support and role as a fun, wild yet still stable pillar for Fraser to lean on as he transitions from living nearly alone in the Canadian wilderness to living in a crowded American city and going through some of the greatest personal struggles of his life greatly contrasts Kowalski's emotional codependence with Fraser, as both learn to adapt and lean on each other not just through great emotional upheaval but the minor struggles of every day life as well.
Works Cited:
1. "The Deal." due SOUTH. CTV and CBS. 30 March, 1995.
2. "Call of the Wild, Part 1." due SOUTH. CTV and CBS. 14 March, 1999. Television.
3. "Mountie on the Bounty, Part 1." due SOUTH. CTV and CBS. 15 March, 1998. Television.