Episode Notes: due South "Victoria's Secret, part 2"
Okay ::whimper:: deep breath. Mounties In Pain, aka. Victoria's Secret, continues and goes into the second, and really altogether worse part.
Some of you may know that even aside from the whole Mounties In Pain aspect, the main theme of this episode (Our Heroes suspected of a crime and treated like bad guys when they're innocent) is one that I especially *hate*. It gives me the creeps and stresses me out and just in general I *hate* it.
So this episode is *exceptionally* difficult and painful for me to watch. It is entirely possible that I'm going to be less thorough than I ought to be in my notes because I'm going to have my fingers in my ears going LALALALALA for a big chunk of it.
::whimper::
Stalling didn't help last week, so I'm just going to jump right into it.
spikedluv has an awesome collection of quotes from Victoria's Secret, part 2 over at her LiveJournal. Wonderful, but like a condensed version of a painful episode.
Notes on watching Victoria's Secret, part 2:
--Oh,that's right, we get to re-live the most agonizing moments of last week's episode before getting into the agonizing moments of this week's. That's a great way to get things started. ::chin quiver::
--How did Jolly know about Fraser anyway? I don't know I raised this question last week, but when Jolly sees Fraser swinging in to rescue Victoria, he says "I should have known it was you". I guess Fraser was a witness at the trial, particularly if Victoria testified against Jolly.
--There's something appealingly vulnerable about Fraser wrapped in a blanket, IMO.
--Ooo, that little transition from evening to night was quite pretty.
--Okay, so at this moment neither Fraser nor Ray know that Victoria is guilty of anything. They just know that the person who was threatening her is dead. That's why they're both hoping she'll come back.
--And OMG Ray is *such* a good friend, because he's saying "she'll be back" and being *so* incredibly supportive when he's got to be thinking "Good riddance to bad rubbish" inside.
--Oh, I love that Fraser's so confident that they can make things work out. Victoria's all for running right now, and Fraser wants her to turn herself in and I love him for it. (Though he should see the horrible mismatch in values just from this.)
--Damn he's so pretty!
--Okay, they're both still thinking that he let her down when he arrested her for a crime of which they both know she was guilty. Sigh!! That just pisses me off.
--I do appreciate that Fraser's pledging that he'll stick by her and he won't leave her. When he gives his heart, he gives all of it. I just hate that he's giving it to *her*!
--Now I have to admit that this confused me when I watched this episode with sassyinkpen last week...because *why* did Fraser leave her in his apartment while he went to talk to the State's Attorney and arrange for her to come in? What made that seem like a good idea. Surely it would have been better to take her to the station with him, not as a prisoner but as his friend, let her wait in a waiting room or at Ray's desk, and then, after the pre-arranging with the State's Attorney was done bring her in to the conference. So much more *efficient*. I'm not talking suspicion here, I'm talking about saving the time of an important state official. (Though he also does have reason to think she's a flight risk.)
--See and it just seems so *strange* that Fraser's talking to the attorneys and everyone on Victoria's behalf.
--Hee! I wonder if the whole thing with Fraser fixing Mr. Mustafi's broken household goods is because he uses the man as an answering service. :D
--Ray's looking awfully relaxed playing with the soccer ball here. I guess he's not really. Though he doesn't yet know that he's implicated in any of this.
--Nice shot of Ray! He really *has* got pretty eyes!
--Okay, they're just now finding out about the fingerprint thing...which means it's time to revisit. I find it *extremely* hard to believe that Victoria was able to remove every single trace of herself from that apartment. The scene of her cleaning the kitchen is from at least 24 hours before Dief gets shot and she spent most of that day there. Fraser was only gone for a few minutes after Ray, and in that time she had to open the footlocker, get the gun, make all neat, shoot Dief and leave. She didn't have a lot of time for other cleaning up. And where are the epithelials, vaginal secretions (since we know they were having sex), drool on the pillow, stray hairs, etc. There are a *zillion* ways that someone leaves a mark of themselves where they are and a lot of them survive soap and water cleaning. This is really the *structural* flaw in this episode. The other things I don't like about it aren't quite so integral to the plot working.
--At least that seems to be starting Fraser questioning *something* right. He's now wondering *why* her fingerprints weren't there. That's something at least.
--Ray really is such a good friend, because all that relaxed pose was so clearly just an act to try and keep Fraser calm. Not that Fraser's gone, Ray's obviously upset!! ::hugs Ray:::
--Okay, I hate this scene with Fraser and Dead!Bob, because Fraser's so strident in insisting that he knows Victoria and he *doesn't*. And I just want to *shake* him!! And all these questions Fraser's asking his father ("Did you know mom? Did you know who she really was? Or just who you wanted her to be?") he should be asksing himself. Which lends itself to a sort of psychological interpretation of these encounters with Dead!Bob that Fraser really is talking to a part of his personality and he *is* asking himself. And then the answers Bob is giving him ("I knew who she was in her soul, that's what I loved") are his own answers. And he's arguing against it in Bob, but accepting it in himself.
--Bob: "She was a good woman. She deserved better." Fraser: "No she didn't. She deserved *you*."
--And then Fraser goes and insists that he's not going to make the same mistake. Which is *wonderful* of him. He's going to be there and he's going to see Victoria in all of her moods and love them all. Except...he *can't* I don't think, at least not without hurting himselef, because they're fundamentally incompatible, and he just can't see that.
--And he admits that Victoria scares the hell out of him. Shouldn't that be a warning sign?? Shouldn't it??
--Bob: "Is it snowing out son?" Love Fraser's confused response to that (since it's almost summer) but I also love that Bob's ... making use of the Snow=Madness/Out of Controlness symbolism that we discussed last week. (And I'm sorry, I don't remember who was so brilliant and mentioned that.)
--Just a super nice shot of Dead!Bob.
--Okay, and now Fraser's finding out that whoever shot Jolly also shot Dief. Though it's not *quite* that simple, because it could have been that Victoria found the gun in Jolly's car and shot him with his own gun. But basically Fraser knows what that means, Victoria shot Dief.
--Why didn't he search his footlocker when the cops were asking if anything was stolen??
--Okay, I can understand why someone would be investigating *Fraser* right now, but why is IA looking into Ray?
--Mmmm!
--Okay, now starts the seriously yucky part of the episode. LALALALA!!
--IA: "Did you call an attorney, Detective Vecchio?" Ray: "Did I?" Welsh: "Yes." Ray: "Do I need one?" Welsh: "Yes." I *love* Welsh watching out for his men!!
--Okay, she left $10K in Fraser's cabin before burning it. She must have spent most of her time in jail thinking about this. :D
--Oh, God, I love Fraser. He's talking to the Yukon Mountie and finding out about the money in the cabin as Welsh comes up to ask him some questions in an official capacity and hands the phone over so that the information about the money can get to the person investigating him. See...this is not something that Victoria could even comprehend doing.
--Oh, I love *Ray* defending Fraser!! "She must have slipped him the money without his knowledge." Even though he's got to know how implausible that sounds.
--I love the way they're cutting together these interrogation scenes. I mean it's really excellently well done. But I hatehatehatehate it!!
--Huckster: "Number 4." Welsh: "Take your time." Huckster: "Hey, the guy gave me a $20 for a piece of soap."
--Ray: "And I thought this woman was going to come between us." ::swoons::
--Okay, Fraser keeps showing these glimmers of intelligence and then losing them again. Because he's here again insisting that "Things aren't what they seem." Yes, Fraser, they are exactly what they seem and if it were anyone else on earth you'd be smart enough to realize that.
--Okay, how does someone give a positive visual ID of someone who's burned over 90% of their body?? I mean didn't that raise a warning flag somewhere??
--Pretty! But he's still not listening to Ray
--Okay, I love that Welsh just asked for Vecchio's shield and not his gun as well. When I watched this last week, I remember thinking that was a little...strange. But I love that he did it deliberately.
--I do *love* that Huey and Gardino are both working so hard to find Victoria and save Fraser and Ray. They're pills, but they're basically decent guys. And I'm just *deep* in adoration for Welsh right now!
--That's a *truly* crappy picture of Victoria that Huey is showing around. Couldn't they find a better one? Or at least make a better copy of the one they had?
--Did she *really* kill someone in the restaurant owner's family just so he wouldn't be around for folks to talk to? I bet she killed the guy who saw her. What an *evil* bitch. But there's still the cabbie, right?
--Another beautiful and so very sad song for the montage.
--She called Jolly to let him know where she was?? So he had the Vecchio address in his cigarette pack because she called him and told him?? But wouldn't that have changed their conversation at the zoo. There was no hint of anything like that, was there?
--So who's this guy in the church?? No fair adding a new player this late in the game. Oh he's a diamond dealer.
--Nice shot of Welsh!
--Okay, I do definitely love the polar bear playing with the gun retrieving dealy as they're pulling it out of the water. What a big cutie. :D
--Well at least it's good to know that Dief's going to be okay!
--So is Fraser *finally* realizing that Ray is right about Victoria now that he's getting arrested?? Please????
--Oh, and Ray's just looking so broken as he's in a position of watching Fraser getting arrested. ::hugs Ray::
--I love Huey for not wanting to handcuff Fraser!!
--Oh, I love that Ray took out a mortgage on his house to pay Fraser's bail!! ::hugs Ray:: God he's such a good friend!! (Though this makes Fraser's thing at the end running after her, when he *knows* that Ray's done this, that much more unforgiveable.)
--Hey, it's Pop Vecchio. The first time I saw this episode, this whole bit just confused the crud out of me because I had no idea that Ray talked to his father's ghost too.
--Pop Vecchio: "For my sins, I've got to watch you make stupid mistakes." :D
--So I wonder what the State's attorney is offering Vecchio. I guess it's for him to roll over on Fraser...but he's got nothing to give them. It's not like there's information he's got that he's not sharing. Everything he knows he's told them. It's just not all that much.
--Fraser: "You should take the deal." Ray: "I haven't been offered one." Fraser: "You should take it anyway." Ray: "Hey, Benny. Not in your lifetime." Oh, I love them both! ::hugs Fraser and Ray::
--Okay, I both hate and love this thing with Fraser and the candles. It's beautiful and haunting and powerful. I love the magical thinking--they were here and happy together with all the candles before so if he lights them he'll call her back--but it's so sad that he wants her so desperately. Because Fraser's not usually a guy for magical thinking.
--Bob: "She's not coming back to you. And why in God's name would you want her?" Fraser: "Because I...because I need...oh God." ::whimper::
--And then running to the door when Mr. Mustafi knocks, his hopes all raised, only to get horribly dashed again. Poor Fraser!!
--Oh, God and then she calls and it's like he's *hiding*.
--She's waiting for him in a peepshow booth? It's not a bad thought, I mean those things are designed so that folks can't easily get to the girls and so that there is a decent amount of privacy. But how did she set it up? (And whoever she set it up with is someone *else* who should be able to identify her.)
--Fraser: "You must really hate me for what I did." Victoria: "Yeah. Hate, love. Those two emotions about cover it." I actually haven't seen the slightest bit of love from her. Not the tiniest little touch of it.
--Fraser: "What do you want, Victoria?" Victoria: "You." Fraser: "No, you don't." FINALLY!! Fraser's seeing through her!!
--So her whole plan was to cut Fraser decisively loose from everything that was tying him to his life, so he'd have no choice but to run away with her and then he'd be hers. Sick, but a well known tactic of cults and brainwashers. But she didn't count on the fact that she couldn't cut him away from himself and his own innate sense of honor and decency.
--So she's going to take down Ray as well as Fraser?? Fucking bitch!! She's got nothing against Ray. Except that he's one of the things keeping Fraser away from her.
--Oh, God, I love Fraser running over to Ray's and just kicking the door wide open so he can go in and search for the key!! Though where is Ray in all this? Why isn't he home?
--And who helps Ray clean up from all of this. I mean, Fraser's not got time to do a neat search, he's got to be fast, but he's making a god-awful mess.
--How did he miss the key when he picked up the snow globe and shook it? And when *did* he spot it?
--I can't believe the fucking bitch has the gall to say "I really do love you" like she even knows what that means!
--And she's calling IA anyway! ::whimper::
--Okay, I love Fraser leaving a note for Ray on Dief's cage. Because I *love* that it means that Ray's been visiting Dief in the hospital on his own and Fraser knows he will. ::hugs Fraser:: Though did Ray find this note and what did it say?
--She left the keys in the car that had all that cash in the trunk?? That was fucking stupid!
--::Whimper:: Old lady: "A man just stole my purse. Can you help me?" Fraser: "No ma'am, I'm afraid I can't." And how badly did she have to break Fraser to bring him to this point. ::snivel::
--So who is this checking the list of numbered bills? Oh, apparently the diamond dude.
--Well, at least Victoria's there to save the diamonds (and coincidentally Fraser) from the angry diamond dudes.
--So aren't all these IA guys going to be suspicious or something about the fact that Ray's house has been so thoroughly tossed?
--Oh, I just *adore* that Fraser's not going to go with her!! ::hugs Fraser:: But I can't believe that she still thinks he going to. I guess she's just positive that she's got him hooked and she can't *imagine* doing anythine else herself, so she can't imagine him doing it either.
--So she's about to kill him with Ray's backup gun?? Did she really search the Vecchio house that thoroughly that she *found* it, hid the key, blah blah and still not manage to leave an epithelial or one single hair from that gorgoeus mane of her?? Pah!
--Ooo!!
--When did she take the time to straighten her hair?? I mean with all those curls getting it that straight should be a lengthy process. (I used to know someone with hair like that and straightening it took like an hour.)
--Boy does she seem mad at herself that she can't shoot him. She clearly *wants to.
--Yay for Fraser slipping her that key!! (Though it was just blind luck that she grabbed the *wrong* one when she went to the locker.)
--When did Fraser take the time to call Ray? I guess when he was chasing Victoria. Since he'd spotted the train tickets, he knew where she was going anyway.
--Shouldn't Victoria's prints be on that suitcase? I mean she didn't wear gloves when she put it in there and she didn't wipe them off. Unless Helpful Dude is wrecking them just by holding it.
--And now her hair is curly again. Must have just been an itsy little continuity slip then.
--Okay, see she's leaving all *kinds* of evidence and witnesses now. Yay. Why are *either* Fraser or Ray dealing with this money (since they're both being investigated in regard to it) and why why why is Raya letting Ray go after her alone??
--Why why why also is Fraser saying he should have let her go?? NO HE SHOULDN'T HAVE!!! I'm starting to get *really* pissed off about that!
--Fraser doesn't want to let her go, but he can't shoot her either. For God's sake why doesn't he *stop* her??
--I HATE this part!!
--Okay, so what happened to his brain that he's actually running after her?? Did it fall out and scatter on the ground like the diamonds? Did she really truly permanently break something? This episode may seriously kill me for any sort of slash in this series because Fraser's going to be *so* fucked up after this I don't see anyone fixing him. And he's just not a good person when he's in love. He's a fucking *moron*.
--He's still carrying Ray's gun? I suppose, what else would he have done with it.
--Okay, so Ray fires because he thinks she has a gun. And because he can't imagine that Fraser's actually running after her.
--And how is it that Ray's able to be Fraser's friend again after this. Because I think Ray's too smart to be able to kid himself that Fraser wasn't going to join her and leave him holding the *bag*, and with the mortgage on his house and everything else. And I hate that Fraser can do this. But how can Ray trust him again?
--Oh, poor Ray!! ::hugs Ray:: But I love that Huey and Gardino and Welsh are all there.
--::whimper::
--I'm not sure how I feel about Ray covering for Fraser here. Fraser: "I should have been with her." Welsh: "What'd he say?" Ray: "Get me to a hospital."
--I'm so not sure how to interpret that Fraser's reciting a poem, presumably the same one that Victoria recited when they were stuck on that mountain, as he's lying there nearly dying. I don't think I like it.
--Is it safe for me to guess that at least one of the writers of this episode has some seriously fucked up views of love and relationships?
--It is possible that this episode just *totally* breaks the series for me. I mean, I lost a *ton* of respect for Fraser there in the last minutes. And I'm not sure I'll be able to *believe* any buddy thing between him and Ray any more. I understand that the next episode is sort of a fix-it and it better be a damned *good* one or I'm not sure I can go on with it.
All screencaps are my own, feel free to use them however you like. Unless you like to use screencaps by hotlinking. That's not nice, so please don't do that.
due South Episode Notes
Pilot
Free Willie
Manhunt
Diefenbaker's Day Off
They Eat Horses, Don't They?
Pizza and Promises
Chinatown
Chicago Holiday, part 1
Chicago Holiday, part 2
A Cop, A Mountie and A Baby
The Gift of the Wheel Man
You Must Remember This
Hawk & Handsaw
An Eye for An Eye
The Man Who Knew Too Little
The Wild Bunch
The Blue Line
The Deal
An Invitation to Romance
Heaven & Earth
Victoria's Secret, Part 1
Some of you may know that even aside from the whole Mounties In Pain aspect, the main theme of this episode (Our Heroes suspected of a crime and treated like bad guys when they're innocent) is one that I especially *hate*. It gives me the creeps and stresses me out and just in general I *hate* it.
So this episode is *exceptionally* difficult and painful for me to watch. It is entirely possible that I'm going to be less thorough than I ought to be in my notes because I'm going to have my fingers in my ears going LALALALALA for a big chunk of it.
::whimper::
Stalling didn't help last week, so I'm just going to jump right into it.
spikedluv has an awesome collection of quotes from Victoria's Secret, part 2 over at her LiveJournal. Wonderful, but like a condensed version of a painful episode.
Notes on watching Victoria's Secret, part 2:
--Oh,that's right, we get to re-live the most agonizing moments of last week's episode before getting into the agonizing moments of this week's. That's a great way to get things started. ::chin quiver::
--How did Jolly know about Fraser anyway? I don't know I raised this question last week, but when Jolly sees Fraser swinging in to rescue Victoria, he says "I should have known it was you". I guess Fraser was a witness at the trial, particularly if Victoria testified against Jolly.
--There's something appealingly vulnerable about Fraser wrapped in a blanket, IMO.
--Ooo, that little transition from evening to night was quite pretty.
--Okay, so at this moment neither Fraser nor Ray know that Victoria is guilty of anything. They just know that the person who was threatening her is dead. That's why they're both hoping she'll come back.
--And OMG Ray is *such* a good friend, because he's saying "she'll be back" and being *so* incredibly supportive when he's got to be thinking "Good riddance to bad rubbish" inside.
--Oh, I love that Fraser's so confident that they can make things work out. Victoria's all for running right now, and Fraser wants her to turn herself in and I love him for it. (Though he should see the horrible mismatch in values just from this.)
--Damn he's so pretty!
--Okay, they're both still thinking that he let her down when he arrested her for a crime of which they both know she was guilty. Sigh!! That just pisses me off.
--I do appreciate that Fraser's pledging that he'll stick by her and he won't leave her. When he gives his heart, he gives all of it. I just hate that he's giving it to *her*!
--Now I have to admit that this confused me when I watched this episode with sassyinkpen last week...because *why* did Fraser leave her in his apartment while he went to talk to the State's Attorney and arrange for her to come in? What made that seem like a good idea. Surely it would have been better to take her to the station with him, not as a prisoner but as his friend, let her wait in a waiting room or at Ray's desk, and then, after the pre-arranging with the State's Attorney was done bring her in to the conference. So much more *efficient*. I'm not talking suspicion here, I'm talking about saving the time of an important state official. (Though he also does have reason to think she's a flight risk.)
--See and it just seems so *strange* that Fraser's talking to the attorneys and everyone on Victoria's behalf.
--Hee! I wonder if the whole thing with Fraser fixing Mr. Mustafi's broken household goods is because he uses the man as an answering service. :D
--Ray's looking awfully relaxed playing with the soccer ball here. I guess he's not really. Though he doesn't yet know that he's implicated in any of this.
--Nice shot of Ray! He really *has* got pretty eyes!
--Okay, they're just now finding out about the fingerprint thing...which means it's time to revisit. I find it *extremely* hard to believe that Victoria was able to remove every single trace of herself from that apartment. The scene of her cleaning the kitchen is from at least 24 hours before Dief gets shot and she spent most of that day there. Fraser was only gone for a few minutes after Ray, and in that time she had to open the footlocker, get the gun, make all neat, shoot Dief and leave. She didn't have a lot of time for other cleaning up. And where are the epithelials, vaginal secretions (since we know they were having sex), drool on the pillow, stray hairs, etc. There are a *zillion* ways that someone leaves a mark of themselves where they are and a lot of them survive soap and water cleaning. This is really the *structural* flaw in this episode. The other things I don't like about it aren't quite so integral to the plot working.
--At least that seems to be starting Fraser questioning *something* right. He's now wondering *why* her fingerprints weren't there. That's something at least.
--Ray really is such a good friend, because all that relaxed pose was so clearly just an act to try and keep Fraser calm. Not that Fraser's gone, Ray's obviously upset!! ::hugs Ray:::
--Okay, I hate this scene with Fraser and Dead!Bob, because Fraser's so strident in insisting that he knows Victoria and he *doesn't*. And I just want to *shake* him!! And all these questions Fraser's asking his father ("Did you know mom? Did you know who she really was? Or just who you wanted her to be?") he should be asksing himself. Which lends itself to a sort of psychological interpretation of these encounters with Dead!Bob that Fraser really is talking to a part of his personality and he *is* asking himself. And then the answers Bob is giving him ("I knew who she was in her soul, that's what I loved") are his own answers. And he's arguing against it in Bob, but accepting it in himself.
--Bob: "She was a good woman. She deserved better." Fraser: "No she didn't. She deserved *you*."
--And then Fraser goes and insists that he's not going to make the same mistake. Which is *wonderful* of him. He's going to be there and he's going to see Victoria in all of her moods and love them all. Except...he *can't* I don't think, at least not without hurting himselef, because they're fundamentally incompatible, and he just can't see that.
--And he admits that Victoria scares the hell out of him. Shouldn't that be a warning sign?? Shouldn't it??
--Bob: "Is it snowing out son?" Love Fraser's confused response to that (since it's almost summer) but I also love that Bob's ... making use of the Snow=Madness/Out of Controlness symbolism that we discussed last week. (And I'm sorry, I don't remember who was so brilliant and mentioned that.)
--Just a super nice shot of Dead!Bob.
--Okay, and now Fraser's finding out that whoever shot Jolly also shot Dief. Though it's not *quite* that simple, because it could have been that Victoria found the gun in Jolly's car and shot him with his own gun. But basically Fraser knows what that means, Victoria shot Dief.
--Why didn't he search his footlocker when the cops were asking if anything was stolen??
--Okay, I can understand why someone would be investigating *Fraser* right now, but why is IA looking into Ray?
--Mmmm!
--Okay, now starts the seriously yucky part of the episode. LALALALA!!
--IA: "Did you call an attorney, Detective Vecchio?" Ray: "Did I?" Welsh: "Yes." Ray: "Do I need one?" Welsh: "Yes." I *love* Welsh watching out for his men!!
--Okay, she left $10K in Fraser's cabin before burning it. She must have spent most of her time in jail thinking about this. :D
--Oh, God, I love Fraser. He's talking to the Yukon Mountie and finding out about the money in the cabin as Welsh comes up to ask him some questions in an official capacity and hands the phone over so that the information about the money can get to the person investigating him. See...this is not something that Victoria could even comprehend doing.
--Oh, I love *Ray* defending Fraser!! "She must have slipped him the money without his knowledge." Even though he's got to know how implausible that sounds.
--I love the way they're cutting together these interrogation scenes. I mean it's really excellently well done. But I hatehatehatehate it!!
--Huckster: "Number 4." Welsh: "Take your time." Huckster: "Hey, the guy gave me a $20 for a piece of soap."
--Ray: "And I thought this woman was going to come between us." ::swoons::
--Okay, Fraser keeps showing these glimmers of intelligence and then losing them again. Because he's here again insisting that "Things aren't what they seem." Yes, Fraser, they are exactly what they seem and if it were anyone else on earth you'd be smart enough to realize that.
--Okay, how does someone give a positive visual ID of someone who's burned over 90% of their body?? I mean didn't that raise a warning flag somewhere??
--Pretty! But he's still not listening to Ray
--Okay, I love that Welsh just asked for Vecchio's shield and not his gun as well. When I watched this last week, I remember thinking that was a little...strange. But I love that he did it deliberately.
--I do *love* that Huey and Gardino are both working so hard to find Victoria and save Fraser and Ray. They're pills, but they're basically decent guys. And I'm just *deep* in adoration for Welsh right now!
--That's a *truly* crappy picture of Victoria that Huey is showing around. Couldn't they find a better one? Or at least make a better copy of the one they had?
--Did she *really* kill someone in the restaurant owner's family just so he wouldn't be around for folks to talk to? I bet she killed the guy who saw her. What an *evil* bitch. But there's still the cabbie, right?
--Another beautiful and so very sad song for the montage.
--She called Jolly to let him know where she was?? So he had the Vecchio address in his cigarette pack because she called him and told him?? But wouldn't that have changed their conversation at the zoo. There was no hint of anything like that, was there?
--So who's this guy in the church?? No fair adding a new player this late in the game. Oh he's a diamond dealer.
--Nice shot of Welsh!
--Okay, I do definitely love the polar bear playing with the gun retrieving dealy as they're pulling it out of the water. What a big cutie. :D
--Well at least it's good to know that Dief's going to be okay!
--So is Fraser *finally* realizing that Ray is right about Victoria now that he's getting arrested?? Please????
--Oh, and Ray's just looking so broken as he's in a position of watching Fraser getting arrested. ::hugs Ray::
--I love Huey for not wanting to handcuff Fraser!!
--Oh, I love that Ray took out a mortgage on his house to pay Fraser's bail!! ::hugs Ray:: God he's such a good friend!! (Though this makes Fraser's thing at the end running after her, when he *knows* that Ray's done this, that much more unforgiveable.)
--Hey, it's Pop Vecchio. The first time I saw this episode, this whole bit just confused the crud out of me because I had no idea that Ray talked to his father's ghost too.
--Pop Vecchio: "For my sins, I've got to watch you make stupid mistakes." :D
--So I wonder what the State's attorney is offering Vecchio. I guess it's for him to roll over on Fraser...but he's got nothing to give them. It's not like there's information he's got that he's not sharing. Everything he knows he's told them. It's just not all that much.
--Fraser: "You should take the deal." Ray: "I haven't been offered one." Fraser: "You should take it anyway." Ray: "Hey, Benny. Not in your lifetime." Oh, I love them both! ::hugs Fraser and Ray::
--Okay, I both hate and love this thing with Fraser and the candles. It's beautiful and haunting and powerful. I love the magical thinking--they were here and happy together with all the candles before so if he lights them he'll call her back--but it's so sad that he wants her so desperately. Because Fraser's not usually a guy for magical thinking.
--Bob: "She's not coming back to you. And why in God's name would you want her?" Fraser: "Because I...because I need...oh God." ::whimper::
--And then running to the door when Mr. Mustafi knocks, his hopes all raised, only to get horribly dashed again. Poor Fraser!!
--Oh, God and then she calls and it's like he's *hiding*.
--She's waiting for him in a peepshow booth? It's not a bad thought, I mean those things are designed so that folks can't easily get to the girls and so that there is a decent amount of privacy. But how did she set it up? (And whoever she set it up with is someone *else* who should be able to identify her.)
--Fraser: "You must really hate me for what I did." Victoria: "Yeah. Hate, love. Those two emotions about cover it." I actually haven't seen the slightest bit of love from her. Not the tiniest little touch of it.
--Fraser: "What do you want, Victoria?" Victoria: "You." Fraser: "No, you don't." FINALLY!! Fraser's seeing through her!!
--So her whole plan was to cut Fraser decisively loose from everything that was tying him to his life, so he'd have no choice but to run away with her and then he'd be hers. Sick, but a well known tactic of cults and brainwashers. But she didn't count on the fact that she couldn't cut him away from himself and his own innate sense of honor and decency.
--So she's going to take down Ray as well as Fraser?? Fucking bitch!! She's got nothing against Ray. Except that he's one of the things keeping Fraser away from her.
--Oh, God, I love Fraser running over to Ray's and just kicking the door wide open so he can go in and search for the key!! Though where is Ray in all this? Why isn't he home?
--And who helps Ray clean up from all of this. I mean, Fraser's not got time to do a neat search, he's got to be fast, but he's making a god-awful mess.
--How did he miss the key when he picked up the snow globe and shook it? And when *did* he spot it?
--I can't believe the fucking bitch has the gall to say "I really do love you" like she even knows what that means!
--And she's calling IA anyway! ::whimper::
--Okay, I love Fraser leaving a note for Ray on Dief's cage. Because I *love* that it means that Ray's been visiting Dief in the hospital on his own and Fraser knows he will. ::hugs Fraser:: Though did Ray find this note and what did it say?
--She left the keys in the car that had all that cash in the trunk?? That was fucking stupid!
--::Whimper:: Old lady: "A man just stole my purse. Can you help me?" Fraser: "No ma'am, I'm afraid I can't." And how badly did she have to break Fraser to bring him to this point. ::snivel::
--So who is this checking the list of numbered bills? Oh, apparently the diamond dude.
--Well, at least Victoria's there to save the diamonds (and coincidentally Fraser) from the angry diamond dudes.
--So aren't all these IA guys going to be suspicious or something about the fact that Ray's house has been so thoroughly tossed?
--Oh, I just *adore* that Fraser's not going to go with her!! ::hugs Fraser:: But I can't believe that she still thinks he going to. I guess she's just positive that she's got him hooked and she can't *imagine* doing anythine else herself, so she can't imagine him doing it either.
--So she's about to kill him with Ray's backup gun?? Did she really search the Vecchio house that thoroughly that she *found* it, hid the key, blah blah and still not manage to leave an epithelial or one single hair from that gorgoeus mane of her?? Pah!
--Ooo!!
--When did she take the time to straighten her hair?? I mean with all those curls getting it that straight should be a lengthy process. (I used to know someone with hair like that and straightening it took like an hour.)
--Boy does she seem mad at herself that she can't shoot him. She clearly *wants to.
--Yay for Fraser slipping her that key!! (Though it was just blind luck that she grabbed the *wrong* one when she went to the locker.)
--When did Fraser take the time to call Ray? I guess when he was chasing Victoria. Since he'd spotted the train tickets, he knew where she was going anyway.
--Shouldn't Victoria's prints be on that suitcase? I mean she didn't wear gloves when she put it in there and she didn't wipe them off. Unless Helpful Dude is wrecking them just by holding it.
--And now her hair is curly again. Must have just been an itsy little continuity slip then.
--Okay, see she's leaving all *kinds* of evidence and witnesses now. Yay. Why are *either* Fraser or Ray dealing with this money (since they're both being investigated in regard to it) and why why why is Raya letting Ray go after her alone??
--Why why why also is Fraser saying he should have let her go?? NO HE SHOULDN'T HAVE!!! I'm starting to get *really* pissed off about that!
--Fraser doesn't want to let her go, but he can't shoot her either. For God's sake why doesn't he *stop* her??
--I HATE this part!!
--Okay, so what happened to his brain that he's actually running after her?? Did it fall out and scatter on the ground like the diamonds? Did she really truly permanently break something? This episode may seriously kill me for any sort of slash in this series because Fraser's going to be *so* fucked up after this I don't see anyone fixing him. And he's just not a good person when he's in love. He's a fucking *moron*.
--He's still carrying Ray's gun? I suppose, what else would he have done with it.
--Okay, so Ray fires because he thinks she has a gun. And because he can't imagine that Fraser's actually running after her.
--And how is it that Ray's able to be Fraser's friend again after this. Because I think Ray's too smart to be able to kid himself that Fraser wasn't going to join her and leave him holding the *bag*, and with the mortgage on his house and everything else. And I hate that Fraser can do this. But how can Ray trust him again?
--Oh, poor Ray!! ::hugs Ray:: But I love that Huey and Gardino and Welsh are all there.
--::whimper::
--I'm not sure how I feel about Ray covering for Fraser here. Fraser: "I should have been with her." Welsh: "What'd he say?" Ray: "Get me to a hospital."
--I'm so not sure how to interpret that Fraser's reciting a poem, presumably the same one that Victoria recited when they were stuck on that mountain, as he's lying there nearly dying. I don't think I like it.
--Is it safe for me to guess that at least one of the writers of this episode has some seriously fucked up views of love and relationships?
--It is possible that this episode just *totally* breaks the series for me. I mean, I lost a *ton* of respect for Fraser there in the last minutes. And I'm not sure I'll be able to *believe* any buddy thing between him and Ray any more. I understand that the next episode is sort of a fix-it and it better be a damned *good* one or I'm not sure I can go on with it.
All screencaps are my own, feel free to use them however you like. Unless you like to use screencaps by hotlinking. That's not nice, so please don't do that.
due South Episode Notes
Pilot
Free Willie
Manhunt
Diefenbaker's Day Off
They Eat Horses, Don't They?
Pizza and Promises
Chinatown
Chicago Holiday, part 1
Chicago Holiday, part 2
A Cop, A Mountie and A Baby
The Gift of the Wheel Man
You Must Remember This
Hawk & Handsaw
An Eye for An Eye
The Man Who Knew Too Little
The Wild Bunch
The Blue Line
The Deal
An Invitation to Romance
Heaven & Earth
Victoria's Secret, Part 1