Episode Notes: due South "Chicago Holiday, part 1"

Jan 14, 2007 15:41

This is the first set of notes I've done for episodes I haven't seen before. My husband and I skipped this episode when we were watching about a year ago. He has an extreme embarrassment squick and this seemed like it was just going to set that off, so we skipped past it.

Anyway, this is, truly, my very first impressions of this episode. I have no idea what the basic plot is or what's going to be happening.

So if I sound like a moron, please forgive. :)

After-watching notes: I'm not sure how I feel about this episode. I mean I've had some yummy squeeish moments during it, but damn, Ray and Fraser have hardly been onscreen together at all. Fraser's being bested by a whiny 16 year old twit. And Ray, if he doesn't wake up and get out of that apartment before Eddie gets home, is going to be, so very busted. Yuck!

I hope in the second half next week, we get to see them actually being *together* some.

It's hard to make a fair judgement based on half of something, so I'm witholding my opinion. That's all.

spikedluv has posted quotes from "Chicago Holiday, pt. 1" at her LJ over here.

Notes on watching Chicago Holiday, pt. 1:

--Well, it's getting off to an extremely promising start! The undershirt and suspenders look is a *good* one on Fraser!



--He's seriously thinking that a 16 year old girl wants to see La Boheme? Good lord!! We knew Fraser was odd, out of touch, and socially not very savvy, but that's pretty extreme. (Though, really, for an average 16 year old, if she'd unbend enough to let herself like opera, La Boheme is romantic and tragic and melodramatic...probably right up her alley.)

--He's ironing his boots?



--I love his conversation with Dief about the opera. :)

--Damn he's pretty!!



--How sad is it that his *wolf* has a better sense of what a 16 year old girl might enjoy than Fraser does? For example, this is Dief's reaction to the suggestion of a BeeGee's reunion concert.



--So is this hat-press a real item of equipment, perhaps standard RCMP gear, or did Fraser invent it for himself to keep his stetson pristine?



--Fraser: "May I be frank? I only started talking with you on the ice flow out of sheer boredom. And now you've got an opinion on virtually everything. From now on, you can keep your opinions to yourself. ... How do I look?" Heeee!!

--A cigarette smoker, he must be a bad guy! :D

--Maybe not, since he got stabbed by a worse guy.

--I like the visual of the "Smoking Kills" matches in the dead guy's hand. Oooh, and there's writing inside the match book.

--Jeeze, I'm just like Pavlov's Dog. I'm happy when I watch this show, so now just the *credits* make me happy. Like I want to rewind and watch them again happy. Sigh. Maybe I shouldn't admit to being such a dork.

--So Welsh is out at a crime scene, along with the entirety of his Violent Crimes division? Huh. This guy must be important.

--Welsh: "Do we have cause of death?" Coroner: "Judging from the hole in his back, I'm ruling out asphyxiation."

--Oh, hey, I was right! This is an important case. Go me!

--Welsh is an opera buff?? How cool is that! And he's dating the coroner? That actually makes me really happy!

--Okay, I like this smoky music, and the flickering candles on the piano are a very cool touch, but please tell me Fraser didn't bring the 16 year old to a stuffed-shirt party?? He'd have done better with the opera.

--Okay, so Ray brought over the brown bag from, presumably, Fraser's place. And he says he didn't look in it because "I know how you are about your stuff". Hmmm, muy intriguing! For one thing, how is Fraser about his stuff. He has so very little of it, is he extra careful and protective of it? Possessive? Territorial? What, what?



--Ray: "Looks like a very painful experience." Fraser: "Well, dancing with the Americans often is, Ray. Speaking politically, of course, not personally." (Ah, and in the slashy happy place I'm picturing Fraser and Ray dancing together.)

--I just *love* Ray setting aside the "biggest case of his career" to do an important favor for Fraser. And he's a little fed up to discover that the emergency favor was to bring Fraser the dress accessories for his uniform, but on the whole he deals with that well.

--Ray: "I gotta find new friends." :D I'm getting kind of fond of Ray's grumbling.

--I don't like the dress accessories on the red serge though--I miss the lanyard and the Sam Browne. (Less leather on Fraser is never, I'm finding, a good thing.)

--Okay, who is this guy? Oh he's the girl's dad. He seems skeezy to me; I wonder if he's supposed to.

--Okay so Fraser's only instruction here is to make sure the kid has a good time and shows up at the ball. That leaves a lot of range.

--If he's supposed to make sure this kid has a good time, I think the first order of business is to get her away from the stuffed-shirt party.

--Okay so Dad's a Canadian, right? So why is he tipping the RCMP officer doing his duty? Fraser sure seems surprised by it!



--Oh, nice!!



--So is the girl trying to ditch Fraser? I have this feeling that she's *going* to ditch him at some point.

--I like Fraser talking to the American diplomat's son, that's cute. Both of them waiting for the same girl, for different reasons of course.





--Kid: "You're like, what? The Valet?" Fraser: "Something like that." Heeee!



--Why didn't Fraser recognize that the girl who walked out past him was the girl he was waiting for?

--At least he figures it out pretty quickly.



--Oh dear, Fraser looking into the women's room! I think this is when my hubby decided that he couldn't deal with this episode anymore.



--Okay, if the girl's 16 the "wildest club in town" is not going to let her in.

--Heee! Fraser talking to the doorman! No wonder the kid thought he was the valet!



--Cabbie: "It's got your picture on it." Fraser: "No that's the RCMP Musical Ride." Cabbie: "It's not a good likeness at all." Fraser: "Oh. Here." Cabbie: "Now this guy, I know."

--Fraser: "All I have left is Canadian." Cabbie: "Fine, then I'll drive 30% slower." Heeee!!

--Fraser conversing with the girl from the top of the cab!! Heee!!



--Okay, so the 16 year old (and, seriously, does this girl have a name? I'm about to make one up for her and she's not going to like it) is whining and complaining because she doesn't have her own life. Well, child, that's because you're not a fucking adult yet. Quit your whining and grow up. For God's sake! (I swear, every encounter I have with a teenage girl, fictional or real, makes me want to call my parents an apologize for everything I did between the age of 15 and 19.)

--This other cabbie's a hoot too! Girl: "I want to kiss somebody I'm not related to." Cabbie 2: "I could pull over right here."

--Hey Fraser left his hat in the middle of the road?? Does it get .... oh, man, it gets smished!! Ah, but it's okay.

--So Fraser's charge just went into the place the cops are staking out? Oh, dear!

--Why is Ray stuck in a car with Huey and Gardino? That's got to be miserable! With all that second-hand smoke. :)



--Oh, dear! Fraser in this place is going to be a shocking mismatch!! Hee, except the old couple is kind of cute.

--Sub to Fraser: "I've been bad. I've been very bad, please punish me." Fraser: "There's nothing so bad it can't be forgiven, son." Proving that he's not so naive maybe as he lets people think. :D



--Okay, I give up. I was trying to be good and use the girl's real name, but I'm just never going to catch it, I don't think. I'm going to call her 16. That's pretty polite.

--Okay, I do feel a little sorry for 16 here, because she went to the effort of bribing the bartender for a Long Island Iced Tea and Fraser's here messing her squee. However, I like the person checking Fraser out in the background, that's cute. :)



--Oh, hey, there is going to be a case in this episode after all, there's that book of matches again.

--She's trying to ditch Fraser though the bathroom again. Yay for the nailed shut windows.

--Heee! Fraser encoutering the Leather!Mountie!! Somebody please tell me that I'm not the only one who wants to see Fraser in the leather uniform; all that soft leather, and the earthy smell. And Fraser a little uncomfortable maybe, but it's nice on his skin so he likes it even though he doesn't want to admit it. And the Ray of your choice is there, touching...mmmmm! ::Shakes head, sorry about that, got lost for a minute::

--Oddly the leather doesn't screencap very well, damn their eyes, but I did my best.



--Fraser's reaction to it is funny, but messes up my fantasy of Fraser wearing it just a tad. But I'm still loving the idea!



--So wait, is this the guy who killed the guy in the alley? And this redhead is the same mystery girl from earlier? Okay.

--Oh, dear. I'm picturing bad things happening. Though they were less bad than they might have been. I thought 16 was going to get the horrible wig and get away from Fraser again.

--16 had her purse and then dropped it on the floor. Okay. So now the matchbook is just lost. And then recovered again.

--Eeee!! OMG the Leather!Mountie was one of the cops!! Eeee! Okay, my mind's really wandering now. Wandering in places too embarrassing to delve into!

--Oh, dear there are now knives involved and everything else!

--Ahh!! AlphaFraser! Damn!!



--"Would anyone here happen to have a pair of handcuffs?"



--Why is the Leather!Mountie busting Fraser? I guess because he's trying to leave.

--Heee! Cute picture!



--And Ray's eyes just about pop *out* of his head when he sees Fraser! In the leather bar! With a girl! (And a *young* girl!)



--Oh, dear, that was careless of Fraser to cuff the bad guy to a pole where the cuffs could be slid right off. I guess he was distracted by trying to take care of 16.

--Oh, poor Fraser!! Ray's really jealous pissed. This isn't garden variety grumbling from Ray. Fraser: "Ray. There's a very simple explanation for all this." Ray: "Don't talk to me, alright? I don't even know you."



--Okay, so Bad Wig Lady, despite being smart enough to get away from Eddie, isn't smart enough to stay out of dark alleys. Sigh. I'm not sure why but I kind of like her, bad wig and all.

--Oh, man, Ray's *so* upset!! I want to hug him! It really looks like he's feeling betrayed. Here's Fraser acting like Fraser ("After you"ing everyone *else* onto the paddy wagon) but with a *kid* in a leather bar. ::hugs Ray::



--I'm ooking to myself here. Please tell me Ray doesn't stay mad indefinitely!??

--Welsh: "Now, Detective Gardino, if you had just siezed control of the entire west side, would your first act be to go dance in leather underwear?" Welsh is *so* awesome!

--Oh, that's a nice picture of Ray--he looks very weary, but oh, so nice!!



--Oh, oh, oh!! ::swoons in a faint:: Ray's mad at Fraser, but he still goes to Welsh to get him out of being busted at the club!! OMG!!



--Oh, dear, that's 16's Father. Fraser's in *so* much trouble! Hate that!

--Okay, someone explain to me why Fraser's lying to keep 16 out of trouble when her father wasn't going to do anything to her but yell. Fraser could lose his job, his career, everything!! What the *hell* is he doing??

--Aside from looking pretty!



--Why is Dad trusting Fraser to walk his dog, let alone get 16 *anywhere* safely?

--Okay 16's really pissing me off here! She's mad at Fraser for trying to *help* her!! Jesus, teenage girls are irrational little bitches.

--Okay, I'm probably being a little anti-16 here because she's being obnoxious, but why is Fraser telling her that she doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to do and the choice is hers. That's not how Fraser lives his life. Why is he giving that lesson to her?

--What kind of swanky hotel has a housekeeper working in the rooms that late at night?? I hate to be paranoid about the nice motherly lady there, but I totally am.

--OOooo! Pretty!



--And there's the matchbook going into the trash. Oh, dear!

--This is *such* a McGuffin story! :)

--More pretty!



--Fraser's not trusting the girl to stay put. :) Love it!!

--And wisely so! :)

--Let's just hope he waited long enough...uh, oh!

--Was the maid's name seriously Mrs. McGuffin?? Heee!

--Okay, so some random guy now has the matches.

--Eeee! Love this pic of Fraser! And he did his little hat flip again!



--Good on him for spotting 16 in the double decker bus.

--And now an even more random little kid has the matches. Keeping tabs on the McGuffin is a full time job with this episode.

--Okay, so what's Ray doing here at Eddie's place now that Huey and Gardino have already searched it? And apparently he's there illegally because he's hiding when the woman comes in. Oh, Ray!!

--Ooh a nice couple of piccies of Ray! :)





--Okay, this woman is Bad Wig Lady, right? I totally recognize this actress, she's got incredibly distinctive eyes.

--Oh, geeze, Ray looks almost flirtatious here, but with the gun and all this is just *hot*!



--Oh, Ray, not good, not good!! Don't let yourself get knocked out in the bad guy's house!

--Did she take his gun or just her wallet back?

--How long has Fraser been running after this bus?



--Oh, dear, 16's making cute flirty eyes with the cute foreign boy. And why is she lying and saying she was born and raised in Chicago?

--Heee! Jumping over the work crew! :)



--Oh, dear, and Eddie's still there watching! Not good!

--So Fraser managed to get another vehicle to chase the bus. That's nice!

--Oh, her nice Latvian Boy is just walking away? That's *so* not good! except that she's following him. Yay!

--What is it with Fraser travelling on the outside of vehicles tonight?

--And there go the matches again, stuck on the shoe of another random person. Jinkies!

--Wait, Fraser lost the girl? Oh dear!



--Oh, man!! What a frustrating place to end the episode. Okay, until next week then....

All screencaps are my own, please feel free to use them however you like. At least, as long as you don't like to hotlink. Don't do that, 'kay?

due South Episode Notes

Pilot
Free Willie
Manhunt
Diefenbaker's Day Off
They Eat Horses, Don't They?
Pizza and Promises
Chinatown

due south, screencaps, episode notes

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