Sansets' Women Appreciation Day 6 Challenge

[vsee]

Yes, I do know I am really, really late with this. My plans for the afternoon were canceled, so I am going to hash this out while I still have time.

sansets asked for a response to a female character you've disliked, to find redeeming qualities in them.

Comments

[kill_claudio]

Eeeeeee! This is fantastic. I am obsessed with LG at the minute, for obvious reasons, and you have loads of really insightful observations. I've always loved Jill. I think it's because her flirtation with Fraser isn't a means to an end, a way to get her claws into him; she just enjoys a little harmless flirting. And unlike Thatcher of Frannie, she doesn't sacrifice her dignity in order to fawn over him. She's proof that you can like someone without behaving like a lovesick schoolgirl, an idea that's sadly lacking in the other women of dS

[vsee]

*twirls you* I am almost afraid to say much about what I think about LG in front of you right now. I want to keep you undistracted and on course with your story. I am glad you liked it.

[spuffyduds]

This is very cool! You have obviously thought very deeply about this episode--I just always liked Jill because she is the catalyst for the "otter" line, which slays me.

I never thought about the "resting" moment in the pool, and how rare it is that he lets anybody but a Ray see him weak/needy and help--neat.

[vsee]

I clutch the otter line to my heart and cackle! But hasn't the otter bit already come up in The Deal? In the Deal, when Elaine is hanging all over him, cleaning his post beating wounds.

Elaine: How many of them were there?
Fraser: More than were necessary

Elaine jabs his split lip with a swab, and Fraser flinches and grunts with pain. Elaine is hanging all over him, in a kind of grabby way

Elaine: That hurt, didn't it?
Fraser: Yes, quite a bit
Elaine: Sorry
Fraser: Were there any prints off the handgun?
Elaine: No and no serial number. Does this hurt?

She sticks the swab repeatedly into a deep, gory cut on his cheekbone. With each jab, Fraser tersely says:

Fraser: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Elaine: How about this?

She veers totally off course, and points to the scar on his upper chest. while wrapping herself around him from above, and pressing his head back into her breasts. Fraser: No, that's an old scar

[vsee]

Oh, and I forgot that he tells Ray first, at about 12 minutes in to The Deal.

Fraser: You know we had a schoolyard bully in Tuktoyaktuk once. Sometimes at night I still remember him coming into the classroom swinging that otter over his head. There was no reasoning with him

Ray: And I thought we had nothing in common.

[dragonflymuse]

I love this episode and I liked Jill Kennedy almost from her first interaction with Fraser. While there is something uncomfortably personal during the exam scene, she does deflect most of the sleaziness from the encounter (unlike the cringeworthy scene in The Deal where Elaine is tending to a beaten Fraser).

I could ship those too, because while she does use mild flirtation to prod Fraser into talking or some sort of action, he doesn't seem duly phased by it, and at one point actually kind of flirts back (when he offers her the pickle. Yes, I am juvenile :) But check out the expression on her face when he does). This is a reciprocity of a kind he doesn't show until late in the last season of the series.

[vsee]

I don't think I could ship them, but I know what you're saying. I see some flirtation, but it seems more a means to break the ice, to get a reaction. And I do agree that he responds with the whole pickle thing. Hey, it's a sign of life. Not all women are evil harpies waiting to rip his heart out of his chest! He can walk (kind of) and talk (instead of sulking) and think about something other than his miserable interior life. I do think Jill likes him, and is somewhat attracted, but mostly, I think she's doing her job...she's trying to get him to see his life is going to go on, and he better start living it again

[nos4a2no9]

I first saw this ep in its original run back in Canada when I was wee, and I remember hating it. I still hated it years later when I became fannish about the show, and it's only after (many, many) repeated viewings that I've come to appreciate and love the story and the healing process that Fraser goes through. You've done a fantastic job of illustrating exactly why this episode works so brilliantly to help Fraser recover, not only physically but emotionally. And I love how you show that it rehabilitates his relationship with women. You're right in suggesting that dS never really showed us another female character as smart, strong and capable as Jill Kennedy, and she's a great foil for him in this episode. I wouldn't call her Mary Sue-ish: she's humanized a fair bit, and the acterss did a great job of giving her character some subtlety and good, solid humour. I like her as a plucky Grace Kelly-ish female pal, and I really agree with your observations about how she's filling a role formerly occupied by Ray. And I love the apperance of

[vsee]

Hey, you. :) This is an interesting response! You're one of the only people I've talked much to who actually saw the show in the original run

[china_shop]

Oh, great essay! I never really think about Jill Kennedy -- I think because Fraser had so little emotional reaction to her, seeing as how he was all numb and broken, and his focus is on brooding over Victoria and Ray. I don't get hooked into their interaction because of that. So this is a great "in" to that episode. Thanks!

[vsee]

I see your point about this, that Fraser is still pretty much offline emotionally, and their interactions aren't really intense all the way through. There is an awful lot of plot noise in this ep.

But I do see him warming up and talking more when she's around. She is provacative, and is a catalyst, I think for him starting to break out of the numb little bubble he's in at the start. Part of the reason I actually enjoy her, instead of my normal reaction of annoyance to the BotW is that she isn't really being one. She's there to serve an emotional purpose for Fraser, but she's not digging her claws in (much) like most female guest parts.