due South

[schneefink]

I finally agreed to watch some due South with DD. (I had agreed a while ago, but the fact that I just reread Chicago's Most Wanted, which is a lot of fun even without knowing canon (42k, Ben Fraser/Ray Kowalski, amnesiac!Fraser as criminal mastermind) might have helped.) Even though I know many people I share(d) fandoms with love(d) it, I was very skeptical if I would enjoy a cop show from the 90s.

The pilot made me feel justified in my concerns. I don't generally enjoy cop shows – I enjoyed some of the comedy clips from Brooklyn 99 out of context but that's it (off the top of my head.) I find it hard to enjoy shows where I dislike the main characters, I find it hard to like main characters who are assholes, and even more so when they are in positions of power. We literally meet Ray Vecchio almost being caught by Internal Affairs for doing something illegal, and only shortly afterwards we see him illegally entering a woman's house to intimidate her. It'd be one thing if the show seemed to recognize this as bad or even questionable, but nope, that's just how cops operate. At most it's impolite. (I was amused by the disclaimer at the end that this pilot does not accurately depict of the RCMP operates – apparently Chicago cops just are like that.) And at the very end Fraser is told that it might be hard for him among the other members of the RCMP because he "turned on one of their own" - that guy was corrupt and a murderer! Yet apparently Fraser being ostracized for bringing him to justice is, what, expected? Okay?

DD told me that both Rays start out further down on the asshole scale and get a lot of character development later on, but that the policing style mostly stays like that throughout. I know it was the 90s and it was probably normal etc. etc., but I don't enjoy watching it. Even if it's just an occasional thing, it's a sensitive topic. Cops overreaching their authority, and getting away with it, are scary. Those cops then still being portrayed as the good guys who are justified in their behavior is scary too.
(Just recently in Vienna there was a case where police officers beat up a a guy for no reason while several others watched without interfering, then when he told the hospital what had happened the police lied about it and sued him for defamation; if a video of the incident hadn't appeared he probably would have been convicted, and yet when the officers were convicted none of them got more than 12 months which means they can all keep their jobs. Wtf.)

There was a lot about the pilot I appreciated, for example a lot about Benton Fraser (though his naivete at times was so bad it's frustrating), and the caribou drowned by the ghost ocean and the whole storyline with Fraser's dad. (Was his plan stupid, yes, but he was in understandable emotional turmoil.) I can easily see how people who don't mind/can ignore certain parts would enjoy this show a lot.

DD also plans to show me 3x01, to introduce me to the other Ray, and I am planning to watch it, but I'd say the odds that I'll enjoy the characters and relationships so much that I'll be able to overlook the scary cops aspects are low.

Comments

[sheron]

I love Fraser & Ray Vecchio's relationship, but I am kind of grateful I watched the show back when I did and not now. I'm not sure if it would feel the same now.

[princessofgeeks]

You of course will draw your own conclusions but I thought the pilot really did not capture the spirit of why I loved the show.

Hope you find something to enjoy.

Or if not, that you move on quickly! All the best.

[schneefink]

Yeah, I think I might have enjoyed it more if I had watched it a few years ago.

[schneefink]

Which episodes do you recommend I watch to get a feeling for it?

[princessofgeeks]

Ooooo I have to get my discs out and take a look. Sometimes I remember episodes but forget their names.

Will do so after a work meeting I have coming up in a bit. Stay tuned.

[extempore]

Die Rays waren mir eher egal, ich hab den Mountie geliebt. Der hat die Serie einfach klasse gemacht.

Ich denke mir auch öfter, dass viele Klassiker im heutigen Verständnis nicht mehr einfach unkommentiert gelesen werden sollten. Und dennoch bin ich froh, dass ich z.B. Karl May ohne begleitendes Analysieren lesen konnte. Meine Schlüsselelemente dort waren die fantastischen Zufälle (Märchen halt), nicht die Bigotterie und der Rassissmus. Das habe ich erst später gesehen.

[schneefink]

DD hat mir versprochen, dass wir ihn auf einem Pferd sehen werden ^^

Ja, Karl May z.B. hätte mir ziemlich sicher nicht so gut gefallen, wenn ich die Bücher jetzt zum ersten Mal lesen würde.

[(Anonymous)]

I haven't watched all of Due South still, but that tracks. Like you, I came in very late and got interested because it was such a big slash fandom in the 90s. At least for Western Media Fan history it gathered my interest. The cop shit gets harder and harder to ignore for me every year, but I think what made it beloved was the magical realism elements which keep popping up. They are for me what makes it stand apart. Well, that and the ending song hits my crying buttons like the Last Unicorn does.

I also remember Fraser-in-women's-clothes episode that was hard to put in terms for me - for now it's just... not enough, but maybe it was daring in the early 90s. I am under impression that the First Nation parts are better than contemporaries, but take that with a pinch of salt.

I think DD's approach is probably the best. Maybe Ray K works better for you, he is more acceptably beautiful for sure. I am interested to see updates.

[schneefink]

I was disappointed that there was no ghost in the pilot xD (Though it makes sense, that would have made the murder too easily solved.)

Not sure yet when I will watch more but I will update.

[sholio]

If you don't mind jumping around and want to give it another try, maybe try the episode "North" in season 2. The show was hit or miss for me, and I never could get into the RayK episodes at all, but I absolutely love that one episode - to the extent that I've written riffs on it in various h/c fanfic over the years; a lot of my "two people stranded in the wilderness Dealing With Stuff" fic are sort of loosely inspired by aspects of that episode. It might not hit the cop DNW as hard since the entire episode takes place away from the city, it's very relationship-focused, and you'll get to see the ghosts.

[misura]

Myeah, Fraser's naivety in certain areas of life sticks around for the rest of the show, and it's definitely a cop show, albeit with a deaf wolf and a ghost, so I think you're probably justified in your skepticism. 3x01 does feel more representative of the general tone of the show though, so you never know. (I remember this show fondly, except for the pilot episodes, which were a bit darker and more serious than what followed.)

In the spirit of: so fandom may be more fun than canon here, can I rec all of Punk's stuff?

[schneefink]

That sounds promising! Will watch that one next, thanks :)

[schneefink]

Thanks for the rec, even if I end up deciding not to watch any more I can still read fic :)

[schneefink]

I did enjoy "North", thank you! (And I definitely recognized elements you may have been inspired by ^^) It even had multiple ghosts, I had only heard about one.

[sholio]

Oh delightful, I'm so glad you liked it! :D Yeah, I watched the show as a teenager, and that's the only episode that stuck with me in particular, but it really stuck with me. XD