"You don't tell Tony what to put on pizza. He left Russia to be free."

[harcourt]

I really love the weird asides and out-of-frame voices and background conversations in Due South. If you're not paying attention to them, you'd never notice, but they're great.

Also, I do not understand how a show can have both the rampant ridiculousness of Mountie on the Bounty but also the episode The Ladies Man. WTF that episode is pretty dark in a no-ghost dads way.

I think my favorite character is Dief. He's good at everything and likes opera and is embrassed by Fraser sniffing sidewalks.

Comments

[ardyforshort]

Well, you've been on a roll!

Oh my GOD The Ladies' Man. I still haven't been able to rewatch that one.

due South likes to be surprising. I think it's because they had people working on it who had quite different ideas about the characters/the way stories should be told. There's a bit on the commentary where Paul Gross talks about the directors they worked with, and says one of them had a very dark/edgy kind of approach and the other was more "a humanist". Also, I think the episodes Paul Gross had a hand in writing tend to be crackier than the others ;) It is fascinating though. Out of interest, do you find it makes it inconsistent?

[harcourt]

I burn through shows because I like to have something on when I'm doing other stuff or working. I wish I could make things I like last longer, but podcst or whatever just feel less interesting when you want to know what happens next.

I guess that objectively it's inconsistent? I can see someone tuning in to watch Ray and Fraser argue about moose and being a bit taken aback at getting Ladies' Man. (Oh god, the last scene in that, where Ray comes out to the car. Daaaaarn.) I don't really mind though. I kind of like the way they're giving these very different types of stories out of the same kind of cracky set-up. I like that their relationship can be played up as goofball, but also important and serious. I can see the inconsistency bothering some people, but to me it just feels like different facets or something. And the dark episodes really have a lot more impact in contrast with the silly ones. I think it works because there's some in-between eps, too? The goofy episodes have serious moments and the other way around, so a really cracky story doesn't feel like too much of a break, but neither does a serious one. Mountie on the Bounty had moments that were pushing the silly for me, but I tend to be able to roll with overbalancing to the the dark side better than overbalancing to wacky, so that might just be me.

Also, I think the more serious story themes underneath all the ridiculousness is why I'm enjoying the show so much, so I like seeing that side of things get a spotlight.

[ardyforshort]

Ah, I see. Damn, I miss the days when I could do that. I always used to have fannish telly on when I was working on essays and stuff as a student, but proper employment frowns on these things.

Anyway, I think we may well be brain twins. I just looked at my entry about The Ladies' Man and I was amused by how similar my reaction was to yours ;) Though Mountie on the Bounty also knocked me sideways and made me write a really long post on Ray K.

I think the more serious story themes underneath all the ridiculousness is why I'm enjoying the show so much.

Same for me. And probably for a lot of the fandom.
I really enjoy your thoughts about dS. The only thing better than watching the show is vicariously experiencing someone else's reaction.

Enjoy the rest of the show—though at the rate you've been going, I wouldn't be surprised if you were out the other side already :)

[harcourt]

Unfortunately, when I have things on while I work I tend to end up tuning them out and miss sizeable chunks. (This is great with horror movie, since I always end up looking up just as something freaky is flying at me. D: ) Oh well. At least on re-watch there's 'all new' material.

I'm not through yet, and I couldn't find a few episodes for S4, so I'm still at the same place atm. Trying to make it last!

I love your post about Mountie on the Bounty! You put into words why some of the scenes that made me heart-clutch had that effect even though on the surface they were just Ray being weird. (Like why thinking making things even means letting Fraser punch him back.)

I have to admit the jet-pack fire extinguishers almost tipped me over the edge. Just too physically impossible, especially considering the altitude they got. Up till them the crack had been kind of subtle's not the right word, but ghost dads and talking to Dief etc are kind of internal. A lot of Bounty edges into a different kind of physical comedy.

But then it had all these other moments, like you say in your post. About all the stuff Ray's given up.

He reminds me of Clint for the same reasons! He tries to be good even though he's not all that great at doing it all the time and is kind of weird about how he goes about it. (Like how Clint saves Lucky because "I'm an Avenger now. That's what I do, I think. Save dogs and stuff," like he's not really sure waht beign a good guy is supposed to entail, but he's gonna do it anyway.)


I was going to talk about all that, but then "The Ladies' Man" happened, and I just want to know how, in the space of five episodes, we've gone from this silly, goofy, spoofy place where you can use a fire extinguisher as a jet pack to escape from a sinking ship to a place where things are serious and dark and character-driven and grown men cry in their cars because they very nearly condemned an innocent to death with a stupid rookie mistake.

THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL.


I also love that there's fic recs in the comment to your posts! Yus! Before I started watching dS, when I didn't think this was a show I would like, there was fic everywhere and now that I want it, I can't find nearly as much as I'm sure exists.