"Do you find me attractive?"

[icepixie]

So. Season Three(/Four) of Due South! (N.B. I'm just gonna call it the third season from now on. You know what I mean. All 26 episodes.)

First of all: Thatcher's new hair is tres awful. Every time I see her, it hits me how much better the longer, darker hair was on her. At least when it grows out a bit towards the end of the season it's not as heartstoppingly terrible as it is at the beginning. Ugh.

Second of all: Why did no one tell me RayK does ballroom? How did I not know this? Seriously, how did I not know this? That is awesome. And CKR and whoever plays Stella were doing a pretty good American Rumba in her apartment and on her balcony. I am impressed.

Third of all...oh, screw it. Bullet points from now on.

• So, this season has introduced Cracktastic Dream Sequences With Weird Lighting. Ooookay.
  
  
• Fraser seems...hmm. Different, inconsistent, weird, wrong? It's like he's acting the way he does around his father's ghost and Dief around everyone now. The innocence and from-another-centuryness feel kind of forced now, as if they're part of the facade he often wears (and I think much of his cluelessness in previous seasons was a facade) instead of stemming from his real personality. The version of the "it only takes a second to be courteous" scene with RayK didn't have the same ring as it did in the pilot.
  
  Perhaps a lot more time elapsed between seasons than they indicated. I don't remember thinking this when I was watching a few episodes from later in the season, so perhaps it's just difficulties getitng back into the swing of things after a year off from everyone.
  
  
• Speaking of vacations and hiatuses...ohhhh man. RayV's phone call was painful. Poor Ray. Poor Fraser. Ow.
  
  
• Aside from that, "Burning Down the House" didn't do a whole lot for me. Undoubtedly if I didn't know all about the RayK-as-RayV thing, I would think differently. It wasn't a bad ep, it was just that much of the confusion wasn't confusing to me. Did like Fraser's window putty sandwich, though. (Although that's what I mean about the new Fraser. Old Fraser wouldn't have just taken Sven's sandwich; he would've asked permission, and gotten it by giving a complicated explanation of what was going on. Although perhaps he was a wee bit jealous of Sven, which leads me to my next point...)
  
  
• Okay, one other thing I really liked about the episode was when Fraser mentioned to Thatcher that the green curtains "would go nicely with the woodwork, the wallpaper, and your eyes." Yeah, I'm a shameless Fraser/Thatcher fan in a fandom that's all about the slash. They're just...they're so cute! I can't help myself! (Now if only there were more than five or six good fics about them!)
  
  
• Seriously, how did I not know RayK did ballroom? That is awesome. I think I might love him now. I previously had no opinion on the guy, having seen so few episodes with him in it, but dude. Awesome.
  
  
• I love Ray and Stella. Not in a shipper sort of way, but in kind of a schadenfreude way. They are so beautifully screwed up. Well, Ray more than Stella, but still. Loved "Strange Bedfellows."
  
  
• What was the point of "Eclipse," aside from Ray backstory? It seemed overly anvillicious ("Our relationship was based on a lie!"--although I did enjoy Fraser poking holes in the melodrama--and "You made me what I am today, even if you don't remember me!") and had a been-there-done-that quality to it. But I had multiple interruptions while trying to watch the thing, so maybe my judgement of it is impaired.
  
  
• I'm guessing "I Coulda Been a Defendant" is a reference to something before my time or out of my usual interests. Maybe if I'd known what it was, I would've liked the episode more.
  
  
• Did enjoy Elaine graduating. Sad we won't see her again, though. I liked her, and I have a feeling that while they're funny now, Frannie's malapropisms are going to get old pretty soon. (I keep wanting to call her Ramona, even though I know that's the actress's name, not the character's.)
  
  
• Finally: so. Subtext, much? Whoa. Hee.

Comments

[ladysorka]

The big difference is that season 3/4 had a different producer - Paul Gross. And the tone of the show changes a lot, especially Fraser's character, I think.

And there's a huge long AU fic where Ray is a ballroom dance instructor/professional. It's slash, but I can give you the link if you want it.

[icepixie]

I knew about the exec producer changes and the changes to the show and how they weren't always well-received. I'm all for the increased emphasis on ridiculousness, and Fraser seems to have settled back into something more closely resembling himself as he was before--or at least the aspects of his personality that I think are most important have returned. Well, mostly. Close enough, anyway. I'm irked that Thatcher seems to be more of a caricature than a character at the moment, but I knew that was coming, and I'm mostly prepared for it. Still liked her better in S2. *sigh*

And there's a huge long AU fic where Ray is a ballroom dance instructor/professional. It's slash, but I can give you the link if you want it.

Oooh. Yes. I will happily abandon any pairing preferences I have for a fic about ballroom. :)

[ladysorka]

Yeah, what happened to Thatcher is just sad. I admit that I'm not much of a Fraser/Thatcher person, but I do like Thatcher herself, and... yeah.

Also, Pas de Deux. *g*

[icepixie]

I'm currently really hating the pettiness kick they put her on. Bah.

Thanks for the link. Wheee!