Due South: "We Are the Eggmen"
May. 6th, 2008 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
truepenny"We Are the Eggmen" (DS 2.10)
[Here we encounter for the first time the problem of discrepancy between the order in which episodes originally aired and the order in which they appear on the DVD. (Yes, this also happened with "Heaven and Earth," but that wasn't a problem because it was quite obvious where that episode was supposed to go.) Given two equally unreliable sources1,2 and a show which mostly doesn't give a damn about continuity--and given that I may or may not remember to check the IMDb before I turn on the DVD player--I'm probably mostly going to go with the order they're in on the DVD. Not because I think the DVD is an authoritative source but because it's the path of least resistance. If there's an actual authoritative source somewhere, I'd be very pleased to hear about it.
---
1I watched Firefly when it aired on FOX, thank you.
2 On the other hand, these are the American DVDs of Due South, the ones that can't even be bothered to design new packaging when ONE OF THE TWO CO-STARS CHANGES. Admittedly, there's some metatextual appropriateness to their continuing to have Vecchio/Marciano plastered all over everything with no acknowledgment of Kowalski/Rennie, but you know, I really don't think that's why they did it.]
Original air date: February 29, 1996
Favorite quote:
FRASER: I thought it important to inform you that there's been an emergency.
THATCHER: Emergency?
FRASER: Yes. With your car.
THATCHER: What about it?
FRASER: . . . It's on fire.
CLOUTIER: Oh, please.
FRASER: No, it is. It's burning away. All of the other cars feel threatened.
CLOUTIER: You're making this up.
FRASER: Yes, I am.
Spoilers.
I liked this episode substantially better on second viewing, I think because I was prepared for the out-of-character vapidity of Ray's subplot and could instead pay attention to what's going on with Thatcher.
Let us not speak of the thing with the lottery tickets and just. move. on.
Thatcher is interesting in this episode for several reasons. First is her subplot with Henri Cloutier and the very uncomfortable scene in Fraser's apartment where both she and Fraser acknowledge the reality of sexual harassment. I'm not at all certain, by the way, that the word Thatcher was looking for was actually "deflect"; it's the word Fraser would use, and goodness knows we've watched him do it, but I think Thatcher's position is more ambiguous than that, more potentially compromised. Also, I would note that it's always a danger sign in Due South when one character finishes another character's sentence; compare, for example, the exchange between Fraser and his father in "Victoria's Secret":
B. FRASER: Because . . . Because I . . . Because I need--oh god . . .
R. FRASER: You're not going to get it. Sometimes in life all you need is that second chance. It's the one thing you're not going to have.
As I said at the time, I'm not convinced it's a second chance that Fraser is trying to say he needs, just as here I'm not convinced that "deflect" is the word Thatcher was looking for, although she latches onto it gratefully. I love this scene for its realism, for the fact that Thatcher is tired and ashamed and deeply concerned that she may have inadvertently done to Fraser what Cloutier is deliberately doing to her. (Also, Camilla Scott is just perfectly amazing, and like Paul Gross, she has a beautiful voice.) And for the fact that while Fraser never exactly admits that he knows what she's talking about, he doesn't stonewall her, either. He lets her make her half-articulated confession and apology and he accepts them. And what I, personally, most deeply admire about this scene is that it is not, in any way, about the sexual attraction between Fraser and Thatcher. It's about their common experience; Fraser has not, to our knowledge, ever been chased around a desk by a superior officer, but he certainly has been chased--by Tammy Markles in "Pizza and Promises," to give just one example.
The other extremely valuable function Thatcher serves in this episode conveniently also explains why Ray is sidelined: she is doing sidekick duty. Aside from the sexual tension, it's unkind but important to note that she's a better sidekick than Ray: when they're locked in the incubator, Thatcher conspicuously does not pitch a hissy fit; she neither agitates nor lays blame (compare Ray in both "They Eat Horses, Don't They?" and "Vault"--and, yes, there's a whole leitmotif of being trapped in small and inimical spaces in Seasons 1 and 2, perhaps troping Fraser's feelings of claustrophobia and imprisonment in Chicago; I need to remember to come back to this in Seasons 3 and 4, because I think the ground shifts: the burning car and the sinking ship are similar to the meat freezer, the bank vault, and the incubator, but I don't think they're quite the same). She asks questions and accepts Fraser's answers, and in the clutch, comes up with the necessary piece of trivia about Fraser's uniform tunic. The fact that normally that would be Fraser's job emphasizes how good Thatcher is at the sidekick role, as is the fact that Fraser unbends enough to make a very small joke. Also, and profoundly unlike the unfortunately traditional role of the female sidekick, she is also physically competent:
FRASER: We need a diversion. Can you throw?
THATCHER: 1.3 ERA over thirty games.
FRASER: Hit the red button.
And, as the sidekick, Thatcher also picks up the duty of making the metacommentary: "Now I get it. In spite of the fact that he's filed a lawsuit against you, you believe you can show him the error of his ways, appeal to his conscience, and save his soul for the pure pursuit of his god-given talent. ... One day. One day to prove whatever it is you're trying to prove." And later:
THATCHER: That's it? After all that, we're gonna let him go?
FRASER: I don't see what else we can do.
THATCHER: Interfere! You always interfere!
And, one of my favorite exchanges:
THATCHER: Which means?
FRASER: Which means they bought an extraordinarily good door.
THATCHER: Why?
FRASER: [makes his nonplussed face] Perhaps they foresaw this exact situation.
THATCHER: Perhaps they were just trying to prevent the chicks from escaping.
FRASER: Perhaps.
It's the simultaneous acknowledgment and dismissal of the narrative contrivance that I adore, and it is a function Thatcher fulfills as effectively as Ray does. This episode therefore establishes that while Thatcher is and will continue to be a blocking figure for Fraser, she is not an antagonist, and it gives her credibility as a character beyond the apparently inevitable romantic/erotic entanglement that she and Fraser will edge in and out of for the rest of the show's run.
The other thing I really very much like about this episode is the character of Lyndon Buxley; he's not very bright and he has no morals to speak of, but he is passionately devoted to his chickens and willing to do anything for them, up to and possibly including die. I like the parallels between him and Fraser: he talks to Adam and Eve the same way Fraser talks to Diefenbaker; he has the same kind of Quixotic devotion to a cause, as long as you're willing to substitute eggs for justice; and the scene between him and Fraser, small and weird though it is, shows a genuine connection. (I can't help feeling that it's not accidental that that scene also confirms the presence of Fraser's tuning fork in his day to day accoutrements.) Fraser connects with Buxley more easily than he does with almost anyone else; they don't share the same grail, but they share the quest.
[Here we encounter for the first time the problem of discrepancy between the order in which episodes originally aired and the order in which they appear on the DVD. (Yes, this also happened with "Heaven and Earth," but that wasn't a problem because it was quite obvious where that episode was supposed to go.) Given two equally unreliable sources1,2 and a show which mostly doesn't give a damn about continuity--and given that I may or may not remember to check the IMDb before I turn on the DVD player--I'm probably mostly going to go with the order they're in on the DVD. Not because I think the DVD is an authoritative source but because it's the path of least resistance. If there's an actual authoritative source somewhere, I'd be very pleased to hear about it.
---
1I watched Firefly when it aired on FOX, thank you.
2 On the other hand, these are the American DVDs of Due South, the ones that can't even be bothered to design new packaging when ONE OF THE TWO CO-STARS CHANGES. Admittedly, there's some metatextual appropriateness to their continuing to have Vecchio/Marciano plastered all over everything with no acknowledgment of Kowalski/Rennie, but you know, I really don't think that's why they did it.]
Original air date: February 29, 1996
Favorite quote:
FRASER: I thought it important to inform you that there's been an emergency.
THATCHER: Emergency?
FRASER: Yes. With your car.
THATCHER: What about it?
FRASER: . . . It's on fire.
CLOUTIER: Oh, please.
FRASER: No, it is. It's burning away. All of the other cars feel threatened.
CLOUTIER: You're making this up.
FRASER: Yes, I am.
Spoilers.
I liked this episode substantially better on second viewing, I think because I was prepared for the out-of-character vapidity of Ray's subplot and could instead pay attention to what's going on with Thatcher.
Let us not speak of the thing with the lottery tickets and just. move. on.
Thatcher is interesting in this episode for several reasons. First is her subplot with Henri Cloutier and the very uncomfortable scene in Fraser's apartment where both she and Fraser acknowledge the reality of sexual harassment. I'm not at all certain, by the way, that the word Thatcher was looking for was actually "deflect"; it's the word Fraser would use, and goodness knows we've watched him do it, but I think Thatcher's position is more ambiguous than that, more potentially compromised. Also, I would note that it's always a danger sign in Due South when one character finishes another character's sentence; compare, for example, the exchange between Fraser and his father in "Victoria's Secret":
B. FRASER: Because . . . Because I . . . Because I need--oh god . . .
R. FRASER: You're not going to get it. Sometimes in life all you need is that second chance. It's the one thing you're not going to have.
As I said at the time, I'm not convinced it's a second chance that Fraser is trying to say he needs, just as here I'm not convinced that "deflect" is the word Thatcher was looking for, although she latches onto it gratefully. I love this scene for its realism, for the fact that Thatcher is tired and ashamed and deeply concerned that she may have inadvertently done to Fraser what Cloutier is deliberately doing to her. (Also, Camilla Scott is just perfectly amazing, and like Paul Gross, she has a beautiful voice.) And for the fact that while Fraser never exactly admits that he knows what she's talking about, he doesn't stonewall her, either. He lets her make her half-articulated confession and apology and he accepts them. And what I, personally, most deeply admire about this scene is that it is not, in any way, about the sexual attraction between Fraser and Thatcher. It's about their common experience; Fraser has not, to our knowledge, ever been chased around a desk by a superior officer, but he certainly has been chased--by Tammy Markles in "Pizza and Promises," to give just one example.
The other extremely valuable function Thatcher serves in this episode conveniently also explains why Ray is sidelined: she is doing sidekick duty. Aside from the sexual tension, it's unkind but important to note that she's a better sidekick than Ray: when they're locked in the incubator, Thatcher conspicuously does not pitch a hissy fit; she neither agitates nor lays blame (compare Ray in both "They Eat Horses, Don't They?" and "Vault"--and, yes, there's a whole leitmotif of being trapped in small and inimical spaces in Seasons 1 and 2, perhaps troping Fraser's feelings of claustrophobia and imprisonment in Chicago; I need to remember to come back to this in Seasons 3 and 4, because I think the ground shifts: the burning car and the sinking ship are similar to the meat freezer, the bank vault, and the incubator, but I don't think they're quite the same). She asks questions and accepts Fraser's answers, and in the clutch, comes up with the necessary piece of trivia about Fraser's uniform tunic. The fact that normally that would be Fraser's job emphasizes how good Thatcher is at the sidekick role, as is the fact that Fraser unbends enough to make a very small joke. Also, and profoundly unlike the unfortunately traditional role of the female sidekick, she is also physically competent:
FRASER: We need a diversion. Can you throw?
THATCHER: 1.3 ERA over thirty games.
FRASER: Hit the red button.
And, as the sidekick, Thatcher also picks up the duty of making the metacommentary: "Now I get it. In spite of the fact that he's filed a lawsuit against you, you believe you can show him the error of his ways, appeal to his conscience, and save his soul for the pure pursuit of his god-given talent. ... One day. One day to prove whatever it is you're trying to prove." And later:
THATCHER: That's it? After all that, we're gonna let him go?
FRASER: I don't see what else we can do.
THATCHER: Interfere! You always interfere!
And, one of my favorite exchanges:
THATCHER: Which means?
FRASER: Which means they bought an extraordinarily good door.
THATCHER: Why?
FRASER: [makes his nonplussed face] Perhaps they foresaw this exact situation.
THATCHER: Perhaps they were just trying to prevent the chicks from escaping.
FRASER: Perhaps.
It's the simultaneous acknowledgment and dismissal of the narrative contrivance that I adore, and it is a function Thatcher fulfills as effectively as Ray does. This episode therefore establishes that while Thatcher is and will continue to be a blocking figure for Fraser, she is not an antagonist, and it gives her credibility as a character beyond the apparently inevitable romantic/erotic entanglement that she and Fraser will edge in and out of for the rest of the show's run.
The other thing I really very much like about this episode is the character of Lyndon Buxley; he's not very bright and he has no morals to speak of, but he is passionately devoted to his chickens and willing to do anything for them, up to and possibly including die. I like the parallels between him and Fraser: he talks to Adam and Eve the same way Fraser talks to Diefenbaker; he has the same kind of Quixotic devotion to a cause, as long as you're willing to substitute eggs for justice; and the scene between him and Fraser, small and weird though it is, shows a genuine connection. (I can't help feeling that it's not accidental that that scene also confirms the presence of Fraser's tuning fork in his day to day accoutrements.) Fraser connects with Buxley more easily than he does with almost anyone else; they don't share the same grail, but they share the quest.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 08:54 pm (UTC)I really like your choice of favourite quote. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 09:27 pm (UTC)-Andy H.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 10:02 pm (UTC)OMG YES WHYYYYYYY?
Isn't this also the episode where they visit Ray's dad's bookie though? And he says that Ray was the softest kid he ever met? I do find that adorable.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-08 12:10 am (UTC)Quotes -
Date: 2008-05-09 02:23 am (UTC)Aha! That's how that is described!
ktm
Re: Quotes -
Date: 2008-05-09 03:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 04:03 am (UTC)And I just realized this set is totally extraneous. I have the S3 set which has both seasons 3 and 4. And here I was thinking for some reason S4 was a second set of 22 eps. (I'm only 9 eps away from running out of new (to me) Due South. How heartbreaking!)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-12 08:17 am (UTC)I love Fraser's expression when Thatcher orders him to take off his tunic. He's so beautifully terrified, and yet fascinated, almost hypnotized.
- KSC
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 08:23 pm (UTC)