#benton fraser/ray vecchio

[eaion]

DUE SOUTH (1994-1999)

[persephassax]

ms. fraser’s school of etiquette

after ray totally blows a date (again? it feels like “again” with him) and he’s lamenting about it, fraser offers to bring back an old friend to help ray up his game and spruce up his moves.

cue the return of ms. fraser, classy, demure, and one hell of a knock out (literally and metaphorically), whom ray is to take out on the town so that she can provide feedback on his manners and technique with women.

this is a first for ray: going out with a lady with the intention to woo her but without the pressure to succeed, intimacy with a woman who isn’t a blood relation. also, an opportunity to be both the better man no one but Benny (and maybe Ma, when she’s feeling sentimental at the holidays) believe him to be, as well as a chance to be vulnerable with a friend in a way he rarely gets to be (we love toxic masculinity!).

meanwhile, fraser gets to let loose a little bit. he might still be wearing a mask, but ms. fraser can do and say and feel things that a Constable of the RCMP could never allow. and ms. fraser likes the detective, whom she can tease and correct in a way that doesn’t carry with it some of the implicit moral judgement that comes with the same comments from the Mountie. and benny maybe gets to see a bit of ray that is usually hidden away, hard to suss out on the mean streets of chicago.

THEN EVERYONE GETS WEIRD AND GAY ABOUT IT AND THEN THEY MAKE OUT AND MORE GAY SHIT HAPPENS. THE END.

[p.s. shout out to @portlandwithyou for ms. fraser in stockings rather than pantyhose i am literally losing sleep over the image thanks]

[sammaggs]

1x02 Diefenbaker’s Day Off // 2x08 One Good Man // 2x13 White Men Can’t Jump to Conclusions // 3x01 Burning Down the House | Normalized

due South does a main character re-casting better than any other show on TV, and they do it by playing with television's own accepted meta-narrative.

Recasting a character has a long tradition in television, creating a viewership that knows and understands the storytelling short form at play. As viewers, we realize that sometimes actors aren't available to reprise a role (or simply aren't interested in it anymore); but, for the sake of the story, sometimes the show needs that character to come back. So we lean hard into suspended disbelief and just go with it. After all, the characters in the show accept the parareality of it—why shouldn't we?

Of course, the most famous example of a character recast would be the Dick/Darren disaster on 1960s sitcom Bewitched, when Dick York was unceremoniously replaced by Dick Sargent in the role of Darrin Stephens. ("The Dick Wars" would have gone absolutely insane).

it was... not successful

But they weren't the only ones to do it. Aunt Viv from Fresh Prince, Becky from Roseanne, Daario Naharis from Game of Thrones, Greg Serrano from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (pain, agony)—recasting characters but maintaining the fiction is a storied tradition in TV. New actor, same character; totally normalized.

And shows continue to do it, even today, with a—uh—similar dedication to fucking it up doing it poorly.

why must we be punished like this

due South even engages in this trope itself in season 2, when hard-hitting investigative journalist Mackenzie King is recast and they don't even try to find an actress who looks similar. In 1x02 Diefenbaker's Day Off, she's played by brunette Madolyn Smith-Osborne; in 2x08 One Good Man, she's been replaced by blonde Maria Bello, and nobody talks about it.

yeah i'm absolutely the same person, obviously

Everyone diegetically (within the world of the show) is just like, oh yeah, that's hard-hitting investigative journalist Mackenzie King. Totally. Only non-diegetically (outside of the world of the show) does the viewer go "No, that's not the same person." Internally, the fiction proceeds as usual.

So what would happen if, say, Samantha Stephens turned to Dick Sargent and said "You're not Darrin," when everyone else in the show continued to treat him as though he was? Or if Jaskier told Geralt that he knows he's not actually Geralt, and everyone treated him like he was delusional?

Or if Fraser, even, had recognized Mackenzie King as someone entirely different, and everyone treated him like he had a hole in his bag of marbles because of it? Of course that's Mackenzie King; even her boss knows it. No, she's never been a brunette. What are you talking about?

And that's exactly what happens in Burning Down the House.

the rays vecchio

Diagetically, everyone else treats Callum Keith Rennie's character as though he is Ray Vecchio. "Oh, good, you found him," says Det. Huey. Elaine, Franchesca, literally everyone else both at the station and outside of it treat Callum Keith Rennie Ray Vecchio as though he is David Marciano Ray Vecchio. They're acting exactly as any other TV character would in the face of a recasting: as though absolutely nothing had happened.

Except for Fraser.

Fraser's specific brand of parareal Canadian plot magic means that he's immune to the recasting blindness; he's acting as an agent of the viewer, voicing our non-diegetic concerns. Fraser is (as he so often is) a character with one foot outside of the narrative. He's just always been like this and he doesn't know why.

oh this man is infuriating and hot, fuck. shit.

And for a character who already thinks he is likely insane (he sees the ghost of his dead father! He communicates with his deaf half-wolf! He is instantly committed to a mental institution upon voicing the actual true story of his life!), this is very extremely distressing. Fraser thinks he's actually lost it this time, because everyone else in due South is acting like a TV character, and Benton Fraser is acting like a viewer.

This is so brilliant on so many levels. They just fully lampshade the damn thing. It allows our protagonist to speak for disgruntled or confused viewers. It engages at a postmodern level with television as a medium with a storied history (and due South is incredibly postmodern; nearly every episode is or contains a reference to another piece of media). It's written from the perspective of someone who loves and is knowledgeable about TV tropes.

And it gives us an entirely new Ray while still maintaining respect and loyalty to the original, something no other straight (lol) recast could ever do.

Genuinely one of the most clever, witty, well-crafted hours of television ever made. I could write essays about so many different parts of it. And I guess I will!!!!!!

It’s Burning Down the House week in our dS Stacked Rewatch!

[hwaetnot]

— Gift of the Wheelman

[ds30below]

30 BELOW FEST: celebrating 30 years of due South

What Is 30 Below?

On April 23rd, 1994, a certain television movie aired in Canada. The rest is 30 years of amazing, rich and lovely history — still going in 2024.

30 below is a fest to celebrate this anniversary, run by @flownwrong. Whether you’ve been here from the get-go or just joining the fun — this fest is for you. Let’s spread the love for the wonder that is due South!

info —

🐢30 below will run from March 11th (The Eleventh Of March!) until April 23rd (the pilot airing date!)

🐢each of 7 weeks will have a theme, complete with prompts to help you get going; themes will go up on February 18th

🐢you are free to use any, all or none of the prompts and themes! they are optional and are here to inspire, not restrict

🐢this event accepts any contributions:

all fanworks: meta, art, gifsets, photo or video edits, fanmixes, fic, rec lists… anything you feel inspired to create!

community interaction: comments, shout outs, liveblogging, asks, etc — don't forget to post about what you got up to so we can all share the joy!

🐢contributions will be reblogged all throughout the fest, and you're never too late — the whole year is anniversary year!

🐢it's preferred that you post your themed contributions during the corresponding week, but you're welcome to share whenever!

🐢please mention the fest (@ds30below) and tag your post #ds30below so i can share it! I will be tracking the main #due south tag as well.

❗note that if you're reblogging something as a contribution (e.g. responding to meta), you'll need to mention @ds30below in your reblog, since it won't show up in the tag search.

🐢if you're not on tumblr, post wherever you're comfortable and let me know! (flownwrong on DW, emotionalrisotto on discord, ask/message here)

🐢you can also submit your contributions using the submit button on this here blog

— knock yourselves out, and happy 30th birthday to our favourite show!

🐢themes & prompts

🐢helpful resources

🐢navigation

[gayvecchio]

[gjdraws]

for all those who've been here for more than one fandom I'm just apologizing in advance for trope repetition

[howard-ly]

DUE SOUTH 1.16 "The Blue Line"

[allofthebeanz]

Was fooling around with pixel art for the first time and I think these came out adorably!

@ds30below

[variousqueerthings]

RAY: Look. Benny. If you want some help, you're going to have to register a dispute. FRASER: You sure? RAY: Yes, well, that's what they do here. They handle disputes.

FRASER: I won't be making a fuss?

RAY: Well, of course you will. That's the whole point. FRASER: Ahh.

FRASER: I don't have to raise my voice, do I?

VECCHIO: Look, there's no polite way to dispute. You just jump right in there. FRASER: I see. VECCHIO: Okay. FRASER: Okay. VECCHIO: Let's go. [They head back to the desk.] FRASER: [clears his throat] I demand — Well, no, I don't.

FRASER: I, I respectfully request, um — well, no, actually-

FRASER: just speaking strictly for myself, I... Ray— (help me) RAY: We have a slumlord who's trying to illegally evict a whole building full of poor people.

[redgoldblue]

sneaking in to the very end of @ds30below with: Fraser + RayK + RayV + text posts

bonus Welsh:

[tgtbata]

you're in my seat.

[sammaggs]

1x04 They Eat Horses, Don’t They? | Tune

God THIS MUSIC CUE!!

“Horses” is one of the best score moments in the whole series, it’s such a banger with Canadian legend Ashley MacIsaac on the fiddle.

You really can’t appreciate its greatness in the original mix, and it’s like impossible to find this track online but I have the CDs from my misspent youth, so I ripped the track and laid it on top of the original edit. It’s all timed out so well to the action!!

Oh my god and the smooth as butter tempo change in the middle makes me so feral

UGH IT’S SO GOOD

[eaion]

Due South Timestamp Roulette Challenge: Seeing is Believing (S03E05): 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, 33, 35 minutes.

One of this week's stacked rewatch episode - and actually my favorite episode of Due South. :D (I guess I made the most gifs from this particular one. ^^) This time, I skipped the classic scenes, and let the roulette decide which moments I would make gif from. Here we are! :)

[ds30below]

30 Below: resources & AO3 collection

First things first: here's the AO3 collection for all your future fanworks! Yay!

Now, some links to get you started.

🐢Where can I watch due South?

Well, we're all in luck — it's on youtube!

There's also Slings and Arrows and Hard Core Logo, both great—but not only—points to get into Canadian 6 Degrees. You can DM this blog, flownwrong on DW or emotionalrisotto on Discord for a better quality rip of HCL, or something more obscure ;)

🐢Are there transcripts?

Why, yes, there are — wonderful and detailed, on Dreamwidth and AO3. Courtesy of @agentreynard!

🐢Where do I look for history and discovery?

@juniperpomegranate's lists of Livejournal and Dreamwidth DSC6D communities are an endless rabbithole of joy (note that some of them are alive on DW, pop in to see what's up!)

LJC's due South page is just one example of many, many fansites of yore. This one is still up, offers lots to see, and links to many other fansites (see: Wayback Machine)

Fanlore. Linking categories, not just fandom articles, because there's a lot more: due South | Canadian 6 Degrees.

Official site, archived. Honestly, this one is just cute. This is a link to a random snapshot — if it doesn't work, see below.

You'll have to deal with a lot of broken links. Most often, Wayback Machine has your back: paste the link into the search bar and click around on the timeline until you find a working snapshot!

These links are just a few ideas, and mostly concern the online era of dS fandom — please feel free to share your own suggestions.

Otherwise — just pick a link and go from there. Use whatever you find as inspiration. You'll likely see something I didn't and do something I haven't thought of. That's the point. Enjoy!

🐢fest info

🐢themes & prompts

🐢navigation

[gayvecchio]