Laurie's Review
Melanie's Review
Laurie's Review:This isn't going to be a real review. I despise this ep, not as much as I dislike Mojo Rising, but I don't know how desperate for a Due South fix I'd have to be before I would consider watching Say Amen again.
In a nutshell, I don't like anything about it. Well, that's not entirely true. The first couple minutes are okay with the titles of Due South eps on the marquee and Kowalski, Fraser, Thatcher and Turnbull exiting the theater after seeing a movie together. From there it's downhill all the way.
I don't like the story, I don't like the music, I don't like the guest stars (especially the girl, what's her name?, and her unconvincing Southern accent), I don't like Fraser, I don't like Ray, and most of all I don't like Thatcher. It would have been better all around if she wasn't in this ep. She's embarrassing. It's totally unbelievable that she would be so completely overcome by the music that she would take leave of her senses, forget she's a Mountie acting in an official capacity and join the choir. If she had to be in the ep, she should have been allowed to use her police skills. Fraser's almost as bad near the end. I half expected him to take over for the minister and preach a sermon.
The entire episode is cringeworthy. I seem to recall Fraser commenting on someone's stool. Now if that's not cringeworthy, I don't know what is. What barrel bottom did the writers scrape to come up with this sludge?
I feel guilty and disloyal doing this, but Say Amen deserves an F. However, it's not alone. I didn't review Mojo Rising but it's the only other Due South ep to receive that mark from me.
Melanie's Review:Say Amen goes one plot development too far. Each time I watch this episode, I find myself drawn into the core conflicts, and then I feel somewhat cheated when the final plot twist renders them moot.
What are a parent's rights? Do parents have the right to keep a child isolated from her peers? How does a parent discern the difference between what's best for the child and what's best for the family business? How can a young person distinguish whether she has a true religious calling, a normal teen's desire to have a purpose in life, or just too much parental pressure to conform? Is it right to teach an adolescent girl that celibacy is the price required for God's favor--or is that just a cynical strategy to keep her close to home? What is the nature of "healing"--and what constitutes a good "batting average" for a healer? Is it right to perform numerous not-quite-healings in the hopes that once in a while a true miracle will occur?
Unfortunately, the writers couldn't hold back when it came to writing the Barrows and their church as a collection of southern evangelic Christian stereotypes. By revealing that the Barrows had stolen Eloise and murdered her parents in order to profit from her gift, the writers undermined the delicate structure of the parental rights/religious calling storyline. The Barrows aren't her parents, and they're not doing God's work at all. I believe the story would have been much stronger if the Barrows had been Eloise's true parents, exploiting her for all she's worth.
I'm glad they didn't address the fact that this southern-born, white daughter of a preacher man was madly in love with an African American from Chicago. I was actually very impressed by the depth of Davy's love for Eloise--I, who usually run in terror from romantic storylines. I think I was won over by the magnificent stunt in the opening scene, when Davy clung to the back bumper of the Cadillac, then fell in harm's way. (A very impressive stunt; much more impressive than Fraser's fall from the van in Flashback.) Davy's rampage in the canteen was also very well done. Anyway, I'm very glad they didn't play the race card in this episode; it would have been very easy to portray the Barrows as racist. Admirable restraint on the writers' part.
Beneath her gloomy expression, Eloise is a pretty spunky lass. She has obviously given a great deal of thought (and prayer as well, I imagine) to her religious calling. She has faith, but she also has doubts--and she's perfectly willing to discuss the matter.
Fraser: It must have been very exciting. The miracle you performed today. . . the woman she didn't seem to walk very far.Thatcher's sudden inspiration to join the church choir was definitely a sour chord in the episode. It made not one bit of sense to me until RCW 139 '99, when I learned that the original plan was for Say Amen to be an all-singing, all-dancing musical episode. Xena and Buffy have done this since, but I think Due South would have been the first--but they got cold feet and scrapped the musical idea, keeping only the choir anthems. In the context of a musical, Thatcher's joining the choir would have made a lot more sense. As it is, it set up one tiny moment that was important to the plot--it gave Thatcher a way to be in place to give the obviously confused Fraser the idea of bringing his damning discoveries to the largest possible audience. A nugget of cleverness in a nonsensical side story.
Eloise: Yeah and she was real excited--maybe she can even walk a little, probably doesn't usually, but what with all the fuss and wanting to be cured and all. . . .
Fraser: So she may have been able to take a few steps.
Ray: It was a fake.
Eloise: Or maybe there was no way she could've gotten out of that chair. No way she could even move her legs--that is was a real miracle.
Fraser: Is that what you believe?
Eloise: When I was five I touched a blind woman and she regained her sight. That's true. They've always told me that. I've made deaf people hear. I've stopped cancers from growing. I've done that but I don't know why it happens, or when it's going to happen, and it sure doesn't happen once a day and twice on Sundays.
Fraser: So some of the miracles aren't quite so miraculous.
Eloise: Do you know much about Babe Ruth?
Fraser: The chocolate bar?
Eloise: No the baseball player
Fraser: Oh.
Eloise: He only hit 59 home runs in a 162 game season. That's not even one home run every two games. You think I can do better than that? You think miracles are easier than home runs? Daddy says we have to do it to keep the ministry going.I actually liked the music. Gospel-rock is pretty much at the bottom of my list of church music styles, but in this context it made sense. And the changed lyric at the end ("You're gonna burn in hell for eternity!") was a hoot.
Jack Dewey's speculations about starting up his own ministry are fun and quite in character for him. Huey spelled it out for us: country music, comedy club--Dewey's always looking for the next money-making scheme! He's definitely a man living for his retirement.
Francesca's very sympathetic interview of Eloise was both kind and productive. She gained useful information for the investigation and gave Eloise comfort, a chance to speak her mind, and a new perspective on her dilemma. Frannie was in wisecracking character throughout, but it was a very lovely thing she did.
A couple of people have slammed the "I'd have to pick through his stool" line. The entire exchange is about trying to locate a murder suspect, and it goes like this:
Ray: You would have noticed it? There are thousands of tracks here.Ray asked a stupid, irrelevant question, intending to tease Fraser about his tracking skills, and Fraser responded in kind. He was being sarcastic. I think it makes perfect sense, and is no more offensive than the carrot in the sewer from The Promise.
Fraser: It's a very distinctive tread.
Ray: Can you tell what he had for breakfast?
Fraser: No, in order to do that I'd have to pick through his stool.The bottom line is that this episode makes me think. It's not in my top ten or even in my top twenty, but I do appreciate the issues it explores.
Duesies:Huey: Not everyone is going to phone in though.
Dewey: Hey they're not going to be listening if they're not going to phone in though.
Huey: Net necessarily. Ever watched PBS?
(We're being subjected to pledge breaks on both of our PBS stations right now, so I can relate!)Huey: What, are you trying to start a religion now?
Dewey: Yeah! It's like country music--how hard can it be?Francesca: Okay, I got everything starting from the big miracle at age seven.
Fraser: Eloise said that the first miracle occurred when she was five.
Francesca: Well who remembers what happened when they were five? I don't even remember what happened when I was seventeen. Well, except for one thing but anyway. . . .
Fraser: Well it was a miracle, Francesca.
Francesca: Yes it was!Thatcher: (singing) All God's children, hear the words of Brother Fraser!
Robert: Tell them a story Son, you know how to do that.
Fraser: May I? Ladies and Gentlemen, Brother Albert, I'd like to tell you a simple story. . . well not a simple story. It's a story about sin.
Robert: Sin is good. (to the organist) My son!Ray: Now repent!
Fraser: The law can only punish him for his crimes but a higher power will punish him for his sins.
Thatcher: There's nowhere to hide, Reverend! (Whack!) You've been healed!
Choir: (singing) You're gonna burn in hell for eternity!
Waterfall Moment:They never showed or discussed how Eloise met Davy in the first place. I'm glad they left that up to my imagination!
Cultural Reference of the Week:The young star-crossed lovers in this episode are named for one of history's tragic couples, Heloise and Abelard.
Nitpick of the Week:The stunt when Davy was hit by the car outside the church was very poorly done. Davy's long, arching flight through the air looks so fake as to be laughable. I wish they'd taken the time to review the film and realize that they had to do it again. (Side nitpick: they obviously replaced the auto glass in the van's rear window with thinner break-away glass. Auto glass is treated to break into thousands of tiny pebbles, not to shatter into razor-sharp shards.)
Cringeworthy Moment of the Week:Let me get this straight--Fraser, Ray, Thatcher and Turnbull went to the movies during a work day? They've never been social before. You know it's a work day because both Fraser and Turnbull are in their dress uniforms. If you want to convince me that those four people would go to a movie together, at least let it be clearly an activity in their free time.
Power of Two Moment:That's twice an amourous man has climbed up to a woman's bedroom window!
The Explanation:(Fraser to Mrs. Barrow, interrupted by Ray)
I fi--
Heyheyhey!
Sorry.
Snack to enjoy while watching Say Amen:Baby Ruth. The chocolate bar, not the baseball player.
Grading:
Davy B Eloise A The Unfettered Church C- Thatcher Joins the Choir D (because it was not part of a musical episode) Overall Grade C+
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