Melanie's Review
Laurie's Review
Melanie's Review:A retrospective "clip" show is a hoary cliche. A show in which the hero hits his head and has amnesia (temporarily, of course, with no other injuries, pain or lingering symptoms) is another creaky old saw. To use both of these lame plot devices in the same episode is just about unforgivable. Only one thing could save such a flawed concept--a lively, well-plotted, compelling story.
Which Flashback is not.
Plot cliches get used all the time, (that's how they get to be cliches, right?) but they should be used in fresh and creative ways, not as uninspired, mechanical frameworks on which to hang a story that's going nowhere.
Once upon a time I saw a clip show that really rocked. It was an episode of a series that I didn't even care much for--but the story behind the story, the reason for showing all the clips, was imaginative and extraordinarily funny. Flashback, on the other hand, is laborious and ill-structured. The clips are far too long, trying to re-tell whole plots of previous episodes rather than just giving a tempting taste of what has gone before.
Flashback was supposed to be Due South's swan song, as the series limped to the end of its second season on CBS. What a disservice they did to the franchise, ending it so poorly! (Especially considering that one year earlier, when CBS cancelled DS for the first time, Paul Haggis had scripted a story that would send the show out in a blaze of glory.) If the series had sunk into obscurity after Flashback, I doubt that anyone would have noticed or cared about the clip show that came at the last; instead, the show rose again and left us with a canon that includes this decidedly lame interlude. When my attention falls on Flashback, I find myself wondering: Is this the best they could do?
The only redeeming feature of the episode is the quasi-blooper reel, although it doesn't seem to be much more than a collection of brief clips of Paul Gross and David Marciano smiling, with one true blooper at the very end that doesn't seem to make much sense. (Why did everybody break up laughing? Did David make a mistake, or were they just in a silly mood?) Now there is some benefit in seeing these two smile over and over again (especially David, who has a lovely smile that he doesn't get to use often enough) but I was disappointed in the overall effect. If only they could have shortened some of the interminable clips and show more bloopers!
Duesies:Fraser: Hang on, hang on--I jumped onto a moving van?
Ray: Yeah, it's something you do all the time.
Fraser: What am I, stupid?
Ray: No, you're a hero.Fraser: Oooh, that's bright.
Ray: Yeah, but you look good in it.Fraser: I live like this? Am I being punished?
Fraser: This is my desk? Oh boy, I must make a lot of mistakes.
Ray: Meg--uh--ma'am. Maybe you can remind him of something that you two shared. A case, some special training. You know, Mountie stuff.
Thatcher: Eggs.
Fraser: Eggs.
Ray: No, please not the eggs.Faser: You shot me?
Ray: Well I didn't mean to.
Fraser: Are you definitely sure that we're friends?Ray: I mean, it's just one of those special cases where alone we're incomplete but together we're better than we are separately, you know what I mean?
Ray: RCW 139 -- are you sure?
Fraser: Yes, of course I'm sure.
Ray: Oh Benny, I could just kiss you!
Fraser: I thought we were just friends, Ray.
Nitpick of the Week:(Zeborah gets the nod for calling this one.) Fraser never actually hit his head!
Runner-Up Nitpick of the Week:
Thatcher didn't have anything to say about the strange state of Fraser's uniform?
Nitpick of the Week:
For the most part, they did a good job limiting the flashbacks to scenes that either Ray or Thatcher witnessed, with the exception of the "Bob" clips that Fraser somehow managed to remember himself. You can stretch it a little bit for Fraser's first reunion with Victoria, since Fraser might have told Ray about it. But neither Ray nor Fraser were present when Bob was murdered, so they would have no way of knowing how it happened or what his last words were. ("You're going to shoot a Mountie? They'll hunt you to the ends of the earth.")
Snack to enjoy while watching Flashback:If you can remember your account number, you can have a long, cool drink.
The Explanation:Although the Explanation seems to be a 3rd season phenomenon, I like to think that it began here. While Fraser was struggling to find himself, Ray planted the seed of the phrase that the Mountie would use to define himself for many months to come:
"You're father was a Mountie, a legend. Somebody shot him, and you came to Chicago on the trail of some dentists."
Overall Grade:D minus
Laurie's Review:I have a soft spot for Flashback but it has nothing to do with Fraser trying to regain his memory or the Cliffy story. When I first saw it I had yet to see The Pilot through You Must Remember This so the "flashbacks" were my link to those eps. It was such a treat seeing them. Do I like the ep as a whole? Not particularly but it did whet my appetite for the early first season episodes. It also proves that it's possible to like something bad. I honestly don't know if I can write anything that resembles a review, so I am going to try my darnest to say something positive about it.
I rewatched the ep to find things that I like about it, besides the many flashbacks. Not much! I didn't like the robbery plot, Cliffy, his wife, mistresses, etc. Why use such an utterly boring plot line to go with Fraser losing his memory and trying to regain it? Any scenario could have worked and I would have preferred anything else to this. I fastforwarded through all the Cliffy scenes and concentrated on Ray and Fraser, hoping to spot something new.
Here are a few bits I actually liked:
Fraser spelling his name with an "i" after hearing Ray pronounce it.
The scene in his apartment when he backs away from Dief, and also when he looks through his father's journal. (Is that a dream catcher on the wall above his bed? I haven't noticed it in any other eps.) I also like when he asked if he was being punished for the way he lived. Of course, both Mark Smithbauer and Meg Thatcher asked him the same thing. I thought that was a cute verbal type flashback.
Ray calling Meg by her first name then switching to Ma'am after she glares at him, trying to listen in on their conversation about the train.
No outstanding Dief moments, and I don't think I want to "keep" anything. I don't feel like nitpicking the entire ep.
Except for "Victoria's Secret" and "Letting Go," is this the only time we hear Victoria referred to by name?
Grade:D (for disappointing and dull ).
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