Laurie's Review
Melanie's Review
Laurie's Review:I've never been completely satisfied with the two stories in Letting Go and would have preferred the focus to be solely on Ben and Ray, and how they deal with the Victoria debacle, guilt and the rebuilding of their friendship. The scenes dealing with these issues were well done but there weren't enough. Ideally, an episode with the two of them (three, if we count Dief) in Ben's hospital room getting it all out in the open would have been very effective - similar to their discussion in Red, White or Blue, only they're together this time.
One of the aspects of this ep that appeals to me most is the contrast between the opening and final scenes. The pace is urgent and frantic in the beginning as Ben is wheeled into the emergency room; the end is relaxed and not as emotionally charged. The period between the two takes us through weeks of physical healing and reconciliation. During the opening the anguish on Ray's face is painful to watch. His best friend is close to death and he doesn't understand all the medical jargon, which makes it more frightening.
Three weeks elapse between the opening scene and Ben lying in his bed trying to shake the fly off his toe. I don't think there are any other eps that take place over a span of more than a few days to a week. We see him at perhaps the lowest point in his life, depressed, discouraged and feeling sorry for himself. That he plans to take a leave of absence and go home speaks volumes about his current state of mind.
The moment of forgiveness for both of them is when Ben tells Ray that he was going with Victoria and Ray softly responds, "I know." At that point I knew their friendship would survive. Ben didn't have to tell Ray but on some level he knew it was necessary, and it's likely that he knew Ray was aware of that truth before he told him. He's not just admitting to going with Victoria, he's admitting to screwing up. And Ray forgives him for this, for being human. Ray is able to forgive Ben for wanting to go with Victoria but forgiving himself for shooting his friend is much more difficult.
Another healing moment is when Ray gives Ben the power saw. Ben is distracted, focusing more on Victoria, but when Ray asks if he should leave, Ben tells him no. This may be Ray's first moment of happiness since the shooting. This is when the tension between them starts to ease. Even if their comments sound sarcastic and petty, at least they're talking.
I can barely stand to watch the scenes with Dr. Carter and her boy toy. She is so unbelievable and fake, and such a psychological mess. How could this woman get away with practicing medicine? A major annoyance for me is the way Huey treats her with kid gloves after she shoots Ray. When he puts his arms around her and leads her away, I want to throw up. Should I be sympathetic because she's a junkie? At the risk of sounding callous, no. I don't know if it's the actress or the subplot, but I don't buy it. Couldn't Ben have seen someone else committing some other crime?
Jill Kennedy is refreshing and a good match for Ben, and I don't mean in a romantic sense. She knows how to handle him and what buttons to push to motivate him. She butts in too much, however, and this makes it difficult for me to take her seriously. She stepped over the line that distances the professional from the patient early on, during her first meeting with Ben. She had too much screen time in what was meant to be the final episode. There should have been considerably more one on one between Ray and Ben.
Favorite Moments:Grandma Fraser bringing Ben a pair of pajamas. That is such an awww moment. I think it's interesting that they're boys' pajamas. Does she still see him as a child?
Grandma entering and exiting the room through the closet. What is it about people, dead or alive, and closets on Due South?
Ben gazing out the window and Grandma appearing behind him.
Jill commenting on Ben's slightly bowed knees and his reaction to that. A touch of vanity? I like that he was impressed with her powers of deduction.
I like the camera work in the therapy room when Ben is walking between the bars and starts to fall when he gets to the end, and in the next scene we see him surfacing in the pool. Very clever.
Bob floating in the pool. Enough said.
Ben telling Jill that appearances can be deceiving. What a revealing comment.
The way the the shooting scene was done in slow motion, allowing us to focus on individuals. Ben's pained expression when he's with Ray mirrors Ray's reaction at the beginning of the ep.
Nitpick:I have a problem with the way Jill treats Ben in the therapy room. He isn't as forthcoming with information as she'd like him to be so she does something totally unprofessional to get back at him - she lets his leg drop. Surely, she's used to irritable, uncooperative patients. There's no excuse for what she did. Then in the next scene, she has the nerve to talk about Dr. Carter and professional misconduct. Granted, what she did isn't nearly as serious as what Dr. Carter is guilty of but she intentionally caused a patient discomfort.
Duesies:Bob: Hello, Son.
Ben: You've got to stop doing that.
Bob: More boring the other way.
Ben: Couldn't you just have sent some flowers or a card?
Bob: You're just mad because I didn't get here earlier.
Ben: Relieved is more like it. If you had come sooner, I might not have been able to tell which one of us was actually. . . .
Bob: Dead?
Ben: Yes.
Bob: It's not a dirty word, Son. Besides, there are worse things than being dead.Jill: And this is interesting. It's old, maybe 20 years. There's plenty of scar tissue so it was deep, but it's something soft, with teeth and hair. This is going to sound really silly, but. . . .
Ben: It was an otter. I was 10. It was dead, someone hit me with it. . . . Can we move on?Bob: She's a lovely girl.
Ben: She's not a girl, she's a therapist.
Jill: Excuse me.
Bob: Then one of us is going blind.Ray: That her?
Ben: Yeah. She's a doctor, he's an intern. They're lovers.
Ray: So?
Ben: He's betrayed her, she's going to kill him.
Ray: Benny, not every woman with long dark hair tries to kill her lover.
Ben: Oh.
Keepership:The little boy pajamas Grandma Fraser brings Ben.
Dief Moment:His conversation with Ben when they're looking out the window.
Grade: B
Melanie's Review:Letting Go is an episode with a split personality, an A plot and a B plot that are both strong and compelling but which ultimately get in each other's way.
On the A plot front, we have the aftermath of the disasterous Victoria affair. Fraser survived the gunshot to the back, but the combination of physical pain and emotional devistation left him enfeebled--a fact that is quickly driven home by his inability to shoe an annoying fly off his toe. Meanwhile, Ray is saddled with the guilt of shooting his friend and the anguish of knowing that his friend was trying to abandon him. Most of the emotional texture of the episode is painted onto this half of the story.
But if the episode's emotions were tied up in the A plot, the action was all about the B plot--a more lighthearted salute to the Hitchcock film Rear Window. Fraser unexpectedly develops a taste for voyeurism, and develops a friendly bond with a physical therapist who is unexpectedly observant and far too nosy for her own good. The philandering physician and her blackmailing lover are almost an afterthought to this very crowded tale.
By dividing the episode's focus, I think they diluted its impact. Fully fleshed out, there may have been enough material between these two plots to fill at least an hour and a half. Perhaps Letting Go would have benefited from being turned into a 2-hour story, but I think it would have been even better served by being split into two separate episodes. But since Due South had been cancelled, there was no immediate possibility of making another episode to come after this one.
I appreciated Jill Kennedy as a skilled, professional woman who seems to be able to carry on a conversation with the mountie and even work with him closely without her tongue hanging out. There was never any hint of romantic attraction between them, and that was a refreshing change. However, I think she got far too much screen time for a one-off character, especially in what could have been the final episode of the series, distracting from the rebuilding of the damaged relationship between Ray and Benny. If they had to use the Rear Window theme for this episode, I would have prefered that they use Ray rather than Jill for the Grace Kelly-ish role, thus focusing entirely on the central friendship of the series.
I'm very thankful that the series didn't end with Letting Go, even though I enjoy the episode a lot; it's a pale shadow compared to VS, and would have been a sadly anticlimactic finale for the Due South legend. Letting Go serves much better as a transition episode between Victoria's Secret and North--which happily is how we usually see it these days.
Random Thoughts:The openings scene does not appeal to me at all. It's a little bit too much ER and not very Due South at all; only the unexpected appearance of Melina K in surgical scrubs adds an air of depth and mystery. The flashbacks to Victoria's Secret were intrusive. The long hallway of the hospital look more like the basement of the studio than a real hospital corridor.
I think Ray's defiant, angry conversation with the police department shrink would have made a better opening for the episode. And Fraser's long, patient effort to dislodge that fly was very well done. (The scene reminds me of Franklin Roosevelt's quotation about facing adversity: "Once I spent two years in bed trying to move my big toe. After that job, anything seems easy.")
There's something embarrassing about seeing Fraser slide into a melancholy voyeurism. His lame attempt to justify his actions to Dief is an example of what I usually think of as Fraser thinking out loud--he may be chiding Dief for spying, but it is himself he is trying to convince: either to stop doing it, or come up with an adequate rationalization. "Listen--just because you can see them and their blinds are open, it's not to be taken as an invitation. It's unethical. It's also against the law. Besides from which, you'll go blind . . . No, you see, this is different. I have a wound that leaves me no choice but to face the windows. Uh, yes, I could close my eyes, but I'm not going to do that because I am not actually prying." Pathetic, and perfect.
"Look you start your physical therapy, you get your sea legs back, and in the mean time we get through this the only way I know how. Baseball." Denial, thy name is Raymondo. There's so much detail packed into this scene: we learn that Fraser has been sleeping a great deal, he's been restricted to his bed for three weeks, and Ray has been keeping vigil. Most importantly, we can see that all is not well between these two men--and they're not talking about what's hurting their relationship.
Ray: Oh. Okay. I'm going to get out of here. Can I get you anything?Ouch.
Fraser: No. You've done more than enough already.If Fraser's conversation with Dief was his way of admonishing himself for spying, then his conversation with his father (and his father's conversation with his grandmother) was Fraser reprimanding himself for lying abed. He has been apathetic about his recovery and he knows it.
The delightful Holmesian competition between Fraser and Jill Kennedy is one of the highlights of the episode. Have we ever seen anybody else match Fraser in deductive skills? Her notice of the otter-scar is a nice bit of continuity with The Deal. I also enjoy the ongoing debate about the alleged crime as we watch Fraser endure session after session of physical therapy. And of course, Bob's appearance in the pool is absolutely worth the price of admission.
I adore the slash subtext in the scene in which Ray and Fraser discuss rebuilding the cabin:
Ray: Your Dad's cabin. I thought we'd go up there together and I'd help you rebuild it.
Fraser: Oh. Ray, you hated the cabin.Does anything else sound so much like an old married couple? ;-) There is still an awkwardness, a tentativeness in their conversation, but there is also acceptance. The relationship is on the mend.
The second half of the episode, focusing more and more on the Rear Window shows a Fraser who has apparently grown out of his moribund self-pity and a Ray who is no longer wracked with guilt. The blackmail plot wends on its merry way with little emotional depth or suspense. There's no time in this crowded episode to develop the characters of Dr. Carter or her boy-toy, so it's hard to work up any sympathy for her or interest in her plight.
Then Ray throws himself in front of a bullet for Benny. He made a habit of throwing himself in harm's way for the mountie, didn't he? And then the final scene is the perfect dessert to a meal that has been both rewarding and unsatisfying: Fraser admits that he gets a perverse pleasure out of Ray's injury. This is a crucial emotional development for their friendship--because Ray won't be able to let go of his guilt until Fraser acknowledges the injury. (The reciprocal admission came earlier in the episode, when Fraser admitted that he was intending to jump bail and run away with Victoria.)
Duesies:Ray: Don't they have rules about this kind of thing?
Fraser: Ah, the nurses have all taken pity on him. They feed him, they water him, they walk him regularly, they like him, he likes them, he eats better than I do. I think he's even happier here. Ingrate.Grandmother: You're babying him, Robert.
Robert: He was shot, Mother.
Grandmother: Can't stay in bed for ever.
Robert: You didn't see her?
Fraser: No. How is she?
Robert: Not dead enough, son.Jill: That's okay. You're a policeman, right?
Fraser: Yes, from Canada. A Royal Candian Mounted Policeman.
Jill: Ahh. That would explain the bowed knees.
Fraser: Bowed?Robert: By the way, son, could you see your way clear of thinking me in a pair of trunks?
Fraser: Does it hurt?
Ray: Of course it hurts.
Fraser: Thanks.
Ray: For what--getting shot?
Fraser: Yeah.
Ray: Yeah, I figured you'd like that.
Fraser: Well I'm not proud about that, but I'll admit I did get a certain perverse pleasure out of it.
Runner up Moment of the Week:Bob Fraser singing Rose Marie while floating in the pool.
Moment of the Week:
The fly on Fraser's toe.
Super Physical Therapist Power of the Week:Fraser: Bowed?
Jill: I'd say five-eighths of a centimetre. Quarter horse, 16 hands?
Fraser: As a rule.
Missing Scene:Ray dealing with the wreck of his home. Did he try to achieve such a masterful cleanup that his family wouldn't notice?
Dief Moment:"You're in his chair." (This establishes the current pecking order very well!)
Snack to enjoy while watching Letting Go:The best chili dogs in the city, with everything. Pickle?
Grading:
Fraser/Ray A Rear Window A Overall Grade B+ (Points deducted for trying to fit two A stories into a single episode.)
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