Beep.Don't get too excited, just because it's time to discuss
Beep.
Laurie's Review
Melanie's Review
Laurie's Review:This episode isn't as good as All the Queen's Horses but it does have some very good scenes, including one of the best in all of due South: Ray and Ben's conversation, carried on while they're in different places. Positively brilliant, and it prevents Red, White or Blue from being mediocre. Each and every line in their discussion is classic, but I especially like Ben saying, "I don't know. I don't know if it's some sort of flaw in my upbringing, or some genetic abnormality, or perhaps it's just some aberrant property in the Tuktoyaktuk water system," accompanied by his finger brushing across his eyebrow four times (must be a record). I also love Ray's "his name is Geiger Counter?"
Ray also asks, "Are you human? Because if you are, human beings feel things. Okay? They feel anger, they feel love, they feel lust and fear. And sometimes, and I know you don't want to hear this, sometimes they even cry." We've seen Ben express all these feelings, and all of them at various times in one ep alone, Victoria's Secret. He may not be overly public with his emotions and he may keep them under tight control but he does show them. I don't think Ray is always attuned to what his best friend is thinking or feeling.
Their reactions are so different when each thinks the other is at his door. Ben is happy to see "Ray," thinking he's no longer upset with him, and Ray is surprised when "Ben" shows up at his door.
Unlike most eps, I have very little interest in the story itself; it's the interactions between the main characters that captures my attention. I focus almost solely on Ray and Ben, the dynamics of their friendship, their disagreement, coming to terms with it, and having an even stronger bond as a result.
I really like Meg in this ep and think it's her best. She takes on new dimensions and we see many facets of her personality. How great is it that she belts Ford and gives him a bloody nose? She doesn't kowtow to him and she gets results on her own since he's too condescending and arrogant to take her or her input seriously. We get to see a rare soft side at the end when Ben signals "red suits you."
Randall Bolt was a perfect villain in All the Queen's Horses but he rubs me the wrong way in this ep, and his brother Francis bothers me even more. I rarely sit through entire scenes with them, unless Ben or Ray are in them. I don't like Ford either, but he's so true to form and he's played to the stereotypical hilt. I rather enjoy him.
Maybe it's supposed to be funny but I cringe when the duct-taped, judge bounces down the steps of the courthouse while strapped in his chair. I can't pinpoint it but this scene REALLY bothers me and I prefer not to watch it.
Observations:Is it just me or does Ben's hair look especially unruly and messy throughout this ep?
Has everyone noticed the picture of Bill Clinton in the courtroom?
We first hear "It's none of your beeswax, Nosy Parker" in this ep (again in Hunting Season).
Moments I like:When Ben and Meg are discussing their prior "contact" and are interrupted by Cooper, Meg says, "we were just..." In All the Queen's Horses when they're interrupted by Buck, she and Ben say the same thing.
Francis asking Ben where he got Diefenbaker. Ben says it's rather a long story, Francis says he has time, and Ben tells him he's forgotten most of it. Yeah, right.
Ray rolled up in the carpet.
Ray and Ben shuffling into court in the poncho, the judge asking if they're joined at the hip, the expression on Insp. Thatcher's face during all of this.
Ben correcting Bolt's American history inaccuracies.
The way Ray nods and shrugs after Ben asks him if he's calm.
The semaphore scene. ("Ask Vecchio about green cheese," a semaphore spelling mistake.)
Constable Cooper retrieving Diefenbaker.
Ray and Ben's reaction when Francis tells Randall they're not patriots, they're thieves (uncommon, but thieves nonetheless).
The look on Ben's face when Ray tosses to the Bolts what Ben thinks are the bonds, Ray later saying, "Oh, did they say bonds? I thought they said bombs," and Ben responding, with a rather impressed look, "That's very clever, Ray."
The rooftop scene at the end. When Ray says, "God, I love this city. You know, sometimes you have to be a conduit and let the world come to you, you know what I'm saying?" Ben answers, "okay." Somehow that doesn't seem like the right response. I also like Ray's curiosity during the semaphore scene, the way he glances and finally says, "What was that about?"
Nitpicks:"State of Illinois vs. Randal K. Bolt." Wait a minute. Isn't this a federal case? And it's in a district court.
Right after Ben asks Ray if he's calm, he starts talking about the colors of the three wires and what the colors stand for. As he says, "Now, three wires," there's a clip of Ben and Ray each reaching for a wire, with their right hands, but it's out-of-sequence footage. Ray doesn't reach for a wire then (his arms are at his sides), and only Ben's left hand is visible.
Duesies:Media Relations Rep: Constable Fraser, you're on a train loaded with explosives, full of Royal Canadian Mounted Policemen, and you're headed toward a nuclear disaster. And you avert that disaster. How does that make you feel?
Ben: Feel?
Media Relations Rep: Feel.
Ben: Fine.Cooper: Sorry to interrupt, but I have a coffee. I also have the java and, holy moly, I forgot the sweetener. If you could give me a couple of ticks, I'll be right back.
Francis: My brother's problem is the same problem that plagues all geniuses.
Ray: Can't get a date?
Francis: You are a wise acre, Detective.Ford: [snaps fingers] Come here. [Puts an arm around Thatcher's shoulder] Okay, darling, the bomb, is it real?
Thatcher: [looking at said arm] Did you just call me darling?
Ford: I have no idea. Is the bomb real?
Thatcher: Can we afford to assume otherwise?Ray: Fraser, if you want to get us killed, why don't you just use the bombs?
Ben: I'm glad to see you're talking to me again, Ray.Ben: And furthermore, your assertion that he was a *simple* silversmith. . .
Ray: What are you doing?
Ben: I'm dropping my heart rate.
Ray: In the middle of an argument?
Ben: Don't let me stop you.
Ray: I'm gonna kill you.
Ben: It's very possible. I've never hated you, Ray. I've envied you maybe.
Ray: Envied me?
Ben: I'm not proud of it but you have a kind of freedom I wish I had. A sort of existential honesty.
Ray: Are you saying I'm honest?
Ben: In your heart, yes.
[Wonderful expressions from both]Ray: What did she say?
Ben: She called me a moron.
Ray: She's a very perceptive woman.Randall: Gentlemen, you have one choice. You can give us what we want or we blow the building!
Ray: You are not going to blow the building. You are not a martyr, you're just a self-centered little creep who wants to get his face in the paper.
Ben: Are you talking about me, Ray?
Ray: Indirectly.
Dief Moment:Posing for the press at the end of the ep.
Grade: B
Melanie's Review:This is one of the episodes I don't have on tape, so I have to rely on my memory and Wolfwalker's transcript to remind me of what I'm missing.
I'm of two minds about this episode. On the one hand, there is an excellent and long-overdue examination of the Fraser/Vecchio relationship, focusing on Ray's perceived status as "sidekick" to Fraser's super-Mountie persona. This is highlighted in some of the best personal exchanges they have in the series: when they are wired together with a bomb, when they confront the Bolts, and especially when they converse with one another from the privacy of their own homes.
On the other hand, there's the "A" story, in which the evil Randall Bolt has his day in court and becomes the symbolic figurehead of an elaborate hostage-taking and theft plot. I liked Bolt in All the Queen's Horses, with his improbable politcal extremism and rakish hijinks masking a simple, gleeful greed. In this episode, however, he annoys me no end. The intriguing gleam of fanaticism is dulled to a tinny showmanship, and if he had said "Morning glory" one more time I just might have had to use violence on the TV screen.
On the surface, the development in the Bolt case represents an admirable, if unusual continuity in the Dueniverse. We seldom if ever see the legal aftermath of a Due South arrest; at the outset, Red, White or Blue resembles the "Order" half of a Law & Order episode. But that elegant continuity soon goes out the window, as the plot deteriorates into an archvillain caper in the style of the campy 60's Batman series. The Bolts use an elaborate yet silly device to impose a lingering humiliation and death on our heroes--you can almost hear the frantic voice-over demanding that you tune in for the next installment, same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!
In addition to the sublime Fraser/Ray development, this episode also touches briefly on the Fraser/Thatcher relationship. In the early scene at the consulate, they temporarily revisit the forcibly suppressed issue of the train-top kiss in All the Queen's Horses. Later, Thatcher insults ("Moron.") and Fraser flirts ("Red suits you.") But while this episode brings some closure to Fraser and Ray's relationship, the Fraser/Thatcher moments go nowhere.
Duesies:Fraser: With respect, 'mam, I thought it was our unstated protocol to avoid the appearance of currying favor with the media.
Media Relations Officer: We sold out to Disney, Fraser. That's about as curried as it gets.Fraser: You're not talking?
Ray: No.
Fraser: You're really not talking.
Ray: That's right, Fraser. I'm really not talking.
Fraser: Just so I can be really clear in my own mind, Ray, other than telling me you're not talking, you're in fact, not talking?Ray: Will you just admit that you're a human being. Just once in your life, can you admit that you're a human being?
Fraser: Please . . . please . . . . Ohmmmmmmmmm!
Ray: What are you doing?
Fraser: I'm dropping my heart rate. Hmmmmmmmmm.
Ray: In the middle of an argument?
Fraser: Don't let me stop you. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Ray: I'm going to kill you.
Fraser: It's very possible.Ray: We're in the Justice Building.
Fraser: That's it!
Ray: Benny, calm down.
Fraser: No. No! You got it!
Ray: I said calm down!
Fraser: No, Ray, you got it!
Ray: Calm down!
Together: Ohmmmmmmm!Thatcher [in semaphore]: I'm not the one who's in the building. Moron.
Ray: What did she say?
Fraser: She called me a moron.
Ray: She's a very perceptive woman.Fraser: For God's sake, what are you doing? That's not ours.
Ray: I know, it's theirs.
Fraser: It's not theirs. That money belongs to someone else.
Ray: Oh, did they say bonds? I thought they said bombs.
Runner-Up Moment of the Week:Thatcher spelling her fist right into Ford's nose. ;-)
Moment of the Week:
The simultaneous-but-separate conversations.
Second Runner-Up Nitpick of the Week:What's with all the hemming and hawing and head jerks and suggestions that people might want to go to the bathroom? Why didn't Fraser and Ray just come right out and tell the judge that they were wired to explode?
Runner-Up Nitpick of the Week:
It takes a great deal of faith to make a life-or-death decision based on your own interpretation of the Bolts' use of color symbolism in wiring a bomb. For my part, I would have expected that their idea of "justice" would be Fraser and Ray's death--not their escape. (For that matter, when are the villains of the world going to figure out how to make a bomb that can't be disarmed by pulling the right-colored wire?)
Nitpck of the Week:
"Green cheese" has 5 E's, but not a single A, M, B, L or O. "Gambello case" has only 2 E's, and not one R, N or H. Hell of a spelling error! Fraser's interpretation would have been more believable if she had been signalling "Greene case," but then DS was ever too fond of using Italian names.
Dief Moment:The story of little puppy Dief and the mineshaft.
Mountie Superpower of the Week:Sliding down 12 stories in an elevator shaft, with one's sleeve on fire.
Snack to enjoy while watching Red, White or Blue:Dill pickles and asagio cheese.
Grading:
Fraser and Ray A The Bolts D Thatcher and Ford B Thatcher and Fraser Incomplete Overall Grade B-
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