Laurie's Review
Melanie's Review
Laurie's Review:Ambivalence best describes my feelings for this ep. I like it but I have to be in the mood to watch it. When I am watching it I enjoy it but in between viewings I'm inclined to say I don't care all that much for it. I think this is one of a handful of eps that I've only seen when it was on TV.
What stands out most when I think about Dead Men Don't Throw Rice is PG's cameo bit at the end as Francesca's German fiancé. I don't know how much time went by before it clicked that PG played the boyfriend. Since Francesca couldn't go through with her marriage to him, I guess it's safe to assume he was only a substitute for the real thing, which she has probably convinced herself by now she will never have. But one can always dream.
Two other scenes made a strong impact: Ray is so Ray when he visits Fraser at the funeral home. His nervousness is compelling and I love the way he snorts after he tells Fraser he looks like a toy soldier. The other scene that comes to mind immediately is the way the rumor of Fraser's untimely death spreads so quickly through the precinct. The way everyone streams out of the station is sort of comical but it says a lot about how they feel about him. No one wants to believe that he could actually be dead. I was surprised when I first heard Jack say, "I can't believe it. He's like Superman. He can't die." Compare this to how he felt about Fraser after Juliet is Bleeding. They have come a long way.
I didn't care for the Jonestown reference either. That's as bad as the soccer team comment from Call of the Wild and the Jeffrey Dahmer reference in I Coulda Been a Defendant. They're all gratuitous and in bad taste.
I love Ray's "beautiful paragraph" and I wish we could have heard him talk like that more often, but it doesn't seem to go with the street smart/tough cop image he likes to project.
Considering how oblivious Fraser tends to be (intentional or not) where Francesca is concerned, he sure is attuned to her in this ep. No one else seems to pay much attention to the fact that she's upset and distracted but it bothers Fraser. I think Francesca's "face the wall" speech to Fraser is one of her best.
Duesies:Frannie: Hey, Ray, where's Fraser?
Ray: Hmm, let me think. He's right there! (right under your noses)
Frannie: Oh.Ray to one of the agents: You want me to open up a can of whoop ass on you?
Agent Handler: I'll take it from here, Vecchio.
Other agent: She's a bit of a control freak. Sorry.
Ray: Maybe you can get the sirens turned up. Some people in Pittsburgh didn't hear you coming.Welsh: We need somebody on the inside. Detective Vecchio.
Ray: Yes, Sir.
Welsh: Pick someone as a cover.
Francesca: I'll do it.
Welsh: Miss Vecchio, this is police work. It could be dangerous.
Francesca: Well, I want to do it.
Fraser: Francesca, the leftenant's right.
Francesca: Shut up, Frasier!I love hearing her tell Fraser to shut up. For someone who doesn't seem to care too much about her, Fraser sure cares about her!
I also enjoy Ray finishing Fraser's sentences (that's something that rarely happens):
Fraser: You know, gentlemen, I certainly don't want to impose my feelings here or my thoughts. In fact, I think that most people are entitled to make their own decisions, indeed make their own mistakes. But, uh. . . .
Ray: However, if your thoughts are running. . . .
Fraser: However, if your thoughts are running in the direction of police protection, I can assure you that the Chicago Police Department has an excellent plan with many, um. . . .
Ray: Side benefits.
Fraser: Side benefits.I think it's great that someone else hears Bob:
Bob to Ben: First of all, being dead is not all it's cracked up to be.
Van Zandt: Who said that?We rarely make wardrobe comments but I really like the green sweater Ray wears. Well, more accurately, the way he looks in it. Green suits him.
I love the clever juxtaposition of the snowy wooded landscape and the city backdrop. I don't know what I expected to see after Bob and Ben climbed the embankment but it certainly wasn't steel and concrete. I also like Fraser bolting up in the coffin at the moment he jumps, and Turnbull and Francesca's parallel screaming.
After reviewing this ep, I have to say that Due South has succeeded, again, in achieving an excellent balance of action, drama and humor. Still not one of my favorites but it's a strong episode with many fine moments.
Grade:A solid B.
Melanie's Review:This one is easily among my least favorite episodes. The main plot was sketchy and I never felt a strong connection to the crime, interest in the criminal or compassion for the victim. It all seemed to be a weak excuse for the elaborate slapstick joke at the end (the mass-faint in the funeral home)--a rich, gooey dessert at the end of a meal of bread and water.
The "feigning death" business might have been a little easier to swallow if they hadn't played the exact same plot point three episodes earlier in Mojo Rising. Frankly, I think the earlier episode used it better. Why in the world would they try to keep this a secret from everybody at the 27th? And why would anybody consider pulling this off without informing Thatcher?
If they wanted to show some continuity, they should have done one of two things in Dead Men Don't Throw Rice. Either have somebody comment on the fact that this is the second time somebody has faked death, or perhaps let Fraser acknowledge that he learned the trick from Lafarette.
The business in the restaurant might have been cute (although the in-joke about the hockey players went completely over my head) but in the context of the story it made no sense at all. What made them think that Francesca would be able to recognize anything significant during the course of a meal in Van Zandt's restaurant? And if it was necessary for them to skedaddle the moment one of Van Zandt's goons showed up, why bother to go at all?
And then in the funeral home--if Fraser hadn't been bunked with the very corpse they were seeking, what would the ruse have accomplished?
The B story, Francesca's imagined engagement to her Faux Fiance, leaves me very cold. I can buy Frannie in her usual role as a hopeless romantic, doggedly holding out for the man she cannot have, but here she is manipulative and fickle. I wonder what kind of first date she and German dude had to give her the idea that he actually wanted to marry her? Her distress at the very thought of it (even receiving a bouquet from him brings her to tears) tells me that she had absolutely no reason to even consider herself engaged--except that she hoped holding the engagement over Fraser's head would be enough to spur him to "rescue" her from marrying the wrong man. She was playing a deceitful game with Fraser's emotions, and with her new beau's feelings as well.
One bright spot in the episode is the tough, charismatic Agent Handler. Two things that Due South often lacks is strong, non-romantic female characters and federal agents with integrity--and she fills the bill on both counts.
Fantasy Moment of the Week:Fraser just happens to have a buga toad on him?.
Realism Moment of the Week:I almost thought I was watching Homicide when Ray interrupted the clumsy interrogation in the holding cells.
Ray: You guys okay? You want a soda or somethin'?
Goons: Yeah. Soda. . . would be great.
Ray: Um, Miller--can you get these guys a soda? Don't give me that look. And let 'em go to the can, and bring 'em to one and two.
Dief Moment:Dief as an emergency substitute for a pair of handcuffs.
Duesies:Ray: Maybe you can get the sirens turned up, so people in Pittsburgh can hear you coming.
Agent Young: I'll run that by her.Arthur: Nicholas, listen to me! As you attorney I can't hear this!
Van Zandt: So put your hands over your ears Counselor!Welsh: Oh, this is sweet. Perhaps later we'll have a little seminar on surveillance techniques and procedures.
Dewey: I can't believe you took the pictures.
Huey: He said everybody!
(This is one of my favorite Huey/Dewey moments in the series.)Agent Handler: Jones is in a funeral home in a coffin under another body. Is that what you're telling me?
Welsh: Yep. It's perfectly possible. The body with the bullet is in the coffin with the cadaver.
(And the flagon with the dragon has the brew that is true.)Robert: I'd imagine you have a number of questions you want to ask. Like is this eternity or just a stopping place? Is death a transition or the end of the line, and if it's the end of the line do I still have to shave? Questions along those lines.
Snack to enjoy while watching Dead Men Don't Throw Rice:Takeout sandwiches from Van Zandt's restaurant.
Overall grade: C-It doesn't offend me the way Body Language does, but there's very little to like.
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