Laurie's Review
Melanie's Review
Laurie's Review:It took a while for Seeing Is Believing to capture my interest, and the first few times I watched it, I'll admit to being bored for about the first half of the show, but it's on its way to becoming one of my favorites from Season 3/4. The more I watch it, the more I enjoy it, and I discover something new with each viewing. Now, if I could only keep the title matched with the ep. . .
The story, as seen through the eyes of the Due South regulars, is clever, funny and well crafted. How often do we hear about witnesses having very different accounts of the same event? I like the twist here. Cops by training are more observant (accurately, one hopes) than the general public, but Thatcher, Welsh and Kowalski can't agree on who the killer is, and each is adamant about what he or she saw.
I enjoy the scenes featuring any combination of the Due South regulars but I don't care for the scenes with the guest stars, and usually fast-forward through them. Fortunately, many scenes are set in Welsh's office, involving Welsh, Thatcher, Fraser, Kowalski and Francesca, who somehow manages to insinuate herself into the office and the discussion of the case.
I love the contrasting stories, how the two men and the woman at the table act, and the type of people in the background. Insp. Thatcher's version features loving couples passing by, and in Lt. Welsh's version, everyone is wearing trench coats and dark glasses. Later, they become principal players in their retellings, and reveal personal details about themselves.
It's a treat seeing Fraser's playful, joking side. Some may think he's being mean by using post-hypnotic suggestions or that it's out of character, but I find it funny, very human and endearing, and it's done without malicious intent.
One of the best lines in Due South is in this ep: Fraser asking Welsh, "Could you elucidate, Sir?" and the delicious answer, "No, no, not since the late sixties."
The music by Mythos is very good, almost enchanting, some of the best of Seasons 3/4. It matches the storytelling and hypnotic mood perfectly, yet it's so subtle that it can easily go unnoticed.
Observation:In the alley during the end scene, Thatcher calls Ray by his first name. Are there any other occasions when she does this?
Moments I like:Ray commenting, "And all my friends have been asking, 'Ray, where do you get all those seals?'" and Fraser asking, "What are you saying?"
The lunchroom scene with everyone going for a beverage, and Fraser drinking milk out of the carton (again).
Ray knocking over a bottle (Rolaids, aspirin?) on Welsh's desk as he hands him a folder and then repositioning it exactly as he found it.
Francesca telling Welsh a cappuccino machine would probably improve his temper (who else could tell him that and get away with it?) and Welsh retorting, "Get a longer shirt."
The way Ray climbs into the chair in Welsh's office.
Francesca's obsession with a cappuccino machine and the way she says "hi" to Fraser whenever she enters or leaves Welsh's office.
Francesca's reaction when Ray says the guy in Sword of Desire was an English lord.
Welsh's reaction to Insp. Thatcher and Francesca's "pool boy" story. At first he's impatient but then he becomes interested and starts participating.
Insp. Thatcher becoming lost in her account of what happened, touching Fraser's face, Fraser's "Sir, Sir," the reference to the incident on the train, and Francesca's curiosity about it.
Ray and Welsh sprawled on the couch in Welsh's office.
Fraser trying to hypnotize Insp. Thatcher by talking about hypothermia. She tells him it's not relaxing and he replies, "It's not?"
Everyone in the office falling under the hypnotic spell while Fraser recites the administration manual.
The expression on Ray's face when Fraser tells him, "When you hear me say the word 'cauliflower'," and the way Ray says it. It doesn't matter how many times I see this, it always cracks me up.
The "hmm" conversation in the hallway.
Francesca trying to hide the cappuccino box behind her back so Welsh can't see it.
Fraser reciting the "5 P's" as he throws the knife, and the glimpse of a knife still in his hand. He puts his hand behind his back but where exactly does he put the knife?
Nitpicks:Why is Lt. Welsh the rep/speaker at the dedication of the Inukshuk? Wouldn't it be more appropriate for a high-ranking local politician to accept the gift?
Duesies:Welsh: Fraser, how about you take down our three statements?
Thatcher: I'm not sure he can do that in any official capacity.
Welsh: He can take notes, can't he?
Fraser: Ah, well, yes, Sir. In two official languages, three forms of shorthand, Cantonese, Inuktitut. . .
Welsh: How about English?
Fraser: Well, yes, of course.
Welsh: Great. You're deputized.Fraser: Could you elucidate, Sir?
Welsh: No, no, not since the late sixties.
Ray: That's, that's, uh, Canadian for "explain."
Welsh: Oh, all right. These guys want to whack somebody. They think we're smart and they think we're on to all the smart ways to do it, so they do it dumb, right? Now, we think they can't possibly be that dumb so we're dumb, and we let 'em go. But, if we're smart, we realize they did it stupid because they're so smart, and we put 'em away. Very simple.
[So simple it even confuses Fraser and earns a brush of the finger across an eyebrow.]Ray: Did you actually see the knife in her hand?
Thatcher: Well, no, I was a little distracted. Constable Fraser was running after the shoplifter. You know, the uniform, the motion, the legs, driving like pistons, pumping like steel. Something red going fast always draws the eye.
Frannie: I know exactly what you mean.
Thatcher: I doubt it.Ray: Hey, are you going to tell me a long story about this trapper, Eskimo Joe, and how he could throw a grizzly bear over his head with one hand?
Fraser: Well, that sounds highly improbable, Ray.Ray: You're saying they both had their hands on the knife?
Welsh: Who cares? Look, you load a gun, you cock the trigger, you give the gun to Thatcher, she uses it on Fraser. I find out your hand was on the gun, you both go away.
Thatcher: I would never shoot a fellow officer.
Welsh: That's 'cause you never had Ray working under you. You'd change your tune.
Ray: What?
Welsh: Hey, I'd shoot you.Welsh: So what you're trying to say is, uh, maybe one of us could remember seeing that knife.
Fraser: It is possible, yes.
Welsh: Well, let's give it a shot.
Fraser: Ah, well, good, Sir. If you'd be so. . .
Welsh: No, no, no, use it on him (indicating Ray).
Fraser: Ah, all right. Ray?
Ray: Un, no. I'd love to, Fraser, but, um, I got bad eyes.
Francesca: Oh, okay, do it on me.
Fraser: Francesca, you weren't there.
Francesca: Oh. Well, does that matter?
Fraser: Oddly, yes.
Francesca: Oh.Fraser: Ray, have you considered contacts?
Ray: Too much fuss.
Ray: Have you considered a gun?
Fraser: Too many legalities.
Dief Moment:Chasing the purse snatcher.
Grade: B+ (on it's way to an A).
Melanie's Review:Among the items available for auction at RCW 139 '99 was Paul Gross' handwritten episode list for the third season. On that list was one episode with an unfamiliar title: Rashomon. It turns out that this is the title of a 1951 film by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (better known for The Seven Samurai). Amazon.com describes the film: "The facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute."
This use of Kurosawa's title leads me to believe that Seeing is Believing was a concept before it was a story; that the use of multiple points of view was the A plot of the episode and that the crime itself was an almost incidental B plot. However, I have to take off points for that meagre B plot, which was simply not interesting enough to support all the many replayings and re-replayings and re-re-replayings it got. To this day (having watched the tape 3 times in the last week) I still can't remember the characters' names or the details of their relationships or who confessed when and why. I just can't bring myself to care about them.
The star of the episode, as far as I'm concerned, is the gimmick of the replay. They use many different tricks and games to communicate the central theme about the perception of reality; these games try to keep the story from getting bogged down in the perpetual re-telling of the events leading up to the murder. In one instance, Thatcher re-creates the scene in mime, using only the participants' hands. In another, Welsh freeze-frames the scene. Frannie sees the young man bare-chested in his role as "pool boy," but Welsh dresses everybody in trench coats and gives the girl a vampy cigarette. Both Ray and Thatcher place themselves in the scene as the killer--each identifying with what they perceive as the motive.
What I didn't notice until it was pointed out to me by other fans were some very subtle moments of skewed perception. I've described before how Fraser is shown to still have the letter opener in his hand after he supposedly threw it. He quickly hides it behind his leg, but it's plain to be seen if you watch for it. I honestly don't think it's a blooper--the camera angle was unnecessary and they could have edited around it if they needed to. There's also a moment when Harding is staring through the window of his office, remembering the murder--if you look carefully, you can see the reflection of the Inukshuk in the glass.
Through the use of applied explanation-dating and bad-hair-dating, I have come to the conclusion that this episode was probably one of the first episodes filmed in the 3rd season--along with Eclipse and Asylum. (There is a full explanation and Ray's hair is slicked down.) This leads me to wonder if this script might have been originally written with Ray Vecchio in mind. Obviously it has been tailored to fit the third season cast (can you imagine Elaine lobbying for a cappuccino machine?) but the scene in Welsh's office with Stella Kowalski particularly strikes me as one that would have been perfect for RayV, with Louise St. Laurent in Stella's place. While Stella was usually curt with her ex-husband, she wasn't usually as nasty with the other characters as Louise was, except for this episode.
Duesies:Ray: In my opinion, if you give another country a gift, you give them something practical, like when we gave you those assault rifles.
Welsh: Hey, nice pile of rocks.Fraser: Could you elucidate, sir?
Welsh: No, no, not since the late sixties.Fraser: Miss Madison, are we to assume, then, that Miss Cates was not involved in an abusive relationship with Mr. Bennet, and that she did not kill Mr. Bennet in an effort to protect the younger man, sometimes referred to as pool boy, otherwise known as Keith Warren?
(I can't believe Fraser called the suspect "pool boy.")Welsh: Who cares? Look, you load a gun, you cock the trigger, you give the gun to Thatcher, she uses it on Fraser. I find out your hand was on the gun, you both go away.
Thatcher: I would never shoot a fellow officer.
Welsh: That's 'cause you never had Ray working under you. You'd change your tune.
Ray: What?
Welsh: Hey, I'd shoot you.Fraser: Ah. It is the duty of all members who are peace officers, subject to the orders of the commissioner, to perform those duties that are assigned to them as peace officers in relation to the preservation of peace, the prevention of crime and of offenses against the laws of Canada, and . . . Good. Now, Inspector, I want you to go back a few hours. You will find yourself in the mall.
Frannie: Oh, good. I love shopping.
Welsh & Ray: [in unison]: Nice pile of rocks.Fraser: Ray, have you considered contacts?
Ray: Too much fuss.
Welsh: Stop, police!
Ray: Have you considered a gun?
Fraser: Too many legalities.
Ray: Oh. Look, Fraser, just once I would like to say, "Rack that bad boy and cover me."Fraser: Oh, I think you'll shoot, but I think you'll discover you've spent all your ammunition.
Welsh: It's a standard, nine rounds.
Ray: I counted eight rounds
Thatcher: I heard seven.
Welsh: It was six.
Thatcher: Seven.
Ray: Eight.
Thatcher: Seven.
Ray: Eight.Ray: On the ground! I will beat you to death with this empty gun!
Third Runner-up Nitpick of the Week:"He always had a couple of those guys with him. Bodyguards." That's what Judy said about the fourth "man" at the table. So if the killer behind the Inukshuk was one of Bennett's bodyguards, where was the other?
Second Runner-up Nitpick of the Week:
Thatcher didn't see the murder because she was distracted by the sight of Fraser running after the purse snatcher. Why did she "remember" seeing him running towards her, when he was actually running away from her?
Runner-up Nitpick of the Week:
Canada gives Chicago an Inukshuk, and Chicago sends a mere police lieutenant to speak at the dedication? This would be a insult. There was absolutely no reason, script-wise or production-wise, why Welsh couldn't have been there to supervise the security arrangements (along with Ray and the two Mounties) while a puffed-up politician (shown or not, it wouldn't matter) prepared to give a speech.
Three-part Nitpick of the Week:
1. After Ray reloaded his weapon, he fired off nine quick rounds while walking forward. Yet when he reached the corner, he was surprised that the suspect was nowhere in sight. What in God's name was he shooting at, and why did he waste all his remaining ammunition when he couldn't see the target?
2. Thatcher and Welsh emerged from the building only in time to hear the last two shots. On what did they base their arguments about how many shots had been fired?
3. Twenty-seven gunshots outside a police station--where the hell are all the cops?????
Fraser Factoid of the Week:"An Inukshuk embodies the human spirit. You think of it as a message center: it can tell you about the depth of the snow, or the directions to the mainland, or where the best seals are."
Cringe-worthy Moment of the Week:I have to cast my vote with those who find Fraser's use of post-hypnotic suggestion to be uncomfortably un-Fraserlike. He may not have meant any harm, but it was unethical and cruel to manipulate his friends that way. If his boss ever finds out that he used hypnosis to score some time off from work, he can expect a severe reprimand.
Moment of the Week:Frannie: Oh, good. I love shopping.
Welsh & Ray [in unison]: Nice pile of rocks.
Snack to enjoy while watching Seeing is Believing:Cappuccino! Unless you're a cop, of course, in which case you're programmed to drink bad coffee.
Grading:
The Crime C Do you see what I see? B Cleverness A- Overall Grade B
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