Un-Fraser-like? Or...?
A while back, Ms Shirochan talked about "un-Fraser-like" moments of Benny in her diary. That got me intrigued. Me, I looove those moments when we get to see our Mountie's hidden sides.
My favorite un-Fraser-ish Fraser so far is, of course, that steel-eyed guy in BitH who boots Gerard in the chest and throws a knife at him. Some say that those pieces of acting, probably ad-libbed by PG (?), verged on being "out-of-character," but I'm of the camp who says "whatever's onscreen, we've got to take it as canon, no matter how it got there." Besides, him being human about his anger makes it much more heroic that he's not giving in to Ray's and Dad's suggestions. And besides. . .*g* Those scenes are just damn *hot*! Ahem. So that's my favorite example, but I also agree with Ms. Shirochan, who points out this dialogue between him and Ray in Vault:
BF "She[Francesca]’s also a very intelligent young woman. Capable of handling herself in any given situation."
RV "Do you really believe that?"
BF "Not at all."
-- Hey, that was mean!
Even if Fraser may be considered a chauvinist at heart (I mean, his comments to Melissa in SLIR? Yeesh!), and in this case, well, he was right about his mistrust in Frannie. . . But still. He's usually much nicer about people. So we've got to wonder -- what, he's finally gotten fed up with Francesca for her constant advances?
Or, he's just really convinced of Francesca's stupidity, and his sense of honesty wins over his nicety. I started to think about this a lot, when I finally got to S1 later last year.
Pizzas and Promises. At the river, just before jumping in to save Ray, Fraser looks frustrated with Francesca. Really frustrated, almost pissed, even though he still manages to keep his calm. "The keys." Whoa, that tone of voice, coming from him? And the way he looks at her! Possibly my second favorite un-Fraser-like scene ever, so far. (Apparently, I have this kink for seeing him get angry for a change*g*) See, the thing is, we all think it's Frannie's fault that she can't find the keys -- or at least I did -- because *Fraser* seems to think that way, all the way to the end. But no, wind back, and the scene in the carwash shows Ray still holding the key ring as he goes into the trunk. (Since Frannie has just driven from the car dealer's, she can't have had the time to separate a spare from the ring she hands over to Ray. Furthermore, she had no reason to, since Ray's change of plans comes out of the blue.) Nobody, including Fraser or Francesca herself, seems to notice this mistake afterwards.
I like choosing to think that this is the point where Fraser started to get really annoyed with Frannie, to think of her as nothing more than trouble; that it was his fear for Ray's life that colored his view permanently. (Come to think of it, his worried "I don't know about this. . ." to Ray, in the car wash, was pretty un-Fraser-like, too, wasn't it? Because this could be the closest he ever looks to frightened.) So from this point on, Francesca is more and more the character with an empty head -- in Fraser's eyes and *therefore* in ours -- but DS bases this decent on a misunderstanding. Neat!
Um, okay, so that was a bit biased view near the end, with my F/V-tinted glasses on. Still, I think there's a strong link between P & P and Fraser's uncharitableness towards Frannie in Vault, no matter if you see Benny and Ray as friends or lovers.
Hmm, I'm really curious to see the S3 Francesca now -- amongst a million other things I want to see about S3! Arrgh. Alliance, what's the matter with you?? (And NHK! Air it, I beseech you! I still want to know what RayK sounds like in Japanese!!)
My favorite un-Fraser-ish Fraser so far is, of course, that steel-eyed guy in BitH who boots Gerard in the chest and throws a knife at him. Some say that those pieces of acting, probably ad-libbed by PG (?), verged on being "out-of-character," but I'm of the camp who says "whatever's onscreen, we've got to take it as canon, no matter how it got there." Besides, him being human about his anger makes it much more heroic that he's not giving in to Ray's and Dad's suggestions. And besides. . .*g* Those scenes are just damn *hot*! Ahem. So that's my favorite example, but I also agree with Ms. Shirochan, who points out this dialogue between him and Ray in Vault:
BF "She[Francesca]’s also a very intelligent young woman. Capable of handling herself in any given situation."
RV "Do you really believe that?"
BF "Not at all."
-- Hey, that was mean!
Even if Fraser may be considered a chauvinist at heart (I mean, his comments to Melissa in SLIR? Yeesh!), and in this case, well, he was right about his mistrust in Frannie. . . But still. He's usually much nicer about people. So we've got to wonder -- what, he's finally gotten fed up with Francesca for her constant advances?
Or, he's just really convinced of Francesca's stupidity, and his sense of honesty wins over his nicety. I started to think about this a lot, when I finally got to S1 later last year.
Pizzas and Promises. At the river, just before jumping in to save Ray, Fraser looks frustrated with Francesca. Really frustrated, almost pissed, even though he still manages to keep his calm. "The keys." Whoa, that tone of voice, coming from him? And the way he looks at her! Possibly my second favorite un-Fraser-like scene ever, so far. (Apparently, I have this kink for seeing him get angry for a change*g*) See, the thing is, we all think it's Frannie's fault that she can't find the keys -- or at least I did -- because *Fraser* seems to think that way, all the way to the end. But no, wind back, and the scene in the carwash shows Ray still holding the key ring as he goes into the trunk. (Since Frannie has just driven from the car dealer's, she can't have had the time to separate a spare from the ring she hands over to Ray. Furthermore, she had no reason to, since Ray's change of plans comes out of the blue.) Nobody, including Fraser or Francesca herself, seems to notice this mistake afterwards.
I like choosing to think that this is the point where Fraser started to get really annoyed with Frannie, to think of her as nothing more than trouble; that it was his fear for Ray's life that colored his view permanently. (Come to think of it, his worried "I don't know about this. . ." to Ray, in the car wash, was pretty un-Fraser-like, too, wasn't it? Because this could be the closest he ever looks to frightened.) So from this point on, Francesca is more and more the character with an empty head -- in Fraser's eyes and *therefore* in ours -- but DS bases this decent on a misunderstanding. Neat!
Um, okay, so that was a bit biased view near the end, with my F/V-tinted glasses on. Still, I think there's a strong link between P & P and Fraser's uncharitableness towards Frannie in Vault, no matter if you see Benny and Ray as friends or lovers.
Hmm, I'm really curious to see the S3 Francesca now -- amongst a million other things I want to see about S3! Arrgh. Alliance, what's the matter with you?? (And NHK! Air it, I beseech you! I still want to know what RayK sounds like in Japanese!!)