Aaaaahhh, I am resisting just saying "Why why why do people recommend skipping season 1 and 2 when THOSE ARE THE ACTUAL GOOD SEASONS" and reminding myself that people swing both Rays.
Actually, it's more of a case of which Paul you swing -- Haggis or Gross? The original creator, Paul Haggis, created a loopy magical realism show -- of which one of the most unrealistic realism bits was that there was this perfect, beautiful, honorable, noble man... who lived in Chicago with a deaf wolf.
75% of the time, that's what due South was -- juuuust this side of self-consciously wacky. A lot of fun, but not a lot of deep.
But. One of my favorite moments in the show comes in first season when the Perfect Canadian (TM) is confronting a childhood enemy of Ray #1 (said enemy grew up to be the local petty mob heavy, said Ray grew up to be a cop).
Said petty mob guy has been trying to buy Frasier's approval in a heavy-handed sort of way. And Frasier cuts him down: "What I want, Mr. Zuko, and what the law allows, are two entirely different things."
And you realize that Frasier (Benton Fraiser, or Benny) is not as aw-shucks ignorant as he comes off. He's not a good, decent, honorable person because it has never occurred to him to be anything else. It's a chilling moment because it is so quiet -- without a lot of drama, we see that this person we respect so much could do horrible (or not-so-horrible but maybe be just as petty) things -- if it wasn't for his sense of honor.
When the show hits those moments, it is stunning.
As for Season 3 (or Seasons 3/4 -- I think the difference is that in the US it aired as one "season" and in Canada it aired split as two short seasons, but I could be wrong) -- in my humble opinion, it upped the wacky without really digging into that core of stillness in the center. I gave up on the show not because it pissed me off, but because it BORED me (mind you, I bailed during a Rashomon ep, which are always tricky). But, among other changes, they took a strong female character who was rather self-consciously prickly and "difficult" but who was attracted to Benny regardless and... massively over-saturated her in Photoshop. She became MORE prickly, MORE attracted (losing-places-in-sentences-attracted, which was in contrast to her hard-assness from before) and it just squicked me.
Now, there is a huge dividing line in the fandom -- whether the first season closer two-parter Victoria's Secret is massively awesome or an abomination unto this earth. I actually was hooked on the show due to that two parter (a woman from Benny's past comes back and basically attempts to trash everything he stands for) so I think it's massively awesome.
Paul Gross is on record as saying he didn't think it worked with the show and didn't really feel it was in keeping with it. And I think the divide between my opinion of Victoria's Secret and Paul Gross's points to why I didn't much like his version of the show.
I have due South feels!
Actually, it's more of a case of which Paul you swing -- Haggis or Gross? The original creator, Paul Haggis, created a loopy magical realism show -- of which one of the most unrealistic realism bits was that there was this perfect, beautiful, honorable, noble man... who lived in Chicago with a deaf wolf.
75% of the time, that's what due South was -- juuuust this side of self-consciously wacky. A lot of fun, but not a lot of deep.
But. One of my favorite moments in the show comes in first season when the Perfect Canadian (TM) is confronting a childhood enemy of Ray #1 (said enemy grew up to be the local petty mob heavy, said Ray grew up to be a cop).
Said petty mob guy has been trying to buy Frasier's approval in a heavy-handed sort of way. And Frasier cuts him down: "What I want, Mr. Zuko, and what the law allows, are two entirely different things."
And you realize that Frasier (Benton Fraiser, or Benny) is not as aw-shucks ignorant as he comes off. He's not a good, decent, honorable person because it has never occurred to him to be anything else. It's a chilling moment because it is so quiet -- without a lot of drama, we see that this person we respect so much could do horrible (or not-so-horrible but maybe be just as petty) things -- if it wasn't for his sense of honor.
When the show hits those moments, it is stunning.
As for Season 3 (or Seasons 3/4 -- I think the difference is that in the US it aired as one "season" and in Canada it aired split as two short seasons, but I could be wrong) -- in my humble opinion, it upped the wacky without really digging into that core of stillness in the center. I gave up on the show not because it pissed me off, but because it BORED me (mind you, I bailed during a Rashomon ep, which are always tricky). But, among other changes, they took a strong female character who was rather self-consciously prickly and "difficult" but who was attracted to Benny regardless and... massively over-saturated her in Photoshop. She became MORE prickly, MORE attracted (losing-places-in-sentences-attracted, which was in contrast to her hard-assness from before) and it just squicked me.
Now, there is a huge dividing line in the fandom -- whether the first season closer two-parter Victoria's Secret is massively awesome or an abomination unto this earth. I actually was hooked on the show due to that two parter (a woman from Benny's past comes back and basically attempts to trash everything he stands for) so I think it's massively awesome.
Paul Gross is on record as saying he didn't think it worked with the show and didn't really feel it was in keeping with it. And I think the divide between my opinion of Victoria's Secret and Paul Gross's points to why I didn't much like his version of the show.
Um. *blush* Did I mention the due South feels?