Letting Go was pretty much the first Due South I paid attention to. My wife had recorded it and I was off sick one day and I found myself watching it for want of something to do.
At the start of the episode Frazer is very sick indeed. He is also desperately unhappy following the departure of Victoria. Frazer has lost Victoria before but this time the misery of lost love is compounded by the physical pain and the enforced inactivity. He sleeps a lot, we learn but the hours awake are long and tedious.
Ray comes by but Frazer has little time for him. Things are very bad between them, in the previous episode Frazer had shut Ray out completely and without warning. And Frazer, for his part had stopped one of Ray’s bullets, (meant for Victoria).
Defenbaker, who has somehow made it to the hospital room where Frazer is confined, is attracted by activities in the hospital block opposite Frazers room. The use of the camera is very skillful here, in seconds we see tiny dramas playing out, an elderly couple receiving bad news, hospital workers sharing a joint, a pretty girl leading an exercise class. Realizing that it's impolite to be spying he turns back to the tedium and pain.
Dad comes to visit, no-one else but Frazer can see Dad, and it turns out that Dad has his own private ghost, Grandma. Only Dad can see Grandma but we see her and realize that she is keeping an eye out for Frazer. Both are concerned by Frazer's lack of progress.
The pretty girl comes by, she is in fact a physical therapist and she turns out to be every bit as sharp as Frazer, her examination of Frazer wound by wound shows great perception, and we discover that the apparently flawless Frazer has in fact many physical and mental scars. She also realizes that Frazer has been watching her despite a classic Sherlock Holmes act by Frazer to try and disguise this.
This is where the actual detective story starts, as another drama unfolds in an office in the block opposite, guns and drugs seem to be in evidence and an attractive woman who looks a lot like Victoria. Both Frazer and the girl start to get curious and this is a turning point for Frazer, with a problem to solve he starts to come back to life, as Grandma notes with some satisfaction.
Ray comes by at this point and they start to patch things up.
Frazer and the girl are shut out by a skillfully photographed blind as Ray lends a hand by doing some official investigating. It seems that everything is above board apart from a little adultery. Frazer is left feeling rather ashamed and foolish. At this point it looks as though this might be the end of the investigation, and perhaps Frazer's recovery. Fortunately the therapist is determined to persevere and the tension mounts as she and Def. mount a rather hazardous investigation.
As things come to the boil the therapist finds herself in harms way, Def. gets locked in an office and can’t help and Frazer has to mount a tense wheel chair borne rescue. Ray appears at the very last minute and ends up stopping a bullet.
At the closing scene we see Frazer and Ray both in bandages but back to normal as regards their usual banter with each other.
Despite its claustrophobic setting this episode is very beautifully done. It has some of the most subtle yet skillful photography ever in Due South and this when the only exterior’s available are of hospital windows. The view of the overlaid reflected image as Grandma looks in on Frazer and movement of the blind on the office window facing thrill me whenever I watch this, it’s truly amazing. The music from Sarah McLaughlan is excellent and Frazer’s Dad appears in a swimming pool with one of his best lines, ("couldn’t you think of me in a bathing suit")
First, let me grant the negatives and get them out of the way. The lovesick junkie doc and her sleazy intern boytoy were contrived and superficial, and the showdown in the hospital corridor was melodramatic and unbelievable. `Nuff said.
Onto what I did like: Fraser and Ray, Fraser and Dief, Fraser and Fraser Sr., music by Sarah and plot by Alfred, and lots of lovely close-ups of PG. The show's fascination with Hitchcock is something I haven't yet figured out, but I found it absolutely right that "Rear Window" should have been the model for this episode, after the use of "North by Northwest" in VS. NBNW is the tale of an innocent man caught in the middle of an intrigue and manipulated by forces he cannot see; RW is the tale of a man of action forced into immobility and voyeurism who ends up turning his gaze inside his inner window. If that's not the substance of the episodes VS and LG, I'm eating my "Psycho" poster.
The heroines likewise remind me of the two films. Despite Fraser's contention that his therapist Jill is "the most contrary woman," she is most decidedly not. Victoria was the contrary one -- a corrupt, duplicitous woman who, like her role model Eve Kendall, "could tease a man to death without half trying" (Cary Grant's line). Jill is everything Victoria was not: blonde and blunt, a woman who "puts her cards on the table" and lives a life devoted not to revenge and self-gratification but to therapy and justice. She is much more reminiscent of the brave, spirited Lisa of RW than the good/bad temptress Eve of NBNW.
She's also a marvelous match for Fraser. She puts up with his uncharacteristic terseness, seeming to understand that it's not his usual modus operandi, and best of all gives him a taste of his own medicine (a cliche that is, I think, entirely appropriate for a show set in a hospital). When Fraser tries to cover up his spying on her by claiming that he "deduced" she was a physical therapist, she deduces him right back, and in the process not only discovers the truth about how he knew who she was but elicits a confession about the infamous otter incident. It is essential at this point that Fraser NOT be allowed to get away with lying -- I see him as a man on a slippery slope, on the brink of sliding into bitterness, self-delusion, and moral relativism, evidenced by his excuses to Dief for prying. And it is also essential that, on meeting a woman whose specialty is the physical, Fraser experience a re-awakening of his, uh, physical side. PG was brilliantly funny with his jerks and tics in this scene, just enough of a waver in his voice so that you weren't sure if he was feeling pain or excitement or both as Jill poked and prodded her way into his secrets.
Jill does more than prod him back to life; she calls him to account for his rudeness, making him cry "ouch" when he won't cooperate with her speculations and cutting short his diatribe about her interference with his personal life by pointing out that she was talking about the doctor. Later, when Fraser seems on the verge of giving up, "throwing in the towel," it is Jill who carries him to the side of the pool and helps him to his feet. And what a lovely image that was, of support, of cleansing, of restoring the spirit along with the body. Apparently it worked because when we see them next, we see a man whose appetite has returned, a man who wants ALL of the chili dogs. And forgive me if this is just too Freudian, but I had to laugh when Fraser responds to Jill's statement that she doesn't have a boyfriend by offering her a pickle.
I did hope that we would see a return of Jill in future episodes, but on reflection I can see that it would never work. In modern psychobabble terms, she is his "transitional relationship," the one who frees him to kiss a woman on a train without any Victoria residue to muck things up. And, of course, there is that ultimate impediment to any future relationship between Jill and Fraser: a cat named Barney.
In the end, it isn't the Fraser/Jill relationship but the Fraser/Ray reconciliation that appeals to me the most in this episode. The first scene between the two of them is almost painful to watch, with their lack of eye contact and their stilted conversation. Ray's attempts to help with the television are inept and annoying, and Fraser's thanks ring hollow, almost sarcastic. About the only time they connect is when they talk about Dief, but even Dief wants Ray to leave. (Fraser just hints, while Dief barks Ray out of his chair.) There are moments of hope, though. Ray's television might not be receiving a signal, but Fraser gets Ray's signal about the dangers of relying on pain killers. And the two of them manage to skirt the most dangerous moment: Fraser telling Ray that he'd "done more than enough already." Kudos to PG and the director for deadpanning that line, a potentially devastating one as far as their friendship is concerned -- the kind of barb that can never be completely taken back.
For emotional plotting, things don't get much better than the next scene between the two of them: the power saw scene. When it opens, things are still out of kilter. Fraser never thanks Ray, kindly or otherwise, for the gift (or for his willingness to give up his vacation to "kill three or four thousand mosquitoes"), but Ray's sacrifice does seem to do the trick. When Ray asks if Fraser wants him to leave, Fraser's "no" is spoken with such artless sincerity that Ray smiles like a kid whose best buddy just moved in next door. Then there is (in my mind) the real turning point. After Ray describes their trip north as a "do-over," Fraser flashes back to his last experience with a do-over: his date with Victoria. Only this time it's different. In Victoria's hands is the snow globe, that image of enclosure in snow that once upon a time would have symbolized their love but now acts as a reminder of Victoria's treachery and of the threat she posed to Ray. She lets go of the globe (the episode title?), and it shatters, along with Fraser's dreams of a life with her. When we return to the hospital room, we find Fraser and Ray talking about rebuilding the cabin (and, by inference, their friendship). "I have two axes," Fraser tells Ray, repeating the "two" as if revising the image of his future, and the person with which he will spend that future.
Having forgiven Ray, there remains but one hurdle for our Mountie: forgiving himself. For what, you ask? (or don't ask -- this review has gotten way too long) For trying to leave with Victoria. Should he have tried? Yes, absolutely. But thank God (or thank Ray) that he didn't succeed. His debt to Victoria was repaid when he let her get on the train. To have gone with her would not have been an "even Steven" decision -- it would have been a betrayal of himself. He tells the lovesick junkie doc, "You did the only thing that made sense. You tried to destroy yourself," and I believe he is recognizing at that moment that to have gotten on the train would have destroyed him. He can see this now because he has made confession to the one person who could provide him absolution, the person who would have suffered most had he left with Victoria: Ray. When he admits to Ray that he was not running after Victoria to apprehend her (implied) but to escape with her, I heard the voice of a man admitting fallibility, and in Ray's gentle "I know," I heard the voice of a friend forgiving another for making a mistake, for being human.
Gosh, there's so much more I like about this episode: the great wonderful absurdity of the Mountie in the Pool, the "not dead enough" grandmother, the on-the-mark use of Sarah's "Plenty" as counterpoint to "Possession" in VS, the ingrate Dief . . . but I've gone on long enough. Thank you kindly for listening.
One last thought on "Letting Go." Could the title have come from the following Emily Dickinson poem? The images certainly mesh (esp. the last two lines):
The Feet mechanical, go round -- This is the House of Lead --
After great pain, a formal feeling comes --
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs --
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought --
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone --
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow --
First -- Chill -- then Stupor -- then the letting go --
It's in this episode that I get evidence for something I've been saying about Ray Vecchio in my fan fiction: that he is a stronger and better man than Benton Fraser. Fraser's behaviour in Letting Go' was immature, inexcusable, and self-centred. All Fraser could see was what Ray had done to him: prevented him from going with Victoria after having shot him in the back. But Fraser never appears to realise his betrayal of Ray, the fact that he was prepared to sacrifice Ray in order to go with Victoria.
All of Fraser's cruelest lines are delivered in an even tone, as they should be, since this is Fraser we're talking about here, Fraser the calculative manipulator, the man who knows how to go straight for the nerve and not even have his victim realise it. In the opening scenes of Letting Go' we see how torn up Ray is because of the fact that he shot Fraser. He is capable of going beyond what Fraser almost cost him and only concentrate on his own error. Ray sticks by Fraser from the beginning of his long recovery. All Fraser can do is reject Ray. "You're in his chair" is Fraser's polite way of saying "Leave me alone, you *&/$%$." "You've done more than enough already" means pretty much the same thing.
The rift between the two seems to close up when Ray announces his plan to go up north and help Fraser rebuild his Dad's cabin. But as Ray is talking to Fraser, all Fraser can think of is Victoria, the fact that he doesn't want to let her go, to put her behind him. Yet, Fraser does seem on the way to recovery ("You want me to go?" "No."), and he acts in an almost human fashion with Ray until the very last scene where I wished I could have just slapped him back to reason.
"Well I'll admit I got a certain perverse pleasure out of it." "You see? You we're mad at me!" "Well you shot me in the back!" Come on, Ben! Ray knows that he shot you in the back. Now, he has taken a bullet for you. Why don't you just rub a little more salt in that wound, huh?
Ray, being the more mature of the pair, lets Fraser's lashing out slide and it would appear that all is well once again between them. Somehow, I wasn't surprised in North' when Fraser continued to act selfishly, even though he was injured, again. And, in Vault', yet again, Fraser said something mean to Ray.
Perhaps if Fraser had learned to scream like Ray does, to leave his ivory tower built up with bricks of loneliness and betrayal, he could have seen what he did to Ray. The only acknowledgement of his betrayal of Ray is "I was going with her you know" to which Ray answers "I know." What he really knows is that this is the only apology he'll ever get from Benton Fraser. For Ray, that's enough. I was horrified in season two when Fraser mentioned Ray's shooting of him at one point.
Ray is the only one who did any real letting go' in this episode. Fraser needs to grow up.
I'm not done yet. :)
Fraser also acts in an immature fashion around Jill Kennedy ("can we move on?"), although I must admit I'd be a little snarky too if some nurse were touching me without my permission. Fraser also has a childish attitude towards his own recovery. "You gonna use this thing?" "Thinking about it." "Keep thinking, three months. Start using, a couple of weeks." Fraser is so wrapped up in his grief of losing Victoria again that he doesn't seem to care about his physical well-being or his recovery. Although it is never stated explicitly, it would appear that Fraser is going a little over-board with the pain killers, only Ray succeeds in making him realise this.
Fraser does have some reasons for acting like this. "Another hunter?" "Friend actually. He was aiming for someone else." "Who?" "A woman." Ah, ha! Is this Fraser's way of saying that he is angry because Ray was trying to kill Victoria, and not because Ray shot him? Another possible reason for Fraser's behaviour is that this is the only way he knows of dealing with emotional pain. Perhaps a blame' could be placed on his grand-mother who, in this episode, doesn't come off as being the most compassionate person in the world. We must remember that this is the woman who allowed her grand-son to play hockey with his friends after school until well after sundown. All Martha Fraser (gosh that makes me laugh every time!) means when she says "Can't stay in bed for ever" is that it's time for Fraser to grow up, deal with his problems, and start living again. Tough love.
Only when Fraser says "I... I've taken a leave of absence" do we realise just how deep his emotional and physical wounds are. Not only this, but it's here that he admits to all the crimes he committed in VS (breaking and entering, vandalism, using stolen money to buy stolen goods, jumping bail, aiding and abetting a criminal, letting a criminal go... need I go on?).
The similarities between Fraser and Victoria and Dr Carter and her lover were obviously intentional. As Fraser observes the strange going ons in the office, it's here that he must decide if he's going to allow Victoria, Ray--and himself-- to break his spirit, or if he's going to move on. This is where Fraser's healing process starts, when he decides to get involved in the case. He resolves his issues with Victoria in his "I understand that sometimes you can love someone so much..." speech.
But Fraser never resolves his issues with Ray. A lot of that anger has been carried into the second season. Ray goes along with it, feeling that he deserves Fraser's anger. But by Juliet is Bleeding' Ray has had enough and this is why he turns against his supposed best friend in the infamous squad room scene. It's also in JIB that I think that Fraser and Ray finally manage to move on.
Letting Go' was brilliant. The opening scene with Fraser on the gurny was a clever way of avoiding the cliched Last week on dueSouth...' (cut to scenes from the previous ep). I don't think that it was a coincidence that Fraser said She was the only woman I ever loved' and the scene jumped to the scene of him in bed with Victoria. I cannot describe the look on his face as Fraser thinks Victoria is standing by him, in a nurse's outfit. That one look was Gemini award winning acting on Paul Gross' part. The next scene was necessary to let the audience know right off hand that Fraser is not paralysed. I like the scene where Fraser admonishes Dief for staring out the window because Fraser is trying to rationalize his own prying. That this scene is the only one in all of dueSouth where I've found Fraser handsome doesn't hurt either. :)
The Fraser of Letting Go' is unlike any we have seen before or since, even in North'. He is physically fragile, unable to shake a fly from his toe, needing a wheelchair to get around, a person to lean on as he walks. He is snarky ("...and leave my personal life to me"), endearing ("You cut it."), and withdrawn ("No, relieved is more like it."). He is mean even to the point of cruelty. He is human. Fraser's methods of dealing with a pain, more emotional than physical, than anyone should ever have to deal with might not be the best or the most humane one, but at least Fraser reacts. He lets his emotions out as much as he is capable of. That is his only redeeming factor in Letting Go'.
On a more personal level, I started to watch dS around this point. This is the first impression I got of Fraser. Is it a wonder I disliked him so much? Now that I've gotten a chance to know him a bit better, from his pre-Victoria days, I don't dislike him as much, although right off the bat he lost the possibility of ever becoming my favourite character. As an old adage goes You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.'
(Now would be a good time to check my 'Good for the Soul' review before you send otters!)
I don't think I need to go into the plot, I believe the excellent reviewers on this site have already done that.
I just want to comment that I thought the acting between Paul Gross and David Marciano was supurb. Their scenes together were filled with tension despite their seemingly easy banter. Ray was trying so hard to be friends with Fraser again and Fraser just holds him at arms length. "Thanks, Ray. You've done enough already" says Fraser in those perfectly even tones that barely disguises his anger at Ray. The next scene with the two of them together was alot sadder, Ray wants to take Fraser back to Canada and help him rebuild his father's cabin. Fraser does see that Ray is trying to cheer him up and I believe he does appreciate it, except he is still thinking of the lovely, backstabbing Victoria. Fraser is lying in bed, half heartedly joking with Ray, but his eyes look like he is a million miles away, possibly catching up with Victoria. That kinda broke my heart. Paul Gross does such an awesome job conveying Fraser's anguish under his calm, polite demeaner.
Gordon Pinsent was so funny! He had me laughing out loud! Love the scene with him floating in the pool with his mountie outfit. That was priceless!
Another personal comment, the doctor that Fraser and his physical therapist was spying on, reminded me so much of Victoria. She had the same long curly brown hair and the same style of dress. The actress that played the doctor is almost as lovely as Melina Kanadaredes (Victoria). I'm surprised Fraser wasn't more intrigued by her.
The episode ends with Ray finally, really proving he cares about Fraser, was when he took a bullet for him. That's when Fraser realizes just what a good friend Ray is.
All in all, a good way to round out the "Victoria" story arc.