there's been all kinds of commentary on fraser's relationship with being hit on and sexuality and romance in general, and (if you'll forgive my two cents on a 30 year old show) one thing has been nagging at me after watching the episode with zuko and the church theft (s1e18 i believe?)
fraser gets thoroughly whumped in the course of this episode, as one does, but the interesting part is how the show draws parallels between the two different parties doing the whumping: namely, the mobsters, and the women pursuing fraser romantically.
as fraser is being beaten by the mobsters in the third act of the episode, there is a camera shot that lingers on his face, looking upwards: he's beaten to hell, mouth hanging open, pupils small. he can't move and he can't get free, only take the beating
less than five minutes later, at the station: fraser is laying back in elaine's chair as she dabs alcohol on the cuts on his face and he is very visibly (and unusually vocally) in pain as she does it. he stammers his way into one of his tuktoyaktuk stories, with the otter, when she asks about the scar under his collarbone, but it's obviously a shield, calling back to the opening of the episode when he literally jumped off a balcony to get away from francesca relentlessly hitting on him.
there is another camera shot, as he's laying back in the chair. he's looking up. beaten to hell, mouth open, pupils small with pain. he can't move and he can't get free- but this time he can deflect, like fraser constantly does throughout the show. we even see him do it to zuko, in the first basketball game
the episode closes (if you'll forgive the spoilers) with two paired shots of ray v and fraser, with the voiceover of fraser sr as fraser reads his journals
ray v is in his pyjamas in his bedroom, staring down at his service weapon. debating with himself over whether to keep it loaded; working through his fear, of whether he's going to live to the morning after beating up zuko. the implication is that someone might be coming for him, but both ray v and the voiceover come to the same decision: to remove the clip and lock up the gun for the night, to lay back and release the fear instead and sleep.
fraser is in his apartment, lantern lit, reading an account of his father's journals where fraser sr put away a criminal who swore to come for him, and then lay awake and heard every noise until he decided to release the fear and go to sleep.
we see the expression on his face at the lines. not quite skepticism, more 'how do i do that, dad?' 'how do i do that when i am afraid for someone else?', which goes back to fraser's issues with his father in general and how he left him behind.
and fraser lays down onto the bed and onto his back, as ray v had. and he waits, and he tries to release his fear, coming to terms with it or trying to.
and the threat that comes through the door is a beautiful woman in a short dress and lingerie, instead of a hitman; but they are framed exactly the same