Sad Baby Boy Benton Fraser
Or how I see a progression of different loneliness and detachment in the last seasons.
Because yes, Fraser is a man of solitudes.
Sorta.
In the first season he's both set up as an outsider, and is grappling with feelings of grief and of facing being alone losing his country and father. Anchors he`s had his whole life.
We also do often follow him in solitary thought or moments.
But it's the difference in connection and embracing that question. In framing it reflective solitude vs wanted.
A scene that`s sticking in me is not a big one but a note. That one of Fraser going off to stare out the window in Chinatown. To sit alone with his worry and feels. It's what he does.
That Ray drags him out of.
That is a recurring. The many times it's Fraser being a loner, but getting emotionally dragged out or saved from that lonely head space mind-set by Ray showing up in presence and to emotionally pry Fraser out. By being there with.
Extending out to not just Ray. One Good Man and his fellow tenants making me cry like onions.
Fraser has a solitary lean but when he tries to opens up or people reach out back it becomes no one has to go it alone or wants to be.
So when we get to season 3, and we get Fraser back but facing a new loss in Ray Vecchio too, I see a shift in him as early as Could Have Been A Defendant.
An I don't belong and don't want to stay here appears with his alone moments. And in his interactions. Worse than before.
As we progress through, we see a reflection in the cases and in how Fraser doesn't open himself to the people involved anymore either.
There isn't nodding at the Lee family, hugging Ms. Gamez, getting hugged by Ian because he goes to pep talk or befriending a Lucy or a Willie. There is solving the old pretzel guy's murder and caring about the wife but not being connected. It's only obligations that connect now. There is Bruce and Eloise who he shares with and that's pretty much it really off my head. Because those are outsiders too.
This is not to say he's not caring or spending time with people or the cast now. Not at all. But it is strangely surfaced in my read. Its partaking in events like the movies or gift exchange. It`s trying to fix or hanging out with Ray K but an unease lingering. Its sharing with them, or craving it with people like Janet Morse or the country singer, in micro, but buffering it with a self distance too.
It's really something not the same, and the simple of it, is because this seeking emotional support for Fraser himself or accepting it back is gone, is now with his GhostDad, or off the table, and seeking a return of self through this past or the idea of Canadian freedom that also rears up is him no longer really wanting these connections. It sure comes out like he is creating this distance now in a space he was once trying in or had belonged.
Allow some examples.
Could Have Been A Defendant : Connecting with Bruce through difference and then having to be okay alone after brotherly loss/betrayal.
Bounty Hunter : Seeking Janet as an idea of another life attraction and escape cause he`s vulnerable and lost right now.
Spy vs. Spy : Getting to know or be a part of a new neighbourhood but rejecting it by end for no given verbal reason. But there is an indirect comparison of his identity/role realities and the man who believes he was a spy and both betrayed and aided by it same that stings.
Perfect Strangers : Like my boy, I do not get you this episode and yet wow I wanna put this one under the microscope most days. You know what a fuck-pad is! I HAVE QUESTIONS FRASER!
Dead Guy; And re: not really talking to Frannie about the emotions for her or him versus his GhostDad in the backseat driving. He's not being honest with her or letting her in versus say The Duel, where she has invaded his space but he does and was talking to her. I get why he's not gonna unload his feels on her in this instance, but its very pointed that he nopes backwards out of trying to be real for them both.
Mountie on the Bounty : Fraser not willing to give in. Fraser willing to hit back. Someone else dictating if he stays or goes. Bob, Bob fucking Fraser, having to tell his son to extend himself and let Ray K in enough to stick this out.
Easy Money : He does not share really about who Quinn is to him and this isn't Eric in the apartment with family included and the heist and interplay. This is straight some quests don't work and home is lost and sad times staring at home on a wall that`s dead. Don't mistake like I did.
Dead Men Don't Throw Rice : Woof to not caring that your charge got murdered and you`re on a coffin on top of him. To goofing on Frannie`s feels. To being oh well to the idea of dying and leaving everything behind!
Mountie Sings the Blues : I miss the simple life says Fraser to a country star. Remember when the work and the role was fun? Or the idea of leaving it all behind? Umm Fraser; When was that?
