I don't like this guy. He's a blonde version of Ray. If they wanted Ray, they should have kept him, but they didn't. If they were going to introduce a new character, they should have, but they didn't. The episode was okay, but I liked the old Ray and I'm mad that he's gone.
Many are convinced that's almost what they did, and that Vecchio and Kowalski are too much alike, but Ray K. is nothing like the first Ray. Besides the "Chicago cop" bit, their personalities are universal opposites. Would Ray V. ever dress that way? Or say "Pitter patter let's get at 'er." or any other of those phrases Ray K. is so fond of?
One of the most interesting things about this season and this episode is seeing Fraser and Ray getting to know each other again. There are so many more possibilities for character development now. I'm not saying I don't miss the real Vecchio, I do, but this new character really grows on a person. Callum Keith Rennie is a brilliant and hilarious actor, as is David Marciano.
Every time I think I like the new Ray better I go back and watch an old episode on my video collection and can't decide again. They both have such different and lovable qualities about them it is impossible to decide! I think the loss of one Ray and the gain of another was handled beautifully by both the cast and crew of Due South and I continue to love the show just as much as I always have.
But, seriously...
"Burning Down The House" is fantastic! I was worried that with Paul Gross in charge of "Due South" the show would suffer from a far less subtle sense of humour. After this initial third-season episode, I have to say that I'm not nearly as worried.
Simply put, "Burning Down The House" is meta-fiction. It's a story that's about itself. It's an over-the-top spoof of "Due South".
The opening scene with the chase through the Canadian wilderness bring back the first time we saw Benton Fraser in the Pilot. We only see the end of the chase with Fraser making an impossible jump (or, at least an unlikely-to-survive jump), but the description we get minutes later in the RCMP office suggests a far longer and more involved pursuit than the one in the Pilot. On top of that, the criminal's offence seems at first to be more trivial than the other criminal's (littering as opposed to fishing over the limit) but turns out to be even worse than the first crime.
They make a point to mention that Buck Frobisher looks like Leslie Nielsen and that Leslie should be awarded the Order of Canada.
The criminal they're chasing is a "performance arsonist" who destroys art but is in actuality destroying the old sets from the first two seasons of "Due South". The new Canadian consulate was never in any danger of being torched because it's the *new* consulate; only the old consulate might have been burned. On the other hand, it was inevitable that the Riviera would be destroyed because it's part of the old "Due South" and they had to make way for the new show.
All that business with "...the lake they call Michigan", "You mean Lake Michigan?", "Yes, the lake they call Michigan." concerns the fact that they're really in Toronto and not Chicago, so it's really not Lake Michigan but rather Lake Ontario.
The way that Fraser crawls around all over the outside of the moving Riv is hilarious. He seems to fall off the back and then suddenly and impossibly appears right beside the driver's window in an exaggeration of the many times he's clung to moving vehicles in the past.
Fraser stating that cars hardly ever explode and then the Riv exploding is obvious and not very funny, but the Riv continuing to drive for blocks and blocks as a furiously flaming rolling fireball is very funny. It also seems a spoof of this "rare" automobile's two previous firey demises.
Fraser doesn't lose his hat no matter what happens. He comes up directly underneath it in the opening Canadian scene and it's the second thing out of the lake (after Dief) in the finale.
The shooting at the lakeshore is interesting. Greta Garbo rants that Zoltan Motherwell is a fine painter and artist and then shoots the new Ray. Even though Ray got shot by jumping in front of Fraser, Garbo shows no interest in trying to shoot Fraser again--just looks pleased that she shot the new guy. So, when she says that "he" was a fine artist, was she talking about Motherwell, or about David Marciano as she capped Callum Keith Rennie?
So, to recap, the whole thing is a big self-aware spoof of itself. Paul Gross does almost everything except look straight at the camera and wink. He's a playwright and so would be quite aware of plays by Sam Shepard, among others, where the characters become aware that they're fictitious beings in a play and it seems that that's what he's going for (sort of) in "Burning Down The House".
After we first saw "Burning Down The House", my friends and I discussed how cool it might have been if no one ever explained the new Ray to Fraser. Everyone else would be in on this big secret and only Fraser wouldn't know what was going on. It might have become some sort of creepy Kafka-esque paranoid saga where Fraser was forced to just go along with everyone with no idea what happened to the original Ray Vecchio and no idea of who this new guy was or why everyone was pretending that nothing was different. Boy, *that* would've put a whole new spin on the show!
Things I liked:
- "Routine is the silent killer."
"I thought that was heart disease."
"Nah, they changed that."
"When?"
"You were on vacation."
"Oh."
- Callum actually says "Fraser" instead of "Frasier". Sorry, all you David Marciano fans, but that always did irritate me.
- The fish.
- "Do not touch my inner thigh or calf!"
- "I know what you know--you know--and what everybody else knows; and all of that is... known."
The thing I disliked:
- That smarmy bit at the end with the postcard. Oh, gag me!
Anyway, in case my opinion isn't clear, I'll make it straightforward: I loved almost all of it! "Burning Down The House" is excellent bordering on brilliant.
There are places where this episode edges too close to self-parody. The bits with Fraser and the calipers come to mind, as does "Greta Garbo." But the actors keep it under control by playing it straight. The sequence where RayK and Fraser save Frannie and Tony from the burning house shows that when the chips are down, they make a good team because they have the same goals--just as RayV and Fraser did. And the final scene with the postcard is touching, as Fraser realizes that his friend Ray thought of him before he left.
I myself am a Rennie fan, and he is an excellent actor in this episode. He makes a great addition to the cast. The suspense leaves you on the edge of your seat during the show.
***1/2(out of 5)
I've seen all the Series One and Two so I'm starting to collect Series Three from the Clearvision video company.I must confess I only watched the first three episodes of this series when it broadcasted and I was slightly put off by the new Ray.
I am a big David Marciano fan as is my brother, and I feel that he will be badly missed by several fans across the world.I haven't seen much of Series Three but Rennie looks slightly out of his depth for the role.
You could always expect Vecchio to crack a few jokes,get annoyed over Fraser's quotes and old Inuit tales and in a way whining like a boy who's not got the right Action Man figure for Christmas.
But Ray's bickering made him the great character that he is and I'm sorry to say that the new guy hasn't got the Vecchio humour and extremeley short fuse.
Still there's a lot more of Series Three that I've got to see yet and I'm sure there's much more to Callum Keith Rennie's character than I think. Anyway about the rest of the episode.
Fraser returns home to Chicago to find his house has been burnt to the ground.He moves onto to the Station House to find an unknown guy at Vecchio's desk.And horrer upon horrers his name happens to be Ray Vecchio.But Fraser isn't fooled that easily.Before he can question the stranger any further, he recieves a call to say that the Vecchio household is about to be set alight.Fraser and 'Ray' set off to the Vecchio house to see that it is indeed on fire.Fraser rushes into the house to rescue Franchesca and Tony from the blaze,right before the fire crews arrive.
After finding a clue in the form of an aftershave,Fraser concludes that he and Ray are being pursued by a performance arsonist,seeking revenge for being arrested by them a few years back.From then on it's a desperate chase from interrogating a suspect to the Canadian Consulate,then through the streets of Chicago in the flaming Riviera!And finally the car is lost as Ray plunges it into Lake Michagen, desperate to put out the flames.Yep that's the third one gone!The end of our heroes?
Not quite.The Arsonist is astounded to see Fraser,Ray and Dief clamber back onto to dry land which eventually results in her capture. Back at the station Fraser consults Welsh and finds that Ray Vecchio has gone deep undercover with the mob, and he has to become partners with the new detective.
I have seen better episodes of Due South but this is the begining of new start and era for the programme.I look forward to watching Series Three.
3 out of 5.