Eclipse

Season 3
Episode #142

Original Broadcast Information

Writer:  John Krizanc
Director:  Richard J. Lewis

Significant Guest Stars: GLADYS - Jackie Burroughs, BRANDAUER - Alan Peterson, JIMMY - Walter Alza, BRONCO - Stephen Michalchuk, MARCUS ELLERY - Peter Bray, TOM - Aron Tager

Featured Music: OH, WHAT A FEELING, performed by Junkhouse

Official Synopsis:
While Kowalski is on a stakeout in a crypt, determined to confront a demon from his past -- a bank robber named Marcus Ellery -- Internal Affairs is investigating the detective division, including the former Ray Vecchio, on corruption charges. Fraser must help Kowalski face his past and bring him into the station to clear the charges before it's too late.

The Review Itself:
What can I say about this episode that hasn't already been said a hundred times?  Probably nothing.  But here goes...  Eclipse was intended, I think, to introduce the audience to Stanley Raymond Kowalski on a more intimate level than BdtH provided.  It also, I think, serves to introduce Ray and Fraser to each *other* on a more intimate level.  This is the first time we see Ray's clear disregard for authority, especially when his emotions are involved.  He's doing something that is important to him, and
everything else be damned.  He ignores Welsh on the answering machine, not once, but three times.  In the teaser, he's *on* and he's *up* and he's just fuckin' hot.  Rock-steady and confident, he clearly knows what he's doing.  He has surveillance gear, he's even gone so far as to have a bottle of single-malt scotch on hand, implying that he *knows* his initial bribe offer of cash will be rejected by Tom the Groundskeeper, and that he knows exactly what will be acceptable.

Fraser showing up at the 27th with his 'party supplies' is, as always, a triumph of Grossian weirdness.  Cabbage and trout.  I especially love the fact that he's not the least bit put out when Welsh says bobbing for trout is the dumbest thing he's ever heard of, and his confession that the 'locals favor something called Twister' with which he is clearly unfamiliar.  Also the matter-of-fact explanation that "apples aren't very plentiful in the Yukon." You have to wonder if he and the writers just sat around dreaming up bizarre things for Fraser to come up with and kept them in a file somewhere to use as the occasion demanded.  I was also interested to note the first use of the closet, traditionally the domain of Vecchio and Fraser for private conferences, by Welsh.  I like the inclusiveness with which Welsh treats Fraser; he knows and trusts him to get the job done, no matter what the job is.

(Interestingly, as I go over the notes I made for the review as I was watching the ep, there are about a third as many Fraser mentions as there are Ray mentions.  And the more I think about it, the more I realize that Paul probably *deliberately* backgrounded himself in this ep in order to give as much screen time and exposure as possible to CKR, which is, especially for a 'star,' a remarkably generous thing to do.)


The lengths to which Fraser goes in order to find Ray (blatant invasion of personal privacy) are revealing, and I have to wonder whether he was indulging in a certain amount of personal curiosity as well as professional.  I think it's telling that the only item he actually disturbs in Ray's apartment is the photograph of Ray and Stella which he picks up and stands gazing at in a rather distracted fashion.  Clearly he's wondering who the woman is, and what place she holds in Ray's world. When viewed through (as someone put it) slash-colored glasses that act takes on a slightly higher level of significance -- is he wondering about Stella out of simple curiosity, or is he trying to assess Ray's potential availability?  From Ray's apartment he (and we) learns that Ray is not particularly neat, that he apparently likes to dance, and to bicycle, and has a rather flamboyant and retro sense of personal style. 


When the landlady takes her leave saying 'Don't take anything." I always wonder if Fraser indulged himself in a more thorough evaluation of Ray's life extending to drawers, closets, and cabinets, which would tend to explain his later surprise at Ray's mention of his 'wife'.  Presumably he had looked into closets/drawers and discovered nothing that would lead him to believe a woman lived there.  I actually rather like the mental image of a Snooping Fraser, desperately curious and trying to find out as much as possible about this exotic new being that has come into his life.


Meanwhile, back at the cemetery, CKR reveals a wicked sense of comic timing in the broken/empty/not working bottle conversation with Tom which echoes classic Marx Brothers routines, and we discover Ray's essential pragmatism in his elegant solution to the problem.  It's fun to watch Ray setting up his surveillance, just doing his job ma'am, and to realize that he does feel just a little uncomfortable in that crypt.  I do wonder what makes him step backward out of the shadows and into the *light* when he
senses another presence in the crypt.  Poor direction probably.  His exasperation with Fraser for sneaking up on him is palpable, as is his relief at not having *shot* him.  In this scene we hear the much-loved "Are you unhinged?" crack, and Ray, for the first time, admits that he's not Ray Vecchio.

There is almost a sense of . . . diffidence, in the way he introduces himself as SRK-- as if he doesn't expect to be liked or accepted once he admits he's not Vecchio.  I think this is another first, our first glimpse of the insecure part of Ray that offsets his usual brash self-confidence. We start to realize this is a man with layers, not a one-dimensional caricature.  His subsequent Brando/McQueen speech rolls off as if he's made it a hundred times (which he probably has) and after listening to Fraser's 'pride and honor' speech his reply about humping the job for a long time seems just as. . . studied.  Could that be because Ray's 'cynical cop' mask is as much a part of his public persona as Fraser's 'naive innocent' mask is, and as much a lie?  I like Fraser's reaction to Ray's real name.  (NOTE:  I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but damn it, those people out there who *insist* on calling Ray 'Stanley' really need to watch this scene about a hundred times.  Ray clearly states.  "So I go by Ray."  RAY RAY RAY.  Not "I go by Stan."  or "I go by Stanley." Ray.  Okay?  Can he make it any clearer for you? )

Speaking of glasses, slash-colored or otherwise, I find it telling that when Ray hands Fraser his glasses, in a completely uncharacteristic lack of attention to detail, F. fails to note that Ray's glasses have a strong correction, something I think he would normally have noted immediately. It's clear Fraser is paying far more attention to Ray than he is anything else.  (Of course, Ray's standing on that bench putting his cute little tush right on eye level... I wouldn't be paying attention to much of anything else either. :-)

Next we get the oddly romantic cigar-smuggling Cubans.  The look of utter incredulity on Ray's face when Fraser reveals he does not carry a gun is quickly replaced by resignation, which tells you that however long it's been since BdtH, it's long enough for Ray to have realized that when Fraser gets into this mode, there's no reasoning with him.  Diefenbaker's intervention gives them a chance to run, and Ray has the presence of mind to snatch up the smuggler's loot-bag as he and Fraser set off on a fast-paced foot chase through a graveyard.  As usual and as they were from the start in BDtH, Ray and Fraser are absolutely in synch, for all that they are having an extremely bizarre conversation while doing so-- the Origin Story for the dreamcatcher.

 <dreamcatcher rant> Much has been made by certain facets of DS fandom that Fraser *really* made the dreamcatcher for Ray Vecchio, not Ray Kowalski, but a man who is as respectful of Native traditions as Fraser canonically is would not do such a thing.  While you can buy them commercially, they hold little significance if purchased so.  Ideally a dreamcatcher is made for a specific individual, and the objects woven into the catcher's web have special significance for the recipient.  The fact that Fraser made this by hand and went to the effort to obtain an eagle feather, which holds tremendous magical significance in Native traditions, all points to the fact that he made it specifically for Ray Kowalski.  He simply would not give a dreamcatcher made for one person to someone else. Had he made it for Vecchio he would have saved it until he could give it to him, and given something else to Ray Kowalski.  I've heard it argued that the fact that it takes so much effort to get an eagle feather would mean he had to have started the process before RK came into his life, but that's not necessarily so.  First off, there is no way to know exactly how much time passed between BdtH and Eclipse: it could have been weeks. Secondly, just because it is an involved process doesn't mean that he couldn't have written off for it, and had everything fall into place perfectly, because the Universe recognized his need to create a protective spell for this man who he'd suddenly realized was very important to him. And I do think that's exactly what he was doing. :-) So, Nyah! </dreamcatcher rant>

Okay, sorry.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled cemetery chase.  Another first!  Fraser gets snarky!  I can't remember ever hearing Fraser say anything as blatantly *snarky* to Ray Vecchio as his "By what criteria?!?" comment, except in Flashback.  I think that's telling.  We're seeing that F.  is agitated enough to let the mask slip, so to speak, and reveal some of his inner self, and feels comfortable and secure enough to do so - he already doesn't fear rejection from Ray.  Only RK seems to be able to induce that state in Our Man Fraser.  Golly, wonder why?  His inattention to detail (mentioned above) is underscored here when he says "Well, I didn't realize you were blind!"  (again, quite snarkily). However, note Fraser's expression when Ray puts on his glasses and then proceeds to make two beautiful shots with his remaining two rounds. There's an interesting occurrence here... Ray's first use of "Freak" to refer to Fraser.  It occurs twice more in the episode, each time with a slightly different inflection.  This first time he's clearly a little irritated.

Once Ray has the smugglers down, we get what may well be the most significant scene in the episode.  Fraser suggests that Ray take the smugglers back to the station, with a clear sense of relief that this nonsense is now over and things can get back to normal.  And Ray ignores him.  Fraser suggests more strongly.  Ray refuses, blatantly.  Fraser practially insists.  And Ray does not back down.  When Ray tells him "I'm not leaving this graveyard until I finish what I came here to do."  (all delivered forcefully with his glasses hanging endearingly off one ear) Fraser is left speechless.  You can see him standing there processing, revising, reevaluating -- who is this man?  I think this is a first for Fraser.  No one has ever stood up to his Manipulative Mountie tactics like that before.  I think he realizes that here is a force of personality equal to his own.  Perhaps he sees in Ray echoes of his own determination to follow a thing through to its end, even if it might not be the most prudent thing to do.  And he respects that.  From here out, he stops insisting that Ray go back to the station, and he does his utmost to aid him on his . . .  quest (for the holy grille? :-) I think in that moment, he starts to *love* Ray.

Back in the crypt, Fraser attempts to reason with Ray a little, in the guise of delineating the difference between justice and revenge, (where we get that lovely Bacon quote, and the wonderful exchange between the two prisoners about reading material in prison) but Ray's not buying.  He's set, undistractable and determined.  Then we have the introduction of the delightful Gladys Karlz (not sure on the spelling but that's what it sounds like she says).  Neither Ray nor Fraser hesitate for a second in
going after whoever it is that's shooting.  It's instinctive on their part, and again, in perfect synch.  And I adore the way Ray rolls his eyes when F.  gets all solicitous after realizing he just tackled a little old lady.  And rolls them again at her reaction to Fraser.  (Please see below for a major quibble about this scene.)  This scene is the second use of "Freak" in the episode.  This time it's said with a long-suffering, head-shaking kind of tone.

Ah.  The one you've all been waiting for.  The "Do you find me attractive?" scene. It's a wonderful scene on so many levels, whether you look at it in slash-o-vision or not.  Fraser's obvious surprise (and maybe dismay?)  at Ray's mention of a wife.  Ray's wistful tone as he asks the question.  The fact that *everyone* responds (positively one might add) but he doesn't care about them, he only wants to know what Fraser thinks. Fraser's hesitancy about admitting, and his quick covering up of the admission once said (quite reminiscent of Ray's 'I love you, Fraser / symbolically or something' remark in SiB), are both interesting in light of his completely unembarrassed and forthright admission that he's cross-dressed on occasion.  One would think that would be the more difficult admission to make, under the circumstances, but obviously it isn't.  I love the 'broken window' comment from the smuggler, and also Fraser's admission that he is acquainted with loss and loneliness.  Yes, he is.  But not for much longer. :-) (slash-o-meter pegging out here)


Next we get the flashback to Ray's youth.  I just adore that whole sequence.  (Though there are a few things I wish they'd explained... like how Ray, from a working-class family, met Stella, a 'Gold Coast' girl).  I love his whole "I was workin' it" speech.  We also learn a little something about Ray's boyhood heroes in the combination of archetypes he uses-- John Lennon, Joe Namath and James Bond (a singer/poet, an athlete, a spy). Heh. But really, when you think about it, the fact that Ray is willing to tell that tale to Fraser is just amazing.  To take the most humiliating moment of your life and lay it out in front of total strangers because you want/need to tell it to someone you *care* about and it's the right moment to do so is just...  wow.  He's giving Fraser a huge piece of his soul there.  And the fact that no one, especially not Fraser, faults him for it or makes fun of him for it has to go a long way toward relieving his long-held sense of shame about the incident.  It's that catharsis as much as anything that leads him to peace with Ellery.
 
The Dief-as-Fraser school could make interesting hay out of the fact that Dief begins to howl at the point when Ray begins to realize that Ellery hasn't shown up.  Is the grief he's sensitive to Ray's?  It would make sense.  And in fact Fraser reacts by telling Ray "I'm pretty sure he'll come, we have time." when in fact they have nothing of the sort, shows just how far he's willing to go to make Ray feel better, to try to get him that closure he desperately needs. We have *never* seen him do anything like that before.  He knows what's going on in the B story, that the reputation of the 27th and of the real *Vecchio* is riding on Ray's return to the station, yet he says they can stay longer.  Unprecedented.

When it's clear that Ray has given up, he tries another tactic to make him feel better.  He sits him down and talks to him, reminds him who he is, that he's not a fake or a failure, that he's good.  Ray is clearly embarrassed, wants Fraser to stop, but Fraser just keeps going.  Fraser responds with the same line he later uses in 'Asylum,' in a sense echoing this moment, "I would be proud to call you my partner, and my friend." Although it's clear from his expression that this has a strong positive impact on Ray, he's also embarrassed by it. He clearly does not think of himself as anything special and so he responds with a joke: "Loan me some money?"  (Fraser's response "Money and friends don't mix." makes me wonder if he's not thinking of Vecchio and how much he always complained about "Benny"  and money.)  I also like that Ray calls Fraser on his repeated invasions of his privacy "You're a real nosey parker...."

As they leave the crypt, Ray's question about the dreamcatcher, "Will it fly?" seems to be a metaphor for their newfound partnership/friendship, and we see immediate proof that yes it will, as the dreamcatcher fulfills its magical function and 'catches' his old nightmare, Marcus Ellery. (Thanks to Sammy, I think, for that astute observation.) With the confrontation, Ray realizes that perhaps fate was right after all and that he was meant to be a cop.  In my slashier moments I think it's because he realizes that if it weren't for Ellery, he wouldn't have met Fraser, but I know that's stretching things a bit.  I love the symbolism that plays out here as the confrontation takes place in a grave, from which Ray then emerges, with Fraser's help.  The old Ray, the insecure Ray whose life was so big a mess that he took the undercover Vecchio job to get away from it, dies, and a new Ray emerges, one who is stronger, and more confident with Fraser as his partner.  Interestingly this scene also reveals something Fraser can't do well... see in the dark.  He stumbles over the grave markers, apologizing as if they were people.


Ray's newfound confidence carries through to the 27th.  Ray steps in, squares his shoulders, and goes for broke.  His thumb-to-nose gesture to Welsh is returned with aplomb.  He rolls right over the Internal Affairs guys, giving supreme attitude and taking none in return.  His explanation of the extra zero is perfectly plausible (whether or not it's correct) and his idea to have Siracusa pick him out of a lineup is sheer genius.  He knows damned well the man won't be able to do it.  Ray is one smart cookie.  (Note, one of DS's producers is named Frank Siracusa.  Wonder if that was him *playing* Siracusa?)

The tag is more traditional Due South weirdness.  The graduating class of the Granville School of Deportment and Domestic  Service are apparently released from confinement to serve birthday cake, while the denizens of the 27th  attempt to play Yukon party games.   Fraser tells his pointless-but-pointed 'walking in the sky' story  and Ray responds with a final 'freak' of the episode, this time uttered with clear affection and amusement, and it's received in like manner by Fraser.  We end with Welsh bobbing for trout, which, in his words, "isn't as easy as it looks,' which when you think about it, beautifully sums up the episode.

Quibbles & Nitpicks:

1) Ray's makeup-- was Fox Mulder hiding in that crypt and liplocking with Ray on the sly, or does Ray just borrow his makeup?  He wearing the same revolting color of lipstick that Mulder often wears. 

2) Ray can't seem to decide if he has a mum or a mom; he uses both in the space of about two minutes. 

3) Gladys says her late husband was acrophobic, (or agoraphobic, it's hard to tell) which Ray then defines as 'fear of acrobats.' Fraser corrects him, saying it means 'fear of *insects*.  Sorry Fraser,
acrophobia is fear of heights and agoraphobia is fear of open spaces and neither has anything to do with insects.  As near as I can figure out, fear of insects would be entomophobia, but it's not listed in the dictionary.  This is the only time I can think of in the entire series where Fraser is flat out *wrong* about a definition. 

4) If Fraser had Ray's service record how come he didn't know his name?  That part has *always* confused me.

 
Drool-Worthy Moments:

Sorry, Paul, they're all Callum's in this one.  The Ray section of the teaser-- Bless Paul Gross for indulging himself and the audience with a good, long look at his sexy new co-star!  I mean we get the tank top, the bracelet, the tattoo, the bad-ass Ray-in-the-mirror, and red & white striped briefs, all in one scene.  What more can you ask?  Another especially nice moment:  when Ray puts on his glasses so he can shoot at the cigar smugglers.  I can't help it.  I know those glasses are the geekiest things this side of an engineering school but on Cal they're just.... mmmmmmmph!  The smile on Ray's face when he says "That was Stella, my wife."  The entire sequence as Fraser quotes his service record-- the lighting on his face plays up the interesting planes and angles to perfection.

Pratfalls & Pranks:

1) I swear that there's a 'grave-marker' shaped like a fire-hydrant next to the grave-marker shaped like a dog that Dief takes flowers to.  I rewatched that bit about 6 times, and every time it looked like a hydrant. There is also one shaped like a rabbit, and one like a cat. 

2) Paul almost loses it and laughs when Gladys is going on about how she and her late hubby 'tried' masochism but 'he hated pain.'

3) Callum really does lose it, but recovers enough to save the take, when he's trying to get his gun out from under Ellery in the grave. 

4) Huey tries to high-five Fraser after Welsh gives the thumbs up, misses, and falls as Fraser walks away, oblivious. 

5) During the party scene at the 27th Ray and Fraser walk *on* Huey (and he moans) as they cross the room after he falls trying to kick the cabbage. 

6) Last, but not least, there's the bit (right at 'walking in the sky') where Paul *obviously* has something goofy in his mouth that he's showing to Callum to get him to smile one of those beautiful, *real* Cal smiles, which he does, and then Paul smoothly palms whatever he had in his mouth as he turns toward the camera.

Slash-O-Meter Rating: This is a toughie, because this episode has a couple of *very* slashy moments (noted above), but I would not say they are SO doing it.  I think I'd give this one a 6 out of 10, because it seems clear to me that they are starting to *think* about each other in a more-than-partners way, but I don't actually get the sense they are boinking like bunnies as soon as the credits roll.  They're recognizing the attraction, feeling things out, trying to figure out if there's potential.

6 Degrees of Due South:  I have this little game I like to play, called spot the Canadian Character Actors.  To this end here's a list of people you saw in Eclipse that you might know from elsewhere:
**Jackie Burroughs (Gladys) was featured in "Last Night" as 'The Runner'
**Aron Tager (Tom) was in Curtis' Charm as the 'Park Worker', and also in 2 other DS eps: as 'Bert Block' in "We are the Eggmen," and as 'Nelson' in"A Hawk and a Handsaw"
**Alan Peterson (Brandauer) was also 'Sneed' in the DS ep. "We are the Eggmen" and according to the IMDB he and CKR both had small roles in a western called "Hole in the Sky"

In the DS Tradition of using their crew as cast, Peter Bray (Marcus Ellery) was also a supervising producer on DS

Things that make you go hmmm...  What is it with Callum and graveyards? He played a groundskeeper/gravedigger in an episode of The X-Files (Fresh Bones). Is there mystical significance to the fact that we, and Fraser, learn so much about Ray in a place full of... Headstones?  Did Callum ad
lib that "lend me some money" line from the Headstones song "Anything?" And do you suppose Jimmy and Bronco are the source of those Cuban cigars Ray gives to Welsh in GftS?

Kellie Matthews 

Additional commentary:

On Fri, 11 Feb 2000, Dr. Madeleine M. Gross wrote:

So, today, I actually looked up "phobia" online -- and, on one phobia list, "acorophobia" is given as a "fear of itching," or of "insects that cause itching."  I have no idea of the quality of the source the web site owner/developer used for this.  If correct, that word still would not be as good for "fear of insects" as "entomophobia" -- which appears, as Kellie believed, to be the word of choice, based on several of the online lists. 

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