Strange Bedfellows

Season 3
Episode #144

Original Broadcast Information

Writer: R.B. Carney
Director: George Bloomfield

Significant Guest Stars: STELLA KOWALSKI- Anne Marie Loder, FRANK ORSINI- Winston A. Rekert, DAMON REESE- Merwin Mondesir, DIANE WESTON- Susan Hamann, DWAYNE WESTON- David Storch

Featured Music:
BRINDIS Composed by Verdi **Stan and Stella dance to this music on the boat.
WIENER BLUT The Emperor Quartet, "In Perfect Time" Composed by Johann Strauss Jr. **On the boat after the song above finishes.
DE CARA A LA PARED Lhasa de Sela, "La Llorna" **Stan and Stella dance to this song in her apartment; also at very end of episode as Stan sits alone in his apartment.

Official Synopsis:
Fraser and Kowalski are assigned to bodyguard Kowalski's ex-wife Assistant States Attorney Stella Kowalski and her handsome new boyfriend Frank Orsini, a politician who's been receiving death threats.

Unofficial Review:

The episode opens with Fraser being Fraser, seeing images of law and justice in a Rorschach test. The opening tag also sets up the idea of Fraser's father residing in his closet. There's a lot of closet in this episode, which can be looked at from a variety of angles and I picked out one or two to momentarily check out from the slash angle.

The first comes when Ray and Fraser are driving to where Ray is going to be "staking out" Stella. They're playing a word association game; Fraser says "Chainsaw" and Ray says "Massacre." Fraser says "Closet" and Ray says, "What kind of question is that?", which hooks nicely into Ray's protest a few minutes later that he's not prudish and will try anything once.

They see the gunman and Sprinting!Callum takes off to go tackle Orsini and Stella. Ran this portion of the tape back and forth a few times as well and it looks like Callum is looking down and checking his mark to count off how many more steps he should take before he jumps on them.

This episode marks Tom Melissis' debut as Dewey, and he and Ray are at it from the get-go. I love how their conversation continues the thread of Ray's unresolved feelings for Stella and gives us a chance to see them rather than Ray simply telling us about them in Eclipse. I also love Callum's little "go ahead, dig yourself deeper" smile as Dewey unwisely tells Ray he's "been replaced". They also managed to sneak in where the character name for Dewey might have come from - prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey.

This episode also gives us some nice Welsh/Ray interaction beginning with the little talk they have right after Welsh finishes with the press and asks Fraser to excuse himself for a few minutes. It's obvious that he likes Ray and lets him know that he's managed to briefly smooth Stella's ruffled feathers, but he's warning him at the same time that Ray's behavior was unacceptable (She seems to think you might have been stalking her...). It's a reprimand, but it's a gentle one. And then we have the moment when Welsh tells Ray that he's giving Stella and Orsini a ride home:

"Ride home?" (You're kidding me, right?) "You got a problem with that?" (I just saved your bacon. I don't think you want to argue with me.) "No sir. No problem." (You win)

Welsh goes on to state that it seems that Ray exhibited *some* sort of competency this evening (read: Despite your questionable actions here, you did something right), and Ray capitulates.

There's the whole scene in the car home with the various faces Ray makes. He doesn't like Orsini anyway and he likes being schmoozed by his ex-wife's new boyfriend even less. I love what Fraser does, though; it shows he's already well-attuned to Ray's mental/emotional state. He defends Ray's actions, trying to put the best light on them, even though he knows Ray was definitely tiptoeing close to the line. When Stella goes to get a cab, he watches Ray react and even then he doesn't push. He tries to offer advice first ("You know, Ray, she is your ex-wife...), but then when Ray says that even though he knows that he still thinks about her all the time, Fraser *stops* giving advice and instead tries to offer empathy by telling Ray that he knows it must not be easy for him. This leads to a *wonderful* CKR moment when he tells Fraser, "You have no idea." There is just all this emotion leaking out of him and (quibble/nitpick) the cameraman missed a wonderful opportunity, IMO, by choosing to focus on Paul instead of Callum right then.

Fraser tries the same thing again when they go to Orsini's the next morning and see Stella coming out, offering Ray the somewhat flimsy idea of a breakfast date and giving rise to the line, "Because it's...what's the word? Stupid." And no one will ever convince me that Fraser opened the car door when he did by accident. It was totally on purpose and I love the "sssh!" he scolds Ray with when Ray thanks him. Not to mention the smirk Ray has on his face as Orsini gets in.

(In the interview in _Vines_ magazine, CKR's friends refer to his driving by explaining that Callum drives his cars like they're stolen. I can see why. The guy skids to a stop at Orsini's house, brakes chirp and engines gun everywhere else. Tapping the brakes must not be an option.)

I like the groundbreaking ceremony scenes because it shows that Ray is not setting out to find something wrong/dirty about Orsini, IMO (except the fact he's dating Stella). He questions Reese and is listening to the answers, taking the information he gets, rather than blindly digging for something specific that will show up Orsini. Of course, it doesn't hurt later that the pieces start to fall together and implicate Orsini.

The little scene coming out from the city council meeting is enjoyable just because it highlights the growing and evolving relationship between Fraser and Ray. They're jibing at each other affectionately, talking over each other and having fun with the differences between them.

Weston, the ex-husband, serves to illustrate, I think, the "line" Stella was talking about. Ray, even with his "stalking", would never have done anything. It was simply akin to picking at a wound; you poke your tongue into the hole where your tooth used to be even though you know it's gone and you know it's going to hurt. Weston is the other side of the coin - the husband who cannot accept that his marriage is over or his part in the failure of his marriage. I think Ray would ultimately have accepted the inevitablity of his and Stella's divorce; it just would have been slower without Stella, Orsini and Weston.

When Stella tells Ray that he "always knew the line", it's faint praise. They both know he was unhappy with the divorce, but my belief is that Stella knew as well that Ray would never do anything like Dianne Weston's ex-husband - although again, he was tiptoeing close to a line by following her around. But I do not think - nor do I think I could ever be convinced - that Ray could be abusive towards Stella or another significant other.

Snarky!Fraser alert: When Ray tells Fraser that it's not a great idea to get into an argument with The Stella, Fraser answers, "Obviously." I choose to think of it as a snark <g>. Then, when they get into the discussion over the 500 units in Manor Point, Fraser takes an active role in showing Orsini's feet of clay by pointing out that there are actually only 200 units and then turning to Ray and asking if "spin" is the right word regarding the remaining 300 units and Ray confirms it. Pfffft. Fraser knows good and well what the definition and concept of "spin" is. Settin' 'em up and knockin' 'em down...

On the boat when Ray asks Stella to dance, it doesn't seem to be going well until Orsini punches her buttons by saying it wouldn't bother him; the gauntlet is thrown and Ray grins because he knows that would set off his ex. The dancing and the dialogue does a nice job of giving us an idea of their feelings past and present and Ray looks very disappointed when Stella tells him that it's over.

The champagne...Fraser sees it and Ray reacts. He just follows Fraser with no question. Of course, he grabs and "bodyguards" Stella. Screw Orsini.

CKR does a good job of setting up the emotional tone of the scene where Ray takes Stella home (I leave it up to you to decide if Welsh had actually already sent Orsini home with a blue and white; I don't think so). The moment they step off the elevator, there's physical space between them and Ray has his arms crossed over his body and he stays that way through the scene, not touching Stella and not getting close enough to touch. She puts her hand up to touch him, but drops it. He leans in briefly like he's about to kiss her, but pulls back just as quickly and the whole scene is full of tentative moments between these two people who are unsure how to communicate with each other anymore.

Another closet moment back at the Consulate follows Ray's "don't leave home without it" entry (and I love the fact that Ray just breaks in and Fraser is ho-hum about it). Going back to the closet that Fraser's been opening up and checking out due to the sounds of carpentry, he flings it open and asks Ray, "What do you see?" "Nothing." "Just checking."

OK, sure. He could have been asking about the closet and the sounds he heard coming from it, but if you don the slash-colored glasses for a moment, the conversation could take on another meaning entirely. "Are you seeing the possibilities of another relationship?" "No." "OK. I'll try again later."

The Welsh and Ray Show in the interogation room is another nice little scene for CKR and Beau Starr. They obviously play well off each other and it gives one the feeling that Ray and Welsh worked out their little routine beforehand.

When they arrest Orsini, Ray is not jubilant or nasty about it. He does give a smartass remark about what a surprise that a politician is crooked when he's outside the interrogation room with Fraser and Stella. Stella tells him that it was to her and the closeup on Callum's face is another wonderful moment. You can see Ray digesting this and finally understanding what all this is meaning to Stella. For that moment, at least, he is able to put himself in her shoes and be more concerned with what she's feeling than his own hurt feelings. As they walk away, their arms are around each other as opposed to the previous scene when he took her home and they were specifically avoiding touching each other. That, coupled with the offer and acceptance of a ride home, is a nice, subtle way to underscore that communication did happen between the two of them.

The scene in Stella's apartment. Yeah, I ran it back and forth a few...dozen times. I think LaT (?) mentioned this was the one time Ray was being manipulative that she could recall? (Correct me if I'm wrong, please). I could see where he was pressing his advantage, but I thought he still left it up to Stella whether he stayed or left - using their conversation on the patio as they danced. Ray brings up that he could stay; Stella goes through her speech about how it would be great, but they would wake up with regrets and Ray seems prepared to accept that until Stella tells him that she didn't say he *couldn't* stay. Then, of course, we have Fraser picking the wrongest of wrong moments to show up, Weston follows and the moment is lost.

After the bomb has been defused and everybody's leaving, Fraser asks Ray if he meant what he said about having to accept when it's over, it's over. Ray pauses and says no, he was lying. Fraser then asks if that's because Ray had a gun pointed at his head and Ray says yes. I don't think Ray believed that he was lying. I think he was just saying it because he did realize it was true in those moments and it's not something that he really wants to talk about and dissect right then. He's feeling raw and exposed. Fraser, having done his probing into how Ray is doing, graciously accepts the lie and then lets Ray be when Ray says he wants to be alone. Fraser knew that Ray hadn't been lying, either.

As the end tag, we have the whole scene of Ray in his apartment - a Bounty towel worthy moment for many reasons. But I love the scene as a goodbye to Stella or to what he thought he had/wanted to get back. He knows it's over. He might start out dancing, but he stops (at one point, stopping almost midstep and walking out of camera range) and then more or less wanders in the small square of space by the window. He can't recapture the feeling he had dancing with Stella based on his new understanding and, IMO, that's why he stops. Things have changed.

And we fade out with a lovely picture of Callum in shadow looking directly at the camera.

Quibbles and Nitpicks:

Fraser gives a slightly incorrect description of the shooter when he's talking to Huey and Dewey. He tells them that the gunman was wearing a black sweatshirt. Nope. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and a black vest. Also, the timing is a bit suspect as to when Fraser sees the gun. I ran that part of the tape back and forth a few times and Paul is either saying "gun" just as or just before the rest of us see it. Seemed like he was anticipating a bit.

In the conversation by Ray's car, Dewey (Tom Melissis) keeps moving the back of his head into the shot and Callum keeps adjusting by moving to either side of him.

If you look closely, you can see the reflection of Dracco's trainer in the car window as Fraser and Ray drive Stella and Orsini home.

Yet another answer for Paul on the question of how everyone seems to pick up that Callum is Canadian: Stella is friends with Ray's *mum*.

I can't quite hear it, but it almost sounds as if Orsini calls the waiter "Fraser"?

Between leaving Stella's and breaking into the Consulate, Ray somehow found the time to go change shirts from the dark gray dress shirt to a green T-shirt.

It would've been nice if Ray and Stella had been out of camera range before Francesca started in with "Ray? Ray? RAY?" *Nobody* could have missed that.

Droolworthy Moments:

Lovely closeup of Callum in the car. Nice stubble. The scene in the car where he tells Fraser "You have no idea." When he tells Fraser to "make it print". It's just cute :) The little growl and grimace Ray gives Fraser when Orsini's assistant verifies the dinner date. Callum dancing on the boat, in Stella's apartment and in his own apartment. The shot at the end.

Slash-o-Meter Rating: I'd have to give this one around a 4 simply because any ST (Sexual Tension - Unresolved or otherwise) is from the Ray-Stella side of the coin. Fraser is there as a friend and a partner, but not in any other sense. I can see Ray's knowledge of the potential rising from this episode, but nothing in this ep leads me to believe he would have remotely considered the idea before on the rare chance it might have bounced into his brain.

Lori Goldman

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