jack

I've been watching Due South. I'll no doubt have some more in depths descriptions at some point, but a few observations:

( Minor spoilers )

I rented the first disk of Due South, and it really is very good. (That's the series about a Canadian Mountie in Chicago.) I remember watching a couple of episodes on TV, but felt obscurely guilty about it, not being able to quantify why it might be the sort of thing I would like to watch. But, starting from the beginning, it's really, really funny.

What is so good is:

(1) Benton Fraser. He's so NICE. The positive effect is somewhat exaggerated, but as much as Bond is suave in all situations, and Miles Vorkosigan is optimistic, and Jocelyn honourable, and Carrot naive, and Arnie relentless, Fraser is unfailingly nice and polite. And sincerely so, and not in contrast to being friendly or determined, but as well. I can't keep it up, but being nicer than we are would certainly, on the whole, be positive.

(2) Benton and Ray are so different, but get on so well.

(3) The slight sense of the ridiculous. Which, once, bothered me. (His father's ghost? What?) But now I really love that eclectic approach. I feel like the people who nod sagaciously when a surprise Mountie runs across their roof, hurdling paint tins and small streets, in pursuit of a wisecracking orphan, could have come right out of my life :)

ETA: (4) Uh, I think I did this wrong. This was going to be the first one, But I forgot, and then made up (3). Anyway, the characters. This is one of the shows people write fanfic about, which are often where a show makes a character that transcends the show, being so simply conceived, yet so winning.