The More Things Change, the More They Really, Really Suck
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| Title: | The More Things Change, the More They Really, Really, Suck (on the essay), The More Things Change (on the index) |
| Creator: | The Divine Adoratrice |
| Date(s): | November 10, 1997 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | due South |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | The More Things Change |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The More Things Change, the More They Really, Really, Suck is a 1997 essay by The Divine Adoratrice at The Nonsensical Ravings of a Lunatic Mind.
Some Topics Discussed
- due South
- Ray Vecchio, Ray Kowalski, the way the casting change was handled, disgruntlement with TPTB
Excerpts
Change is good. Change is growth. Change is our friend.
So why do I get this hollow, empty feeling every time I watch the new episodes of Due South?
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking I'm one of those embittered, unforgiving fans who are still having hissy fits over the way the Alliance production office handled David Marciano's departure. And, well, you're right to a certain extent. Just speaking for myself, I would have preferred some polite fiction about how much they regretted that DM wouldn't be appearing in the new episodes, and that all parties had the highest respect for one another. Instead, they kept telling the fans that they were working to make sure Ray Vecchio would have a continuing presence on the show. Which is, technically, true -- that's why they're having New Guy pretending to be Ray. But Alliance allowed the fans to believe that DM would be in at least a few episodes when they knew he wouldn't be. As much as it bothers me, though, I can accept that it was a business decision, and after all, they have no obligation to be honest with the fans.
All the same, once they decided to bring in a new character, I wish they had allowed him to establish himself on his own terms, rather than having him impersonate Ray. It's a ridiculous plot device, and what's worse, they've never explained why it's necessary.
The first episode of the season was, simply put, poorly plotted. Not poorly written -- Paul Gross has a wonderful way with dialogue, and he's generous about giving other actors good lines. But when it comes to plotting... well, when it comes to plotting, he's really good at dialogue. I know, I've been told that PG once won a very prestigious award for a play that he wrote. I'm sure it was very good. But if he's proven that he can write, I want to know why the hell he decided he doesn't have to anymore? And before anyone accuses me of being gratuitously nasty, he gave an interview to Elm Street magazine in which he admitted that while he has no problem writing the big scenes of a script (I think he referred to them as "arias"), he has trouble stringing them together into a cohesive story. So he knows this is a flaw in his writing. Why doesn't he care enough to either fix it, or turn his scripts over to someone who's willing to pull the fragments together?
In all fairness, most of the other episodes aren't bad. But I still have problems. A major one is Stanley Kowalski's name. First, the schtick with naming characters after real or fictional people gets mighty old mighty fast. And don't call it a pun. Esther Pearson is a pun. Margaret Thatcher and Thomas Dewey and Stanley Kowalski -- sorry, those names have been taken, so unless they're meant to illuminate something about the characters, try again. Second, they want us to like this character, right? They want to win the audience over. So why did they name him after a sweaty, thuggish rapist? (Your reading and/or viewing assignment: A Streetcar Named Desire.)
And what about New Guy? (I refuse to apologize for coining that phrase. New Guy he is, and New Guy he shall remain.) To be honest, I think the character has potential. Rennie's a good actor, and if he gets more comfortable with his character (and gets a grip on his accent), I don't see any real problems there. But it hasn't happened so far.
I think that's why I haven't written any DS slash -- any DS gen, for that matter -- since the whole debacle started. I hate to say it but as much as I still love the characters, the way the Real Life participants acted has left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. For now, I'm just hanging loose, waiting to see if either my mood passes, or they manage to finally recapture the spirit of Due South.