Due South

Watched some this TV series during the nineties, and only recently discovers it was available on DVD.

This is the story of a Canadian mountie who went to Chicago to find his father’s killer. Eventually the trail led back to another mountie. He was then treated as persona non grata by his other mounties, and the only place he could get posted was Chicago. Unfortunately, he is more of an outdoors kind of guy, which infuriates the Chicago detective with whom he works.

Due South is a Canadian television police comedy-drama, created by Paul Haggis, produced by Alliance Communications, and starring Paul Gross, David Marciano, and latterly Callum Keith Rennie. It ran for 67 episodes over four seasons, from 1994 to 1999.

Set in Chicago, the show follows the adventures of Constable Benton Fraser (Paul Gross), a Mounty of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who is attached to the Canadian consulate, but works with Detective Raymond Vecchio of the Chicago Police Department to solve crimes, assisted by Fraser’s companion Diefenbaker, a deaf white wolfdog. From season three, Fraser works with a Detective Stanley Kowalski (Callum Rennie), who is placed in the department to impersonate Detective Vecchio who goes on an undercover assignment.

Due South

The premise of such a working relationship is established in the pilot episode when Fraser is temporarily posted to Chicago to assist Vecchio in the investigation of the murder of Fraser’s father, who was also of the RCMP. In the process of finding them, he also exposes an environmental corruption scandal involving some members of the RCMP, causing much embarassment and loss of jobs in his native Northwest Territories, which leaves him persona non grata in Canada and within the RCMP and posted permanently to Chicago.

A comedy drama, it plays on the stereotypical differences between Canadian and American culture, and in particular, Fraser’s extremely polite persona and exceptional tracking and detection abilities, contrasted with Detective Vecchio’s more robust personality and methods.

From IMDB :

In my opinion this is probably the best TV show ever made, which explains why it didn’t last that long. Originality is the key even though it sits within the much copied police genre. A mountie, on the trail of his fathers killer, winds up in Chicago where he befriends a streetwise detective and together they solve the crimes, both big and small, of the Windy City. It’s the fact that humour and characterisation take first place over gritty realism (Overrated to be honest) that separates it from, well, every other cop show ever made. Benton Fraser is undeniably one of the greatest characters ever to grace the small screen and his relationship with Ray Vecchio is both touching and humourous. I admit that the dramatic episodes, such as ‘Victoria’s Secret’ and the magnificent ‘Juliet is Bleeding’ overwhelm the other, lighter, episodes but that is simply because they are so brilliantly written.

When Ray and Fraser are sat in the hospital at the end of ‘Juliet’ and Ray speaks out about his childhood romance with the deceased Irene (Incidentally played by ‘The Matrix’s’ Carrie Anne Moss) you can honestly feel his pain and the expression on Frasers face says more than any amount of comforting words could. It’s little scenes like that which show up the show as truly great and worthy of more than three seasons. My favourite scene however, is at the end of ‘The Deal’ when, after Fraser is badly beaten by the local Mafia boss, Ray takes revenge on his age old nemesis by humiliating him in front of his subordinates, even though he knows that that action might cost him his life.

Due South

The bonds of friendship between the two have always been shown to be tighter than steel, that’s why the show was so great.The acting too was always top notch and if life is even remotely fair both Gross and Marciano should have no problem finding other work. I love this show and it always made me feel good inside. Even though it’s gone I’ll always have a special place in my heart for it’s warmth and humour. It will be sorely missed.

From Amazon :

Is Due South a comedy or a drama? Is it a crime show, or an exquisite analysis of cultural difference? Is it a buddy series or a supernatural? In many ways, Due South brings the best of all these worlds together.

Due South

It _is_ comedy: the gentle teasing, wry banter, and occasional full physical farce are very, very good. But it doesn’t suffer from the low budget sit-com approach that beset everything from Friends to Frasier. Due South is shot on the magnificent canvas of Canadian wilderness, and the powerful, grim streets of Chicago.
The comedy, however, never interferes with the crime and thriller aspect. There are a couple of stories which are primarily played for laughs, but the serious stories are never cheapened.
Dramatic, poignant, at times brutal, but also liberating and uplifting: this is a powerful series which resonates on a dozen levels all at the same time.

A lot of this flows from the strong premise: Canadian comes to Chicago on the trail of the men who killed his father, and then stays to work with Chicago police despite enormous cultural differences which are never resolved. The gradual impingement of the supernatural adds to this as it goes, along with the occasional development of love interest.

Despite the strong premise, Due South had to do some pretty swift footwork when David Marciano failed to return for the third series. This is solved really rather excellently, and sets up the final episode rather nicely.

Most US comedies run until (by British standards) they are completely worn out. Perhaps the US – Canadian nature of the collaboration helped the producers to call time long before it was too late. Perhaps it was also down to the rather quirky nature, which must have kept the networks guessing about its saleability all the way through.

This is a superb series to own, and it’s worth owning it complete, since, once you’ve seen a couple of episodes, you really will want to watch it all the way through. Don’t start watching late in the evening, though, at least, not if you have to be at work in the morning.