Product Description: Gemini Award Winner for Best Dramatic Series. Featuring 18 Episodes. Due South is a lightning-paced action/comedy in which a quintessential, polite, by-the-book Canadian Mountie from the frozen North is teamed up with a wise-cracking Armani-clad Chicago cop with a flexible sense of morality. Brought together in the Windy City by a mysterious murder which has personal ramifications for both men, these unlikely buddies must find a common ground amidst overwhelming differences.
Entertaining and enjoyable I never watched this show while it was on TV, but my wife did so I bought the series for her. It doesn't take long to really get into the show and see it's humor. Some episodes drag on, and the story is a little too "goodie two shoes" at times, but it is a wholesome show, with good family values and very entertaining.
Great family viewing Due South is a well-written, charming show that is fun to watch with the whole family. I mean 10 through 52 year olds. It is witty. The characters are interesting. It is just really well done. We are always looking for things that we can watch together in the evening and this was a real hit. I highly recommend it.
Mediocre But for the quality of the content, I would not purchase this item again. Had I the money, I would opt for the good DVD's, not this compilation of trascribed media.
good cheesy fun A great series with lots of good, cheesy humor. Very enjoyable and appropriate for almost any audience.
"We're gonna ride - forever!" After Due South's quality first season run, CBS decided to drop the hammer on the series anyway, citing poor ratings as the reason. But the show's production company managed to dredge up enough capital to fund a second season, and Due South once again landed on the eyeball network. So here's Season 2, consisting of only 18 episodes, but each one (saved maybe the last) being eminently watchable. The entire cast is back, with the notable addition of Camilla Scott as the no-nonsense but damned attractive Inspector Margaret Thatcher. The odd couple synergy between Gross and Marciano, remains intact. As do the wit, humor, great acting, and the quirkiness, all the elements which make this show such a standout. RCMP Constable Fraser is still overwhelmingly accomodating, painfully reserved, unfailingly polite, and dogged in service of the law. Contrasting Fraser's squeaky clean image, Vecchio shows off his aggresive, in-your-face methods, his cynical tendencies, and his penchant for intense brooding. Yet, somehow, these two, opposites in nature, do mesh, if sometimes imperfectly. And the sometimes off the wall cases continue to be solved.
After Fraser's great love Victoria, it's hard to believe that Fraser would so soon again indulge in romance. But, soon, there's something in the air between the Mountie and his new superior officer, the lofty dragonlady Inspector Margaret Thatcher (yup, that's her name). Several episodes find them trading in mutually uncomfortable flirtations. These awkward shenanigans culminate in the wonderful "All the Queen's Horses." But, overall, Fraser remains obtuse when it comes to women. When Vecchio states to Fraser, "I think she wants you." Fraser's response is "For what?" Meanwhile, speaking of flirtations, this season grants Ray Vecchio equal play in that department. We meet Ray's ex-wife and witness his half-hearted attempts with a lawyer and his intense, full out feelings for his high school love, a mobster's sister.
But Season 2 sees the last of Detective Ray Vecchio as a regular. After the 2nd season ended, CBS again aggravatingly refused to renew the series. This led to David Marciano (Vecchio) signing on with a CBS show then currently under development (and which was later never picked up). When Due South's production company again came up with sufficient backing for a third season, Marciano, who also would've had to work under a salary cut, decided to opt out. Sadly, after this, we'll see Ray Vecchio in only two more episodes: the Season 3 opener and the series' definite final episode.
Highlight episodes are the intense "Juliet is Bleeding," "Some Like It Red" (Fraser in drag), and the high-tensioned "The Duel." But my favorite episode here has to be "All the Queen's Horses." This is the one with the Mounties singing "Ride Forever," a song co-written by Paul Gross. This episode also marks Gross's first writing effort for the show. He'd write a bunch more. Anyway, in 3 discs, here are the 18 episodes:
Episode 1 - "North" - Bound for the Canadian Territories, Fraser and Vecchio unwittingly board a plane piloted by an escaped convict. When the plane crashes into the wilderness, Fraser is rendered blind and concussed. But still the Mountie insists on getting his man.
Episode 2 - "Vault" - Fraser and Vecchio are trapped in a bank vault, while, outside, a gang of thieves try to drill in. This episode features Francesca Vecchio at her most irritating. Meanwhile, Fraser's consulate position is threatened by a seemingly more capable Mountie. Camilla Scott debuts as Inspector Thatcher.
Episode 3 - "The Witness" - Vecchio's witness changes her testimony, resulting in a frustrated Vecchio landing prison time for contempt of court. A concerned Frasier follows him to incarceration.
Episode 4 - "Bird in the Hand" - The Mountie ends up having to protect his father's escaped murderer. Featuring a grimmer Benton Fraser.
Episode 5 - "The Promise" - Fraser seeks a pickpocketing street urchin who's made off with the Consulate Inspector's brooch and a killer's electronic organizer.
Episode 6 - "Mask" - Ancient and invaluable handcarved masks are stolen from a museum. A family of Tsimshians from the Canadian Territories and old friends of Frasier's stays over at his cramped apartment.
Episode 7 - "Juliet Is Bleeding" - It's Ray Vecchio vs. mob boss Frank Zuko, Round 2. This time it's over Zucco's beautiful sister (Carrie Anne Moss) and the murder of a cop. But Fraser is convinced that Zuko is being framed. Yet another beautiful, fierce performance by David Marciano.
Episode 8 - "One Good Man" - The tenants of Frasier's apartment building are evicted by the new slum lord (including Frasier). The Mountie turns to journalist Mackenzie King (Maria Bello) for help.
Episode 9 - "The Edge" - Called on to be part of a joint security task force for an international free trade summit, Fraser fears he may be losing his edge.
Episode 10 - "We Are the Eggmen" - Fraser's good samaritan act results in his being sued by an egg farmer. Meanwhile, Ray is loathe to share his Lottery winnings with his sister, who paid for half the tickets.
Episode 11 - "Starman" - Pathological liar Ian McDonald (The Batman's Rino Romano) returns, claiming that his fiancee was abducted by extraterrestrials.
Episode 12 - "Some Like It Red" - To find a runaway student and to help out Vecchio's old high school friend (now a nun), Fraser becomes Ms. Fraser, a substitute teacher at a catholic school. Hilarious!
Episode 13 - "White Man Can't Jump to Conclusions" - While investigating the sounds of gunfire, Fraser loses his boots - and ends up bailing out a juvie shooter whom Vecchio had arrested.
Episode 14 - "All the Queen's Horses" - The R.C.M.P. go on a Musical Ride tour in the U.S. but their train gets hijacked by terrorists posing as a film crew. Sgt. Forbisher (Leslie Nielsen) returns; he's a gas.
Episode 15 - "Body Language" - Fraser comes to the rescue of a distressed stripper. Guest starring Milton Berle.
Episode 16 - "The Duel" - Another good one. A creepy convict (Colm Feore) is paroled and begins to play games on those who'd imprisoned him; this particularly includes Vecchio, whose key finding of incriminating evidence was crucial to his conviction. Meanwhile, Vecchio comes under investigation by Internal Affairs for possibly planting that evidence.
Episode 17 - "Red, White or Blue" - The trial of Randal K. Bolt (the wacky nutjob from "All the Queen's Horses") goes awry as the courtroom is taken over by Bolt's older, smarter brother and their armed cousins. Plus, Vecchio is mad at Fraser for getting all the media publicity.
Episode 18 - "Flash Back" - Intended to be the series's final episode, this one was lackluster. In pursuit of gun-slinging, Muslim garbed women who'd just committed a diamond heist and taken a hostage, Fraser bangs his head and suffers amnesia. This opens it up for a ton of flashback clips.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
