Hero Moment of the Week – Constable Ben Fraser

Eloisa James yesterday on Barnes and Nobles Review.com wrote a column called “In Praise of Decent Men,” where she was raving about Nora Robert’s latest romance, where the hero was neither dark nor bad but was, in fact, a decent guy.

That started a discussion on the Ellora’s Cave authors list, about good guys in general, and how in these days of overpowering numbers of paranormal romances, werewolves, alpha males, vampires and general bad ass dudes everywhere, and the clamour from readers for more, more, more, it’s understandable that decent guys…good, upstanding, straight up heroes type guys, are a little rare on the ground.  You have to look hard to find them.

The last upstanding decent type hero I could think of — and he was a doozy — was Constable Ben Fraser from Due South.

It’s possible you’re scatching your head over that one.  The show hit televisionland around 1994 and disappeared three years later due to poor funding, and poorer timeslots.  It was a quirky show — people had trouble figuring out if it was a comedy or a drama.  At times it was both, which probably put it ahead of its time.  Ten years later, shows like House seamlessly blend comedy and drama, but back then people weren’t too sure what to make of it.  Paul Haggis, the creator of Due South has since gone on to write movies like the Academy Award winner Million Dollar Baby, and the new James Bond movies.

But to get to my Hero Moment…

The show was quirky, as I mentioned, and the star of the show, as you can see, Paul Gross, was astonishingly good looking.  Still is…he ages gracefully.  If you’d like to see him more recently, catch up with him in Passchendaele.  Throughout the first season Ben Fraser, the Mountie from the frozen north was stuck in Chicago’s south side, being upright and proper, only every now and again, you’d get a glimpse of Ben Fraser’s past. And that past included a woman, Victoria.

At the very end of the first season, Victoria herself arrives in Chicago, and turns Ben’s life upside-down. He catches a glimpse of her, and can’t believe it’s her, but obsesses over it anyway.  He ends up in a church, talking to a priest even though he’s not Catholic:

If you have the patience, you can actually watch the entire episode in about six section on YouTube.  Here’s the first one to get you started.  Fair warning, have the tissue box by your side.  This is a major tear jerker, the sort of stuff that leaves you weeping for hours after.  Victoria is played by Melina Kanakaredes, and she is so achingly beautiful, she was perfect for the role.

I have the first season on DVD, and the double episode of Victoria’s Secret has inspired at least two romances that I have written.

So has Paul Gross. :)

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