For some reason or other—pig-headedness, probably--I’m usually at least a decade behind on TV series.

--I didn’t really get into "Miami Vice" until went into re-runs, but I’m usually not a fan of the truly big mass market shows. My bent is toward the obscure—something like "Babylon Five," P.K. Dickian brilliant. I didn’t get hooked on that one until well after the first run.

This "Due South" thing is another business entirely. Courtesy of Netflix, I’m currently watching this series, first shown in the early 90’s. It revolves around the adventures of a police odd couple, a Mountie (descended about equally from Dudley-Do-Right and Sgt. Preston) and a cynical, not-so-by-the-book Chicago Detective from a large, noisy Italian family. The Mountie, Constable Benton Frazer, has a pet wolf. The wolf sleeps in his bed, while Frazier sleeps in a pristine boy scout bed-roll on the floor. It’s old time T.V. with guaranteed happy-ending, clearly never meant to be taken too seriously, "Murder She Wrote" with Canadian jokes. Many episodes are witty, and with a wry, quirky, dry humor. Others, with street kids and dogs, are D.C. Comics corny. Nevertheless, the opening shot of Constable Frazier marching into Chicago-- with his boots, backpack and wolf—is supremely poignant. He’s the classic "stranger in a strange land."

I could blame the cynicism, greed and general disarray on every side for my new interest. It’s uplifting to enter, if only through the suspension of belief required by theater, a reality where honesty, knowledge, industry, and optimism carry the day.

There’s another reason, I’m watching "Due South." Frankly, my mother loved this series. 500 miles distant, she got on the phone and begged me to watch it.

I refused. This had to do with me and her and her preference, long established, for the family dogs. "Due South" had that "cute wolf," so I figured it was just Mom being sentimental about dogs--SO, FORGET IT! At her best, Mom was Auntie Mame—at her worst--well, it was a "Gray Gardens” sort of tragedy.

Anyhow, somewhere around Christmas this year, I began to watch "Due South." At first, ordering it seemed the result of searching for anything with Paul Gross. I'd become a fan after watching the mind-blowing Canadian mini-series “Slings & Arrows.”

As I watched "Due South," however, a memory returned, of Mom asking and me saying “yes” but never actually doing so. She's been gone for a few years now, but, in the way of mothers, she's pretty much always around. I wasn’t particularly surprised by the sudden appearance of this “coincidence” in my life.

I’m just in the first season, but I'll probably watch all of "Due South." I hope Mom enjoys sharing it with me, even though I'm slow on the uptake. I find that even the darn wolf, ("Diefenbaker," after a long ago Canadian P.M.,) is a thing of beauty. I can hear Mom endlessly remarking that he’s "a lovely, smart boy," and "probably a wolf-husky mix," like her friend who worked at the nursing home owned.

So, this Christmas has been a time of reconciliation, a time for letting go of old injuries. As I watch, I’ll hope that the pure-hearted Constable Frazier gets to return to his beloved shining, forest-and-snow-bound northland, where he and the wolf, unencumbered by ordinary reality, can live happily-ever- after. Mom and her canine Spirit Guide will probably visit them there, before they head to their own due south, in the sunny Caribbean.