Vicotria's Secret Question

Righty-o, once again answering even if I don't know the answer...oh well..

I always thought the snow had something to do with the fact that they were caught in a blizzard and barely survived when Fraser first met Victoria (and put her to prison :D)

but I'd love to know other interpretations too - metaphorical and others.

Certainly I think it's related to the blizzard incident as it was the first and most intense experience they shared, so it's bound to be snowing in Fraser's memories and fantasies of Victoria.

Plus the snow is symbolic of Canada and the wilderness (hence also polar bears at the zoo) which, try as they might, neither Victoria nor Fraser can escape from; the memory of the past, what happened back in Canada, is always hanging over them.

Lastly, I think the snow also represents Victoria herself - after all, she's pretty cold and calculating. When Fraser breaks the snow globe, he's not just physically disrupting her plan (i.e. finding the key) but also symbolically breaking her hold over him. The last decision he makes (i.e. to follow her onto the train) is his choice, not something that she has forced him into; she's got nothing left to hold him to now, except for the fact they love one another, and in that respect they're both equal. He's making the choice that he should have made long ago, but of course it's too late now - even if he hadn't been shot, they'd never have been able to make a life together.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm gonna go and read Crazy- -Beautiful's 'complex metaphors' now.

Haven't read the link so...

IMO the whole story is informed by 2 things.

First, the snowglobe shown at the very beginning of the first ep (it seems like a throwaway shot - but it's not), which ties into the hiding place for the key in the second.

and

Second, the line from the song Possession that is the theme played thoughout -

Voices trapped in yearning
Memories trapped in time

So the snow is all tied into the "memories trapped in time".

Fraser's memories are trapped in that place and time. The Victoria of that snowglobe is what Fraser remembers, he is possessed by the memory, and in his encounters with her, it is what compels him. He believes that she is the one, across time and miles, that is his soul-mate.

The problem is, just because he wants it to be, doesn't make it so.

Does Victoria love him? Yes. Perhaps. As much as she can love anyone. But for her, the feelings she has for Fraser have not been trapped in that time and place. Love and hate, opposite sides of the coin. She needs to separate Fraser from everything that makes him what he is in order to be with him, but more importantly, to make him "hers", to take him away from the other woman - even though that woman is the law.

He says towards the end, that he knows who she is, but does he really?