Red Crackle

Red Crackle is the het ship between Carmen Sandiego and Graham/Gray from the Carmen Sandiego fandom.

Season One
Gray (V.I.L.E codename "Crackle") is sent to capture Carmen Sandiego (V.I.L.E codename "Black Sheep"). They meet on a train, and we learn that the two have a past history together, told through flashback.

Carmen and Gray first met while training in V.I.L.E academy. When Coach Brunt affectionately called Carmen "lambkins", Gray made fun of the name which resulted to Carmen dragged him by his shirt from behind and angrily telling him only her friends call her lambkins and he is to call her "Black Sheep", which he nods in surprise.

Later on, when the students get their rooms, Black Sheep was not amused with the fact Gray would be sharing a room with her but he seemed to be less mocking as before. In that moment, Sheena tried to touch Black Sheep's Matryoshka dolls, the only personal belonging she has had since she was a baby, to spite her but backed off when Gray stepped in which made Black Sheep trust him a bit more.

From then on, Black Sheep and Gray became friends as they trained through their thief classes. Gray was often impressed by Black Sheep's skills and was the first person to make her aware of how talented she was. Until Shadowsan failed Black Sheep on her graduation, Gray consoled her before having to leave with his team. Black Sheep, still determined, snuck on the air ride on Gray's next mission and when about to parachute down, she jumped on Gray as they hurled downward. Gray was in shock to see Black Sheep joined and she told him to not let go as they clutched onto each other, parachuting to safety. Gray scolded Black Sheep, bringing up how she could've put her safety and his mission at risk, which she is sorry for.

Black Sheep is made to stay back while they continue the caper until she sees when there is a witness at the sight, Gray is about to electrocute him until Black Sheep stops him. She screams at him, holding him off with his own taser until she gets chloroformed, the last thing she sees is Gray's regretful face as she passes out. After that incident. Black Sheep left after seeing what V.I.L.E really was and rebranded herself as Carmen Sandiego, from the jacket she stole from Cookie Booker.

Back on the train, Carmen says Gray is like a big brother to her. Gray asks Carmen to come back home, saying they miss her but Carmen can't go back, which means Gray has to finish his job reluctantly. Carmen outsmarts him, incapacitating him and leaving him on the train with her jacket on him. In an interview, showrunner Duane Capizzi confirmed that Crackle was willing to kill Carmen for V.I.L.E. when they were on the train, had she not been able to stop him. Gray is captured by Interpol, interrogated by Chase Devineaux until V.I.L.E retrieve him and wipe away his memories for getting caught, brought back into society as a new man.

In the episode, "The Opera in the Outback Caper", Carmen sees Gray again in the opera house while she is trying to stop Le Chevre during the play "Carmen". Gray questions what she's doing backstage and doesn't remember the name Gray from what Carmen calls him (suspecting he is doing a cover as an electrician), calling himself "Graham" as he ushers her away. Carmen realizes he really doesn't remember her, to which Graham says with her fashion statement she would be hard to forget and says if there was a next time he would make sure not to make that mistake again.

Later on, Graham is found leaving the opera house as Carmen comes down behind him. Graham gives her an address to his favorite coffee shop and the time he comes there, implying he is asking her out on a coffee date. Carmen accepts and drops her name to him before leaving.

After her mission, she seems to decide to go to the coffee shop to meet Graham. She watches Graham from across the street while talking with Player, again mentioning that he is like a big brother to her, even if he does not remember her. Duane Capizzi confirmed that "she never says she cares about him in that way, romantically." Player brings up how he tried to capture her before and Carmen says this could be a second chance for them to become close again. Graham sees her against the bus stop, the two smile at each other until Carmen disappears. Player asks why, and Carmen says whatever V.I.L.E. did to him, he has a fresh start and she feels she may get in the way of that.

Season Two
Carmen is on a caper to Auckland, New Zealand to stop Dr. Bellum from using an EMP device. She decides to have Graham to help, as he was the best criminal electrician at V.I.L.E. Carmen returns to the same coffee shop as before, and sees Gray reading a book. She approaches him and asks for his help with lighting "a show for a children's charity." Though, she is actually using his lighting experience to deactivate the electrical grids at V.I.L.E. However, during the show Graham realizes that he was lied to, and the show was fake. He then helps Carmen fight off Neal the Eel and deactivates Dr. Bellum's device. After that, Carmen and Gray escape, using Carmen's glider. When the glider crashes, Carmen is worried, and checks Gray to see if he's still ok. Later, they finally have the coffee date. Carmen and Gray briefly hold hands, although Duane Capizzi said of the episode that, "He's (Graham) sort of a different person now. But she (Carmen) never said she's interested in him in that way." and that "Gray was never good enough for Carmen."

Season Four
Gray's memories return and he once again goes to work for V.I.L.E. The Villain's International League of Evil manages to finally capture Carmen Sandiego, brainwashing her to work with and steal for the agency once again. After awhile, Gray has a change of heart, and realizes that even though he chose the path of evil, Carmen did not, and that she did not deserve to have her free will taken away. He works with A.C.M.E. to corner Carmen, using the same memory device that V.I.L.E. had previously used on him. Carmen breaks the device before her memory can be fully restored. She manages to get the Crackle Rod away from Gray, dealing a full power and fatal blow.

Carmen ends up alone with Shadowsan, who shows her a matryoshka doll from her childhood. She remembers everything. She momentarily believes she killed Gray, but it is revealed that he re-wired his Crackle Rod to only be able to stun. Carmen goes to find her mother and family, and she and Gray do not see each other after this night.

At the end of the season while in the hospital, Gray receives a visit from Chief, the head of A.C.M.E. When she asks if he would like to contact Carmen again, he declines, instead deciding not to complicate her life any further. Duane Capizzi stated that he was "sure they will meet again someday."

Books
In the novel Who in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? by Rebecca Tinker, the relationship between Crackle and Black Sheep at V.I.L.E. is continued. Other events from season one are included, with added details. The two bond even more than they had the chance to in the series, with Gray even referring to Carmen as his "kid sister" twice, and Carmen referring to him thrice as a big brother.

Fanon
Fans got into the ship, some even seeing the relationship like a Mr. and Mrs. Smith story. Red Crackle had the appeal of two friends-to-enemies-to-lovers being separated on their paths after graduation.

Red Crackle has a rather sizable fanbase behind it, liking the chemistry they had as friends and even as their current selves. There are some notable detractors, disliking Red Crackle because of Carmen in S1 calling Gray "a big brother" to her as well as believed age gaps, though Graham is believed to be only two years older. Some detractors compared it to Sheith, to which Red Crackle shippers point out the differences being they were both students when meeting, not meeting as a teacher and student like Shiro and Keith in VLD.

More fans have come since the release of S2 and more fanart of the pair keeps coming on Tumblr and Instagram.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Carmen/Crackle tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Carmen/Crackle tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * A theory was brought up in S1, which was Graham was humming to one of the songs from the opera "Carmen" which was on the lines of "love is a rebellious bird' which Carmen happening to be gliding down to him. There is even references of it in the episode, with Carmen in front of the billboard for the opera.