FK Season 2, Episode 1 "Killer Instinct"
Nov. 5th, 2023 06:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
switchbladeeyesI decided to go ahead and buy season 2 of Forever Knight because it’s my favorite season (notwithstanding Nick trying to make vests happen), and I missed several episodes when I was rewatching it months ago and Amazon yanked it off Prime.
I’m going to leisurely go back through season 2 since I enjoy it, can share my thoughts, and can hit those missed episodes this time around.
"Killer Instinct" was the first episode of the show I ever saw back when it first aired in 1994 and, for all I knew at the time, was the first episode of the show, period. I didn't learn about season 1 until I discovered the fandom a couple years later when I got the internet. I didn't see season 1 until it started airing on the Sci Fi channel (1997?). I never really quite warmed up to season 1 and the big gap in time is probably a reason why.
At any rate, "Killer Instinct" totally hooked me on the show.
This is an awesome episode! It strikes such a good balance between vampire story and police story.
We know pretty much right off the bat that LaCroix is back and fucking around with a murder. There was no reason to hide this from the viewers since the big reveal at the very end of season 1 was that he was still alive. But Nick doesn't know, which makes this episode fun to watch. He knows some other vampire is skulking around, he just doesn't know it's LaCroix because Nick's vampire radar isn't that great. (Of course, when I first saw the show, I had no idea who TF LaCroix was so the first time we saw him would not have been an ohhh damn moment for me.)
Conveniently, the show explains its entire premise in the opening credits so lack of any familiarity for a new viewer isn't much of a problem overall. Vampire cop. Got it.
Schanke rolling in at the murder scene in a coat and his moose pajamas is the most Schanke thing ever. Trying to impress the new boss by showing up on his day off. Captain Cohen for her part is decidedly unimpressed. I really liked her intro here as a character though she would be sadly underutilized in the series.
Nick shows up too for Reasons and vampire radar starts pinging something for him, but it's going to take him damn near the whole episode to put it together. We get our first flashback of him as a brand new vampire centuries before trying to learn the skill of locating another vampire from a distance. And lol Captain Cohen asking Nick if he's "communing with the cosmos" when he spaces out thinking about the past.
Nick goes off to see Janette, who I think we can all agree is super cool. I love their chemistry together in this scene. Playful, affectionate, familiar, but also serious. All in one short scene. She's sensed another vampire too, but says she doesn't know who it is. Do we believe her though?? It's one thing for Nick's radar to be off, but Janette? It's an interesting question. Nick's so trusting and guileless when it comes to her. I have my suspicions that she knows exactly what's going on though. Like… she isn't more loyal to Nick than she is to LaCroix. Nick assumes she is being honest, but I don't.
Meanwhile, Nick's engraved watch from Natalie goes missing. 'Cause LaCroix stole it to plant at the scene of another murder that Nick conveniently stumbles upon after hearing the victim's screams (though mayhaps the pull of the vampire connection he has with LaCroix contributed).
Nick is arrested for the murder, oh dear. LaCroix thinks this is pretty funny. This whole set up is a very LaCroix thing to do.
Nick's interrogated then put in lock up. Natalie pretends to take a DNA sample from him. Nick tells her another vampire is trying to force him to move on from his life as Detective Nick Knight. And the cops are all over his stuff at his place, including discovering that his fridge is stocked with bottles of cow's blood. Schanke valiantly tries to keep his fellow cops from messing too much with Nick's stuff and defends Nick's eccentricities, but the blood thing... yeah, that gives Schanke pause. Not looking too good.
We get a nice flashback of Nick as a brand new vampire with LaCroix explaining that (1) being a vampire is flippin' awesome, (2) he and Nick are now bound together forever because LaCroix was the one who turned him into a vampire, and (3) he sees himself as an eternal mentor for Nick. Nick, for his part, senses a power imbalance and worries that he's now a slave. LaCroix assures him this is not the case and any service owed or dependence in their relationship is mutual. If Nick is a slave "then, I too am your slave." But power struggles will later be a (perhaps the) defining characteristic of their relationship. While it is accurate that Nick is not LaCroix's slave, it's also accurate that LaCroix will never let him be free.
Meanwhile, Natalie at the morgue is doing something sciency with DNA samples. Look, IDK what she's doing, it's all jargony to me, but for some science reason, they need extra DNA samples to send to the lab? Somehow this avoids errors? I don't freaking know. What's important here is that she and her colleague get the extra sample from a morgue assistant, Jeff, who they ambush to collect the sample. Natalie's real aim here is to give a false DNA sample under Nick's name to clear Nick of the murder. Problem is–spoiler alert–Jeff is the murderer! So the sample will implicate Nick, not exonerate him. D'oh!
Meanwhile, in lock up, Schanke visits Nick because, you know, the blood in the fridge thing is freaky. Nick says he uses the blood with his paints when he's painting. Yeah, sure, okay. Schanke is so desperate to believe in Nick's innocence that he readily accepts this explanation though.
After Schank leaves, Janette drops by and tells Nick it's time to move TF on. She's there to free him and then he needs to get out of Dodge. Game over for his identity as Nick Knight. When Nick asks who sent her, she says "the community." That could mean a lot of things. It could mean, yeah, just generally the community of vampires of which Janette is a sort of central figure. It could mean Enforcers, the only once seen and occasionally referenced vampires known for upholding what seems to be the only law vampires have: keeping humanity from knowing about vampires. Or, it could mean LaCroix. Janette again denies knowing who is setting up Nick, but I have that lingering thought in my mind that she does know it's LaCroix and, at this point, she is helping him.
Before Janette can spring Nick though, the DNA results come back and, oops, a match. Nick's being moved to a more secure lock up. During the day. He's put in a transport, but breaks free en route, fleeing into the shadows of an alley and then into a dumpster before he combusts. Shitty day, for sure.
Natalie learns of the arrest, puts 2 and 2 together, and realizes Jeff is the killer. Natalie tells Schanke what happened, admitting she tampered with the DNA testing to prevent discovery of the full scope of Nick's "medical" condition/sun allergy because it would be career ending (lolol at Natalie selling Schanke on this story, which he's really buying; she's a talented sales person). Schanke agrees to check out Jeff, but doesn't know Internal Affairs and Captain Cohen trail him.
Meanwhile, after dark, Nick emerges from the dumpster. Cosplaying as Oscar the Grouch for a day has left him irritated enough to try and track down whoever set him up. He super concentrates on his vampire radar skill, flashing back to when LaCroix taught him the skill. In the flashback, LaCroix tells him to "follow the vibration" and describes this psychic connection/bond/sixth sense/vibration/whatever it is they now share, as the defining element of "what we are." I'm not entirely sure what this is supposed to mean, to be honest. Maybe just hitting home that Nick isn't human anymore and will have this kind of tether to vampirism forever.
At any rate, when the plot calls for it, vampires can sense one another though it does seem to take some effort. In the present, Nick seems now able to follow the sensation of another vampire's presence and off he flies toward it. (I think this is the only time we ever see Nick fly from a third person perspective this season. Thank god. It's such a cheesy effect. A holdover from the season 1 menu of cheesy effects, I guess. The first person flight vision is way better and I'm glad they stick to that after this.)
Vamped out, fangs and all, Nick winds up at Jeff's place, surprised to see a mortal there. LaCroix is very close, Nick just doesn't know it yet. Problem for Nick is that Schanke shows up almost immediately after Nick does followed by Internal Affairs. Jeff flees. Nick and Schanke follow with Schanke telling Nick to leave so he doesn't get caught. Schanke's the best, I love him. This is opportune for Nick as he has zeroed in on where the other vampire is.
Schanke gets to show off his police chops in pursuing Jeff. Schanke is a superior cop to Nick, TBH. He doesn't have super speed or strength, he doesn't have invulnerability, and he doesn't have hypnotic powers. He does this job based entirely on skill and experience. When he catches up to Jeff, he has to talk down an armed and emotional suspect. Schanke's empathetic and persuasive, managing to diffuse the situation and make the arrest with no one harmed. This impresses me. This impresses Cohen. And after, when Cohen asks where Nick is, Schanke claims to not have seen him all night. Because Schanke is the best partner ever.
Nick fiiiiiiiiinally tracks down LaCroix. I love Nick realizing LaCroix is still alive and behind it all. We've known it all along so the episode was really building to this moment. When Nick finally sees LaCroix, his expression is like ohhhh, shiiiit. And it's tense because we don't know what LaCroix is going to do. He's kind of "quiet pissed," which is the scariest kind of pissed. Especially since he looked really angry at the very end of season 1. I mean... Nick stabbed him with a flaming stake and it looked like he burned up. In true FK fashion, LaCroix gives a total non-explanation explanation for surviving a wooden stake and fire, both of which are fatal to vampires in this universe. Or not so fatal if you're LaCroix and "much too old and powerful for that." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, LaCroix's decided to be chill about that whole Nick trying to kill him thing if Nick comes along quietly and leaves with him. LaCroix's all, "Let's go, my dude. This mortal life thing is not our vibe." That goes over with Nick as about as well as one might think given he got sick enough of LaCroix's domineering ways that he tried to kill him. Nick's like, "F you, bruh." And it devolves into fisticuffs (which, TBH, is kind of silly… all the snarling and hissing of vamp fights, it's just… silly. I also can't see this scene without thinking of the prank from the season 2 blooper reel so I'm sure that contributes lol).
Nick finally repels LaCroix with a makeshift cross, Nick burning his own hands in the process, and LaCroix flying off. Apparently, that's all they needed to do to get some pent up hostility out of their systems because they're peaceable a moment later when Nick is watching Jeff's arrest from the rooftop. LaCroix tries to convince Nick that mortal lives are fleeting and without substance. ("Where's the lasting value, Nicholas? Blink and they'll all be ghosts. Blink and they'll all be gone.") And it just ends there. Don't you kind of wonder what happened after that? Maybe Nick had a reply to this? Any further arguing? Or maybe LaCroix or Nick just took off, tired of arguing points they'll never agree on?
We have a nice scene at the end in the police station with Cohen, Schanke, Nat, and Nick. Again, I really like Cohen here and am sorry we didn't see more of her. She's serious and firm, but also collegial. I like her.
Back at home, Nick gets a visit from Janette and senses her presence before he sees her. She comments that this is good and that their vampire connection has become stronger, which means LaCroix is back. (Which I think maybe she knew all along!)
I'm glad LaCroix is back because he's a much more interesting and developed character this season than he was in the flashbacks in season 1. His presence also adds a new layer of complexity to Nick's already complicated life. He's going to keep Nick and us viewers on our toes.
Whew, that turned out waaay longer than I expected. But I love this episode and this season. Season 2 is my FK happy place.
I’m going to leisurely go back through season 2 since I enjoy it, can share my thoughts, and can hit those missed episodes this time around.
"Killer Instinct" was the first episode of the show I ever saw back when it first aired in 1994 and, for all I knew at the time, was the first episode of the show, period. I didn't learn about season 1 until I discovered the fandom a couple years later when I got the internet. I didn't see season 1 until it started airing on the Sci Fi channel (1997?). I never really quite warmed up to season 1 and the big gap in time is probably a reason why.
At any rate, "Killer Instinct" totally hooked me on the show.
This is an awesome episode! It strikes such a good balance between vampire story and police story.
We know pretty much right off the bat that LaCroix is back and fucking around with a murder. There was no reason to hide this from the viewers since the big reveal at the very end of season 1 was that he was still alive. But Nick doesn't know, which makes this episode fun to watch. He knows some other vampire is skulking around, he just doesn't know it's LaCroix because Nick's vampire radar isn't that great. (Of course, when I first saw the show, I had no idea who TF LaCroix was so the first time we saw him would not have been an ohhh damn moment for me.)
Conveniently, the show explains its entire premise in the opening credits so lack of any familiarity for a new viewer isn't much of a problem overall. Vampire cop. Got it.
Schanke rolling in at the murder scene in a coat and his moose pajamas is the most Schanke thing ever. Trying to impress the new boss by showing up on his day off. Captain Cohen for her part is decidedly unimpressed. I really liked her intro here as a character though she would be sadly underutilized in the series.
Nick shows up too for Reasons and vampire radar starts pinging something for him, but it's going to take him damn near the whole episode to put it together. We get our first flashback of him as a brand new vampire centuries before trying to learn the skill of locating another vampire from a distance. And lol Captain Cohen asking Nick if he's "communing with the cosmos" when he spaces out thinking about the past.
Nick goes off to see Janette, who I think we can all agree is super cool. I love their chemistry together in this scene. Playful, affectionate, familiar, but also serious. All in one short scene. She's sensed another vampire too, but says she doesn't know who it is. Do we believe her though?? It's one thing for Nick's radar to be off, but Janette? It's an interesting question. Nick's so trusting and guileless when it comes to her. I have my suspicions that she knows exactly what's going on though. Like… she isn't more loyal to Nick than she is to LaCroix. Nick assumes she is being honest, but I don't.
Meanwhile, Nick's engraved watch from Natalie goes missing. 'Cause LaCroix stole it to plant at the scene of another murder that Nick conveniently stumbles upon after hearing the victim's screams (though mayhaps the pull of the vampire connection he has with LaCroix contributed).
Nick is arrested for the murder, oh dear. LaCroix thinks this is pretty funny. This whole set up is a very LaCroix thing to do.
Nick's interrogated then put in lock up. Natalie pretends to take a DNA sample from him. Nick tells her another vampire is trying to force him to move on from his life as Detective Nick Knight. And the cops are all over his stuff at his place, including discovering that his fridge is stocked with bottles of cow's blood. Schanke valiantly tries to keep his fellow cops from messing too much with Nick's stuff and defends Nick's eccentricities, but the blood thing... yeah, that gives Schanke pause. Not looking too good.
We get a nice flashback of Nick as a brand new vampire with LaCroix explaining that (1) being a vampire is flippin' awesome, (2) he and Nick are now bound together forever because LaCroix was the one who turned him into a vampire, and (3) he sees himself as an eternal mentor for Nick. Nick, for his part, senses a power imbalance and worries that he's now a slave. LaCroix assures him this is not the case and any service owed or dependence in their relationship is mutual. If Nick is a slave "then, I too am your slave." But power struggles will later be a (perhaps the) defining characteristic of their relationship. While it is accurate that Nick is not LaCroix's slave, it's also accurate that LaCroix will never let him be free.
Meanwhile, Natalie at the morgue is doing something sciency with DNA samples. Look, IDK what she's doing, it's all jargony to me, but for some science reason, they need extra DNA samples to send to the lab? Somehow this avoids errors? I don't freaking know. What's important here is that she and her colleague get the extra sample from a morgue assistant, Jeff, who they ambush to collect the sample. Natalie's real aim here is to give a false DNA sample under Nick's name to clear Nick of the murder. Problem is–spoiler alert–Jeff is the murderer! So the sample will implicate Nick, not exonerate him. D'oh!
Meanwhile, in lock up, Schanke visits Nick because, you know, the blood in the fridge thing is freaky. Nick says he uses the blood with his paints when he's painting. Yeah, sure, okay. Schanke is so desperate to believe in Nick's innocence that he readily accepts this explanation though.
After Schank leaves, Janette drops by and tells Nick it's time to move TF on. She's there to free him and then he needs to get out of Dodge. Game over for his identity as Nick Knight. When Nick asks who sent her, she says "the community." That could mean a lot of things. It could mean, yeah, just generally the community of vampires of which Janette is a sort of central figure. It could mean Enforcers, the only once seen and occasionally referenced vampires known for upholding what seems to be the only law vampires have: keeping humanity from knowing about vampires. Or, it could mean LaCroix. Janette again denies knowing who is setting up Nick, but I have that lingering thought in my mind that she does know it's LaCroix and, at this point, she is helping him.
Before Janette can spring Nick though, the DNA results come back and, oops, a match. Nick's being moved to a more secure lock up. During the day. He's put in a transport, but breaks free en route, fleeing into the shadows of an alley and then into a dumpster before he combusts. Shitty day, for sure.
Natalie learns of the arrest, puts 2 and 2 together, and realizes Jeff is the killer. Natalie tells Schanke what happened, admitting she tampered with the DNA testing to prevent discovery of the full scope of Nick's "medical" condition/sun allergy because it would be career ending (lolol at Natalie selling Schanke on this story, which he's really buying; she's a talented sales person). Schanke agrees to check out Jeff, but doesn't know Internal Affairs and Captain Cohen trail him.
Meanwhile, after dark, Nick emerges from the dumpster. Cosplaying as Oscar the Grouch for a day has left him irritated enough to try and track down whoever set him up. He super concentrates on his vampire radar skill, flashing back to when LaCroix taught him the skill. In the flashback, LaCroix tells him to "follow the vibration" and describes this psychic connection/bond/sixth sense/vibration/whatever it is they now share, as the defining element of "what we are." I'm not entirely sure what this is supposed to mean, to be honest. Maybe just hitting home that Nick isn't human anymore and will have this kind of tether to vampirism forever.
At any rate, when the plot calls for it, vampires can sense one another though it does seem to take some effort. In the present, Nick seems now able to follow the sensation of another vampire's presence and off he flies toward it. (I think this is the only time we ever see Nick fly from a third person perspective this season. Thank god. It's such a cheesy effect. A holdover from the season 1 menu of cheesy effects, I guess. The first person flight vision is way better and I'm glad they stick to that after this.)
Vamped out, fangs and all, Nick winds up at Jeff's place, surprised to see a mortal there. LaCroix is very close, Nick just doesn't know it yet. Problem for Nick is that Schanke shows up almost immediately after Nick does followed by Internal Affairs. Jeff flees. Nick and Schanke follow with Schanke telling Nick to leave so he doesn't get caught. Schanke's the best, I love him. This is opportune for Nick as he has zeroed in on where the other vampire is.
Schanke gets to show off his police chops in pursuing Jeff. Schanke is a superior cop to Nick, TBH. He doesn't have super speed or strength, he doesn't have invulnerability, and he doesn't have hypnotic powers. He does this job based entirely on skill and experience. When he catches up to Jeff, he has to talk down an armed and emotional suspect. Schanke's empathetic and persuasive, managing to diffuse the situation and make the arrest with no one harmed. This impresses me. This impresses Cohen. And after, when Cohen asks where Nick is, Schanke claims to not have seen him all night. Because Schanke is the best partner ever.
Nick fiiiiiiiiinally tracks down LaCroix. I love Nick realizing LaCroix is still alive and behind it all. We've known it all along so the episode was really building to this moment. When Nick finally sees LaCroix, his expression is like ohhhh, shiiiit. And it's tense because we don't know what LaCroix is going to do. He's kind of "quiet pissed," which is the scariest kind of pissed. Especially since he looked really angry at the very end of season 1. I mean... Nick stabbed him with a flaming stake and it looked like he burned up. In true FK fashion, LaCroix gives a total non-explanation explanation for surviving a wooden stake and fire, both of which are fatal to vampires in this universe. Or not so fatal if you're LaCroix and "much too old and powerful for that." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, LaCroix's decided to be chill about that whole Nick trying to kill him thing if Nick comes along quietly and leaves with him. LaCroix's all, "Let's go, my dude. This mortal life thing is not our vibe." That goes over with Nick as about as well as one might think given he got sick enough of LaCroix's domineering ways that he tried to kill him. Nick's like, "F you, bruh." And it devolves into fisticuffs (which, TBH, is kind of silly… all the snarling and hissing of vamp fights, it's just… silly. I also can't see this scene without thinking of the prank from the season 2 blooper reel so I'm sure that contributes lol).
Nick finally repels LaCroix with a makeshift cross, Nick burning his own hands in the process, and LaCroix flying off. Apparently, that's all they needed to do to get some pent up hostility out of their systems because they're peaceable a moment later when Nick is watching Jeff's arrest from the rooftop. LaCroix tries to convince Nick that mortal lives are fleeting and without substance. ("Where's the lasting value, Nicholas? Blink and they'll all be ghosts. Blink and they'll all be gone.") And it just ends there. Don't you kind of wonder what happened after that? Maybe Nick had a reply to this? Any further arguing? Or maybe LaCroix or Nick just took off, tired of arguing points they'll never agree on?
We have a nice scene at the end in the police station with Cohen, Schanke, Nat, and Nick. Again, I really like Cohen here and am sorry we didn't see more of her. She's serious and firm, but also collegial. I like her.
Back at home, Nick gets a visit from Janette and senses her presence before he sees her. She comments that this is good and that their vampire connection has become stronger, which means LaCroix is back. (Which I think maybe she knew all along!)
I'm glad LaCroix is back because he's a much more interesting and developed character this season than he was in the flashbacks in season 1. His presence also adds a new layer of complexity to Nick's already complicated life. He's going to keep Nick and us viewers on our toes.
Whew, that turned out waaay longer than I expected. But I love this episode and this season. Season 2 is my FK happy place.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-08 10:30 pm (UTC)It's a wonderful episode and I agree about the perfect balance between police and vampire plot. I liked the way how Schanke got to solve the case, and how he backs Nick up.
I assume that Janette knew all along that Lacroix was back. When she mentions "the community" that probably means Lacroix.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-08 10:43 pm (UTC)