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switchbladeeyesAnother one I like!
A huge part of what's fun about this episode is the audience not knowing whether Nick actually has joined a fringe religious group and abandoned his job, home, money, and friends for it.
I mean, it does seem like the kind of thing Nick might do, especially when the group's charismatic leader says things that maybe Nick wants to hear.
We kick off with a bunch of people with their hands outstretched to a glowing orb. It's a cool visual and the people's fingers like the rays of the sun. They're listening to chimes or something. We cut back and forth a few times from them to some guy in a basement.
Basement Guy is fixing some stuff when an unknown culprit flips a switch that causes him to be electrocuted. Muuuuuurder. Plus, the power goes out, totally harshing the vibe of the orb 'n chimes folk.
At the police station, we learn that Nick has been under deep cover with a fringe religious group known as the "Luminologists" for two weeks to try and figure out if Basement Guy was murdered. Schanke hasn't heard from Nick and has no way to reach him. Schanke apparently tried to question members of the group after Basement Guy was killed, but they wouldn't talk to him. Thus, the need for Nick to go undercover.
We go inside the Luminologist HQ where a charismatic leader is talking to the members, putting on a sort of sermon about the group's approach to dealing with head trash. And whoa, there's Nick, wearing a Luminologist polo shirt, taking it all in. The leader is talking about guilt and self-loathing, which are two of Nick's favorite topics. Nick spaces out while listening.
And off the flashback land we go. We're at a campsite in a desert in Sudan in what looks like the early 20th century. It's one of the cooler sets we've seen. Nick's talking to another vampire named Thomas, who comments that cow's blood is "surprisingly good." Yeah, okay. This guy is already super sus. This is like drinking coffee that's been sitting in the pot for hours in a convenience store you hit at 1:00 a.m. on a long road trip and calling the coffee "surprisingly good" compared to the lovingly crafted lattes made with premium ingredients that you usually drink at home. But Nick buys it. Because Thomas appears to be a fellow believer in a cure for vampirism and is running an archaeological dig ostensibly searching for an ancient Kush artifact that will reveal the cure.
An aside: I found it funny that in the end credits, Thomas is not just "Thomas" or "Thomas Monroe," but "Thomas the Vampire." In case we were in danger of confusing him with all the non-existent human Thomases in this episode. It also made me think of "Jim the Vampire" from "What We Do in the Shadows."
Back to the present, Nat and Schanke are at the station talking about Nick, and Nat becomes worried when she learns Schanke has been unable to reach him. Schanke is unconcerned though, chalking it up to Nick being unable to make contact without blowing his cover.
Back at Luminology HQ, we learn the leader is named Matthew. A woman named Holly comes running to him because another member named David has a gun and is threatening to kill himself. Matthew manages to talk David down to everyone's relief. Matthew then has some sort of religious/therapeutic type session with David that involves David reclining with an iridescent sticker on his forehead and Matthew coaching him to take in light and the brightness into him. Like a human Lite-Brite if you will.
The other members are watching, including Nick and as soon as the word "cure" comes out of Matthew's lips, Nick journeys back to the flashback. Thomas and Nick are handling ancient scrolls like ancient scrolls wouldn't just crumble being manhandled in this manner. But it's fine. It doesn't occur to Nick that these might not be exactly genuine. The scrolls seem to indicate the ancient people knew about vampires and had a cure, but neither Nick nor Thomas have the linguistic skill to translate the "how" of it. Conveniently, an old buddy of Nick's, an academic named Helen, who happens to be the best translator of the language in the world, is super nearby. Thomas convinces Nick to go and persuade her to come translate the scrolls. Nick and Thomas are all smiles. So close to the cure!
Back in the present, Matthew's like, who else wants to have a Lite-Brite experience? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? With no takers, Nick is voluntold to go next. The others file out, leaving Nick and Matthew alone. Nick is reclining with his eyes closed and one of the iridescent stickers on his forehead. Matthew's all, "call on the sun's healing rays to flow into your body." LOL, okay, Nick's a vampire so instead he flashes on instances where the sun burned him. And also flashes back briefly on other intense vampire life events like the night he was brought over, various times he bit humans, and the night he tried to kill LaCroix. He appears to be in distress and vamps out, but turns away so Matthew can't see him with fangs and eyes glowing orange. From behind him, Matthew's like, don't feel guilty for whatever was in your past, "guilt is a useless emotion" that is keeping you from healing. (It's a LaCroix sentiment, when you think about it, but expressed in a much "nicer" way by Matthew.)
We don't really know what to make of the whole thing until Schanke sneaks into Luminology HQ and tries to talk to Nick. But Nick is a total space cadet, barely reacting to Schanke's presence. And when Nick finally does say something, he's just all, go away and don't come back, I'm staying with the Luminologists. He just walks away without further explanation looking completely checked out. Seems like he's full on committed to the group.
Meanwhile, Matthew asks another member, Barton, a shadowy figure whose face we can't see, to look into Nick because Nick has told him "some very disturbing things." Okay, so everything Nick flashed on during his Lite-Brite experience… did he say some of that out loud? One wonders. Of course, Matthew may just be blowing smoke to ensure Barton goes along with investigating Nick.
Now Schanke is worried and tells Nat what happened. This time it's Natalie who's like, he probably just didn't want you to blow his cover. But Schanke reiterates he's actually scared for Nick at this point. Nat decides to go chat with Janette about the situation. It's a fun scene.
Nat dishes to Janette that Nick's in a cult and Nat is worried he's "vulnerable" and getting sucked into it. Janette feigns concern for a moment, but she's not worried at all. I find this kind of interesting, actually, considering she knows that Nick is susceptible to getting put in a vulnerable position by people telling him things he wants to hear. She just doesn't think the Luminology folks are the ones who are going to get to him. Janette delivers the Quote of the Episode: "If he is running with that pack, he is the wolf, they are poodles." Nat is annoyed by her interaction with Janette and appears unconvinced that Nick is not in danger.
The "oh noes, Nick's in a cult!" reaction on Nat's part and running to Janette is kind of funny when you think about it. How Nat feels about Nick living in the Luminologists' world is about how Nick's vampire friends feel about Nick living in the human world.
Back at Luminology HQ, Matthew comes to visit Nick in his room to talk about how well Nick did with his first "cleansing," which is apparently the name of the heretofore labeled "Lite-Brite experience." Nick says he doesn't remember much of it and expresses concern about whether others were in the room. No, but the cleansing was videotaped, which makes Nick look alarmed. Can't have tapes showing him vamped out! That will bring trouble! But Matthew assures Nick that the tape belongs to Nick alone. Whew. Nick offers Matthew financial assistance so Luminology HQ can be expanded, but Matthew's like, no, no, I don't want your savings or your assets… and I'm like, huh, not what I expected.
Back in flashback land, Nick has brought his pal Helen to Thomas's dig site. Thomas is all flattery, but she's like, whatevs, I wouldn't be here if Nick hadn't used his "very persuasive charms" to convince me. It makes one wonder if Nick whammied her, but maybe not. Nick can be very charming. She agrees to look at the Kush scrolls with Thomas while Nick goes to get her a refreshment.
Back at Luminology HQ, Nick makes conversation with Luminology member Holly. Holly is super grateful to Matthew because she says that only months before she was a total wreck from the stress of her family including her marriage and kids. Nick's like, oh, how nice, kids, where are they? And she kind of joyfully and spaced out says, "I don't know." Ummmmmm. Yikes. So these folks have families and are isolated from them. Not good.
Meanwhile, on the outside, Schanke is investigating the death of Basement Guy. It turns out he had a hefty trust fund for which Matthew is the beneficiary. Oops, I guess money is the motivator after all. Nat gives Schanke news that there were psychotropic drugs in Basement Guy's system. Turns out the victim had a history of psychiatric difficulties as do, apparently, the other Luminology members. Hmmmm… so members are particularly vulnerable people. And they all come from money. Not smelling good. Matthew must have feigned disinterest in Nick's offer of financial support to lower Nick's guard. And indeed, back at Luminology HQ, Nick gives Matthew a "very generous" check.
Schanke takes his concerns that Nick may be in so deep that he actually is a convert to Cohen. Cohen's like, this is just fuckin' great. Schanke wants to look into Nick's bank accounts to make sure Nick hasn't been sending money to Matthew. Cohen agrees. And I'm like, don't you need a warrant or something? To go snooping around in Nick's financials? Whatever.
Nat decides to be much more proactive and goes to Luminology HQ pretending to be a woman in great emotional distress. Holly is immediately empathetic even though Matthew has put a moratorium on new members until the whole Basement Guy thing dies down.
Cohen delivers Nick's financials to Schanke and says that if Schanke thinks Nick's gotten in too deep, then she'll have him pulled from Luminology HQ. It's Schanke's call. Huh. This isn't like pulling someone out of, say, a deep cover gang investigation. The Luminologists, as a general manner, aren't doing something criminal. We know one of them is a murderer, but the cops don't even have sufficient evidence of that yet. That Nick might have gotten sucked in, well, he's a free person and can quit his job and stay in his Lite-Brite church if he wants to. Of course, the cops can blow his cover and maybe the Luminologists will kick him out. Anyway, Schanke reads the financial statement and his eyes bug out of his head.
At HQ, Nat and Holly pass Nick in the hallway, but it's like Nat's presence doesn't even register for Nick. Back in his room though, Nick's looking distressed. He heads back to the flashback to the Kush dig site. Nick enters a tent to join Thomas and Helen, only to find Thomas vamped out with Helen's dead body in his arms. He's drained her. Nick's like, WTF bro? And the camera pans out and we see LaCroix. Dammit. Turns out Thomas and LaCroix are "very old friends" (we learned earlier that Thomas is 1600 years old so at this point, he and LaCroix aren't that far off in age, in vampire terms. Thomas is one of the oldest vampires we ever meet. I'm so curious about him!) LaCroix and Thomas made a wager that Thomas could persuade Nick to bring Helen to him. DAMMIT. LaCroix takes this opportunity to remind Nick that the quest for a cure is "a hopeless one." LaCroix and Thomas then diabolically laugh at Nick for what they perceive as his foolishness. What raging assholes! I feel so bad for Nick here!
Was the whole Kush dig site faked? If so, you have to kind of admire Thomas's commitment to winning the bet. He went all in. (But he's still a raging asshole.)
Back at Luminology HQ, Nat is pouring her heart out to Holly, spinning a tale of how she has violent urges and thinks about suicide. Holly continues to be empathetic and tells Nat she's come to the right place. Uh oh, Matthew is observing them on a video camera. He's NOT happy that Natlaie is there and calls the shadowy Barton to "take care of it." Barton gets a gun. WTF. Things are escalating quickly.
When Holly goes to get Matthew, Nat calls Schanke on her cell phone and reports that she saw Nick in the hall and he didn't acknowledge her. Matthew is listening to ALL of this through the video camera. And there are cameras EVERYWHERE, including in the members' bedrooms. David, who has overheard, tells her to go because Matthew is going to be upset if he knows it's a ruse. Nat continues to try and push that she actually does need to be there and needs their help. We realize though that David and Barton are one and the same as he points a gun at Nat.
Nick finds the tape of his "cleansing" and looks like he's going to play it or erase it, but he then discovers the TV he's using is connected to video feeds all over the HQ. Matthew comes into the room and calls Nick "detective." How did he find out? Nat didn't say anything about Nick being a cop in the call he overheard (for all he knows, she's just a concerned friend or relative). Maybe the alias Nick was using wasn't tight enough and Matthew found out while investigating his background. Not sure.
Back with Nat, Holly whacks Barton hard with a broomstick and knocks him out. Holly picks up the gun saying Barton is "poison" "just like" Basement Guy. So Holly's our murderer. Holly runs off with the gun.
Back with Nick, Matthew is like, well, detective, you have fuck all on me criminally. And Nick takes out one of the iridescent stickers and is like, don't I? You've been drugging people. So THAT's why Basement Guy had psychotropic drugs in his system. The stickers are drugged. Holly overhears this, shattering her faith in Matthew. She comes into the room and points the gun at Matthew. Apparently Basement Guy had told her about the drugging, but she hadn't believed him, thinking he was trying to ruin Matthew and the church.
Nick steps in front of Holly's line of fire and asks to hear her story. She confesses to killing Basement Guy to protect Matthew and the church. Nick's highly empathetic and is all, he controlled you, he deceived you, this wasn't your fault. He manages to talk Holly down. Schanke handcuffs Matthew. Nick comforts Holly, but she's definitely getting handcuffed off screen at some point. Because murder.
We end at Nick's loft. Schanke needs to know why Nick's financials showed $1.2 million. Nick says he got some help from a friendly back manager. Which I think is all the explanation we need because the further explanation that he transferred money from savings to checking is just confusing. It's still $1.2 million! Anyway, Schanke's satisfied with it and leaves, glad to have Nick back.
Nat asks Nick about the drugs. Turns out Nick knew the stickers were drugged right off the bat because he could smell the drug even if it was odorless to humans. He says the effect on him was "fairly subtle." Yeah, okay, Pinocchio. We all saw you have some intense flashbacks and then vamp out. "Fairly subtle," my ass. Why is he fibbing here? Why doesn't he want Nat to know the real effect the drugs had during the "cleansing"?
Anyway, Nat's all, "it's beyond me how people get sucked in by cults." Really, Nat? Matthew was a charismatic leader running an operation in which he targeted and drugged vulnerable people desperate for help. And within this context, she doesn't understand? Perhaps this kind of thing is why Nick isn't more open with her.
She's like, "No one ever learns." And we go to Nick who is holding an artifact from the (fake?) Kush dig site. He doesn't look at her again for the remainder of this scene, which is really interesting. He counters that no, you can learn from such cults. Nat's not seeing the connection Nick is making for himself. He identifies with the Luminology members on a personal level because unlike her, he Gets It. It's how he feels having given up his humanity for vampirism. It's how he feels having been desperate for a cure only to be deceived by someone who promised to help. Nat says, "Yeah, like anyone who promises you everything that you want probably wants everything that you have."
He responds (and he looks soooo sad!), "And that once you've given them everything… you are nothing."
It seems to click for Nat then that the whole experience has brought up distressing things for him. She assures him that he did good work, but he doesn't reply or look at her as she leaves. And his face is still so sad! There's also a "lonely" vibe from the final camera shot (a cool wide angle view of the loft) in which he's just standing all by himself as the blinds close for the day. Awwwwww, Nick :-(
It's a well done episode that keeps the audience guessing for a while and portrays Nick in a sympathetic light, which we really needed after the prior episode.
A huge part of what's fun about this episode is the audience not knowing whether Nick actually has joined a fringe religious group and abandoned his job, home, money, and friends for it.
I mean, it does seem like the kind of thing Nick might do, especially when the group's charismatic leader says things that maybe Nick wants to hear.
We kick off with a bunch of people with their hands outstretched to a glowing orb. It's a cool visual and the people's fingers like the rays of the sun. They're listening to chimes or something. We cut back and forth a few times from them to some guy in a basement.
Basement Guy is fixing some stuff when an unknown culprit flips a switch that causes him to be electrocuted. Muuuuuurder. Plus, the power goes out, totally harshing the vibe of the orb 'n chimes folk.
At the police station, we learn that Nick has been under deep cover with a fringe religious group known as the "Luminologists" for two weeks to try and figure out if Basement Guy was murdered. Schanke hasn't heard from Nick and has no way to reach him. Schanke apparently tried to question members of the group after Basement Guy was killed, but they wouldn't talk to him. Thus, the need for Nick to go undercover.
We go inside the Luminologist HQ where a charismatic leader is talking to the members, putting on a sort of sermon about the group's approach to dealing with head trash. And whoa, there's Nick, wearing a Luminologist polo shirt, taking it all in. The leader is talking about guilt and self-loathing, which are two of Nick's favorite topics. Nick spaces out while listening.
And off the flashback land we go. We're at a campsite in a desert in Sudan in what looks like the early 20th century. It's one of the cooler sets we've seen. Nick's talking to another vampire named Thomas, who comments that cow's blood is "surprisingly good." Yeah, okay. This guy is already super sus. This is like drinking coffee that's been sitting in the pot for hours in a convenience store you hit at 1:00 a.m. on a long road trip and calling the coffee "surprisingly good" compared to the lovingly crafted lattes made with premium ingredients that you usually drink at home. But Nick buys it. Because Thomas appears to be a fellow believer in a cure for vampirism and is running an archaeological dig ostensibly searching for an ancient Kush artifact that will reveal the cure.
An aside: I found it funny that in the end credits, Thomas is not just "Thomas" or "Thomas Monroe," but "Thomas the Vampire." In case we were in danger of confusing him with all the non-existent human Thomases in this episode. It also made me think of "Jim the Vampire" from "What We Do in the Shadows."
Back to the present, Nat and Schanke are at the station talking about Nick, and Nat becomes worried when she learns Schanke has been unable to reach him. Schanke is unconcerned though, chalking it up to Nick being unable to make contact without blowing his cover.
Back at Luminology HQ, we learn the leader is named Matthew. A woman named Holly comes running to him because another member named David has a gun and is threatening to kill himself. Matthew manages to talk David down to everyone's relief. Matthew then has some sort of religious/therapeutic type session with David that involves David reclining with an iridescent sticker on his forehead and Matthew coaching him to take in light and the brightness into him. Like a human Lite-Brite if you will.
The other members are watching, including Nick and as soon as the word "cure" comes out of Matthew's lips, Nick journeys back to the flashback. Thomas and Nick are handling ancient scrolls like ancient scrolls wouldn't just crumble being manhandled in this manner. But it's fine. It doesn't occur to Nick that these might not be exactly genuine. The scrolls seem to indicate the ancient people knew about vampires and had a cure, but neither Nick nor Thomas have the linguistic skill to translate the "how" of it. Conveniently, an old buddy of Nick's, an academic named Helen, who happens to be the best translator of the language in the world, is super nearby. Thomas convinces Nick to go and persuade her to come translate the scrolls. Nick and Thomas are all smiles. So close to the cure!
Back in the present, Matthew's like, who else wants to have a Lite-Brite experience? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? With no takers, Nick is voluntold to go next. The others file out, leaving Nick and Matthew alone. Nick is reclining with his eyes closed and one of the iridescent stickers on his forehead. Matthew's all, "call on the sun's healing rays to flow into your body." LOL, okay, Nick's a vampire so instead he flashes on instances where the sun burned him. And also flashes back briefly on other intense vampire life events like the night he was brought over, various times he bit humans, and the night he tried to kill LaCroix. He appears to be in distress and vamps out, but turns away so Matthew can't see him with fangs and eyes glowing orange. From behind him, Matthew's like, don't feel guilty for whatever was in your past, "guilt is a useless emotion" that is keeping you from healing. (It's a LaCroix sentiment, when you think about it, but expressed in a much "nicer" way by Matthew.)
We don't really know what to make of the whole thing until Schanke sneaks into Luminology HQ and tries to talk to Nick. But Nick is a total space cadet, barely reacting to Schanke's presence. And when Nick finally does say something, he's just all, go away and don't come back, I'm staying with the Luminologists. He just walks away without further explanation looking completely checked out. Seems like he's full on committed to the group.
Meanwhile, Matthew asks another member, Barton, a shadowy figure whose face we can't see, to look into Nick because Nick has told him "some very disturbing things." Okay, so everything Nick flashed on during his Lite-Brite experience… did he say some of that out loud? One wonders. Of course, Matthew may just be blowing smoke to ensure Barton goes along with investigating Nick.
Now Schanke is worried and tells Nat what happened. This time it's Natalie who's like, he probably just didn't want you to blow his cover. But Schanke reiterates he's actually scared for Nick at this point. Nat decides to go chat with Janette about the situation. It's a fun scene.
Nat dishes to Janette that Nick's in a cult and Nat is worried he's "vulnerable" and getting sucked into it. Janette feigns concern for a moment, but she's not worried at all. I find this kind of interesting, actually, considering she knows that Nick is susceptible to getting put in a vulnerable position by people telling him things he wants to hear. She just doesn't think the Luminology folks are the ones who are going to get to him. Janette delivers the Quote of the Episode: "If he is running with that pack, he is the wolf, they are poodles." Nat is annoyed by her interaction with Janette and appears unconvinced that Nick is not in danger.
The "oh noes, Nick's in a cult!" reaction on Nat's part and running to Janette is kind of funny when you think about it. How Nat feels about Nick living in the Luminologists' world is about how Nick's vampire friends feel about Nick living in the human world.
Back at Luminology HQ, Matthew comes to visit Nick in his room to talk about how well Nick did with his first "cleansing," which is apparently the name of the heretofore labeled "Lite-Brite experience." Nick says he doesn't remember much of it and expresses concern about whether others were in the room. No, but the cleansing was videotaped, which makes Nick look alarmed. Can't have tapes showing him vamped out! That will bring trouble! But Matthew assures Nick that the tape belongs to Nick alone. Whew. Nick offers Matthew financial assistance so Luminology HQ can be expanded, but Matthew's like, no, no, I don't want your savings or your assets… and I'm like, huh, not what I expected.
Back in flashback land, Nick has brought his pal Helen to Thomas's dig site. Thomas is all flattery, but she's like, whatevs, I wouldn't be here if Nick hadn't used his "very persuasive charms" to convince me. It makes one wonder if Nick whammied her, but maybe not. Nick can be very charming. She agrees to look at the Kush scrolls with Thomas while Nick goes to get her a refreshment.
Back at Luminology HQ, Nick makes conversation with Luminology member Holly. Holly is super grateful to Matthew because she says that only months before she was a total wreck from the stress of her family including her marriage and kids. Nick's like, oh, how nice, kids, where are they? And she kind of joyfully and spaced out says, "I don't know." Ummmmmm. Yikes. So these folks have families and are isolated from them. Not good.
Meanwhile, on the outside, Schanke is investigating the death of Basement Guy. It turns out he had a hefty trust fund for which Matthew is the beneficiary. Oops, I guess money is the motivator after all. Nat gives Schanke news that there were psychotropic drugs in Basement Guy's system. Turns out the victim had a history of psychiatric difficulties as do, apparently, the other Luminology members. Hmmmm… so members are particularly vulnerable people. And they all come from money. Not smelling good. Matthew must have feigned disinterest in Nick's offer of financial support to lower Nick's guard. And indeed, back at Luminology HQ, Nick gives Matthew a "very generous" check.
Schanke takes his concerns that Nick may be in so deep that he actually is a convert to Cohen. Cohen's like, this is just fuckin' great. Schanke wants to look into Nick's bank accounts to make sure Nick hasn't been sending money to Matthew. Cohen agrees. And I'm like, don't you need a warrant or something? To go snooping around in Nick's financials? Whatever.
Nat decides to be much more proactive and goes to Luminology HQ pretending to be a woman in great emotional distress. Holly is immediately empathetic even though Matthew has put a moratorium on new members until the whole Basement Guy thing dies down.
Cohen delivers Nick's financials to Schanke and says that if Schanke thinks Nick's gotten in too deep, then she'll have him pulled from Luminology HQ. It's Schanke's call. Huh. This isn't like pulling someone out of, say, a deep cover gang investigation. The Luminologists, as a general manner, aren't doing something criminal. We know one of them is a murderer, but the cops don't even have sufficient evidence of that yet. That Nick might have gotten sucked in, well, he's a free person and can quit his job and stay in his Lite-Brite church if he wants to. Of course, the cops can blow his cover and maybe the Luminologists will kick him out. Anyway, Schanke reads the financial statement and his eyes bug out of his head.
At HQ, Nat and Holly pass Nick in the hallway, but it's like Nat's presence doesn't even register for Nick. Back in his room though, Nick's looking distressed. He heads back to the flashback to the Kush dig site. Nick enters a tent to join Thomas and Helen, only to find Thomas vamped out with Helen's dead body in his arms. He's drained her. Nick's like, WTF bro? And the camera pans out and we see LaCroix. Dammit. Turns out Thomas and LaCroix are "very old friends" (we learned earlier that Thomas is 1600 years old so at this point, he and LaCroix aren't that far off in age, in vampire terms. Thomas is one of the oldest vampires we ever meet. I'm so curious about him!) LaCroix and Thomas made a wager that Thomas could persuade Nick to bring Helen to him. DAMMIT. LaCroix takes this opportunity to remind Nick that the quest for a cure is "a hopeless one." LaCroix and Thomas then diabolically laugh at Nick for what they perceive as his foolishness. What raging assholes! I feel so bad for Nick here!
Was the whole Kush dig site faked? If so, you have to kind of admire Thomas's commitment to winning the bet. He went all in. (But he's still a raging asshole.)
Back at Luminology HQ, Nat is pouring her heart out to Holly, spinning a tale of how she has violent urges and thinks about suicide. Holly continues to be empathetic and tells Nat she's come to the right place. Uh oh, Matthew is observing them on a video camera. He's NOT happy that Natlaie is there and calls the shadowy Barton to "take care of it." Barton gets a gun. WTF. Things are escalating quickly.
When Holly goes to get Matthew, Nat calls Schanke on her cell phone and reports that she saw Nick in the hall and he didn't acknowledge her. Matthew is listening to ALL of this through the video camera. And there are cameras EVERYWHERE, including in the members' bedrooms. David, who has overheard, tells her to go because Matthew is going to be upset if he knows it's a ruse. Nat continues to try and push that she actually does need to be there and needs their help. We realize though that David and Barton are one and the same as he points a gun at Nat.
Nick finds the tape of his "cleansing" and looks like he's going to play it or erase it, but he then discovers the TV he's using is connected to video feeds all over the HQ. Matthew comes into the room and calls Nick "detective." How did he find out? Nat didn't say anything about Nick being a cop in the call he overheard (for all he knows, she's just a concerned friend or relative). Maybe the alias Nick was using wasn't tight enough and Matthew found out while investigating his background. Not sure.
Back with Nat, Holly whacks Barton hard with a broomstick and knocks him out. Holly picks up the gun saying Barton is "poison" "just like" Basement Guy. So Holly's our murderer. Holly runs off with the gun.
Back with Nick, Matthew is like, well, detective, you have fuck all on me criminally. And Nick takes out one of the iridescent stickers and is like, don't I? You've been drugging people. So THAT's why Basement Guy had psychotropic drugs in his system. The stickers are drugged. Holly overhears this, shattering her faith in Matthew. She comes into the room and points the gun at Matthew. Apparently Basement Guy had told her about the drugging, but she hadn't believed him, thinking he was trying to ruin Matthew and the church.
Nick steps in front of Holly's line of fire and asks to hear her story. She confesses to killing Basement Guy to protect Matthew and the church. Nick's highly empathetic and is all, he controlled you, he deceived you, this wasn't your fault. He manages to talk Holly down. Schanke handcuffs Matthew. Nick comforts Holly, but she's definitely getting handcuffed off screen at some point. Because murder.
We end at Nick's loft. Schanke needs to know why Nick's financials showed $1.2 million. Nick says he got some help from a friendly back manager. Which I think is all the explanation we need because the further explanation that he transferred money from savings to checking is just confusing. It's still $1.2 million! Anyway, Schanke's satisfied with it and leaves, glad to have Nick back.
Nat asks Nick about the drugs. Turns out Nick knew the stickers were drugged right off the bat because he could smell the drug even if it was odorless to humans. He says the effect on him was "fairly subtle." Yeah, okay, Pinocchio. We all saw you have some intense flashbacks and then vamp out. "Fairly subtle," my ass. Why is he fibbing here? Why doesn't he want Nat to know the real effect the drugs had during the "cleansing"?
Anyway, Nat's all, "it's beyond me how people get sucked in by cults." Really, Nat? Matthew was a charismatic leader running an operation in which he targeted and drugged vulnerable people desperate for help. And within this context, she doesn't understand? Perhaps this kind of thing is why Nick isn't more open with her.
She's like, "No one ever learns." And we go to Nick who is holding an artifact from the (fake?) Kush dig site. He doesn't look at her again for the remainder of this scene, which is really interesting. He counters that no, you can learn from such cults. Nat's not seeing the connection Nick is making for himself. He identifies with the Luminology members on a personal level because unlike her, he Gets It. It's how he feels having given up his humanity for vampirism. It's how he feels having been desperate for a cure only to be deceived by someone who promised to help. Nat says, "Yeah, like anyone who promises you everything that you want probably wants everything that you have."
He responds (and he looks soooo sad!), "And that once you've given them everything… you are nothing."
It seems to click for Nat then that the whole experience has brought up distressing things for him. She assures him that he did good work, but he doesn't reply or look at her as she leaves. And his face is still so sad! There's also a "lonely" vibe from the final camera shot (a cool wide angle view of the loft) in which he's just standing all by himself as the blinds close for the day. Awwwwww, Nick :-(
It's a well done episode that keeps the audience guessing for a while and portrays Nick in a sympathetic light, which we really needed after the prior episode.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-07 09:03 pm (UTC)Love your recaps. The comparison to Lite-Brite made me giggle.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-08 03:48 pm (UTC)Next up will be "Father's Day" (skipping "Undue Process" for Reasons), yet another one where I wanted to punch LaCroix in the flashbacks.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-09 05:29 am (UTC)Perhaps if I'd seen the first two seasons when it aired, I might have been a little more concerned that Nick may have been overly influenced by the cult, but I don't think I ever really considered it. I suppose he did go overboard with the 12 step group in Feeding the Beast, so Natalie's concerns were not completely unwarranted.
I do agree that Janette's line was a great one! Maybe one of the better lines of the series, not just this episode.
If we had managed to dismiss LaCroix's machinations towards Nick before this, this episode clearly illustrates the lengths he will go to in order to try and keep Nick where he wants him. That's a lot of time, effort, and money to set something like that up. Disturbing.
I do wonder about a few things. I assume Nick isn't abstaining from feeding all this time? I wonder how he's managing to hide his blood supply in such an intrusive environment?
I also find it interesting that they raised the issue of Nick's finances a number of times in the second season, then dropped it completely by the third. I guess they were just going in a different direction overall and it didn't matter anymore. I did love the line about moving the money from his savings account. Poor Schanke though.
And I agree, the end to this one is sad--the death of such an accomplished woman for a little entertainment. I'm sure this one ways heavily on Nick.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-09 01:34 pm (UTC)I gather from AMPH that it probably takes vampires a long time to starve to death, and for some very old ones (like LC), it might not kill them at all. At the same time, they might quickly start having negative side effects from abstaining like we saw in “Feeding the Beast.” How long did Nick abstain in that episode? I can’t recall. Abstention induced side effects could be an alternate or additional cause for his vamping out during the cleanising.
But, perhaps instead of abstaining, he single-handedly solved a rat infestation problem at Luminology HQ :-D
no subject
Date: 2024-02-16 09:40 pm (UTC)The scene between Natalie and Janette is priceless, however. And the idea of Janette getting a tattoo which would vanish within 24 h is a lovely detail for the list of how to occupy oneself as a vampire when bored.