switchbladeeyes

An excellent episode and a very comprehensive review of it as well. Thanks so much for all the detail you have put into this.

My time is short, but this is one of my favorites as well, so I did want to comment, even though it will be brief.

I do really like this present day cop story and how well it intersects with the flashbacks. The parallels of the organized crime family and the secret community of vampires plays quite well. It's plausible that the two would be aware of each other and able to come to a mutually agreeable arrangement to meet one another's needs. I like David Constantine and his desire to do what's best for his family and I think his wife's hesitation is realistic. I can even respect Don Constantine in regard to his desire to keep his version of family together--even though I cannot support his business or how he goes about that business.

But this is really about the dynamic between Lacroix and Nick, and to a slightly lesser, but vitally important link to Janette as well. I do agree that this is a turning point in their relationship from the hostility of season 1 to a much different, more evolved relationship by the end of season 3.

Aside from the relationship dynamics which you have outlined so well, a few things that have always stuck out to me in this episode:

I see a LOT of intimacy in the flashback between Nick and Janette. The scene in which Nick tells Janette he has to get away is played out in front of a large bed. I don't think that's an accident. It's reminiscent of their breakup in POtM. In both cases, I'm given the sense that it's their room, their bed, not just hers. That they are a couple at this point in time. I think that may explain why she is quick to help him get away, even though she doesn't want him to go and thinks he's an idiot for wanting to leave. She wants to give him what he wants most--his freedom. I think that's why he feels she will take his part over Lacroix and that he can trust her.

I do think that Janette has walked a very fine line between these two for a very long time. She was probably hoping to soothe Lacroix over Nick's departure, but underestimated how angry he would be. I do think LC is being physically coercive to Janette in this instance, that he's threatening her. It is unique in the series, The only other case remotely similar is in Bad Blood when he gets Janette to bring Nick to the Raven. I agree it must have been one long trip from Paris to LA! Although Lacroix seemed in a much better frame of mind when he got to LA.

Speaking of long trips...the steamer trunk situation has always fascinated me! Even more so because the same trunk does pop up from time to time in a few episodes. Doesn't LC have it in LK? Anyway, it really raises a lot of questions about what conditions our FK vampires can exist in. A trip like that in 1925 had to have taken weeks? maybe a month or more. Do they eat in conditions like that? How do you not lose your mind? I don't like long plane rides! It makes me think they can go into some form of hibernation and shut down their bodily functions and consciousness for extended periods of time. Nick and Lacroix seemed to be back and forth across the Atlantic a number of times when the only transportation would have been sailing vessels, is that how they did it? Lots to think about.

Anyway, they do end in a better position than when they started. As you say, they both gave in a little and got a bit back in return.

Thanks for the discussion!