FK season 3 episode "Night in Question"
Aug. 13th, 2023 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
switchbladeeyesI've watched more season 3 with my spouse but, but it's kind of dragging, so I said, "Let's just skip to more of the good stuff" 'cause I think the spouse is going to lose interest if we don't.
Cue "Night in Question," one of my personal favorites of this season.
So back in "Hearts of Darkness," we get introduced to the idea that at least part of vampirism is psychosomatic. If you don't know you're a vampire, you won't be one. Whoa. The implications are huge. And in "Night in Question," we see that play out in Nick's life.
The beginning of this episode is terrific. The flurry of an emergency room! A policeman down! It's Nick! And he DIES! I'm super invested and it's barely started.
Poor Tracy, yeesh. Can you imagine being her in that hospital waiting room? Her partner's blood on her jacket, shot in front of her, and now he's dead? Terrible.
And Nat rolls in like oooohhhh shiiiit because she knows what no one else does: no bullet is going to kill Nick. I love the tension in this as she insists on seeing him and administers (I'm assuming human) blood directly into his stomach. It's enough to revive at least basic bodily functions like breathing and they wheel him off to surgery. To surgery! How's THAT going to work?
Well, we don't actually see the operating room, but we start to get the idea that whatever happened doesn't matter because LaCroix shows up as the one-man clean-up crew to "fix" the memories of the medical staff and replace the records of Nick's scrambled gray matter with records that tell a different story. (And where did he get these new records? Unimportant! Stop asking questions like that, brain. Let me enjoy things.)
How great is the scene between the ER doctor and LaCroix? He reeeeeally wants to snack on her, but he also needs her in a practical sense, to revisit her original findings and convey the new version to everyone else. Nigel Bennett is great here. I love his delivery every time, but especially here where he's both calculating and a little playful. My spouse literally LOLLED when LaCroix planted the idea in the doctor's head that the bullet glanced off Nick's "very thick skull."
No one's actually given LaCroix a call (sorry, buddy, I don't think you're on Nick's emergency contact list at work), but we know two things: (1) he and Nick have a psychic link that comes into play when the plot calls for it, so no one had to tell him, he just "knew" or "felt" something was wrong, and (2) direct evidence of Nick surviving a 100% mortal wound is a Big Problem that will Raise Questions about Nick, and ain't no way Papa Bear is going to let the Enforcers come along and take out Baby Bear.
LaCroix goes even further in doing Nick a solid in this episode. He pulls that useless IV out Nick's arm ("I suppose this was something important, wasn't it?" LOL) and then shares some of his own blood vein-to-vein with Nick to aid in his recovery. He references being motivated by "owing" Nick though we don't know why yet.
As an aside: The gunshot wound and the hospital presented a perfect opportunity to force Nick to move on. LaCroix is skulking around the hospital doing his thing and could have just had Nick "die" again, leaving the records as they were. So why doesn't he? Can't be part of what he "owes" Nick or he wouldn't have tried to force him to move on way back in "Killer Instinct" in season 2. Relations thaw between them in season 2 (except for that whole Valentine's Day thing, yikes) and they seem to mostly get along these days. So maybe he's not looking to piss off and alienate Nick. Progress.
Another aside: LaCroix in scrubs. Can we pause for a moment and consider that? Because it works for me. It WORKS. Paging Dr. Vampire, you have a patient awaiting you in the exam room.
Aaaaaanyway, Nick wakes up. Hooray! But he doesn't know who he is or who anyone else is. Oh no. But he is also eating food. Hooray! This presents a prime opportunity for Natalie to try and keep the whole vampire thing away from him. She already knows from "Hearts of Darkness" that this could actually work. So she takes him home where we can tell he has some memories knocking around in there (Nick came up with Für Elise? STOP IT, FK. LOL), he kinda hits on Nat (heyyooo!), and chows down on an apple after she leaves. This really seems like the closest he's come to a "cure" to me. I can see why Nat is so hopeful.
Then LaCroix rolls on in, sadly no longer in scrubs (RIP, Dr. Vampire). Nick only recognizes him as "the doctor from the hospital." (So Nick must have seen him there at some point as he was recovering, but they must not have spoken.) We finally find out in a flashback why LaCroix "owes" Nick: Nick pulled a pesky wooden stake out of his heart way back in the past. In the present, LaCroix pussyfoots around the whole vampire thing. It's not clear why, but we know he's a fellow who likes playing weird mind games and I'm guessing he wants Nick to vamp out on his own and maybe go kill some humans or something ("Why don't you go outside and rediscover yourself for yourself?")
Natalie comes back to the loft and, oh boy, I really would have loved to see more scenes between her and LaCroix in the series. They both know they are in a tug-of-war over Nick and they both think they are going to win. Also, for her, this is the "first time" she's interacted with LaCroix because she doesn't remember what went down on Valentine's Day the year before. Good thing too or she'd be more unhappy to see him than she already is. And not to rain on your parade, Nat, but the fact that LaCroix is so chill about what's happening should maybe tell you something.
After the cold shower that is LaCroix leaves ("by the door!"), Nick and Nat get some quality time where she asks him to trust her, he isn't repressing his feelings for her, and they kiss, awwwww! And then, whhhhat, sexy time? Nope, just a bizarre vampire wet dream. (Cue George Takei, "Ooooooh, myyyyyy.")
Nick wakes up with a look of whoa, what was THAT. He decides to go out on the town, doing exactly what LaCroix told him to do and the opposite of what Natalie told him to do.
Meanwhile, oh yeah, there was an actual crime committed against Nick here that continues to be investigated. Poor Tracy. Reese is a good captain here, empathetic when she's beating herself up over it.
Nick goes back to where he was shot. I think whoever came up with this filming location was brilliant because I think it is sooooo creepy with all these parade floats in storage, especially the flashes of the scene the night before. IDK why, but it is. Nick's memory of being shot comes back and, sadly for his quest, so does the vampire. The jig is up. Sorry, Nick. Sorry, Nat.
Back to the, you know, crime. (This is a crime show after all.) Tracy gets a call from the culprit who wants her to meet him alone. And she DOES. Sigh. Girl, no. (IDK about you, but my first call would be to my captain: "I know exactly where the attempted killer is going to be!" Like, come ON, there's a whole police force available to deal with this.) Fortunately, Nick figures out what she's done and where she is, remembers he can fly, and swoops in to save the day, er, night.
In the end, it seems like Nick has gotten a lot of his memories back, but not all. So off he goes to see LaCroix based on "a feeling." LaCroix seems totally unsurprised to see him. (Cue earlier in the episode when LaCroix seemed pretty damn certain of an outcome just like this.) It's not clear that Nick knows who LaCroix even is at this point, just that he can help fill in the gaps in Nick's memory. Nick wants to know who he is, "all of" who he is, and LaCroix is DOWN for that. LaCroix: 1. Natalie: 0.
I love this episode because the whole possibility of curing vampirism as a mental state is fascinating. If the show had lasted longer, I wonder if they would have pursued this angle more. (And maybe that's what Janette's cure was, but we'll talk about that when we get there even though, you know, F that episode.)
In the context of this episode, Nick's humanity seems closer than ever until suddenly it's not. One step forward, two steps back. You can't help, but think, ohhhhhh craaaaaaap, when he tells LaCroix he wants to know about "all of who I am." I do wonder how that played out. (Note to self: this is what fan fiction is for.)
Anyone else love this episode?
Cue "Night in Question," one of my personal favorites of this season.
So back in "Hearts of Darkness," we get introduced to the idea that at least part of vampirism is psychosomatic. If you don't know you're a vampire, you won't be one. Whoa. The implications are huge. And in "Night in Question," we see that play out in Nick's life.
The beginning of this episode is terrific. The flurry of an emergency room! A policeman down! It's Nick! And he DIES! I'm super invested and it's barely started.
Poor Tracy, yeesh. Can you imagine being her in that hospital waiting room? Her partner's blood on her jacket, shot in front of her, and now he's dead? Terrible.
And Nat rolls in like oooohhhh shiiiit because she knows what no one else does: no bullet is going to kill Nick. I love the tension in this as she insists on seeing him and administers (I'm assuming human) blood directly into his stomach. It's enough to revive at least basic bodily functions like breathing and they wheel him off to surgery. To surgery! How's THAT going to work?
Well, we don't actually see the operating room, but we start to get the idea that whatever happened doesn't matter because LaCroix shows up as the one-man clean-up crew to "fix" the memories of the medical staff and replace the records of Nick's scrambled gray matter with records that tell a different story. (And where did he get these new records? Unimportant! Stop asking questions like that, brain. Let me enjoy things.)
How great is the scene between the ER doctor and LaCroix? He reeeeeally wants to snack on her, but he also needs her in a practical sense, to revisit her original findings and convey the new version to everyone else. Nigel Bennett is great here. I love his delivery every time, but especially here where he's both calculating and a little playful. My spouse literally LOLLED when LaCroix planted the idea in the doctor's head that the bullet glanced off Nick's "very thick skull."
No one's actually given LaCroix a call (sorry, buddy, I don't think you're on Nick's emergency contact list at work), but we know two things: (1) he and Nick have a psychic link that comes into play when the plot calls for it, so no one had to tell him, he just "knew" or "felt" something was wrong, and (2) direct evidence of Nick surviving a 100% mortal wound is a Big Problem that will Raise Questions about Nick, and ain't no way Papa Bear is going to let the Enforcers come along and take out Baby Bear.
LaCroix goes even further in doing Nick a solid in this episode. He pulls that useless IV out Nick's arm ("I suppose this was something important, wasn't it?" LOL) and then shares some of his own blood vein-to-vein with Nick to aid in his recovery. He references being motivated by "owing" Nick though we don't know why yet.
As an aside: The gunshot wound and the hospital presented a perfect opportunity to force Nick to move on. LaCroix is skulking around the hospital doing his thing and could have just had Nick "die" again, leaving the records as they were. So why doesn't he? Can't be part of what he "owes" Nick or he wouldn't have tried to force him to move on way back in "Killer Instinct" in season 2. Relations thaw between them in season 2 (except for that whole Valentine's Day thing, yikes) and they seem to mostly get along these days. So maybe he's not looking to piss off and alienate Nick. Progress.
Another aside: LaCroix in scrubs. Can we pause for a moment and consider that? Because it works for me. It WORKS. Paging Dr. Vampire, you have a patient awaiting you in the exam room.
Aaaaaanyway, Nick wakes up. Hooray! But he doesn't know who he is or who anyone else is. Oh no. But he is also eating food. Hooray! This presents a prime opportunity for Natalie to try and keep the whole vampire thing away from him. She already knows from "Hearts of Darkness" that this could actually work. So she takes him home where we can tell he has some memories knocking around in there (Nick came up with Für Elise? STOP IT, FK. LOL), he kinda hits on Nat (heyyooo!), and chows down on an apple after she leaves. This really seems like the closest he's come to a "cure" to me. I can see why Nat is so hopeful.
Then LaCroix rolls on in, sadly no longer in scrubs (RIP, Dr. Vampire). Nick only recognizes him as "the doctor from the hospital." (So Nick must have seen him there at some point as he was recovering, but they must not have spoken.) We finally find out in a flashback why LaCroix "owes" Nick: Nick pulled a pesky wooden stake out of his heart way back in the past. In the present, LaCroix pussyfoots around the whole vampire thing. It's not clear why, but we know he's a fellow who likes playing weird mind games and I'm guessing he wants Nick to vamp out on his own and maybe go kill some humans or something ("Why don't you go outside and rediscover yourself for yourself?")
Natalie comes back to the loft and, oh boy, I really would have loved to see more scenes between her and LaCroix in the series. They both know they are in a tug-of-war over Nick and they both think they are going to win. Also, for her, this is the "first time" she's interacted with LaCroix because she doesn't remember what went down on Valentine's Day the year before. Good thing too or she'd be more unhappy to see him than she already is. And not to rain on your parade, Nat, but the fact that LaCroix is so chill about what's happening should maybe tell you something.
After the cold shower that is LaCroix leaves ("by the door!"), Nick and Nat get some quality time where she asks him to trust her, he isn't repressing his feelings for her, and they kiss, awwwww! And then, whhhhat, sexy time? Nope, just a bizarre vampire wet dream. (Cue George Takei, "Ooooooh, myyyyyy.")
Nick wakes up with a look of whoa, what was THAT. He decides to go out on the town, doing exactly what LaCroix told him to do and the opposite of what Natalie told him to do.
Meanwhile, oh yeah, there was an actual crime committed against Nick here that continues to be investigated. Poor Tracy. Reese is a good captain here, empathetic when she's beating herself up over it.
Nick goes back to where he was shot. I think whoever came up with this filming location was brilliant because I think it is sooooo creepy with all these parade floats in storage, especially the flashes of the scene the night before. IDK why, but it is. Nick's memory of being shot comes back and, sadly for his quest, so does the vampire. The jig is up. Sorry, Nick. Sorry, Nat.
Back to the, you know, crime. (This is a crime show after all.) Tracy gets a call from the culprit who wants her to meet him alone. And she DOES. Sigh. Girl, no. (IDK about you, but my first call would be to my captain: "I know exactly where the attempted killer is going to be!" Like, come ON, there's a whole police force available to deal with this.) Fortunately, Nick figures out what she's done and where she is, remembers he can fly, and swoops in to save the day, er, night.
In the end, it seems like Nick has gotten a lot of his memories back, but not all. So off he goes to see LaCroix based on "a feeling." LaCroix seems totally unsurprised to see him. (Cue earlier in the episode when LaCroix seemed pretty damn certain of an outcome just like this.) It's not clear that Nick knows who LaCroix even is at this point, just that he can help fill in the gaps in Nick's memory. Nick wants to know who he is, "all of" who he is, and LaCroix is DOWN for that. LaCroix: 1. Natalie: 0.
I love this episode because the whole possibility of curing vampirism as a mental state is fascinating. If the show had lasted longer, I wonder if they would have pursued this angle more. (And maybe that's what Janette's cure was, but we'll talk about that when we get there even though, you know, F that episode.)
In the context of this episode, Nick's humanity seems closer than ever until suddenly it's not. One step forward, two steps back. You can't help, but think, ohhhhhh craaaaaaap, when he tells LaCroix he wants to know about "all of who I am." I do wonder how that played out. (Note to self: this is what fan fiction is for.)
Anyone else love this episode?
