FK Season 3 episode "The Human Factor"
Aug. 27th, 2023 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
switchbladeeyesI hate this episode. Let's just get that out of the way.
But my spouse (a first-time FK viewer) wanted to see the return of Janette. And the story is, unfortunately, relevant to the events of "Last Knight," which the spouse will also definitely want to see (sigh). So I begrudgingly obliged because even though I hate this episode, it is nonetheless a significant episode.
I haven't talked much about Janette because I mostly started chattering away about episodes with my re-watch of season 3. However, she was one of my favorite characters on the show and I really, REALLY don't like what they did with her in this episode.
Let's dive in.
On the plus side, we get a couple very nice flashback scenes between Janette and LaCroix. The actors have great chemistry and I'm sorry we had so few Janette and LaCroix 1:1 scenes. We get a wonderful little glimpse into their relationship and how they are with one another. You also get a sense of his loyalty to her when, in accordance with her wishes, he withholds from Nick the reason she moved on. And there's a melancholy about him after Nick brings her up; he misses her. ("Where has she gone?... she is left forsaken to face the chill of winter alone.")
One more little bright spot: Tracy covering for Nick. Not the technically correct thing for her to have done, but I think it deepens their partnership and makes her more interesting.
The above are the only redeeming qualities of this episode. Time for the Airing of Grievances:
FK, we know, isn't big on continuity. Rules about and abilities related to vampirism are... flexible. I can roll with this most of the time. But this episode brought my willing suspension of disbelief to its breaking point with Nick NOT KNOWING IMMEDIATELY that Janette was human. Come ON. It's just flat out absurd. It makes zero sense. Is this episode a fever dream?? Nick can be obtuse, but not THAT obtuse.
There is no part of me that will accept the clothes that Janette was wearing. As Mr. SwitchbladeEyes succinctly put it, "Denim?"
Mr. SwitchbladeEyes was very confused as they got into the flashbacks with Robert, Patrick, and Janette. "This is a side of Janette I never saw coming."
When we first saw Janette in the car with Patrick, Mr. SwitchbladeEyes assumed Patrick was a vampire "like that one kid." (He meant Daniel.) That would have made more sense than what we got.
I just... She... ARGH. She just needed the love of a good man or some shit? Are you kidding me?? This is not Janette. This is BS. Spouse had the exact same reaction.
We circle back to vampirism as psychosomatic, which has been explored more than once this season. There's something about belief and the self that is highly relevant to being a vampire. Janette can't really explain what happened to her. (Fate! Destiny! True love! I don't think so! Natalie was rightfully skeptical). It seems to me Janette wanted to be human to be with Robert and Patrick, and her belief in the possibility was so strong that she (seemingly?) became human. Cool, cool... if it were any vampire other than Janette (or LaCroix) then I could have gone with it. But not her. NOT her. It's soooo out of left field. It just came out of nowhere and because of that, it makes noooooo sense to me.
You know who would have made sense to me? Serena.
How cringey was Nick's dream? Let's never speak of it again.
I asked Mr. SwitchbladeEyes what he made of the ending and he had to puzzle through it. He thought Janette "rage became a vampire" like you could become a vampire again if you were mad/hurt enough (I mean, it makes as much sense as anything else we've seen in this episode lol, and kinda works with a theory I expound on below). Then she killed the bad guys. His other theory was that she died and LaCroix somehow knew what was going on and killed the bad guys in revenge. (Also, my spouse is really turning into a Cousin. "At least LaCroix was in this episode. It could have used more LaCroix.") He considered and dismissed the idea that Nick would bring her over, interestingly enough.
Is Janette alive or dead? For me, she is alive. I just cannot have her character both figuratively AND literally assassinated.
I also think Janette is alive because the ending scene between Nick and LaCroix is a little too "oh well" to carry the weight of her death.
How is she alive? She's alive because Nick brought her over, ORRRRRRR...
(Buttress yourselves, I'm going deep into personal theory land here.)
She is alive not because Nick brought her over, but because she was always a vampire. Nick may have gone through the motions of bringing her over, but she never was fully human. We saw how powerful the mind can be with vampirism with Ellen in "Hearts of Darkness" and Nick in "Night in Question." But humanity didn't "stick" in either instance (even after "death" in "Hearts of Darkness"). The powers of the mind and belief seem incredibly important to curing vampirism, but, given what we've seen, the mind alone may not be enough.
If this theory holds, LaCroix knew the whole time that Janette was in Toronto. Hear me out!
We see LaCroix at the very beginning of the episode and the very end. He seems privy to nothing in between so would not have known why Janette was in Toronto. But that doesn't mean he didn't know of the fact that she was there. Let's break down how this could be the case.
At the start, LaCroix tells Nick that if Janette had been in Toronto, "I would have sensed her and so would you." Except maybe he did sense her and is covering for her to throw Nick off. He already knows Nick doesn't sense her, otherwise Nick wouldn't have brought the police artist's sketch to LaCroix and asked about her. Nick's vampire radar beings less than precise isn't out-of-character for him. For example, in "Killer Instinct," he knew someone was keeping near him, but he did not sense that it was LaCroix. And in "Be My Valentine," he didn't sense LaCroix observing him even when they were literally in the same room.
So LaCroix knows (1) Janette is in town, and (2) Nick can't tell she's in town. LaCroix and Janette do not have the same relationship as LaCroix and Nick. As far as we can tell, LaCroix isn't all up in her business like he is with Nick. If she wants to be left alone, LaCroix is going to leave her alone. And he's going to get Nick to leave her alone as well. This isn't the first time he's done that. In a flashback in "Partners of the Month," LaCroix tells Nick to let her go after she leaves Nick. In "Black Buddha," he tells Nick not to go looking for her after she's left Toronto.
From "The Human Factor" flashback in the Raven, Janette tells LaCroix she wants distance from Nick and doesn't want Nick to know why she left. So in the present, when Nick comes to the Raven with the police artist's sketch, LaCroix may be lying to Nick not only about not knowing why Janette left, but also about whether Janette is in the city.
Let's say LaCroix does know she's in Toronto (and quite near the Raven during his radio broadcast). He may have been talking to her through the radio, much like he does Nick, hoping she would be listening as he conveyed a mournful longing for a nameless her.
We don't hear from LaCroix again until the very end when we catch him and Nick mid-conversation about her. What have they told each other at the point we hear the conversation? Perhaps Nick has told him that Janette became mortal and that he brought her back over, but he has not told LaCroix the "how" of Janette's mortality and everything that went down during the episode. They're both keeping secrets from each other about Janette, which they both acknowledge. I don't get the impression that from there, they went and spilled the secrets. It certainly would fit LaCroix's agenda for Nick to believe he brought her over. If that sounds extremely manipulative, well, who are we talking about here after all. Plus ça change, indeed.
This theory will at least somewhat help me wrap my mind around Nick not immediately knowing Janette was "human" (because she wasn't!) even though she had a heartbeat and seemed human.
Unfortunately, this theory does nothing to help me wrap my mind around Janette's behavior and the whole Robert thing. Ugh. I'm still stranded on WTF Island here. Someone make it make sense.
But my spouse (a first-time FK viewer) wanted to see the return of Janette. And the story is, unfortunately, relevant to the events of "Last Knight," which the spouse will also definitely want to see (sigh). So I begrudgingly obliged because even though I hate this episode, it is nonetheless a significant episode.
I haven't talked much about Janette because I mostly started chattering away about episodes with my re-watch of season 3. However, she was one of my favorite characters on the show and I really, REALLY don't like what they did with her in this episode.
Let's dive in.
The above are the only redeeming qualities of this episode. Time for the Airing of Grievances:
(Buttress yourselves, I'm going deep into personal theory land here.)
If this theory holds, LaCroix knew the whole time that Janette was in Toronto. Hear me out!
We see LaCroix at the very beginning of the episode and the very end. He seems privy to nothing in between so would not have known why Janette was in Toronto. But that doesn't mean he didn't know of the fact that she was there. Let's break down how this could be the case.
At the start, LaCroix tells Nick that if Janette had been in Toronto, "I would have sensed her and so would you." Except maybe he did sense her and is covering for her to throw Nick off. He already knows Nick doesn't sense her, otherwise Nick wouldn't have brought the police artist's sketch to LaCroix and asked about her. Nick's vampire radar beings less than precise isn't out-of-character for him. For example, in "Killer Instinct," he knew someone was keeping near him, but he did not sense that it was LaCroix. And in "Be My Valentine," he didn't sense LaCroix observing him even when they were literally in the same room.
So LaCroix knows (1) Janette is in town, and (2) Nick can't tell she's in town. LaCroix and Janette do not have the same relationship as LaCroix and Nick. As far as we can tell, LaCroix isn't all up in her business like he is with Nick. If she wants to be left alone, LaCroix is going to leave her alone. And he's going to get Nick to leave her alone as well. This isn't the first time he's done that. In a flashback in "Partners of the Month," LaCroix tells Nick to let her go after she leaves Nick. In "Black Buddha," he tells Nick not to go looking for her after she's left Toronto.
From "The Human Factor" flashback in the Raven, Janette tells LaCroix she wants distance from Nick and doesn't want Nick to know why she left. So in the present, when Nick comes to the Raven with the police artist's sketch, LaCroix may be lying to Nick not only about not knowing why Janette left, but also about whether Janette is in the city.
Let's say LaCroix does know she's in Toronto (and quite near the Raven during his radio broadcast). He may have been talking to her through the radio, much like he does Nick, hoping she would be listening as he conveyed a mournful longing for a nameless her.
We don't hear from LaCroix again until the very end when we catch him and Nick mid-conversation about her. What have they told each other at the point we hear the conversation? Perhaps Nick has told him that Janette became mortal and that he brought her back over, but he has not told LaCroix the "how" of Janette's mortality and everything that went down during the episode. They're both keeping secrets from each other about Janette, which they both acknowledge. I don't get the impression that from there, they went and spilled the secrets. It certainly would fit LaCroix's agenda for Nick to believe he brought her over. If that sounds extremely manipulative, well, who are we talking about here after all. Plus ça change, indeed.
This theory will at least somewhat help me wrap my mind around Nick not immediately knowing Janette was "human" (because she wasn't!) even though she had a heartbeat and seemed human.
Unfortunately, this theory does nothing to help me wrap my mind around Janette's behavior and the whole Robert thing. Ugh. I'm still stranded on WTF Island here. Someone make it make sense.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-02 09:55 am (UTC)Also, in my mind, Janette is either dead (fire kills humans and vampires) or ran away just before the entire house was engulfed but after Nick left and has stayed away for whatever reason. I also think Nick did not attempt to bring her back. She was pretty clear she didn't want that. They show Nick with his head thrown back, fangs down. I didn't take that as he was preparing to bite her but the same grief reaction that Janette had when her man was shot. Same position, same facial expression.
I also think that if Janette didn't die, SHE killed the men who set the fire.
The only thing that doesn't jive with that theory is Lacroix's comment about 'losing a daughter and regaining a son'. I don't know how that fits, no matter what theory you subscribe to. How would Janette dead fit with that? How would Nick turning Janette back onto a vampire and then abandoning her fit? Unless he meant that he knew NICK had killed the men who set the fire (Nick acted like the vampire Lacroix wants him to be). But then, why, would Nick seem so surprised when he arrived to the crime scene, looking around for 'someone'. Did Nick think Lacroix did it? Did Nick think Janette was lurking someplace? He looked a mess when he arrived at the crime scene, as if grieving/shocky. Why would he grieve if he knew Janette was alive?
So, I'm kinda with you about 'someone make it make sense'.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-03 02:26 am (UTC)(Mr. SwitchbladeEyes adamantly does not believe Nick brought her over and has chosen just to disregard the “regained a son” line LOL. Fair.)
Like you, I can’t buy Nick killing the bad guys because he’s surprised at the scene and looking around like he’s sensing another vampire. It has got to be Janette. Also, having subsequently watched the generally forgettable “Games Vampires Play,” LaCroix comments in the episode that Nick seems to be “ever so slowly” moving back toward behaving like a vampire. That comment doesn’t square with me if Nick killed the arson bad guys because that’s just a full on vampire thing, not something he was kind of inching toward.
The painting being left at Nick’s also points to Janette as vampire to me. “Human” Janette had a lot going on and a serious injury and I’m like, when did she have a chance or inclination to go get that painting. Vampire Janette leaving the painting after everything makes much more sense as now she doesn’t have the same pressing matters and can go get it. The meaning of leaving the painting, I’m not sure. There’s a lot of ways to take that message. She’s pissed at Nick and never wants to see him again so here’s the painting back. Or she’s pissed or feeling some kind of way about him, but thinks they’ll reconcile at some point so here’s this painting as a reminder of that.
I don’t think he abandoned her after turning her (or thinking he turned her). Rather, she abandoned him because she feels he has betrayed and wronged her.
Thank you for commenting! This ending was SO murky and there are many ways to interpret it. It’s fun to theorize with other fans at least! :-)