FK Season 3 episode "Fallen Idol"

[switchbladeeyes]

"Fallen Idol" was not great, but also not terrible. This one goes on the heap of season 3's "okay" episodes.

I remembered the flashbacks from this story well because Nick's "pit of condemned bimbos" made it pretty memorable. This is Nick before he pined for humanity so he is totally down to keep women he is slowly murdering in the basement while his young nephew sleeps cozy upstairs. Yeahhhhh. It's incredibly bizarre and unworkable. Like… what’s the plan? I kind of get where LaCroix is coming from in these flashbacks.

Nice callback to the Fleur story in the flashbacks. FK is Not Great at connecting with prior events of significance so that was welcome here.

We get some classic LaCroix in the final flashback. He's often in top form when he's cruelly Making a Point to Nick. I'm like, "Ugh, why do you have to be so awful, but also, you're not wrong."

Meanwhile, in the present, Holy Medical Ethics, Natalie. What on Earth? She totally went off the rails in this episode! There are so many reasons her actions were problematic. You can't just go around experimenting on kids with vampire blood! Joey lacks the capacity to consent. Nick said no to using his blood. And her justification is nonsense (somehow this is needed so Joey and his uncle won't be separated? The investigation was still open! Plus, no prosecution case is getting made off Joey because he's a totally unreliable witness) . To be honest, this made very little sense to me for Natalie's character.

It would have made way more sense to me if it had been Nick who injected Joey with vampire blood. Nick is known to do questionable things in the name of trying to help. Because we need him to be that way to keep him interesting. Then NATALIE can divert him back to a better path than “whatever, I do what I want." That's literally her role on this show. Sigh.

Natalie complaining about working from home and having technical issues "modeming" things to the office made me LOL. At least she didn't have to deal with all the mute/unmute issues with Zoom. Or being unable to remove a Zoom filter during a court proceeding.

The killer was obvious the moment he appeared on screen.

I did LOL at Nick's comment that "no wonder" the killer "washed out" after Nick easily physically overpowered him. The killer is bigger than Nick and, if Nick were human, would presumably be stronger. I like that the show's like, "Yeah, we need to acknowledge that." Thus, Nick's comment.

Everything about Joey ending up at the Raven is confusing. Why did he go to the Raven? Because he found a Raven matchbook? I mean, maybe just coincidence since he's starting to unravel, but even if that's the case, how did he get there (and now I'm also wondering, how did he even get back to Nick's place)? Does Nick live near the club? How does the Raven not have bouncers at the door? How does a 17 year old kid get in there?

Though once he is at the Raven, it does get interesting, I have to admit that.

LaCroix was just kind of skulking around in the background during Joey's meltdown, but the camera kept going back to him. It felt like something more was supposed to happen with him, but no, not even a subsequent radio monologue.

At the very end of the episode when Natalie's like, "Was I wrong?" Nick conveniently absolves her because Joey and his uncle are happier at the end than they were at the beginning of the investigation. Record scratch. WHAT? FK, you were doing soooo well for like a second there when you let the prior episode have a messy ending. IMO, Natalie really needed to sit with the seriousness of her actions and Nick should have been more upset with her. What she did was Not Okay.

Comments

[calliope24]

The flashback definitely makes this episode. The graveside scene, acknowledging Fleur, gives us some closure to an earlier episode. Definitely a rarity in the world of FK.

I think this is actually the only time we see Nick reveling in being a vampire. In other flashbacks even when we see him hunting and killing, he almost immediately feels regret about it. Keeping captives in the cellar is the most horrific thing we see Nick doing in the series, it brings him down to the level of the serial killer in Trophy Girl. I wish we had seen more of that--it would make his all encompassing guilt in the present day a little more understandable.

As for Natalie, I do wonder if they were trying to build the case of her going off the rails towards the end of the third season? Nick and the outcome she had hoped for is slipping away and she knows it. She's completely isolated without even Schanke to ground her. There are instances of her behaving irrationally throughout the series, but this is a big one. It makes her irrational behavior in LK a little more credible from a character perspective.

I actually like Nick's kindness towards her at the end. She totally screwed up and they both know it. Beating her up about it wouldn't change anything. It was nice to see that friendship back for even a brief period.

[switchbladeeyes]

I think this is actually the only time we see Nick reveling in being a vampire.

Interesting. I never really thought about it and I think you're right. I'm guessing he otherwise always feels bad because he's supposed to be the good guy. But the good guy has killed many, MANY humans and enjoyed it. (I don't know how the vampire math works out, but it's got to be A LOT.) It would have been interesting to see more of his unrepentant vampire phase for contrast.

You make a good point about the end scene. It just seems so casually let go to me on Natalie's part so maybe Nick could be kind to her, but she needed to sit with it more.

it brings him down to the level of the serial killer in Trophy Girl

I skipped "Trophy Girl," I admit. (That, "Blackwing," and "Let Know Man Tear Asunder.") I should maybe go back and watch it. I remember the flashbacks pretty well, but don't actually remember the police story in that one.

[calliope24]

Well, Blackwing is probably the worst episode of the series, at least in my opinion. Trophy Girl is pretty bad as well, although it has an interesting flashback which inspired a great UF fanfic, Honey and Wine by Les GrantSmith.

LNMTA is marginally better. Some interesting Vetter family backstory and a flashback that I really liked.

[switchbladeeyes]

I'm like 95% certain that the only reason I remember the flashbacks from Trophy Girl is because of that fic :-D

I'll have to go back and check out LNMTA as I'd like to get some Vetter backstory and I literally remember nothing about the episode.