SGRoA: Forever Knight S02 E19: Curiouser and Curiouser

AW YISS. I love this episode. At least, I remember that I did, and I hope that hasn't changed. I'll be recapping with Nigel Bennett's commentary on, so you guys will get everything all at once. Let's begin!

We open at The Raven, which Nigel tells us was an actual club in the first season, but is now a studio - though they still used the exterior shots of the actual club. Nick comes in and talks to some rando blonde, then goes on to find Janette. He has a day off because he's had a hard week - three homicides.

This ep was directed by a guy who was a camera operator, went on to directing, and has apparently directed episodes of 24. My hopes are high, Snowflakes.

While Nigel tells us about the title of the ep - from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, obviously - some guy in a walrus mask comes into the club with a gun. There's a reference to the book in every scene of the episode. Nick tries to mojo the gunman, but it doesn't work, and a human gets shot. She dies. Nigel tells us that during the shooting, a woman in a Toronto dessert bar died in similar circumstances.

OMG, Nigel is doing the voiceover for the credits in the commentary.

Anyway, Janette tells Nick that the shooting wasn't his fault, but we all know how much he believes that. Shooters were on probation for drug offenses. Nat also tells Nick it wasn't his fault, but he says that he stopped the vampires in the club from stepping in so they wouldn't expose themselves to the humans.

Nigel thinks this season is the strongest of the three, and that the writing is good. Like, I'm glad he had fun, but Nigel, honey, no. Polished turds are still turds, and there have been some stinkers this season.

Nick goes home to have some blood out of a crystal glass, and it's Flashback Time! Nick's just killed some girl at - the docks? In an alley? Who knows? But when we come back, the blood is white wine, and Schanke shows up at the loft in a posh three-piece suit, yelling at Nick to get his ass in gear. They've got a homicide.

At the radio station.

Lacroix's been stabbed in the heart.

Oh, Nick. You cray.

Schanke says something about the crime which I can't hear because Nigel's telling us about the DJ booth at the club standing in for the radio station. Then Nick asks where Nat is, and Schanke's all, "On a first name basis? She's been and gone." He then says that Lacroix got what he deserved, because next to him, Howard Stern sounds like Regis Philbin.

Nick is confused. Obvies. He goes to The Raven and calls for Janette, who isn't there, and then goes to the lab looking for Nat, who also isn't there. But Lacroix's body is. Nigel tells us the slab is cold and uncomfortable, just as Nick flashes back to being found in that dock-alley with the body by Lacroix.

Lacroix asks Nick what's wrong, but he doesn't know. Didn't he like his dinner? Of course. And of course Nigel doesn't talk over his own lines, so we're treated to Lacroix waxing poetic on the tastiness of blood from pretty people. Then he says that Nick's first week of feeding is going well, so we've flashed way, WAY back for this one, kids.

Nick says something isn't right, and Lacroix's all, "Eh, just give it time. You just died, after all." But Nick says it's not the blood or the vampirism - part of him wants to run from this. "Oh," says Lacroix, "it's the guilt. You'd better not wallow, or you'll go bonkers."

Advice we all know Nick didn't fucking take.

The exterior of the precinct building is actually a library. Nice!

Nick is at his desk, trying to call Janette, but no one's picking up. Nat walks in, and she's the captain! She tells Nick it's about time he showed up, and someone from IAB is going to be in to ask him about the shooting. So I guess that happened in both timelines.

Schanke brings her up to speed on Lacroix's murder: they got the station logs, they've got leads, etc. Nick tries to talk to Natalie, but she brushes him off with "Not here, Nicholas. Call me at home."

Insert audience OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! here, because they're doing it. Also, that's the ugly sound I made by myself. Because they're doing it.

Nick suggests they go to The Raven to ask Janette some questions about Lacroix, and Schanke's all, "Why?" Nick gives a perfectly sane explanation, but we've left Sanity behind, so Schanke - who's driving in this ep - says fine, even though he thinks it's a waste of time.

In the car, the Nightcrawler is on the radio. There's a weird scene where Lacroix is in a white suit in a black-and-white tiled room, intercut with scenes of the shooting, all while Lacroix is giving his Nightcrawler speech. Nigel says it was fun to shoot, and the black cup he's holding was "minute", had just been painted, and got black paint all over his fingers. "It was a demi-demi-demitasse," he says.

Nick and Schanke show up at the club, and no one appears ruffled by Lacroix's death. Schanke gives Nick 10 minutes, and then they're gone - off to real leads, one assumes.

CAPTAIN COHEN IS JANETTE. Guys, she is WORKING IT.

Nick asks her about Lacroix, and she says she doesn't know him. Nick mojos her and she says she's known Nick since she opened the bar, and there aren't any vampires there because there's no such thing as vampires. She asks if Nick is having some sort of "relapse". Before Nick can ask what that means, Schanke's there to insult Cohen's patrons and get back a crack about chicken wings and wet t-shirt contests. Nick walks away from them. Schanke calls after him, but Cohen tells him to let Nick go - "unless you want to push him over the edge".

Nick goes back to his apartment. He steps on a squeaky caterpillar toy, and there's a bunch of baby food and bottles in the fridge. Just then, Janette comes down the stairs, all human, and then complains when the baby wakes up. Nigel tells us that everyone liked this episode because they got to do things they didn't normally, like wearing loose dresses that fit. Apparently, some of Deborah Duchene's wardrobe for Janette had to be sewn onto her just before her scenes.

Nick is, again, confused.

Janette gets the baby down again and then starts a fight about Nick always being out, not making enough money, bills being past due, etc. He says something about vampires, and she freaks out about his delusions happening again, like they did two years ago, after some woman died on a stakeout. The baby starts crying again, and Nick walks out over Janette's objections.

He goes to the station, where Schanke is listening to tapes of the Nightcrawler with a police audio tech, I guess? Lacroix's talking about madness and guilt; apparently that night's episode, that led to his death. They can't get the callers' numbers, but they're listening to the tapes to get location clues in the background noise. Lacroix says that guilt is for the weak, then takes a caller who says he's Lacroix's assassin. The audio tech isolates the noise in the background, and Nick - with no headphones or anything - says it's a buoy. The guy lives by the lake, and there's some other sound he can't quite make out.

The tech thanks him, then answers the ringing phone, only to tell Nick that IAB and "Captain Lambert" are waiting for him up in the squad room.

IAB looks like that cop who died in...season 1? She'd just come onto the force or something? I don't know if it is, Nigel isn't talking, but I wouldn't be surprised, because no doubt Nick felt guilty about that one, too.

She's grilling him about his reputation for working outside the rules, disregarding his safety, etc. She's peeped his psych profile, too, and she's needling him about wanting to be a hero, wanting to keep everything together, even though he can't. Cops like that make mistakes, she says, get people killed.

And we're back to Lacroix in his weird little room, reciting that poem about the oysters and the walrus. He asks if everything Nick knows is wrong, and then says that's good, Nicolas, because that's exactly as it should be.

Nick goes to Nat's place, and she is dressed to the nines, waiting for him. She wants to get right to the fucking, but Nick wants to talk about being crazy. Nat's just like, "Oh, it's happening again." She tells him to get help - now - and then sends him home to his wife.

So he goes. Janette must be asleep, because he sits down in the living room only to have Lacroix's face pop up on his TV, telling Nick that he warned him about the craziness. The TV shuts off, but as Nick looks in the mirror, Lacroix pops up behind him and complains about being dead. But no worries: the killer will pay, and Nick will lead Lacroix to him.

Bee tee dubs, Nigel has fallen asleep at the commentary wheel, here. I haven't heard anything out of him in ages. 

Anyway. Lacroix disappears, and Nick yells at him to come back, because he needs him. He of course wakes the baby and then Janette, who is righteously pissed off about all the screaming. He walks out on her again.

He goes back to the precinct to listen to the tapes again. They've identified crowd noise on top of the buoy, and Nick finally hears a crying baby on top of all that. Do we know where this is going, Snowflakes? I surely do, and not just because I've seen this before.

Nick doesn't say anything about the baby, but goes to see Cohen at The Raven to ask her about "the last time". She says he was "mad as a hatter" and that he believed he was a vampire. She offers to help in any way she can, because therapy's expensive. Nick kisses her cheek as he leaves, and then looks totally weirded out about it.

He goes back to the precinct again, and Nat demands his badge and his gun: he's suspended without pay. Janette's going to love that.

Janette talks about how it's not the shootings that drive Nick crazy: it's the guilt of losing his humanity. She picks up the finally sleeping baby, against every instinct a tired mother has, and tells him to start dealing with it before it destroys him.

He has a sudden flash of someone stowing a knife in his fireplace, and sure enough, there's the murder weapon. He suddenly remembers everything, to the soundtrack of Lacroix reciting "The Jabberwocky" on the TV and promising to have his revenge on the killer.

Who is Nick, in case you missed it.

And then Nick's in the empty Raven again, calling for Janette. Lacroix shows up instead, with that knife sticking out of his chest. He agrees when Nick says he's been expecting this, that he knows what's going on. Lacroix talks about how vampires lose the capacity to contain guilt when they die, and that this world Nick's been living in is his guilt incarnate. If only Nick listened to Lacroix. Nick has to release this guilt, get rid of it, or this will all happen again.

"I can't," says Nick. "Then I'll do it for you," says Lacroix, and starts beating the crap out of him. Which, let's be honest, we've been waiting two seasons for, haven't we? It's pretty fantastic.

"What do you feel most guilty over? That you deny what you are, or the fact that you're still alive?" Lacroix says, and stakes him.

Which of course causes Nick to wake up on his couch, glass of blood at his side, as Schanke knocks on his door and walks in. IAB's report is coming down, and the captain wants them at the station for it. But there's no fancy three-piece suit, no sneering: just regular Schanke.

Schanke asks Nick if he's okay, and Nick in turn asks the captain's name. "Cohen," says Schanke, and Nick, relieved, follows Schanke down to the precinct.

IAB has found that Nick acted perfectly in accord with police policies, and Cohen tells him he shouldn't feel guilty at all.

And Nigel didn't even say goodbye.

Next week: Nick thinks an ambassador killed someone! But he's wrong! Although that never stops him!