ather's Day
ather's Day
David Constantine is the next in line to become "Don" of the city's biggest crime family, but after witnessing a lifetime of killing and bloodshed, he just wants to live a normal life with his family. Nick Knight understands David's dilemma, as he wants to get away from his self-proclaimed father, LaCroix. However, David's great grandfather will stop at nothing to insure his grandson's enshrinement, even going to LaCroix for help. This sets up a father's day showdown between David and his great grandfather, and Nick and LaCroix.
It's too bad they didn't first air this episode around Father's Day. "Be My Valentine" first appeared very near to Valentine's Day, if I remember correctly. Still, considering how the two dominant fathers (LaCroix and Don Constantine) appear throughout most of this episode, it was probably wise of them to air this in November.
LaCroix's "Nightcrawler" talk show is heard many times in this episode. As always, he seems to be talking almost directly to Nick: explaining his point of view while lightly mocking Nick. Is this the whole purpose of his show? Or does he somehow know when Nick is listening, and what Nick is thinking about? We know LaCroix has some such power, but normally it only seems to happen at a fairly close range -- and I just don't see radio waves as an appropriate carrier. Even so, the Nightcrawler is as good as ever. If only we had a talk show like that in the Bay Area...
There are a lot of different father/son relationships floating around here, none of them quite the same. First there's Don Constantine (played by Peter Boretski) and his great-grandson David. The Don wants David to follow in his footsteps, and David doesn't want to. Then there's David and his son. David just wants his wife and son to be free of the evil world the Don rules over. Of course, there's LaCroix and Nick -- not a true father/son relationship, but, in some sense, there are blood ties...
And finally there's Nick and David. This isn't a formal relationship, but Nick appears to be trying to take care of David and save him from his family. They're both the sons, but Nick is in the role of protector, trying to be as he thinks (naively or not) a father should be: "someone who will sacrifice everything to give his chile a better life than he had". Whether Nick is right or not, he does offer to try and hold off LaCroix and Don Constantine while David and his family escapes. Definitely a sacrificial task, since LaCroix has to be more powerful.
LaCroix comers through in an interesting way at the end. He saves David from having to run the family business, while still pleasing (and fulfilling his promise to) Don Constantine, by making the Don into a vampire. This doesn't seem to be a good thing, since the Don is the head of an evil business -- now the immortal head.
Still, Nick seems pleased, and seems to have reconciled his position with LaCroix somewhat. He's not going to come back into the fold, but he still respects LaCroix. And LaCroix seems much more amiable than he did in the flashback, when Janette had told him that Nicholas had left. Janette suggested that he should let Nick go, and just make a new vampire, to which LaCroix replies, "I don't want a new one; I like that one". He thought of Nick as more of a posession in the past, but as a person (well, vampire) in the present.
Episode rating (0 to 10): 7
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