lack Buddha (part 2)
lack Buddha (part 2)
Vachon, like Nick, has tired of his centuries of killing and chooses to spare Tracy's life, confident she will keep his dark secret. In another chance meeting with an odd character, Tracy has a brief date with Vudu. Unaware that he is the bomber, she attempts to return a bag he left behind, discovering too late the package contains another bomb.
In the little "last time, on Forever Knight..." section, I noticed that they completely glossed over Nick's resignation (and apparent reinstatement), and only momentarily mentioned that Schanke and Amanda had died. Instead, they focused on the bomb subplot, which was only secondary to the first part.
But there are some problems with the quick transition to the second part. For one thing, the precinct seemed to be totally untouched by the bomb that decimated it in the first part. So maybe it was a small bomb -- but it didn't look that small. And there were no mentions of Nick's slips when he saved the precinct (appearing really quickly, jumping out the window and escaping the bomb unscathed).
The new captain give a long, long ramble about how mass murderers are basically impossible to understand. But Nick seems irked by this, claiming that everyone has a dark spot somewhere in them, and that Vudu had to have some reason for blowing up the plane. His search for this reason drives him throughout the episode. Of course, at the end, he never gets an answer from Vudu, and at Schanke's grave, Natalie quietly notes that even if there were a reason, it wouldn't really be any better. Hasn't Nick realized by now that some things can't just be explained away? But perhaps his loss of three good friends (well, two, and Amanda...) is clouding his reasoning.
Tracy seems extraordinarily accepting of the concept of vampires. When Vachon removes her gag and lets her speak, the first thing she asks is for him to get her out of the sewer... "do you have any idea how many diseases are represented down here? Some of us can actually die from them, you know." I would have expected her to ask what he was, even though she's seen enough to draw conclusions about Vachon.
There's a great number of parallel scenes going on. When Nick is confronting the Inca, and getting his story, Tracy is hearing the same thing from Vachon. Later, Nick confronts Urs (Vachon's 'companion') at the Raven, and hears about how he keeps running from the Inca -- at the same time that Tracy hears it from Vachon. The question is, what parallels are we supposed to draw from this? That Nick and Tracy are similar in some way (since they're asking the same questions)?
Or... that Nick and Vachon are similar? After all, there's the scene in the precinct where Natalie is comforting Tracy, and Tracy indicates disappointment at Vachon's actions. Later on, they even explicitly compare Tracy's disappointment to Nat's feelings towards Nick in the previous episode. And Vachon does share some important traits with Nick. He doesn't indiscriminantly feed on others. He doesn't kill Tracy, given the chance (and ample motive). He doesn't even drink her blood. And he hangs out with a strange English bloke who feeds on rats, rather than humans. Vachon shares a great deal with Nick, even if you don't mention the fact that they both keep running away from people...
Nick, however, is acting a lot like his vampire self in this episode. Even the English block (Screed, I think) asks him "are you an enforcer?" when he first confronts Vachon. In some sense, he is; he's telling Vachon that unless he solves his own problems, the "community" will solve them for him.
Even though Nick verbally disowned his belief in the curse of the black buddha idol, he still believes in such things in his heart. When Natalie casually picks up the idol, he quickly reacts and reaches for it -- as if to save her from owning it, from becoming prey to the curse. There's an intense sort of communication between their eyes, and then he pulls his hand back. So Natalie knows that Nick still believes in such black magics, but that he's willing to accept her arguments against it. A definite step forwards in their relationship.
When Tracy and Vudu are waiting for all the bombs to go off, and she's holding the detonator, are they outside of Toronto? Vudu didn't seem like the type of person to commit suicide in his final, large-scale bombing. But then again, he'd supposedly used up all of his explosives.
One last note: when Vachon is saying goodbye to Urs, she momentarily calls him "Xavier". I recall some rumor to the effect that that was his name (from before the third season started). Maybe we'll hear more about this in the future...
Episode rating (0 to 10): 6
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