earts of Darkness
earts of Darkness
A patron of the Raven is found dead, apparently killed by a vampire in unusual circumstances. The woman at the scene has no memory, and there are no clues. Nick must find the vampire-killer before he strikes again, while keeping Tracy out of trouble. For Tracy is aware it is a vampire, and is searching for the killer, too.
Let's just ignore the opening scene with the master vampire turned sleazy DJ. There was some good setup for the rest of the show, but I have a problem with the idea of LaCroix suddenly picking up the Raven and turning it into a meat shop (er, a different kind of meat shop, perhaps...).
I thought it was neat that both Nick and Tracy knew that Eckhart's killer was a vampire, and that, at first, neither one knew that the other knew. Nick figured it out later (partially from Tracy's sudden reversal of position, but mostly from finding the cross and stakes in her bag when she went to stay with Ellen). However, I wasn't quite sure why Tracy lifted the cover and looked at the victim's neck. She'd never been that attentive to corpses before (often turning away in disgust), and she doesn't have major intuitive leaps.
Although I thought the flashback wasn't anything terribly amazing, it did come from someone other than Nick -- two someones, in fact, since Vachon was the one remembering his meeting with Urs during two of the flashes. This is a welcome change from the flashbacks in recent episodes, with LaCroix cruelly taunting Nick. And it's definitely nice to see some of the supporting vampires (Urs, Vachon, Screed) getting more airplay.
So how did Tracy find out about the Raven? I can't imagine that Vachon told her, and I doubt very much that she knew about the place from before. Still, watching Nick hiding from her was quite amusing. And why did Vachon pretend not to recognize the picture of Ellen when Tracy asked him, but he told Nick everything he'd seen? I didn't think Ellen and Monica looked so different that he wouldn't recognize them as being the same. Besides, when Vachon confronted Urs outside Ellen's window, Urs talked about Ellen and Monica as if they were the same person -- and Vachon seemed to accept the idea and didn't question her, even though he hadn't heard Natalie's conjecture.
And where have all the female vampires gone? When Natalie noted that the killer was a woman, Nick immediately went to ask Vachon if it was Urs. Surely there are other female vampires around.
It amazes me that Nick and Tracy manage to work together at all. He rarely tells her about things that he observes, often passing it off with a nonchalant "oh, nothing" if she notices. True, he wasn't all that truthful with Schanke, but usually he just wouldn't tell Schanke anything, or he'd stop the car in the road, get out, and run off... or he would ignore Schanke's questions. Okay, so maybe he's just being protective towards Tracy -- but considering how often he tells the captain "she's a good cop", he shouldn't be so patronizing.
LaCroix seems oddly full of life in this episode: introducing the amateur strip night with a flair in his voice, trading little jokes with Nick when he comes in, even suddenly leaving Nick and Vachon to follow a tall blonde who had walked past. And the gleam in his eyes and words when he tells Nick "you know, for all that I dislike what you do, it does seem to have some advantages -- murder scenes, and all that..." is gleefully sinister.
Urs definitely saved this episode. Chills went down my spine as Urs was telling Vachon how she had wanted to die, "not to bear for eternity what I couldn't bear for another second". The sadness in her eyes made a stark contrast with her appearance in the flashback, where, although she still wanted to die, she at least appeared happy and playful. And when she held Nick back and prevented him from saving Ellen, and then told him her reasons... and later, when Vachon asked Urs if she still wanted to die, and she replies with the vague "I understand more than I did yesterday, but has it changed my mind? Hmm." Chillingly sad.
And then the twitching of Ellen's toe at the end. Brr.
Episode rating (0 to 10): 6
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