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A rat infected with a newly engineered virus escapes from the lab when the scientist is murdered, and soon becomes Screed's next meal. Designed to combat HIV, the new virus is at first only mildly harmful to vampires but intensifies with each successive "feeding," quickly becoming lethal. As the virus spreads rapidly through the vampire community, ultimately infecting both Nick and Lacroix, Nick races against time to find the killer - and, hopefully a cure.
Okay. Say you're working as an assistant in a lab where you work with retroviruses. Suppose that some of the projects in the lab are so dangerous that they could decimate the city. You're doing something secret, stealing notes. You pick up a rat, are startled, and accidentally drop the rat. Do you remember the rat, maybe pick it back up, or just let it roam around?
Of course, there's no way that a rat could escape a controlled environment like that so quickly or so easily. If the rat could escape in a matter of minutes, then other creatures could get in, get infected, and leave. Not a very secure laboratory. Not very likely, in my opinion.
It was a fun flashback, however. Even after being a vampire for only a century, Nick is showing signs of developing a kind of morality. In the tavern, when the doctor asks for some of whatever medicine keeps Nick and LaCroix use to stay healthy, Nick says in a sorrowful voice "I wish I could help". True, he did still bring the doctor across, and he and LaCroix were clearly on a feeding spree. He's still following LaCroix around. But he also refused to leave without confronting the doctor, trying to understand why such a good man would suddenly turn evil, trying to convince the doctor to stop.
I, too, found it hard to believe that the doctor (in the flashback) would go from helping others to preying on them so quickly. Even if his previous motivation was that he wanted to "make his mark on the world", surely his actions were somewhat motivated by altruism. Otherwise, why would he have helped the young lady that the priest was chastising? Being immortal wouldn't change his wishes about making a mark on the world. I just can't accept that he could have been a good doctor if he were as shallow a person as he seemed to be after being brought across.
LaCroix was also oddly pathetic in this episode. His quick rebuttal of the very idea that a "germ" could harm vampires was far too rash. I would expect him to dismiss it as an impossibility, but not without reason, and not without mocking Nicholas more. LaCroix's radio monologue when he was sick was way too direct; he basically said that he was the leader of a race of people, that they were hidden and only came out at night, and that they were dying. Again, this isn't nearly subtle enough for LaCroix. His argument that Natalie is powerless was weak.. his display of vengeance almost pointless... and his little "I have faced death and won" explanation of why he was no longer sick was more irrational than anything he's said in a long time. He's often cruel, or evil, but rarely stupid.
Nick's sudden fatalistic belief that the fever is "nature's way" (and therefore he shouldn't even try to resist it) reminded me of his depression in the earlier episodes this season (especially "Black Buddha (part 1)"). And Natalie's arguments to the contrary are quite good: that the concept of a sickness "attacking only the wicked" is completely lame (which ties back into the flashback), and that Nick should try correlating his views with those of someone like Calvin, who would do almost anything to live just a bit longer. But I was amazed that Natalie was so passionate in this argument, but not in other scenes -- like when she's watching Calvin in the interrogation room, Nick walks in, and she notes "He's still dying. You're still dying.". Or when LaCroix presents her with Calvin's dead body in her office.
Nat's little "just once, I wish that I could help someone before it was too late" line also seemed like an overreaction. She's helped Nick several times in the past (most notably in "Near Death"). And her work has provided countless clues that helped Nick prevent quite a few killings. But I can discount her statement as a product of frustration and depression.
There's an interesting contrast between the three "doctors". The doctor in the flashback loses his morality when he is brought across, and regrets neither his actions nor his sudden change. Calvin breaks his morals when he tries to extend his life (stealing the formula and work), but seems truly repentant at the foolish things he had done. Natalie, however, is not in danger of dying, but two of her friends are. She isn't presented with the dilemma of having to break her moral code. Yet she is the least successful in her quest to find a cure (a quest that all three of them were on), for it is really LaCroix who discovers the cure. Nat merely interpreted what had happened, putting the final links together for us.
Nick's final question to Natalie, asking why she had helped to save the vampires, was silly. Of course she would try to save Nick, and Nick wouldn't withhold the cure from the other vampires. His morality, as weak as it has been in recent episodes, is still too strong for him to let others die. So, in effect, she had to save them.
So although the plot was interesting and the flashback was good, I felt there were way too many problems with this episode. It was difficult for me to watch this one without saying "What? What?" every few minutes.
Episode rating (0 to 10): 5
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