iller Instinct
iller Instinct
While investigating a series of bizarre murders, Nick discovers that an ancient evil from his past is behind the crimes. LaCroix, his former vampire master, has returned to the city in search of Nick, his one-time pupil.
The murders, coldly orchestrated by LaCroix, threaten to uncover Nick's sinister secret when he is arrested as the prime suspect. With the help of his partner, Don Schanke, and the department pathologist, Natalie Lambert, the only mortal who knows his true identity, Knight escapes. Now an outlaw, he must track down the killer and find LaCroix before he is forced to give up his dream of regaining his mortality.
It's not quite fair that I saved this episode for the last, since I have information about future episodes. Nonetheless, this is the last episode of the second season that I've critiqued.
If you hadn't seen any of the first season (or other episodes from the second), and didn't know that Nick was a vampire, that Natalie knew he was one, or any of the other countless relationships, this would have been a confusing episode. They provide only the briefest of introductions to each of the characters and their roles, and only hint that Nick is something other than human for the first ten minutes (until he enters the Raven and talks to Janette). Even if you had seen the first season, the fact that there is a new captain is just barely explained -- apparently Nick and Schanke had just moved to a new precinct. (apparently Natalie moved also, and the building looks just like the old precinct...)
Natalie's switching of the DNA test samples is touching, as she's trying to help cover up the fact that Nick is a vampire, but does she need to? I had the impression that DNA testing wasn't all that advanced, and that Nick could probably pass for human -- after all, he can drink vampire blood just as easily as his own (see "Crazy Love"). And her action is one of those rare un-lawful acts (Schanke only very reluctantly works outside of the law), as if she's slightly tainted by darkness. Perhaps that explains the attraction between her and Nick, since he's slightly tainted by the light.
It's noted several times that Nick is the most mortal that he's ever been when this episode starts. Sure enough, he has to really work at using his vampiric powers to locate LaCroix. And when he's escaping from the armored car he makes a mad dash through the sunlight, not too much the worse for it. But this implies that he's not becoming more and more mortal throughout the second season, because later on, he's much more susceptible to sunlight, crosses, etc. When I first saw this episode I had thought he would become increasingly mortal as the season progressed... but it just didn't happen.
One thing that bothered me was that when Nick was searching for LaCroix, and thought he had found him, he actually found -- the real killer, who was mortal. How was Nick so mislead? LaCroix can't really redirect this "homing beacon" attachment the two of them share.
I was also amazed that LaCroix came back to Nick, just to tell him that it was time to move on to another life. In the first season, Nick tried to (and thought he had) killed LaCroix. So he had no reason to believe that Nick would greet him with anything but hatred. Still, they seemed to reach some level of tolerance by the end of the episode, and by the end of the season, Nick was even cordial towards LaCroix. It should be interesting to see what the third season holds for their relationship.
Episode rating (0 to 10): 5
Please feel free to leave your own comments on this episode.