switchbladeeyes

One of my absolute favorite episodes as well. Every time I watch it, I think of how much fun they must have had shooting this episode. I have a feeling that there must have been many takes with the scenes in the loft with Ger and John Kapelos!

And I do agree about the vests! The dark on dark at the start of the episode really works for once. I also kind of liked the cream on cream with a darker suit at the end. The middle suit, gray with a blue vest didn't work so well for me.

We do get some great insights on the characters and relationships throughout this episode, and I agree that the three elements of the story work well together.


His attitude is not about Victoria or her relationship with Jonathan, it's about his own wife, Myra, and his relationship with her. While the audience Gets It, crack detective Nick Knight is totally oblivious.

I actually have a different take on this. While I freely admit that Nick is usually circling the ozone during these car scenes, I think this time he's paying attention. He started the conversation off about the Schanke's comments about the Levy sleeping arrangements, and the way he shifts his attention to Schanke as he's speaking gives me the impression that he's listening to the response and taking it in, including the strong inference that Schanke is thinking more about his own sleeping arrangements than the Levys.

I think they're giving the plot point some time to simmer, but I also see this as two men, cops, who aren't likely to communicate all that well as we see throughout the episode.

Nick reflects on what Schanke was saying, and then he journeys to the flashback. We're in the Renaissance era somewhere in Europe. Janette is packing some belongings when Nick walks into the room. What is she doing? She’s splitting up with him and had hoped to basically just GHOST him! Turns out they’ve been living as a couple for 97 years, and she has grown tired of it. It’s evident that she still cares for him, but also that she feels intolerably stuck by their relationship. But wow… planning to ghost him? That's fucked up. (She also later ghosted him in 1995 Toronto so maybe that's just her MO.)

Perhaps it is! I hadn't really connected the two events. It does seem exceptionally cold. He comes in to what appears to be a shared bedroom--no separate bedrooms for them--to find her packing. Ouch!

Nick doesn’t want her to go, but she wants her freedom, including the freedom to love people other than him. She suspects he too feels the desire to move on from their relationship, even if he won’t admit it.

I also don't think she's being honest here--more on that later.

Schanke remains convinced that Victoria is the culprit as he and Nick return to the victim's home to ask more questions. Upon arriving, we find a social gathering, like a funeral reception or something (even though the body's at the morgue).

I believe it's meant to be a shivah--the Jewish practice of hosting family and friends at the deceased home for the 7 days following a death. The male guests are wearing yarmulkas, the mirrors are covered and Nick reacts to a menorah which is in the foyer. I love the texture this adds to the episode, making it culturally significant rather than just a cookie cutter gathering, but without hitting you over the head with it.

In Toronto the next night, Schanke’s made a big breakfast for him and Nick. He’s kind of gone all out, even buying flowers to decorate the dining table. Nick isn’t excited about it, obv, and sneaks some blood from the fridge into his mug. Schanke’s waxing on about the breakfast and gets agitated when Nick refuses to eat any of it, feeling unappreciated.

A great scene! When the chips were down, Nick came through as a friend and let Schanke stay even though this has to push even Nick's comfort zone having Schanke in his space 24/7. The loft is really the only place he can be himself. But again, two men not on the same page at all.

Speaking of bad breakups, we're off to the final flashback. Janette is gone. And I gotta say, Geraint Wyn Davies can really, REALLY pull off the sad, brokenhearted puppy dog look. Nick looks soooooo bereft as he pines for Janette 🥺. She truly broke his heart. LaCroix comes up to him, trying to console him, but like, in a LaCroix way. So he's not terribly sympathetic as he basically tells Nick, "get over it, there's plenty more fish in the sea." Unsurprisingly, Nick doesn't look very comforted by this.

Agreed on all counts. LaCroix doesn't seem all that heartbroken to see Janette gone. I do have to wonder if he's been feeling a bit like a third wheel around them? I don't even mean from a sexual standpoint of looking for some alone time with Nick, it can be hard to be around a dedicated couple all the time.

The Forever Knight wiki flashback timeline tells me that not long after this (maybe a couple decades, not long in vampire terms), Nick would marry Alyssa von Linz. Was all that a reaction to Janette breaking up with him? Was he in a rebound relationship with Alyssa? One wonders. Living like a married couple with Janette, then when Janette breaks it off, Nick marries someone else intending to turn her into a vampire wife to be married to him for all eternity… hmmmmmm… 🧐

Agreed. It is a very short interval of time for him to become so involved with Alyssa. The relationship with Amalia, the wine merchant's daughter in Crazy Love was also in that time frame. Although Nick didn't seem interested in bringing her across, he was very emotionally involved with her as well.

Schanke is torn up inside about leaving Myra. And Janette also has regrets about walking out on Nick all those centuries ago. It's heartfelt, but we also get some funny lines like Schanke’s "Is it me, or did we just walk into a Sinatra song?" and Janette dropping comments alluding to vampirism, which Schanke of course doesn't take literally. Like when he asks, "What happens to a person when they leave the love of their lives looking for cheap, quick thrills?" And she responds, "In my case, usually homicide." 😆

One of the great pieces of dialogue in the whole series, IMHO. And pulled off beautifully by DD and JK. They're commiserating their losses, but not really picking up the details of what the other is saying. The author of this episode really did a great job.

I do think this is Janette's truth though. She can say it out loud to Schanke as a kindred spirit for this brief moment in time. "He was suffocating me. I couldn't accept the depth of his feelings for me, I wasn't used to that." Not the same as being bored, or wanting something different. It's not hard to see her being smothered by Nick's feelings, given both her mortal past then her life with LaCroix before Nick. Sad though because I think she comes to regret leaving him.

Despite their partnership being totally dysfunctional during the investigation and not even working together to ultimately solve the case, Nick and Schanke somehow earn the "partners of the month" citation. Winning the citation in this context makes so little sense that I feel like Nick must have whammied someone to make it happen. I wish the episode had spent some time repairing their relationship with a conversation between the two.

I hadn't considered that Nick might have made that happen. That's very likely given the circumstances. Good pick up! I do love that they carry the plaque through a few other episodes, especially Black Buddha.

I'm not sure what they would have said to one another. My take is that this not atypical male cop communication. They speak about feelings only when absolutely necessary.

She opens the gift to find the portrait she had wanted to keep all those centuries ago. Nick holds no grudges for the hurt of the past, and wants her to have it. He says, “Eternal friends?” And she looks at him (her earlier quote "Maybe one day, our eyes will meet and we will fall in love all over again" comes back to me), and she responds breathlessly, “Maybe more.” They start kissing tenderly then passionately 😍. Love that ending!

I agree! She looks at him with such feeling. It's what makes me think in my head canon that she regrets walking away when she did and that she has always loved him to the best of her ability. He seems very open to it in that moment as well.

They did seem to be pumping up the Nick/Janette relationship towards the end of the second season. It does make you wonder what direction it would have taken had the third season had the same cast? I think we can safely rule out the events of HF!

Thanks for another great episode review and discussion!