switchbladeeyes

After the absolute overindulgent Bacchanalia of words/thoughts/feelings/questions I had about “Be My Valentine,” I’ve managed to tone myself down for “Partners of the Month.”

I’ll strive to be a little less wordy going forward, friends 🫡 (except for “Curiouser and Curiouser,” all bets will be off for that episode).

I enjoy "Partners of the Month." The show packs a lot into the various relationships in this episode from the platonic to the romantic.

In which I begrudgingly admit to not hating Nick’s vest for once...

A woman is in a bedroom wearing sexy lingerie and getting ready for a steamy romantic interlude. She's putting on makeup, applying perfume, has set up candles, and has put champagne on ice. She’s gone all out, but it starts to look like her romantic partner may not show up ☹️.

She goes downstairs where a guy is working on his last will and testament on his computer. He shows absolutely no interest in her romantic overtures, distracted by what he’s working on.

Meet Victoria and Jonathan, wife and husband, neither of whom is going to have a great time tonight.

Hurt by Jonathan’s disinterest, Victoria asks if he would behave the same way if "she" were here. An extra marital affair! This is getting even juicier.

Later, we see Jonathan facedown on his desk, a gun on the floor, a bullet wound in his head. Muuuuuurder? Or suicide?

The police enter the scene. There is a computer printout of a suicide note, and while it could be a suicide, the gunshot wound lacks typical signs of being self-inflicted. Hmmmmm. 🤔

Nick and Schanke question Victoria, who reveals that the gun was hers, but she hadn't recently opened the drawer where she kept it. We also learn she and Jonathan slept in separate bedrooms because of his late working hours. Schanke finds this Suspicious, and he makes no effort to hide it.

But how could Victoria be a murderer? She had no gunshot residue on her hands. Schanke is nonetheless adamantly convinced of her guilt. Nick thinks Something Is Up with Schanke. We, the audience, become attuned to the fact that Schanke has been relegated to the couch at his house. 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.

At the police station, Schanke gets agitated that he and Nick have never been awarded a "partners of the month" citation by the police department. It's kinda easy to see why they've never won it when they give different answers to Captain Cohen's question about whether they have suspects: Nick says none yet, and Schanke says the wife.

Cohen admonishes them to get in sync. I appreciate this because the show is not always that "self-aware" about how characters are behaving from one episode to the next, but here, Cohen is pretty much saying what we've observed often: Schanke and Nick don't always gel as partners. This is largely driven by Nick going off and doing his own thing and leaving Schanke out, which will be a point of contention later.

At the morgue, Natalie can't rule out suicide. Schanke still argues that Victoria is a murderer. Then he has a bit of an unhinged monologue that is really him projecting his own marital problems onto the case. After, he takes off to go investigate on his own.

Nat asks Nick if Schanke's okay, but Nick's basically like, how should I know? Nat points out. "He is your partner." Exactly. Pay attention, Nick! The audience already figured out what's going on two scenes ago!

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.)

In the present back at his apartment, Nick is relaxing on the couch engaging in one of his favorite hobbies: listening to the Nightcrawler broadcast for a regular reminder that LaCroix is obsessed with him. With his usual brand of creepy aplomb, LaCroix is dispensing advice to a caller going through a breakup. Why is this even the topic of the broadcast? 'Cause LaCroix eerily always seems to know what is on Nick's mind. And even though this episode is not about the relationship between Nick and LaCroix, we all know LaCroix uses this show to talk to Nick. So when he creepily says, "In my way, I love you all, and I want your love back," that's about him and Nick. 100%.

Next, let me just get one thing out of the way: I don't hate Nick's vest here. He's had some bad ones. Y'all know that I am generally opposed. But this heathered gray vest with a dark gray shirt and black pants… it's… it's not bad. Maybe even… good? There, I said it. Let's move on.

Schanke cheerfully comes to the loft wearing sweatpants and carrying two pizzas and a six pack of beer. At 5:00 a.m. Nick’s not excited about Schanke’s unannounced arrival or sudden desire to bro down and start day drinking. What’s happened? Schanke has left Myra, and Nick's place is gonna be his crashpad.

Schanke is pumped that he and Nick are going to be bachelors about town (but his level of excitement is over-the-top, we know he's overcompensating). Nick, less enthused, flashes back to his breakup with Janette.

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. She says that in the future, "Maybe one day, our eyes will meet and we will fall in love all over again." (A super romantic notion in the midst of this breakup!) To which he replies, “What makes you think I would take you back?" Petulant. But she knows it’s just his broken heart talking.

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.

Nick calls Nat and fills her in on the situation. Nat is amused by his "Schanke as a roomie" predicament. In work-related news, she has examined Jonathan's body and concluded it was indeed muuuuuurder.

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). Anyway, you get the idea. Nick and Schanke crash this event (classy), splitting up to cover more ground. Nick talks to Jonathan's lawyer and discovers that Jonathan was having an affair with his assistant, Julia, and had written into his will to leave her half of his $50 million estate.

In flashback land, Nick and Janette are now in a tiff about splitting up their belongings. At issue: a portrait of Janette painted by Leonardo da Vinci that Janette gave to Nick. Janette wants it and accuses Nick of being “petty” for arguing with her about who keeps the portrait. I’m #TeamNick on this one. If it was a gift then it's his, no take backsies. If he wants to keep it to stare longingly at it, paint a mustache and goatee on her image, or toss the portrait on a bonfire of the vanities, those would be his prerogatives as the gift recipient. That's the nature of gifts. Janette eventually relents, agreeing Nick can keep it.

Back in Toronto, Nick learns from Jonathan's lawyer that Jonathan was planning to change the entire estate plan, which the lawyer suspects was going to be in Julia's favor. That's certainly a motive for Victoria to off her husband!

Schanke also learns about the affair by questioning Julia, but he doesn't learn about the impending will change. He later becomes tetchy that Nick discovered more than he did. He feels like Nick is one-upping him, and that Nick has a pattern of doing so. Fair criticism, TBH.

Nick and Schanke visit Julia to question her. She confirms the affair and insists that she and Jonathan were in love. The detectives then visit Victoria, who has a different take: Jonathan loved her, not Julia. Schanke asks her if she knew that Jonathan was going to leave everything to Julia (which may or may not be true), and she looks shocked and upset.

Schanke's behavior toward Victoria aggravates Nick. Honestly, Schanke's approach was aggressive and rude, but not absurd in the context of a murder investigation, imo. It just isn't the approach Nick wanted to use. These two are not on the same page strategically at all.

When they get back to the loft, Nick accuses Schanke of what we already know, taking out some of his frustration with Myra on Victoria. Schanke has had it with Nick second-guessing him and decides he's going to break up with Nick as his police partner! And Nick's just like, fine, sounds good. They're super irritated with one another. Schanke storms off with his stuff insisting they're through.

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.

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… 🧐

Nick comes out of the flashback, goes to a cabinet, and opens it to reveal a painting inside. He still has the portrait of Janette all these centuries later. And speak of the devil, Janette calls him because Schanke is down partying at the Raven, and she doesn't care for that. Nick asks her to keep an eye on him and go easy on him because he's having a hard time.

Nick gets another call, this time from Jonathan's lawyer who reports a suspicious, posthumous transaction from Jonathan's accounts. But Victoria doesn't have access to Jonathan's accounts because they kept completely separate finances. Suspicion shifts solidly to Julia, who had access as Jonathan’s assistant.

But who cares about things like suspicious wire transfers and police work when you could be getting sauced at the hottest vampire bar in town. Janette and Schanke have a heart-to-heart in a truly wonderful scene where they basically are simultaneously talking to one another and past one another, both caught in their own reminiscences and rationalizations about their relationships.

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." 😆

Then… all this waxing poetic about lost love makes Schanke solve the case?? Now instead of projecting onto Victoria, he projects onto Jonathan. Why, Jonathan must have loved Victoria just like Schanke loves Myra. Therefore, having realized what a fool he'd been, Jonathan must have intended to change the will in Victoria’s favor, not Julia’s. I wish they'd had Schanke solve the case with actual police work. But, you know, I'll roll with it because what else can I do.

I'd like to think Schanke didn't just hop in his car and drive drunk (maybe took a cab!) to go arrest Julia, who we see packing up to split town. We see she has a gun.

Nick arrives at the Raven and talks to Janette before realizing Schanke must be at Julia's. He becomes concerned for Schanke's safety. For good reason. Back at her place, Julia pulls her gun on Schanke.

Nick flies to her place. But then doesn't go in even though Schanke is in mortal peril. Why? Because Nick’s worried Schanke will think he's one-upping him again. I mean, I think Schanke could still get credit for solving the case AND Nick doesn't let him potentially get shot, but whatever. Instead, when Julia forces Schanke into the elevator, Nick sabotages the lift mechanism to give Julia a chance to shoot Schanke Schanke a chance to disarm Julia. Schanke arrests her, feeling chuffed that he got it done without Nick. (And also, while a little drunk 😬.)

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. (There was even time to do it! There was a whole scene earlier with Nick talking to a police tech about Jonathan’s computer, and all of it went absolutely nowhere. Cut that, focus on Nick and Schanke!) The whole breakdown of the Nick and Schanke partnership is just kind of glossed over at the end. Oh well.

Schanke has also patched things up with Myra so all’s well that ends well for him (even though, lol, his name was spelled wrong on the plaque he and Nick got with the citation).

We get more satisfaction on the Nick and Janette relationship angle than the Nick and Schanke angle. At the Raven, Janette has closed up, but when she enters the bar, she finds a wrapped gift and a note. She reads the note, smiles, and Nick reveals himself. 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 really enjoy this episode even though Schanke solved the case not by doing any actual police work or working with his partner, but by getting lit with Janette (that was such a fun scene though).

And Nick/Janette fans, rejoice! But only momentarily! For alas, these two do not actually get back together for a long-term, romantic union. Guess it's just vampire booty calls for them until Janette ghosts him at the beginning of season 3.

Part of me wonders if Janette's longing for "how things used to be" between her and Nick at the end of this episode, and in "Crazy Love," might be a reaction to her starting to feel how Nick feels about mortals (that bomb of course being dropped on us out of nowhere in season 3's "The Human Factor"). Like maybe some part of her thinks if they are together as vampires like they once were, that will make the feeling go away. Food for thought.