"How old?"
"Oh, two, three hundred years?"
Eternity can get boring.
Long story short, an old friend of Nick's decides to kill herself. She sits on a park bench and waits for the sunrise, which she hasn't seen in centuries, and—poof!—she's dust.
Nick's sad even before he learns the news. He's in a slump, and once he learns about his friend he starts standing near windows during the day, daring himself to stand in the light and die.
Meanwhile, there's a case to solve. We see a woman get murdered in the shower, but since the killer slashed her wrists it looks like suicide. Nick can't shake the feeling it's a murder, and his boss, the lovable Captain Stonetree, lets him investigate the apparent suicide because he just can't say no to Nick.
Nick spends a lot of time wallowing around and thinking about his dead friend's ominous words, saying that one day she will have nothing to give, will feel like she is a leech on society, and will end her life rather than stop providing for others.
Freeze frame. Record scratch.
What?
Unless I'm mistaken, this woman is a vampire. Not a social worker. She writes plays, which is nice, but...she's a vampire. They take. They eat people. They cavort and kill and all that. Her monologues about giving back to society don't hold water since she's a blood-sucking monster. Whatever.
Nick's struggles get worse when his dead friend shows up as a ghost or hallucination, taunting him with suicidal thoughts. If it is a ghost, she really has stopped trying to contribute and has moved into suicidal encouragement. Maybe she really isn't much of a friend is what I'm saying. We never learn if she's real or a figment of his imagination, but Nick decides he's not done living yet and she goes away.
Nick solves the case when he discovers the dead woman was carrying the baby of a terminally ill patient, her way of helping him "live forever," but her boyfriend wasn't happy about it and killed her. Over-react much?
Flashback:
Nick and his (now) dead friend put on plays in the middle ages. Hard to tell exactly what time period. She plays male parts. Then they head backstage where she plays with Nick's male parts. She talks a lot about committing suicide in the future, but Detective Nick is still really surprised when it happens.
Quotes:
"Did I miss something, what did I miss?"
"Only the Middle Ages."
"Damn, were they funny?"
"I enjoyed them."
Little Bites:
-Familiar faces: Mackenzie Gray, here in his very first role (as the cancer patient), went on to have spots on major shows, including Supergirl and Riverdale. Torri Higginson, who plays Nick's dead friend, had recurring roles on Stargate: Atlantis and Dark Matter. Back in the day, Forever Knight was the first stop on the road of TV work.
-Vampire Lore: We establish in this episode that vampires have sex by biting each other at the same time. Also, vampires can't have children, which makes them sad.
-Fashion police: Nick broods at home and drinks blood from a wine glass. Naturally, he is dressed like someone on their day to audition for Riverdance.
-Fashion awards: Janette doesn't leave the club often, but when she does, she tugs on her opera gloves, saddles up the Audrey Hepburn shades, and pulls off the biggest hat in Toronto.
Final analysis: Nice idea, and exploring suicide is a noble goal, but this episode drags because it's mostly Nick standing around making sad faces. Two out of four opera gloves.
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Adam D. Jones is a writer, musician, and medievalist who feels a kinship for vampires because his sensitive eyes that make it difficult to go outside during the day.
A bit slow but I think the character of Erica is good world building. Nick is a vampire who is unhappy about ... uh, being immortal, super strong, and able to fly. Janette, LaCroix, and the other vampires we've seen so far aren't going "woe is me!" so Erica helps show that Nick is not so much of an exception.
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