Somehow, Divia returned.
This is my favorite episode.
Remember Divia? Let's go back in time.
La Croix's origin story was being brought across by a young girl named Divia, whom he saw as a daughter. Their relationship quickly took a turn when she killed her own master (sacrilege, to La Croix) and demanded to be La Croix's lover.
Divia is messed up, folks.
La Croix responded by cutting off her head, then shoving her body into an Egyptian sarcophagus and shutting the lid (which happened to be adorned with the symbol of Ra).
It was all going well until someone opened the sarcophagus and discovered Divia was only mostly dead.
It becomes quickly clear that Divia is a lot more evil than your usual vampire, and it has made her into a different breed of vampire. Her attacks wound and kill other vampires, and she can survive beheading. La Croix loves watching people indulge themselves in bad behavior, but even he has his limits. Divia doesn't. Also, it's creepy as hell that she looks like an adolescent.
Frankly, no one knows what to do with her.
I have no idea why Vachon and Urs were even cast on this show. We don't see them for MANY episodes, and they return only to get killed, which comes as quite a shock since neither of them would have guessed they could be harmed by a vampire slashing at them. Divia is a big can of WTF.
Flashbacks:
La Croix remembers how Divia made him, and how he killed her. Or so he thought.
Little Bites:
-Vampire Lore: A vampire can be infused with pure evil and become something different than a normal vampire. Something far, far worse.
-Nigel Bennett's incredible acting is on display here, and it's perfect all the way through. The best is when he's in prison and the other inmates are shoved against the far wall, scared to death of him. "Clearly, I have a future as a sobering influence on the disenfranchised." I'm not sure anyone on television has put forth a better performance. It's even more impressive when he's afraid. The subtle signs of his uncharacteristic fear send shockwaves through the episode. You can't shake the feeling that something is very wrong.
-It's not clear how Nick survived the attack.
-Poor Vachon. Got dumped right before he got killed. Interestingly, when Urs sees him dying, he's complaining that he can't stop the killing. That was his mission on earth, according to his master. If he'd been on screen a few more times, we might have seen him work on that.
-The video game Oblivion has a character named Lucien Lachance, who is inspired by La Croix. The next game in the series, Skyrim, includes a little girl vampire named Babette who tricks people by pretending to be a helpless girl.
-I've told you before that Nick is having an effect on La Croix. This time, La Croix faced an evil worse than him, and he may have had a change of heart. Nick is truly shocked when La Croix prepares to burn Divia's body and says, "I might even say a prayer." It's just my opinion, but I think La Croix is changing because Nick is influencing him. As Nick is returning to his vampire ways, La Croix is seeing the value of redemption.
-Let's spend a few moments appreciate the amazing character that is La Croix with this video made by Forever Knight superfan Kristin Harris, who has done incredible work to keep this show in our memories. She's also the reason I sometimes have high-quality images of the show. (Thanks, Kristin. You're amazing!)
Final Analysis: Fun and frightening all the way through. Five out of five dead archaeologists.
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.
An excellent penultimate episode, with a great episode title for it. Only beaten out by Buffy's "End of Days" IMO, but they both evoke the same feeling. And yeah, jeez, I was still very sad but somehow it still astounds me how little Vachon was used... and then finally just killed off like this. Along with Urs. It should annoy me but I just find it really haunting somehow.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, highest praise to LaCroix and his actor... I'm glad he stuck with the show.