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Super Fan Rachel and First Time Watcher Matt make their way episode by episode through the groundbreaking 1990's Canadian vampire cop television show, Forever Knight.
And you can confirm that this is the same bomber that took out the plane?
Nick:No. I can't confirm anything.
Reporter:But you are part of this investigation now.
Nick:Look. We just lost 23 of our people and 2 more earlier this week that were very close to me. I don't think anyone, not the RCMP, the FBI. No one's gonna tell us to sit on our hands right now. Okay?
Nick:Thank you.
Rachel:Hi. I'm Rachel.
Matt:And I'm Matt.
Rachel:And this is Come in 81 kilo.
Matt:A forever night podcast.
Rachel:Okay. So it's time for another episode. Welcome back, friends.
Matt:Welcome back.
Rachel:It's time for season 3, episode 2, Black Buddha. Get my cord situated here. So this is a second part of a. I have a confession.
Matt:Mhmm.
Rachel:And this is kind of a hot take. I don't hate season 3.
Matt:Uh-oh.
Rachel:I've never hated season 3. To me, season 3 feels entirely stylistically different than the first two. But sort of in my head, I compartmentalize each season, and so I like each one for different reasons, which implies I also like season 3 for its own reasons, and I do. I mean, we've completely moved networks. We've completely changed the tone.
Rachel:But to be honest, if season 3 had had Skanky in it and we had had 22 more episodes of Skanky not figuring out what Nick is, I'm not sure how well that would have worked. I think we had gotten to a point narratively where to continue to hide the truth from Skanky keeps us from being able to fully explore the character interactions. And if you think about the first two seasons, we have an extremely limited cast. We have Janette, occasionally. We have Nick and Skanky.
Rachel:Sometimes Skanky is really occasional. We have Natalie occasionally. Really, the only person who shows up consistently throughout each episode And it works and it's fine, but it gives us this very micro story. Whereas now that we have more characters, it becomes a more macro story. Does that make sense?
Rachel:We get we can play more because we have more space to play in.
Matt:The world for 2 seasons.
Rachel:Yeah. And now we have we have room. We have characters that are going to interact independent of Nick. In fact, Vashon and Nick are very rarely going to interact, but not in the way that Natalie and Lacroix never interact, and it feels like a a lapse on the on the part of the show runners because they are 2 of, like, 4 main characters, and they never meet each other. They don't meet each other until be my Valentine, and then I don't think they ever meet again.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:So I love season 1. I love season 2, and I do not hate season 3. I even kind of like Screed.
Matt:Screed seems pretty entertaining.
Rachel:I mean, Screed's fun. We needed a a light vampire character. We had Nick, who's very serious and broody and sad, and we had Jeanette, who's I do what I want. I'm a femme fatale. I'm a 1000 year old, like, empowered woman.
Rachel:I do what ever the fuck I want. And I kinda shamed Nick for his lifestyle. And then we had Lacroix who was just like the Machiavellian villain in the background who who always was up to his own shenanigans, but those shenanigans always seem to involve just shaming Nick.
Matt:No. There were just so many, and we only focused on the ones that targeted Nick.
Rachel:Right. And now we're like, hey. There's a spectrum. There's not evil vampires and Nick. There's Nick, but there's also Urs, who is actually a, like, sweet kind character who also happens to be a vampire.
Rachel:There's Vashon who's young and irresponsible and who also happens to be a vampire. I mean, young at heart, I guess.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:And then there's Scree, who never even tries to integrate in real society at all. So it's like, hey, guys. They're people, and they get a whole spectrum of personalities and, like, proclivities.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:So to me, that feels like a good step for this show. I just wish it hadn't come at such a high cost. Yeah. I wish we hadn't had to scuttle Skanky and Cohen and Jeanette in order to shoehorn in these new characters.
Matt:You said they tried to that they wanted John Caplanos Skanky to become the captain. Yeah. And I think that was a good a good way that fits the narrative to move Skanky out of the partnership with Nick role Yeah. But still keep him around so they can, every once in a while
Rachel:Yeah. But it's like make taking him from a main character to, like, a
Matt:Right.
Rachel:Side at at best, a side character.
Matt:Right. Which any situation where you're saying, well, the next skanky thing, it's getting a little old. It's unrealistic Yeah. That he hasn't figured it out. We need to move Skanky out of the partner role so that we don't make him look like even more of a fool.
Rachel:Yeah.
Matt:And to say, okay. Well, Skanky is doing such a great job. He gets promoted.
Rachel:Right. And we're looking
Matt:at It's a respectful way to move the character out
Rachel:of the personal world. John's point. It I go from being a main character in every episode to, is it even worth my time to commit to this and not be able to commit to
Matt:other things? A totally reasonable response Yeah. From John Caplis.
Rachel:It totally makes sense. Yeah. And look at the timeline we're working with. We're going from 92 to 96, which doesn't feel like that big of a time jump, but honest to god, the expectations for television, would have changed so dramatically from 92 to 96. Look at how much the expectation for television has changed from 2016 or 2017 to 2023.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:If you put on a television show from, like, 2014, it it it feels really dated. And you think, well, no. That wasn't that long ago. It shouldn't feel that dated, but it so fucking does. And if you look at just stylistically, the way things change from 92 to 97, it's absolutely wild, and the expectations would have completely changed.
Rachel:The way that people wanted their TV presented had completely changed. The things that they got away with in 92, while brilliant and amazing and I love them, they would not have gotten away with in 96, 97. So you kinda just have to put your context lenses on and realize that this show is trying to stay relevant. And it's not amazing, and it feels really fucking unfair, but it was an attempt to keep the show relevant. And then you just kinda have to move on.
Rachel:And we get some pretty good scenes in this episode. We don't have a cold open. Our DVD version does not have a cold open. It just goes straight to the intro. Right.
Rachel:So I don't have anything to say we'd be we start with. We just start with, and we go into our new one. And then
Matt:we come back The one that, Meg watched.
Rachel:Yeah. Meg had a recap.
Matt:Last week on Yeah. Which is another sign of the changing times in TV production Yeah. Principles. Like, there was a time where you didn't recap what happened last episode because there probably not everything relevant.
Rachel:Who cared? Yeah.
Matt:In this case, it was it's a 2 parter, so maybe that justifies the extra effort. But, having an expectation that there's carryover plot from week to week is a sign that things are changing, and they're trying to keep up.
Rachel:Right. But we start with Nick walking through some reporters kind of relic running the gauntlet into the police precinct.
Matt:So this is Nick plot wise. He resigned
Rachel:Yes.
Matt:Turned in his badge Correct. Went home. Packed everything up. Packed everything up. Reese calls.
Matt:Hey. You know where what's her face is?
Rachel:Tracy?
Matt:No. She was talking about this guy JD Vance.
Rachel:JD Valdez. Yeah.
Matt:JD Valdez. Okay. Sure. Thanks. Boom.
Matt:Yeah. I'll be right there. Whoosh. Boom. And then we see him walking into the precinct.
Matt:When he, like, hypnotized Reese, did he, like, wipe the memory of him resigning?
Rachel:Look. With his record, he probably came back and was like, I take it back. I'm coming back. And they were like, oh, thank god. Sure.
Rachel:Because he may do it unconventionally, but he does get results.
Matt:Right.
Rachel:And so I think it was like, look. It was the heat of the moment. My I just lost my partner. I wasn't thinking straight. Do you think we can just pretend that didn't happen?
Rachel:And Reese, I'm sure, was like, yeah. You're gonna make me look good, so sure you can come back. And, I mean, we kind of just retcon it. It didn't happen Yeah. Because now he's back on the force.
Rachel:He's heading back into the precinct. He's ready to come. He's ready to investigate. We've decided that the the the plane was a bomb, and we're ready to go find this bomber. And he tells the reporters, I can't confirm anything.
Rachel:We've lost a lot of people, and no one is keeping us from this because I'm sure there is a federal agency that would take over the plane investigation. But what Nick is saying is we're not gonna let them because we're
Matt:not gonna let them. Agency did take away the plane investigation. Yeah. But now they've tied it to the serial bombings that have been going on in the city, which is totally in the police jurisdiction.
Rachel:Yeah.
Matt:So the police are saying, this is a serial bomber investigation that we've been working on for a long time or what whatever since it started. You you have the plane piece, but we're going on with catching the bomber.
Rachel:Wait. I just had several revelations all at once.
Matt:Okay. Go ahead.
Rachel:Okay. Nick is still wearing the outfit he was wearing when the bomb exploded, and he came around and he hugs Natalie.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:We are in the precinct where the bomb exploded and Reese's office
Matt:is fine. Man, those repairmen.
Rachel:Has time? But time hasn't passed because Voodoo's thing is he blows up 3 bombs, like, 3 escalating attacks in a a 7 day cycle. I think they have, I don't know if it's supposed to be boards, but they have a different kind of blind instead of it's not a, like, vinyl slat blind on Reese's windows. It just has, like, a regular blind, like a Roman shade kind of, But it's clearly not it was blown up enough that they were concerned for Nick's safety. And, like, we saw a big explosion, and yet everything is now fine.
Matt:I wonder if they filmed these scenes in a different order initially, and then they recut it
Rachel:And put that back.
Matt:To change the sequence of events.
Rachel:But, wait. If you'd had a recap, you'd have just seen a recap of Reese's office being blown up. And it's not like they could just repaint that. They would have to make sure that the place was structurally sound. That's a lot.
Rachel:Okay. That just occurred to me like, whoop, whoop, whoop all at once. That's oof. And then another one comes up because he walks in and Nick walks into the precinct and Reese walks up to him and he's like, where's Tracy? And Nick is like, do I look like Tracy's keeper?
Rachel:I don't know who the fuck she is. I just saved your life while you're asking me these questions. Or maybe I didn't just save your life. I don't know. Maybe it was a fever dream.
Rachel:And then Reese is like, she went to look for JD Valdez. You know, he's at a abandoned church. You ring a bell, and Nick's like, yeah. I don't know who that is. I don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
Rachel:Even though he was just like, yeah. He's the one survivor from the plane crash.
Matt:I was rationalizing it as him saying, yeah. It doesn't ring a bell to the she was headed to a church.
Rachel:Yeah. That could be it. That could definitely be it. But now that I'm all unsettled because apparently it blew up, but didn't blew up. I don't know.
Matt:Schrodinger's bomb.
Rachel:Schrodinger's bomb. And then we go into a debrief in the precinct, like a war room. We actually all put our heads together and tried to solve this really important case.
Matt:And totally unprecedented, we listened to the woman.
Rachel:Not quite yet.
Matt:Is that not this scene?
Rachel:That's that's later. In this scene, she's not there, remember, because she's with
Matt:Oh, right. Because she's missing. Yeah.
Rachel:But we talk about voodoo. And they're like, yeah. He's been at this for years. And the one lady is like, okay. But why do we call him voodoo?
Rachel:And we're like, we don't know. We don't know. It's a chicken and the egg kind of thing. Is he Voodoo because he, like, he chose that name, or is it just because that happens to be the tune on the music box is? Like, did he find the music boxes that had the right tune?
Rachel:Like, how how did that work out? We don't know. One of the themes, the overarching theme of this episode, is that some things have no explanation. Right. Some things just happen.
Rachel:Sometimes bad things just happen to good people, and there is absolutely no reason for that to have happened, but it happens. And Reese is, the after the war room meeting, Reese and Nick are talking to each other, and Reese is kind of pontificating about how he just doesn't okay. So the music boxes, was was that a dead end? And Reese is like, oh, yeah. 4000 of them have been made.
Rachel:There was a shipment that went missing in 1980 4. The serial numbers match, but everything else is a dead end. And then he goes back. I just don't understand. I don't how people can do that.
Rachel:I he's like, I know I've known murderers. I've known all different kinds of people, and they I don't condone what they do, but they kind of make sense. But then people like this who just blow, like, blow people up, like, what what the fuck?
Reese:Anyone who participates in the mass destruction of innocent people, man, there's something human missing from their brain. Take Hitler, that monster of all time. Man, now you can tell me that's hate. I'm gonna say it's power. He says racism.
Reese:Whatever. I still can't put it together. That man was from a different planet.
Nick:There's no description.
Matt:And we get the first two thrown away water cups.
Rachel:Yeah. He tries to get water out of the water thing and it won't work. And he ends up just storming off, and Nick ends up getting triggered. He gets triggered a little bit by Reese because he gets drawn into it. He's like, oh, okay.
Rachel:How about Hezbollah? How about the IRA? What about them? And Reese is like, yeah. That's what I'm talking about.
Rachel:They don't make any sense. And he's like, okay. Hiroshima, Nagasaki. And Reese goes, yeah. But they did that to end war.
Rachel:And he's like, okay. So given the opportunity, you would make that choice? And Rhys is like, no. You're you're you're twisting this. He's like, no.
Rachel:I'm saying you don't know what's making them make this choice. You don't know if you would make the same decision if you were in their position. And
Matt:just because you don't you can't figure out what their reason could be that they use to justify what they're doing doesn't mean that they don't have one.
Rachel:Right. And that it doesn't feel justified to them. Right. I'm sure you could rationalize something like that given the right set of circumstances. Right, Reese?
Rachel:And Nick is Nick and Reese kind of, I mean, that's the end of that discussion. There's no good way to wrap that
Matt:up. Right.
Rachel:And then we meet. We meet Screed.
Matt:Screed, the,
Rachel:so The cockney Comic
Matt:relief vampire.
Rachel:Yes. But he's a Karouche, which we won't know about till the dog episode. But he's basically a lower form of vampire. If you get made into a vampire and the first thing you eat is not a person, it's an animal, then you're gonna crave animal forever.
Matt:Instead of craving human blood.
Rachel:And nobody likes you. You're like the weird like, you're weird Barbie. Okay? You get to be weird Barbie forever. Okay?
Rachel:And that's Screed. Except Screed, I think, is perfectly happy with this designation and likes it better than being part of the rest of the Barbie world. Because and Screed and Vashon are kind of friends. Screed, Vashon, and Urs were sort of an item, like a group, a pack. What would you call a group of vampires?
Rachel:A murder of vampires? What do you call a group of bats again? A colony? A colony of vampires?
Matt:I'm wondering what if there's a good word for, like, a hunting party.
Rachel:A quorum? I don't know. But Screen and Vashon are chatting because Tracy fainted, and Vashon very helpfully took her to his friend's dungeon rat cave.
Matt:His his safe house.
Rachel:His safe house. His sewer safe house while they get this all worked out. And Screed's like, you boozled the girl. I'm sorry. There's so much weird cockney slang that he uses, and he's like, you give her the, like, something jammy.
Rachel:Basically, he's like, hypnotize her or kill her or get her the fuck out. I don't care which one of the 3 you do, but you can't stay here.
Screed:Hey, it's not a screaming problem, mate. You just do what needs to
Nick:be done.
Screed:You look her in the baby shoes and you give her the bloody jamming. Your boozle the girl.
Rachel:Right. And Veshon stay here. Veshon, I think, just kind of pretends to not understand what he's saying because that Screed is always like, go. Don't be here. This is my house.
Rachel:It's my comfy space. This is my safe space. I need you to not keep bringing your trash here, like your friends and your like, you're you're bringing business to me, and I don't want this business. And he ends up leaving because he's like, can you give me a good reason why you don't have her at the church? And Vashon's like, yeah.
Rachel:The Inca. Poor Inca. He doesn't even get a name. He's like, yeah. The Inca, and Screed's like, oh, hold the shit.
Rachel:Uh-uh. I ain't here for this. And then he he says, I ain't you. I ain't a scooch Jew. I haven't seen you.
Rachel:I haven't heard you, which is what he's trying to say.
Matt:Yeah. In in in his cockney Spanish.
Rachel:Yeah. In somehow cockney Spanish. And he's like, I'm leaving. When I come back here, be gone. And then he pushes off.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:And then poor Tracy is all tied up. Oh, actually, this is really funny. I can't skip this part because he walks over and he's like, she must taste really good if you're keeping her around like this. That must be the that's the only reason I can think of why you haven't gotten rid of her yet. And And he checks her neck, and there's nothing there.
Rachel:And he goes, oh, okay. Well, maybe you'd let your friend have a taste. And he, Dashawn, grabs Screed and, like, flies him up and pushes him up against the wall. And Screed goes, I sit, dude. I'm behind you, and he drops him.
Matt:Okay, Screed.
Rachel:And then this then he's like, okay. Well, do the deed. Get her out. I got that.
Matt:Do the deed, dude.
Rachel:Yeah. Do the deed, dude. And meanwhile, Nick is like, okay. I'll fucking find Tracy. So he goes to the church to try to find her, and he gets attacked by the Inca.
Matt:Which he gets, like, knocked over He gets flushed. And then immediately vamps out.
Rachel:And he's like, and then, of course, the Inca just does the green eyed stare. And so he grabs the Inca and the Inca, and he, like, lock eyes, and then they realize they maybe they could just talk this out. Yeah. Yeah. And then oh, this is yes.
Rachel:Creed goes, you expect me to save your Spanish ass? Your Spanish ass. I'm out. Don't be here when I get back. And then Dashawn walks over to Tracy, and Tracy immediately is like, because she's all gagged.
Rachel:Right. Right? And he's like, are you gonna scream? And she's like, he goes, no. No.
Rachel:Are you gonna scream? And she says, no. I'm not gonna scream. But in muffled, no. I'm not gonna scream.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:And then he takes the gag out. She starts yelling, and so he pushes it back in. He goes, you can't yell either. So she
Matt:pulls it pulls it out.
Rachel:It quietly now. And she goes, you have got to get me out of here. Do you know how many diseases are represented in here? I love her priorities.
Matt:Right. She's not worried about the vampires.
Rachel:Someone just ate a rat in front of her. They're clearly both vampires. And she's like, I'm sorry. But do you know how dirty it is down here?
Matt:It is gross.
Rachel:And she's, like, why don't you just kill me or let me go? Like, what are you gonna fucking do? And Vashawn says, I wanted to bite you, but I didn't. Aren't I nice? I could've killed you.
Rachel:And then she says, who is this Inca? Like, who's the Inca? Because, hey, Tracy. Getting right to the meat of the problem. Not let me go, not untie me, not get me the fuck out of here, but, hey, tell me more about the Inka.
Matt:This is this is Tracy's brand of her investigative instincts kicking in. Is it? Okay. She has them. She can, you know, follow a line of interrogation, but she can't quite aim it in the right direction.
Matt:Yeah. She hasn't her worldview doesn't prioritize what direction her investigation goes.
Rachel:She's got velocity, but not
Matt:She's got speed, but not direction.
Rachel:Yeah. What's vector?
Matt:A vector is a magnitude with a direction. Okay. So velocity is a speed in a particular direction.
Rachel:Yeah. But she doesn't know the direction in which she is headlong racing.
Matt:Can't quite aim her interrogation yet, her investigative instincts
Rachel:yet. Well, we get this cool scene where the Inca, the Inca, and Javier Vahjan are explaining what happened to them and their whole situation in tandem. We're like, one will explain a little bit, and then Javier will explain a little more. And then Inga will explain, and then Javier will explain. And we kinda go back and forth, and we're sort of sharing Yeah.
Rachel:The one and only flashback.
Matt:Between them.
Rachel:And we share the one and only flashback in this whole episode, which is their origin story. And this is, like, them chasing each other, and then they're fighting each other in this first
Matt:in 1541.
Rachel:Hang on. Hang on. They're fighting each other in this river, and the Inca goes, 2 great warriors fighting for our lives, and they're just, like, whack, whack, whack. It's the it's the best. There's this really it's hard to find, but it's a k drama called Vampire Prosecutor, and it's one of the few k dramas I've watched that actually has 2 seasons.
Rachel:So there's Vampire Prosecutor 1, which is fine, and then Vampire Prosecutor 2, which got, like, 4 times the budget. So they had got to have a lot more fun and a lot more special effects and a lot more a little bit like another show that we know of. It also ends at a horrific cliffhanger. But in in vampire prosecutor 2, there is a scene where they're investigating this murder that happened in this construction site, and they find out that this group of people were there because they meet up to fight each other.
Matt:Like fight club.
Rachel:Like fight club. And in their recollections, they're all fighting, like, brilliantly. Beautiful kung fu, great sword fighting, just this master warriors, except when we actually have the flashback of seeing them doing it, it's like slap fights. It's the worst. Just they totally don't know what they're doing.
Rachel:They're just a bunch of rich people who are playing at having a fight club, and that's what it felt like where the Inca was like, we were 2 great warriors. And then Vashawn's like, I don't know. I hit him with my spell. Like, I whacked him with my spear for like 4 hours. It was it sucked.
Rachel:But they duke it out, including when the Inca notably stabs Vashon with the blunt headed club, which would hurt. Alright? Getting that shoved into your gut would hurt.
Matt:E even if you're wearing a steel breastplate?
Rachel:Yeah. Especially if you go up under this steel steel breastplate.
Matt:Especially if you can actually dent the steel breastplate, so then there's a lump pushing into the person?
Rachel:I guess. But they fight all the way until sunset, and then they end up they give each other mortal wounds. But lucky for them, a hot chick appears.
Matt:She's been watching this whole thing. She loved the hot man on man action.
Rachel:How was she watching it from where? It doesn't matter. She shows up and
Nick:she has
Rachel:the From
Matt:the shadows.
Rachel:She has this feather cloak on, which is really cool, but also this crepey linen leotard loincloth combination thing?
Matt:It's it's a skirt, but they did a side slit all the way up to above her hips.
Rachel:Is this historically accurate? What what culture does this hail face?
Matt:Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Matt:Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. At what point in this show have you ever asked in a flashback, is this historically accurate?
Rachel:I ask sometimes. I just don't ever expect a real response. Okay.
Matt:Maybe it's because we're going outside of western history, and we're going to the history of an indigenous people where, like
Rachel:You know what? It's fine. It's one of those things where you just go, she was a magic hot woman who roamed about the forest and designed her own wardrobe. Aren't we all lucky to have borne witness to that? Hooray.
Rachel:Okay. So she shows up and she's like, I hear the courage in your dying hearts, which is why I'm gonna graphically lick the side of your face. And then
Matt:It's part of my process.
Rachel:Yeah. And can I say that the beading sounds in the last two episodes have been exceptionally graphic because there's like a crunch and then like a slurp sound?
Matt:They they got some new Foley artists.
Rachel:Right. I guess. And then the Sean talking about it, he's like He's describing it. It was the most erotic thing that had ever happened to me and yet so pure. I felt like she was flowing into me, and and he, like, bites his lip like it's this really sexual experience.
Matt:Me watching him, if do this. It's, like, the most deadpan voice and, like, vacant expression on his face while he's describing this intense sensual experience with his words. Like, he not really selling it.
Rachel:I think he's trying to play it cool. Like, this was an exceptionally intimate experience, and you asked me. It was like asking what it was like having sex with that woman. Right. And so I think he's trying to explain it without being like, yeah.
Rachel:It was it was fucking wild. Like, it doesn't get better than that. But, personally, all I could think was that's how Nick felt when LaCroix was
Matt:changing him.
Rachel:And I suddenly found myself a member of the unnamed faction. I gather there's a scene
Matt:Unless unless it's slightly different for every person as they get brought over.
Rachel:I don't know. I was thinking I I gather there's a scene in one of the earlier seasons. Somebody had messaged me about it. And there's a after we talked about the unnamed faction, and there's a part where LaCroix wipes the blood off of Nicholas's lips and then sticks his finger in his mouth and licks it off. And I guess Nigel Bennett requested to be able to lick that off of Nick's face.
Matt:Okay.
Rachel:My response was item number 143 to ask for when they reboot
Matt:when they reboot for overnight. Like Add some add some more tension between LaCroix and
Rachel:Miss, can you imagine the complexity this show would have if we gave Nick a little bit more sexual fluidity where he could we could have sexual tension earlier,
Matt:where, earlier, where, like, do vampires made from human men still have sex with their penises? Okay. We don't know.
Rachel:We don't know that.
Matt:Or the only, like, action that we've seen vampire on vampire is Nick and Jennette biting each other.
Rachel:It is implied in last act that they have, like, physical sex because he says the line about I wanna run you through with my sword over and over and over again.
Matt:Okay. But there is a sensual, erotic aspect to vampire sex.
Rachel:Yeah.
Matt:So if the if the sensual aspect of, like, having an intimate, really, an intimate Encounter. Encounter with another vampire is, like, mostly the biting drinking
Rachel:part
Matt:Yes. Then you don't need compatible genitals. Correct. So you can, like, be with whoever.
Rachel:Argue you don't need compatible genitals to enjoy being with each other intimately anyway.
Matt:Right. I'm I'm trying to make a okay. So there's
Rachel:I think there's different I think there's a varying spectrum of what they can do together which counts as intimacy. Okay.
Matt:So here here's here's where I'm going with this.
Rachel:Okay.
Matt:There was a comedian that had a skit about, I think he he it was as a response to something some, like, conservative republican guy had said. And he was like, well, about genders.
Rachel:Yeah.
Matt:And he's like like, at a certain level, everybody's transgender because I used to be a boy, and now I am a man. And you do not think of a boy sexually the same way you think of a man. Same way with girl and woman.
Rachel:Mhmm.
Matt:And and there there can be crosses between those girl to man. Whatever.
Nick:Reframing someone sexually is not Right.
Rachel:Like, new. But what about
Matt:could be a whole another, like, gender shift.
Rachel:Okay.
Matt:Like, when you get brought over into the vampire community I see what you're doing. Like, you've had this transformational experience. There's lots of changes happening in your body right now, and that's totally normal, and you pay attention to them, and kind of, like, free yourself from the bonds of your former self Yeah. Kind of thing.
Rachel:Yeah. You're no longer human man, human woman, whatever.
Matt:Right. You are vampire.
Rachel:You're a vampire. I I mean, I get yeah. I get what you're saying. I mean, that makes sense. If you think about it, the thing that they do for reproduction is bite each other is bite.
Rachel:Right?
Matt:Yep.
Rachel:So what do we do for reproduction? Sex. So is everything that you do for reproduction sex? Which means anytime they bite somebody, it's effectively like having sex with them, which is when we get into the every unsolicited vampire attack is tantamount to sexual assault Mhmm. Which is a huge kettle of fish that I don't want to unpack in Black Buddha Buddha part 2, because it's one of those things where once you go down that rabbit hole, it calls a lot of things into question, And it really makes you realize that what Nick is rejecting by rejecting blood, like, human blood altogether is effectively, like, attempting to reform, like, he's a reformed, sexual predator, basically.
Matt:Basically.
Rachel:Yeah. And so
Matt:If if we generalize the, like, sexual predation, vampire biting, the common thing there is violating someone's, like, bodily autonomy.
Rachel:Correct.
Matt:And Nick is like Yeah.
Rachel:No one can consent
Matt:to die. I don't violate anybody's bodily autonomy. Yeah. That's my rule. Yeah.
Matt:And and he doesn't really ever, like, explain
Rachel:it that way. Because it's nineties. Right. Yeah. And that's the that's the least glamorous interpretation of the vampire myth.
Matt:Mhmm.
Rachel:And I'm not saying that I don't give that space, but it's one of those things that leaning too heavily into that sort of complicates things to the point where you can't detach yourself and enjoy the story.
Matt:Right.
Rachel:I mean, vampires essentially are monsters. They are predators. And if you add that level of, like, lack of bodily autonomy, effectively sexual assault, it makes them even more evil. So that works in a horror vampire story because that's what you're trying to go for anyway. Look how fucking horrible and bad these people are.
Rachel:But when you get into, like, forever night territory where you're trying to frame these characters as nuanced human beings, and you get Nick, who is effectively a he's, like, reformed. But then you get Lacroix, who would do it again in a heartbeat. It's hard to love Lacroix when you add that level of nuance to what they're doing.
Matt:Right. When you're articulating it that
Rachel:When you really dig into it, you get dirty. Yeah. Okay? And so we have to kind of abstract at a level because I don't think that's what they were intending. I think there are definitely vampire properties that intend to use that.
Rachel:They Like in the crazy love episode, it effectively does. Like in the Crazy Love episode, it effectively does frame it like that. But I don't it's the nineties. Right? They're not thinking like that.
Rachel:They're not thinking about that in that way because then you can't have likable characters that still engage in that behavior. Right. It's like saying, oh, Lacroix is great. He just occasionally sexually assaults people. Well, we can't have that.
Rachel:That that makes him a terrible character.
Matt:Right.
Rachel:And so you have to abstract it out a level. You can't. This is a hard one to navigate because you don't want to discount that interpretation and say, oh, no. Just don't think about it as assault, and then you can still have fun. That's not great either.
Rachel:You know what I'm saying?
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:But what we have to do this is a very much a context lenses moment where we have to realize that's not the that is not the conversation they wanted us to have. That is not how they are framing it. That's why so many of them just drink out of, like, goblets.
Matt:Yeah. So I'm I'm sorry that the the Nick LaCroix sexual attention thread brought us down to the valley.
Rachel:It's okay because it's a conversation I think we need to have in what we're looking at soon, which is probably the rising wave of vampire content. So I've told you before, zombies and vampires alternate, and we've been in a vampire wave for or a zombie wave for a while, and so I can kind of see the beginnings of the vampire wave, but it's gonna be a 2023, 2024 more modern vampire wave, so it's probably a conversation that's going to pop up. And so it's something that is important to talk about. It's important to talk about. Is forever night the stage on which we discuss this?
Rachel:Not necessarily. And so what I'm gonna do is say we're gonna just leave that on the table like we normally do, and we're gonna continue with the episode. And unless the episode wants us to see it that way, we're not gonna discuss it that way.
Matt:Right.
Rachel:Does that make sense?
Matt:Mhmm.
Rachel:Okay. There. I was trying to tiptoe around that because I do think it's an important thing, and I think it's an interpretation that doesn't get discussed enough, but, also, this isn't a modern day vampire show. It's not having a modern day conversation with us. It's having a boomer conversation with us.
Rachel:Yes. So we just need to leave it be. But what was happening when we went off on this tangent was Dashawn having his, I'm trying to tell you that it was, like, the greatest sex of my life without telling you it was the greatest sex of my life moment. And then he says, she told us all about this life, and then she went to greet the sun, which means she was basically like, okay. Get out a pen and paper.
Rachel:I'm gonna give you some notes.
Matt:She gave them a one night crash course.
Rachel:Yeah. She was like, here's how you fly. Here's how you eat. Stay out of the sun. Stay away from sharp sticks.
Rachel:Don't get your head cut off. Have a great life. See you later. And she went and greeted the sun. And I have to imagine Nick is a little jealous.
Rachel:Like, wait. Your maker just left? Like, you don't have to worry about her? What what do you do when you feel like you've really won something and you have a connection with somebody? How does it feel to have no one show up and tell you you're an idiot and take that away from you?
Rachel:And Vashawn's like, what the fuck? They know the Inca. He's really talking to the Inca. The Inca is probably like, are you okay? And he's like, not really.
Rachel:Who
Matt:hurt you?
Rachel:Who hurt you? I'll tell you who hurt me is LaCroix over and over again. But, apparently, she told them that all they had all simply simply end senseless killing in the world. That's your only job. You can handle that.
Rachel:Right? Good luck, France.
Matt:Just You need a cultural grounding for that premise.
Rachel:Well, she tells them those who treasure life should live, and those who don't should die. Have a nice life. I'm going to greet the sun. See you later. And one of the benefits of LaQuan now having his own podcast booth in the back is he can have multiple podcasts per episode.
Matt:Hey.
Rachel:Because he's like, what a piece of work is a man. And he goes on this long thing. And he's like, and yet to me, what is this dust? Man delights me not.
LaCroix:What a piece of work is a man. How noble in reason. How infinite in faculty. In form, in moving, how express and admirable. In action, how like an angel.
LaCroix:In apprehension, how like a god. The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?
Nick:Man
LaCroix:delights me
Matt:And we can see there's a tape rolling in the background. Yes, ma'am. Recording this.
Rachel:Yeah. Which means he's recording it to use later. He's probably gonna he's gonna cue it up, and then he's gonna be like, play this next time Nick is feeling really glum about something. Well, my favorite part is we didn't mention it last episode, but there's a couple of people milling about the raven. And one guy actually has this leather jacket on that says raven across the shoulders in the raven font.
Rachel:And then it has a painting the same as the painting behind the bar, the nipslip woman behind the bar.
Matt:Yep. And,
Rachel:a, I want this fucking jacket. It's beautiful and amazing. And 2, this to me canonically establishes that Lacroix has a merch store.
Matt:Or or he has
Rachel:No. No.
Matt:He has branded stuff for the staff.
Rachel:No. You know he advertises on his podcast for Toronto's only Vampire Bar. Come by. We have strippers on Fridays.
Matt:And then But it's like it's like, quote, vampire
Nick:Yes. Bar.
Rachel:And when you walk in, you have to enter through the little shop. And he has, like, goblets. Well, you know the goblets that look like they have liquid in them and but they don't actually.
Nick:Yeah.
Rachel:They're just, like, double walled, but with red in them, and then he has those jackets that have the raven painted on them. He has those cheap, like, hemp necklaces with fake raven feathers on the end of them.
Matt:He just has this merch shop,
Rachel:and whoever's pissed him off most that month has to work and sell stuff to tourists. That's their job.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:Yeah. It's done. It's canon now. But Nick goes to talk to Lacroix because somebody has to help him, and Jeanette's not there. So I guess it's gotta be Lacroix.
Rachel:And he goes, do you know Javier? Javier Vachon? And Lacroix says something about, oh, yeah. He was the last backup for this band. And he goes, I'll take famous Javier's for 500, please.
Rachel:Nick is like
Matt:Lacroix has been watching, mainstream television?
Rachel:Yeah. He's got nothing else to do. I I mean, if Nick's not doing anything interesting, what's he supposed to do? He just watches TV and heckles Nick. It's his entire life.
Rachel:And so he's like, LaCroix. The fuck? And he's like, fine. Whatever. This lady would know about it.
Rachel:This innocent angel tamed Urs, she's been running with him for a couple 100 years. And meanwhile, Vashon is still info dumping. The Inca must have given him the spark notes because the claws are there. Nick is already gone. He's talking to Lequard, but Vashon is still talking and he's like, yeah.
Rachel:I I'm not like doing what she asked me to do. I kind of was young and I had been a messenger and I thought I was gonna die, And now I had the chance to not die, and I kinda felt like maybe it was time to fuck around for a while. And if I just kept fucking around hard enough
Matt:and Fast enough.
Rachel:I would never have to find out.
Matt:The finding out may never catch up with me.
Rachel:Yeah. So it turns out he woke up first, and then he just grabbed a stick and stabbed it into the dirt where the Inca was and was like, well, that probably killed him and then took off. And the Inca has been chasing him ever since. And tracing
Matt:450 years.
Rachel:It's worse than the lady that Nick accidentally turned into accidentally killed and then LaCroix turned into a vampire, and then she spent forever just looking for him to, like, gain her revenge.
Matt:This would have been close to the same time.
Rachel:Yeah. It would have been. But Tracy is giving him a look, and he's like, what? What's wrong with you? Yeah.
Rachel:I don't think I like you anymore. I thought I liked you. Fair. You had one job, and you couldn't fucking do it.
Matt:And you're like master, your sire asked you to do one thing.
Rachel:Like, one thing.
Matt:All your And the senseless violence in the world. Come on, Vashon. And you've you've You just
Rachel:fucked up.
Matt:You ditched him.
Rachel:Are you serious? And Vashon's like, yeah. I was young. Somebody asked me to end killing in the world. What the fuck?
Rachel:No. I just left. And she's like, yeah. I don't like you. You're kind of an idiot.
Rachel:And then and then this is when we first get to see the glimpse, the first tiny glimpse of daddy Nicholas that we're gonna get a couple of times in season 3. And he's talking to ers, and he's like, look, ers, I don't really give a shit if your friend is like a deadbeat vampire who travels around and, like, shirking his responsibilities. It's cool. Like, I've done that. We've all done that.
Rachel:It's fine. I had a couple 100 years where I did that, but he's got my friend, and that could be hazardous to his health. So I think you're gonna need to tell me where he is for the good of us all. And she must because Screed comes back, and he's got this blue box, which in all of this, Voodoo has been making new bombs, and they're in these blue boxes that say city of Toronto on the tie on the side. And then Screed actually finds 1.
Rachel:He watches the guy go through the tunnels, and then he, like, pulls one out. And he's brought it back, and he's like, look at this. I think it's a cellular trans cellular transponder. I think I can sell it and make some cash. Vashon?
Rachel:Vashon? And then he goes, Vaginetti,
Matt:and then he looks over.
Rachel:And Nick has Vershawn pinned to the wall, and Screech's like, oh, oh, hey. What's up? And he goes, shut up. Nick tells him to shut up. He goes,
Nick:shut up.
Matt:Oh, just make yourselves at home then.
Rachel:Yeah. He's like, oh, fine. Come down here and threaten him. Make yourselves at home. It's fine.
Rachel:And Nick just goes, shut up. And so then he keeps like, he turns back to Vashon, and Screed goes, are you an enforcer?
Matt:Just gives him a look like,
Rachel:and then Nick is like, listen. You let her in on this, and you didn't bother to wipe her memory. Like, okay. She's a resistor or whatever. But if she knows about you and she knows about Screed and she knows about the Inca, then she is yours to protect now.
Rachel:Because if any of the rest of us find out what she is, they will kill her, and I will blame you, and you don't want me to blame you.
Screed:That genetti. Oh, fine. Let's have a party down here while we're about to, shall we? I finally get a place set up for a little bit of peace and quiet. Shut up.
Screed:Make yourself a home, mate. Me, Cassey, Sue Cassey.
Rachel:You don't want me you don't wanna see me angry. Okay? I'm twice your age, roughly.
Matt:So you can leave, but if you do, the finding out will catch you.
Rachel:He says you're only alive right now because you let her go, and you can go face the Inca. He's waiting at the church. Listen, I don't give a shit. Okay? This is all your business.
Rachel:You can go face him. He's waiting for you at the church, or you can be a little bitch like you usually are. It's your choice, man. It's up to you. But listen, eternity is a real long time to keep running.
Nick:It's up to you, your consciousness. He's alive and waiting for you at the church. But what you do with Tracy is my business. The only reason you're alive right now is because you let her go. You wanna take off?
Nick:Go ahead. But there will come a day, Vashon. There will come a day when you will have to stop and live up to your worth. Believe me, eternity is a long time to keep running.
Rachel:He actually goes running. He does this, like, I don't know how Garrett Winn Davies occasionally, like, purrs while talking. Not mad about it, but he does it at the very end of this where he says, it's a long time to keep running. And this energy is the energy I have wanted from Nick for so long. The, like, I am ancient.
Rachel:I am powerful. I am more powerful than you. I have things I want to protect, and there is literally no limit to what I will do to protect them. And I don't care how weak you think, yeah, I am. You're wrong because you haven't seen me protect the thing I love or the thing that I just feel like I need to protect.
Rachel:And then he just pushes off.
Matt:He's got places to be.
Rachel:He said his piece. And in the meantime, Tracy returns to the precinct. And Reese, who's been frantically looking for her for a while, is like, oh, oh, you finally showed up? And she's like, yes, with an informant. And he goes, an informant?
Rachel:This isn't the newspaper. She goes, okay, fine. A source. And she tells him that somebody carried a wrapped package through security, and no one checked it. And it was the copilot, and she gives him the copilot's name.
Rachel:And he's like, okay. Well, that's all you got? And she's like, yeah. I'm pretty sure that's all I got. Can I just sit here for a minute?
Rachel:And Rhys goes, okay. That's fine. But then go home. Okay? And Natalie is standing in the back in her beautiful little dusty rose, like, power suit that she's wearing, and Reese looks over and meets her eye, and then he does, like, a chin jerk.
Rachel:Like, I think she needs you.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:And so Natalie rises to the occasion. She comes over and checks on her. She's like, hey, are you okay? Everything all right? And Tracy goes, have you ever had something wonderful happen to you?
Rachel:But it turned out it was just really disappointing. And Natalie's like, ho, girl, sit down. I got a list. This one time, I met a vampire, and I thought we were gonna get together because he was hot and he needed my help. And I thought that was code for we were gonna bang forever, but it turned out that was a lie.
Rachel:And then I started dating this guy because I met him and he seemed really nice and he took me out to this, like, nursery and it was really cool. But it turned out he was a serial murderer and he tried to kill me. And then Nick asked me out on a date, and I thought this was gonna be really great. But then, I don't remember anything that happened from the time I arrived to the restaurant until the time I got home, and then he never asked me out on another date again. Oh, I'm sorry.
Rachel:Did you have something you wanted to tell me, Tracy? Yeah. Go ahead. No. It's fine.
Rachel:Well, she just starts crying. It's really sad. And then we cut to Natalie and Nick are at Nick's apartment, and Natalie's like, oh, is that seriously, that's what this is all about? Oh, Tracy, you stuck your foot in some shit. And Nick's like, okay.
Rachel:But I want a motive. Like, I want a reason. I wanna know why Voodoo is doing this. He's like, yeah. Yeah.
Rachel:Tracy found out about vampires, whatever, whatever, whatever. Can we talk about Voodoo for a minute?
Nick:Like
Matt:Talk about the important stuff.
Rachel:Yeah. Because he's listening to the black magic song. And he's like, did he pick the song? Was it just on the music box? I was like, what's happening?
Rachel:And then we cut back to the precinct because Karen's sister, the copilot sister, is there to talk about her. And, apparently, she had a man in every port, and this one she referred to as Toronto Jerry. Or is it Toronto Gary?
Reese:Jerry.
Rachel:Oh, okay. Because he introduces himself to Tracy as Gary. So I wonder if it
Matt:was just
Rachel:a slip
Matt:of the tongue.
Rachel:Yeah. I don't know. But she says he was charming, good looking, and great in bed. This is what I'm talking about. This actor keeps getting referred to as, like, really handsome.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:Maybe he's nineties handsome. I don't know. Some of the new actors now, I'm like, no. So
Matt:So Reese is like, yeah. Great. We can totally put that on a poster.
Rachel:Actually, Nick says that. He goes he goes, oh, charming, good looking, great in bed. Sounds like a real winner. And then he's like, Tracy, did your source tell you anything else? And she goes, actually, I think I'm pretty much done with that.
Rachel:Like, I don't think I'm gonna get anything more from that. And Nick goes, oh, okay. Well, you know what? Some relationships just aren't meant to be.
Reese:She's like, what the fuck did you say to
Nick:me? Did your informant, see her with anyone at the airport?
Tracy:I think I got
Rachel:just about all I could get
Nick:from them. Some relationships just aren't meant to be.
Tracy:Why did
Rachel:you say that?
Nick:What?
Rachel:Some relationships aren't meant to be.
Nick:With informants. You know what I mean? Sometimes they just don't work out.
Rachel:Yeah. Right. What? Why did you why would you say that? And he's like, oh, you know, with, like, sources.
Rachel:Sometimes sometimes you think a source is gonna be really great, and they just they just end up being a dead end. You know? It's it's fine. It's fine. You know, it's fine.
Rachel:Tracy goes, yeah. A real dead end. And then she laughs, and Nick's like, what? Why are you laughing? And she goes, you wouldn't understand.
Rachel:Oh, boy, would he, Tracy. Oh, boy, would he. But then we cut back to and Vashon at the Raven. And is actually drinking, but Vashon is, like
Matt:Dipping his
Rachel:finger? He's, like, running his finger from the inside of the cup and then just, like, tapping it. I don't know what's happening there.
Matt:He's making it last longer. It I was thinking maybe it was, like, he's used to, not always having enough blood. And so just, like, dipping his finger in it and licking it is a way to make it last longer.
Rachel:Okay. I don't know. I don't know. It doesn't matter because, basically, what he's telling Urs is, yeah, I'm getting the fuck out of here. Confront the Inca.
Rachel:No. Thanks. I've made it 450 years. Sounds like I can make it eternity. Not a
Matt:problem. Telling him, but but I kinda like it here. And he's like, I I didn't say you had to come with me.
Rachel:We're not running together anymore. You can hang out here. It's fine. Maybe we'll see each other again later. No problem.
Rachel:But I gotta go. Bye. And he kisses her and leaves. And then we get to another war room meeting where we're all in a group again, and this is where they're kind of talking about, like, okay. Well, we think it's Voodoo.
Rachel:We don't think it's Voodoo. He has the 3 bomb, but we maybe we threw threw the 3 bombs out, and then they're, like, actually, maybe Dollard bombed the 4th location on his own. And because it broke the pattern, that's why voodoo bombed him. Because we know he's a ritual killer, he has to have his ritual. And Nick is like, you're full of shit, Tracy.
Rachel:He shuts her down. He's like, uh-uh. That doesn't sound right. I don't like it. But Reese is like, hold hold.
Rachel:I think she's got a point. And as soon as he says that, Nick's like, you're right. Let's do this. Right. He caves immediately.
Rachel:At first, he's like, no. That can't be it. That can't be right. And then he's
Matt:like, alright. Maybe it's right. Reaction is just like Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar. Like, I know you just made a, like, poorly informed decision about a guy, and so everything you say from now on is suspect.
Rachel:Yeah. I think this, at this point, we need to pause and explain your reference that you just made because I'm not sure any I've never seen anybody else on a review of Interstellar be angry about that scene. Like, I get angry about that scene.
Matt:Oh, okay. Well, we've talked about it on this podcast.
Rachel:No. We've talked about it on Strange and Beautiful. Oh. Yeah. So Interstellar is a movie with Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, and it's a really, really good movie.
Rachel:But there is one very specific plot hole that almost completely ruins the movie for me, and it's really why I it's not rewatchable for me. And it's right after they get through the wormhole into the galaxy where there's the potentially habitable planets, and they know that there are 3 planets that have gotten a yes, that they have
Matt:to be the yes. To go pursue, but they can't go visit them all.
Rachel:Right. They don't have enough fuel to visit them all. And there is one that had the most promising numbers, but it stopped transmitting a short time ago. Yep. And then there's another one that has promising numbers, and it's still transmitting, but it's far away.
Rachel:And then there's another one that's fairly close, and it's been transmitting. Yes. But it's too close to the black hole, and so they know that going to this one is risky. So Anne Hathaway suggests that they go to the one that had the best numbers but has since stopped responding, And Matthew McConaughey shuts her down specifically because she had a relationship with the guy who's on that planet. He's like, the only reason you wanna go there is because you fucked him.
Matt:Your boyfriend's there.
Rachel:Your boyfriend's there. Like, we're going to the one by the black hole. And so the one guy who's, like, off the top of his head physicist scientist guy is like, okay. What's so close to the black hole that 5 minutes on that planet will be 15 years of real time? And no one in this entire room full of very smart scientists, including the guy that just did that record, that number in his head, says, that means that that transponder has only been transmitting for 15 minutes.
Rachel:No one reverses the equation until they get down there, and they're, like, oh, of course. Right. Well, the time is so distorted here that she literally only died 10 minutes ago. Oh my god. Butterfingers.
Rachel:And so had they gone to Anne Hathaway's planet at the beginning, it would have been a slam dunk immediately. We wouldn't have had all of the other conflict. And it feels like such a shoehorned in conflict that it just it just rubs me the wrong way. It fucking bothers me. And that's what that feels like.
Matt:That's that's what you're referring to. Immediately shutting her down.
Rachel:Nick referring Nick shutting her down immediately is like, I don't trust your judgment right now because I don't trust your assessment of Vashawn. I I think you're suspect right now. And so I think everything you do is suspect, and I'm not willing to entertain your your even though you might have a good point.
Matt:Anyway I wonder if they had done, like, multiple takes of that scene. And, like, one of them, they were like, okay, Gare. You're gonna just shut her down. You're gonna be really skeptical. And then another one, Reese was like, oh, yeah, Tracy.
Matt:I'm listening. And then they, like, spliced them together weird. Yeah. And so Nick goes into, no. Your your judgment is horrible, and Reese says, nah.
Matt:She might have something. And then Nick says, oh.
Rachel:He actually just says mass murder voodoo. Go on, Tracy. Meg said it felt like they cut the script up and put it in a bowl, and then everybody just drew lines.
Matt:Threw all the pieces up there.
Rachel:Everybody just drew lines.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:I have been like that. But meanwhile, Tracy meets the bomber in a very only the lonely twist. She goes to the coffee shop, and I love the coffee shop sign because it says coffee shop and, like, the most nineties font ever. And Tracy meets the bomber, Gary Reynolds. He bumps into
Matt:her immediately. He charms her.
Rachel:Yeah. He he starts his seduction, and then we get to more screed because Vashawn has basically moved in with screed, and Screeze is not happy about it. He's like, if you think you're gonna hang out here and hide from the Inca here, you've got linguine between the plug holes, friend.
Matt:And so he starts out just very abstractly implying that he should leave, and Vashon's doing nothing. And so he just gets more and more clear until he just pokes his head back out and says, leave.
Rachel:He goes, leave. You gonna leave? Leave. And then we get Nick, because Nick is really trying to make sense of this. He wants Skanky's death to be for a reason.
Rachel:He wants the people that he lost to have been lost for a reason.
Nick:Right.
Rachel:And so he's really trying to put that reason together, and so he's sitting in his thinking robe on his laptop computer.
Matt:Very fancy home office.
Rachel:Fancy. Well, the nightcrawler is like, why try and probe a murderer's mind? You won't find a clue in mine. And in my notes right here in all capital letters, I have Nick in jeans. Because when we go back to the precinct, Nick, and I cannot stress this enough, is in jeans.
Rachel:And can I say I have missed this man's ass? I really have. He was in oversized trench coats and billowy pants and just unfortunate, like, unfortunately fitted outfits for an entire season, and now he's in light wash jeans with his shirt, but, like, tucked in with a belt and just chef's kiss. That was a chef's kiss. And so he comes over and he sits on the desk because Natalie walks in, and Natalie is wearing a banging black version of her power suit, and it looks fucking amazing.
Rachel:And she sits next to him on this desk, and he's like, I just can't help thinking, but, like, what would Skanky do if he were here? And she goes, he would start with the obvious. And he's like, okay. Well, he attacks authorities usually using women as carriers. And we don't follow through on that reasoning.
Matt:And then we cut immediately to Tracy.
Rachel:Tracy seeing the bomber as she's walking out of the coffee shop, and she's like, yeah. I like to stop here and get a bite to eat. And he's like, oh, do you have time for another cup of coffee? And she's like, sure. So they hang out, and then he, quote, leaves a bag, which we've seen him building the bomb, and so we know this is a bomb in the bag.
Rachel:And she's like, oh, my new best friend appears to have left a wrapped package, and there's a bomber on the loose whose pathology I'm probably familiar with because I've clearly studied it. But that's okay. And so she just takes it back to the precinct.
Matt:And hold on. She also just told Reese, this the copilot or Yeah. Somebody took a bag onto the like, a gift bag onto the airplane and didn't, like, bypass security. Correct. And then she gets left
Rachel:With a bag.
Matt:With a gift bag
Rachel:Yes.
Matt:By a strange man. Come on, Tracy. Keep up.
Rachel:Well, he did give her her his number, so she's like, it's fine. But she walks in, and she's, like, beaming. So Natalie is like, oh, girl.
Matt:Which
Rachel:Whatever you got. I want some of that.
Matt:Another thing I wanted to say. If Vishawn hadn't, like, ruined the chemistry that was going on between him and Tracy, this guy bumping into her would not have turned into a, like, romantic cup of coffee Correct. Before they go into work.
Rachel:He may have just found somebody else.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:Another vector in. But Vashon, luckily, is creeping and watching her this entire time. I mean, for her benefit, obviously. That's why he's
Matt:Right. He's not done with Tracy. He just kinda messed up. You know, he stepped in some mud on
Rachel:the past due to the situation. Doesn't mean you want somebody else to fuck it. Okay. So she walks in, and Natalie is like, oh, girl. What's happening with you?
Rachel:You look really good.
Matt:Like, whatever. You've been taking, I want some.
Rachel:Yeah. I've got a lot of stuff in my drawer back at the morgue, but whatever it is you're taking, it's not do you know, I want whatever you've got. And she goes, a totally normal thing happened to me. And Natalie's like, oh, normal is good. I sounded like your mother or Natalie.
Rachel:She's not that much older.
Matt:Well, if if Nick gets to have daddy energy, then maybe Natalie gets to have mommy energy.
Rachel:See, but that is different. It's not the same. And I I okay. I'm not even no. Okay.
Rachel:Well, so Screed's blue box is coming. It's just gonna get I'm not even gonna address that because Screed was gonna go hawk it, and he did. So it happened. So Reese is like, some idiot homeless guy found this, thought it was a cellular transponder. It's so hard to say.
Rachel:Cellular transponder, and turns out it's a bomb. And he tried to sell it, and so we got a hold of it, and here it is. And so he's, like, walking in real determined with this, like, determined step. And so Nick falls in line behind him. Tracy falls in line behind Nick, and then, like, 15 people just appear out of the, like, out of doors and out of sight.
Rachel:Like, they pop up out of the woodwork.
Matt:It's like a conga line.
Rachel:They all conga line down down the hallway, and then they all kinda gather in this room, and it's because this is a bomb. There's, like, a giant pile of c 4 or SymTex is what they call it. There's a giant pile of SymTex just sitting there, and Nick is like, what is this? Half a kilo? That does not look like half a kilo.
Rachel:How fluffy is that shit?
Matt:Half a k.
Rachel:Half a key is what he says.
Matt:Half a key. Yeah. I guess if you grew up using kilos.
Rachel:Yeah. But it doesn't look like half a kilo unless it's, like, whipped because it's huge.
Matt:Right. That's a lot.
Rachel:That's a fucking lot to be half a kilo. And he's like, oh, okay. So he has enough to make 60 of these, and they're all like, oh, shit, because that's enough to level a city block. But luckily, the Inca has arrived and attempted to communicate by handing his necklace off. He hands his necklace to the lady.
Rachel:The lady brings the necklace back to Nick and Tracy and is like, this guy is here, and he wants to try to catch the 3rd bomber. And Nick goes to reach for it, but not not Natalie. Tracy takes the necklace and goes, I'll handle this. So she just walks back over and gives the Inca his necklace back.
Matt:Yeah. And that's when Natalie comes over.
Rachel:Well, that's when they end up all going in the back. And so they run out because they're like, oh, shit. There's 60 of these. It's gonna level the entire city of Toronto.
Matt:Natalie comes in and says, is he, and Dick says
Rachel:Yeah. And she goes, oh, this is getting complicated. Yeah. And then she leaves.
Matt:Which means Natalie is keeping up.
Rachel:Correct. Yeah.
Matt:Natalie is like She can just see a vampire and be like, hold on.
Rachel:Which is good because we've ditched the white makeup. Thank thank all the makeup gods. We've finally ditched the every vampire has white foundation on that's 2 shades lighter
Matt:than the actual skin. I I can imagine the, like, the meetings ahead of time, like, preparing for the 2 part intro to season 3. And they're like, alright. Makeup people. Let's do our thing.
Matt:Let's get the vampires ready. And the Inca shows up, and he's like, hold on. You're gonna put white makeup on me? What the fuck?
Rachel:No. Thank you.
Matt:No. Thank you. And then they're like, oh, wait. Hold on. Hold on.
Matt:Let let me we need to revisit this. And then they're like, let's just not put white makeup on any of the vampires.
Rachel:The only person I think they continue to tone down is Nigel because Nigel is quite tan when he doesn't yeah. And so I think he's the only one plus he's, like, he's supposed to be older.
Matt:Right.
Rachel:And you know?
Matt:So it makes sense for him to stand out.
Rachel:But, like, season 1, Nick, is almost cartoonish because they they dial him all the way down to white, and then they put, like, pink on his cheeks. And it's it's it's fine. Sometimes it's worse than others. And then season 2 is mostly just, like, light foundation. And then season 3, they're like, it's fucking it's fine.
Rachel:It's fine. But my favorite part about this is they run out, and Reese is like, okay. I'm gonna get the bomb squad looking. I'm gonna get everybody. Like, we gotta we gotta evacuate the subways.
Rachel:We gotta evacuate. Like, we just gotta evacuate. I don't know where they're gonna go. We gotta get them out. And oh, I almost said skanky.
Rachel:Hang on. Tracy goes, okay. Well, I know a guy who's an underground engineer. I'll give him a call. She probably could call the, like, head of the underground engineers, like, the leader of the group and not the guy she met for coffee on accident earlier today, but that's fine.
Rachel:It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. And Nick is like, okay. I'm on the homeless guy.
Rachel:So he throws his
Matt:coat on. I know the homeless guy who sold it.
Rachel:Yeah. He goes, I'm gonna follow-up on the homeless guy. So he goes to leave, and he looks at the Inca, and the Inca looks at him, and he just gives this, like, okay. Fine. Look.
Rachel:And then he goes, like
Matt:quickly touches his arm.
Rachel:And then Inca's like, yes.
Matt:He does the, like, the Nick, touch your arm thing.
Rachel:I know. And, like, he gets a little vampire buddy. Like, he gets to do some stuff with other vampires where it's not them being like, oh god. We're with the vegan. It's like
Matt:it's just like it's so nice.
Rachel:And I was like, oh, this show giveth and this show taketh away because we lost so much, and then we get this thing that we've been waiting for for so long, which is, like, Nick, although he's a part of I mean, he's a part of a community. He's the weird part of the community, but he's a part of a, like, a small community of people of vampires. And he finally gets to be like, alright. Come on, buddy. Like, we'll do this together.
Rachel:And he ends up forming like a ragtag team of bomb hunting vampires to scour the underground. Okay. Okay. Okay. Because Tracy calls Gary, and the phone rings.
Rachel:And it turns out Gary is buying a plane ticket, and Vashon is there because Vashon is only there to go buy buy a plane ticket. And he happens to see this guy there because he just talked to Erz about it.
Matt:And recognizes him from when he was spying on Tracy at the coffee
Rachel:shop. For her own good. Yes. And so he sees him lie to Tracy, and he's like, oh, I smell some shit. And he tells her to meet him at Saint Patrick's station and bring my bag with you.
Rachel:You got my bag, right, from the coffee shop? Can you bring that with you? And she's like, oh, yeah. Sure. And meanwhile, Nick goes to Screed because Screed's the one who sold it, and he's like, okay.
Rachel:Do you have more of these? Screed has, like, 6 lined up behind. He's like
Matt:He's been collecting.
Rachel:He's like, you got more of these? And he's like, yeah. They're all over down there. And he's like, okay. We gotta get them.
Rachel:They're bombs. And he's like, psh, they're not bombs. And he's like, yeah, they're bombs, and there's enough to level a city block. And he goes, oh, is that the goo inside? And he's like, yeah, it's the goo inside.
Rachel:And Screegg goes, alright. Two bills apiece.
Matt:10. Ten bills apiece.
Rachel:He says 2.
Matt:Well, later later, he ups it. Oh, I thought Yeah. I thought it was 10.
Rachel:No. At first, he says 2 bills apiece, and Nick goes, twist my arm.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:And then then Vashon interrupts Gary trying to leave. He, like, grabs the door, and this is the part where Gary flees. And this guy is just walking by. He's not even in Vashon's way, and Vashon just goes
Nick:and goes
Matt:to sleep. He puts
Reese:him onto the taxi.
Rachel:And then he tries to run, and this car with a donut stuff strapped to the top comes by. But he gives chase. And then we go back to Nick and Screed, and the Inca are like speed combing the subways, vampires, Kyle. Woosh. Woosh.
Rachel:Woosh. Like, superhero finding all of these bombs. And then, uh-oh, Gary gets a minute, and he activates Tracy's music box. And this is when Vashon finds him, and he's like, oh, you're late. And Vashon goes, for what?
Rachel:And then he shoots Vashon.
Matt:Bang bang.
Rachel:And then he just goes, voodoo. He's slow. Okay. And then Tracy Tracy calls it in. She calls Rhys, and for some reason, she feels like she has to sit in this empty space with the bomb when she could just
Matt:It's gonna be a lonely bomb.
Rachel:She could just He
Matt:needs company.
Rachel:Leave. She's right there by the water. She could chuck it in the water.
Matt:In fact, she plans to drive it into the water.
Rachel:She could put it in her car and just set her car to go forward and drive the car. The car itself could drive into the water.
Matt:Yeah. Hop out of the car once it's rolling?
Rachel:Yep. She could just leave it and leave it for the bomb squad and try to get away as fast as possible. There's a myriad of things that could be done here, but she's just like, if I leave this bomb,
Matt:Bad things will happen. I can't leave this bomb here or else. Or else. Yes. That's what's going through her head.
Rachel:That's exactly what it is. And so Nick hears from Rhys. He gets a phone call in the subterranean network of tunnels.
Matt:They're cellular trans
Rachel:And so he looks over at Screed, and Screed's like, oh, you're telling me that these things are already set to blow, and you want me to keep collecting them? And he goes, $500 a piece, Screed. And Screed goes, I'm immortal. I'll take my chances.
Screed:Keep going. The the debt set and you expect
LaCroix:me to find more bombs? 500 a piece.
Screed:I'm immortal. I'll take my chances.
Reese:What do they do with them?
Matt:Do they disarm them? Like, why do
Rachel:they He takes them to the to the bomb squad.
Matt:Why do the other, like, 39 not blow up?
Rachel:Well, they never got set. He only really sets I don't know, honey. Oh. Oh. Oh.
Rachel:You know what it is? Okay. Alright. I I think I know what it is, but I'm gonna tell you that when we get there. Can you wait?
Nick:Oh,
Rachel:I'll tell you right now. Because he when Gary arrives because Gary, of course, arrives while she's on the phone with Reese, and she's like, he's here. And Reese goes, Nick? And she goes, no. Voodoo.
Rachel:Boop. And she's like, the boat. And he takes it and throws it. And he's like, some of my best work that's got a 5, like, a 5 minute mainspring, 10 mile radius.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:So it is the trigger
Matt:for all the other boats.
Rachel:But if they can get it 10 maybe that's why she can't leave it. No. That doesn't make any sense. But if she if they can get it 10 miles away, it won't trigger the other bombs.
Matt:I'm gonna go with Screed finds them all, or maybe even Nick showed them how to disarm them.
Rachel:I think it's supposed to be this is the trigger for all the other bombs, but it has to explode within 10 miles of all the other bombs. Yeah. You know what? Let's just that that's it. That's, I think, what they were trying to go for.
Rachel:So I think we'll just go for it because Vashawn arrives, and he's like, I think probably the best thing I could do here is just bite and kill voodoo with my teeth. Yeah. Just as Nick arrives. And Nick is like, he could've disarmed it. And Tracy's like, no.
Rachel:He said he couldn't. Yeah. The bomber is gonna tell you that he can't disarm the bomb, and we should totally trust him.
Matt:Yeah. Yeah. That's Definitely believe him.
Rachel:And the Inca's like, oh, no. I've got this. I'm going to go to mother moon. Hand me the thingy. Yeah.
Matt:Like, she wants to father son. I will go to mother moon.
Rachel:Yeah. And Nick is like, Tracy, you need to get the fuck out. And she's like, no, Nick. You don't understand. And Nick's like, I really feel like you're the one who's not picking up with what I'm putting down right now.
Rachel:Like, everybody else is probably gonna be fine. You need to get out of here. And Nick grabs Voodoo's head, very, like he's, like, grabs his face, and he's like, tell me why. And I'm sure the guy's like, I can't. I'm joking.
Rachel:Look. I can't look at it because he just grabs him by the throat, and then he just he starts singing the song.
Matt:Right.
Rachel:And then he's like, and he dies. Okay. And meanwhile, they're just like the Inca takes it and they're all like, oh, okay. Cool. Thanks, man.
Rachel:Like, nobody is like, oh, the Inca. Poor Inca. He just flies off. And then he flies, I guess, 10 miles away up into the atmosphere.
Matt:So 10 miles, line of sight visibility Yeah. Issues. I'm not gonna go there.
Rachel:Just leave it. You know what? It's okay. It's okay.
Matt:Hold on. No. I I have I have a thought. Okay. Oh, that's that's dangerous.
Matt:But go ahead. If he was 10 miles away
Rachel:Yes.
Matt:And we could still see him, and he's mostly up, can vampires fly to space? What happens if they fly to space?
Rachel:Okay. Well, we talked about this in the asteroid episode. Because if it's possible for them to survive freezing temperatures, can they go to space and simply freeze solid? Or would they explode because it's a vacuum? I mean, if they okay.
Rachel:So if they starved themselves, so they didn't actually have any liquid in their bodies, and then they flew to space, could they simply freeze solid and hibernate that way? And eventually, they would fall into Earth, and it would warm them up and thaw them out, and then they could, like, slow their fall so they wouldn't burn up in the atmosphere.
Matt:Would would they become unconscious because their body is frozen solid?
Rachel:I don't know. I don't think this is a question we can answer, to be honest, And it's not a question that the show is gonna answer, so we'll just leave it there. Okay? What my favorite part about this is because Tracy is all like, oh, no. Nick saw everything.
Rachel:And so Sean, like, turns him around, and he's like, I want you to look into my eyes. And Nick is this, like, well played, sir. It's like, alright. I accept this.
Matt:So embarrassing. I can't believe you're doing this to me.
Rachel:But that's fine. It's cool. I get it. It it'd be like a kid being like, I'm gonna explain something to you, and you have to pretend like that's exactly what how it's happening. It it's it's pretty funny.
Screed:Yeah.
Rachel:So he's like, I'm gonna tell you how everything went down, and you're gonna believe me. And Nick, like, nods like, okay. Fine, whatever. And so Tracy goes to see in the wrap up, Tracy goes to see Vashon, and it feels like there's this electric guitar music playing over everything, but it turns out it's Vashon playing the electric guitar because she walks up, and he stops playing it. And it just reminded me of that scene in Barbie where it's like, can I stare into your eyes and play the guitar at you for 4 minutes?
Rachel:I would love that. But she's like, Vashon, you're still here. And he goes, yeah. Of course, I'm still here. And she goes, well, I went to see Screed, but he's gone.
Rachel:I kinda figured you'd be gone. He goes, every time he gets money, he runs to Vegas. He'll be back here shortly. And he goes, did Nick and Tracy goes, oh, he doesn't remember anything. And Vashon's like, oh, okay.
Rachel:Alright. Great. That's that's that's what we're sticking with. Okay. And, that's really great.
Rachel:I'm glad he doesn't remember anything. Yeah. And then meanwhile, Natalie and Nick are having their own wrap up at Skanky's grave because Nick is taking the partners of the month plaque to Skanky's grave, and he's like, I just wanted a reason. I just wanted to know why. And Natalie's like, if you knew why, would it make it better?
Rachel:Would it bring him back?
Tracy:Apart, isn't it? Mortality. Having to leave the people you love behind.
Nick:Well, you never get used to it. And when it doesn't make sense, when there's no reason.
Tracy:Does it really help to have one? Would it have made a difference if Voodoo had been an out of work cop or an anti government maniac? Would that have cleared it up for you? Made you feel better?
Nick:I guess not.
Rachel:Would you feel better? I feel like Natalie is probably the expert on this right now because she's lost a lot of family members.
Matt:Mhmm.
Rachel:And so she puts the, like, her flowers down on the grave, and then they kinda stand up and they're standing by the grave. And she's like, some people just leave with no reason because Nick says they should be with us. They should be in season 3 with us. Natalie's like, sometimes executives write parts out of the script for no reason. This really feels like a commentary.
Rachel:This whole wrap up section right here feels like the veteran show, like the veteran show characters commentary on all of the shake ups that happened when they moved to the new network.
Matt:Yeah.
Rachel:Because it's very much like you're not gonna get an explanation about why they're gone. They're just gone, and you just have to move on and watch season 3 without them. We have to try to make the best of it. We have to try to move on. We have to try to embrace the new characters and incorporate them into our lives the way we've incorporated Skanky and Cohen and Jeanette in the past.
Rachel:Okay? Okay. Okay, watcher? They ain't coming back. Okay?
Rachel:So don't be mad about it. We just need to you're not gonna get an explanation. You just need to move on. Okay? Yeah.
Rachel:But it's so I mean, that's it. That's the last we're gonna hear about skanky pretty much forever, because we've now have 20 more episodes of season 3, and then done. So how do you feel moving into a season that has no skanky, no Jennette? I mean, Cohen wasn't really a character. I miss her, but
Matt:It's bullshit.
Rachel:It's bullshit.
Matt:I can see like, we talked about it earlier in the episode where I can see where keeping the Nick Skanky dynamic the same would just feel Stale. Stale.
Rachel:Yeah.
Matt:I think getting rid of Jennette was stupid because the Nick, Jennette dynamic was really good.
Rachel:You wanna talk about somebody that coulda had daddy and mommy energy? Like, were daddy and mommy to our gaggle of little, like, rambunctious vampire pals?
Matt:Right.
Rachel:Would have been like, you could have brought back all the, like, Gomez and Morticia Adams, like, fuck me energy. The yes. We're good parents. But also every time we're in the room together, we are actively trying to keep our hands off of each other. Right.
Rachel:Yeah. I mean, this show is really risque. I mean, if you look at what some of the people in the Raven are wearing, there's one lady that has fish night tights and a thong on. Right. There's a topless dude with silver booty shorts.
Rachel:There's there's quite a lot of skin going on. This analogous would be how you felt the first time you watched True Blood and how much skin you saw in True Blood. That's what this would have felt like. You went from no skin to, some pretty revealing outfits in the raven. The raven is supposed to feel extremely sexual, and it would have in 19 in 1996 when this aired.
Rachel:It would have felt extremely risque and edgy and, like, sexual
Nick:Yeah.
Rachel:Because of all the skin getting thrown around. And then Jeanette's not even in it. Right? Jeanette would never have let the club get decorated like that, though.
Matt:No. No. No. But we'll we'll see where it goes.
Rachel:Yeah. I I want everybody to I don't know how you feel about this is for the listener. It's not for Matt because he's never seen it. But I know a lot of us listening to this have already seen season 3, and we all have a lot of preconceived ideas about season 3 and kind of suspend them. Because I think what we're gonna try to do is what I wanna try to do is talk about how there is a lot to love in season 3.
Rachel:There's some real missus, but there's some there's some real home runs too. And I think if you judge everything by vampire dog, sure, it's all shitty. But if you remember that there are some pretty poignant moments in season 3 that give us some of the things that, as vampire fans, we've been longing for for seasons, like daddy Nick yelling at Vashon and being like, trust me, Eternity is a real long time to keep running from the king of running away from the consequences of his his decisions. Okay? So fucking good, yet it's in season 3.
Rachel:So bear with us. We're gonna make it through season 3 together, and I think when we unpack each episode, you'll find they're not as bad as you think they are. You just have to remember, stylistically, it's 3 separate shows because the way they were made was 3 separate ways. Season 1 is produced entirely by the CBC for Canada as a Canadian product. Season 2 is made on spec, first run syndication.
Rachel:They filmed it hoping to find a network for it by saying, hey. Look. We've already got most of the show filmed. We we'll hand you the package. You just air it.
Rachel:That's an entirely different way of making a show. They had to make it safe so they can market it to any network. Season 3 is an American network. It's the USA network. So you go from a Canada show produced by Canada for Canada to a show on the USA network.
Rachel:So all 3 seasons are really 3 style 3 different methods of producing a television show, 3 different sets of expectations, and 3 different sets of rules.
Matt:So Three different sets of market pressures.
Rachel:Yeah. Three different sets of market pressures. It's it's easy to just be like, ugh. They did that to make it more sellable. Well, yeah, kinda.
Rachel:Yeah. Kinda.
Matt:At a certain point, the show has to make money to continue existing.
Rachel:It's like Lucifer. Lucifer was originally on Fox, and then it gets picked up on Netflix. Netflix has a lot fewer rules about what we can do, And so you get an entirely different feel because now you can have nudity. You can have graphic discussions of sex. Yeah.
Rachel:It changed. Of course, it did. It changed everything.
Matt:The audience that they need to accommodate, like, make it palatable for is completely different.
Rachel:Yeah. And I yeah. Of course, it sucks. I'm not saying it doesn't. I want Skanky back too, but let's give Tracy a shot.
Rachel:That's what I'm saying. Are you ready for that? Yeah. Okay. Well then, until next time, friends.
Matt:Bye.
Schanke:Look at this. Some poor schmuck's entire existence, his hopes, his his dreams, his memories, his fears, his loves, his lusts, all reduced to 1 gray glob plopped in formaldehyde.
Schanke:Oh,
Schanke:man. Is this any way to end up?