jasmasson

I finally binged the last six episodes, and it was an excellent season of tv, taken as a whole. It didn't have the most ambitious narrative, as it stuck quite firmly to a case of the week format, but the character work was excellent and it had buckets of that 90s atmosphere I love. It even had a great "tune in next season" hook, which I did not expect, and which means I had better start shopping for a DVD set (because alas, the YT upload only covers season one).

Something I noticed early on was that Nick was mostly depicted in flashbacks seeking a cure or trying to help people. I concluded the writers or the network were uncomfortable with a former monster seeking redemption, and that Nick would not be portrayed doing evil after that first chick he chowed down on. However, I think they mostly just eased the viewer into it, letting you get a strong sense of why Nick might deserve salvation before trotting out Murder and Falling Off the Wagon and Stalkery Obsession and More Murder. Nick is not being dramatic when he rejects his vampiric superpowers as something born of evil. Or so I see it, anyway.

So that's fun. As is the general tone of the show, which is very human and warm. Some episodes leaned on the serious difficulties of being a cop, and others went for the supernatural craziness of vampire enforcers and ageless women hopped up on vampire blood, so there was a lot of variety in terms of the case of the week. I found it quite enjoyable, over all.

There were a couple episodes that didn't sit well with me, besides the evil stripper one (which was at least unintentionally funny), but with 22 episodes, that is affordable and rewatch value tends to improve such outings anyway because of small character elements I probably missed out on. The one I found most uncomfortable was the "murder at AA" episode. It struck me to be in questionable taste and wildly inaccurate to everything I have ever heard about how they operate.

Some unexpected guest stars also livened things throughout, and by the end of the season, I really felt the importance of Nick's choice of work. Unlike Angel, who chose to work as a PI, and could therefore cut himself off from humanity at the drop of a hat (and did so multiple times across the show, which is the first thing Doyle took him to task for), Nick is constantly surrounded by people who might or might not know his secret, but who are rooting for him to pull through. He's in the trenches, he has a boss, he can't fire his team. He's a lot closer to people every day. Whether or not that helps remains to be seen, but it is quite touching.

I'm also more invested in Nick and Natalie's relationship, which has a lot of underlying tensions that weren't clear to me at the beginning of the season. I do wish the brother thing had been acknowledged afterward, but otherwise it was quite compelling in a kind of sad way.

Janette occasionally mentions that vampires don't get to kill people anymore, because of the pesky bodies attracting attention, and I am hoping that gets elaborated on, along with Janette's own place on the show's moral axis, because I am super curious.

Also, flashback dates would be really nice.

Anyway, a strong season. Looking forward to what comes next!

Edit: Is it LaCroix or Lacroix? I have seen both spellings used.