Forever Knight - For I Have Sinned

I always do enjoy the use of Catholicism within the trappings of vampirism in television and film. For I Have Sinned goes there all the way. I mean, for Heaven’s sake, Nick Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies) actually has conversations with Joan of Arc! Yes, Nick offers to give Joan eternal life as a vampire! I love just the sheer audacity to do that. Oh, yeah, Joan has faith and Nick looks on in turmoil as she burns at the stake. And that is essentially what Nick combats in For I Have Sinned, an episode featuring a serial killer brutally murdering Catholics who commit sins he considers worthy of death. Like this employee at a shopping mall having an affair with a security guard. He pulls away her crucifix necklace, telling her she doesn’t deserve to wear it because of the affair. The murders involve women being strangled, disemboweled, crucified, with the next staged grotesque crime scene being a mimicking of Joan of Arc’s demise…kind of an ironic tie to Nick’s witnessing the real Joan perishing. Nick kind of gets the chance of vindication for not helping save Joan, when the killer targets a sex phone worker (at a place called Loose Lips!) and closet Catholic. He goes for her as she gets off work, boldly aiming to snatch her while walking down the stairs in her employer’s building. Thankfully Nick has that good vampire hearing, flying off to the top of the building to rescue her in the nick of time (see how I did that?).

Good use of the complexities of the “sanctuary of the seal” as the confessional offers the killer the opportunity to tell a young priest in his Toronto church about the murders. He justifies the reasoning for doing so, how he’s just an officer of God. The priest is conflicted about it, hoping to secure permission for going to the police before the killer strikes again. That not being able to comes with a price, and Nick is rather ornery about the priest not doing so. Nick’s challenging that seal will do him no good and his boss,  mutes him from continuing to usurp the spiritual aspects of Catholic faith.

An ongoing development is Nick’s agony with the Cross. It is the representation of the light and he is “of the dark” so it “weakens” him. Yet when he is watching Joan perish, he tries to touch a Cross in the church she often went to pray, with his hands burning. Because Nick knew he’d need to be in a place where the killer had frequented, the church for which he went to confessional seemed like the obvious choice. But to do so could be to Nick’s own peril. So eyeing the Cross, getting more comfortable around it, holding it in his hand was Nick’s mission. The burning and anguish, memories of Joan, weakness and woe; Nick is under great trial when he must enter that church and wait for the killer.

Meanwhile, Schanke (John Kapelos) goes inside the vampire club of Janette’s (Deborah Duchene) because he was always frustrated that his partner, Nick, told him to wait outside. Married, Schanke flirts with adultery and is nearly vampire chow when encountering an alluring frequent clubber willing to feed from him, only rescued by Janette right before his neck is pierced. Deborah knows that Schanke’s ties to Nick are too close for her to allow him to die. Schanke is fortunate in that regard. He feels guilt for going back to the club for a pickup piece, and there’s a funny confessional where Schanke believes he is seeking advice from a priest as Nick listens, encouraging him to continue on for kicks! It is a small scene, a brief haha before the killer targets the next female victim (who stupidly leaves police protection for the very church that could end up producing a viable threat to her life!), and put there at just the right moment.

Catherine Disher’s forensic pathologist, Dr. Natalie Lambert, knowing what Nick is was one of the main draws for me to the series. As she works for a cure to end Nick’s vampirism, he is a detective out there trying to solve crimes. They always share conversations on his battles, and their relationship is a real heartbeat for the show I felt as a teenager growing up in the 90s. She’s astonished at a crucifix in her hands once possessed by Joan of Arc, at that time given to Nick when the heroin was alive. Its historical significance aside, Nick having it alone produces irony…a very special crucifix he can barely keep eyes on for mere seconds.

Nick’s avoidance of implication in front of mortals regarding his being a vampire is always a show constant. How he can appear in areas that would require flight, for instance, or taking a bullet (as he does in For I Have Sinned) in a location that might kill most people, overpowering criminals or getting to locations requiring near superhuman effort. But he does it, having to always remain quick-on-his-feet, on-his-game, and quick-witted. I credit the writers for maintaining this aspect of the show, always finding new ways for Nick to escape (and he really is an escape artist in this regard) detection as a vampire.

This serial killer plot is an excuse for Nick to face his past, to be reminded of Joan and her undying faith and resistance to the fear of death, and to see how strong he is. That is quite scary to brave the environs of the church with all its décor and iconography, harmful to vampires, but Nick goes in there and does it. It is a sacrifice he feels willing to attempt. A confessional booth is brief solace but it is only temporary. Ultimately, though, Nick tackles the obstacle in his path, preventing yet another victim and subduing the killer. Another night Nick made amends to the years wasted as a predator…