Finished season one of Forever Knight
Mar. 28th, 2026 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereI 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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2026-03-28 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-28 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-28 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-28 11:35 pm (UTC)Spelling/capitalization is "Lacroix"
Date: 2026-03-29 02:19 pm (UTC)However, the fandom didn't know that until it had already been using "LaCroix" for a while, and some people continue to use it to this day, either because they are unaware or because they feel that the creators are themselves wrong.
Re: Spelling/capitalization is "Lacroix"
Date: 2026-03-30 12:59 am (UTC)FK fan-made timelines & other non-fiction references
Date: 2026-03-29 02:30 pm (UTC)https://users.lmi.net/akr/fk/faq/index.htm
https://users.lmi.net/akr/fk/timeline/FKtimeline.htm
We never got flashback dates printed on screen. But. First, Valerie (Wiliqueen) carefully constructed the fandom's first timeline based on the outfits worn in the flashbacks. Unfortunately, due to budgets or errors, sometimes the costumes conflicted with the scripts, other canon, or historical realities. When third-season came along, some fans bought copies of the scripts at charity auctions, and we learned that those (unlike the earlier seasons) all have actual numeric dates in them (though, again, a few of them are hard to reconcile and might be erroneous). Dorothy E. extended and amended Valerie's timeline with the new data. And then I extended and amended that to address some of the canonical mismatches and historical quibbles. These have been the fandom's timelines ever since.
(Please note that the timelines have spoilers for seasons you have not yet seen, if that matters to you.)
Re: FK fan-made timelines & other non-fiction references
Date: 2026-03-30 01:10 am (UTC)"tune in next season"
Date: 2026-03-29 02:45 pm (UTC)I'm glad you were able to see that surprise tag scene unspoiled and feel all its impact. :-)
I've said this before, so please forgive the reminder: 18.5 months in real time passed between the first season finale and the second season premiere. The fandom calls that period "the hiatus." The show was canceled as a CBS broadcast. Later, another company bought it and produced a second season (26 episodes) for syndication. Many things changed on both sides of the camera. There is an unspecified but acknowledged time lapse between first and second season.
Re: "tune in next season"
Date: 2026-03-30 01:17 am (UTC)I am a very old-fashioned Knightie... the last of my kind, I often think...
Date: 2026-03-29 03:01 pm (UTC)Me, too. ♥
>"I really felt the importance of Nick's choice of work. ... Nick is constantly surrounded by people who might or might not know his secret, but who are rooting for him to pull through."
The "Spin Doctor" flashbacks show how Nick loved being an anthropology (the study of humans) professor, learning and teaching about humans, and valuing his students. And of course from the very premiere we know he's been an archaeologist, yes for his own purposes, but, again, out of a loving fascination with and high value for humanity. From his mortality, taking his knighthood seriously enough that he became disenchanted with it when he was betrayed by corruption, right down the line to his present as a homicide detective, having been a doctor and many other things I won't spoil for you, Nick is consistently a big fan of and proponent of humanity.
Lacroix so rarely has anything valuing to say about humanity that I can count the lines on one hand.
This is the scale and spectrum I believe first season built so very well, imo. Nick is not a foolish idealist; he is possessor of a deeper, higher, self-sacrificing truth. Lacroix is not a wise cynic; his nihilism is in fact wrong as well as dangerous.
And between them we have Natalie and Janette.
Alternatively, Schanke is at one end of the line and Lacroix at the opposite end, with Nick in the middle, and Natalie between Nick and Schanke, and Janette between Nick and Lacroix...
:-) Thank you for showing me how easily my love for FK can still bubble up when I'm not having today's pro-Lacroix, pro-vampirism fannish consensus rubbed in my face. :-)
Re: I am a very old-fashioned Knightie... the last of my kind, I often think...
Date: 2026-03-30 02:18 am (UTC)And I like the spectrum of character alignments you laid out, particularly with Nick trapped in the middle. This fits with his occasional plunges into gloom and nihilism, as he reaches for the light but stumbles along the way. It is not an easy path he has chosen to walk. Ease seems represented by Lacroix, with his advice to drift through what is essentially a meaningless existence, without any passion or appreciation for a life which never ends. Lacroix seems to operate as the voice of despair, telling Nick to stop fighting, stop striving. He's definitely the villain of the piece.
I often end up out of step with popular fandom opinions, it feels. I'm glad if you find some of my opinions resonant with your own in this case. ❤️