False Witness (FW)

Fluch der Vergangenheit

Week starting August 2nd, 1992

Naomi Janzen

Jorge Montesi

John Evans as Murray Kozak & Elen Dubin as Tamara Dugan

The intro opens with Nick and Schanke on stakeout by a warehouse. Nick is in his own car and Schanke is with another cop in a van. A man they have wired, Peter Farber, is talking with another man, Murray Kozak, trying to get information on the death of a woman named Betty Gilroy. Nick can tell when Kozak starts to get suspicious. When Kozak finds out Pete's wired, Nick vamps out and flies to the rescue. However, before he can get there, he hears Kozak yell, "You!" followed by Pete shouting, "No! I'm sorry!" and the sound of a gun going off. By the time Nick crashes through the warehouse window and arrests Kozak, Pete is dead.

After the opening credits, Nick and Schanke are searching Kozak's "office" for a video tape of him strangling Betty Gilroy. Nick doesn't understand why it's so important that they find a tape that probably doesn't exist, and Schanke explains to him that the department's been after Kozak for a long time. As the handcuffed Kozak is being led away, he shouts that Pete shot himself and they have no evidence that he himself did it. Nick claims to have seen him kill Farber, even though his didn't. Captain Stonetree smiles, saying they finally got him.

A woman is led into the room by a police office who leaves when Schanke stops her. She tells him she is Mistress Tamara Dugan and says that they were going to shoot something that night. When she realizes Kozak's been taken to the station, she leaves.

Nick then walks into the police station to find his fellow officers have a party planned for him. Before Schanke forces him to eat a piece of cake Myra made, Stonetree calls Nick into his office to talk to the crown prosecutor. The woman says all she needs is a quick, recorded statement from Nick to prevent any typos from getting in the way of justice.

Natalie walks into the room and sees the party. Another officer says that, "Nick's an amazing cop and the story of how he did it would blow you away."

Meanwhile, Nick is telling the events of that night. He says he could tell the informer was in danger, so he left the car and ran to a fence, which he then climbed over. He proceeded to run across the yard to the warehouse where he found an open window and got in through it. When he got inside, he explains, he went up the stairs he found until he got to the top floor. He then heard voices coming from down the hall, but he couldn't tell what they said. As he ran to the door, he heard Farber yell, "No! I'm sorry!" and decided to go in. He claims he saw Kozak pull the trigger just as he entered the room. He seems uncertain so the crown prosecutor asks him again if he saw it happen, and, recalling in his mind what really went on, Nick answers yes. She thanks him for his cooperation and Nick returns to his party.

Natalie confronts him about his heroic save and asks, "was it a step forward or a step backward?" His silence is answer enough. He defends himself by saying he was just doing his job, trying to help Pete, but Nat wants to know if he really saw the shooting. She states his reports claims Farber was shot at a distance of four feet, but her autopsy says point-blank. She reminds him that, in the mortal world, perjury is a crime, too.

As the sun is coming up the next morning, the crown prosecutor's office calls to let him know the trial has been set and that he is scheduled to appear in court on the fifteenth at ten o'clock AM, bright and early.

When Nick goes back into work, he tried to convince Stonetree to let him video tape his testimony and send it like he usually does. The captain explains that he can't do that because Nick is a primary witness, the only witness. The only hope they have of nailing Kozak is if Nick takes the stand and tells the judge what he saw.

Later, Nick and Schanke go to see Mistress Tamara to find out what she knows about Betty Gilroy. The woman says she's never seen or been involved in any video where Betty was strangled. Nick brings up the fact that Tamara wasn't brought in as a witness for the trial, suggesting that she might hurt his case. She denies this, however.

As the detectives are leaving the warehouse, Nick asks Schanke what he would do if he told him he didn't really see the murder. Schanke replied, "I'd say, 'So what'?" He says sometimes you have to lie and it's not as if there's any doubt Kozak's guilty. Nick seems cheered by this.

But later at the station, Schanke asks Stonetree why people don't trust cops. The captain tries to avoid the question, but Schanke goes on to say how cops protect and serve, don't use their gun unless they have to, then break into the neighborhood crack factory, dodge the bullets, then warn them not to say anything that might be used against them. Stonetree again tries to evade the question, but Schanke simply states that the captain knows he's right. "Comes with the job," Stonetree replies.

Later, Nick wakes up suddenly from dream where he was reliving what happened the night of the murder, most especially the part where he couldn't get there in time to save Pete. Hearing Schanke downstairs, he goes down to investigate the irritation. Schanke sits his partner down and explains that police need to be heroes. So, that day in court, if he needs to lie so that Kozak goes to jail, that's fine. He finally leaves and Nick gets out a bottle of blood, drinking deeply.

Natalie drives Nick's car to the parking garage while he hides in the trunk, and explains as they make their way to the courtroom, that everything on the way is either underground or inside with no windows. The courtroom itself has a window, but the blinds are Venetian and she sabotaged them the night before. As they enter the courtroom, Stonetree tells them Kozak's lawyer says he will prove Nick's lying. To make matters worse, the blinds are opened a moment later and the sun streams in.

Kozak takes the stand and his lawyer begins asking questions. Kozak sticks to the story that he was too hard on Pete and that Farber shot himself. He claims Nick arrived after the death. This aggravates the rest of the people watching and the judge calls for recess because of the noise.

Schanke tries to reassure Nick during the break, but he goes back to the courtroom uneasy. He is called to the stand, where he is sworn in. After bearing the pain of having his hand on the Bible, Nick sits down and the questioning begins.

Nick starts to tell the story he told the crown prosecutor, but Kozak's lawyer interrupts to say that it took a decathlete he hired four minutes to do what Nick said. According to Nick's testimony, he did it in just over two minutes. The lawyer jokes that perhaps they should start training their Olympic hopefuls on a diet of donuts and coffee.

As the sun rises higher into the sky, the light creeps closer and closer to Nick. Kozak's lawyer asks if he really saw Kozak shoot Farber. Nick struggles between lying and telling the truth, as the memories of what Schanke said, what Stonetree said about telling the judge what he saw, and the events of that night replay in his mind. He finally says he didn't see the shooting and since there is no reason to continue, the trial is ended.

Later, Nick is walking down a dark alley with Janette. He says when he came down to it, he just couldn't lie anymore. He goes on to say that he wants to belong and she scoffs, replying that they are so much more than humans. She doesn't understand why he bothers with such petty human affairs, and he answers that it will help him find his soul. "Your soul is long gone," she tells him, "you lost it when Lacroix brought it across." Then Janette asks if Nick knows where Lacroix is, and can see it in his eyes as he remembers killing his master. She walks away, saying he doesn't belong to vampires, humans, and he's not even true to himself.

When Nick enters the station, the other officers turn their back and ignore him. He goes to the captain's officer and asks for a warrant; it's not for Kozak.

As Nick flies to the warehouse, he overhears Tamara talking about how good Kozak was when he killed Betty and Pete. Kozak grabs the tape of him strangling Betty from Tamara, just as Nick charges in. He shoots Nick twice and Tamara once, then runs out. After faking injury, Nick wakes up and quickly calls for an ambulance, then takes off after Kozak. He flies after Kozak's car and lands in front of it, forcing Kozak off the side of the road. Nick pulls him out of the car and informs him that he's under arrest for the attempted murder of Tamara Dugan.

Epilogue: Nick and Natalie are watching a movie in his loft. Nick laughs at Nat as he switches off the TV, asking her how she could possibly be crying about a forty foot gorilla. Nat is leaning forward to get a handful of popcorn, saying she takes back what she said about him ever being human. As she turns back, Nick vamps out and she yells in surprise, then throws popcorn at him as he chuckles.

The flashbacks take place in the 1820s in England. Nick sees Janette kill a young woman but must stand up for the young man who receives the blame. There is a brief clip from Dark Knight part 2, when Nick kills Lacroix.

I thought the episode was good, one of my favorites. It delves a little deeper into how Nick handles giving testimonies for court, and shows that in the end, he really is a good man. Nick and Schanke's lines keep the episode light, but Janette's scene also reminds the watcher of the darker side to the show.

Knighties and FoDs: both characters have great lines in this episode, sure to bring a smile.

Nick & Nat Packers: the scene at the end is definitely adorable and one N&N Packers will love.

Schanke & Nick:	Schanke: "If I have any more coffee, I'll be able to fly home." Nick: "Sounds like a great idea, you going home." Schanke: "Ah... partner, or would you prefer 'podnah' as John Wayne used to say in the old movies when men were men and women loved it... I've gone down the precinct roster and guess what? You're up to bat. That's right. The score is nothing to nothing but we're losing, but we're always losing, understand?" Nick: "You OD. on a six-foot souvlaki or something?" Schanke: "It hit me when I talked to Stonetree, but I'll give you the short version cause we're partners." Nick: "Who says you're not merciful?" Schanke: "I am mighty, mighty serious partner." Nick: "If I could tap into your nervous energy, you could light up a whole city."
Janette & Nick:	Janette: "The things you concern yourself with are just specks in time. Why do you do it? Why does it matter?" Nick: "It'll help me find my soul."
Nick & Nat:	Nick: "Well, how can you cry about that, huh? It's not even about real people." Nat: "It was so sad." Nick: "It's about a forty-foot gorilla!"

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