Hunted (Hd)

Jagdzeit

Week starting October 9th, 1994

Roy Sallows

Allan Kroeker

Gwynyth Walsh as The Hunter

The prologue opens with a skin head dressed in fatigues stalking something unknown. Frightening off some people with his drawn knife, he leaps and scurries over the landscaping. When the watch he is wearing begins to beep, he pulls his knife again and drops into a defensive position, as if he's expecting to be attacked. When no one appears, he turns to the trash bin behind him and begins jerking paper and debris out of it, looking for something. Suddenly a gun lands at his feet. The skin head picks it up and fires a couple rounds off at an unknown assailant. Someone fires back and kills the man. He walks by the dead skin head and take a briefcase that had been hidden near the trash bin.

After the opening credits, we see Nick walk into the squad room as Schanke is sitting at his desk talking to Myra, his wife, on the phone. From the conversation on Schanke's end, we are able to perceive that she wants Don to take a vacation. Myra is interested in going to St. Martin to watch the whales mate. As Nick sits down on the desk near his partner, Schanke tells Myra the captain is yelling for him (a lie) and hangs up. Don turns his attention back to the case as they begin discussing the latest killing involved with this case. Six identical watches on six dead bodies within a month. Schanke calls the killer 'The Garbage Man'. They haven't figured out what's going on yet.

Stopping at the morgue, Natalie gives them the run down on the latest killing. He was a skin head knife fighter who had been hyped up on meph-amphetamines and PCP. The killer shot him through the heart, killing him instantly. Natalie raises the thought that the killer is looking for more dangerous victims, increasing the rush the killing gives him. Nick then suggests that the victims were being hunted, literally run through the city before they are shot. He has his first flashback of Lacroix, Janette and him in the 1850's hunting through the woods of Wales or England.

Returning to the precinct, Nick is tagging all the hits on a map as Schanke comes in with more reports. After going over some of the new information, Nick suggests to Captain Cohen, who had walked up to them, that they go undercover to nab this killer.

Next scene shows Schanke walking down the street wearing a light polyester outfit. Nick walks up to him wearing dark, worn clothing, more like what the street people wear. Geraint (Nick) does a very good, if brief, accent when playing this street person. Schanke gives him money, like a hand out, then fends off another panhandler asking for change. (Quote at the bottom of the page)

Nick walks off by himself, checks to make sure no one is looking, then launches himself into the air. He uses his heat sensitive vision to look around. We see a biker and faintly hear the beeping of a watch as Nick uses his abilities to scan the area. The biker pulls into an alley, parks and begins to walk through the alley. Nick suddenly lands behind him, then quickly disappears from sight. Seeing no one behind him, the biker moves deeper into the alley, chambering a round into his gun. Nick has slipped behind him again, slowly following the biker as he moves into a small parking/loading area.

Slipping against a wall, out of sight, Nick stands and watches the biker begin to search the area. Hearing a noise, both Nick and the biker turn and look toward several large barrels and trash bins nearby. The biker, seeing nothing, goes back to searching for something, like the other victim had been doing. Nick continues to watch for the hidden gunman and when the gun appears, he slips between the killer and his victim, the biker. Vamped out, he takes all the killer's bullets, then turns and gets shot by the biker as well. While Nick subdues the biker, the killer picks up a case and disappears. Police cars swarm into the area. Suddenly the biker's watch beeps as it counted down to zero.

Next scene has Schanke holding the biker's gun in an evidence bag. Schanke tries to talk to the biker, but he is staring at Nick, who is searching around the barrels and trash bins where the shooter had been standing. The biker is spooked by Nick and admits to Schanke that he shot Nick. Schanke points out his bullet proof vest as the explanation for Nick's still being alive. Nick continues walking around the bins, looking for the hunter, which triggers his second flashback.

Schanke joins Nick at the barrels and congratulates him on the bust. Schanke asks Nick about the biker, hoping he is the shooter. Nick says no, he was the target; he had the watch. Schanke suggests a run by the medical examiner's office so Natalie can look at the gun. She confirms the gun isn't the one they're looking for. They talk about the killer escalating the kick by hunting more dangerous victims. Nick flashes a third time.

Having returned to the squad room and changed back into their own clothes, the detectives begin grilling the biker. He's still shaken by Nick.

Nick presses a bit and the biker starts answering questions. They get the story: a tape recorder with a watch around it was left for the biker. He was told he could have 2 million dollars if he can find where it's hidden. If he goes after it, then he agrees to be hunted. The watch sets the time limit. The detectives exit the interrogation room and inform Captain Cohen about what's going on.

At the end of his shift, Schanke leaves the precinct by the back door. Going to his car, he gets shot by a tranquilizer dart, knocking him out. A little while later, Nick exits. As he approaches his car, he sees a tape recorder, with a watch sitting on the dash of his car. The killer has Schanke and wants to hunt Nick. He has thirty minutes to get to the old Harris Generating Station and rescue his partner or a small bomb will blow Schanke up.

As Nick listens to the conditions of the hunt, the killer informs Nick that he knows what Nick really is. He wants Nick to come alone, without his gun and on foot. Since the sun is rising, Nick is forced to use the sewers. After he drops into the sewers, he has another flashback.

Nick moves through the sewers, avoiding as much of the light as he can. The scene cuts to Schanke as he sits tied up in a room of the power station. He makes an assumption when a woman walks into the room that she needs his help to escape the killer. He asks her to untie him and he would protect her. She laughs at him. She is the killer.

After a few scenes showing Nick moving toward the power station through the sewer tunnels, we cut back to the woman as she explains why she has been doing the killings. When Schanke asks her why he's there, she tells him that it's to force his partner to cooperate. She then prepares a few things to help her in dealing with Nick. Setting the bomb under Schanke, she goes to meet Nick when he comes out of the sewer.

Nick climbs out and stands in the shadows for a moment. The Hunter casually steps out and starts talking to him. She pulls her gun and shoots, grazing Nick across his cheek. The bullets she is using are hollow points filled with garlic. In his anger, he moves into direct sunlight and has to fall back. As she comments on her surprise at seeing him last night (quote at bottom), Nick begins to mesmerize her, trying to pull her to him. However, she escapes his whammy. This is a very good Dark Knightie scene! She tries to explain to Nick why she's been killing. After his second attempt at whamming her fails, he runs away and continues his search for Schanke.

Schanke is sweating the bomb. He talks to himself, promising Myra that they'll go on that vacation when he gets out of this mess. Nick runs through the sunlight, smoking, as he looks for a door. Sprinting up the stairs, he jerks the door off its hinges and goes inside. Moving into the shadows, he stops and rests for a moment as the last flashback from his past occurs.

The Hunter stalks Nick through the plant. They both use stealth and their hunting skills in their cat and mouse game. As Nick moves under a metal staircase, the Hunter throws down a small bottle of holy water which shatters near him. She taunts him as she throws down several molotov cocktails. He avoids them and rushes up the stairs after her. Time is running out for Schanke.

Moving to the top, Nick backs off as a cross appears in front of him. The Hunter steps out and shoots him with the garlic bullets. As he backs away from her, she talks about the similarities she sees between them. He states that what she has done, what she has become, he detests. The Hunter becomes angry and shoots him again. He tries to talk her out of doing this. She wants to win. She shoots him several more times. He falls off the end of the platform and disappears. She becomes worried as he vanishes and rushes back to Schanke's location. As she's grabbing a pair of night goggles, Schanke yells out to Nick, warning him about her actions. She slaps him as he walks by, then turns out the lights in the room. As Schanke continues to shout encouragements and information of the Hunter's actions, Nick suddenly jumps into the room through the window, startling her. As he kneels at the base of the window, she empties her gun at him then rushes toward the crossbow she had placed on a table earlier as Nick hurries to untie Schanke.

She shoots the crossbow at Nick, but he catches the arrow and breaks it. Jerking the watch off, he hustles Schanke out of his chair and out the door. The Hunter moves to follow and trips over the rug. Falling next to the chair, she hears the watch beep and looks at the bomb as it counts the last couple of seconds off. KABOOM!!!

In the epilogue (tag), Nick is sitting, hunched over on one of the examining tables as Natalie is removing the last of the garlic bullets. Asking him about the irritation he replies: "If by irritation, you mean a thousand scorpions had stung me all at once; yes, thank you very much, the irritation has stopped."

Natalie quizzes him on why he went back out in the sunlight. He replies he had to do the unexpected to defeat her. She had to compete against him; prove she was better than her prey. That's why a hunter hunts.

Schanke comes in, asks if he's okay. He starts complaining. Myra wouldn't let him tell her about his narrow escape on the phone and complained about missing the whales. Natalie begins to tease Schanke, suggesting if he needed to lay down after his ordeal, he could use one of the slabs, the others wouldn't mind. Schanke dryly retorts about Natalie's twisted sense of humor. Nick, grinning at the play between them, states that Natalie's sense of humor was dark, but he likes dark. Giving her a kiss on the cheek, he jumps off the table and heads out with Schanke. Natalie watches the partners leave.

The flashbacks center on Lacroix, Nick and Janette as they hunt through the woods of England or Wales. Lacroix wanted to hunt tougher game, so they hunt a hunter. The thrill, the excitement, the danger they feel is explored during these flashbacks. The last flashback shows Nick acquiring new guilt as he witnesses the after effects of one of their kills.

I enjoyed this episode very much. The flashbacks were well done. They added greatly to the feel of the episode. Watching the vampires as they hunted was woven through the present day story very well. The closeness of the partners was also displayed. Watching these two as they interrogated the biker was great fun.

Dark Knighties	They'll love this one. Lots of fangs and vampire moments with Nicholas, though he does anguish a bit in the flashbacks.
FoDs	Schanke is superb in this one. The partners work well together. Their interaction is great to watch.

Schanke to Nick:	"They checked the phases of the moon against the hits... like the guy's a werewolf or something."
Lacroix to his children:	"What greater challenge could there be, than a chase through the moonlit forest in pursuit of a predator."
Schanke:	"No! I look like a bank machine?!"
Nat and Nick:	(in the morgue after Nick spaces out) Nat: "Nick?" Nick: "It's nothing Nat. Another time... another place."
Schanke to Nick:	"I haven't had that much fun grilling someone since Myra drove the Cordoba into a ditch."
Hunter:	"When I saw you last night; realized what you must be... (laugh), it took my breath away. A creature designed to hunt... to kill. The perfect adversary."

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