Father's Day (FD)

Väter und Söhne

Week starting October 23rd, 1994

Gillian Horvath

Bruce Pittman

Peter Boretski as Don Thomas Constantine

The teaser opens with Don Constantine telling a group of people that his great-grandson, David, will be taking over the family business. It then cuts to David arriving home. His wife, Karen, informs him that his great-grandfather is sending a car to pick him up for a meeting. Johnny Larnar is in the house and tells David that they must leave immediately. The two sneak out the back door just as a car pulls up in front of the house. Larnar and David get in into a car and pull away from the house as soon as the two 'thugs' step inside. Constantine gets a call in his office that David has run away and he is furious.

As the show begins, Schanke is in the locker room begging the other detectives to take his shift on Father's Day. Nick comes in and tells Schanke he'll do it. Upstairs in homicide, Captain Cohen is waiting. She tells Nick and Schanke that Johnny Larnar has called in saying that he has David Constantine and he is going to bring him in. Cohen sends Nick and Schanke to the meeting place. On the way, Schanke is filling out a questionnaire for his daughter on "What is a father?"

When they get to the meeting place, they find the car running and no one around. As they look around, they find Larnar's body all shot up, but David is nowhere to be found. When the clean-up crew comes, Natalie states that the shooter was a professional. Cohen then comes on the scene stating the word is out about David - Constantine has every available man looking for him. So Nick and Schanke have to find him fast, because there is nowhere for him to go. Nick remembers his first meeting with Don Constantine.

Schanke and Nick then question Karen Constantine. She says her husband is in New York and that she hasn't seen him for a while - about two weeks. Nick tells her David is in danger, but she won't believe it. She believes the Don is doing what is best for the family and asks them to leave. Outside the house, Nick seems to sense something.

Back at the precinct, Nick drops Schanke off to face Cohen alone. Schanke questions this, and Nick says he has to do something and he'll be right back.

Nick goes back to the Constantine house and looks around. He finds David hiding in the back. David tells him he doesn't want to testify against the family, that he just wants to leave and start a new life. Nick remembers a confrontation he had with Lacroix in Paris.

At the precinct, Cohen is angry because Nick had David, but let him go. Nick tells her they had no reason to detain him and that there was no guarantee that he would be safe at the precinct. Nick goes to see Natalie at the Coroner's office and tells her that David is at his place because he sympathizes with David's situation.

Nick goes to see Karen and tells her that David is planning to leave and wants her to come too. She tells him that the family knows what's best. But Nick says that David wants what's best for 'his' family.

As the sun comes up, Nick and David are talking and David is worried because Karen hasn't called. Someone is at the door, and David thinks it is Karen. It turns out to be Constantine's thugs. They shoot up the place, but Nick vamps out and goes after them, kicking them out. As David helps Nick clean up, he says his great-grandfather told him about creatures, but he didn't believe it.

When the thugs report back to Constantine, he asks them if Nick "changed". When they say 'yes', Constantine says he knows that kind.

Nick takes David to the Raven. Janette tries to get him to take David somewhere else, but reluctantly agrees. Nick then tells her not to run and tell his daddy where he is. Nick leaves David at the bar and goes to arrange for his 'disappearance.'

At Constantine's office, Nick tries to reason with him, but the Don will have nothing of it. Constantine remembers Nick, and tells him "you are the man who ran out on his family" and that it will not happen with David. He says what David wants is irrelevant, only what is best for the family is important.

Constantine goes to CERK radio to call in the favor Lacroix owes him. (Constantine gave Lacroix Nick's whereabouts in Los Angeles in the 1920s.)

Nick tries once more to talk to Karen. He finds out that she told Constantine where David was but she didn't know they had gone there to hurt him. She says she wants things back the way they were. Nick tells her that can't happen, that she has to decide what is more important - 'her' family or the Constantine family.

Father's Day. Nick is at the precinct filling in for Schanke. He finds Lacroix sitting at his desk. When Nick asks what he is doing there, Lacroix goes into a speech about fathers and tells Nick to stay out of the Constantine business. Nick asks Lacroix to let David go, since he would never let Nick go.

Lacroix goes to Constantine's office and tells him that David will always want to leave. Constantine says that David and his son are the last of the Constantines and tells Lacroix "you owe me."

Nick and David are preparing to leave and Karen joins them. A car pulls up and Constantine and Lacroix get out. Nick tells David to go and he will try to hold them off. Constantine then surprises David by telling him to go and make a new life somewhere - possibly Los Angeles. Stunned by this, Nick asks Lacroix what he said. Lacroix tells Nick the Don could possibly live another hundred years - Lacroix had brought him across because he owed Constantine a favor.

The next night Nick goes to the radio station to see Lacroix. He gives the pocket watch (a gift from Lacroix) back to him and informs him that he is not coming back, but he just wanted to thank him. Nick wishes Lacroix a happy Father's Day. Lacroix says Nick will come back and he has all the time in the world to wait for Nick. The episode ends with a shot of the inscription on the watch: "Forever."

While in Paris in the 1920s, Nick acquires some herbs to try as a 'cure'. Lacroix finds him on the street and confiscates the herbs. He then proceeds to treat Nick as a child, finally slapping Nick across the face for disobeying him. Nick tells Lacroix to let him go or kill him because either way he will leave him.

Later, Nick returns to the apartment where Janette is waiting. He tells her Lacroix found him and he is leaving. Janette protests, but finally gives him the name of Don Constantine, who will take him to the US.

We see Nick emerge from a trunk in Los Angeles and he gives a watch to a young Don Thomas Constantine as payment for his services. Lacroix returns to the apartment in Paris to find Nick gone and after protesting for a short time, Janette tells him where Nick went. (One of the best lines is from this scene.)

In Los Angeles, Lacroix questions Don Constantine about the whereabouts of Nick and reacquires the watch, which he had given Nick as a gift. Finally, Lacroix finds Nick and returns the watch to him, telling him he can never leave.

During the entire episode, Lacroix talks about the father/son relationship and the idea of loyalty. He seems to be talking directly to Nick, explaining his point of view while slightly mocking Nick.

I loved this episode. It really goes deep into the relationship between Nick and Lacroix. Lacroix sees Nick as a son and won't let him go, while Nick, like all children, wants to leave. It is the same thing teenagers have to deal with, but here the struggle has been going on for hundreds of years. During the flashback scenes, you really feel for Nick. Lacroix treats him as though he is a young child and Nick acts like a child would - talking back, making threats, etc. Then, at the end, you see Nick as an independent person when he confronts Lacroix and tells him he is not coming back.

This episode was pure Cousins. The entire story revolves around the relationship between Nick and Lacroix. Nick's eternal struggle for freedom and Lacroix's struggle to control him.

Janette & Lacroix:	(discussing Nick) - Janette: "We can get a new one." - Lacroix: "I don't want a new one. I like that one."
Lacroix & Nick:	- Lacroix: "A father provides love, discipline, guidance, protection and support. That's not bad." - Nick: "He left out freedom." - Lacroix: "So would I."
Lacroix & Nick:	- Lacroix: "You're my creature, Nicholas! Made in my image!" - Nick: "Then I am a monster."
Nick to Lacroix:	"Perhaps there is no cure, but that won't stop me from leaving you. Kill me if you wish, but either way, I will leave you."
Nick & Nat:	- Nick: "Even when they're trying to kill you, they're still your family." - Nat: "Youch. Sounds like an epitaph."
Nick to Lacroix:	"Happy Father's Day."

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