The Fix (TF)

An der Nadel

Week starting January 1st, 1995

Michael Sadowski

Nicholas J. Gray

David Eisner as Fred Berman & Howard Jerome as Jimmy Vinetti

The episode opens with Brian Sykes (portly, middle-aged, distraught), sitting in his squad car. Scenes of Sykes listening to opera, while scrawling a suicide note on a bowling team photo, are juxtaposed with scenes of Natalie taking blood from Nick in the morgue. As Sykes pulls a gun from his glove box, Natalie discovers that a sample of Nick's blood treated with a new drug can tolerate sunlight. Natalie's delight is countered by Sykes's self-destruction.

At the crime scene, Nat examines the suicide car as Cohen and Schanke compare notes. Fred Berman {small, ferret-like, control freak}, from Internal Affairs, has taken over the crime scene. When Schanke remarks that Berman was first on the scene, Cohen wonders at Internal Affairs arriving first.

Later, at the morgue, Natalie shows Nick a slide of his blood, and points out a mysterious, extra nucleotide. Natalie produces a vial of "Lytoveuterine B," a newly created substance which bonds with the vampire "virus" and shuts it down. She reluctantly admits that originally, the drug was a synthetic hormone to improve beef production, discontinued when it proved lethal in testing. Nat believes that Nick may be able to tolerate low doses, like chemotherapy. Given the choice, Nick opts for the treatment.

(FLASHBACK to earlier attempts at cures with charlatans, etc.)

Natalie injects Nick with a small dose of the drug. Seconds later, Nick groans, "Oh God, I'm gonna be sick!" as he falls to his knees, gasping with pain and nausea. After a few minutes, the symptoms subside, and Nick pulls himself to his feet, telling Natalie that the vampire is gone. To test the cure, Nick recklessly rushes outside into the daylight, with Natalie close behind him, begging him to stop. Miraculously, he's unhurt, and stands in the sunlight for the first time in over 800 years. He and Natalie hug joyously.

At the precinct, Cohen greets Schanke, who is exhausted and bedraggled. Cohen notes that Berman has ordered all of Sykes' possessions seized for examination. Schanke struggles to contain his outrage.

Cut to: Nick and Nat riding in Nick's car, with the top down, enjoying the sunshine. Nick, euphoric and distracted, drives through a red light, then laughs off Natalie's alarm. She insists that they go home and get some rest. She reminds him that they need to run dozens of tests. He agrees, but says he has to make a stop first. Reaching for his cell phone, he calls Janette, then drives straight to The Raven. He rushes inside, Natalie trailing reluctantly behind him. Without consulting Natalie, Nick offers to share his cure with Janette. Horrified, Nat protests; Janette promptly refuses Nick's offer. She reminds him that she isn't ashamed of who she is, and warns Natalie that she's been through this with Nick before.

Back in the car, Nick dismisses Natalie's concerns, assuring her that Janette's just jealous. A few minutes later, he drops Natalie off at the morgue. As she starts to get out of the car, Nick's hand is on her arm, asking her for the Lytoveuterine. She initially refuses, but he insists; he's worried that the drug will wear off while he's in the sunlight. Finally, she capitulates and gives him the drug and syringes, making him promise to only use it for emergencies, and only after he's called her.

A short while later, as Nick is driving, he notices that the drug is wearing off. His promises to Natalie forgotten, he pulls over and injects himself with a generous dose of the drug. The toxic side effects are brief and much less severe than the first time.

Nick finds Schanke sitting on a bench in the park where Sykes killed himself. Schanke shows him a lens cap he's found, and Nick suggests that someone might have watched Sykes' suicide. Schanke, seeing Nick in the daylight for the very first time, notes that something seems "different" about Nick, and asks him if he's just gotten a haircut.

Cut to: downtown. Nick and Schanke are driving around, talking. Nick stops at Machelio's, a restaurant where Jimmy Vinetti, a local crime boss, eats lunch every day. They visit Vinetti at his table, asking him questions about Sykes. Nick is enchanted by the food on Vinetti's plate; abruptly, he grabs a fork and samples some of Vinetti's pasta. Schanke and Vinetti are both stunned as Nick gobbles Vinetti's lunch, reaching over to sop up sauce with a piece of bread and washing it down with Vinetti's glass of Chianti. Vinetti leaves, inviting Nick to finish his meal. Schanke stares, open-mouthed, as Nick slips into Vinetti's chair and polishes off the plate.

After the impromptu lunch, Nick stops at a vendor stand and orders a couple of hot dogs, then strolls off without paying. Schanke hurries to pay the vendor and chases after the munchy-crazed Nick. Between bites, Nick explains his conspiracy theory {involving Vinetti, Sykes, and Berman} to a worried Schanke. Nick spots a delicious young thing sashaying past. He fantasizes sinking his fangs into her neck, and comes back to awareness realizing that the drug is wearing off. Schanke tells Nick that he looks sunburned. Nick leans over to check his reflection in a taxi window {a clever improvisation by Geraint Wyn Davies.} He lowers his sunglasses to see that his eyes are gold. Handing the rest of the hot dog to Schanke, Nick rushes home.

At home, Nick's vampiric self surges back. He opens a bottle of blood and chugs it, but it doesn't work. In frustration, he shoves the bottle away and reaches for the vial in his jacket pocket. Intense scenes of Nick tying off his arm with rubber tubing, tearing the syringe package open with his teeth. Shakily, he pulls an enormous dose into the barrel and plunges it into his arm. He falls to the ground, first convulsing, then laughing. A shadow passes across Nick as LaCroix towers over him. In their confrontation, LaCroix points out that Nick has merely traded one addiction for another.

At the precinct, Schanke tells Natalie that Nick is wigging out with bizarre conspiracy theories. Natalie suspects that the drug has made Nick delusional.

Back at the loft, Nick declares that he no longer belongs to LaCroix, that he is now cured. He tears the rubbering tubing off his arm and flings it away, then opens the blinds to stand in the sunlight. LaCroix smiles and calmly steps into the light. Smoke rises as the smoldering LaCroix assures Nick that they will always be together, that they are each other.

Afterwards, at the morgue, Natalie refuses to give Nick any more of the drug. She explains that the vampire virus is mutating; the drug only works in ever- increasing amounts; eventually, won't work at all. Nick goes berserk, spouting paranoid accusations that Natalie is just trying to control him. When Schanke echoes Nat's concerns, Nick accuses him of selling out his friends. Furious and irrational, Nick storms out of the morgue.

As Nick sulks through the precinct, he bumps into Berman. After a brief exchange, he tosses the lens cap to Berman, saying, "You dropped something."

Nick returns home to the loft, where he experiences more flashbacks of earlier cure attempts. As he struggles through the beginnings of withdrawal, Jimmy Vinetti leaves a message on Nick's answering machine, asking him to meet him at Lakeside Industrial Park in one hour.

Nick returns to the morgue, which seems deserted. Desperately, he kicks and pounds on the drug cabinet, finally using a scapel to pry off the lock. He grabs the drug and syringes, then drives to the park to meet Vinetti. In the car, he prepares to inject another dose, but stops. Remembering Natalie's warnings, he decides he can do this without the drug.

Meanwhile, Natalie and Schanke go to Nick's loft, looking for him, and listen to Vinetti's message on his answering machine. As they reach their car, Vinetti's stooges do a remarkably inaccurate drive-by shooting; Natalie and Schanke are shaken but uninjured.

At the park, Nick meets Vinetti to get to "the truth." Fred Berman, sitting beside Vinetti, delivers the truth: he leans forward and shoots Nick. Vinetti orders his driver to toss Nick into the Caddy's trunk and get rid of him.

It's nightfall when the driver stops the Caddy by the water and opens the trunk. Since Nick decided not to take the stolen Lytoveuterine B, he has reverted to his naturally unnatural state. Instead of a body, the driver finds a vamped-out Nick, who lunges out and overpowers him. Berman and Vinetti arrive and repeatedly try to run Nick down; they manage to hit a tree instead.

The "cavalry" arrives, led by Natalie and Schanke. Nick gives Nat a quick glimpse of his fangs, to show her that he's back to himself as the uniformed officers take over.

Epilogue:

At the loft, Nick reads the headlines regarding Berman's arrest. He opens a bottle and sighs. At the precinct, Schanke gets misty over Sykes' bowling photo, then sniffles and goes back to work.

The theme of "chasing a cure" is underscored in the episode's two flashbacks. In the first flashback:

Nick visits Dr. Spense, an infamous charlatan who preys on Nick's desperation by promising impossible results.

The second flashback emphasizes the futility of Nick's quest:

Dr. Spense shows his true colors, restraining Nick in order to perform "experiments" on the vampire. Janette and LaCroix kill Spense and rescue Nick.

Although the epilogue was curiously unsatisfying, this episode is well-written and well-directed, beautifully framing an exceptional performance by Geraint Wyn Davies. An instinctual actor, he crafts the development of addiction, the subtle {and not-so-subtle} personality changes, the climatic confrontation, and the resolution, with frightening clarity. The script allows Wyn Davies to break out of the sometimes predictably scripted character, and to show some of his considerable range as an actor. His portrayal illustrates the euphoria, depression, desperation, and shame interwoven with addiction, and provides an opportunity to see the usually meticulous Nick Knight in a very different light.

As usual, Rick Forsayeth's flawless stunt choreography meshes well with the camera work, while Fred Mollin's music provides a fluid foundation and sets the pace for the program. A convincing chronicle of an addict's roller coaster ride of mood swings from giddy euphoria to rage, from paranoia to desperation, and from desire to compulsion, this episode is a must-see.

There's a generous helping of Nick and Schanke, a fair amount of Natalie, not enough LaCroix, just a bit of Janette, and a sprinkling of Cohen.

Nat & Nick:	Nat: "It was designed to - how can I put this delicately - enhance beef production, but it proved lethal." Nick: "It looks like my day in the sun will be deadly either way." Nat: "OR you could have a whole new career down on the farm!"
Nick & Lacroix:	Nick: "I'm cured. I'm not yours anymore." Lacroix: "You will always belong to me. We ARE each other."
Nat to Nick:	"It's not a cure. It's a FIX."

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