Sons of Belial (SoB)

(Not aired yet)

Week starting November 19th, 1995

Phil Bedard Larry LaLonde

Clay Borris

David Hemblen as Dr. Max Vanderwal

The episode begins in a city street. A uniformed policeman walking his beat notices a woman slumped over the steering wheel of her car. As he calls the license in, she starts to drive away. She runs over the policeman, and then drives onto a highway and over some construction barriers. Her car plunges off the highway and onto the road below, where it bursts into flames.

After investigating the hit-and-run and notifying the dead woman's next-of-kin, Nick and Tracy stop by the morgue. Natalie tells them that the deceased, Melanie Sawchuck, had drunk lamb's blood before the accident. Natalie doesn't know why, but Nick does. Nick spaces out into a long flashback to the Spanish Inquisition, when he and Lacroix were thrown in a dungeon. Their jailers paint the threshold of the dungeon with lamb's blood - to keep the demons in!

Nick and Tracy continue to investigate. At Melanie Sawchuck's apartment, Tracy discovers blood on the broken glass of a window, and feels a chill as the wind comes through the room. She finds a book. It is "The Exorcist." Later, Melanie Sawchuck's brother is questioned at the precinct. He tells them his sister was possessed by the devil, and that he sent her to an exorcist, Dr. Max Vanderwal.

Nick and Tracy call on Dr. Vanderwal. He is in the middle of an exorcism, which he allows Nick and Tracy to witness. Crosses and crucifixes all over the place make Nick a bit nervous. The possessed, a young man, is chained to a table. He struggles while Vanderwal tries to exorcise the demon. Tracy and Nick are appalled. At last the demon is driven out of the man, and as this happens, somehow, the demon gets into Nick, who vamps out momentarily. Luckily, neither Tracy nor Vanderwal notice this.

Now a series of strange things occur, as Nick loses control over the demon inside him. While driving back to the precinct with Tracy, Nick sees the ghost of a mad prisoner from the dungeon in the path of his car. He swerves the Caddy around this apparition, which Tracy does not see. (Poor Tracy, she really needs a seat belt when she rides with Nick!). Next, Nick and Tracy come upon a hostage situation which ends with the perpetrator shooting himself with his own gun. Back at the precinct Nick is overcome with a fit of trembling. Tracy notices and asks him what's wrong. (He's spaced out, drives like he's drunk, and now he's got the shakes. If he were my partner I'd think he's on drugs!) Just then a man working up on a ladder next to Nick's desk is electrocuted. When Nick goes home weird things start happening as the demon trashes his apartment. Frightened, Nick runs out of his apartment and goes over to the Raven. After nearly strangling another patron, Nick tells Lacroix that he is possessed by a demon. Lacroix does not believe this is possible, and is angry at first, but he relents when Nick pleads with him for help.

A very skeptical Lacroix takes Nick to Vanderwal to have the demon exorcised. Vanderwal is taken aback when he sees Nick's fangs and green eyes. (He's never seen this particular type of demon before!) While Vanderwal chants in Latin and Lacroix tries to help, Nick struggles with the demon. At first they don't have much success. Nick flings both Vanderwal and Lacroix away from him. Then Natalie comes into the room. Nick leaps off the table and in an instant has her by the head, vamped out and ready to feed. "Nick, don't!" cries Natalie. Nick struggles with himself, then releases her. A few moments later, the demon is gone and Nick is back to himself. Vanderwal observes that although there is evil in Nick, there is also God, and because Nick has faith, he was able to defeat the demon.

The next day, Nick is back in his apartment, depressed, and drinking blood. Natalie comes in to see how he is doing. She tries to comfort him. He tells her that the experience has set him back in his quest to regain his mortality. His eyes turn green and he looks very sad. The episode ends with Lacroix quoting some lines from Milton's "Paradise Lost," which inspired the episode title.

The flashbacks were to 1500s Spain (Spanish Inquisition). Nick and Lacroix were captured by inquisitors and put in a dungeon into which bright sunlight was streaming in through two large cross-shaped windows high above. There were two other prisoners already there: one a madman chained to a wall, and the other a peasant who refused to sell his lands to the church. Nick and Lacroix chat with these men and learn of the nasty fate awaiting those who come under the power of the inquisitors. They also address the major theme of this episode, the question of whether or not God exists, and whether he has abandoned the two of them.

The monologue occurs at the very end of the episode, and consists of Lacroix quoting from "Paradise Lost." See "Great Lines" below.

Now this is the kind of episode there should have been more of! Plenty of action and richly beautiful historical flashbacks. This is a very fast-paced episode. The way the flashbacks were juxtaposed with and paralleled action in the present was awfully effective in heightening the drama. This is a very meaningful episode for all who love this program. Thematically, this episode is compelling: the contest of good vs. evil, doubt vs. faith, hope vs. despair; and the evidence of God in us all, even in Nick and Lacroix, who are repelled by the Sign of the Cross and the Blood of the Lamb! The exorcism scenes were a bit contrived, and apparently they neglected to show the actor who played Vanderwal the proper way to make the Sign of the Cross. (At least put the chalice down first!) But the scenes from the Spanish Inquisition were very well done. The costumes in the flashback scenes were gorgeous. And the way the bright but hazy sunlight came through those cross-shaped windows and diffused through the jail, not only produced a wonderful atmospheric effect, but also served as a powerful symbol of the light of truth and goodness - God's light. Nick and Lacroix cannot step directly into this light, but even they are safe in its diffused glow. And there was dialogue in three languages: English, Spanish and Latin! I could just go on and on, because this may be the best episode I've seen so far!

Plenty to go around for everyone here! There was quite a bit of Lacroix in this episode, and the interactions between Nick and Lacroix were elaborate and extended, so this episode should appeal to fans of both Nick and Lacroix, and especially to those who like to see the two (relatively) happy together. Because we get to see Nick as the out-of-control vampire several times in this episode, it probably also appeals to Dark Knighties. There is not much Natalie in this episode, but in the last two scenes, she does appear in her familiar role as Nick's comfort and hope of redemption. It is worth noting that Vanderwal and Lacroix both tried but failed to help Nick overcome the demon. It was only after Nick heard Natalie call his name, that he was able to defeat the demon. This shows that she means very much to him indeed. And the tender concern Natalie shows for Nick both the last two scenes shows how much he means to her. This surely is pleasing those who are Nick&Natpackers!

Tracy to Nick:	"Nick, are you in there?"
Vanderwal to Tracy:	"If evil took up permanent residence here, so would I."
Lacroix to Nick:	"Really, Nicholas, such crass showmanship!"
Lacroix to Nick:	"Listen to me, Nicholas. There are no such things as demons and devils!"
Lacroix and Vanderwal:	Lacroix: "This is all nonsense!" Vanderwal: "And yet you are here."
Lacroix to Nick:	"There is goodness in you. There is God in you. Use it!"
Lacroix, quoting John Milton's "Paradise Lost:"	"In courts and palaces he also reigns And in luxurious cities Where the noise of riot descends above their loftiest towers And injury, and outrage And when night darkens the street Then wander forth the Sons of Belial Flown with insolence and wine!"

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