Forever Knight (Season 3 Ep 9) - "Let No Man Tear Asunder"

LaCroix:

Do you suppose they celebrate death days on the other side? Will the day we give up the ghost be a cause for celebration in heaven? Or are we just another log on the fires of hell? The only extraordinary thing about birth, it seems to me, is that we are no longer dead, which we presume to be an inferior predicament. How fiercely we struggle to avoid death.

LaCroix:

How the death of our loved ones pains us. How desperately we hold on. Hold on for dear life.

Matt:

Brought across in 12/28.

Rachel:

Hi. I'm Rachel. And I'm Matt. And this is Come in 81 kilo.

Matt:

A forever night podcast.

Rachel:

Alright. It's time for another episode. Let no man tear asunder. Or as I like to think of it, last week was Silence of the Lambs. This week is Frankenstein.

Rachel:

We're going on a tour, a horror tour. It's fine. I don't mind these things being sort of referential. You exist in a a genre. A a horror genre.

Rachel:

Sometimes it's nice to be, like, callback. Let's talk about some other monsters. No. Before you ask, we are not going to get a werewolf episode unless you count the Carusch episode as the werewolf episode.

Matt:

Oh. Yeah.

Rachel:

Yeah. I mean, if you kinda think of Perry got turned into a vampire and suddenly had human level intelligence in a golden retriever body, it's basically a werewolf episode. It means man wolf. So Yeah. Not that golden retriever is even remotely related to a wolf, but, I mean, they are both canines, I guess.

Rachel:

If you wanna You're on the right family tree. Yeah. Yeah. Just real far branches apart. You know?

Rachel:

So how did you think about this episode?

Matt:

I would say I have seen this episode the most times out of any episode.

Rachel:

I like this episode.

Matt:

So you put this on, and I thought, haven't we already done this episode? I've seen this episode, like, 3 or 4 times.

Rachel:

You're welcome.

Matt:

So I knew that this must be one of Rachel's most favoritest episodes.

Rachel:

I like this flashback. I think the present time story is I mean, it's it's generalized forever night nonsense. But the flashback is one of my favorites because, who doesn't like Garrett Wyndavies and his sassy little goatee and his black, like, Victorian era

Matt:

Everyone loves the polished collar.

Rachel:

He's got the white cravat, and then everything else is black. And he's all tortured, but slightly happy. And

Matt:

He's he he's begun his journey of self improvement.

Rachel:

Yeah. But he hasn't quite sworn to never kill anyone ever again, which he's totally With his kids. About. Yeah. Exactly.

Rachel:

Alright. So we start with, a woman in a tattoo parlor, which this looks like the most sanitary tattoo parlor I've ever seen in my life. No wonder she has hep a.

Matt:

I was gonna say that.

Rachel:

She's in sip and hep a.

Matt:

Did any of the writers or actually we don't maybe that's why Garrett is a never nude.

Rachel:

Why? Because he's covered in tattoos.

Matt:

Anyway, I wonder if anybody on the production or, like, writing staff or whatever had had a tattoo? No. Like, do you know do you know what that's like? No. Have you seen it happen before?

Rachel:

And I'm pretty sure he pey is treatable. Like, you can get it, and then you can get rid of it. It's like a sickness. It is. It's like a really bad food poisoning.

Rachel:

Yeah. I looked it up right now. There's fewer than 20,000 cases in the US every year. It's preventable by vaccine, which I know because I'm actually vaccinated against hep a. Yeah.

Rachel:

It's treatable by a medical professional. It requires medical diagnosis. It spreads through contaminated food and water. I did know that. Short term resolves within days, 2 weeks.

Rachel:

So maybe they meant hep c? Hep c would be more believable because it's treatable now, but in the nineties, uh-uh. You had it.

Matt:

You got it. It's only curable in the last few years.

Rachel:

Yeah. And you did get it through, like, contaminated tattoo needles, which I'm guessing is the implication here, which is just the shittiest ass tattoo I've ever seen in my life. It's like a black smear on her back. Like, that's gonna heal into one solid color. That is Yeah.

Rachel:

That's gonna be. Not that I have a ton of tattoos, but, like, I I don't know. I like tattoos. And

LaCroix:

You're a

Matt:

fan of tattoos?

Rachel:

Yeah. And they kind of soften over time. You know, if you have straight lines, they sort of because your skin is like, what's this shit? And it just sort of, you know, relaxes a little. Anyway, she's getting this kind of phoenixy looking bird tattoo with, like, as he's filling it in with a single needle, which just sounds like masochism, because it's like filling it in with an extremely sharp pencil when you absolutely have access to whole ass charcoal sticks.

Rachel:

You could just, you know

Matt:

Yes. Shade it in.

Rachel:

Shade it in. Anyway. Whatever. But she's gripping this rot, and Matt goes, is that metaphorical? Because she's like yeah.

Rachel:

The first man handling this rod.

Matt:

Shot is just we see her with her hands on this metal rod just kind of, like, squeezing and twisting Yeah. And making, like, ambiguous facial expressions. I was like, is this another porn episode?

Rachel:

No. No. That would've been funny. Now it's her getting a tattoo in the middle of the night at a place that has a sign out front that's like free tattoos.

Matt:

Yes. That's what it feels like.

Rachel:

I in my notes, I said, this is the fakest tattoo artist I have ever seen. He's got this machine, which is fine, and he's tattooing with a single needle, which is a choice. And then he's like, I'm out of ink. Like, there's a dispenser.

Matt:

Like, there's a cartridge up in the machine above the needle, like like a ballpoint pen.

Rachel:

Except this needle is clearly like a a single needle with, like a motor on the end of it plugged in?

Matt:

That's a reasonable looking tattoo machine.

Rachel:

There's no reservoir for ink. It's not like a pen.

Matt:

Right. You dip it. It's like a a quill.

Rachel:

Yeah. Or like a fountain pen. Yeah. You dip it in there.

Matt:

You have to dip it Yeah. In something, and then you tattoo, and then you dip and tattoo.

Rachel:

Dip and tattoo. Correct. Which makes me think they were like, has anybody gotten a tattoo and nobody raised their hand and they're like, fuck it. We'll fake it. It's fine.

Rachel:

Like, guys, there's a tattoo your imagination. Should we go to a tattoo parlor and see what it looks like? No. Fuck it. It's fine.

Rachel:

Just do it again too.

Matt:

Still image of a tattooist?

Rachel:

Where's the Oh, yeah. Where's the ink coming from? Well, must be in the gun or something. Okay. So, like, he could run out of ink.

Rachel:

Yeah. Theoretically, he could run out of ink. That's fine. It's fine. And I in my notes, I also said, is it the music or the needle making her sweat?

Rachel:

Because the music is I like this kind of music in, when I'm watching, like, a martial arts movie. Like, in hero, there's the scene where they have the whole epic showdown to that, I forget what that instrument is called. The sort of, like, warbling string also. Yeah. And that's what's playing in the background, and it's like

LaCroix:

We're just

Matt:

amping up the Asian vibe.

Rachel:

I guess. I mean, it's fine. I don't hate this music. I don't know that I would wanna get tattooed to this music. That's what I'm trying to say.

Rachel:

And the gun runs out of ink, and he has to cook it more A lot of ink. A lot

Rachel:

of ink. In this perfectly sterile tattoo parlor where he just lays the he lays a piece of cloth directly over her tattoo, which for reference is an open wound. And then he's like, I'll be right back. So he goes to the back. And while he's back there, synth music starts playing.

Rachel:

It's like You gotta throw attention to the wall. Go down, and this guy gets hit from behind. Like, shadow. You see the shadows of him getting hit from behind. And then he gets knocked out, and somebody comes back out and sits next to her and, like, runs his hand up her leg towards her butt cheek.

Matt:

I would say this would qualify as groping.

Rachel:

Yeah. Yeah. She definitely gets groped. But the weirdest part is she isn't immediately weirded out by it. She's like, oh, you're back.

Rachel:

Oh, are you looking for the tattoo? Oh, it's on my lower back. You're

Matt:

on my butt cheek.

Rachel:

And then she's like, oh, wait. This is too much. Finally, it's too much, and she turns just in time to get hit in the head. And

Matt:

And we get some blood makeup.

Rachel:

Yeah. Yeah. She actually

Matt:

I was a little surprised by that because we don't

Rachel:

We don't normally get of We get, like, artisanal drips.

Matt:

But this Usually, it's like brown old blood stains.

Rachel:

Well, I mean

Matt:

But we don't get a lot of, like, fresh blood makeup.

Rachel:

Yeah. In the hearts of darkness episode, when she kills the guy in the hot tub, there's, like, blood leaking into the hot tub. But you're right. We don't get a lot of oh, I got hit over the head and my face is bleeding like a face wound would. Yeah.

Rachel:

Yeah. And he carts her away. He, like, puts her on a I don't know. Whatever. Carries her out.

Rachel:

Sticks her sticks her in

Matt:

the back. Throws her in the back of his van.

Rachel:

And then we cut back to the tattoo sign, which has a picture of a pierced heart. Do we think that's a metaphor for what this episode is gonna be about?

Matt:

I don't think they thought that deeply about anything.

Rachel:

I think they were like, what is the universal symbol for tattoo? And they were like, I don't know. Like, the heart thing with a mom on it? And they're like, yeah. Sure.

Rachel:

That sounds absolutely right. Let's do that. Even Asian tattoo artists? Even Asian tattoo artists? Stick that shit

Matt:

out there. In America.

Rachel:

They're they're tattooing like Americans, aren't they? You're right. They're not in America. Of North America. In the country.

Rachel:

Okay. Well, I don't do do we wanna give a my niece story today? I feel like she needs to become a a recurring character. I'm not sure

Matt:

why not.

Rachel:

Because teenagers are plucky and funny. My She was laughing at it. She didn't understand why she why it was funny, but she was laughing along with everybody. We were playing a trivia game as a family, and one of the questions she got was, who did America buy Florida from?

Matt:

And she was What country?

Rachel:

What country? What country did America buy Florida from? And she was, like, we bought Florida. And I was, like, yes. We bought Florida on purpose.

Rachel:

And she goes, what country? North America. Like, North America is the country. So if you're wondering about the quality of American schools, I just want to throw that out there. She thought North America was a country, and that we could have purchased it direct.

Rachel:

Like, we contacted Mother Earth. Right? Like, we summoned the spirit of North America, and we were like, can we give you a

Matt:

How much cash do I need to give you?

Rachel:

They were like, Florida, free. 50 So, anyway, she also apparently dislikes England and English people, and we were given a 30 minute dissertation on how she finds the British accent, problematic. And I just wanna be like, do you only watch American TikTok? Are you not exposed to do other accents in your endless hours of scrolling TikTok day after day?

Matt:

That that's supposed to be one of the side effects of, like, globalization and, like, Internet access Yeah. Worldwide is the youths just, like, consistent low level exposure to all kinds of

Rachel:

different Yeah. Globalization. Well, I'm here to tell you folks that that has passed up my niece. So and I can say all of that because she thinks we're weird, and she does not listen to our podcasts.

Matt:

Not anymore.

Rachel:

Well, she listened to them to fall asleep briefly, but now she's moved on. She listens to Joe Rogan.

Matt:

Oh, no.

Rachel:

Okay. Wait. Wait. We have deferred we have gone off. I'm sorry.

Rachel:

We need another podcast called shit my niece says. Okay. So we're back onto the intro, whom we love. I'm sorry if she ever actually listens to this, but which she won't because she thinks we're weird and annoying and that we are literally the biggest losers that have ever walked this entire planet. In case you're wondering, I'm not broken up about that.

Rachel:

I literally have no feelings about my 19 year old niece's opinion, but we we do like her. So it was felt felt like I should bracket that with that. But we go to the intro after this woman gets shoved in the back of the van, And then we come back, and it's the Toronto skyline for a really long time. I was like, wow. This is did we need to pad out 30 to 60 seconds in this episode?

Rachel:

Because it was long. And then we go to the crime scene, which is, of course, in an alley. Because they built an alley for the last episode, why would you waste that kind of, set?

Matt:

Yeah. You just switch up the fire escapes.

Rachel:

Yeah. You take the fire escape out. You take the dumpster out. Put another dumpster in. Put another ruined car in.

Rachel:

You're perfectly good to go. So, apparently, the woman who was knocked out had her heart stolen. And, guys, this is gonna come as, like, a huge shock, but it was done by somebody who might have had surgical training. They were like, that worked really well for the last episode. Should we recycle those wines?

Rachel:

Right. Hell, yes. We should.

Matt:

The last episode okay. This guy abducts people and taxidermies them. What if what

Rachel:

if he kept them alive? Frankenstein. Let's do a Frankenstein episode. Frankenstein episode, in the past in the past. This isn't about Frankenstein.

Rachel:

This is about the illegal organ trade of Toronto. So this woman was knocked out, had her heart stolen by not an expert, but it looks like someone tried to remove it without damaging it. That's what Natalie goes. She's not I'm not an expert. You literally are.

Rachel:

Like, you

Matt:

That that's literally your job.

Rachel:

That is literally your expertise, one might say.

Matt:

Your specialty.

Rachel:

Your specialty. But she does say, this is not mutilation. It was open heart surgery. Actually, I think that's what Nick says. He goes, it's not in mutilation.

Rachel:

It's open heart surgery. And she's like, can we say surgery right now? I don't know. That feels like a leap. And he's like, oh, okay.

Rachel:

We're sure it's not a leap because we just did this. I know all about it now. It wasn't done out here in the street. That's for sure.

LaCroix:

So it's not mutilation. It's open heart surgery. I've

Rachel:

got it

Tracy:

Covered the grounds. No other evidence suggests that the murder took place here. A homeless guy rooting around in the dumpster found her.

Matt:

It's still mutilation, just skillful mutilation. Skillful mutilation.

Rachel:

Here. And Nick looks around, and he's like, yeah. This murder didn't take place here. And Tracy comes over, and she's like, guys, breaking news. This murder did not take place here.

Rachel:

That much we all seem to know.

Matt:

Alright. So the audience has been told multiple times. Repetition is the key to memorization.

Rachel:

Yes. This open heart surgery did not take place in this alley, spoiler alert. Plus, they find a slipper a couple of blocks away, and Natalie's like, I've seen this slipper before. And she just holds it up to the foot. Of course, she has another matching slipper, because apparently, this tattoo artist also provides, thematically appropriate slippers.

Matt:

Maybe they were married?

Rachel:

It's a match. Cinderella has both her slippers. Warm feet.

LaCroix:

Cold heart.

Rachel:

I'm so glad they had this moment.

Matt:

Is was there, like, was there a poem and we didn't get the first three lines of it?

Rachel:

Well, you've heard the phrase cold feet warm heart.

Matt:

No. God. Well, apparently, in this episode, I have.

Rachel:

I feel like I'm still plumbing the depths of your ignorance of classic American idiom. But cold feet, warm heart is like a a phrase. If you have cold feet, you're like cold feet, but warm heart. It's like a I don't know. It's like a a verbal poem, like a thing people say.

Rachel:

I don't know that they would say it in this context necessarily. Alright. Fine. You're gonna force me to look this up. It's a, it means, like, just because you seem frigid doesn't mean you might not have a kind, warm disposition.

Matt:

Gotcha.

Rachel:

Yeah. You just don't show feet very if if you don't show feet. You don't show feelings very easily. That's what that means. So there.

Rachel:

Now you know, it's a thing. They didn't make that up. I'm not sure I've ever heard it in this particular context. Like, I'm at a crime scene, and I'm like, well, too bad. She probably was a nice person despite all the tattoos.

Rachel:

But this brief moment of connection between he and Natalie, forces Nick to disassociate, And so he is thrust back in time to a very sophisticated looking lab. This lab is so science, you guys. Oh my god.

Matt:

This is so steampunk.

Rachel:

There's buzzing sounds. There's, those, like, coils that, like, does that does that what are those called? Tesla coils?

Matt:

Or Jacob's Ladder.

Rachel:

Yeah. There's Jacob's Ladder. There's all kinds of just, like, this is so science. You can tell. It kinda reminds me of the episode where he gets taken in by that guy who's gonna use him for profit and gain.

Rachel:

Remember the episode where he's he thinks he's gonna get cured because this guy's a charlatan? Everybody's like, this guy's a charlatan, and he's like, I beg your

Matt:

pardon. Cure me.

Rachel:

He asked for money upfront. I'm pretty sure that's what reasonable people do. It's perfectly fine. And then they're talking, and this guy like, Nick is on the table, like, writhing around, like, oh, yeah. I'm getting electrocuted.

Rachel:

This is so good. Makes me feel alive. And then the guy walks over, and he unhooks him, turns him off and unhooks him. And then he's like, tech, tech, tech, science, science, science. It's the most science Babble y sentence I think I've ever heard on forever night.

Rachel:

He's like, the electrons will go in and they'll talk to the spooky parts, and the spooky parts will deelectron, and then he will and Nick is like, this sounds so legit. I'm so into it.

Matt:

I am 100% convinced by your jargon.

Rachel:

And then he ends with, and then he will be cured. And Nick is like, good. That's the relevant part. I don't care about the rest. And then he goes, I wish I had your stamina to Nick because Nick is like he goes through all of this, and he's like, actually kinda kinda invigorating.

Rachel:

And so the doctor Hans is like, oh, you know, I wish I had your stamina. And Nick goes, oh, you wanna be me? You'd have to give up the women. I I would go that. That is a negative captain.

Matt:

Straight up lie.

Rachel:

That is a straight lie. I do not believe Nick has given up a woman in his entire life. 800 year old fuck boy was just like, well, you'll have to give up the women. Lie. Lie.

Rachel:

He just doesn't want the competition. And but Hans is like, oh, yeah. That's a hell no for me because I have a woman, A good woman. And then he gives him this, like, the tiniest bit of blood ever. It's like a test tube full of blood.

Rachel:

And they toast to his lovely Veronica who has captured his soul. And then he says, yes, and every other part of me. And Nick slash Garrett gets his, maybe patented eyebrow raise.

Matt:

I know exactly what you mean.

Rachel:

The every part of you. And then he comes back to the present. And, was that, like, locker room talk? Was that Victoria locker room talk that we just heard? Oh, has she captured your heart?

Rachel:

Yeah. And every other part of me? Because we can't say dick. We're British.

Matt:

That's maybe that's why British people are boring and cannot be funny.

Rachel:

They can't possibly be funny. I'm sorry. That was another, nice quote. We actually really like British people. I feel like I just say stuff, and then I'm like, I didn't mean that.

Rachel:

I didn't mean that. I didn't mean that. Like, that sounded inaccurate. No. It's we're we're quoting my niece because I don't know.

Rachel:

She needs to travel is what she needs to do. What is it Mark Twain said that, travel is lethal to prejudice?

Matt:

Yep.

Rachel:

I agree with that. That's why I'm vaccinated for hepatitis a, because I have traveled quite a bit. So when I went to China, I had to be vaccinated for hepatitis a before I could travel there. So I have been around in a geographic sense. So she Kate Nick comes back from his totally related flashback.

Rachel:

We actually get a lot of flashback really rapidly in this episode where we have kind of been giving flashbacks short shrift, and then they were like, hang on. This was one of the primary appeals of the show. Maybe 10 episodes in, halfway through to the very end of the show itself, we should bring back the flashback?

Matt:

The relevant flashback.

Rachel:

But it's good. It's good. But Natalie says, I think they're in the morgue now, and Natalie's like, oh, this lady had the same blood type as me. AB negative. I have never had anyone come through my morgue with the same blood type as me, which is why I am now commenting on this.

Rachel:

Nick's like, god. I know you said that, like, 6 times in the last 4 years. It's fine. And then she points out that the lady has a new tattoo, which from her experience looks fresh. And Nick is like, oh, a tattoo.

Matt:

The the artist didn't get to finish.

Rachel:

Yeah. Maybe it's artistically unfinished, Natalie. Did you ever think about that? No. You only ever think about yourself.

Matt:

No art is ever finished? Have you ever heard that line?

Rachel:

So she's like, oh, there's a tattoo. And Nick is like, yes. There's a tattoo. We go talk to tattoo artists. I could be a policeman.

Rachel:

I could go interview people.

Matt:

Trace is like, shut the fuck up.

Rachel:

She's like, no. No. I know this one. I know this one. I have a friend.

Matt:

I need I need the accolades, Nick, because I want to get promoted.

Rachel:

Pretty sure all she has to do is ask her dad and she'd get promoted.

Matt:

Oh, yeah.

Rachel:

No. I think it's more just like

Matt:

to earn her own way.

Rachel:

She wants to be helpful. She wants to be a good partner. And she's like, no. I know this. I have a friend who's really into tattoos.

Rachel:

I know this artist. That's a big leap to just know she's know a specific artist. What if this lady had brought in a picture?

Matt:

There's 3 tattooists in Toronto.

Rachel:

Apparently. And she's like, it's a guy in Chinatown. And Nick is like, dang it. I was gonna do a good job.

Matt:

We need to ask Meg. Does Toronto have a Chinatown?

Rachel:

Yeah. We saw it earlier. Remember? Do you don't remember the China China blossoms or the one where cherry blossoms. Sorry.

Rachel:

Cherry blossoms. The one where he meets the guy whose mother

Matt:

I don't know. No. No. I mean, like, realtor Ronald.

Rachel:

Well, I don't know. I guess so. They've it's been in the episode at least a couple of times, so I would guess they have an area where the primary number of Asian people live, which could be loosely termed Chinatown. What

Matt:

what I wanna know, if if I went to Toronto in the nineties, and I said, hey. Which way to Chinatown to a random person on the street? Let's say I asked 5 people. Would would I be able to get directed to a Chinatown, or would people be like, what are you talking about? Look.

Matt:

Forever

Rachel:

night is all about accuracy. I don't even know why you are questioning this right now. Yes. There's a China town, and we're not gonna discuss it anymore.

Matt:

This is literally a reference document documentary on Toronto.

Rachel:

But the point of this interaction for me is Tracy's like, oh, yeah. No. I know tattoos. That's a guy. He's in Chinatown.

Rachel:

And Nick just looks at her Looks at

Matt:

her up and down.

Rachel:

And does this, mhmm, this, like, up and down once over, which is, let me say, borderline inappropriate? Because then she goes, no. I don't have one where you can't see it.

Matt:

He did this. He did an even more intense one in that Outer Limits episode.

Rachel:

The up and down?

Matt:

The the lady with the cane. She walks up. Oh. And he, like, very slowly pans all the way down and then all the way up and then gives her a hug.

Rachel:

Well, it's character appropriate in both places. Matt is referencing an Outer Limits episode that Gare starred in. I think it's the last season, like, midway through. I forget what the exact actual title is, but, Russian Space Baby. I'm almost positive.

Matt:

Tachyons.

Rachel:

It's the name of the episode. Yeah. So Natalie says the heart was removed, but she had hepatitis a, so it's likely unsuitable for transplant. And Tracy mentions that her uncle Sonny needs a transplant.

Tracy:

Yeah. I'm back on a long waiting list. My uncle Sonny needs a transplant. He's just waiting for a donor.

LaCroix:

That's gotta be tough on the family.

Rachel:

Yeah. The waiting's the hard part. I, myself, am due to go under the knife as soon as my doctor can find an opening.

LaCroix:

That's your bad knee. Right?

Rachel:

Okay. Okay. I know it's not as drastic as open heart surgery, but I understand the stress. Yeah. You know what?

Rachel:

They ran out of family members for Natalie, and now they have a whole another a whole another character whose depth of family relations they can plumb. So isn't it nice to know that Tracy gets an uncle for this episode?

Matt:

So it's going to die.

Rachel:

This episode only. But she cares so deeply about him. She's almost willing to have someone killed so that she can save her uncle, because that's what she's doing when she goes and talks to the illegal workings. That's family guys. Yeah.

Rachel:

Ohana means never having to not never having to say goodbye. It's like Ohana means family. Sorry. Me and Disney don't really do each other. Okay.

Rachel:

So Natalie and Tracy are not oh, not Natalie. God. I just said I looked at my notes that said Nick and read Natalie. Nick and Tracy are in the car, and Nick is like, I didn't know your uncle was sick. I also didn't know you had an uncle, but I also didn't know he was sick.

Rachel:

All of these things can be true. And Tracy's like, well, you're in luck because I just found out that I had an uncle and that he was sick when I got the script problems. And everybody loves him so much, and he's really just a good guy. And isn't it terrible when people are on the transplant list, and it just takes forever to get these organs? Why can't they get them faster?

Rachel:

I just don't understand. Why are they not meeting demand with supply, the situation? And we have actually had a family member who was on a transplant list and got a new liver, and that was, like, 10 or 11 years ago now.

Matt:

Mhmm.

Rachel:

And, yes, it's terrible to be on this list and to wait. And if you're severe enough that you're about to die, he's probably pretty far up the list. But you still can't kill people and take their organs.

Matt:

Maybe maybe Sonny's doctor is not advocating for him properly. Because the doctor evaluates how how bad you are Yeah. And then submits that to, like, the board that manages the transplant priorities

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

And you say, oh, they're gonna die in, like, a week if they don't get a heart.

Rachel:

Okay.

Matt:

And then the they get moved up to transplant list as long as the doctor made, like, a convincing statement to the board.

Rachel:

My shitty Christian Science textbook that I had when I was homeschooled, I had a whole section about health insurance.

Matt:

Your your science textbook had a section

Rachel:

of health insurance? It might as well have just been written indoctrination textbook, but it was technically a science textbook. But they were talking about the problems with having universal health insurance and why universal health insurance is not the solution. And one of the things that they talked about was when you have universal health insurance, the good of the whole is prioritized over the good of the one. So if you are really sick and you have, hang on, and you have universal health insurance, they can just decide that it's too much work to treat you anymore and they can stop treating you.

Matt:

So like the private insurance companies do.

Rachel:

Honey, this isn't a textbook. I bet that means it was right. If we haven't discussed my shitty science textbook yet on this podcast, you need to plumb the depths of our backlog if you wanna find out all of the gems that were included in this.

Matt:

This is the seed for another new podcast where me and you review, like, section by section your

Rachel:

Mom gave it to you. Did you keep it? I think we finally got rid of it because she desperately loved that science textbook. Book. So she was like, this has a lot of good information in it.

Rachel:

I think she was trying to, like, undo whatever doctorations she felt you had gotten. And it had stuff about, like, CFCs were good, and banning them has killed people. 2nd hand smoke is not actually bad for you. It was it was quite the gem. So, anyway, back to the, back to another inaccurate science, program.

Rachel:

After Nick and Tracy discussed the uncle that will appear and disappear like a beautiful butterfly who lives only for a day.

Matt:

Like like a like a firefly slash lightning bug flashing in the night?

Rachel:

Yeah. And Tracy's like, yeah. You know, it's just really hard. It's hard when you have a friend or a family member, and then, you know, they're sick and there's nothing you can do about it. But then you kind of can do something about it, but maybe the thing that you're gonna do about it is, like, dubiously legal.

Rachel:

You get it, Nick? And Nick is like, yeah. I think that would be a tremendously complex issue on which I will not comment. He literally goes, yeah. They think that would be complex.

Rachel:

And she goes, yeah. But do you think it would be understandable? And he goes, almost. And it, like, sends him into a flashback again. And this is the one where we meet Veronica.

Rachel:

We don't meet Veronica's shoulders because they have left the building.

Matt:

They're they're so far below her face.

Rachel:

It's like somebody took her head and went, yoink, and just pulled it up 6 inches. You know what it is? It's this outfit. They have her hair up really high.

Matt:

Mhmm.

Rachel:

And then her dress is really low on her shoulders. And so it just makes the section between, like, the bottom of her chin and the top of her dress look about 24 inches long.

Matt:

She has Cardassian vibes.

Rachel:

Cardassian? Oh, yeah. With the, like, shoulder neck thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt:

They had giant, like, trapezius tendons. I don't know.

Rachel:

Maybe she's Veronica Gold Ducat. Yeah. So she's singing. And I just put in my my notes the neck shoulder situation. But Nick is in his black coat and his white cravat and his little goatee, and Jesus, just spare me.

Rachel:

This is my favorite combination, like, literally ever. He's just like, oh, she's doing such a good job. And Hans says she's being courted by every opera company in London. And Nick is like, oh, well, you know, she accepts or all over England, actually. And Nick is like, oh, well, she if if she accepts a position somewhere, what are you gonna do?

Rachel:

And he's like, why would give up everything that I have and more to be with her, Nicholas? Like, I'm gonna travel while she seeks her fame and fortune as an opera singer in Victorian England when women who perform are considered little better than sex workers. That's what I'm gonna do.

Matt:

A a fact that we have established in Nick's history

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

When he was wooing the ballerina, and Lacroix was like, stage performers are

Rachel:

Are basically sex workers.

LaCroix:

Yeah.

Rachel:

And And Nick was like, uh-uh.

Matt:

Uh-uh. And then LaCroix is like, yeah. They are. Uh-huh. See?

Matt:

And then Nick's, like, you're right. I do know their reputation, and I thought my woman was above that. I shall kill her because of this reputation. Yeah. But at some point in the hand wavy simultaneous time period Yeah.

Matt:

Oh, Veronica. Yes. She's being wooed wooed by all the opera houses in Europe or whatever, and there's a lot of people who want her to come to their stage. Yes. That is respectable.

Rachel:

Yes.

Matt:

And she that's definitely a path to fame and fortune and respectability, even though we're just hand waving. I'm waving my hands right now.

Rachel:

Yeah. You are waving your hands. Thank you. Well, this is why we need to record ourselves so we can see all of your hand waving hand waving.

Matt:

So okay. Sure. Let's just pretend that's a thing to

Rachel:

So she finishes this approximately 15 long 15 minute long opera song, and then she comes over to talk to Nick and Hans, and she's like, oh my god. Did you hear that? I did such a good job. But, like, I could tell it was, like, flat in the middle. And Nick is like, yeah.

Rachel:

No. You did great. Really great. You're like

Matt:

You know what I thought when

Rachel:

He

Matt:

might as well. Was, expounding about how much he loves Veronica and she loves him. Yeah. Maybe you shouldn't stand next to a taller, more attractive blonde man.

Rachel:

Oh, poor Hans. That's okay. Women are off the table. Nick said so himself.

Matt:

Good point.

Rachel:

Off this table, but not off of that table or off that bed or off that kitchen canner. Okay. So Nick goes to talk or sorry. She comes over to talk to Nick and Hans, and then they head out because he's like she says, let's go home. Actually, I think it's Hans.

Rachel:

Hans is like, let's go home before they ask you to do an encore. And she's like, oh, yeah. That would be really terrible. And so they go out to their waiting carriage, and the horses start to, like, shy away from Nick. Although, we have seen Nick ride horses before and he's literally never scared another animal ever.

Rachel:

Maybe this is a particularly skittish horse. Although Veronica's like, what's the fuck's wrong with that horse? He's never done this before.

Matt:

It's the electricity.

Rachel:

Is that what it is? He's electric. So so they head out. Anyway, so the horse is like, oh, no. Shit.

Rachel:

There's a vampire. And so they go to try to calm not Nick, obviously, but Hans goes to try to calm the horse down, and the horse is like, and, like, rears up. And so Nick has to, like, tackle Hans out of the way. And Veronica's like, let me help. And so she runs after them.

Rachel:

And then she gets kicked by the horse and run over by the carriage while she's, like, graphically screaming. She's like, ah. Poor Veronica. And Nick is like, we must take her to a doctor. And Hans is like, damn it, Jim.

Rachel:

I am a doctor. He's like, we have to take you we have to

Matt:

take I'm just doctor around.

Rachel:

Yeah. We have to take her to my lab because it's because it is the location of the most advanced medicine in England. Well Didn't you see my electricity? To

Matt:

be fair, if they took her to the hospital, the they'd be like, hey, doctor. You need to get over here to help this woman, and he would be finishing up his autopsy and just dip his hand in some water and then go up and start operating on her.

Rachel:

What? No. He wouldn't put his hands in water. He'd just go straight there. Like, he would waste that kind of time.

Matt:

He would just lick them clean.

Rachel:

We hadn't in we hadn't, surmised the presence of, quote, corpse particles, which is what they called them first. Yeah. True. He also would have been like, oh my god. She got run over by a horse.

Rachel:

She got run over by a horse. What was the date of her last menstrual cycle? Could she be pregnant? This is hysteria. Give this woman some laudanum in the seaside and send her off.

Rachel:

So they go back.

Matt:

So so Hans has had his hands in fewer corpses than the hospital doctors Yeah. Recently.

Rachel:

Recently. So,

Matt:

it's fine. So she is better off going to Hans's lab.

Rachel:

Yeah. So they go to the tattoo parlor after he comes back from his flashback. And they're getting out of the car, and Nick superhears the guy tied up in the back. And he, like, darts out and runs over, and he's, like, banging on the door, and nobody answers. And Tracy's like, what?

Rachel:

What's going on? What the shit? What? And he's like, Tracy, you stay here. I'm gonna go around.

Matt:

The morning period is over.

Rachel:

Which means he's finally comfortable enough with Tracy. He can use go around. So it's made a glorious reappearance. He doesn't tell her to go around. He goes around, and he goes around and breaks in the back.

Matt:

Right. The he and Tracy aren't that acquainted yet.

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

He can't send that far along. But he can't send her.

Rachel:

Is where danger is. So he's not sending her.

Matt:

Well, sometimes around is where danger is, but sometimes he would tell Skanky to go around so that he could go in the front and approach the danger first. True. And around was the safe place.

Rachel:

Yeah. Tracy sneaks around. She actually sneaks around after Nick because Tracy is a good cop. T m t m t m. And gets caught by, we're just gonna call him shark tooth necklace.

Matt:

So in in, preparing for this, the the victim at the beginning is Melora.

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

And this guy is Mel. Why do they have the same name?

Rachel:

I don't know. They worked really hard for this. Okay? Don't don't don't fuck this up. Okay.

Rachel:

So she gets caught by shark tooth necklace, and she's getting, like, grabbed from behind slash choked out by shark tooth necklace, and Nick breaks up the fight. He, like, like, hisses, runs up, pulls the guy off, and then he, like, disappears into the shadows, like, you saw nothing. And Tracy knocks the guy down, and she's like, wow. Adrenaline. Amazing stuff.

Matt:

Yes. Tracy, let's let's let's not train you to, like, have an expectation that, oh, no. I'm trapped being choked. Yeah. And I have the ability to escape this if I need to.

Matt:

And and the next time this happens and Nick's not around, she's gonna be like, why is it not why is the adrenaline not working?

Rachel:

Come on, adrenaline. Work. Work. Work. But they do ID the guy, and his name is Mel Purdy.

Rachel:

And he was hired at the tattoo parlor a week ago. And he had $20,000 in cash and the victim's blood in his van. They're like, do you think this could be related? And Nick is like, I think so. My my in my police sense is saying this might be connected to our previous our previous thing that was happening.

Rachel:

And Reese is like, I'll do, like, Reese's judgy judgment of this guy. He goes, I think he's a little bereft in the brains department, because Tracy's like, why would you go back? Like, why would you get $20,000 and then go back? And Reese is like, I think it's because he's a fucking idiot. And then he goes, let's go talk to this criminal genius.

Rachel:

Why the hell did he go back to the tattoo parlor? He should be on his way to South America by now.

Tracy:

Maybe he's trying to cover his tracks?

Rachel:

I think he's a little bit repped in the IQ department. Come on. Let's join this criminal genius in the barbie pit, shall we? And, of course, in the background, the boyfriend of Melora, who we have now identified, is all broken up. And Natalie's like, yeah.

Rachel:

You know, one minute, she was his world, and now, meh. And Nick is like, I remember that one time that that guy's girlfriend got killed. And we go back to Hans begging Nick to make her into a vampire, and Nick in a uncharacteristic wave of, like, real forward thinking. It's really interesting that he is both an immortal fuck boy, but he also has a very firm grasp on the concept of consent. Because he says the choice of what to be is hers.

Rachel:

And he never does, well, except for Richard. But Richard is a Natalie fucking made him do it thing. Everybody else, he's like, I gotta ask first. Even the lady he found, like, stabbed to death on the beach, she was like, listen. I can make you pretty.

Rachel:

I can make you a vampire. You wanna be a vampire? And she's like, will I be pretty? And he goes, yes. And she's like, then fuck yes.

Rachel:

And he does turn or try to turn a wife at one point, which we haven't met yet. And then the one woman that he bit but didn't turn, that was actually Lacroix. So for the most part, he does actually ask for consent. This is like forever night is not what I would call consistent about very many things. But the fact that Nick has a at least, at least a committed grasp of what he thinks is right and wrong is pretty consistent.

Rachel:

And the he does he's not gonna turn this lady because he can't ask.

Matt:

So imagining the scenario where Hans is asking Nick, can you turn her into a vampire? And Nick says, no. She has to, like, communicate that herself. Yeah. Reminds me of from, Disney's Aladdin where Aladdin is, like, passed out and Genie's awake.

Matt:

And he's like, come on, Aladdin. You just need to wish me to save you. And so he moves Aladdin's lips. Genie, save me. And he's like, okay.

Matt:

Whoop. Says I'm just imagining Hans going to Victoria's lips and being like, Nick, please turn me into a vampire. And Nick being like, okay.

Rachel:

You make a convincing argument. But he says, I'm losing her. I'm losing her. I'm losing my lady wife who has captured literally every part of me, and he tries to pull the guard the guilt card. He's like, you know that horse only did that thing because you were there.

Rachel:

And Nick's like, we don't we don't know that. We don't have any proof of that. And then he's like, I helped you. Now you help me. And then we come back because Natalie is like, oh, I gotta beep beep.

Rachel:

I'm a beep beeper. And she goes, my doctor has made an opening for me for surgery, for that me, that like that like Tracy's uncle Sonny is only a problem today. And earlier, I think Natalie tried to connect with Tracy about somebody needing something desperately over her elective knee surgery, which doesn't even appear to be anything serious, just like an outpatient surgery. She's like, yeah. I know what it's like to need help and not be able to get it.

Rachel:

And Nick is like, you mean about your knee? Natalie's like, yeah. My knee my knee is important. Okay? You are important, Natalie.

Rachel:

You are important. And Nick says, let me know if you need anything. And Natalie goes, flowers? And he's like, I'm sorry. I'm gonna get you those.

Rachel:

That's my universal apology. And then she goes, but, actually, how about a ride after my surgery? And he's like, you got it. Just, you know, text me the address. And then we come back to them talking in the interrogation room, and they're like, you assaulted a peace officer.

Rachel:

You had $20,000 in your truck hidden in your truck. You had blood in your van, actually. You had blood in your van. We've got you. But if you cooperate, we might be able to get you a window.

Rachel:

And the guy's like, you don't you don't know nothing. He goes, the guy didn't pay me. Like, I was working for the tattoo parlor, and the old man is senile. He didn't pay me, so I just came back from my paycheck. He was already in Nick and Nick goes, he was already tied up when you got there.

Rachel:

Right? The guy's like, yeah. He's already tied up when I got there. And so they asked him, why Melora? Like, why her?

Rachel:

You know, we found your her blood in your van so that we know you took her. And Nick and the bad guy, Nick and Mel say at the same time, I don't know what you're talking about.

LaCroix:

I don't know anything about her. We found her blood in the back of your van. Can you explain that? I don't know what you're talking about.

Rachel:

And the guy just looks at him like, shit. And then we get a

Matt:

You don't know me.

Rachel:

You don't know me. We get another installment in the Reese versus the water cooler saga because he's trying to get a cup of water, and it doesn't work. And he's like, of course, and he just crushes the water cup. And then Tracy's like, you know, I've gotta contact of someone who might know about the illegal organ trade, and nobody questions this or that they're not like, wait. You have an uncle in desperate need of an organ, and do you know somebody in the illegal organ trade?

Rachel:

They're just like, wow. That's really great, Tracy. And Reese goes, do you trust this person? And she goes, well, no. Not really.

Rachel:

And I thought that must be the shot.

Matt:

She's been a cop for, what, 3 months? Or a detective?

Rachel:

Cop for

Matt:

a while. Yeah. Detective for, like, 3 months, and she already has like, she's a she's just pulled out of her pocket a bunch of times. Like, oh, yeah. I have a criminal informant.

Rachel:

Yeah. Because they call the same informant. It's not like she met a bunch of people. She met the utility knife of she met the, like, Swiss army knife of criminal informants. Okay?

Matt:

Yes.

Rachel:

A vampire.

Matt:

A supernatural Wikipedia?

Rachel:

Yes. Exactly. Oh, but then we go to Natalie.

Matt:

Underworld Wikipedia.

Rachel:

Underworld. Yeah. Yeah. CD Underbelly Wikipedia. And we go to Natalie.

Rachel:

She's at her doctor, and she's all, you know, ready for her surgery, except she's not wearing anything over her hair because looks really good this episode. I also wouldn't have put a hat on. And the doctor's like, yeah. I was looking at your X rays, and it's showing some additional complications. I bet your pain is back and worse than before.

Rachel:

And Natalie's like, it is? And the doctor's like, yeah. It is. And she's like, oh, I didn't know. Latest X rays we received show an additional complication.

Rachel:

I bet the pain's back and worse than ever. Really? Well, not to worry.

Matt:

She literally says an amazing doctor.

Rachel:

She literally says, it is?

Matt:

The doctor What? The thing thing that stood out for me the most is why is there no, like, attending nurse? Why is there not a separate anesthesiologist?

Rachel:

Why are we there in the middle of the night?

Matt:

Why are we there in the middle of the night?

Rachel:

Yeah. She literally got a text.

Matt:

Be red flags, Natalie.

Rachel:

Yeah. She literally got a text that was, like, I have an opening right now at 1 o'clock in the morning. Hop on over. Let's get this done. And Natalie was, like, thanks, because my knee has really been twinging once or twice a month.

Matt:

So we've really established that Natalie has an MD. Right?

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Which means she did a residency As a doctor. With living people in a hospital.

Rachel:

Correct. So she knows how this works.

Matt:

She should she should have years of experience of knowing how up like, surgery goes, and she's not picking up on

Rachel:

Yeah. No. This is her doctor slash surgery tech slash anesthesiologist slash X-ray technician slash, like, all the things, who likes to work in the middle of the night because that's when she's, at her best. Okay? So just let it go.

Matt:

She's getting a good deal on this surgery.

Rachel:

Right. And then she's like, okay. Great. So you're gonna numb my knee, and we're gonna get this done. She goes, oh, no.

Rachel:

We're gonna fully sedate you. And Natalie goes, you're not gonna do an epidural. Why in what what how can't they would they do an epidural? I guess it would depend on how severe this is as someone who has gotten multiple epidurals.

Matt:

How much how much, like, keeping the knee immobile is an issue? Like

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Preventing muscles from contracting.

Rachel:

The knee to be as mobile as possible. Immobile. Oh, immobile. Well, when you're in when you have an epidural, yeah, it ain't going nowhere. You could you get strapped down.

Rachel:

You don't get to move around when you have an epidural.

Matt:

Yeah. It fully it's it's a nerve blocker.

Rachel:

Yeah. It stops everything. There's not gonna be any while you're sleeping. Gotten 2 epidurals. Yeah.

Rachel:

Yeah. I don't know. So the doctor I wrote in my notes, this doctor does everything. Is this a rented doctor? Does she, like, find her in the newspaper?

Rachel:

Oh, good. Knee surgery? Perfect. I'm gonna give her a call. I did discount.

Rachel:

Shit. Yes.

Matt:

She's probably also the physical therapist.

Rachel:

And so we go to Tracy who's talking to Vashon about illegal organs. And I love how she has been so sheltered from how inept Vashon is that she still thinks he is

Matt:

like She thinks he's the expert?

Rachel:

Yes.

Matt:

A font of knowledge?

Rachel:

Even though, literally the person who has saved her every single time so far has been Nick. And and sometimes Vashon is present under threat, but other than that, not necessarily. But she's talking to Vashawn about illegal organs, and she's like, I've heard of this happening in Central America. The dreaded Quote

Matt:

other, quote, bad countries.

Rachel:

The the murky the murky illegal soup that is Central America, where they cut people's heads and hands off, and they also trade in illegal organs. Because last episode, Nick was like, I've heard of this happening in Central America. I wouldn't expect it to happen here. The murky, you know, the murky sublegal area of Yeah. Country of Central America.

Rachel:

And Nick, to his credit, literally goes, why would you think I would know that? He's like, just because I'm a vampire literally doesn't mean I know everything.

Matt:

So in respect to Vashon, I think anytime someone comes in with a question, his just canned response is, why

Rachel:

would you think I would know that? I'm sorry. Just knowing that require effort. You know what, Ashley? Sean and my niece have so much income, and I just realized that.

Matt:

My immediate reaction to any request is, why would you think I would have knowledge and or skill related to this thing?

Rachel:

I am none of these things. Do they involve do they involve drinking or running away from responsibility? No. Then that would be a negative. I do not know what you're talking about.

Rachel:

And Tracy goes, well, you're the only supernatural friend I have. Like, that's like that. Well, you're supernatural. Don't you just know these things? And then she's like, I'm also kind of looking because my uncle needs a new heart.

Rachel:

None imagine that Sean. Okay. So I watch a lot of Korean dramas, and one of the things they'll do is when they blink, they make this bloop bloop sound when they're, like, confused.

Matt:

Yeah. They they add the sound effects.

Rachel:

So I can only imagine that he does, like, a bloop bloop blink, like, I'm sorry. What? Who? You have an uncle? Yeah.

Rachel:

You know, my dad's brother's cousin twice removed on my sister's side is my uncle, Sonny. He needs a heart. I met him one time, and he seems like a really nice guy. And I'm, like, emotionally attached to his well-being. And then Vashon's like, alright.

Rachel:

Fine. You make a compelling argument. I was listening to Screed mutter in a drunken stupor the other day about a group of doctors who travel back and forth. This is like, who travel back and forth. This is like Which

Matt:

week? His brain sent out the request, do I know anything about organ, like or black market organ stuff?

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

And it went it was like, okay. And then he's like, I got nothing. And then after 6 minutes, it returns. Oh, hey. Here's this memory of screen.

Matt:

Yeah.

Rachel:

Here you go.

Matt:

Oh, yeah. I yeah. Yep. My my search routine hit it. Got a hit.

Rachel:

Yeah. Well, he had to go through all of Screed's rhetoric to find it. It was buried. Six Cockney slang rhyming slang.

Matt:

Ray had his to resolve the rhyming slang.

Rachel:

Yeah. Exactly. So he goes, he knows about a group of doctors who travel back and forth between Toronto and Rio, and they have connections with, you know, the community. And Tracy's like, what come here, nay? She's like, you know, like, vampires.

Rachel:

And they help accelerate the process of procurement, Or as he says, they take care of the particulars. Particulars.

Matt:

Particulars.

Rachel:

Particulars. It's the most I can't even say it.

Vachon:

They accelerate the process of procurement. That's what Skreed told me. For a fee, an astronomical fee, of course. They find you what you need and, you know, take care of the particulars. Find it?

Rachel:

Where do they find it?

Vachon:

Do you want me to draw you a picture?

Rachel:

Particulars. It's hard to say. You can, like, turn you anyway, it's the most Canadian word he says in the entire sentence, particulars. So she goes, they find them? How do they find them?

Rachel:

And it kinda reminds me of last episode when Urs was like, she has a twin sister. Tracy, you are working on a case where a woman was kidnapped and murdered for her heart. Where do you fucking think they get the organs from? Organ Mart? They're like, oh, they're just on the shelf, but people aren't dying.

Rachel:

They were just letting them expire. It's the weirdest thing. So we just go buy them up right after they've expired, but they're still good. And then we give them to you at a discount. Right.

Matt:

It's like the expiry expiration date on food and stuff is a a guideline.

Rachel:

It's it's a guideline. And so I have to imagine if Sean does the bloop bloop, blink again, like, were we not having the same conversation? Was I having a conversation and you were having a conversation and it was parallel, or are we doing the same thing at the same time? I'm lost. What's happening here?

Rachel:

Because he goes, do you want me to draw you a picture? I like to imagine he means this literally. Like, he has a like, he has a packet of restaurant crayons in his backpack. I was gonna say crayons. He's like, get me a piece of paper, Jason.

Matt:

Let me get out my my fancy sketchbook. It's a napkin and print.

Rachel:

No. It's like blues glues. Like blues glues. It's like, you know, they're handy dandy notebook, and he pulls it up, and he holds it up, and he like does the thing with it. He folds the top paper back, and he's like, okay.

Rachel:

Now help me draw a dead body. And he's like, we'll put a circle.

Matt:

This from an artist named Steve. He and his friend, Doug, or he and his dog were very good friends.

Rachel:

Right. Remember how he'd be like, how should we draw it? And he's like, we're gonna put a circle here, and then we'll put a square. And then he does, like, a gaping hole with blood gushing out of it, and then he has, like, a cartoon.

Matt:

Switch to my red crayon.

Rachel:

And then he draws an arrow, and there's just a heart, like, a a stylized heart with blood dripping off of it. And then he does a little smiley face on the heart, like, see?

Matt:

And then draw another person with a hole in their chest and an arrow going into it.

Rachel:

Exactly. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. On this handy dandy notebook. It pulls out the like, not even the little crayons, like the giant the giant the giant kid crayons.

Rachel:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That are, you know, it makes it easier for him to grip. He probably wasn't literate when he was human, so he's come a long way Very good point.

Rachel:

Guys. Okay? Neither was Nick. Mom, and Nick was maybe more aristocratic, so he might have known. But, anyway

Matt:

He had a duh in the front of his last name.

Rachel:

He did. He was of a place. So he gives Tracy the information. He writes it down. He goes, you need to talk to Enrique.

Rachel:

He says it very That's because Did y'all forget he was Spanish? You're in luck. He didn't forget. He was like, you need to talk to Enrique from the clinic in Rio and tell him oh, tell him that the Enrique from the clinic in Rio sent you and that you'll pay him whatever. And Tracy's like, thank you so much for doing this.

Rachel:

I really wanna save my my uncle, father, Sonny, whoever he is. And this, of course, is the perfect moment to insert a liquor monologue. I just the nightcrawler. He's like, do they celebrate death days on the other side? Are you in heaven, or are you just a log on the fires of hell?

Rachel:

And how fiercely we struggle to avoid death, and how desperately we hold on, hold on for dear life. And it's so traumatizing. It sends Nick into a flashback. And this guy At

Matt:

the stop light.

Rachel:

This guy is wailing the fuck on this ice cube. And in my notes, I wrote that would make one hell of a martini. But in all seriousness, he's doing this because he has chilled her down to the point of, like, hypothermia, and he's keeping her heart alive, Veronica, with, like, controlled bursts of electricity, which, like, legit, this all, I mean, would more or less work, I guess. I don't know that he necessarily has the technology regulate electricity in the way that he's trying to regulate, but it's fine. It's fine.

Rachel:

It's fine. So

Matt:

It worked in his theoretical experiment.

Rachel:

Yeah. It's perfectly fine. So he tells Nick to go bring him a healthy heart. He's like, go get me a heart. And Nick is like, you have once again pressed an incorrect key.

Rachel:

Please press 0 to go back to the main menu. I'm not gonna help you. And the guy's like, okay. Then I'm gonna stop trying to cure you. Yeah.

Rachel:

How's that gonna go for you? Nick goes, this is insanity, Hans. I will not be party to this. And he's like, yes, you will. And Nick's like, yeah.

Rachel:

Yeah. I will.

Matt:

Dad, you you convinced me.

Rachel:

Because he goes, I helped you. Now you helped me. Bring me a murderer. He goes, no. You're gonna make me into a murderer.

Rachel:

Like, he's already a murderer, but it's fine. And he goes, then bring me a murderer. I don't care. And it goes, I'm not judge and jury. I mean, I'm glad we came to that eventually.

Rachel:

Right? We all grow. Okay? You get new information. You incorporate the new information.

Rachel:

You evaluate your past actions based on that information, and then you change. This is growth.

Matt:

This is life. Maybe this was the straw on the camel's back that, convinced Nick to vow to himself to not kill anybody with his teeth again.

Rachel:

Maybe this is why he went to the theater. Maybe this is why he started going to the theater because he was like, Veronica could have been here. I'm gonna go watch the theater. And then he met Sylvain.

LaCroix:

She's pretty nice looking.

Rachel:

Yeah. But this guy is pulling no punches. He's like, what have you ever brought to the world but pain and darkness? How many people have you killed? How many hearts have you stopped?

Rachel:

Or can you even count them?

LaCroix:

You are meddling where you should not. You're interfering with the natural course of life.

Matt:

And you never have. How many, Nicholas? How many lives interrupted to feed your bloodlust through the centuries? How much beauty lost? What have you ever brought to the world but pain and darkness?

Matt:

How many hearts stopped cold? How many fates interrupted, Nicholas? Or can you even count them?

Rachel:

And Nick stops like, oh, you fucking went there.

Matt:

I told you I couldn't count higher than 7. And you bring it up now. How rude. I

Rachel:

thought we were friends.

Matt:

I gotcha.

Rachel:

I know you've been sitting on that one for a while, so you're welcome.

Matt:

Oh, no. My inspiration was you talking about Veshan being illiterate. And that, oh, maybe Nick was innumerate.

Rachel:

I love I love it. I love it. I love it. Because that that moment is so dramatic. And I love that moment, because he stops, like, you fuck you fucking what?

Rachel:

Like, I told you that in confidence. I didn't think you were gonna use that against me. And so it's this beautiful moment of, like, you know, we don't talk a lot about how Nick is actually a serial killer, but Nick is a fucking serial killer, and this guy brings it up. And then you just took it, and you made it a really happy thing. And I'm just really, really glad that we had this moment together.

Rachel:

But he tries to leave. He's like, oh, I can't believe you triggered me like that. He tries to leave, and he ends up getting solicited by this woman on the street. And he's like, actually, you know, I've given up women recently. And so she stabs him.

Rachel:

She's, like, then I'll take your gold then. And she stabs him in the back, and he's, like, then I take your life, and he turns around and bites him.

Matt:

So I was thinking okay. So Hans is like, in in theory, according to the principles of quantum mechanics right?

Rachel:

Yes.

Matt:

I could take out her heart and put in somebody else's heart. And as long as I sewed things up correctly, it would work.

Rachel:

Yeah. This is like that guy that would take heads off of other animals and put them on other bodies So to the section.

Matt:

We know now that when you do a transplant, you have to check some things first.

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Like Blood type. Same blood type.

Rachel:

Yeah. There's Hepatitis a.

Matt:

There's a there's a few different, like, compatibilities other than blood type.

Rachel:

She probably had, like, 6 different kinds of syphilis.

Matt:

It has to be disease free.

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Otherwise, that person is going to get the disease.

Rachel:

The disease. The disease. The condition, capital c.

Matt:

T c.

Rachel:

Yeah. Terminal condition. Terminal condition.

Matt:

And the the chances that just a random woman that Nick grabs off the street is going to be a Compatible. Compatible donor.

Rachel:

It was pretty slow. Pretty low. But 1 in 8, actually.

Matt:

Let's take into consideration. Nick can smell the blood.

Rachel:

The blood. Yeah. But he didn't go after this woman in particular. He was just like, fuck you. You stabbed me.

Matt:

Okay. Okay. So she's she propositions him. He declines. She stabs him, and Nick's like, I'm about to cut this bitch.

Matt:

And then he's, like, smelling her. Oh, she smells a lot like Victoria. Maybe I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Rachel:

Literally.

Matt:

I can I can, avenge my inconvenient shoulder cut?

Rachel:

Yeah. That was my favorite coat. You bitch. Woman. Yeah.

Matt:

And I can make amends with Hans Yeah. At the same time.

Rachel:

So many birds. This feels so efficient.

Matt:

He's like And if the woman had not smelled so much like Victoria, which smelling like equals compatible organ donor.

Rachel:

I feel like this is fine. Let's do that. That's good. Everybody would have smelled like disease, so perfectly fine. He gets snapped out of this flashback by some honking because he's in the car, and he's disassociating in the car again.

Rachel:

And it turns out he's heading to the hospital to look at the organ transplant list because there's a good chance that someone on the list might know, because the only people who could possibly get this heart are in Toronto. That doesn't matter. So, Natalie, we come back to Natalie. Remember Natalie? She's all drugged and vulnerable at the hospital again.

Matt:

Come on, Natalie.

Rachel:

This is how you get trust issues. Do you want trust issues? Because this is how you get trust issues. And then we cut to the exterior, the apartment building exterior, the everything exterior. This is the residences exteriors.

Rachel:

This building. And it is the now the outside of the clinic where they apparently traffic in illegal organs because Tracy has gone there. She must have mentioned NVJ.

Matt:

It just looks like a house on the outside, but inside, it's a full, like

Rachel:

Medical. Medical sleep. Correct. It's deeper. Bigger on the inside.

Rachel:

It's like the Tardis. So the guy's like, miss Better, exactly what it is what is it that you think we do here? Because she's like, I have an uncle. His name is Sonny. He's a cop.

Rachel:

I'm a cop. My whole family is cops, but we want you to get us an illegal organ, and this is not a setup. And the guy's like, really? Because it kinda feels like a setup. But she mentions, like, I will pay anything.

Rachel:

My family will pay anything. Did she consult her dad? Was she like, dad, I've got this case where these people are trafficking in illegal organs, and he was like, oh my god. Can you get one for Sunny? Is that something Sunny could do?

Rachel:

And Tracy's like, yeah. I think I could make this work. He does try to shut her

Matt:

down, though. My my angle on Tracy in this episode

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Is a little deeper where she is playing up the my uncle needs a heart transplant thing, and she's consistently playing the aggrieved niece

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Who would do anything even illegal subverting their morality and, like, legal responsibility as a police officer to save her uncle, and she's portraying this character for everyone, including police colleagues, friends, family, whatever

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

So that she could convince this guy. And if this guy was, like, oh, well, I know some people in the police department. Let me let me ask him. Hey. Hey.

Matt:

I'm talking to Tracy. She seems really upset.

Rachel:

Oh, yeah. She's been consistently upset.

Matt:

And and she seems

Rachel:

like she playing the long game.

Matt:

She seems like she might, like, actually compromise her her principles

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Like, and do something illegal to save her uncle. And they're like, oh, yeah. Like, she's really broken up, and she's been,

Rachel:

like She's mentioned it for, like, a week. Yeah. She's absolutely yeah.

Matt:

But, really, she's playing the long game of

Rachel:

Sure.

Matt:

Of getting into to break up this organ trafficking.

Rachel:

You're saying. And you know what? It makes her a better character, so let's go with it.

Matt:

Yeah.

Rachel:

Let's go with it. And it makes Sunny make more sense, so I'm I'm happy.

Matt:

This was just her investigative angle Yeah. To identify the

LaCroix:

people involved

Matt:

in the drug court.

Rachel:

This would not even be the 3rd time that she has played the long game undercover and it led to the future. Yeah. And she doesn't ever tell anybody she's doing it. So I think this works out really well. Yeah.

Rachel:

Okay. That's fine. Yeah. I'll go with that. The doctor does tell her, and I thought this was a really funny line.

Rachel:

I think you've been misled by some unscrupulous people. And considering the the information she got is secondhand from Vashon via screen.

Matt:

Unscrupulous would be a good

Rachel:

Bang on, doctor.

Matt:

Description of both Scree and Vashon.

Rachel:

It's not accurate, but it did come from some unscrupulous people. So Yeah. That's fair. And Nick is actually back in his flashback again because he's gotta finish reliving all the trauma. And Hans has transplanted the heart that he acquired and is trying to wake up his girlfriend slash wife, Veronica.

Rachel:

And I wrote in my notes, this is very Murray Shelley of him. So this is our most Frankenstein section because he's like, come back to me, Veronica. And Veronica wakes up because and is unhappy because she has been brought back against her consent. Like, she didn't consent to this.

Matt:

Right. Was this would this be the same level of nonconsensual reviving

Rachel:

Yes.

Matt:

Revival

Rachel:

Yes.

Matt:

As getting turned into a vampire.

Rachel:

This is also my problem with the premise of, that new movie that just came out. Something things. It's got Willem Dafoe in it. I don't know. The lady gets brought back, and then she goes on, like, a journey of self discovery.

Rachel:

And that that's a whole other podcast. But we come back to the present because Veronica's like, the shit you do. Actually, she doesn't talk because she's lost her voice because he probably severed

Matt:

her vocal cords. He he probably cut a crucial nerve.

Rachel:

I'm sure he did. But Sage Freeman, which Natalie's doctor is doctor Freeman, is on the list.

Matt:

It's the only person on the heart transplant list with the same blood type as Natalie.

Rachel:

Yep. Bump.

Matt:

No coincidence.

Rachel:

And Nick leans back, and he's like, hey, Angie. Can you get me some more some more information about this one? And the lady's like, sure. And she tap tap tap taps, and then it must pull up more information because that's what happens. It just happens.

Rachel:

It's it's part of getting Nick where we need him to go, so it happens. And then, uh-oh, Natalie is getting snatched. So she's getting transported. They, like, put the IV bag on her chest, and they're like, get her prepped for surgery. We're gonna take her heart out immediately.

Rachel:

And Tracy is still trying to buy her uncle a murderer heart, apparently, because she's still trying to convince this guy. And the doctor that she's talking to is, like, you know, getting a donor sometimes requires, quote, special effort, and it will be costly. And Tracy's like, yeah. Yeah. It's cool.

Rachel:

We are rich. Like, my dad is a police commissioner.

Matt:

We've Do you know how many monthly bribe payments we get Yeah. As a family? Our whole family So many. Our cops. We're all loaded.

Rachel:

Yeah. And not that cops are loaded. This is Or

Matt:

to to quote Hyperbole. To quote an ex employer of mine, we're fucking flush.

Rachel:

Yeah. And I'm pretty sure pores have more heart than just one anyway. I mean, that's how they work so hard. Aren't they like octopuses? Don't they have one in every limb?

Matt:

So another thing that comes up at this point right. Natalie's getting prepped in surgery, in the surgery in the OR, and then doctor Freeman goes to get her child.

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

This child is not already prepped. Like, they haven't she hasn't called ahead. Like, hey. I got Natalie sedated. We're taking her to your building.

Rachel:

Yeah. Have her

Matt:

Go ahead and have Sam Sage. Prepped. Like, get Sam in the OR. Sage.

Rachel:

Yeah. Sage. Like the like the herb.

Matt:

Go ahead and get sage prepped.

Rachel:

Don't dead name him.

Matt:

So that when I get there with Natalie, we'll just be ready to hot swap.

Rachel:

Right. Hot swap. Exactly. Swap that part. Well, they they really would.

Rachel:

Like, they'd have her sedated, and they'd have I believe it the child is supposed to be feminine, so we'll go with her. Yeah. They they would have had her prepped and sedated and probably, like, not open because you don't wanna leave them open for too long, but, like, ready. Because once you get that heart, you got to go go go go fuck

Matt:

you up. If they're taking Natalie to Sage, then the as long as Natalie's staying alive Yeah. But this is

Rachel:

Rent A Doctor working with Rent A Doctors.

LaCroix:

Right.

Matt:

Another consideration with organ donation, especially with the heart, is the size of the organ. Right. You can't really take an adult heart and stick it in a child body because it's, like, twice the size.

Rachel:

Plus, look how stressed Natalie is. You know her blood pressure is high. That heart is like.

Matt:

Is her heart really healthy?

Rachel:

Is it? Did we check? Look at all the shit that's happened to her, and she has never gotten any kind of trauma counseling for any of it. Look at the that's about to happen to her. But cut back to Tracy, and the guy's like, you've made a convincing argument.

Rachel:

There's a paperwork in this folder on my desk.

Matt:

There just happens to be a strewn blue folders, with paperwork. Yeah. Because, yeah, our whole illegal organ requisition program, yeah, we definitely have paperwork for that.

Rachel:

Yeah. Definitely. I like to think she opens the folder in the top sheet. It's like, so you've chosen to get an illegal organ. And it's a brochure with, like, happy people on the front.

Rachel:

And there's, like, a dead murderer at

Matt:

their feet. The folder with, like, the 3 brochures in it Yeah. With happy smiling people.

Rachel:

Yeah. And there's, like, a dead guy in the comically, like, black and white striped inmate outfit. And they're like, where did where did my organ come from?

Matt:

Ethically sourced from.

Rachel:

Unethically sourced. Unethically sourced. Nick does realize. Nick, in a burst of inspiration, realizes that Sage Freeman might be related to doctor Freeman, the doctor that is treating Natalie. And he's like, maybe this is significant.

Rachel:

I don't know. And Tracy has actually gone walkabout at the clinic. She's like, fuck your paperwork. I'm going for a walk. So she's walking around the clinic, which does lend credence to your, this is a long con thing.

Matt:

Mhmm.

Rachel:

And she finds the Freeman ladies, talking about how the donor's getting prepped in the other room. You're gonna get a heart, and the sage is like, can we be fucking done? Because I'm fucking done. And her mom is like, no. This is the last one.

Rachel:

I swear to god. Like, this heart's gonna last forever. It's gonna be perfectly fine. I've totally vetted it this time. It's not a lady that got snatched from the tattoo parlor like last time.

Rachel:

This is, like, a legit coroner who's perfectly fine. It's perfectly fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine.

Rachel:

And Tracy's like, cool. Let me go to the other room and see who they're prepping, and it's Natalie. And she pulls out the phone to call Nick, and then she gets threatened by the doctor. She gets, like, a gun in her side, and she's like, the doctor goes, tell me, what's your blood type?

LaCroix:

What? Who's got Natalie?

Vachon:

Did you find what you were looking for, miss Federer? Tell me. What's your blood type? Go on. Move.

Rachel:

But Nick calls Reese after Tracy hangs up because she's like, Nick, they have Natalie. Click. Which she's also the queen of cryptic phone calls, so that works out.

Matt:

So I was thinking, Tracy is, like, the the Daniel Day Lewis method actor of undercover work. Right? Wow. She she does not break character even when Take seats. Like, that actors don't break character

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Even when they stop filming Yeah. Which can make it stressful and inefficient to do things like, hey, actor, can you can you fill out this, like, insurance paperwork for filming this next scene

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Where we need to have, like, a stunt actor and whatever. We just need to do some some, like, OSHA paperwork. And they're like, sorry. I was raised by Native Americans. I do not read or write English.

Matt:

You swine.

Rachel:

That's Tracy.

Matt:

That's what

Rachel:

I'm saying.

Matt:

And so it it it produces inefficient behaviors

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

When you're with when you're outside of the setting that you've developed this

Rachel:

character for. Worst partnership. Right? So We we get that.

Matt:

Yeah. When Tracy's with the rest of the cops Yeah. She's like, I'm in character for my undercover thing. She could communicate things to the police, to her coworkers

Rachel:

No. That's not what you would do.

Matt:

That would improve the whole operation. But she's like, no. I'm a grieving family member. I wouldn't just open up to these police about how I'm feeling and what I'm planning on doing. This I would not tell the police about this potentially illegal thing that I'm planning to do.

Matt:

My character would not do that, so I am not going to do that. Yeah. I cannot break character. So so which having Tracy be that, like, into I'm not going to break character works because they do it consistently. Yeah.

Matt:

And it works narratively because it adds some friction and conflict to the narrative, which you can use for, you know, increasing the suspense level of the story.

Matt:

So that

Matt:

that's what

Rachel:

I'm I'm done. Thank you. It was good. No. It was good.

Rachel:

She's the Daniel Day Lewis of Undercover Actors. I got it. So Nick actually calls because he calls Reese because Tracy calls him and then hangs up, and he's like, shit. Maybe she told Reese where she was going. Pause for laughter.

Rachel:

So Nick calls Reese, and he's like, do you know what Tracy was up to? Like, I think something's happened to Natalie. Like, I'm I I am now outside of her dark, boarded up doctor's office, and she does not appear to be here. I'm glad I had this address because I was supposed to pick her up, luckily. Otherwise, I wouldn't even have known where her doctor's office was because, like, who cares?

Rachel:

Humans and their health problems. And Reese goes, where's Vetter? Where's your partner? And Nick's like, I don't fucking know. And he's like, god.

Rachel:

I wish you 2 would just stay together.

LaCroix:

I think they're both in trouble, captain. I'm I'm not Natalie's doctor's office. Her car's here, but she's not. The building's locked.

Rachel:

Where's better? You know, I really wish you 2 would stay in sync.

LaCroix:

Just put out an APB. I don't know where Tracy is now, but I know who she was with.

Rachel:

Nick.

Matt:

Alright. Nick. Nick.

Rachel:

I'm gonna have to sit those 2 down and show them what the weird partner needs. Do we need to have a talk about the buddy system? And Nick's like, what? Yeeep. And he just flies out of the car.

Matt:

Okay. So after this, Reese is like, okay. Nick, Tracy, we're going to LoJack you.

Rachel:

We're going to tag. Air tag. Yeah.

Matt:

Going to surgically attach a GPS transponder to your body.

Rachel:

Can you imagine what that would look like? Okay. So Nick doesn't ever okay. Go ahead.

Matt:

So Nick, in principle, couldn't object. Yeah. He because, really, he can't because what happens when I'm flying and my GPS recording is, like, you

Rachel:

When did you come 95 miles an hour in a straight line?

Matt:

Toronto, like, 60 miles in 10 seconds? Man, okay. It

Rachel:

must have connected to a different tower. That's weird.

Matt:

But, Knight, you need to come back and get your unit replaced. It's malfunctioning because it says you, like, flew across the city. He's like Oh, yeah. Yeah. Definitely defective.

Rachel:

Weird. Yeah. No. He flies off. He flies off without really answering Reese or really hanging up because Reese is like, hello?

Rachel:

Hello? The fuck? It's just

Matt:

I was just tagging him. To go up to his car.

Rachel:

You can't even tag his car because he just ditches it half the time. He's like, and I'm out. He just flies out of the top. And, of course, he goes to see, though, Sean, and he's like, where did she go? Where did you send Tracy?

Rachel:

What is happening? And Vashon's like, oh, I sent her to this, like, illegal organ clinic or whatever because she said she had an uncle, and Nick is like, Jesus. Can you please just just give me the address? And Vashawn's like, okay. And then he goes, did she go alone?

Rachel:

And then he looks at Vashon, and he goes, of course, she did. Of course, you sent her to the illegal organ clinic by herself. And he's like, what? She didn't ask. And he goes Vashawn goes, what?

Rachel:

I thought I was helping. I'll go now.

Matt:

It's too late.

Rachel:

And Vashon actually stands up. He's like, I'll go. I'll come. I'll help. And Nick goes, you know what?

Matt:

Don't bother.

Rachel:

Don't. He goes, you're not help.

Matt:

And So I sometimes talk about doing stuff with the kids, but more when they were a lot younger.

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

But I would say, oh, yeah. They were a times 2 helper or a times 3 helper.

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

Because That's

Rachel:

how much extra time. That's how much

Matt:

extra time. That's how much longer it took Yeah. To have them involved. And so Nick is probably like, Vashawn's like a times 5 helper.

Rachel:

Yeah. It ain't gonna work. So we come back to Tracy, and Tracy is, like, getting auctioned off by this doctor. He's like, yeah. She's young.

Rachel:

She's a woman. She's fit. She looks fine. Yep. Little skinny.

Rachel:

Gonna be fine. Yep. What do you want? You want all of it? Okay.

Rachel:

Cool. I'll knock her out. I'll just yoink all of that stuff out of her midsection, and I'll send it off. And Tracy is like, oh, no. Maybe I should have told somebody where I went.

Rachel:

And, uh-oh, Natalie's surgery is imminent. They have her covered. This is absolutely not enough technology to be able to do what they're about to do. It's perfectly fine. They've got a sheet on her chest.

Rachel:

They're drawing a line down the middle, and Nick is literally zooming through the streets, like so you know there's, like, 6 more sightings of the Toronto Mothman that night. Right? And so he barges into the operation room just as they're about to cut. Doesn't know where she is in the building. Doesn't have anything but the address, which means he just has Toronto memorized.

Rachel:

He's just like, oh, okay. I'm gonna go there.

Matt:

Okay. Hold

Rachel:

Oh, god. Okay.

Matt:

Something just jumped into my head. Sure. Okay. So Nick can hear heartbeats. Right?

Rachel:

Yes.

Matt:

Nick can hear heartbeats from a distance. Yes. Yes. He can. We don't have any

Rachel:

Is this the he knows what people's heartbeat sound like thing? Because we talked about this already.

Matt:

Canonically Yeah. Superman can hear all the heartbeats on the planet, and he knows

Rachel:

he always knows which argument. Okay. I know. Okay. Please just let me finish.

Rachel:

Okay. I'm sorry. I'm being a 2 times helper.

Matt:

So Superman always knows where Bruce Wayne is because he's always hearing his heart.

Rachel:

Canonically. Yes. Okay. Yeah.

Matt:

Nick maybe can't hear as well as Superman. But once he gets close enough, he can sense the humans around him

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

And know where they are, and he recognizes Natalie's heartbeat. So he just has to get, like, close to the building

Rachel:

And he'll know.

Matt:

And he can find his way

Rachel:

That's fair.

Matt:

To Natalie's Sure. Operating room.

Rachel:

That's it. Yeah. Let's do that. The most important part about this section really is, Trassy Trassy. Tracy and her sassy Bolero jacket.

Rachel:

She's got this, like, red Bolero jacket on. It's far as Spanish of her. And she actually knocks the doctor out because he he pokes his head out to see what all the kerfuffle is in the operation room, and she takes the door and slams the door into him.

Matt:

It's very shortsighted of him to

Rachel:

be like fucking sell it, bitch.

Matt:

This is a seasoned police officer Yeah. In physical prime condition. I'm gonna turn my back over. Going to put my gun hand through the door Yeah. And half my body through the door

Rachel:

That's gonna be fine.

Matt:

My attention off of this, like, fighting machine, this law enforcement machine. Yeah. And nothing bad is going to happen because she is a small blonde woman who's scared.

Rachel:

Yeah. It's gonna be fine.

Matt:

Right? Wrong.

Rachel:

Which I like. Yes. I like. Tracy saved her fucking self in Trophy Girl, and she is once again acting in her own defense. And I only reinforces

Matt:

her pattern of method acting her way through these undercover operations and getting herself out of them.

Rachel:

Because she's a good cop, t m t m. So she

Matt:

She's a good cop, brawn.

Rachel:

She's a good they're all good cops, brawn. So she she could have easily been our damsel in distress. Like, when you get a female partner

Matt:

for a character like Nick to be that Yeah.

Rachel:

We keep

Matt:

as a counterpart to Nick.

Rachel:

Yeah. We keep coming up against, like, she is a damsel. She's in distress, but she's also a damsel in her own defense. So she we could have easily made her into this, oh, no. This big, burly man has once again captured me, and my burly handsome partner must save me.

Matt:

Hashtag swoon.

Rachel:

Hashtag swoon. We could have easily made that made her into that character. And we keep yes. Every once in a while, she gets herself into these situations that you're, like, this is a 100% your fault. But she also works to get yourself But

Matt:

we're self hurt that.

Rachel:

Out of them. So, I do like that about Tracy, because she could have been such a throwaway character. And we don't make her a throwaway character, and I love that about her.

Matt:

The tropes are way more powerful Yeah. As a narrative device when you, like, firmly apply the trope Yeah. And then you subvert it.

Rachel:

I do think that's also why we make Vashon very, like, what? She's fine. Like, I don't need to be there. I don't need to follow

Matt:

her around. Manly he is? Look at his hair.

Rachel:

Well, I think if he had followed her around, now

Matt:

she would be

Rachel:

damsel in distress again.

Matt:

That that was a

Rachel:

I know.

Matt:

A cut at his hair.

Rachel:

Yeah. I know. We we can't

Matt:

Somebody needs to take a cut at his at

Rachel:

his hair. Yeah. So she saves herself, which is the whole point of that discussion. And then Nick is with Natalie, and he's got everybody against the wall. And he's like, I got to the wall.

Rachel:

And he ends up stroking the side of Natalie's face, like, wake up, Natalie. And then he disassociates because this is such a stressful moment. And we go back to, Frankenstein's lawyer. Actually, Frankenstein's doctor, not the monster. But so it would be Frankenstein's lair.

Matt:

It would be Frankenstein's lair.

Rachel:

Yeah. So Veronica is wandering around, unhappily, and she can't talk, and she's agitated because, singing was her life. Her life was her life. She no longer has a life or singing. And he's like, oh, she's gonna get over it.

Rachel:

It's fine. I think she might actually be on her period right now, so, like, it's cool. Like, she's gonna once all that stuff evens out, she's gonna be fine. And she actually stabs herself.

Matt:

She's like,

Rachel:

I don't want this.

Matt:

Don't really explain why. She doesn't know what happened.

Rachel:

Because I don't know. Not really.

Matt:

She's just see the whole thing after she woke up. So

Rachel:

He could have been like, listen. You got trampled by a horse, but Nick is a vampire. And he killed a lady, and I ripped out her heart. And I put her in your put it in your chest, but you deserve that heart more than she does.

Matt:

K? And regardless of how he explained it

Rachel:

Yeah.

Matt:

She don't like it.

Rachel:

She don't like it, and she stabs herself. And that's kind of the end of it. Nick is like, I don't think he's gonna keep trying to cure me, so I'm just gonna go now. And he, like, disappears into the shed.

Matt:

Darn. Foiled again.

Rachel:

Humans. And we come back to, Natalie waking up.

Matt:

I bet Lecla was involved.

Rachel:

We kind of have, like, flashback scene flashback scene a little bit here. And, actually, Tracy comes up on Freeman, the doctor Freeman fleeing with Sage. And Tracy Tracy's like, stop right there. And doctor Freeman is like, you don't understand what it's like to have a child who's dying. And you're a doctor, and you can't save them because you can't get the one thing that you need to save them.

Rachel:

And Tracy's like, oh, I beg to differ. I think I do understand.

Matt:

I have a sick uncle who needs a new heart. I totally understand.

Rachel:

My 70 year old uncle who ruined his heart through, unmedicated high blood pressure, he needs a heart, and he just can't get it. And it's exactly the same thing as you having a child who's dying. Okay? So I really resent the implication.

Matt:

And as a law enforcement officer, I cannot bend the laws to say to get him what he needs.

Rachel:

Except I was about

Matt:

to. I totally understand.

Rachel:

Yeah. She's like, who is this woman? It's like when I try to talk to my niece, and I'm like, we're not making a connection. The plugs are not compatible. They will not go together.

Rachel:

But then we come back to the flashback, and it's Hans losing his shit. He's like, what have you done? And that's when Nick is like, so I'm just gonna call. I'm parked outside, so I think I'm double parked. I think I'm just gonna head out.

Rachel:

I wanna talk to you guys later. Okay? And then Natalie starts waking up in the present And, yay. Everybody is saved. And so Nick goes to see her at the morgue, and this is a really interesting section for several reasons.

Rachel:

1st, Natalie immediately went back to work after being, drugged, kidnapped, and nearly used as a, nearly having her heart harvested to be given to another person. She's like, what is it? Tuesday? And so she just goes back to work. And Maybe this is a different night.

Rachel:

This is a weird, heavy flirting scene. It's not I'm not mad at

Matt:

that. Mood. Well, maybe Maybe not all the anesthesia has worn off.

Rachel:

Oh, maybe. Yeah. It's only been 24 hours since she got to do. She was like, I gotta work. I can't not go to work.

Matt:

I'm really behind.

Rachel:

Because Nick comes in, and he's like, oh, we're doing something fun, and she's looking into a microscope, and she goes, only if you like watching cellular mitosis as much as I do, and people say I'm boring. Actually, she's looking at hair follicles because she's like, hair follicles are actually more interesting than most people give them credit for it. And Nick is like, I think I died again. And she goes, it's something about like, I think I'm, she tells, she ends up telling him, don't go all holistic and alternative on me. Because he's like, I don't know.

Rachel:

I was thinking about trying maybe out what does he say at the end here? I don't know. I didn't take notes. I skipped straight from people say I'm boring to don't go all holistic and alternative on me. It's a weird dig at him because he's like, well, you know, you realize what I have done throughout history.

Rachel:

Like, one time I got Chinese medicine, but then Lacroix beat me up and took it from me. And then this other time, I paid a charlatan, and then this guy electrocuted me for a while. This dude has been alternative and holistic. And now he's trying science, but he's not committed to science. This isn't a committed relationship.

Rachel:

He could dump it at any time. But Nick tells her, how's your name? She's like, you know what? I think it's made a miraculous recovery. And he goes, don't tell oh, he tells her he likes her knee just the way it is, and she goes, do I mean this to take do should I take this as you idolize my knee?

Rachel:

And he goes, yeah. It's my nominee for body parts hall of fame. Get a little flustered, Nick. That's not a great line.

Matt:

Keep it cool, Nick.

Rachel:

It's this scene to me is interesting because Natalie is more competently flirting with Nick than Nick is with her. So it feels like she's completely comfortable in this interaction, and he's not. Mhmm. Because she ends up saying, do you like anything else about me? And he goes, yeah.

Rachel:

I like the whole package just the way it is. And then he leans in for a kiss, and Natalie fucking dies. She's like, sorry. That isn't this isn't what you thought it was. It kinda reminds me of the the end of that one episode where he goes, I wish, and she just goes, yeah, and leaves.

Rachel:

Remember that episode? I think that might be Dying to Know You. Anyway, it's the one where, like, they flirt with the idea of him being able to be with people. And he's basically like, I wish we could have been together like that. And she's like, see you tomorrow.

Rachel:

And it may it I like these little interactions like this because Natalie is absolutely into him, but it gives you the impression that she is fully aware of how unfeasible this relationship is. And so she's not she's into him in, like, a involuntary sense. Like, I like you because you are attractive, you are interesting, and you are in my proximity. But I'm not committed to pining for you every moment of every day. It's like, I like you enough to flirt with you, but I don't know that this could ever work.

Rachel:

Because the last time we tried to go out, you clearly hypnotized me into forgetting the entire evening. And I'm just not okay with that. Because there's no way she doesn't know that in be my Valentine, some shit went down and it got taken from her.

LaCroix:

Yeah.

Rachel:

But she may not feel like she can confront him about it. Like, what do you say? What happened that was so horrific? You took my memory. How could you even explain it?

Rachel:

Anyway, I love the dodge at the end. I think if they had kissed, I'd been like, Lane. That's not what happened. Natalie's like, nope. I'm I'm entertaining this enough, but I'm not entertaining it as much as you wanted to.

Rachel:

Plus, Nick kisses so many people. How meaningful could it possibly be? It would be more meaningful to her than it would to him, which is probably what she realizes. Yeah. Yeah.

Rachel:

And that's the end of that episode. How did you feel? I feel like you talked a lot this episode, and I'm really happy for you. Like, I'm I'm thankful for all the participation

Matt:

You're welcome.

Rachel:

Including the Daniel Day Lewis. So if you're just going forward, keep in mind that Tracy is always method acting. She's undercover, not undercover at all times.

Matt:

To the detriment of collaboration with her colleagues.

Rachel:

Layers. She's like a parfait.

Matt:

Not like an onion.

Rachel:

You think it's just vanilla yogurt, but there's granola. It's just underneath the surface.

Matt:

There's raisins.

Rachel:

And it's on top of more vanilla yogurt, but which still has granola underneath of it. It's layers. Not like Vashon, who is all surface. He's just shiny chrome with more chrome underneath of it. Useless and rusts quickly, and then never quite gets back to the way it looked before it rusted.

Rachel:

Alright. I guess we'll leave it there. I can't believe we're almost halfway through season 3 and it kinda makes me like sad, but nostalgic. Like, maybe we should start back over at the beginning and just do them all over again. I mean, we have some episodes at the beginning that are, like, 45 minutes long.

Rachel:

I don't even know how we accomplished that. I listened to it. I'm like, we need a riff. We need a riff. I feel like we should go back and redo some episodes.

Rachel:

What do you think? I do it for the look. I make those statements for the look. This is, we're all traveling through time at the speed of one second per one second. And we're only going in one direction.

Rachel:

We cannot go back.

Matt:

That's right.

Rachel:

So I guess until next time, friend.

Matt:

The arrow of time only points in one direction.

Rachel:

Yeah. Oh, can you combine that with the logic puzzle where, you can never quite get there because every time it goes halfway what's that one where it's, like, half past yeah.

Matt:

That that's an artificial construct because mathematics does not really exist in nature.

Rachel:

Oh, yeah. See, I know that because I've been reading HG Wells. So Yeah. Alright. Until next time, friends.

Matt:

Bye. Hey. That's the best

LaCroix:

way, isn't it? Nature looking after everything on its own without man's intervention.

Rachel:

Uh-huh. Well, don't go all holistic and alternative on me. We all know that medical science does occasionally still come up with the odd miracle now and then.

LaCroix:

All I'm saying is I think I like your knee the way it is, and I'm glad that you're in one piece.

Rachel:

Well, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my oh, never mind. Am I gonna to take this to mean then that you idolize my name?

LaCroix:

Oh, absolutely. It's my personal choice for the body parts, all

Rachel:

the thing. Anything

LaCroix:

else? Everything. I like the whole package the way it is.

Forever Knight (Season 3 Ep 9) - "Let No Man Tear Asunder"
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