Forever Knight (Season 3 Ep 13) - "Fever" - Come in 81 Kilo: A Forever Knight Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Nick (00:00):
Stay out of the sun. Keep away from sharp sticks. You'll
live forever. That is supposedto be the deal.

Natalie (00:05):
Well, God just changed the deal.

Rachel (00:08):
Hi. I'm Rachel.

Matt (00:10):
And I'm Matt.

Rachel (00:12):
And this is come in it's

Natalie (00:17):
not the right one. You led me astray. I was getting it

Rachel (00:24):
right, and then you made me wrong. Okay. Hi. I'm Rachel.

Matt (00:30):
And I'm Matt.

Rachel (00:32):
And this is Come in 81 kilo.

Matt (00:35):
A forever night podcast.

Rachel (01:28):
We did it. We made it, eventually.

Matt (01:33):
Unlike the dozens of vampires.

Rachel (01:36):
Oh, too soon. Just too soon.

Matt (01:40):
The credits needed, like, the was it like the animal care
act or whatever? No vampireswere harmed in this. The
credits. Yeah. No vampires wereharmed in the making of this
episode.

Rachel (01:52):
Well, welcome back, friends. It's time for the
episode. I can't decide. Is thisa jump the shark episode? Or was
this a fuck it, we're going downswinging episode?

Matt (02:12):
We're going down swinging jumping the shark.

Natalie (02:16):
I'm gonna jump the shark and swing at

Rachel (02:17):
the same time. You know what I mean by jumping the shark
episode.

Matt (02:20):
Can you please explain it for the for the listeners?

Rachel (02:23):
Okay. Thank you for that prompt, Matthew. I shall explain
it for the listeners. So therewas an episode of happy days
where the show was in its, inits twilight. It was ending.
And as an effort to keep itrelevant, they had the Fonz go

(02:45):
skiing and quite literally Waterskiing. Water skiing. Unless he
could jump a snow shark.

Matt (02:53):
It would be a
lot more exciting if he wasdownhill skiing.

Rachel (02:57):
Well, they had him quite literally jump a shark. And it
was like a, oh, watch HenryWinkler jump a shark. So he
literally jumped the shark as aneffort to get viewers back to
happy days and save the show.And so this has become
colloquially colloquially. Ican't This is a saying that

(03:22):
means

Matt (03:24):
Colloquially.

Rachel (03:25):
Thank you. This is a saying that means we are doing
something extraordinary in aneffort to save a show.

Matt (03:33):
So To get ratings up.

Rachel (03:34):
To get ratings up. And it's called jumping the shark.
And this doesn't feel I don'twant this to be a jumping the
shark episode because then itwould feel like a ratings grab.
I want this to be, like,alright, y'all. They already cut
the cord, so all bets are off.
We do what we want for the next9 episodes.

Matt (03:57):
The the rains are gone.

Rachel (03:59):
Yeah. Because as you may know, this is season 3 episode
13, fever. And I have a I got avery sweet message from Kathy,
thanks to Meg, on, Cameo. Andshe said that, yeah, absolutely
the, no one was looking, and wewere pretty much allowed to do
whatever we wanted to on season1, which leads me to leave that

(04:22):
season 2, like we said, was thesafe one. And then season 3 was
like corporate.
We were trying to please ourcorporate overlords until the
overlords were, like, we are notpleased. And then they were,
like, fuck it. We do what wewant. And then we go back for
this brief, beautiful momentwhere we just do what we fucking

(04:42):
want, and what we fucking wantedwas to say something. And so
they chose, because it was ahuge conversation in the
nineties, aids.
And it is really hard toquantify. It would have been
hard to quantify before 2020. Itmight be easier to
intellectualize now, but it'sreally hard to quantify the

(05:04):
panic that aids represented. Notonly because it was a disease
that you got and you died from,It meant you had done something
morally reprehensible, and as aconsequence, you were given AIDS
by God. Because you were gay,you did drugs, whatever.

(05:28):
It was considered a moralfailing to have AIDS. And
literally, you had doctorsrefusing to diagnose people with
HIV because then they would haveto treat them. People were
sitting in in emergency rooms totry to get treatment. It was a
crisis, an absolute fuckingcrisis. And the fact that this

(05:50):
show chose to address it at allis Impressive?
Impressive. Yeah. Impressive.Bold move. Fucking bold.
Very bold. Because to saysomething like god does not give
you aids on public televisionwas like, oh my god, so much.

(06:11):
And you think we're better. Youthink we'd be better, but then
2020 happened, and I think wecan all agree, at least in the
United States, that we are notfucking better. And allow me to
enlighten you with an anecdoteof our charming southern town,
which I know everyone loveshearing anecdotes about.
And if you don't, skip forwardlike maybe 2 minutes. But there

(06:34):
was a fellow in our town, afairly prominent fellow in the
community. And during COVID,remember those people that
believed that COVID wasn't real?They still exist, but anyway, he
was pretty sure God would notallow COVID to be real, so he
traveled to Florida during theheight of COVID and got COVID

(06:57):
and came home and ended up beingin a medically induced coma for,
like, 2 months. And then he cameback and got better.
And you would think at thatpoint, any rational individual
would be like, yo. COVID isserious. I almost died. But I
think if history has provenanything, it's that humanity is

(07:19):
not fundamentally rationalbecause he came back and
literally said, God had savedhim because of his faith and
that everyone else who had diedof the same disease he had, it
was because God allowed them todie because they were not the
faithful. And so now every year,he has a big celebration in the

(07:39):
town for the day that Godallowed him to live.
So let's just move forward intothis episode with that in mind.
This is our context lenses forthe episode. Think of this as
COVID. Think of this as if youlived in the nineties, you know
exactly what is happening here.And it is there this is the

(07:59):
show's attempt to make apolitical statement, and I
fucking love it.
And Matt was like, you have saidthat the last 3 episodes were
your favorite episode, with theexception of Strings. But many
things can be true. There is notjust one true thing in the
world. I can have many favoriteepisodes. I love the audacity of

(08:21):
this episode.
Just the fucking audacity of it.The, we aren't even gonna make
aids the central point. We'regonna make, like, if you have a
race like vampires, are theyworth saving? Are they
fundamentally evil? Can youlabel an entire race evil and
doom them to death?
Like, who gets to make thatchoice? Anyway, are you ready to

(08:46):
start the episode?

Matt (08:47):
Sounds like a similar discussion in the, the asteroid
episode. And they they killedoff a large percentage of of the
affected population. In the theasteroid episode, it was humans.

Rachel (09:03):
Oh.

Matt (09:04):
And in this episode, they killed off a large portion of
the vampire population.

Rachel (09:09):
I hesitate to draw a parallel there because I don't
think that the I don't thinkthat the meteoroid episode was
trying to draw any kind ofpolitical conclusions. I think
it was just like, what ifthere's an asteroid that was
coming out of the Earth? Whatwould happen? And this feels
more like, what if we drew ametaphor?

Matt (09:28):
The the discussion of would God, could God Should God.
Should God choose to destroy arace

Rachel (09:40):
Yeah. On a whim? Emily, the answer to that is no, but
that also proves

Matt (09:45):
Yeah. And in both cases, everybody decided that it would
have been wrong for God to havedone that.

Rachel (09:52):
Before we really launch into the episode, I wanna put
out a little PSA that there issomebody on YouTube doing
synopses of the entire firstseason, and they are scaredy
cats, scaredyspacecats, orscared at scaredy cats TV.

(10:13):
They're only, like, they'reonly, like, 8 minutes each. How
can you do an episode in 8minutes? Baby, baby took us 3
fucking hours. But if you want,like, a little doop doop, just 8
minutes, they're out there.
And if you wanna hop over thereand being like, hey. There's
another person already doingthis. You should go check them
out if you want a longer form.Feel free to advertise for us.

(10:33):
So, anyway, that's on YouTube ifyou wanna go check it out.
I just wanna throw that in therebefore we

Natalie (10:38):
really hop into the details.

Matt (10:40):
A ripe market for

Rachel (10:42):
Hey. Other people advertising. Other people are
talking about FOREVERNIGHT. Themore people we get talking about
FOREVERNIGHT, the more likely weare to get a reboot. So Here

Matt (10:51):
here's what we need to do. We need to go to each of their
videos

Rachel (10:55):
Yeah.

Matt (10:55):
And comment a link to our video our YouTube video of the
same episode.

Rachel (11:03):
As you are the YouTube manager, I will outsource this
task to you. But back to theAIDS episode, aka fever, we
start with this clinic. Are youready for this? We start with
this clinic and this man isgetting his blood drawn. And the
lady, Linda Wyatt, who we findout is the doctor who's
developing this medication,she's like, oh my god.

(11:25):
Your t cells are holding at 120.Still no symptoms? And he's
like, no. Just the cough. And hetells her, like, you're a real
lifesaver.
And then we cut to another areain the lab, and Bernard is
there. This is Bernard from1966, but he's actually Dan.

Matt (11:43):
They reused him. Yeah.

Rachel (11:44):
The one who got punched.

Matt (11:45):
It's his son. It's Bernard's son.

Rachel (11:49):
Yeah. His distant relative, Dan. And he's going
through the rats, and he, like,pulls one out. And Linda Wyatt
comes around the corner, and hedrops the rat.

Matt (11:59):
He gets surprised.

Rachel (12:00):
He was like, oh, shit. I wasn't no. That one holding this
bloop. And he's

Matt (12:03):
He acts like he's up to something.

Rachel (12:05):
He could've feigned putting the rat back. Like, he
was checking the rat, and he wasputting it back. But instead,
he's just like, yoink. He heeats the rat.

Matt (12:13):
He's too young and inexperienced. He doesn't have
enough emotional ballast

Nick (12:18):
I guess.

Matt (12:18):
To have regulated that.

Rachel (12:19):
And then he turns around and grabs this giant briefcase,
and he's like, oh, I'm justgetting my notes. It's it's like
it's gonna be another allnighter. Bye. And she's like,
woah. Woah.
Woah. Wait. Wait. Why do youhave a giant briefcase? And he's
like, what?

Natalie (12:32):
No. There's no briefcase. And he just starts
running.

Rachel (12:35):
Oh, because he's hella sus.

Matt (12:37):
Oh, yeah.

Rachel (12:37):
Like, I don't know why Calvin hired this guy to or
whatever bribed him. For his for

Matt (12:43):
his medical technician skills, not for his people
skills.

Rachel (12:48):
Why did he go to Lynn what did he even try going to
Linda and being, like, I can getyour thing roll out in 18 months
if it works? Or was he just,like, the only way around this
is to steal her shit and killher? Well, the I think the
killing is accidental. It wasreally supposed to be just
corporate, corporate espionage.

Matt (13:08):
Right.

Rachel (13:09):
Yeah. I don't know. She chases Dan down this corridor,
and she's like, you're stealingmy work. And he's like, nuh-uh.
No.
I'm not stealing your work. Andthen he keeps running, and he
ends up pushing her down thestairs because she confronts him
in the stairwell. And she pusheshim, and then he pushes her. And
because the, I guess, becausethe landing is overwaxed, she,

(13:29):
like, slips, runs into the walland then do do do do do do. And
that's the end of Linda.
And Dan is like, oh, no. Oh,that's fine. And then he just
leaves with their hat. Like,this is gonna be fine. This is
terrible, but, also, it'sfinally okay.
And so he leaves with the papersbecause what they think is that

(13:50):
this is a cure for AIDS. Andwhatever Bernard's motivations
might be, Calvin is really onlyDan. His name is Stan,

Natalie (14:00):
but I'm probably gonna

Rachel (14:01):
call him Bernard. Whatever his motivations might
be, Calvin is in this becausepeople died of AIDS within,
like, 4 to 5 years. And it couldtake up to 10 years for this
woman's medication to hit themarket with the current
resources she's working with. Sohe's trying to move her move her
research to a higher resourcelab where he can get it out and

(14:22):
get it on the streets and savelives.

Matt (14:24):
He can benefit from it and other people. I mean, he can
benefit by surviving

Rachel (14:29):
By surviving.

Matt (14:30):
Because he can take it as a treatment. Right. But also he
can save a whole lot of otherpeople. So I was trying to find
on the topic of Dan'sinterpersonal skills, I was
trying to find a joke that Iheard

Natalie (14:47):
Oh, no.

Matt (14:50):
About, the I couldn't find it. The punchline of the joke is
that autism causes vaccines.Because anytime you have, like,
a a field of work where it'sextremely specialized and you

(15:12):
have to be very, like, focusedon the topic Yeah. It's, like,
self selecting for, like,autistic people.

Rachel (15:21):
Yeah. And If they can get through the interview
process.

Matt (15:24):
If they can get through the

Rachel (15:24):
interview process. More hot takes.

Matt (15:26):
And then and so you have all these people in these niche
scientific fields, medicalfields that happen to have
autism because that's what selfselected for them attaining the
level of proficiency because oftheir hyperfocus on the topic.

(15:47):
They're the ones that actuallydeveloped vaccines. So

Rachel (15:50):
Autism causes vaccines.

Matt (15:52):
But if you look up if you Google search autism causes
vaccines, it's a whole bunch of,like, disinformation correction
of, like, the search algorithmsprobably Switching. Tweaked to,
provide, like, informationcorrecting, results rather than

(16:15):
this, like, YouTube short ofsomebody telling this joke.
Anyway

Rachel (16:21):
Almost as if one guy got paid off the lie in his
research, and we've been payingthe price ever since.

Matt (16:27):
Yeah.

Rachel (16:28):
Oh, so, Screed. I mean, we haven't seen Screed in a
while.

Matt (16:35):
Yeah. I saw in the credits at the beginning, he's he had a
guest star.

Rachel (16:41):
Oh, god. Just drive the fucking knife right in there.

Matt (16:44):
So you know he's not gonna be around much.

Rachel (16:46):
I wonder if they were intending him to be a bigger
role and then he just didn'ttrack well with the audiences,
because we haven't seen him in,like, for fucking ever. He
hasn't been in it in

Matt (16:58):
I bet they wanted him in there more.

Rachel (16:59):
Except this episode, maybe? But they

Matt (17:00):
didn't any, they were doing, like, focus groups on the
episodes.

Rachel (17:03):
And they were like, what?

Matt (17:04):
And they were like What are

Nick (17:04):
you saying?

Matt (17:05):
We don't the the audience doesn't like Screed. And so

Rachel (17:09):
Fuck the audience.

Matt (17:10):
When the writers, the show producers are kind of feeling
the pressure of the corporateoverlords. They're like,
alright. The corporate overlordsdon't like Screed. We won't put
Screed in this episode. And thenthe episodes where they're like,
fuck the man.
We're putting Screed in thisepisode.

Rachel (17:28):
Yeah. Just to kill him.

Matt (17:30):
Well, in this case, but in the other episodes with Screed

Nick (17:34):
Yeah.

Matt (17:34):
It's like, we know our corporate overlords don't like
Screed, but we're putting him inanyway.

Rachel (17:41):
Our corporate overlords. So there's a rat on the loose.
So who do we have? It's Screed.And so Screed's in this
dumpster.

Matt (17:48):
And it's finally not a metaphor.

Rachel (17:51):
But Screed's in this dumpster, and he's singing a
song, like a sailor song, sailordiddy. What are they called?

Matt (17:57):
A shanty.

Rachel (17:58):
A shanty. I could not remember. The kids and I just
watched, like, a thing aboutsailors' shanties and how it was
really fascinating. They weretalking about how we probably
sing them at a much faster tempothan they did because their work
was not fast. It was more likerhythmic than fast.
Anyway, that's not that'stotally off topic, but Screed is

(18:21):
singing the shanty, and he's,he's on the hunt. He's on the
hunt for the one thing thatScreed's ever on the hunt for,
and that's rats. And so he picksup this gray rat and he's like,
oh, hello. And then he looksover and a white rat runs by and
he's like, oh, hello. And so hedrops the gray rat and he hops
out and picks up the which wenow know is the lab rat.
And then he looks up at the skyand he goes, something for old

(18:43):
screed,

Screed (18:47):
Where'd you come from, my lovely? Where'd you

Nick (18:51):
come from, my lovely?

Screed (18:51):
Someone's looking after your old screen.

Rachel (18:54):
Like, thank God I got a nice rat tonight.

Matt (18:57):
A nice clean rat.

Rachel (18:58):
Yeah. And then he he eats this experimental rat, and
then we see this cell transferhappening as he bites the rat.
Yes. And then we go to theintroduction.

Matt (19:09):
With no explanation. We get it multiple times.

Nick (19:13):
Bott

Matt (19:14):
up. Every time except

Rachel (19:16):
Every time.

Matt (19:16):
We don't get it when LaCroix gets infected.

Rachel (19:19):
60% of the time?

Matt (19:20):
However, LaCroix gets infected.

Rachel (19:21):
From Nick drinking his drink.

Matt (19:23):
That's what I'm guessing. Yeah. But we didn't get the

Rachel (19:26):
It's fine.

Matt (19:27):
The, like, bloodstream under a microscope

Rachel (19:30):
Yeah. Clip. It's only important the first couple of
times because then you're like,oh my god. How far is it spread
and how fast? So Nick and Tracyarrive at this lab, because
there's been a crime.
And so who shows up when there'sa crime? The only 2 detects
detectives in the whole ofToronto, Nick and Tracy. So they
arrive at this lab, and Tracy iscomplaining about the smell.

(19:53):
She's like, why is it that labsalways smell like that? Is it
LabSmell Incorporated?
It smells like cherry cardio. Mytongue isn't working.

Matt (20:04):
Slow down.

Rachel (20:05):
I don't wanna slow down. It smells like cherry car
deodorizer, only not. And Nickis like, yeah. I've never
noticed. Like, I don't know whatyou're talking about.
Literally, everything stinks.Tracy, you smell like shit. She
smells like shit. He smells likeshit. Everyone smells like shit.

Matt (20:24):
Like fruit.

Rachel (20:25):
There is 1 god. There is one book I've read where the
vampire character is like, yeah.Everyone smells like and and
that is what they smell like.And it's totally fine that they
smell like that because thatsmells like prey or that smells

(20:46):
like food. And there's justthat's the only one.
Everyone is like, they smelllike honey and lemon and
strawberries and honey do matterand sun kissed roses. Everyone
else is like, oh, yeah. Theysmell like all these beautiful
beaut and then there's one book.It's by Christopher Pike. It's
one of his vampire books.

(21:08):
Oh, no. Not Christopher Pike.Not Christopher Pike.
Christopher Pike is the one whowrote The Last Vampire series,
which is in like a 19 ninetiesvampire You series where the
main character is somehow bothfrom the Indian subcontinent,
but also blonde and blue eyedand Hindu. A combination, I
believe, can only exist in thenineties, and she's 5000 years

(21:30):
old.
Anyway, that's a whole otherthing. The one I'm specifically
talking about is, I think, BiteMe by Christopher Moore, who
wrote a bunch of vampire comedynovels. And he's the only one
I've ever read who was like,yep, humans do not smell
amazing, but they smell likefood. And several times in this

(21:50):
episode, as Matt referenced, weget to hear about how Tracy
smells like fruit.

Matt (21:58):
It was just the once that I remember.

Rachel (22:00):
Twice.

Matt (22:01):
Twice? Okay.

Rachel (22:02):
Twice. Yeah. But not cherry cardiotherizer, so she's
got that going for her. And Nickspots the dead rat. Like,
they're walking in and thedumpsters are outside the front
door, but, like, slightly angledaway from the door.
How this works. And he's justlike, oh, look at that. There's
a dead rat over by the dumpster.So he goes over and he, like,
picks it up with his bare hands.But he, like, gets in there.

(22:27):
He doesn't just pick it up withhis bare hands. He's, like,
digging his thumb in the openwound, like, smearing it around.
What the fuck is this?

Matt (22:37):
You'd have to be able to make it out on a CRT screen.

Rachel (22:41):
Is that where we're going with? This is the fakest
dead rat I've ever seen in mylife.

Matt (22:45):
It really is.

Rachel (22:46):
It looks like it was carved from wood and somebody,
like, paper mache glued somesome faux fur to the outside of
it. And then he sticks his handin this blood, and then we see
the cell transfer thing again.And this is the first time in 3
years of episodes that we haveactually seen consequences for

(23:07):
Nick not wearing gloves at acrime scene.

Matt (23:10):
Which explains why he has never started wearing gloves.

Rachel (23:13):
Right.

Matt (23:14):
But I would say this also supports our cobbled together
vampire mythology that he canabsorb blood through his skin.

Rachel (23:27):
That's true. Just like Rasputin in

Matt (23:29):
the second episode. Got blood on his skin Yeah. And just
reflects.

Rachel (23:34):
Sucked it up. He even says it's fresh.

Matt (23:42):
Ew.

Rachel (23:42):
I'm sorry. What? So then they go in and they're talking
to Dan, and they're like, didshe often work late? Was she
like a late worker? And he tellsthem there's a lot of demand for
equipment.
We're undersupplied,underfunded. She was dedicated
to her work. I don't know whatto tell you. She came in and
worked every opportunity shecould. And then he tells him

(24:05):
that, oh, don't look foranything missing because I
already checked and nothing wasmissing.
And so he hold Nick holds up therat for Dan to see, and he's
like, I found this outside bythe dumpster. Does this look
like one of her rats? I alsofound 50 other rats. I'll be
looking I will be showing themto you in just a moment, but
let's start with the white one.And the guy gets a little

(24:25):
squiffy.
He's like, oh, I don't know. Itcould be hers. I mean, if it was
hers, it would have a tattoobehind the right hind. Hers is
the 700 series. So I don't know.
You just gotta tat check thisrat, and then it could be hers.
And then he's like, but wheredid you get it? And Nick does
not answer. He doesn't answerquestions he doesn't feel like

(24:45):
answering, and he certainlydoesn't answer Bernard's
questions.

Matt (24:48):
Nick needs to be like, I'm the one asking the questions
here.

Rachel (24:53):
Yeah. He's like, mhmm. Okay. So could it have escaped?
And the guy's like, no.
We're very careful. Like, wehandle things here that could
bring down the whole city.

Matt (25:04):
Oh, no.

Rachel (25:05):
And Nick's like, okay. So what did she work on? Did she
work on something like that? Andhe's like, oh, no. No.
No. No. She was cloning thisbenign virus that attacks HIV.
It's like it wasn't anythingserious. And so Nick turns
around and he walks up toNatalie because And BD.
And BD. No big deal. So he turnsaround, and Natalie is there,

(25:26):
and she's processing the scene.And she's like, well, it's
possible she slipped on the waxylanding and fell down the
stairs. It is pretty slick upthere.
But, I mean, I can'tdefinitively say that that's
what happened. And Tracy popsup, pops up in a puff of smoke,
and she's like, oh, I found herapartment calendar, appointment
calendar. And it says

Matt (25:48):
Slow down.

Rachel (25:50):
Like, going really fast

Natalie (25:51):
for this. Okay.

Matt (25:53):
You're you're going so fast. You're tripping over your
words.

Rachel (25:57):
You know what it is? I've been editing all day at,
like, 1 point 75.

Matt (26:01):
Oh, so

Rachel (26:01):
you're So I've been listening to

Matt (26:03):
you. All sped up.

Rachel (26:03):
I am. I'm, like, rant. So I guess I need to I need to
channel Sita from ChristopherPike's immortal last vampire
series and practice Hindumeditation. I think it's in the
3rd or 4th book, we find outthat she studied with a, like, a
cult in Egypt and learned how totransfer her consciousness

(26:24):
outside of her body. Honestly,these are the trippiest fucking
books.
If you have not read ChristopherPike's Last Vampers series
Christopher Pike.

Matt (26:33):
Christopher Pike.

Rachel (26:34):
Yeah. The last vampire. It starts with the last vampire,
which is relatively tameconsidering how far off the
fucking rails it goes. She endsup becoming human and giving
birth to Kali, and then Kalitries to kill the reincarnation
of Jesus. I can't make this shitup.

(26:54):
So go find it and read it. Okay.There. Now I had a breather. Are
we ready?
So Tracy pops up, and she hasthis woman's appointment
calendar. And she says that shehad 3 appointments. And night
appointments. It's person a, whodoesn't matter, person b, who

(27:15):
doesn't matter, and person c,who is Calvin Tucker. And
Natalie's like, oh shit.
Calvin Tucker? I knew him frommed school. He was in med school
with me, And then and then hegot aids, and he had to drop
out. And then she's like, whywould he be here? It's like

Matt (27:37):
she didn't know he had aids.

Rachel (27:38):
Yes. She knew he had AIDS.

Matt (27:40):
Oh, I thought she said he was, on the way to becoming
chief surgeon?

Rachel (27:44):
Yeah. And then he got AIDS and had to leave practice.
Yeah. And she's like, well, whywas he here? It's like Rent A
Doc.
This is like the oldestshittiest pharmaceutical
development company in Toronto.They've got old equipment, run
down equipment, second stringresearch grants, what would he

(28:05):
be doing here? And then we cutright to the interrogation room
with Calvin, which is nicebecause this episode needs to
keep moving. They've got a lotto cover. So we don't have to go
find him.
We don't have to hunt him down.We just cut right to, like, we
called Calvin and he came rightin. So now they're in the
interrogation room. And he says,I was looking for a miracle. She

(28:29):
was working on an experimentaltreatment and needed guinea pigs
and I was desperate.
And it's interesting because theperson who's actually
interviewing him is Natalie, notTracy and not Nick. And he's
talking to Natalie and she'slike, first trials Cal, you know
the risks, you know this couldbe a serious problem. And he's

(28:52):
like, what's it gonna do? Killme? He points out that he's had
AIDS for 4 years and he'salready outlived most of his
friends who were diagnosed atthe same time as him.
And he says, you know, I thoughtshe was onto something and I
wanted in, and the approvalprocess, it was going to take
longer than I have left to live.And when you're staring at

(29:17):
death, you will try anything.And through this whole
interview, Nick is standing inthe background like, look. He's
channeling his inner LaCroix,standing in the background stand

Matt (29:29):
back and observe.

Rachel (29:30):
Yeah. Watching. And this sends him into a flashback
because, apparently because,apparently, Nick and Lacroix
were in London during the BlackPlague.

Matt (29:43):
Get their drink on.

Rachel (29:44):
So there's rats and dead people and dead people being
eaten by rats and shits on fire.And kids are singing ring around
the rosie in the background.

Matt (29:56):
And almost pee almost dead people getting drank to death by
vampires.

Nick (30:02):
Yeah.

Rachel (30:03):
And then Lacroix is eating somebody, and Nick walks
up, and he's like, Lacroix says,I haven't had a decent meal in
weeks. They all taste like theplague, and London used to be
such a nice city. I think weshould move on. And Nick's like,
I thought you thrived on humansuffering, Lacroix. And

(30:25):
Lacroix's like

Matt (30:25):
too much of a good thing.

Rachel (30:27):
It's too

Natalie (30:27):
much of a good

LaCroix (30:29):
thing. I haven't had a decent bit of weeks.

Matt (30:32):
They'll have the taste of plague in them.

LaCroix (30:34):
London used to be such a nice city. I think we should
move on.

Nick (30:39):
I thought you thrived on human suffering, LaCroix.
Disasters are a usefuldistraction, Nicholas. But he
questions a few more dead hereall the way up their going. But
there is such a thing as toomuch of a good thing.

Rachel (30:53):
Besides, they closed the theaters, and I despise a city
with no culture. So they spot aguy moving through the carnage.
He's got, like, a pilgrim hat onand toggle buttons, and he's
very distracting. And his nameis Gerard. But he's walking
through the carnage, and Nickcan't help but follow him.

(31:14):
He must give Nick, like, his hemust give Lacroix his puppy dog
look. He's like, come on,Lacroix. Go follow him and

Matt (31:20):
I see another moral individual.

Rachel (31:22):
Lacroix is like, oh, fucking fine.

Nick (31:24):
I can smell it on him.

Rachel (31:25):
As we learned in the last episode, Lacroix cannot
cannot resist when Nick giveshim the force, the little force.
So he must give him the lowforce. And they follow this guy,
and he goes to this, like,preaching circle, mob circle,
whatever you wanna call it, Orthis guy is preaching that the

(31:45):
plague is a judgment from God,and because London is a city of
sin, that that's why the plagueis here. And then he grabs a
woman and he pulls back hersweater and she's got, like,
black marks on her neck becauseit's the black plague. And he's
like, this is the mark of evil.
Only the righteous man willsurvive. God will protect you

(32:08):
from this. If you were righteousenough, you would not be sick.

Matt (32:12):
Hey. This sounds familiar.

Rachel (32:13):
God. I can't fucking you know what? This felt so much
more relevant watching it thistime. Because the last time I
watched it, I was like, oh,yeah. The nineties were a wild
time.
Then I watched it this time, andI was like, oh, God. I feel like
I heard that, like, last week. Ican't with this fucking like,
the the I mean, the position ofthis podcast is that God does

(32:35):
not strike you down withdisease. Okay. I feel like we
can just blanket say thatDisease exists.
Bad things happen. Bad thingshappen to everyone regardless of
whether or not you are good orevil. Bacteria does not choose.
Bacteria just does its thing,and so do viruses. And so then
LaCroix is like, okay.

(32:57):
Like, maybe it is only therighteous that survived. Maybe
you make a compelling argument.What do you think, Nick? And
Nick's like, I'm I'm ignoringyou right now.

Matt (33:06):
Maybe God loves the germs more than the humans.

Rachel (33:09):
Yeah. And Nick is, like, everyone is equal in the eyes of
the plague, because that's whatthe guy says. He pops up, and
he's like, why are you doingthis? Why are you, like, calling
these people out like this?Everyone is dying.
Everyone is equal. Shut the fuckup. And then LaCroix looks over
at Nick, and he's like, wink,wink, nudge, nudge. Not quite
all of us.

Matt (33:29):
Let's go chat him up at the bar.

Rachel (33:32):
He finds them in their defense. He comes to them. They
don't find they don't seek himout. But when he seeks them out,
they take advantage of theopportunity, or at least Nick
does. And I have to imagine Nickgave LaCroix the first.
Like

Matt (33:48):
Don't even sit at the table,

Rachel (33:50):
LaCroix. Can I turn to him? Can I turn to him? He seems
like such a nice guy. AndLaCroix is like, if you need a
pet, that's fine.
Jennette is apparently absentright now. I don't know where
she could possibly be. So it'sfine. Probably, Janette was
like, it's gross here. I'm goingsomewhere nicer and

Matt (34:04):
just laughed.

Rachel (34:06):
Ew. So Nick comes out, and he's like, they're still at
the precinct. And he says, couldthere be something to this cure?
Because everyone seemed to loveLinda Wyatt. This guy seems to
think it was really working.
Is this secure for AIDS? AndNatalie's like, if it did work,
it'd be worth a lot of money. Itwould, in fact, be worth the

(34:30):
Nobel Prize. So maybe? I don'tknow.
Like, it's definitely acandidate for industrial
espionage because if this gotleaked and it got developed by
another lab, it can make them aboatload of money. So, like,
maybe that could be your motive.And Nick is like, look,

(34:51):
regardless, I'm sorry about yourfriend. Like, at least he takes
a moment and he's like, listen,Natalie, with affection. I'm
really sorry.
I'm

Natalie (34:59):
sorry about your friend.

Matt (35:01):
You'd think he'd learned his lesson.

Rachel (35:05):
No. And I'm never gonna fucking let it go.

Matt (35:07):
Communicating his feelings to Natalie.

Rachel (35:09):
He kinda does. I mean, he's like, I'm sorry. Like, I'm
focused on this case. I reallywanna get this solved, but also
I recognize that this is yourfriend and he's in a really
shitty spot. And, like, I getthat this is shitty for you, and
I'm sorry.
And she says, well, he's 35, andhe looks 55. And can you blame
him for latching on to anyonewith a magical crystal? Of

(35:31):
course, you would because you'rejust trying to save your life.

Matt (35:34):
Right. Just look at all the the wild things Nick has
chased throughout history andhis search for a cure. Nick
should totally sympathize.

Rachel (35:44):
I know. He's, like, totally get it. Although, with
Nick, it's what's thealternative? I keep living
forever instead of I die.

Matt (35:53):
He's grasping at any opportunity Right. To end his
his sentence.

Rachel (36:01):
Literally any opportunity as we will find
Charlie. Because Natalie islike, I'm just tired. Get me
some samples, and I'll take alook at them later, and I'll
tell you if this was worthstealing. Okay? Because I have
approximate knowledge of manythings.
I can I can look into that?Right.

Matt (36:22):
Why did this not go to a an actual, like, bio lab?

Rachel (36:26):
Because Natalie is one stop shop. She is forensic slash
coroner slash, investigatorslash everything. She's like,
get me a couple of rats.

Matt (36:37):
Consulting research lab.

Rachel (36:38):
Me a couple of rats, and I'll tell you if this is the
cure for can't cure for AIDS ornot. Okay?

Matt (36:44):
I couldn't make it, but I can tell you if it is or not.

Rachel (36:47):
Right. And Nick is like, oh, okay. Thank you. Do you need
anything else? And she goes,yeah.
Sleep. Yeah. Sleep. And so sheleaves, and then Tracy's like,
is she gonna be k? And Nick islike, oh, yeah.
This is, like, fucking Tuesday.Have you heard about some of the
shit she's gone through? Onetime her brother got murdered

(37:10):
twice.

Matt (37:15):
It's always a personal tragedy with Natalie.

Rachel (37:18):
What is this fucking Tuesday? Poor Natalie. This is
so hard. It's just a parade ofshit. That's Natalie's good
character.

Matt (37:29):
Pulling up her HR record. It's like, wow. She has 17
applications for, like, leavefor bereavement of a close
friend or family.

Rachel (37:43):
Yeah. Like, twice she's dated serial killers. I mean,
it's just like, god, Natalie.She's best friends with a serial
killer, slightly reformed. She'sjust got a lot of shit going on.
Okay? And she leaves, and Nickis like, you know what?
Actually, I think I'm gonna headhome too. So she heads home. And
then Tracy heads to Vashon'sbecause even though when Nick

(38:05):
found this rat, she goes, lookslike a cat got at it.
What she was thinking was, lookslike a screed got at it. So she
goes to Vashon, and she's like,hey. I found this lad rat lab
rat partially chewed. I thinkScreed might have been there.
And Vashon's like

Matt (38:24):
And there was a crime.

Rachel (38:26):
Maybe. And so they're walking through his little
house, and there's a giant pileof rats. And Tracy's like, which
fair? Like, I would too.

Matt (38:34):
They're on the way to Screens.

Rachel (38:35):
They're in Screens house,

Matt (38:36):
and Screens

Rachel (38:37):
just has, like, a mound. It's like a 2 foot top mound on
that.

Matt (38:41):
That's why later he was saying that he had been meaning
to clean up.

Rachel (38:45):
At least he put them all in one spot, I guess. And
Vashon's like, what are yougonna do? Put him on the witness
stand? I don't think you'regonna be able to get him there
even if you could get him therethrough the, like, during the
day. And Tracy's like, yeah.
But maybe he's a witness. Evenif he's not on the witness
stand, he might give meinformation, Vashon. God, is

(39:07):
your wig too heavy today?

Matt (39:09):
That's great. Wig too tight? Squeezing the brain
cells?

Natalie (39:18):
It's squeezing the

Matt (39:19):
2 brain cells too close together.

Rachel (39:21):
No. That might make them work better because little
electrical arcs are passingbetween

Matt (39:27):
them. Maybe it's maybe it's squeezing around the one
and stopping the other one fromtalking to it.

Rachel (39:32):
Oh, maybe. Maybe. But Screed jumps out to attack
Tracy, and Vashon stops him, andhe's like, hands off. And this
creep goes, smell her, v man. DoI miss start calling you m man?

Matt (39:47):
Okay. Yeah. Is it v for Vaishan or v for vampire?

Rachel (39:52):
Why not both? Porque no los dos.

Matt (39:56):
Well, I I just wanted to discuss. Would would they see
themselves as separate kinds ofthings? Like, does this creed
consider himself a vampire?Yeah. As separate from, like,

(40:16):
regular vampires?

Rachel (40:17):
Screed may very well consider himself a vampire, but
nobody else considers Screed avampire. That's how,
discrimination works. He's like,I'm a vampire just like the rest
of you, and they're like, no.You're fucking not.

Matt (40:32):
Okay. Go on.

Rachel (40:33):
So he says, smell her, v man. Fruit in her veins. Best
vino on earth. And Vashon'slike, can't even say that out
loud. Play it cool, man.
And Screak goes on. He's like,hungry man will take any loaf
you got. 1st kill, any kill. Andthat's when he says jacks,

(40:56):
jills, even sweet baby Jane. AndTracy's like, I'm sorry.
Can you translate screed for me?

Screed (41:02):
Jicks, jigs, Even sweet baby Jack. What?

Rachel (41:08):
And Vashon's like, yeah. When we wake up, we're so
hungry. We'll literally eatanything. Anything to get the
blood you need. And if you don'teat a human first, you don't
hunger for human.
And Screed's like, yep. I ate arat first, and the rest is
history. So there's our secondand last ever mention of Karush.
I hope you really enjoyed it.Actually, he says, got my

(41:30):
dingoes into a squealer thatlight.
So and then he's like, oh, gottahave something. So screed bites
himself, and Matt totally ruinedthe moment by going, is that
masturbation?

Natalie (41:43):
Fucking not right now. This is supposed to be critical.

Matt (41:47):
He's self soothing.

Rachel (41:49):
Yeah. I mean, the best John pulls his hand away and
offers him his own wrist. Andthat was like, she's watching
them have

Natalie (41:57):
Such a moment for that.

Rachel (42:02):
But Tracy's like, I take it this is not normal. And
Vashon's like, well, I'm not infront of other people like you.

Natalie (42:07):
No. I guess it's not.

Rachel (42:09):
And then she goes, he's sick?

Matt (42:12):
Screed likes it when people watch, though.

Rachel (42:14):
And all credit to Vashon in this moment. Tracy's like,
he's sick, and he doesn'timmediately go, no. Quit being
hysterical. He's like, no. Wecan't be.
We don't get sick, but I thinkyou're right. I think. He he's
immediately, like, all signspoint to it. So yeah. Probably.
Instead of being, like, no.That's impossible.

Nick (42:34):
That's

Matt (42:35):
no. I acknowledge that I'm not a smart man.

Natalie (42:39):
You might know more than me.

Rachel (42:43):
Hey, he's had 500 years to learn his limitations. Okay?
That's very possible that he'slike, I work with what I've got,
but sometimes I don't got a lot.Okay? So good on Vashon for
believing him.
And then we see the transferthing again, the cell transfer
thing, because when Skreed bitesVashon, ding, ding, ding. Now
Vashon is sick. And then we cutto Vashon has shown up at

(43:03):
Nick's, and Nick has just gottenout of the shower, and he's
wearing his thanking robe. He'sgot his robe on, and he's got a
towel around his neck. Like, Ireally don't want you here right
now.
I'm really in the middle ofsomething. And he goes, Nick to
Vashon says, I take it you needsomething. Because where the

(43:25):
fuck else would Vashon ever beat his house? Do you need money?
Do you need, like you need me toget you out of a parking ticket?
Is your is your motorcycle animpound? Like, why are

Matt (43:38):
you here? Confused about life in general.

Nick (43:41):
You do

Rachel (43:41):
not know this is not your house and you can't

Screed (43:43):
live here.

Rachel (43:46):
I don't understand. Do you need a haircut?

Natalie (43:49):
I will pay for that. You just let

Rachel (43:50):
me know. And Vashon's like, no. I need your doctor
friend. I don't know her name,but whatever. The doctor lady
thing that you work with.

Matt (44:00):
I know I know she's the, like, coroner or whatever, but I
don't know where to even findsomeone like that.

Rachel (44:09):
I spent, like, 4 hours

Nick (44:10):
at the

Matt (44:10):
morgue or whatever?

Natalie (44:11):
I spent

Rachel (44:12):
4 hours at the hospital, and I I couldn't get a doctor to
come with me. I thought maybe Icould get your friend.

Matt (44:18):
I'm not allowed back now, anyway. On an unrelated note.

Rachel (44:25):
Nick goes, what for? And Vashon's like, I got a sick
friend. And he goes, she's notthat kind of doctor. And so
Vashon says, I hear she's prettygood with the dead and the
undead. And Nick's like, okay.

(44:45):
Continue. And Vashon says, Ican't take him to the hospital.
What am I gonna tell theemergency room? He's allergic to
penicillin, garlic, sunlightcrosses, and food, and he's 450
and he can fly? Okay.
That's pretty fucking funny.Vashon gets some pretty fucking
funny lines in this episode. Asmuch as we make fun of Vashon

(45:06):
for the way that his characteris written, he gets some pretty
fucking funny lines, and that'sone. And then Nick goes, is it
screed? Like, Vashon has noother friends.
Is it screed? And so Vashongoes, yes. Tracy says he bit
some experimental rat. Maybe hepicked something up. And Nick is

(45:30):
like, okay.
First of all, that's impossible,which is what you expect Vashon
to do but doesn't do, and it'snice because it actually
advances the plot withoutfeeling like, well, Tracy got
hysterical. She might be on herperiod. She said that Screed,
she could be pregnant. I don'tknow. She said that Screed is
sick, and I'm kind of humoringher.
He's like, no. He's really sick.So when he goes to Nick and Nick

(45:52):
is like, that's impossible,Vashawn is like, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
It should be, but he's reallysick, and I mean really sick. He
says, I've seen sick, and thisis it. The way they breathe the
way they breathe, Ashon, what doyou mean? Like, is he I don't

(46:12):
understand. Now I will say thatthere is a way that people
breathe when they're dying, andI don't know this because I'm,
like, secretly a serial killer.
I know this because I sat withmy dad. And there's definitely,
like, a, okay. That's not

Matt (46:26):
okay breath.

Rachel (46:27):
That's not okay breath. And maybe that's what he's going
with is this he sounded like hewas rat. He may have. It's a
very distinctive once you'veheard it, you'd be like, shit.
That's what that is.

Matt (46:36):
And Natalie explained later that there's blood in his
lungs.

Rachel (46:40):
Right. And Nick is like, okay. I'm gonna have a flashback
about this for just a second.Like, I need this is part of my
process. Just let this happen.

Matt (46:52):
Please hold for a flashback.

Rachel (46:54):
Just a minute. I gotta I gotta think about the last time
this happened to me, which wasduring the black plague. And
it's Nick and LaCroix at atavern, and the guy from the
street, like, runs in and runsover to them and sits down at
their table. And he's, like, whyis it that you guys move around
in this city and you don't seemafraid of any repercussions?

(47:15):
Like, you don't think you'regonna get sick at all.
You stay in the center of allthis death, and yet you have
your health. And LaCroix goes,perhaps we are righteous men.

Matt (47:30):
Perfectly delivered. Yeah.

Rachel (47:32):
And Gerard, this guy, he's like, yeah. That's not it.
But I do think you know whatwould help. And if you have a
thing to ward off this blackdeath, like, you are obligated
to share it, and you can shareit with me. And Nicholas looks
over at Lacroix, and Lacroix islike

Matt (47:50):
He's literally asking for it.

Rachel (47:52):
Yeah. LaCroix literally says free consent, freely given.
Because he's like, if there wassuch a thing, it would have a
cost. And the guy's like, oh,yeah. I know.
I would pay it.

Matt (48:01):
Anything.

Rachel (48:02):
Anything. And LaCroix goes, he said anything.

LaCroix (48:06):
Anything.
Free We consent freely given. Let him be saved.

Rachel (48:16):
And then he looks over at Nick, and Nick's like,

Matt (48:18):
do your thing.

Rachel (48:21):
He goes, let him be saved, and then he turns away.

Matt (48:26):
Yeah. Yeah. I've been wanting to make a friend.

Rachel (48:28):
Literally make a friend. And then we see Nick, like, turn
him at this tavern. Like,they're in the middle of the
tavern and, like,

Natalie (48:35):
they're just in a booth off to the side.

Rachel (48:37):
Lacroix stands facing outward, like, he's the lookout,
but they're in a big room.

Matt (48:42):
You know what? Mass hypnotism.

Nick (48:45):
It could

Rachel (48:45):
be. It's LaCroix. Honestly, I think that Who

Matt (48:48):
knows what he's capable of?

Rachel (48:50):
We come back to Nick and Natalie, and they're at the
morgue. And Natalie's like, no.No. No. No.
No. What? And Nick is like, I'mwith you. I don't think this
could be true because nothinghas ever touched vampires, Not
influenza, not Ebola, notsmallpox, and Natalie goes, not

(49:11):
AIDS? And Nick goes, notanything.
Stay out of the sun, keep awayfrom sharp sticks and you'll
live forever. That is supposedto be the deal. Also,
religiously charged objects,garlic, and commitment. But
that's that's those are lowerdown on the list.

Matt (49:28):
Well, the commitment is just Nick.

Rachel (49:30):
Those are harmful, but not fatal. Yes. Natalie Natalie
goes, well, God just changed thedeal, which is rich because
later on, she's gonna be like,God has no part in this. So nice
180, Natalie. But she does

Matt (49:47):
But she's meaning God different ways.

Rachel (49:50):
She says or nature or whatever you wanna call it.

Nick (49:53):
Right.

Rachel (49:54):
The natural order of things just changed to the deal.

Matt (49:56):
Right. The natural order of things that you just
referenced as the deal.

Rachel (50:00):
Yeah.

Matt (50:01):
Yeah. That thing is different now.

Rachel (50:05):
Yeah. And she says there have been some major changes on
this planet over the last 50years. We're mining more of the
rainforest. We've dug deeperinto the earth. We're letting
loose all these microbes thatpreviously never existed.
Who's to say one of them couldnot be infectious? Anything is
possible, and Nick's like, I'mnot talking about something that
came out of the jungle. SayCentral America. I've heard of

(50:30):
this happening in CentralAmerica. Not here.
Not in the civilized countries.God. He goes, Screed was
infected by Linda Wyatt's rat.So what if, and this is not a
big leap, what if it's the thingshe made? And Natalie's like,

(50:54):
you make a compelling argument,because then she goes to see
Screed.
And she draws blood for somereason, even though it's his

Matt (51:00):
heart beating. Be rat blood.

Rachel (51:02):
Is his heart beating?

Matt (51:03):
Because we all know that the only blood is a vampire.
It's the blood they drink.

Rachel (51:11):
She goes back and figures out it's rat blood the
same way she knew the last bloodwas lamb's blood. She, like,
swirls it in a test tube, andshe's like, that's rat blood.
Yep. Sniffs it.

Matt (51:22):
So he's Rubs it between her fingers.

Rachel (51:25):
Smears it on her forehead. I think that's rat
blood. Somebody comes in. She'slike, this is diagnostic. And
then they leave.
Maybe there's a reason Natalieis always alone in her room.

Matt (51:38):
She's she has, she's engineered this environment for
herself.

Rachel (51:42):
Yeah. Nobody bothers her. She fired Grace years ago.
The only other guy that everworked with her turned out to be
a serial killer, so she juststays alone. But Screed has high
fever, extreme hunger, delirium.
She's like, if he were human, Iwould prescribe antibiotics, but
shrug. And she says he has amultiplying retrovirus, so he's

(52:06):
bleeding out internally, andthis is the final stage. So I
don't know what to tell you.He's dying. And Screed goes nice
bit of toast to that.
Sean's like, she's a doctor.

Matt (52:19):
Completely oblivious.

Rachel (52:20):
And then Sean goes, she's a doctor Screed. And
Screed goes, what? She can't be.She didn't try leeches or
nothing.

Natalie (52:26):
And he starts coughing.

Rachel (52:29):
Oh, 1st grade. And then Natalie's at a loss. She's like,
I don't know. He's sick. But,like, I don't know.
I don't know. Like, I I don'teven really know how to cure
you. I've literally just beenthrowing I've been throwing the,
like, burnt ends of stuff frommy freezer in a blender for the
last 2 years of just giving itto you.

Natalie (52:44):
I don't know what

Rachel (52:45):
to tell you. This is not gonna work. I don't know how to
actually help. And she leaves,and that's it. Like, that's it
for Skrita.
She throws her I mean, what whatcan she do? She just throws her
hands up. So Nick goes to theprecinct and he's in this sassy
long black coat outfit, and Ijust wanna point this out.

(53:06):
Everybody gets some bangingoutfits in this episode. Natalie
gets this sassy red blouse thatshe wears underneath her corners
coat, and she has the cornerscoat, like, rolled up, and then
the sassy red blouse is onlyrolled up slightly less.
So there's a red band around herelbow, and then she's got this
really nice high waisted pantson and this red blouse and looks

(53:26):
really nice. And then Nick getsthis black long, like, slat
turtleneck slash blue button upshirt alternately. He kind of
flip flops back and forth, andthey both look great. And then
Natalie, not Laddoli.

Matt (53:38):
Tracy?

Rachel (53:39):
Tracy gets her suit. Her, like, suit and tie.

Matt (53:44):
Fitted suit with a a black tie.

Natalie (53:46):
This is a great

Rachel (53:47):
fucking outfit, and it made me realize that Tracy is
Gen z. She's pre Gen z Gen z. Iwas like Yeah. Wow. No wonder
everyone is having awkwardconversations with her all the
time because she's somehowchronically online without
actually being online.
I don't know how that works, butthat's Tracy. And it explains so

(54:08):
much, so I'm just gonna leave itthere. But Nick finally makes
his way back to the precinct inhis sassy coat. And Tracy's
like, so hey, where were you?And he goes, I was visiting a
sick friend.
And she's immediately defensive.She's like, sorry. I didn't mean
to pry. Probably because Nicknever says where he was. He's
probably, like, out home.

Matt (54:27):
Right. She expected him to just respond going through the
motions.

Rachel (54:31):
Yeah. And she's like, sorry. I didn't mean to pry. And
this is when she's wearing hersuit. She looks so cute in her
little suit.
And we have discovered thatremember there's a case? Do you
guys remember? There's a casegoing on.

Natalie (54:43):
Oh, right.

Nick (54:43):
Do you remember that?

Matt (54:44):
Right. Somebody died.

Rachel (54:45):
Yeah. Yes. Somebody fucking died. And they've
discovered that Calvin was onthe control group for the trial.
So he thought he was gettingbetter because of her
medication.
Psyche. He wasn't even on themedication. And they're like, do
you think she knew? Odds are,no. It was probably a double
blind.

Nick (55:02):
Right.

Rachel (55:02):
Because otherwise, her bias might have affected the way
that she reported the results.

Matt (55:07):
Right.

Rachel (55:10):
So they say, do you think Tucker knew? Well, no, you
you can't tell the person in thecontrol group that's the whole
point of the control group. So,no, he didn't know. And they're
like, well, that could be amotive because what would he do
if he thought

Matt (55:23):
she was holding a cure?

Rachel (55:26):
Lou better go talk to him. So they go talk to him at
his house. And, yeah, Calvinisn't happy. He's like, I went
to Linda against my own advice.And what do I get 10 cc's of
salt water twice a week for mytrouble.
And he's like, you know what theworst part was is, I thought it
was fucking helping, becauseI've gone 6 months without an
opportunistic infection and my tcells were up. I thought I was

(55:47):
getting better, and I wasn'teven on it. And they believe
him. They're they leave, theycome back to the precinct, they
park, they get out of the car,and Tracy's like, I mean, I
believe him. And Nick's like,yeah, I agree.
And then he collapses againstthe car, like, opposite them.
And, uh-oh. Stumble. They gothim, Jim. He he got it.

Matt (56:13):
Nick's got it too.

Rachel (56:14):
He's got it too. And I love this. Fingered that rat.

Natalie (56:19):
Girls don't describe it like that.

Rachel (56:23):
But he looks over and he, like, he's the 2nd person to
try to kill Tracy in thisepisode. Because he looks over
and Tracy's trying to talk tohim, but all he can hear is her
heartbeat. And he's like fixatedon her neck. And I love how
every other vampire when theyfall ill are immediately, like,
almost fucking kill somebody,and Nick is, like, no. No.
No. I'm fine. I can go to work.He just moves on in his life.

(56:47):
Like, he knows he's sick, buthe's not in a place where he has
to run Tracy off, which is whatScreed and Vashon inevitably do.

Matt (56:54):
It's the, years of discipline, self deprivation.

Rachel (56:58):
Yeah. That's what Natalie says.

Matt (57:00):
And and probably not drinking human blood, but
drinking cow blood.

Rachel (57:06):
I mean, that's what makes it progress so slowly.
And, also, could that virus evenlive in cow blood?

Matt (57:13):
Sure would.

Rachel (57:13):
Not all viruses are transmissible between different
species. And if the only bloodin his veins is the blood that
he drinks, then he'd be a 100%cow. And so would a cow would it
be able to infect him? I don'tknow.

Matt (57:28):
Maybe that's why it affects him less.

Rachel (57:30):
Yeah. Let's go with that. But Tracy's trying to talk
to him. She's like, just becauseCalvin didn't kill her because
he wasn't getting it doesn'tmean that there's not somebody
else in the control group whodidn't kill her because they
weren't getting it, which ishonestly legitimate, but we
never talked to anybody else whowas in the

Matt (57:48):
control group.

Rachel (57:48):
0. Who knows? But then we cut back to Vashon and Screed
because Screed is dying andVashon is holding him. And it's
really fucking sad becauseScreed's all laying in his
blankets and Vashon's justholding him and he's like,
listen, can you bury my bonesdown by the water? Like, bury
them deep in the sand because Inever felt right on land.

Screed (58:11):
Been too busy to pick up after myself. I'm sorry to say.
I I meant to give the place agood scrub, tidy it up. Needs a
little spit and polish. Do us afavor, mate.

(58:31):
When last? Anything. Put mybones down by the water if I
can. Bury him good in the sand.It never felt right on land.

Rachel (58:49):
So canonically, Scree is a pirate.

Matt (58:54):
A pirate vampire.

Rachel (58:55):
A pirate vampire. And I think that we can all just leave
that image in our mind foreverinstead of the image of him
dying, which is what they giveus ultimately, because he dies
at the end of the scene. Andit's really sad. They kill a
character. They kill Screed.
And then we immediately cut tothe raven, and Nick is talking

(59:19):
to LaCroix. And LaCroix is like,god damn it, Nicholas. This is
just another one of your fuckingfantasies where our big bad evil
race gets wiped off the planetby some stupid virus. Of course,
you think there's some specialgerm that's just gonna wipe us
away neatly. No one is evergonna know and the scourge of

(59:39):
evil, that is the vampires, willjust be gone.
Is that what you want, Nick? AndNick is like, well, I mean, not
exactly like that but, like,kinda like that. And he keeps
drinking LaCroix's blood, likedrinking, not literally.

Matt (59:51):
Right. Like, he's feeling extra thirsty.

Rachel (59:54):
LaCroix pours himself a glass, and Nick picks it up and
keeps drinking. And for anyonewondering

Matt (59:58):
Laquah looks, but doesn't, intervene.

Rachel (01:00:02):
Yeah. He just lets it happen. Because last time when
he came in and congratulatedNick for getting it on with the
other vampire lady, Nick stoppedwhat he was doing. So sometimes
when you have children andthey're doing something that
you're really proud of, youcan't talk about it because they
get self conscious and then theystop doing it. So he has to just
let this ride.

(01:00:23):
And for anyone wondering,beefcake booty short is not in
this scene.

Matt (01:00:28):
Oh, no.

Rachel (01:00:29):
But the leather jacket that has the raven painting on
it is. Mhmm. And

Matt (01:00:37):
Good eye.

Rachel (01:00:37):
It makes me wonder, did beefcake booty short die of the
vampire virus?

Matt (01:00:44):
Was beefcake booty short a vampire?

Rachel (01:00:47):
Oh, I mean, sure. He was at The Raven all the time. And
we know from this episode thatdozens, if not 100 of them die
from this virus. Why notbeefcake booty short?

Natalie (01:00:58):
Oh, no. Oh, no. We'll have to

Rachel (01:01:00):
find out. If he doesn't come back, then he died of the
virus. But LaCroix is, like,trying to reason with Nick.
Nick's drinking his blood, whichis probably weirding him out a
little. And he's, like, men havestruck at us with lies and with
fire and we are still here.
I am still here, and this sendsNick into a flashback. And this

(01:01:24):
is when we find out that thegood doctor that they turned
into a good vampire is nowstraight up murderizing
everybody and really carelessly.Like, he's just killing people
on the street. And so fatherLaird, the local father, whose
name is Laird, came in to talkto Lacroix, because apparently
they hang out at this bar allthe time, and everyone knows
where to find them find themthere. So he came in and was,

(01:01:47):
like, maybe it's like the ravenmedieval edition because Lacroix
is drinking from a glassearlier, which implies he was
given blood because there's noway he's drinking something that
isn't blood.
And LaCroix is like, damnedestthing. Father Laird came in to
see if we knew anything aboutthe strange marks on the
patient's neck. Do you have anexplanation, Nicholas? And Nick

(01:02:12):
is like, what?

Matt (01:02:13):
No. He wouldn't do that. What?

Rachel (01:02:15):
No. No. Gerald? And Lacroix is, like, yeah. Fucking
Gerald.
He's, like, god.

Nick (01:02:23):
Gerald, the guy I knew

Screed (01:02:25):
for 3 hours before I turned him into a vampire.

Rachel (01:02:28):
Jeez. I thought he was better.

Matt (01:02:29):
I trusted him.

Nick (01:02:31):
Do

Rachel (01:02:31):
you just think you know somebody? But he goes to
confront Gerald. He's like, I'ma clear this up. I'm a clear it
up because LaCroix is like, I'ma dip because they're gonna come
back, and they're gonna comeback with steaks and pitchforks
and shit. And I'll I'll go.
And Nick is like, okay. Well, Igot I'll come with you, but I
gotta check one thing first. Sohe goes to check Gerald and he
find he, like, worship

Matt (01:02:52):
He walks in on him drinking soda.

Rachel (01:02:55):
And Gerald's like, oh, sup, homie? And Nick is like,
not your homie. What the fuck?What the actual fuck? And
Gerald's like, oh, it's not likethey're people.
It's 5. They're brief candlesthat are blown out in any wind.
We're the real people becausewe're immortal. It's perfectly

(01:03:15):
fine. And Nick is like, the fuckis wrong with you?

Matt (01:03:19):
You were a doctor who wanted to save people.

Natalie (01:03:22):
He goes,

Rachel (01:03:22):
I have destroyed you. And Gerald's like, oh, no.
You've set me free. And then wecome back to Vashon very
convincingly hacking up hislungs. He's like,

Natalie (01:03:39):
it's so loud.

Rachel (01:03:41):
And Tracy goes, are you okay? And he goes, I've been
better. Screen was right. You dosmell like fruit. And Tracy
goes, maybe it's my shampoo.
I have been using HerbalEssences. I saw those nineties
herbal essences commercialswhere the women have an orgasm
in the shower. And I kind ofthought I could like, I could
have an orgasm in the shower. SoI bought herbal essences. Maybe

(01:04:01):
it's that.
And he's like, no, no,

Nick (01:04:03):
no, no.

Matt (01:04:03):
Maybe you could help.

Rachel (01:04:05):
He goes, you smell like fruit. Every woman has her own
scent, her own flavor. And Iwant to finish it up with be
like, men just smell like ass.Women, fruit.

Matt (01:04:19):
But he's he's making some moves on Tracy, and Tracy is
into it.

Rachel (01:04:23):
Oh, yeah. He's like, your blood is who you are. Every
drop tells its story, andTracy's like, tell me more. And,
yeah, he's like, a touch ofapricot. He just keeps going.
He's like, and then he almostbites her. And then he's like,
oh, God, no. Like, I don't wannado that. And so he ends up

(01:04:44):
kicking her out, and he's such adrama king about this. He's
like, leave

Natalie (01:04:48):
before I kill you.

Rachel (01:04:51):
And you just think about earlier when Nick was like, oh,
god. I I just wanted to biteyou.

Matt (01:04:55):
And he just shook it off.

Rachel (01:04:55):
And then he went just went back to work. Whereas
Vashawn is like, leave. Don'tstay. I'm dangerous. And, you
know, the part of me that lovesthis in vampire media is, like,
yeah.
Okay. That's scratched an itch.But still, at the same time,
it's so overwrought in referenceto what Nick goes through, and I

(01:05:17):
don't know. I love it. I I lovethis tiny little reference to
the idea that they experiencelife through blood.
The blood is who you are andevery drop tells its story.
Because we have literally notmentioned that since last act.
Season 1 episode 4.

Nick (01:05:35):
Yep.

Rachel (01:05:36):
Is the last time we talked about this. And the fact
that we bring it back is, like,oh, thank you. Like, one thing
one thing we brought back, andI'm so happy it's back.

Matt (01:05:47):
When did they bring it back?

Rachel (01:05:48):
Right now. When he says blood is who you are, every drop
tells its story.

Matt (01:05:52):
Oh, every drop tells its story. Okay.

Rachel (01:05:54):
Yeah. And we're gonna revisit it again in a episode
and a couple of episodes. Butthe fact that they even tease it
at all, it's just like, oh,thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I love that idea. I love itbecause it makes Nick's
sacrifice feel meaningful.

Nick (01:06:10):
Right.

Rachel (01:06:11):
He's actually losing No. I eat tofu instead of sausage or
whatever. It's like, I'mliterally not getting what I
need. Meanwhile, Natalie isworking on samples from the lab,
and she's like, I'm pretty sureLinda's medicine is a dud.
Because Tracy comes in and she'slike, it doesn't work.

(01:06:32):
HIV overwhelms it in the body. Idon't it's I'm just getting
parts and pieces of it. Thisisn't giving me anything. I
don't know. I I don't have agood enough sample to say
whether this was worth stealingor not.
And Tracy's like, okay. Yeah.You know, look at those blood
bags over there. I shouldprobably go stand at them. And
then she actually talks toNatalie, which if you think
about it, Natalie is at herlittle bar area where she does

(01:06:54):
her experimentation, and thenshe turns to talk to Tracy
because Tracy says somethingabout Calvin being in the
control group.
So they're having aconversation, but Tracy is
literally away on the other endof the room with her back to her

Nick (01:07:07):
Mhmm.

Rachel (01:07:08):
While they're having it's a really weird she would
never stand there while she hadthis conversation. And yet,
somehow, Natalie doesn't knowshe's stealing these blood bags.

Matt (01:07:17):
She left them out for Tracy.

Rachel (01:07:19):
Why does Natalie have fresh blood bags in the

Matt (01:07:25):
Because she's doing tests with blood for the the virus,
the anti HIV thing?

Rachel (01:07:33):
Right. But later, when Nick comes and he's like, I need
to feed, he runs over to one ofher refrigerators like

Matt (01:07:40):
Oh, that's that's where she drains the bodies into.

Rachel (01:07:42):
But blood still decomposes. Even if she drained
the body, unless the body wasreally really fresh.

Matt (01:07:53):
They're refrigerated.

Rachel (01:07:55):
It would have started to decompose. It turns into slime.
Like, you can't okay. It's fine.

Natalie (01:08:01):
It's fine.

Matt (01:08:02):
It's the slot device cabinet.

Rachel (01:08:04):
Okay. So Tracy breaks the news to Natalie, because
Natalie's like, maybe I need toget in touch with Cal and get
some samples with from him. He'sbeen on it for 6 months. He's
gotta have a better sample inhis bloodstream than I'm getting
from these. And Tracy's like,oh, did Nick not tell you?
Calvin was in the control group,And Natalie's like, oh, no. Oh,

(01:08:27):
shit. Oh, that makes me feelterrible. God, I feel so
useless. And Tracy says,everyone feels helpless when
their loved one is sick.
And Natalie, and what I'mbeginning to see is a real
Natalie move goes not as uselessas I feel. Just like when Tracy

LaCroix (01:08:45):
Is she

Rachel (01:08:46):
a topper? I think she might be. Like, when Tracy said
her uncle needed needed a heartor he was gonna die, and she was
like, yeah, just like my knee.And when Nick was possessed by
an actual demon and Natalie waslike, well, I think we all have
our demons. And, you know, I'veunder I have overcome some

(01:09:08):
pretty scary stuff, and I thinkthat's pretty much equivalent.
Natalie's like, no. You can'tunderstand. I feel more useless
in this situation than anyoneelse. I am completely unique. No
one else can feel as extremelyas I do because I am special.
And she says, I went to medschool to save the world. And

(01:09:30):
maybe if I just been a couple ofyears later, if I had graduated
after all this AIDS stuff hit,maybe I'd made a different
choice. But, like, now I'm justa coroner and I'm not trying to
save the world. I'm just tryingto figure out who pushed this
lady over the balcony. AndTracy's like, yeah, but that's
helpful too.
Like, we need to find that outtoo. Natalie says, yeah, but I

(01:09:52):
just wish for once I could helpsomeone before it's too late.
And ding ding ding, Nickarrives. And he looks

Matt (01:10:01):
Stumbling.

Rachel (01:10:01):
Like shit. And Tracy's like, nkoma leaves, because
she's got blood in her coat.Literally, she stashed blood
bags in her coat. And so Nickwalks in like, sup Tracy. See
you later.
And he walks right over toNatalie and he goes, I'm hungry,
and I'm hot.

Matt (01:10:24):
So the usual?

Rachel (01:10:26):
Nat goes, the usual. And so Natalie Natalie goes, and I'm
thirsty. Just kidding. Natalieholds her hand up, and she puts
her hand on his forehead. Andwhen she pulls her hand off, she
has straight up blood dropletson her fingers, which is
supposed to be blood sweat, butalso he didn't have that much
fucking blood on

Natalie (01:10:46):
his forehead where that came from.

Rachel (01:10:49):
And then we cut back to he's like, he's taken his coat
off. He's sitting there whileshe's, I mean, we had, like, a
commercial break. So during thecommercial break, he took off
his coat, he took a seat, and hegot his temperature taken. And
she's like, dizzy, nausea, DTs,anything? And he's like, no.
And she goes, well, your feveris only 98 degrees. It's not

(01:11:10):
even human normal. And he'slike, it feels like a fucking
fever to me. And then he's,like,

Matt (01:11:17):
actually So she says, well, I'm that temperature, and
I'm not bothered by it.

Rachel (01:11:21):
Well, he goes, I need to feed. So this is when he stands
up and, like, gently pushes herout of the way and heads over to
her fridge and she's like, no nono no no no no. Don't eat. No
eat. No eat.
Why does she have blood in thisrefrigerator? But it's fine.
It's fine. It's fine. And so shegoes, how did you get it?

(01:11:44):
Did you touch the rat? And he'slike, I don't know. Like,
fucking maybe. I never weargloves at crime scenes. I
could've fucking touched it.
I have no idea. And she's like,oh, shit.

Matt (01:11:51):
I've never gotten sick from this before.

Rachel (01:11:53):
Do you know what that means? And he's like, oh, no.
It's spread by contact. Thatmeans literally any vampire
could have it. And so she leaveshim leaning on this fridge, and
she walks away.
And then he does this thingwhere he, like, turns to look at
her. And she's trying to talk tohim. She's trying to say, like,

(01:12:14):
you're not as bad because yourblood take is is limited, and
you have to drink fresh bloodfor the virus to have something
to multiply in, and so the moreblood you drink, the faster you
get, the sicker you get, thefaster you die. But what he's
doing is just like stalking upto her.

Matt (01:12:35):
So she is like half afraid because Nick is being a little
scary, but she's kinda halfturned on because he's paying
very close attention to her.

Rachel (01:12:47):
And it kinda makes you realize how much they normally
hold back because she's supposedto be a resistor, and yet he's
able to keep her there while hestalks up to her. And Tracy is
supposed to be a resistor, andyet Vashon is able to hold her
while he

Matt (01:13:04):
It's because they're not using their vampire hypnosis
whammy. They're just usingsexual prowess. Yeah.

Rachel (01:13:11):
Sex hammer? Yeah. Maybe maybe it's the combination of
the 2.

Matt (01:13:15):
Yeah. It undermines the resistor.

Rachel (01:13:18):
Yeah. But he walks up to her, and he ends up grabbing her
neck. And then he's like, oh,god. I can't do it. Like, no
matter how hungry I am, I can'thurt Natalie.
I just covered this in the lastepisode where the when the demon
tried to make me kill Natalie,but we've retconned all that
away, so it doesn't reallymatter. And she's like, are you
listening to me? No, he's not.But tldr is blood will kill you.

(01:13:41):
And he goes, okay, blood willkill me.
So not drinking blood will saveme? And she's like, well, no.
No. That's we need a cure tosave you, but it will slow it
down. And he goes, slow or fast?
What's the difference?

Matt (01:13:59):
What And then she fucking scolds him.

Rachel (01:14:02):
No. She's he goes, what if nature has decided she can no
longer suffer unnaturalcreatures to live? Right.

Matt (01:14:11):
And then she scolds him.

Rachel (01:14:12):
Well, he goes to

Matt (01:14:13):
even thinking that way.

Rachel (01:14:14):
Yeah. First, he goes into a flashback because he's
like, yeah.

Nick (01:14:16):
Oh, yeah.

Rachel (01:14:17):
This is a judgment from God. And he goes into a
flashback where Gerald isgetting his just desserts for
being all sassy and murdery.He's been murdering people on
the streets and people havenoticed, and now they want him
to stop doing that. And they'relike, is it a pact with the
devil that has given you thismedicine to live? And Nick is
literally, like, do you need tomake a pact with

Natalie (01:14:38):
the devil to have medicine to live?

Rachel (01:14:40):
And so the guy's, like, yeah. It's for God and God alone
to decide who shall live and whoshall die. And Nick's, like, oh,
okay. Cool. You can have him.
And so he pushes his way throughthis crowd. He, like, shoves
people off to the side to get tothe back of the crowd while
they're running at Gerald. Andthen we're like cutting between
Gerald getting lit on fire andchased down with the crosses.

(01:15:01):
And then this guy runs at Nickand Nick just goes, Pushes him.
And gently

Matt (01:15:07):
tosses him to the side.

Rachel (01:15:08):
Like, hey, stop it. I'm trying to watch what's happening
right now. And then he's like,actually, I'll get an aerial
view. So he takes off in flight.And then we come back to the
present and Natalie is like,don't you fucking dare.

Nick (01:15:20):
She

Rachel (01:15:20):
was like, do not fucking go there. I don't wanna hear it.
What the fuck is wrong with you?

Natalie (01:15:28):
Don't you dare. What? God sends sickness to punish the
wicked, to wipe the unnaturalfrom the earth? What about
Calvin? I've seen too many goodfriends with AIDS, with with
cancer, with with pneumonia.
God does not choose.

Rachel (01:15:48):
And I love it because Natalie is like, I I am at my
limit. I have heard enough abouthow evil you are and I am
fucking over it, mister evil asa metaphysical condition. That
is not true. That is not what ishappening. This is not happening
to you because you are evil.
This is to you because bacteriaand viruses exist and sometimes

(01:16:10):
they infect you and they causeproblems in your body that cause
you to die. And this has nothingto do with God. It has nothing
to do with righteousness. It hasnothing to do with good or evil.
And I need you to fucking stoptalking about this.
Are you trying to tell me thatCalvin deserves this? Does
Calvin deserve this? We don'tknow if Calvin is gay. We can
kind of assume he is. Hecould've gotten it from a blood

(01:16:31):
transfer.
He could've gotten it from adirty needle. He could've gotten
it from an accidental needlestick. There's any ways that he
could've gotten it. But are youtrying to tell me that he
deserved this? You look me inthe eye and you tell me that
your my friend deserves this andthat you deserve this because
God does not choose.

(01:16:54):
And Nick says, I don't claim toknow what God chooses, except
just a minute ago when I justdid claim to know what God
chose. I just know that it'skilling killers and maybe that's
the point. And Natalie goes,well, it's killing you. Is that
the kind of mortality you'vebeen looking for? And he says,

(01:17:17):
maybe it's the only kind I'mallowed.
Okay. Sorry. I got a littletriggered, apparently.

Natalie (01:17:24):
I'm very talking about that.

Matt (01:17:26):
Very much so.

Natalie (01:17:27):
Sorry. I

Matt (01:17:28):
felt like it was under a barrage.

Rachel (01:17:32):
Yeah. I don't know. There was some transfer that's
going on there, but the thepoint really is that Natalie is
unwilling to, be spoon fed hisbullshit today. She is over his,
I'm 800 years old, and I knowmore than you do. And so I think
God is trying to kill vampires.
And she's like, no. No. And thenshe

Matt (01:17:54):
goes This is the message that the the showrunners, the
writers wanted

Natalie (01:17:59):
to send.

Rachel (01:17:59):
Yeah. This is the the Star Trek method of redirecting.
Oh, no. No. We're notdiscriminating against black
people.
We're discriminating againstKlingons. It's entirely
different. This is like, oh, no.No. This disease isn't designed
to purge the world of gaypeople.
This is about killing vampires.We're talking about vampires. I

(01:18:20):
mean, come on, guys. Keep up.And so Natalie tells him, it's
killing you.
Is that the kind of mortalityyou've been looking for? And he
says, maybe it's the only kindof mortality I'm allowed. You

Natalie (01:18:39):
is that the kind of mortality you've been looking
for?

LaCroix (01:18:43):
Maybe it's the only kind I'm allowed, but

Rachel (01:18:44):
don't you give me that crap. And Natalie is like, oh,
fucking, no. Do not give me thatshit. How can you not care about
what happens to you? How can younot care how that makes me feel?

Matt (01:19:04):
Right. Which is a a productive way to talk to
somebody that's feeling Yeah.Like, maybe I don't wanna be
around anymore. Because it,like, in their mind, a lot of
times, it's, like, from whatI've, I've heard a lot of people
talk about it.

Natalie (01:19:22):
Yeah.

Matt (01:19:22):
Like, it's it's a topic that has caught my attention
because of its significance.Yeah. And so one way that I've
heard it described is that,like, when you get in that
mindset, you think you're doingthe world a favor. Yeah. But you
think you're giving a gift tothe people around you and the

(01:19:43):
entire world by not being thereanymore.

Rachel (01:19:45):
Yeah.

Matt (01:19:46):
And so a productive response to that from a
therapist is, what's that goingto do to your mother? Yeah.
What's that going to do to yourfather? What's that going to do
to your best friend who youhaven't even told this to?
Right.

Rachel (01:20:01):
And and How are they gonna feel?

Matt (01:20:04):
I'm glad that Natalie just went straight to the point.

Rachel (01:20:08):
Well, it yoinks him out of himself for a minute.

Natalie (01:20:10):
Yes. That's what it does.

Rachel (01:20:11):
His own head about, well, you know, I'm evil. I'm
dying. Maybe I'm dying becauseI'm evil, which is perhaps
nature has decided I amliterally too evil to live

(01:20:31):
because at one point natureliterally told him he was really
evil, He gets really in his ownhead about it, and so he's just
circling the wagons around howbad of a dude he is. And Natalie
is like, pardon me, but I mattertoo. And I really think that
losing you would be a greatloss.
And how can you explain tosomeone like Cal who would do

(01:20:55):
anything to live a little longerthat you are just accepting this
thing that is happening to youbecause you believe you deserve
it. This is really unfair. Thisis really is not cool. Okay,
Nick? It's not cool.
And Nick is like, well, I don'tknow. We transition away. We

(01:21:15):
don't know how he responds to itbecause we immediately go to
Tracy, who's taking care ofSean, and she's brought him the
blood that she stole fromNatalie. And he's like, great.
Thanks.
But, like, I'm not hungryanymore, which I wonder if this
blood was samples from the lab.And if it was samples from the
lab, it might actually be HIVpositive blood. So it might

(01:21:37):
actually have helped him if he'dhad it.

Matt (01:21:40):
That's an interesting point. Yeah.

Rachel (01:21:42):
Yeah. But Tracy's like, this wasn't supposed to happen.
I mean, I knew there was gonnabe challenges when I was dating
a vampire, but dying youngwasn't supposed to be part of
the deal. And Vashawn says, ifit's any consolation, I'm not
actually young. Like, thank you.
You know what? We give Vashawn ahard time. We do. And, honestly,
it's probably the bangs. I'mjust kidding.

(01:22:04):
I don't know.

Matt (01:22:04):
It's the whole head of hair.

Rachel (01:22:06):
It's the, you know, it's the we resent that he's supposed
to be the young, hot vampire,and we remember when Nick was
the young, hot vampire, and sowe're kinda mad about it. And I
get it. It's transference. It'sfine. Just like what happened
earlier when I was screaming.
We're translating this to a adislike of Vashon. It's not

(01:22:26):
Vashon's fault, okay, that he isapparently the replacement for,
the sex appeal in this episodein any episode in season 3. But
this moment where he's, like,joking with Tracy, he's doing a
really good job. And this actoris actually is actually really
good at this. Mhmm.
And I know we give him shit, buthe does just fine. And in

Matt (01:22:48):
this We're giving Vashon shit

Nick (01:22:50):
Yeah.

Matt (01:22:50):
Not Ben Bass.

Rachel (01:22:51):
Not Ben Bass. And so when he's like, I'm not actually
young, and she's like, you knowwhat I mean? You know, dying
before we actually get to knoweach other. And Vashon said

Matt (01:23:02):
Before we get a chance to trail off.

Rachel (01:23:06):
You'll know each other. And Vashawn says, you know, I'm
usually the one who's leftbehind. I've buried a lot of
mortal friends. So manygirlfriends. I can't even shut
up.
And so Tracy says, when does itget easier? And he goes

LaCroix (01:23:26):
I'll let you know.

Rachel (01:23:28):
And that's the end of this really touching

Nick (01:23:30):
moment.

Rachel (01:23:31):
I mean, Tracy was not expecting to have to watch this
guy die, and now she's watchinghim die. And it must feel like,
shit. This is my one connectionwith this community that is way
bigger than I thought it was.And I was really interested in
getting to know him and gettingto know, like, vampires and,
like, what's happening there.Like, she's a curious person,
and this was her link to a worldthat she's curious about, and

(01:23:53):
now he's dying.
And we come back and it's Nickand Reese at the precinct. And
Nick is talking to Reese andhe's like, you know, Tracy said
she's quote sitting with a sickfriend, which I've heard from
anything for actually sittingwith a sick friend who a little
bit on the side. I mean, comeon, Reese. Give her, like, the
benefit of the doubt. Maybe sheactually has a sick friend.
Does she do this regular? Like,does she do this every Thursday?

(01:24:16):
Sure. Maybe she's actuallyhaving an appointment with
somebody on the side. Is sheliterally this is the first time
she's called out to say she'ssitting with a sick friend.
Maybe we give her the benefit ofthe doubt. And then he turns to
Nick and he's like, so the Wyattcase, is anyone actually working
on that? Funny story, but no.

Matt (01:24:35):
Nick's not

Rachel (01:24:36):
paying attention. Nobody's actually working on
that. Yeah.

Matt (01:24:38):
And I thought it was interesting. Both Nick and Tracy
said that they were visiting asick friend, and both of them
were with Vashawn.

Rachel (01:24:48):
Yeah. They're both with the same friend, the sick
friend.

Matt (01:24:51):
Well, in Nick's case, the sick friend was Screed.

Rachel (01:24:54):
It was Screed and and Vashawn. Yeah. Yeah. And so
Reese is like, look. You guysare weird, and, normally, that's
really cool.
But being weird and not workingon the case is not cool. Like,
normally

Matt (01:25:07):
I can justify your weirdness by your
productiveness.

Rachel (01:25:09):
Yeah. Normally, he normally, he puts up with their
shenanigans because thoseshenaniganizing is happening, so
is actual police work, like, atleast the appearance of actual
police work. Although, normally,the bad guy just sort of reveals
himself at the end, which isexactly what happens here,
actually. But he's like, have wenot brought in anybody to have

(01:25:31):
any conversations? We're onlytalking to Calvin.
She had, like, dozens of otherpatients. There's literally a
laundry list of people who couldhave done this. Have we talked
to any of them? And Nick islike, I don't know. Like, he's
just all bundled up.
Like, he looks sad and sick, andReese is just like, well, then
fucking get on it. Okay? Like,I'm really fucking get on it.

(01:25:51):
Okay? And so Nick is like,whatever.
So he leaves. And, of course,this is the moment that LaCroix
chooses to podcast because he'slike, fine. I'll get back to
work. And Lacroix is like, okay.But I'm gonna whine at you while
you're doing it.
And I actually so this was my,like, quote on Myspace, and my

(01:26:14):
quote, I think, at the bottom ofmy AIM profile was the the ages
of man are denial, awareness,and acceptance because a young
man believes he will not die. Amiddle aged man knows he will
die, and an old man is ready.And then, so what of those taken
out of sequence? What aboutthose who think they're going to

(01:26:36):
live forever? What happens whenthat is taken away from them?
What does that make them? Andthen he goes on to be like, my
people are dying dozens in asingle night. Those who believed
they would never die are dying.My children are dying. Who's
listening to this?

(01:26:57):
Who is not a vampire? Who'slike, is he okay? Right. He's
not okay. Spoiler alert.
As soon as you start readingJohn Donne poems on the radio,
it's time to, take a minute.

Matt (01:27:10):
Yeah. So this is, like, just one line from Lacroix to
indicate that this is spreadingrapidly amongst the vampires

Rachel (01:27:23):
Yeah.

Matt (01:27:24):
And they're dying fast.

Rachel (01:27:26):
Yeah. This is very reminiscent of being human, the
US version. There's a wholestory arc where people get the
flu and it's just the flu.Everybody gets better, but the
antibodies for that flu arepoisonous to vampires, and so
they're all getting sick anddying.

Matt (01:27:42):
Yep. And

Rachel (01:27:43):
I was like, like in forever night, and then, you
know, we it's fine. I don'tthink it was a reference, but
it's just interesting that theyboth have these because they
can't seek medical treatment.They can't advertise that
they're dying. They have to diealone in the dark. It's a
compelling storyline.

Matt (01:28:03):
Mhmm.

Rachel (01:28:04):
But the thing that the quote quotes at the very end is
a poem called death be not proudby John Donne.

Natalie (01:28:11):
Okay.

Rachel (01:28:11):
And it's, it's a really cool poem. I know of it because
I know this quote from Lacroix,but if you look it up, it's not
very long. And the last linesare just the one short sleep
past. We wake eternally anddeath shall be no more. Death
shall thou shalt die.
And it's supposed to be aboutsalvation, like, we're gonna
die, but then we wake eternallyin heaven. So then there will be

(01:28:35):
no more death because we'll beimmortal. But Lacroix is using
it in a more literal sense.Like, literally, I kill you and
then you come back and you'reimmortal on earth. And then we
go to Cal because now we have tokind of remember that plot line
where there was, like, somebodythat got murdered?
Well, we need to, like, not onlyhas Nick and Tracy forgotten

(01:28:55):
about it, the show forgot aboutit for a while. So let's just
reel that back in. So Cal istalking to Dan slash Bernard,
and he's like, this wasbullshit. This wasn't a cure. I
wasn't even on it.
Didn't we already tell him? I'mnot sure if he's, like,
informing Dan or if he'srealizing because he's looking
at a sample under themicroscope, and he's like, it
only works in the test tube. Itnever worked

Matt (01:29:18):
in the body. I think Cal Cal found out at the police
station. They they ended upinforming him.

Rachel (01:29:24):
Well, they tell him at his house. They come to his
house.

Matt (01:29:27):
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I think Calvin went back to the
lab and verified, or, like, didsome just sanity checks. Like
Yeah.
Does this actually work? Let medo No.

Rachel (01:29:40):
It does not.

Matt (01:29:40):
Some investigation. Nope. Nope.

Rachel (01:29:44):
And then Dan is mad because he murdered a woman for
this. And now Cal is like, well,it's shit actually, so never
mind.

Matt (01:29:50):
Right. And we find out that Calvin had, provoked Dan

Rachel (01:29:55):
to do

Matt (01:29:56):
to steal the secrets so that he could give him a grant
at the

Rachel (01:30:07):
And Cal's like, well, that was based on the idea that
this cure was worth something,and it's worthless. So you
killed Linda for nothing. Andthen they get into an
altercation because Dan clearlyhas anger management issues. And
the absolute funniest fuckingpart of this is he freezes Dan
with antifreeze or something,which is in this giant tank.

Matt (01:30:28):
So okay. Here's my rationalization of how that
would work. Okay. One, whenyou're working with biological
samples, you have to keep themfrozen.

Natalie (01:30:40):
Okay.

Matt (01:30:40):
Like, deep, deep freeze.

Rachel (01:30:42):
Yeah.

Matt (01:30:42):
So they have some, like, refrigeration system that keeps
it rural cold.

Rachel (01:30:48):
Right.

Matt (01:30:49):
But then they have, like, a pressure release valve in case
the refrigerant, like, hasproblems. And so he accidentally
hits the refrigeration the,like, relief valve, which
releases this compressedrefrigerant that's already cold.
And when you have somethingcompressed expand, it cools
down.

Rachel (01:31:09):
Yeah.

Matt (01:31:09):
And so it shoots out this, like, freeze spray. Which
spontaneously freezes him.

Rachel (01:31:16):
Solid. Solid. It kinda reminds me of in hotshots part
do. Do you do you remember thatscene in hotshots part do where,
the Stalin, not Stalin characteris holding his little dog and he
gets frozen with a fireextinguisher?

Matt (01:31:32):
Stalin or,

Rachel (01:31:34):
Saddam? Saddam. It's Saddam, not Saddam. Sorry. That
starts with an s.
And he gets frozen with the fireextinguisher, and then he, like,
falls and shatters. Yeah. Andthen they do the, Terminator 2,
like, where he melts and comesback together again, and he's
part dog or whatever. But that'swhat this reminded me of, the
scene where he, like, freezesand he falls. I was expecting
Dan to, like, shatter.

Natalie (01:31:55):
He doesn't. He's just, like, leaning against the tank.
I don't

Rachel (01:32:02):
know. All the ways this is an otherwise serious episode.
Right? Otherwise, this episodeis, like, this is good. Like,
oh, yes.
Thank you. Right.

Matt (01:32:10):
All the ways to accidentally kill him.

Rachel (01:32:12):
On all the ways we could accidentally kill this guy,
freezing him with refrigerant,which this tank is in the middle
of the floor. This is it. Thisis the safety valve. This guy
can literally trip, hit this,and it fills the entire room
with poisonous gas. This feelslike an issue.
Is is OSHA involved? Like, isthere an OSHA in Canada? Because
this feels like it,

Natalie (01:32:32):
and this feels like a violation, but

Rachel (01:32:35):
he turns into a danceicle and then poor Calvin
is on the floor and he's like,help me, help me. And just in
time for Nick to arrive and hearhim, like, vampire hear him. And
so he whooshes in, and he picksCal up off off the floor, and
Cal gets to say, like, there'spoisonous gas, but hold on just
a minute. Let me fully confessall of my crimes before we leave
the poisonous gas cloud. So he'slike, I killed Linda or I talked

(01:32:58):
to Dan.
Dan killed Linda. He did itbecause I told him to. I'm the
bad guy. I wanted her research.You can arrest me if you want.
And then we come back to theprecinct and poor Calvin is,
like, yeah. I did it because Ithought it was actually working
and I have connections. I havelawyers. I have money. I could
have had nationwide rollout in18 months instead of 10 years,

(01:33:20):
which is what it would havetaken because her lab was so
underfunded.
They don't even have a full timepatent lawyer. He goes, but it's
all bullshit because HIVoverwhelms it in the body. HIV
overwhelms it in the body. Onemore time for the people in the
back. No.
You guys got it? Good. Okay. Soit's kinda sad. He could have

(01:33:46):
just gone to Linda and beenlike, hey.
Why don't you come over to me?I've got connections. I could
move you to a better lab. Wecould get this out in 18 months.
But instead he's like, I thinkI'll straight up steal it.
I guess desperate times, notevery people don't always act
rationally, but it's just sadthat this is what this led to.

Nick (01:34:04):
Yeah.

Rachel (01:34:05):
And that's it. That's the solving of the crime is Nick
literally walked into the middleof like, oh, okay. There's the
bad guy and then the bad guyconfessed. So congratulations.
Reese told me to get to work onthis, and goddamn it.
I wrapped it up so fast,

Natalie (01:34:20):
so fucking fast.

Nick (01:34:23):
All I

Matt (01:34:23):
needed was a little kick in the butt.

Nick (01:34:25):
Yeah.

Rachel (01:34:25):
All I had to be right time, right place.

Nick (01:34:26):
You know

Rachel (01:34:27):
what I'm saying?

Matt (01:34:28):
So Cal accidentally killed Dan. Yeah. And Dan accidentally
killed

Rachel (01:34:34):
Linda.

Matt (01:34:35):
Linda. Yeah. So it was just 2 accidental deaths.

Rachel (01:34:38):
But there's still it's still accidental manslaughter.

Nick (01:34:40):
Right.

Rachel (01:34:41):
Yeah. Because your actions still led to the death
of another.

Nick (01:34:43):
So Right.

Matt (01:34:44):
And it was all, provoked by Natalie called it, industrial
slash corporate espionage.

Rachel (01:34:53):
Yeah. And Reese is like, I mean, we gotta charge him
because Natalie says, do we haveto charge him with murder? And
he's like, well, he is amurderer, so we can't, like, not
charge him with murder. That'ssort of like a precedent thing.
But the courts are so backed upright now.
He might never even make it totrial.

Matt (01:35:10):
And he's not a flight risk. So we'll release him out

Rachel (01:35:12):
of zone.

Matt (01:35:12):
We'll talk to him.

Rachel (01:35:13):
Release him. And then Nick comes in as Reese is
leaving, and he's like, I'msorry, Natalie. Like, I didn't
want this to happen. I didn'twant your friend to be
responsible for this. I had noinclination that he was, but he
told me he was.
So I guess that's the truth.

Natalie (01:35:27):
I don't know. I didn't investigate

Rachel (01:35:28):
this shit. I don't know what's happening. And Natalie is
like, it's okay. I mean, nothingis solved, though, because
Calvin is still dying and you'restill dying. And then she walks
out.
And then we go to the exterior.The apartment building exterior.

Matt (01:35:46):
This is awesome where that gets used for everything.

Rachel (01:35:48):
This is also where we had an illegal organ donning
donor operation. This is theexterior and that's how you know
shit's about to go tits upbecause we have invoked the
exterior and it's apparentlyalso Calvin's apartment
building. This is a multipurposebuilding. Okay. And Lacroix is
there when he comes home andLacroix is so melodramatic and I

(01:36:11):
fucking love it.
He's like, you have faced humanjustice. Now you will face, now
you will take my justice to theface. And he does this, like,
hand thing where he, like Idon't even know how to describe
it. It's almost like a duckhand, but he puts it in front of
his face, and I'm always waitingfor him to put his fingers
together and just go boop.Quack.

(01:36:32):
Quack. He's like, who are you?And Lequois goes, I'm one of the
damned. One of your damned. Andhe's like, you've killed a whole
race.
They are dying silently,invisibly out of the light, and
my people cry out for revenge.And poor Calvin must be so

(01:36:53):
confused.

Matt (01:36:54):
Calvin was not directly involved in any of that. Like,
direct causal responsibilitylies with Dan through Linda.

Rachel (01:37:03):
Laquod doesn't need justification. He just needs a
target. He

Matt (01:37:07):
needs an outlet.

Natalie (01:37:08):
He needs an outlet. He

Matt (01:37:09):
needs some closure.

Rachel (01:37:10):
Look. He had some emotions. He had to get them
out. Calvin was available.Calvin was adjacent enough.
It was fine. He showed up. He hedid some cathartic, like, he did
some

Matt (01:37:22):
shadow work. He had emotion. He didn't like it. So
he let it out.

Rachel (01:37:29):
Yeah. Yeah. And by that, we mean he kills Calvin. He
bites him and kills him. Andthen Nick and Natalie arrive at
the morgue, and

Natalie (01:37:38):
I fucking love this so much. I got

Rachel (01:37:40):
because Lacroix is in this room already. And not only
has he put Calvin's body on thetable, he's covered it with a
sheet. And the only purpose ofdoing that is for the dramatic
reveal where he pulls the sheetback.

Matt (01:37:52):
I'm just imagining LaCroix rooting through the cupboards
looking for a sheet.

Screed (01:37:58):
Where does that damn one keep the sheets?

Nick (01:38:00):
I'm like,

Rachel (01:38:00):
I can't just leave it out. How will I whip anything
back? And, like, I need a momentwhere they're not sure who's on
the table so that I can revealit, and I need a sheet to do it.
We're not

Matt (01:38:10):
fucking a sheet. Every once in a while listening. Are
they here yet?

Rachel (01:38:13):
I know. He's, like, playing on his phone, playing
solitaire on his

Natalie (01:38:16):
phone waiting for them to show up.

Rachel (01:38:19):
So he should they show up. And honestly, his rant here
makes zero sense because Nataliehas never actually said anything
about any of this, but he's likehypocrite doctor. It's like he
knew he was dying and his onelast act on this earth was just
to

Matt (01:38:37):
Be petty to everyone.

Rachel (01:38:38):
To be fucking petty, like to be petty to Nick and
Natalie, because they haven'tbeen pushed See how she's not
good for you? You're stilldying. She didn't cure you. That
must mean she's a hypocrite. Andhe says, you proffer medicine,

(01:39:03):
modern medicine as religion, butit is a false promise.
You couldn't save your friend.So just so we're clear, he's
blaming Natalie for not curingHIV, so there we go. You
couldn't save your friend andyou can't save us. Natalie's
like a corner. She never madeany of these promises.
She was like, this will be aninteresting challenge to see if

(01:39:25):
I can help Nick, but she neverclaimed to be able to solve

Nick (01:39:28):
any of these issues.

Matt (01:39:29):
What a straw man LaCroix is building.

Rachel (01:39:32):
Natalie, to her credit, is done. Like, her her fox flew
away, and she has made no effortto retrieve them because he is
yelling at her basicallyincomprehensively. And she goes,
why are you so angry?

Matt (01:39:50):
So is this the first conversation LaCroix and Natalie
have had that which Natalie canremember?

Rachel (01:39:58):
No. Because they met in night in question. Remember when
he was like, I hope you tell himabout who he is, about all of

Matt (01:40:04):
who he is. When he when he lost his memories.

Rachel (01:40:06):
Oh, I'm sorry. Did you not just know what I was talking
about from the title?

Matt (01:40:10):
I had to I had to go back.

Natalie (01:40:12):
God.

Rachel (01:40:13):
I've had taught you nothing. But after Nick or
sorry. After Lacroix has his, Idon't even know, his attempt to
drive a wedge between Nick andNatalie, she asks him, why are
you so angry? You're not sick.And Nick, who is totally used to
Lacroix's bullshit, nobodyacknowledges his accusations at

(01:40:35):
all.
They're like, yeah. Okay.Whatever. It's literally like he
threw a tantrum, and they justwatched him have his feelings.
Sometimes it's okay.
You gotta let you gotta haveyour feelings, and then we can
talk. And so he has hisfeelings.

Matt (01:40:48):
Right. And everybody waits very patiently

Rachel (01:40:50):
Wait for him to finish up. Get it out. Get it out. And
she's like, okay. Why are youangry?
You're not sick. And Nick islike, but you were sick. Why are
you not sick? And he goes,because I have stared death in
the face, and I have called hisbluff. Which means he has no
comprehension that there is aconnection between him killing

(01:41:12):
Calvin and him getting better.

Matt (01:41:14):
Right. So He just thinks he's so badass. He just got
better.

Rachel (01:41:17):
He's like, I'm fucking Lacroix. I you think a virus was
gonna kill me? I beat it withsheer fucking awesomeness. I I
trolled it out of my own body. Ipodcasted until I got better.

(01:41:37):
I don't know what to tell you. Ijust know I'm better.

Matt (01:41:41):
Everybody should be doing this.

Natalie (01:41:42):
Yeah. I don't

Rachel (01:41:42):
know why nobody else is doing

Natalie (01:41:44):
that because, like, it was hard.

Rachel (01:41:47):
Like, it was hard. It was fine. And so Natalie is the
one who figures it out. She'slike, okay. You killed Cal,
which I'm sad about, but nowyou're better.
And she's like, oh, shit. Hesaid it in the precinct. HIV
overwhelms it in the body. HIVis the cure for this disease.
Right.
Okay. It's I mean, it's fine.

Natalie (01:42:08):
It's fine. It's fine. And Lacroix

Rachel (01:42:11):
is literally like, hell, yeah. That's why I did it.
That's it was a reward and a wayof telling you that I knew
better than you and that I knewHIV would kill it in the body.
And she's like, what the fuck?It never looked like.
And where do they get the HIVblood that they then go on and
give to other people? Is it fromCalvin? Or did they like

Matt (01:42:37):
Okay. So he

Nick (01:42:41):
I I

Matt (01:42:41):
was thinking about how did this go down, like, after the
revelation. Lacroix is like,okay. HIV blood cures it. I need
to tell my surviving children.

Rachel (01:42:53):
Yeah. This is not

Matt (01:42:54):
the you know what? Look look, Claude going out to, like,
the rest of his vampirecommunity and being like, hey,
If any of you all are feelingsick, you just gotta find
someone with HIV and drink theirblood. You'll get better. So is
there, like, a rash of

Natalie (01:43:10):
deaths? Oh, god. I that's

Rachel (01:43:12):
the opposite of what they're going for. So let's just
say no. They just took

Nick (01:43:15):
a blood sample, infected it with HIV, and gave that out
to everybody. We'll just

Rachel (01:43:15):
go with

Natalie (01:43:25):
a

Rachel (01:43:28):
And this is really funny because after Lacroix insists
that it was sheer manliness thatallowed him to get better and
Natalie figures it out, He sayslike, okay, his tainted blood
will be our salvation. And thenNatalie gives him this look.
This look that is literallylike, you are both an idiot and
an asshole. And I am so fuckingover that. How has Nick put up

(01:43:51):
with you for this long?
Spoiler alert, Nick has tried tonot put up with

Matt (01:43:55):
the clock. Nick's been running away for 100 of

Nick (01:43:57):
years.

Natalie (01:43:58):
Hundreds of years.

Rachel (01:43:59):
And let me come back to Tracy and Vashon because Tracy
has just been sitting withVashawn. She doesn't know any of
this stuff has happened. AndVashawn is like, you know what?
You should probably go because Idon't want you to watch me die.
And she brings up like, oh, hey.
Remember what you told me aboutwhat your master did when you
were first changed? And he'slike, oh, yeah. I think I said

(01:44:20):
something like she rejoined thesun or some shit. Did you make
it up? Is that why you can'tremember it that far?
Or

Matt (01:44:28):
Hold on. Let me let me keep track of my lies.

Rachel (01:44:30):
He's he's secretly just Larry, and he got changed

Natalie (01:44:33):
at the truck stop, like, 25 years ago. He just made
up this mystical story byhimself as this conquistador.
He's actually just

Matt (01:44:44):
Just a regular guy.

Natalie (01:44:45):
Just a regular guy.

Rachel (01:44:49):
I mean, that's what I would do.

Natalie (01:44:51):
I'd be like, yeah.

Rachel (01:44:51):
I'm 800 years old. I'm sorry, but you still have a
living family. Like, yeah.Distant relatives. No.
No. It's your mom and dad.

Natalie (01:44:58):
Shut up. I don't

Rachel (01:44:59):
want to talk about it. So Vashawn is like, yeah. I
always wondered what that wouldfeel like. Tracy, you probably
need to go because he spotsNick. And so Tracy leaves, and
we hear, like, the the the thethe her heels leaving.
And then Nick comes around, andhe's like, oh, I left out. I
can't leave this out. Tracykisses him on the lips because

(01:45:21):
she thinks she's saying goodbyeforever.

Nick (01:45:23):
Right.

Rachel (01:45:24):
And so she kisses him on the lips and then leaves. And
then Nick comes around and hedoes, like, Ger does his
patented, like, mhmm, eyebrows,like, mhmm, eyebrows. And then
he sits down and Vashon is like,are you here to give me last
rites? And Nick goes, oh, wereyou expecting a priest? And he's

(01:45:45):
like, mm-mm.
No. I wasn't. And then he pullsout a syringe, and he's like,
give me your arm. So presumably,he chose to save Vashon. He
didn't have to.
He could've just been like, oh,whoopsies. I found the cure too
late. Bye bye, Vashon. But he

Matt (01:46:00):
So following up on my last comment on what happens with
Lacroix after the revelation.

Rachel (01:46:07):
Yeah.

Matt (01:46:09):
This could be a total, like, vampire power move because
anybody he doesn't like, he justhas to, let them die.

Rachel (01:46:21):
Yeah.

Matt (01:46:21):
But ever okay. I think here's a way that it could have
gone down where we don't havevampires just going out, killing
HIV positive people. Yeah.Lacroix goes to every vampire
that he wants to remain aliveand tells them, I am so awesome

(01:46:45):
that I have overcome thisdisease. Drink my blood, and you
shall also be healed.

Nick (01:46:52):
He could have

Rachel (01:46:52):
done that. If you want an exploration of the long
ranging effects of a vampireplague, watch Being Human. If
you want that from forevernight, don't want that from
forever night.

Matt (01:47:03):
Because we will have forgotten about

Natalie (01:47:04):
this by the next episode.

Rachel (01:47:06):
All gone in the next episode. All gone. All gone.
Except Screed doesn't come back.We don't reckon that.
Screed did. I did not rememberhim dying this early in the
season, because I don't watchthese in order. I just watched
my favorites. So, like, I knewScreed died in this episode, but
for some reason, I thought itwas closer to the end. I don't
know.
He dies in episode 13 of 22.He's in, like, 4 episodes. We

(01:47:31):
introduced this pretty coolcharacter, and then we're like,
no. No. He's not doing well withfocus groups.
We'll just kill that guy. So wecome back to the graveyard. This
is actually the 3rd episode thatends with Nick and Natalie in
the graveyard.

Matt (01:47:45):
Maybe that's how they sold it to their, corporate
overlords. They're like, hey,we're gonna have this Corporate.
We're gonna have this, you know,story Yeah. That you probably
won't like. And they're like,yeah.
We we don't like it. We don'twant you to do this story. Okay.
But we're going to kill Screed.Oh, okay.

(01:48:06):
Well, Screed does not do wellwith the focus groups. So okay.
We can trade.

Rachel (01:48:11):
Yeah. On the Discord, we decided Screed lives in the
reboot.

Natalie (01:48:15):
Yeah. So

Matt (01:48:18):
Spoiler.

Rachel (01:48:19):
Spoiler alert. We come back to Nick and Natalie at the
graveyard. This is actually the3rd episode, I think, that ends
with them at the graveyard, Andthey always have this really
deep philosophical conversationat night at the graveyard, which
just feels right. And so they'rehalf assing this tree planting,
this poor tree. It's like

Natalie (01:48:35):
Just gets tossed. I was like It's like

Matt (01:48:38):
1 or 2 shovels of dirt on top, and then they walk away.
It's like, what are they evendoing?

Rachel (01:48:43):
What what graveyard allows you to plant a whole ass
tree?

Matt (01:48:47):
Oh, who who said anything about allowed? They they just
show up and do stuff.

Rachel (01:48:54):
Yeah. Well, they're planting this tree by Kelva's
grave. And then Natalie walksoff because she's like, I can't
stand watching him do manlystuff in a turtleneck. I need to
go stand over by a tree for alittle bit. And Nick is like,
oh, Natalie, wait.
When Lacroix asked you why? Andshe goes, you mean why save
vampires? And Nick is like,yeah. Because otherwise Lacroix

(01:49:16):
would have been the onlysurvivor and that would have
sucked. So I'm thankful that yousaved us, but also why?
And she goes, you know, thereare people who still believe
that AIDS isn't worth curing andthat people like Calvin aren't
worth saving. There are stillpeople who believe that AIDS
isn't worth curing. And who am Ito decide who should live and

(01:49:38):
who should die?

Natalie (01:49:40):
Why save vampires? Why not let them die? You know,
there are still some people whothink that AIDS isn't worth
curing, that men like CalvinTucker aren't worth saving.

Rachel (01:49:58):
Who are they to decide that?

Natalie (01:50:03):
Oh, my.

Rachel (01:50:07):
I can't decide why bad things happen to good people,
and I can't choose who deservesto be cured and who doesn't. So
if I knew it, I was obligated toshare it. And then we cut to
Vashon singing and buryingScreed, and he's singing the
same sea shanty that Screed wassinging at the very beginning.
And he's like, I told you I'ddance on your grave because he's

(01:50:31):
singing and patting the dirtdown. And then he goes, see you
in hell, sailor.
And he's drinking a bottle ofblood. And I just want to point
out that in this moment, hishair actually looks like real
hair

Matt (01:50:43):
because Just think about the lighting.

Rachel (01:50:45):
Well, the wind has shifted his bangs off of his
forehead, and it's actuallyblowing his hair slightly. And
it makes me feel like maybe thisisn't a wig. Maybe he showed up
with this hairstyle, and theywere like, well, we don't have
the budget to fix that. So justgonna leave it be. Although I

(01:51:08):
think we might be I don't know.
I was cruising around on Tumblr.I don't know why. Because I was
like, maybe there's people onTumblr talking about forever
night. Because I'm always insearch of is it is like forever
night in the zeitgeist anywhere?Because I can't figure out how
this entire show has sort ofboth disappeared and yet
remained prevalent in the peoplethat loved it.
And as soon as people discoverit, they're like, well, where

(01:51:29):
was that? Why, why did I notknow that until now? Most
people. Matt. So, but, like, arepeople talking about this?
Anyway, I was cruising around onTumblr and somebody made had had
made a series series of memes,which I think I'll post later,
and it was like cinnamon roll.It must have been like a thing,
like a trend, you know, we'redoing, like, So there was, like,

(01:51:50):
a cinnamon roll that actually isa cinnamon roll, and that was
skanky. And then there was,like, looks like he might kill
you, but it's actually acinnamon roll, and that was
Nick. And then there was lookslike he might kill you and will
actually kill you, and that wasLaCroix. And then

Natalie (01:52:04):
there was one that was

Rachel (01:52:04):
just cinnamon roll, but with an s I n, like cinnamon
roll, and it was and it was apicture of that Sean shirtless
from Black Buddha when he comesout

Natalie (01:52:14):
of Tracy's shower. That's like, Wait. Wait.

Rachel (01:52:20):
Are there people who like fish sauce? That doesn't
feel right. Does it feel right?Okay. You know what?
If I just I lament his hair somuch because I don't think the
actor is unattractive. And,yeah, I can see the cinnamon

(01:52:41):
roll point when he's shirtless.

Natalie (01:52:43):
I've never seen

Rachel (01:52:46):
but then he switches directly to nineties mom hair,
and I'm out. Like, I'm just I'mfucking out. I don't know.
Anyway, is his hair real?Questions.
Questions that need answering,but we'll never get an answer.
So while we ponder these trulymeaningful questions of the
universe, I guess we'll justleave it here, unless you have

(01:53:08):
something you wanna say.

Matt (01:53:09):
Nope. I never do.

Rachel (01:53:12):
Just like to keep asking. 1 of these stage, you're
gonna be like, yes. I doactually help.

Matt (01:53:15):
Every once in a while, I do. This But maybe not on
forever night episodes.

Rachel (01:53:19):
Yeah. This episode was definitely like, okay. This has
gotten more meaningful. And Idon't hate the way they handled
it. I definitely think it feelslike some nineties shows were
clearly just flying by the seatof their pants, and it's very,

(01:53:40):
like, no gods, no rules.
We do what we want. And thisfelt very, no gods, no rules. We
do what we want. And yet I thinkit worked out for them. I think
it ends up feeling like we weremaking a commentary about a
really important thing that washappening in the world when we
made this episode, and we madeit so we redirected it so

(01:54:03):
skillfully to like, the vampiresare dying, and are they worth
saving?
And is disease and death a sideeffect of some divine will or
not that you're like, okay. Ican kind of see that also being
a commentary on, like, 2020 andhow people handed handled COVID

(01:54:25):
and the fact that it was madeinto this thing that it never
needed to be made into. And Iappreciate that. I appreciate
that it hasn't gotten to belike, oh, that's like a nineties
time capsule. It's so dated.
It's like, oh, okay. I see whatyou were trying to say, and I
feel like it's still somethingthat needs to be said because
apparently, we haven't learnedthat lesson. Because I think I

(01:54:47):
speak for a lot of people whogrew up in the nineties, but the
narrative like, oh, Africa hassuch a high percentage of AIDS
cases because God has passedjudgment on them, and he's
wiping them out like God didduring the during the flood. And
you look back on it like theactual shit. Who even thinks

(01:55:08):
that?
Like, people are dying andthey're people. And like Natalie
said, who are we to get todecide who lives and who dies?
We don't. Spoiler alert. We arenot as as like, when we talked
to George Paxanos.
We interviewed this neurologist,fairly famous neurologist, on

(01:55:31):
Strange and Beautiful Book Club,and he was talking about how
we're actually not assophisticated as we think we
are.

Nick (01:55:36):
Mhmm.

Rachel (01:55:37):
And it's true. It's very true. We think we are these
really highly intelligentelevated beings, and then
something like this happens, andwe're all like, I think God did
it. And you're like, okay. We'renot we're not who we think we
are.
So before I fall down anyfurther in that rabbit hole, go
listen to the George Paxanosepisode. It was really good. On

(01:55:58):
Strange and Beautiful Book Club.We had a lot of fun talking to
him. He's a little fatalist, buthe was still good.
I mean, I get it. You spend yourentire life trying to make the
world a better place, and itdoesn't work, and you're like,
oh, shit. Handy tip. If youemail him, he will send you a
free copy of his audio book. Soif you wanna read his book, but

(01:56:18):
you don't wanna pay for it, it'salso, like, up and available for
free on his university websitepage.

Matt (01:56:25):
Yeah.

Rachel (01:56:26):
So just gonna leave that there. A little bit of a strange
and beautiful book club promobecause, you know, we do more
than 1 podcast. We do like abunch because I just can't shut
up, apparently. But until nexttime, friends.

Matt (01:56:41):
Bye.

LaCroix (01:58:28):
They say the ages of man are denial, awareness, and
acceptance. A young man believeshe will live forever. A middle
aged man knows he will not. Andan old man is ready. What then

(01:58:51):
of those taken out of sequence?
How to prepare them for thebitter end? A man who knows he
will not die is a young man. Heis kept young by the knowledge
that death shall have nodominion. There's nothing so

(01:59:18):
hard as watching that die.

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Forever Knight (Season 3 Ep 13) - "Fever"

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Forever Knight (Season 3 Ep 13) - "Fever"