Forever Knight - A Fate Worse Than Death

Discussing Ep. 2.2

*SPOILERS*

It was episodes like this one that made me such a fan of the show. This was so far ahead of its time, so nuanced and layered in its symbolism and meaning, much like Buffy was in its time. Not to mention the fact that it focused on the lovely Jeanette and gave her a chance to shine in a way that she hadn't had a chance to before.

In this day and age of the #metoo and woke movements, the patriarchy, feminism and social justice warriors, I feel like a lot of TV shows and movies try to get those messages across in a way that just doesn't work. Most of the time, they do it in a way that feels preachy and condescending. All men are seen as evil and need to be taken down a notch and all women are seen as all powerful and flawless to the point that it just feels ridiculous. If folks want a master class on how to get all those aforementioned movements across in a way that works, they need only look to this one episode. It had it all!

We see Jeanette's life as a prostitute in France in the Middle Ages, where as both a woman and a prostitute, she is regarded as mere property to be used and discarded by men as they see fit. Even the institution of marriage doesn't seem to soften her stance on relationships with men, as she tells her fellow prostitute who longed for the days when she was married to a man in England: "You'd be lying down for one man instead of twenty! Is it really better?" Jeanette was a feminist long before the word was even in the human vocabulary!

The unfortunate thing for her though was, she was trapped in that life and couldn't escape. She relied on a man for her food and shelter, and relied on men to bring in the money to keep her pimp happy. She was trapped in a darkness where the only exit was death. And as far as she was concerned, women were always trapped in some kind of darkness throughout the ages. As she explains to Nick: "Back then, women belonged to her father...then to her husband...to be passed onto a servant if she failed to produce an heir...to be sold to a brothel keeper if she was in the way of another marriage." That explanation said it all, the true plight of women throughout the centuries, and for Jeanette, it still continued on in the present day. And I felt like her explanation was so powerful, so emotionally charged that I really felt for her and for women like her who were trapped and held down by the patriarchy throughout history, even to the modern day where women are still regarded as mere property in some countries and cultures.

And it wasn't like other women or even religious institutions were much help. This scene always stuck with me ever since I first saw it. When the one soldier is trying to rape Jeanette and she escapes and runs into a band of nuns, begging for help, and they just ignore her. Finally, she tries to hide behind the priest, who is more concerned with public impropriety than actually helping one of God's children in need and lets the soldier do with Jeanette as he wishes. Way to uphold the love, mercy and charity of God there, ya fucking prick! So the soldier goes and punches Jeanette in the stomach and tries to rape her, but she fights back and is suddenly saved.

I loved this. I loved the irony, the symbolism and the tragedy of it all. Jeanette wasn't saved by the so-called servants of God, the servants of light. She was saved by a creature of darkness. She wasn't saved by her fellow women...the women who were in positions of power (i.e., the nuns). She was saved by another man. And while he offered her freedom from the life of slavery that she had been living, little did she realize that she would, in essence, be trading one form of slavery for another.

It was such an insight into LaCroix as much as it was into Jeanette. It was interesting how she kind of went into a default mode when LaCroix approached her and asked her if it was true that she was of noble blood. She immediately said that she is whatever he wants her to be. It was heartbreaking to see how beaten down, both psychologically and physically, she had been to give a response like that. But that wasn't what LaCroix wanted. It was rather refreshing to see someone like LaCroix, who is generally depicted as the villain, as being someone who wasn't there to victimize or abuse Jeanette, even in her most vulnerable state. No, he was impressed by her strength, by her rage and by her tenacity. He saw someone that was worthy of the dark gift that he had to give. But as I said before, her only exit from the life she was living was death. And she would indeed die, but that wouldn't last.

Aside from immortality, LaCroix gave Jeannette something that seemingly no man had ever given her in her entire life. He gave her a choice. He didn't force vampirism on her. He didn't drink her dry and then turn her against her will. While he didn't exactly spell out what was involved, he presented her with an opportunity that would allow her to control what man could touch her and when. No man would ever touch her again without her permission. And she would gain a power that would allow her to get revenge and put her in a place greater than most men in the world. Of course, it all came with a price but it seems like it was a price that Jeanette was willing to pay. And although she is bonded to LaCroix as a result, I never got the impression that she minded it. LaCroix seemingly never mistreated her and never treated her as property but rather as a daughter, much like he viewed Nick as a son. And the vampire life seemingly agreed with Jeanette.

So in the present day, while Jeanette regards herself and all vampires as being better than humans, it was interesting to see her have such a concern for prostitutes as she regards them as herself, as they are all "ladies of the night" in one way or another. In a lot of ways, it felt like this was the closest Jeanette was ever going to get to being a mother as she was very motherly towards Celeste and the other prostitutes, allowing them to spend the night at The Raven and not allowing the other vampires to bother any of them. And her protective nature goes to the point of her even arguing with Nick for not bringing Celeste's pimp to justice for killing one of his own prostitutes.

I was both impressed and surprised by Jeanette's restraint. Normally, she comes off as someone who has so little regard for the human world and human rules that she has no problem breaking them since she doesn't feel like those rules apply to her. Why would they, since she's no longer human? She'll kill who she wants and feed on who she wants and no one, not even Nick, will tell her otherwise. So her not completely eviscerating Mason, Celeste's pimp, just then and there when he barged into The Raven to collect Celeste and clearly disrespected both her and Jeanette...that really surprised me. She clearly was pissed and could have taken matters into her own hands but she didn't. I wonder what it was that motivated her to show such restraint.

Of course, that restraint didn't last for long and she went after Mason. Sadly for her though, someone else beat her to it. What was funny (and something that Nick pointed out) was how Jeanette was being very cooperative throughout the whole investigation. She seemed to get a kick out of playing inside of Nick's little mortal world. What was fantastic about the way they built this episode up was how Jeanette was bent on killing Mason and saving poor Celeste, seeing a bit of herself in Celeste....a woman who had reached a dead end and needed a new start—a new life where she held all the power and would never be at the mercy of a man again.

I loved the swerve because it not only affected Jeanette but Nick as well. Nick saw, as Jeanette did, some of himself in Celeste. He could see the master-slave relationship that Celeste, as a prostitute, had with her pimp, Mason. He felt that it was a lot like what he had with LaCroix, so much so that he perhaps regarded Celeste as a fellow prisoner, just in a different kind of cage. When in turned out that Celeste wasn't a prisoner but rather was the warden, that turned everything on its head. With Celeste being the one who killed her fellow prostitute, killed Mason and killed an innocent cop, all to take over Mason's business...that changed everything. Especially for Jeanette, who felt betrayed by Celeste as it was clear that Celeste was, in the end, no better than Mason. Once again, Jeanette showed incredible restraint by not killing her (even though she wanted to) but let Nick's human justice take care of things. It was such an incredible turn but one that I think really highlights the problem that one can have when they base everything off assumptions.

It was such an interesting irony because Jeanette accused Nick of confusing 'not guilty' with 'innocent,' when she herself did the same thing with Celeste. She bought into Celeste's sob story, as did Nick, never thinking for one second that Celeste may have been playing her. She got so caught up in her own ideology and anger and seeing Celeste as a victim, like she was, that she didn't see the betrayal coming. And yet, despite all of that, it wasn't like Jeanette was going to be singing a different tune from now on. Perhaps she'd be more cautious, but certainly her views on men and the role of women in society hadn't changed.

And that's something that I love about this episode. Unlike shows and movies of today that don't provide a balanced view and go too far with an ideology, this episode kept a wonderful balance that didn't hurt any of the viewpoints of the different characters. Jeanette had her point of view on men and patriarchy and was supported not only by history but by her own experience. And yet, despite her views on men, the irony of it all was that she was helped and saved by men and she didn't seem to care. She was saved and made into a vampire by a man (LaCroix), and turned to a man (Nick) for help in her time of need. She even said it herself in regard to helping Celeste escape her prison and also helping Nick: "I would have killed to set her free and I will do no less for you." Though she had her strong views on men and how they view and treat women, it was clear that she didn't hate all men or cursed all men either. She was able to accept men into her life without compromising her views on men in general. And her view that only men could somehow use and abuse women was betrayed when Celeste proved that women could be just as callous.

Neither were Nick nor LaCroix made to look inferior to Jeanette as a way to elevate her in this episode. Hell, they weren't made to look superior either. They were all on the same level, all flawed yet in different ways. Though LaCroix saved Jeanette and gave her the gift of immortality, Jeanette and Nick saw it that she traded in one master, her pimp, for another master in LaCroix. Nick was also depicted as being on the same level as Jeanette, buying into the lies that Celeste was spewing out and getting as emotionally worked up as Jeanette did in trying to find justice. It was only the fluke discovery of the cop that Celeste had killed that Nick discovered the truth about Celeste. Otherwise, he would have kept on believing Celeste until it was too late. 

To me, that's the brilliance of this episode (which, should be noted, was written by a woman). It was able to address the issues with historical patriarchy and how it affects modern life. It explored gender issues and it explored the views of men and women in society, especially those in the less respected professions, but it did it in a way that didn't belittle either gender or any particular group. It highlighted the issues that prostitutes face and the psychological power that a pimp can hold over them. It highlighted the dangers of going off assumptions and how it could happen to anyone. It highlighted how, in many ways, people are always a slave or a prisoner to something and it can seem like there is nothing but darkness all around, but that there is a right way to escape that darkness and a wrong way. "It's about how we live in captivity. But we must escape, or die trying. Vampires and humans alike." I liked how it provided hope at the end, that starting over is possible, no matter how dark the cage is.

Something of an ironic note about the episode. I griped last episode about how LaCroix was appearing in flashbacks in S1 and how that wouldn't work anymore in S2. Well, he only showed up in flashbacks in this one but it still worked!

Ironic indeed.