TV series' changed in the 21st century, going from episode centered to season centered, where a story can take several episodes to tell. Some might disagree, but I think that's a good thing. It makes TV shows more engaging.
Forever Knight, obviously, was written during the episode centered era, and while there are consistent themes in this show, each episode is meant to be a unit unto itself, and inevitably there's some kind of corny plots and mediocre stories in there (like the vampire pet episode).
But I remember this show fondly. I used to catch it on late at night after work, when I worked the evening shift and it was a great late night show. A bit of spookiness, a bit of heart and the occasional bit of comedy. The acting was overall very good and the actors played well off each other.
Geraint Wyn Davies played the tortured vampire hero who's basically "Angel", before Angel. A guy who tries to do right to make up for years of blood-lust. Unlike Angel, he didn't get his soul back from a spell. They don't say how it happened and I think that actually works better, cause you get the sense he earned his humanity back over time. Where Angel is brooding, Davies plays the role with a hint of sadness and a ton of regret. Where Angel is always ready to fight, Davies plays the role very cautious of his strength and always willing to talk first. Between the two, I find Davies silently tortured Vampire vastly superior to Angel's stoic/brooding one. While the story telling is better in Angel, the heart and depth of character goes to Davies. He played this role brilliantly, which is interesting cause I've never been much impressed with Davies' other performances but this he did very well.
Nigel Bennett (Lacroix) is brilliant in this show as the old vampire with more strength than anyone else. To say why he's great would give spoilers, but he's a Shakespearean level actor with a talent for being intimidating in a quiet way. He's a favorite of mine.
John Kapelos plays Davies (Nick Knight's) partner for the first two seasons and he's a well known "everyman" actor who plays his role well as the straight man to the difficult to explain things he sees. He played the janitor in breakfast club, and while Bennett is dark and a little scary and Knight (Davies) is haunted, regretful and sad, Kapelos is likable, skeptical, sensible and a straight cop. They make a perfect triangle as 3 vastly different characters. Kapelos & Bennett are almost never on screen at the same time, but they both spend time with Knight and the differences in the roles those 3 play is part of what makes this show work as well as it does.
Catherine Disher was the 4th main character and I found her to be the weakest of the four. She wasn't bad, but she didn't wow me either.
Season one, at least early on, the show seems to not really know where it's going. It was spun off a TV movie and the characters take a while to set, so there are some inconsistencies and if you start with Episode one, you might think it's just a cheesy formula show, and, it was, for a bunch of the first season, but as the characters come into their own it gets better.
For season 3 they changed everything around. Kapelos is replaced by Lisa Ryder (Blond ship captain from Andromeda) and she plays the cop role well enough, though she doesn't have Kapelos' heart, nor his ability to play the straight man.
Pretty boy Ben Bass is also added in the 3rd season as another Vampire who Knight kind of takes under his wing as a guy who doesn't kill people anymore. Bass isn't haunted the way Knight is, and I found his role a little pointless but not unwatchable. The show has some solid episodes in season 3, but I think she show was best in season 2 and the 2nd half of season 1.
The finally was a little disappointing, and, I gather, rushed through production, but the show is still worth checking out. Angel and Twilight both seemed to borrow aspects from this show. It's hard to be original these days. Forever Knight is one of the few original shows.
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