Vampire Erica (Torri Higginson) decides upon suicide by going to a park bench in Toronto before dawn. She stays until after daylight and she turns into ashes. Toronto police detective Nick Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies) who also happens to be a vampire, knew her in the past. Back in his theater days (the 1690s) they were in love and performed together in plays she wrote. Both embraced their vampirism then. But she did not do it as fully as he did.
Erica viewed her art as her contribution to society and saw it as consolation for preying on humanity. She made clear to him if she felt her art no longer served that then she could not bear to live. He never understood her feelings in regards to that though they spoke of them often enough. A woman who has been talking about suicide for 300 years shows more than adequate warning signs but, conversely, a counter-intuitive amount of staying power.
Concurrent to that is Nick's investigation when a young doctor (Gillian Vanderburgh) is found dead of an apparent suicide. He thinks it has been made to look like a suicide. His co-worker (A mortal who keeps his secret and covers for him) Dr. Natalie Lambert (Catherine Disher) tells Nick it really could have been a suicide from examining the body. But, because he has never understood the suicidal urge he can't accept that finding.
As an 800 year old vampire Nick has centuries of unfinished business and unresolved feelings which have bearing on the way he sees life today. His feelings about Erica's end could appear to cloud his judgment. Worse, because of his growing case load and inability to close them of late, he starts wondering if maybe he isn't contributing to society as much as he should and strongly considers following her example.
Another of his exes is Janette (Deborah Duchene) - a nightclub owner who caters to the vampire scene. He meets with her to talk about their mutual friend. She explains why Erica pushed him away. She knew she was eventually going to kill herself and did not want it to impact him because she really did care for him and understood his passion for life.
A cascade of flashbacks which reflect upon the theme of the crime Nick must solve/resolve are a staple of Forever Knight episodes. But this one includes a number of scenes in which Nick imagines Erica is still alive and they interact in the present days after she has fully combusted. There is nothing wrong with the performance of Torri Higginson in any of these scenes. But there is at least one scene too many of that shown here.
This episode is very evocative of the writings of Anne Rice and specifically in relation to Erica's doll and how it relates to the role Gema Zamprogna's actress character plays in Erica's final play (Staged at the Factory Theatre - a fixture on Toronto's entertainment since 1970). But Nick slyly mentions Romeo & Juliet - the most famous suicide pact in history, one which offers parallels with a distinct contrast.
