*
           "    F O R E V E R
           =
           "     K  K  N  N    G G H                S T A R R I N G
           "     KK    NN N I G    H  H TTTT
         ((=))   K K   N NN I G GG HHHH  T     ^..^  Geraint Wyn Davies
          |+|    K  K  N  N I  G G H  H  T              Catherine Disher
          |"|        K N    I         H  T       ^..^  Nigel Bennett
          |"|                                            Lisa Ryder
          |+|                                   ^..^  Ben Bass
          |"|       _____                                Blu Mankuma
||        |"|     ~~~~~~~~||
||___     |+|   ~~~~~~~~~~||~
||___|____|_|__~~~~~~~~~~~||~~____________________________________________  
An OK Review by LeeRecord                                 January 10, 1996

STRINGS      Episode 3-12    (1st Run)

Written by Roy Sallows
Directed by Don McCutcheon

Guest Starring Joy Tanner as Christie Black, Peter Hutt as Dr. Ben McGee

Prologue:
A woman gets off a bus, then a car tries to run her down. She jumps out of
the way, but the driver returns and knocks her through the showcase window of
a clothing store. She is lying, badly hurt, when the driver of the car shoots
her dead. It's an eerie scene as the window mannequins appear to be watching.

The Story:
Tracy, Natalie and Nick are at the crime scene, when Tracy gets a call from
her father. She tells him she is working and snips:- "What!".

Natalie says to Nick:- "Ah oh, trouble at home."

Later Tracy asks Nick what he knows about the Corporate Crime Division. He
tells her that it's a good place for advancement. He asks her if the call
from her father was about a possible transfer and if she is going to take it.
She tells him she doesn't know.

Tracy and Nick go to see the woman's son to tell him about his mother. When
they announce themselves, he takes off out the window, making himself a
suspect. Tracy finds a letter written to the brother from his sister,
Christie Black, a famous singer that no one ever heard of --except Tracy.
While they're there, Tracy gets another call from her Father. He asks her if
she's made up her mind, yet, about the transfer. She tells her dad that she's
capable of running her own life.

Nick recalls when he was a visiting Nobleman and a friend of Nicholas II of
Russia. The czar talks of the monk Rasputin and how he seems to control
czarina Alexandra's every thought. She is convinced that Rasputin is the only
one that can cure their son, czarevitch Alexi. Rumors have spread that she
has gone made, but the czar says it's the monk's influence, not madness. The
czarina and Rasputin come in as they talk. Nicholas II introduces Nicholas to
to the strange monk. They look at each other and Rasputin's eyes glow vampire
yellow!

Nick and Tracy go to the house where Christie is being watched over by an
evil Psychiatrist that is trying to control her with drugs and video tapes.
Christie takes off and Nick finds her walking down the middle of the road. He
pulls her from in front of a car, just in time!

The son remains the main suspect, so the search is on for him. Reese tells
Tracy that he got a call from her dad and wants to know if she is going to
transfer. She says she hasn't made up her mind, but her dad thinks it's a
done deal.

When Natalie tells Nick that Dr. McGee uses controversial methods and he
tends to take over his patient's lives, he recalls the way the monk had taken
complete control of the czarina. Later we learn that Rasputin was brought
across by -YES- LaCroix. He has the monk sipping blood from the boy to make
him ill. I guess Lucien's plan was to get control of the czarina by letting
her believe that Rasputin was helping cure the boy. Then when the people
learn of the monks control over the royal family, they would revolt. (You
know how he likes all that fresh blood during a good war!) Nicholas walks
into a room and finds LaCroix. He asks him what he is doing there; and he
tells him about the monk and his plan to hand him the peasant country on a
plate. He says that the monk is a little like Nicholas, out of control. he
has him shot and thrown in the river. Nick says that won't kill him; and
Lacroix says:- "Of course not, but it will catalyze events. You see,
revolution is all in the timing. (and now you know who started the Bolshevik
revolution.)

It turns out that Dr. McGee has programmed Christie to kill off everyone that
had anything to do with the family estate, including her brother. The only
one left on the board of directors is Christie and the doctor. Nick and Tracy
both come to the same conclusion; that Christie is going to kill herself,
leaving the greedy doctor the only one left to control the estate.

Will Christie kill herself?
Who was the nobleman that finally killed Grigori Efimovich Rasputin?
Will Tracy transfer to the C.C.D.?
Will the season be completed?

Episode Quote: "Bumping through history again, Nicholas?" -LaCroix


Review *** 'Strings' is about control. Everyone is controlling somebody. We
run the gambit of LaCroix controlling Nick (or trying to), Tracy's Dad
controlling her, and a greedy Psychiatrist controlling a confused singing
star.

The story deals with Tracy, who is actually pretty straight forward in this
episode. I can say she didn't do anything stupid, excepts let her Dad
manipulate her, but that's what the story is about.

The problem is, this is basically a cop story. I want to see more vampire fun
mixed with the detective stuff. I liked the back story, which was a little
deep. The USA viewers won't have a clue! Heck, I had to get the encyclopedia
out and read up on Nicholas II and the revolution.

Another thing, I swear this was written like Tracy knows that Nick is a
vampire. He goes zipping around and pushing doors open like it's something
anyone can do. She doesn't seem to be surprised by any of it.


Promo: 00:30 sec
Narrator -"A doctor prays on a weak mind. On the next -Forever Knight-"

Promo: 00:10 sec
Narrator -"A bloody brainwash -Forever Knight-"