I must say – it sure is nice seeing Dylan and Nick getting along. Of course, they’ve had their differences; this week alone, Dylan broke the window on Nick’s car, dragged him out and threatened his life, while Nick told Dylan to stay away from his family and secretly searched online for ways to kill him. But in The Gates, this is just friendly banter.
In the aftermath of Dylan’s murder of Teresa (and/or Amanda), he and Nick bicker about the proper way to dispose of the evidence. Dylan, intent on doing things his way, tells Nick he has already taken care of the body. Nick inquires about the body’s location many times this episode, but Dylan turns him down, each time with more and more hostility. This seems uncharacteristic of Dylan, who has always been more of a cool customer, but now the stakes have been raised.
Later, when Dylan admits the previous night’s events to Claire, he explains that if it is discovered he has revealed himself, he will be killed and his family will be exiled. Finally, Dylan realizes that the only way to spurn further advances from Nick is to make him aware they are on the same side… and the only way to convince him of that is to have “Teresa do it for him.” Hmmmm… does this mean Teresa is still alive in some capacity? Some… vampire capacity?
Sadly, we never really find out. Dylan is prepared to show Teresa’s body to Nick, and he hands Nick a slip of paper with Teresa’s location written on it. He asks Nick to protect Dylan’s family, as Dylan has helped protect Nick’s. Nick, after glancing at the paper throughout the night, eventually throws it into the fire, preferring not to pursue the mystery any further. But why?
Naturally, Nick was a little on edge when he learned about the existence of vampires, and had someone killed before his eyes. It’s enough to make anyone consider a change of residence. And that’s what Nick spends most of the episode doing; in the midst of covering up for Dylan’s murder of Teresa, Nick is considering uprooting his family once more and moving out of The Gates. But after he listens to Sarah talk about how much she loves it there, and how happy she and the children are, Nick has a change of heart. He decides to trust in his new vampire buddy, and will remain in The Gates to please his family. In a wonderfully cliché but sweet montage speech, Nick talks about how important it is for a neighborhood to look out for one another. Dylan and Nick share a sign of understanding, and all is well.
However, it seems there’s at least one other person who’s in on the secret. At the end of the episode, we learn that Frank Buckley, proprietor of The Gates, has captured the whole event on tape. He records the footage onto a disc, marks it “Dylan + Nick”, and places it in a vault with several other tapes labeled with the names of The Gates’ other esteemed residents. Ironic -- in the pilot episode, Buckley tells Nick that people move to The Gates so they can feel same. I doubt having their most intimate moments recorded at all times, potentially to be used as extortion against them later, is their idea of safety.
But while Frank is in the know about all the dark secrets within The Gates, there’s another person that knows about Frank’s tape collection: his ex-wife, Devon. Devon begins the episode by making amends with Frank’s current wife, Vanessa, with whom Frank had an affair while he and Devon were married. Devon insists those events are in the past for her, and a gracious Vanessa invites Devon to a party she’s hosting that night. Devon uses this opportunity to break into Frank’s safe and replaces the disc that Frank has on her (which turns out to be footage of her making out with former police officer Chad Taylor). While leaving the room that the safe is in, she runs into Frank, who she then attempts to seduce. Frank is not swayed by her supernatural charms, professing his love for Vanessa. Vanessa, however, gets the wrong idea when she sees the two leaving the room together.
And speaking of secrets, Claire has further problems with The Gates’ resident gossip artist, Barbara. Worried that Barbara will tell others about her rendezvous with Christian, Claire leaves a voicemail to Christian, asking for help to solve this problem. Midway through, she recants, telling Christian not to call her back, and saying that she’ll solve the problem herself. Will it be with violence? I hope it’s with violence. I can’t imagine why Claire let Barbara live to begin with, as there can’t possibly be a more unpleasant person living in The Gates.
Finally, The Gates’ writers dropped another bombshell on us this week, as we learn that it wasn’t a car crash that killed Andie’s succubus mother, Eve. It was Andie’s father, Thomas. Dun dun dunnn! Apparently, Eve had been with Thomas without any sort of medication that would help curb her succubus powers. Instead, the couple practiced self-restraint. However, one night, Eve could not contain herself, and Thomas was forced to kill her.
While this information would be devastating for Andie to hear, it would also be pretty darned useful information. Andie also showed signs this episode of being resistant to the idea of taking medicine for her affliction, as she was scared about what it would mean if it didn’t work. Instead, she too attempts to practice self-restraint with Charlie. She demonstrates this at the end of the episode when Charlie shows up on her doorstep, and she allows him only a small parting kiss. This is a slippery slope, indeed… it’s only a matter of time before their relationship is taken too far, and both Charlie and Andie are put in danger.
Quick Hits:
- Marcus is heartbroken to find that his girlfriend Teresa has gone missing, and investigates her disappearance against Nick’s wishes. He finds the truth about Teresa’s identity, and that Nick was the one who killed her brother. However, instead of believing this information to further cast suspicion on Nick (whom he suspects), he instead apologizes to Nick that he let Teresa get this close to Nick in the first place. Marcus seems to buy Nick’s assertion that whatever Teresa was planning, she must have gotten cold feet and skipped town.
- When Dylan spoke to Nick about his nature, we learned a few vampire rules! I love rules in these types of shows. Unfortunately, I came away disappointed, as he only discussed things that don’t occur. For example, Dylan is unaffected by holy water, he can see himself in the mirror, he doesn’t sleep in a coffin, and only comes down with heartburn when he eats garlic.
- When Frank’s safe is briefly displayed on camera, we catch a brief look at the list of The Gates’ residents who have been caught on tape doing something unscrupulous. Among them are known supernatural people like Lukas, Brett and Claire, a few people we don’t know yet, and interestingly enough, Marcus. What could Marcus have possibly done? I hope we find out soon.
