Henry makes an awesome look out with his senses while
Vicki is breaking and entering and planting bugs. But less so when he distracts
Vicki by inviting her to one of his art shows – an actual date. They are going
on an actual date – time for Vicki’s happy shocked face.
Of course there’s a complication. The gallery owner,
Jude, is trying to set up – we see an ominous picture with a hanged man in it and
then something unseen leaps on him. The next day, Henry tells Vicki that the
owner has gone missing which rather puts a crimp in their plans. And he’s brought
a friend, Mia, an artis t and Jude’s girlfriend, to help deal with the
situation (we’re also pointed towards Mia’s tattoo in a not-too-subtle manner
so I’m sure it’ll be relevant at some point).
Mia is rather flaky for Vicki, vague and not very
pleasant Vicki and her don’t get along – and it seems Jude is inclined to these
tantrums and disappearing as well – but not usually before a show. Vicki promises
to look for him but Mia is less than appreciative.
This leads to Vicki and Coreen going to the art gallery
to mingle and investigate. Vicki finds the picture that Henry is selling is
both in high demand and modelled after her – as one of the pretentious patrons
of the gallery tells her (Angus), who also tells her that Jude and Mia’s
relationship is rocky and ending.
Meanwhile, Coreen is fascinated by the creeping painting
of the house with the hanged man – much to the artist’s (Tyrone) joy. Henry
arrives to marvel at Vicki wearing a dress (and gooshily compliment her) and I
marvel that Vicki doesn’t comment on the fact his trousers come with a
sequinned groin. Trying too hard Henry, really, trying too hard. They snark
back and forth a little. Coreen (in between gushing about her new artist
friend) and Vicki both dish the dirt on the not-very-pleasant Mia while Henry
gets snippy defending her and on another painting Vicki spots Mia’s tattoo on a
painting (yes we’re really drawing attention to it).
And Celluci has found Jude’s body – disturbingly posed in
a chair, outside. To the police station and the morgue (yes, Celluci allows
Vicki and Henry to come with, no he has no reason to, but he has for 2 seasons
it’s not going to change. I assume Toronto just has revolving doors on the
morgue) where Henry takes issue with Celluci questioning Mia as a suspect – and
asks Vicki to prove Mia innocent. Vicki promises to find the killer – all
she’ll do. When the menfolk have finished snarling at each other, Dr. Mohadevan
gives Vicki the real info – Jude died of drowning in oil paint – only it wasn’t
forced down his throat and there’s no sign of pain in his mouth – just his
lungs. Which is impossible – which is always fun to the awesome Dr. Mohadevan.
Henry isn’t entirely a fool and uses his vampire wiles to
question Mia, learning Jude had found out they were having an affair, that they
had a much worse fight than usual and that they broke up. Henry tells this to
Vicki but continues to defend Mia – Vicki’s also focused on those tattoos and
considers they may be magic related. Vicki goes to question Mia, but it’s
mainly to establish that the two don’t like each other. Later Mia is seen
comforting herself with the very solicitous Angus, but making it clear she’s grieving
for Jude while they get dressed.
At Coreen’s suggestion, Vicki goes to talk to Tyrone
since he’s known Mia for so long. She doesn’t learn much except he likes Coreen
– and we get to see how protective he is of his painting – even when it’s just
a blank canvass.
In the gallery, his hanged man painting is ramping up the
spooky, with the hanged man moving windows and flashes of a hanging man
appearing behind Angus, until an arm reaches out and drags him into the
picture, dropping his glasses on the floor.
Leaving his body to be found by Celluci and Dave, posed
in a chair in a vacant lot with no exterior wounds, just like Jude.
Symbol studying finds that Mia’s tattoo is a protection
symbol against demons and Celluci arrives to give Vicki the news about Angus.
He’s worried because Mia is looking more and more suspicious and he’s afraid of
what Henry will do to defend her. And Henry goes to Mia and talks to her about
her issues with her mother, her mother’s boyfriend and a persistent dream she
has. All of which is interrupted by Celluci arriving to take Mia away for
questioning.
Talking to Henry, Vicki learns he cares for Mia because
he cared for her mother, they were close but she pushed him away when she found
out what he was, because she feared for her daughter. Hence the painting of the
demon man who ate her mother but Mia kind of liked him and the anti-demon
tattoos Mia has.
Meanwhile, Coreen is having dinner with Tyrone,
he-who-paints the murderous paintings and he discusses his muse, Edward
Franklin, an artist who gave up everything and died in the name of his art. And
back at the office, research shows that Edward Franklin owned the vacant lot
where the bodies were found. Researching Franklin they find that he was pretty
hardcore in his artist manifesto (all about sacrifice) – and left a blank
canvass as a suicide note. Yes, Tyrone keeps a blank canvass in his studio,
covered – especially since Franklin left no paintings at all, just the blank
canvass. Vicki puts creepy 1 and creepy 2 together – and turns her eyes on
Tyrone.
While Coreen distracts him with lunch, Vicki arrives to
look for the blank canvass – but her knocking something over causes her and
Coreen to leave quickly. While Tyrone returns to painting – and being
instructed by the blank canvass – to paint a portrait of a hanged man.
Back at the office Vicki gets rid of Coreen and consults Henry – the hardcore manifesto of Franklin only values portraiture – so why did Tyrone has a still life where Vicki expected to find the blank canvass? She returns with Henry – and they find her business card next to the phone and assume he has gone to her office (for some reason)
At her office Tyrone arrives to see Coreen – with the big
haunted canvass now with a hanged man on it. Such a touching gift. Coreen is
freaked out by him ramping the spooky up to max – especially when he won’t let
her leave. The painting manifests a man – the ghost of Edward Franklin, who
grabs Coreen, calling her a distraction. Vicki shows up and starts hitting him,
a novel exorcism and not an effective one; Henry has a better idea – ripping the
canvass he haunts. The ghost falls back into the canvass, pulling Tyrone in
with him.
Vicki and Henry, wisely, burn the painting and Celluci
has another unsolved crime for his books
Vicki meets another woman she doesn’t like! This is my
shocked face. Really, I’m shocked. We should have Coreen and Dr. Mohadevan
stuffed as the only women in all of Canada that Vicki doesn’t dislike. Except
they’re both in helper roles so are tolerable
There’s a loose end again – Henry was all for this to
clear Mia’s name – where’s the name clearing?
