(S01E03) For those who forgot to tune-in or record Blade The Series opposite the second half of Nightmares & Dreamscapes, or were perhaps still digesting the Project Runway premiere (don't lie, you know who you are): SpikeTV's resident daywalker Blade (Kirk Jones) and newbie hemoglobin-addict Krista (Jill Wagner) had to fight their separate battles this week. In order to find out more about the Aurora vaccine, Blade hunts down an ex-guinea pig one used by head Detroit-vamp Marcus's -- a sort of tweeker dude called Sands, while smashing progressively harder barriers (hotel room drywall, then brick wall, then big iron door) in the process.

Meanwhile, after a Gulf War flashback and some menagé-a-wound-licking with Marcus and Chase back at Casa Chthon, Krista visits her mom ("Krista, you're so cold," says Mom), only to have Mr. "can-the-sentiment-this-is-WAR-soldier," Blade, himself, show up and tell Krista she can't go home again -- as in "don't blow your cover," if not also in the Thomas Wolfe sense. Later, back at Chthong, Marcus decides to keep Krista busy with some evil-empire entry-level employment as a package courier. We are kept guessing about the package's contents: Krista never looks to see what is in the bag she delivers to the odd-acting catering assistant manager who receives it -- even Chase has a hard time buying that plot turn.

Before finally getting into the lab and discovering where they keep the Aurora vaccine, Krista has time to hang with new best friend Chase (Aussie actress Jessica Gower). They talk clothes and music boxes before heading out on the town, ending up at an AA meeting. Yep, an AA meeting. Well, guess there is no reason being undead should prevent one from trusting in a higher power -- or at least doing some of the twelve steps. (The undead don't seem too hot on asking forgiveness, though.) Actually it turns out this is Chase's favorite trolling ground for meals that "won't be missed." Everyone else at the AA meeting seems to be trolling for Krista and Chase.

Now Chase -- who'd been Marcus's go-to girl until Krista had to show up and ruin everything -- has been my least favorite character up until now. Last week she started to see Krista as something more than competition for herself, when K-girl went all French-Revolution on Fritz to keep the Aurora project secret. That gave Chase a little depth of character that was built on this week, and there is something more to her now than the cliché jealous old flame of the male villain role. So good on Chase, and I suspect there are more reasons than just easy pickings that keep her returning to those AA meetings. Her testimonial seems a little to heartfelt and specific for that.

Last week, I noticed Krista's getting slowly seduced by pleasures -- like superhuman strength, cool building-leaping power, and being able to stay up partying all night -- if it weren't for that damn bloodlust, she'd be golden. This week she's sticking to her Blade prescribed injection regime, but she and the writers will have to get pretty clever to keep coming up with excuses why Marcus and company don't do something about Krista's reluctance to kill anybody or suck any blood -- beyond just the raised eyebrows and stern looks they have used to reproach her so far.

In other developments:

• Some cop is hot on the trail of Boone in the heartland, in a subplot that I'm entirely uninterested in, and seems irrelevant so far to the macro-story.
• Blade thinks the drug-trade in dead-vampire ash is just fine, though that sentiment puts him at odds with his ex-priest friend who sees the damage the street drug does to its users.
• Shen gets to dance on a casino table, knocking over chips to provide a diversion, then later gets to hold a sawed-off on a guy.
  
• No sign of Randy Quaid since the pilot. Maybe he will turn up by the finale -- seems a waste of a perfectly good dyspeptic half-mad scientist if he doesn't.
  
• And finally, Blade thanks Krista for all her hard work up to this point.