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Blade: Conclave (season finale)
by Michael Canfield, posted Sep 14th 2006 7:20AM
(S01E12) Blade, we hardly knew you. But we got to know Krista, Chase and Marcus pretty well. Some other folks too, but they're mostly dead. I mean dead dead, not just undead. I'm hard pressed to think of a series with a body count this high, but I had fun. In this, our final first-season installment, we still need to get the purebloods out of the way, so that Blade can battle Marcus just as nature intended. Marcus, by the way, thinks Blade is playing right into his hands, and Shen tries to convince Blade that they have Marcus right where they want him thanks to Krista. Then, from that as a premise, spectacular (well, considering bugetary limitations, anyway) season-finale stuff happens.
For instance, Chase leads a team in the destruction of the dimly-lit Bladecave, snatching Shen in the process. Marcus then hopes to rely on Krista's "extensive knowledge of torture" from her time in Iraq to get the information on Blade's network out of Shen. She doesn't disappoint, and Shen has to suck it up and take a very rough manicure. Anything for the team. Shen has a really good episode, and some of his best moments all season. I especially like his "do you have any toilet paper" note gambit.
Meanwhile, Marcus -- believing Blade dead -- goes after the fabled (I guess) Sword of Cthon, which is still in the hands of the Purebloods. The Purebloods call a "conclave" -- a meeting of the entire House which is only held in extreme situations -- such as the introduction of Marcus's Aurora vaccine, or a season finale. Blade cuts himself in invitation, so to speak, and infiltrates the conclave so that everyone's on stage for the big showdown: Purebloods who are born as vampires, Infecteds (or "Turnbloods" -- that is, regular vampires like Marcus, Chase and Krista), and the Daywalker (Blade).
Marcus reveals the true secret of Aurora: it doesn't work on Purebloods, ha ha! But turns out Marcus doesn't quite have them over the barrel like he thinks he does. -Marcus is betrayed in a way that he would never have expected. I didn't see it coming at this late date either.
Blade shows up, Purebloods get gooified. Then it's Blade vs. Marcus with swords, and Krista vs. Chase with kung-fu. Incredibly, Krista seems to think Chase is dead -- even though she doesn't even get ashed. Marcus says what the entire audience must be thinking at this point: don't ever believe Chase is dead.
Blade and Shen roll out, arguing over whether they've really accomplished anything. Shen's pretty emotionally scarred from his torture, I'd say. Now everyone's on the run from the Purebloods. Wait, weren't we just told they were all killed? I guess there's always more pissed off Purebloods out there, looking down their immortal noses at Marcus.
Blade and his team, and Marcus and his team, will have to pull up stakes and emerge somewhere else down the road. But not before Marcus has one more secret of his own to reveal, regarding how he came to discover Blade's headquarters in the first place. He bares his fangs ... to be continued.
A good episode, a little abrupt, it left me wanting more, which is not a bad thing. What's your opinion? Did you enjoy the summer of Blade, and what would you like to see happen in a second season?
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