See the formatted Janette FAQ at http://users.LMI.net/akr/fk/faqs/janette.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Janette FAQ by AKR Last updated May 14, 1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Index: 1. Who is Janette? 2. What is Janette's full name? 3. Who plays Janette? 4. In which episodes does Janette appear? 5. What is the FORKNI-L affiliation for Janette? 6. What is her status as of the last time she was seen? 7. How old is Janette? 8. Does Janette have any relatives? 9. What are her other significant relationships and contacts? 10. What does Janette look like? 11. What kind of person is Janette? 12. What occupations has Janette had? 13. How has Janette's life unfolded? 14. What is the deal with "The Human Factor," anyway? 15. Special Notes 16. Janette-focused Episode-descriptions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Who is Janette? Janette is a character on the syndicated television program _Forever Knight_. She is the third member of Nick and Lacroix's vampire family. 2. What is Janette's full name? Janette DuCharme: but while "DuCharme" is used as early as 1228 (BMV) it does not necessarily bear any relation to Janette's mortal origin. In "The Human Factor," Janette uses the surname "de Brabant." No other aliases are known. 3. Who plays Janette? Deborah Duchene is the actress who depicts Janette. 4. In which episodes does Janette appear? Seen in -- "Dark Knight," "For I Have Sinned," "Last Act," "Dance By The Light of the Moon," "False Witness," "Cherry Blossoms," "I Will Repay," "Dead Air," "Hunters," "Dead Issue," "Father Figure," "Dying For Fame," "Unreality TV," "Feeding the Beast," "If Looks Could Kill," "Love You to Death," "Killer Instinct," "A Fate Worse Than Death," "Stranger Than Fiction," "Hunted," "Faithful Followers," "Father's Day," "Bad Blood," "Can't Run, Can't Hide," "Be My Valentine," "The Fix," "The Fire Inside," "Blood Money," "Partners of the Month," "A More Permanent Hell," "Curiouser and Curiouser," "Near Death," "Baby, Baby," "Close Call," "Crazy Love," "The Human Factor," and a flashback of "Last Knight" Directly alluded to in -- "The Code" and "Black Buddha, Part 1." 5. What is the FORKNI-L affiliation for Janette? Janette's followers call themselves "Ravens" and "Ravenettes." The couple affiliation for Janette and Nick is known as the "Immortal Beloveds;" the couple affiliation for Janette and Lacroix is the "Seducers;" the affiliation for Janette and Natalie is the "Nanettes." 6. What is her status as of the last time she was seen? The last time Janette is seen on screen, in HF, she is mortal and dying in Nick's arms. However, off-screen, she is known to be a vampire, and alive. 7. How old is Janette? Though there are historical reasons for supposing Janette to have been younger, judging from Ms. Duchene Janette was perhaps 28-30 when brought across in the eleventh century. Thus she is around 900-1000 years old during the present of _Forever Knight_. 8. Does Janette have any relatives? Currently, Janette is known to be related only to Nick Knight, her vampire father/master (once her brother and lover), and through him to his only-known, other, living "child," Serena ("Baby, Baby"). Many believe that she brought over the Baroness Sophia in "If Looks Could Kill," and is (or was) thus Sophia's mother/master, but this can be disputed. 9. What are her other significant relationships and contacts? Anna, deceased, a friend (AFWTD) Lacroix, for eight centuries her vampire father/master Robert McDonagh, deceased, lover (HF) ("I was in love with him") Patrick McDonagh, son of lover, once ward (HF) ("I'm his mother"). Named denizens of Janette's Raven include customer and decorator Alma (FIHS, LYTD), bartender Miklos (AFWTD, BaBl), customer Mirah (FIHS), and employee Brianna (AMPH). The actress who played the Goth-mortal customer in FtB reappears in SoB as the vampire Eva; she is frequently in Raven crowd scenes on the dance floor. Janette's other contacts include Larry Merlin, vampire computer expert (Hunters), and Aristotle, who creates false lives for relocating vampires (FitP). A number of vampires live in the basement of the Raven (Hunters). Janette is acquainted with Natalie from "Cherry Blossoms" onward, and though she claims Natalie is not her "friend" (AMPH), she admires Natalie as a "surgeon" (AFWTD) and is solicitous of her (AMPH, FaFo). Janette meets Schanke for the first time in "For I Have Sinned," shelters him in "Hunted," and commiserates with him in PotM. AFWTD reveals that Janette regularly offers mortal prostitutes shelter in her club, while forbidding the men involved in that business entrance. 10. What does Janette look like? Janette is 5'8" and around 135 lbs. She has blue eyes and black hair, which she wears in accordance with contemporary trends. However, it has never been seen shorter than shoulder-length. In flashbacks, Janette always dresses at the height of the era's fashion. In the present, her choices may be explained as appropriate for her situation: "goth" as the owner of the Raven, and "contemporary casual" when she moved to Montreal. She wears black and red almost exclusively: the only exceptions are DK1 past (white), AFWTD past (brown), ND past (grey), and HF (white). Janette almost always wears earrings, frequently wore chokers as owner of the Raven (throughout first season), and was once seen getting a tattoo (FaFo). In the first season present, Janette wore black almost exclusively. In the second season, she frequently wore red dresses with gold accents. 11. What kind of person is Janette? Janette is the most enigmatic of the major FK characters, in part because of her lack of screen time, and in part because of an apparently reticent nature; she does not often talk about herself, and we have seen Nick still strangely uninformed (IWR, AFWTD, ND) about her past after 800 years. Until "The Human Factor," Janette had always enthusiastically embraced her vampirism -- "I like what I am" -- and mortality has never been something she actively sought. Janette has also always embraced vengeance, her own sense of justice, from Daviau (AFWTD) to Larouche, Robert's murderer (HF). In the present, Janette has created a society around her, through the patrons, employees, and inhabitants of the Raven; she has often been seen as the very symbol of the vampire community, concerning herself with that community more than any other character, and she has been kind not only to Nick's mortal friends, but to the mortal prostitutes she has sheltered at the Raven, though she tries to keep her kindnesses firmly behind the scenes. In fact, Janette has almost never been seen alone. She has also expressed a desire to cling to her "homes," once she finds them (FD, HF). Despite mocking Nick's involvement in the mortal world, she interacts with it herself as necessary in the course of her business: Janette supervises the Raven nightly instead of hiring a manager, does her own taxes when she has an accountant (CR,CH), reads newspapers and tracks her competition (BM), worries about inspections and has come to an understanding with the local organized crime group (FD). Janette has shown herself supremely adaptable to circumstances through the centuries, and she seems to consider herself practical and extremely realistic. Above all, Janette is a survivor. 12. What occupations has Janette had? Past -- as a mortal, a prostitute Past -- as a vampire, usually an aristocrat Recently -- proprietor of the Raven nightclub 13. How has Janette's life unfolded? Janette was rescued from her mortal existence as a prostitute by Lacroix, who brought her across with the promises that no mortal would ever touch her again without her consent, and that he wanted her to be "so much more than mere nobility" (AFWTD). One or two centuries later, she seduced Nick, and opened the door to Lacroix, who then brought him across (DK, ND, DBTLOTM). Janette traveled with Nick and Lacroix for most of the following eight centuries, leaving them for a time in the Renaissance (PotM), as well as having other, unexplained, absences. Her location and chronology can be easily gleaned from the timeline and episode descriptions. Her relationship with Nick has flared and cooled over the centuries, but they have rarely been together without an intimate attitude. Janette moved to Toronto in approximately 1975 (BB1), according to Lacroix (there is no independent confirmation of that, and Lacroix may have had reason to lie or exaggerate), and was operating the Raven for at least three years before DK. In 1995, she left Toronto for Montreal. While there, she fell in love with a mortal, and when he was killed, she somehow became mortal herself. Later, as Janette lay dying in Nick's arms, he pleaded with her to let him bring her back across; she refused. Crying out in anguish, Nick brought her across. 14. What is the deal with "The Human Factor," anyway? "The Human Factor" is a very controversial episode, widely considered a painful assassination of character -- Janette's, primarily, but also Nick's, in my personal, subjective opinion. Its ambiguity has caused several heated debates, with great passion on all sides. It must be acknowledged that the episode covers less than a year in a life of a thousand years. There was once considerable controversy about Janette surviving the end of "The Human Factor." She did, for not only is that explicit in the script, it can be pieced together from slivers of evidence on screen. In some few locations, however, the tag of HF was cut slightly through a technical error, coincidentally removing the most vital evidence of Janette's survival. The fact that Reese impatiently calls Nick in for his shift, after Nick had "booked off" sick the previous night, indicates that the tag of HF occurs the night after the rest of the episode. Because of this -- and that phone call from Reese is absolutely vital -- Nick's comment that Janette must have brought the portrait "today" indicates that she survived the final scene before the tag. 15. Special Notes Janette almost always pronounces Nick's name "Nicola," which is probably the French "Nicolas," though it may be an affectation of the Italian nickname "Nicola." During the first season, she occasionally calls him "Nicky." She refers to Lacroix as "Lucien" in a flashback of HF, but otherwise calls him "Lacroix." Janette has *never* called Natalie "Nat." Janette's mortal pimp was named Daviau. Lacroix's first words to Janette are: "Daviau tells me you are of noble blood." Janette's first words to Nick are: "How much do you want me?" Janette has been documented to speak English and French; her presence in Renaissance Italy and nineteenth-century Germany probably indicate a familiarity with Italian and German as well. 16. Janette-focused Episode-descriptions "Dark Knight" -- Nick visits Janette at the Raven for the first time, even though he has been in Toronto for three years. He is looking for information about the murders; Janette tells him that Lacroix is not responsible. In 1228 France, Janette leads Nick to his first meal as a vampire: "Drink, my love." "For I Have Sinned" -- Nick goes to the Raven looking for information about two murders. Janette says that he should know by now that she doesn't care about "them" (mortals), and that he shouldn't either. She comments that he's never going to realize that he's not "people," and dips her finger into her glass of blood, trying to tempt him. Later, Janette interrupts Alma before she can bite Schanke, and warns Nick's partner never, ever to come into her club again. "Last Act" -- Nick discovers that Erica has committed suicide. Janette is unsurprised that Erica has finally taken this step, and agrees to take Nick to Erica's apartment; she seems surprised by the desolation they find there. "Dance By The Light of the Moon" -- In 1228 Paris, Janette introduces herself to Nick with the question, "How much do you want me?" They get passionately involved, and Janette comments that Nick must now realize that "the light will never satisfy" him. This is just before Lacroix brings him across. "False Witness" -- In the present, Janette urges Nick to give up his pretense of mortality, and tells him that his soul was lost when Lacroix brought him across. She discovers that Nick [believes he] killed Lacroix, and tells him he is "pathetic," that he belongs nowhere, and is not true to anyone, even himself. In 1828 Britain or Ireland, Janette kills the girl musician Lacroix had taunted Nick over, suggesting that Nick intended to feed on her. "Cherry Blossoms" -- In 1916 San Francisco, Janette accompanies Lacroix as they burst in on Nick, who is undergoing acupuncture as part of his search for mortality. Lacroix murders the acupuncturist. In the present, Janette rescues Nick from the vengeance of the acupuncturist's son by telling him that Nick has not killed in a hundred years. Nick and she seem on the verge of getting passionately involved in the tag, but are accidentally interrupted by Natalie. This is the first time Janette and Natalie meet; Janette says she has heard about Natalie from Nick, and they must get together sometime to talk. "I Will Repay" -- Considering bringing Nat's brother Richard across, Nick goes to Janette for advice, and asks her if she's ever brought anyone across. She tells him she has not, that she's "just not the mothering type." "Well, I'm not!" she protests, when Nick looks at her as if he doesn't believe her. "I've never managed to stop in time ... I guess I'm just too much of a glutton." She asks Nick if he is prepared for the eternal bond which will tie him to the one he brings across; he says that he doesn't believe it has to be like that. When Richard runs amok, she tells Nick it is his responsibility. "Dead Air" -- In 1440-1460 Europe, Lacroix is torturing a man. Janette observes that he looks like Lacroix's father; she is vamped out when Lacroix is, as the torture increases. "Hunters" -- In 1840 Britain, Janette, Lacroix and Nick are chased by vampire hunters. Janette falls behind, and Lacroix urges Nick to leave her behind; he refuses. In the present, Schanke is hunted by an old adversary, and Janette allows him to stay at the Raven. "Dead Issue" -- Nick goes to the Raven for information on a case. She asks him what he would do without her; "I don't want to ever have to find out," Nick replies. "That is the *correct* answer," Janette smiles in return, before pointing out the suspect. "Father Figure" -- In 1941-1943 London, a street urchin steals Janette's purse. Nick restores it to her, and Janette inquires if the boy has anywhere to go. He does not, and she asks to take him in -- just for a little while. Daniel becomes dear to both Nick and Janette, but Lacroix leads Nick to fear that either he (Lacroix) or Janette will bring Daniel across (Lacroix taunts Nick that Janette's "interest" in the boy is other than "merely maternal"). To save the boy, Nick sends him away. The boy is brought across anyway, however, presumably by Lacroix. "Dying For Fame" -- In one of Nick's delusions, Janette appears as a waitress, serving him food covered in blood. This scene may originally have been filmed for "Feeding the Beast." "Unreality TV" -- Janette informs Nick that a mortal with physical proof of the existence of vampires (photos or videos, for example) will be able to resist hypnotism. She informs him that if he had spent more time among his own kind in the past century, he would have known that. "Feeding the Beast" -- Nick, falling off the wagon from a twelve-step program for addictions, goes to the Raven for vampiric entertainment. Janette intervenes before he can bite a mortal, and she calls Natalie to the scene. "If Looks Could Kill" -- In 1805 Germany, Janette appears next to the newly brought-over Baronness, saying "Sometimes it takes a woman to know what a woman needs." It is not established whether Janette brought over the Baronness herself; because of contradictory evidence in "I Will Repay," this has been debated. "Love You to Death" -- In 1890 Paris, Janette accompanies Nick to the ballet and observes his adoration of Sylvaine. In the present, she finally learns about Sylvaine's fate, and that it was the ballerina's death which made Nick pull away from her and Lacroix. Nick is quite distressed in this episode, and Janette feels that distress -- "the strings which bind us together as the children of Lacroix have been vibrating." "Killer Instinct" -- In 1228, in the Paris Catacombs, Janette is present at Nick's first vampire-lessons, and she feeds in the background. In the present, she visits Nick in jail, and encourages him to flee Toronto, even though it may be a long while before they meet again. "A Fate Worse Than Death" -- Faced with a young prostitute who seems to be in danger from her pimp, Janette flashes back to the end of her mortal life, 1070-1100, when she was a prostitute in Paris. Her friend Anna was pregnant, and Janette offered to work enough to sustain them both while Anna could not. However, Anna was apparently murdered by Daviau, their pimp. Janette finally tried to flee some unwelcome attentions, but was refused help at every turn, including by a priest. She fought, but in the end, it was Lacroix who saved her. Not long after that, he brought her across, promising that "no merely mortal man" would ever touch her again without her permission. Janette's first feeding was on Daviau: "the best revenge is revenge." In the present, Janette makes a similar offer to the girl she tried to shelter, and is betrayed when the girl turns out to be the murderer. The girl tries to shoot Nick and Janette; the bullets are removed by Natalie and Janette tells Nick his "friend is an excellent surgeon." Nick and Janette end the episode in each other's arms, discussing freedom and captivity; it should be remembered that AFWTD, and thus this discussion, immediately follow Lacroix's reappearance in "Killer Instinct." "Stranger Than Fiction" -- Emily Weiss needs to be protected from what may be a vampire. When Nick cannot stay with her himself, he leaves her in Janette's care in the loft. Janette is not happy about this, and considers killing Emily herself several times, until Lacroix appears and warns her off. "Hunted" -- In 1828-1850 England, Nick, Lacroix and Janette hunt a poacher/woodsman for sport. "Faithful Followers" -- Concerned about Nick, Natalie goes to the Raven to talk with Janette, and observes her getting a tattoo. Janette lightly taunts Natalie about Nick and "love," and tells Nat that Nick is a wolf among poodles. "Father's Day" -- In 1925 Paris, after another confrontation with Lacroix about his quest for mortality, Nick decides to leave, and urges Janette to come with him. She declines, unwilling to leave her home, but arranges for Nick to go from Paris to Don Constantine in Toronto. She tries to resist telling Lacroix where Nick has fled, but finally reveals the destination, after a combination of coercion and appeal to her concern for Nick. She accompanies Lacroix to San Francisco to recover Nicholas. "Bad Blood" -- In 1888 London, Janette is an aide to Lacroix when he has his unfortunate encounter with Jack. In the present, she's housing Lacroix at the Raven and entices Nick over just before dawn at Lacroix's behest, trapping him for the day while Nat, Schanke, Bridget and Liam are endangered by Lacroix's plot. There is a scene with the three vampires at the Raven, waiting for sunset. "Can't Run, Can't Hide" -- Nick goes to Janette hoping for a clue to his case, and asks about Lacroix's involvement in southeast Asia. Janette muses on the great extent of Lacroix's former plantations in that area. "Be My Valentine" -- In 1229, Janette comes to Brabant with Nick and Lacroix. She reprimands Nick for endangering them in his desire to visit his mortal family. She encourages Nick to leave Lacroix and Fleur to each other, noting that "the attraction seems mutual." "The Fix" -- In 1865 England, Janette warns Nick about the dangers of his quest for mortality, especially with this particular mortal quack. Nick doesn't listen, unable to endure what he is, and she and Lacroix have to rescue him. In the present, Nick, believing himself mortal, rushes to the Raven to share this with Janette -- and secure her as a second test subject. She objects on multiple levels, and warns him implicitly that the Enforcers will not be any more happy with this discovery than she is. Janette informs Natalie that she has been down this road with Nick before, and tells Nick, "Oh, Nicolas, you are such an eternal *boy.*" "The Fire Inside" -- Janette is with Lacroix in South Carolina in 1853-1860, and meets up with Nick for the night at an abandoned shack that turns out to be a stop on the underground railroad. "Blood Money" -- In 1790 France, Janette is present for Nick's duel over the ill-gotten money. In the present, she is familiar with the criminal in question, and admits to keeping up with contemporary news and events. "Partners of the Month" -- In 1472-1519 Italy, Janette leaves Nick after 97 years together, "longer than the Medicis, longer than any mortal marriage." Nick demands possession of the diVinci portrait of her, and she retorts that she will commission another. "This does not mean that I don't love you," she tells him. "That our time together hasn't been wonderful." When he asks why, then, she has to leave, she replies, "Because I am bored, because I feel the need to move on, because you probably feel the same but cannot admit it." After she's gone, Nick sulks by a window, and Lacroix taunts him when he confesses, "I loved her." In the present, Schanke gets quite drunk at the Raven, and Janette reminisces over Nick as he reminisces over Myra. At the end, Nick returns the painting he took in the Renaissance, asking, "Eternal friends?" "Maybe more," Janette answers, kissing him. "A More Permanent Hell" -- As society dissolves in apocalyptic fears, Janette observes "the end of the savings account and safe sex." She tells Nick that there is nothing that he can do to stop it, and that he had better to be worried about the fate of vampires than mortals, for though he is "used to depriving" himself, they will still starve once the mortals are gone. When Natalie, drunk and looking to be brought across, gets herself in trouble, Janette intervenes, and has her lay down in a back room. "She is not my *friend*," Janette idignantly informs Brianna, who gives her a knowing look. "The Code" -- In flashback, 1870-1880, Janette is pictured on a wanted poster with Nick and Lacroix. The drawing is not flattering. "Curiouser and Curiouser" -- In Nick's delusion, which he characterizes as "what I've denied them," he is married to a mortal Janette, and father of her infant child. This Janette is visibly struggling to keep her family together, but whether it is because she knows about her Nick's affair with Captain Lambert, or because of his erratic behavior and poor job performance, or both, is not known. In reality, after the shooting at the Raven, Janette tells Natalie to let Nick brood: "It has always been his way." "Near Death" -- In the present, Janette recalls for Nick what it was like when Lacroix brought her across; at first she felt "nothing. I was, after all, dying. Then -- everything." Like Nick, she saw a door (though hers was on a grassy plain) and felt she was given a choice, "if you call death 'a choice,'" which she did not. In the past, 1228 Paris, Janette stands watch over Nick with Lacroix, and fears that he will choose to step into the light. "Oh, I want him," she says, and when he awakens, he gives her a kiss which obliges that sentiment. "Baby, Baby" -- In the Raven, Nick tells Janette that Serena was an innocent; Janette replies, "so were we all," and encourages him not to blame himself. She suspects that there is something more than professional to his interest in Serena; she says that if the mortal Serena is involved with is still alive, "it is not about sex." "Close Call" -- Schanke suspects something is odd about Nick, and rummage through Janette's things in the Raven. She wakes up vamped out, but hides it, and tells him that the picture of she, Nick and Lacroix from a century ago is, in fact, of their great-grandparents. She tries to whammy him, but it doesn't take. She and Nick are present in the hallway when Lacroix guides Schanke in talking himself back into his disbelief in vampires. "Crazy Love" -- Nick, tormented beyond his limits by his hunger, turns to Janette. They meet by the lake twice. The first time, Nick almost immediately bites Janette, and later apologizes for using her. Janette had asked him to sleep the day with her, hoping that things could be like they were before, if only for a little while. The second meeting ends the episode in a passionate kiss, not a bite. "Black Buddha, Part 1" -- Nick goes to the Raven looking for Janette, but she is gone. Lacroix says that she had been in TO for twenty years, and it was time for her to move on; he says that it has been "at least a month" since Nick was last around. He says he does not know where Janette is, and encourages Nick not to follow her. "The Human Factor" -- Flashbacks reveal that Janette left Toronto because of "what [Lacroix] fear[s] most: doubt." Knowing that being a vampire was no longer as simple for her as Lacroix thought it should be, but unwilling to end up like Nick, Janette asked Lacroix to take the Raven, and make sure there would always be a place for the "strays." Janette then moved to Montreal: "a taste of Paris, but not too far from the family." While there, she was rescued from a fire by a mortal fireman named Robert McDonagh, whom she came to love "more than [Nick] can ever imagine." While with Robert, she also became his son Patrick's legal guardian ("I am his mother. His official guardian"). Somehow, Robert and she made love without her draining him. Robert was shot, and as he lay dying Janette found herself unable to bring him across. The pain of his loss and her inability to prevent it "was as though eight centuries of repressed emotion were being released. I thought I was going to die. I hoped I would die." Instead, she became mortal. Following those who killed Robert, Janette returned to Toronto with Patrick, and after killing Larouche, Robert's murderer, asked Nick for his help. She tells him that while she fled to "reaffirm the vampire in" her, she realized, through Robert, "that [Nick's] quest to become mortal again is right." Nick does not grasp that she is no longer a vampire until she is shot; Nat treats the wound. Robert's killers take Patrick hostage, and Janette is shot just before the house bursts into flame. Dying in Nick's arms, she responds to his pleas to bring her back across with, "I've got to go. ... No. No. No. ... No. Don't! Don't!" Screaming out in the utmost emotional agony, Nick brings her across, anyway. She is not seen after that, though she is presumed to be behind the fang marks in the criminals' corpses. In the tag, Lacroix and Nick hold a sort of vigil over Janette's Divinci portrait, which she has returned to Nick's loft -- whether as a gesture of reconciliation or defiance is not known. Lacroix remarks, "It seems that I have lost a daughter, and regained a son." "Last Knight" -- While draining Natalie, Nick flashes back to kissing Janette the night he came across (ND). Earlier, he recalls their confrontation in his loft in HF. --- END --- Maintained by AKR