What
Could Have Been with Kindred: The Embraced
by
Kristin Battestella
Based
partly on the Vampire: The Masquerade role playing game, Fox's
1996 Kindred: The Embraced is
an eight episode miniseries cut short despite enticing
vampires and gothic atmosphere. Ventrue vampire Julian Luna (Mark
Frankel) is prince of San Francisco and ruler of the Kindred clans –
a precarious alliance between Lillie Langtry (Stacy Haiduk) a
Toreador nightclub patron, underground Nosferatu Daedalus (Jeff
Kober), and Brujah mobster Eddie Fiori (Brian Thompson). Their
masquerade to live among humans is threatened by detective Frank
Kohanek (C.Thomas Howell) and reporter Caitlin Byrne (Kelly
Rutherford) – who falls for Julian, further complicating the
interconnected love triangles and vampire peace.
Rooftop
chases at dawn open the hour plus premiere “The Original Saga”
alongside quick detective exposition and gunshots intercut with ledge
leaping culprits, stakings, and victims set on fire in the sunlight.
It's a very nineties, busy start crowded with back and forth cop and
vampire perspectives. The charred body is enough to start the
investigation without the cheap action, and you need a flow chart to
figure out who everyone is thanks to the world building and clan
intrigue dropped in the dialogue – who belongs to the Gangrel gangs
or Brujah mobsters, who's moving in on another Kindred's territory,
which ones abide by the masquerade rules to hide from humans, which
clans are loyal to whom. Fortunately, the steamy vampire dinner date
with steak very, very rare leads to one drop of blood on the white
dress, sneaky scalpels, morgue drawers, and chilling kills. One on
one conversations and hypnosis add to the tasty and sensuous,
invoking the gothic atmosphere amid graveside vigils, moody mirrors,
and shaving mishap temptations. In its early hours, however, Kindred:
The Embraced is
dominated by guests of
the week and newly embraced vampires when the main Phantom of the Opera forbidden
romance in the third
episode “Nightstalker” is a much nicer bittersweet. Uneven A/B
plotting and sagging police arguments hamper the superior Kindred
stories as vampire killers are held for psychiatric
evaluation. There's a fine line between schizophrenia, blood lust,
enchantments, and predators. Saucy shadows reveal our Kindred ills
and charms as precarious clan war talk escalates to action halfway
through the series – finally turning Kindred:
The Embraced where
it needs to go with guns drawn, vampire standoffs, and mob strong
arming that should have come much sooner than the sixth episode, “The
Rise and Fall of Eddie Fiori.” The Kindred front at the Dock
Workers Union seems pedestrian and this arc was made to wait as if it
were less important than the police plots, but clan peace is bringing
down the business for Brian Thompson's (Cobra)
Brujah leader Eddie Fiori. The Brujah clan prefers carnage to reason,
and Eddie sets ups crimes only to act like the Kindred would be safer
if he were in charge. Shapeshifting killers, head choppings, decoys,
stabbings, and assassination attempts caught on camera provide enough
gothic horror without resorting to more of that intrusive cop drama.
A vampire using a private investigator is unnecessary in a blood
feud, but it's superb when the rival ladies get to sit face to face
as the Kindred point fingers over who has blackmail photos or is
sleeping with a journalist. Council meetings and swords resolve any
broken vampire rules – damage the peace and you will pay.
Ironically,
the wire tapes, moles, and crazy cops in the second episode of
Kindred: The Embraced
“Prince of the City”
contradicts the pilot movie. You wouldn't know this show was about
vampires as enemies suddenly become friends over a cup of coffee and
traitors are discovered or forgotten from one scene to the next. It's
a terrible entry and probably deterred a lot of viewers from
continuing with the series week to week. “Live Hard, Die Young, and
Leave a Good Looking Corpse” is also a great title, but an
anonymous, obnoxious Kindred is embracing groupies and leaving them
in the streets, again wasting time when the regular players have so
little. Kindred: The
Embraced could
have opened with a newly turned against her will vampire learning the
ropes point of view, but debates that could delve further into such
assault parallels somehow end up boring and repetitive here. Police
dismissing the monster stole my baby claims in the second to last
hour “Bad Moon Rising”
are unnecessary, too, as evil and ugly Nosferatu vampires abducting
babies for blood sacrifices and Druid rituals are terrifying enough.
Our vampires fear this banished Kindred wishing to return the clans
to a more primitive sewer dwelling state no masquerade needed. Why
demand vampires wear suits and drink blood in wine glasses when they
can take it all? Kindred explaining their own rules to a sneering cop
every single hour gets old fast compared to female Nosferatu,
Carmilla references,
chains, and ceremonial blades.
“I only drink red” quips and garlic braids in the kitchen winks
add to the Kindred: The
Embraced mythos
– some vampires can feed and go
out in the sun while others gain more powers under the full moon.
Direct questions about who's making love or poisoning whom lead to
tender moments among humans and vampires waxing on whether it's them
or us who are the real monsters. Suave Kindred fang out for both
moonlit showdowns and juicy fireside passion as rivals try to exploit
the clan war opportunities while the prince is away at the vineyard
in “Cabin in the Woods.” Angry Brujah are determined to put
bodies in the empty family cemetery plots while hooting owls, creepy
forests, and eerie fog accent fiery flashbacks, attacks in the woods,
white wolves, and Kindred truths too fantastic to believe. Past
betrayals coming to light and vendettas are revealed, but only the
precious healing blood can save the sacrifices and sad choices. Here
at its end is where Kindred:
The Embraced finds
how it should have always been.
Of
course, the series should have never strayed from it's true and
unfortunately gone too soon star Mark Frankel (Leon
the Pig Farmer) and his
Kindred prince Julian Luna. He keeps a tenuous peace between the
clans, but Julian's conflicted about being their judge, jury, and
executioner. Despite his slick widow's peak and cool control, it's
easy to see what gets to him, as Julian continually protects humans
and associates with the descendants of his family from before he was
embraced. He makes others toe the line about the masquerade yet
Julian is sentimental himself, often going with banishment or failed
punishments that force more finite, deadly resolutions. Although
everyone tells him otherwise, Julian thinks we all can coexist, and
he actually might not be that great a leader if his rivals can push
his buttons with personal vendettas in hopes of inciting a full out
clan war. Fortunately, Julian is nothing if not shrewd. He commands
loyalty and respect, orchestrating ploys against his enemies that
leaves them out in the sunlight and begging to get into his trunk. No
matter the pain or peril to himself, Julian does what he has to do to
keep the peace above all else. He admits he was a violent henchman in
the past, but his loves and human attachments make Julian want to be
a better man. Journalist Kelly Rutherford (Melrose Place, but
with whom I always confuse Ally Walker from Profiler,
and
also with Amanda Wyss briefly on Highlander: The Series. Nineties
genre blondes, man!)
is writing an article about Julian being a mysterious and powerful
businessman, but he never gives interviews. He buys the newspaper and
makes Caitlin editor, but she doesn't sit behind the desk, seeking
out the hot cases herself and dismissing the spooky connections that
lead back to Julian. Caitlin struggles to listen to her conscious
when he's around, foolishly more curious despite how little she
knows. The relationship is stagnant at times, never really advancing
until the finale, but the chemistry forgives the blinded by love
stupidity as truths and tearful revelations make for well done human
versus vampire emotions. Stacy Haiduk (SeaQuest
DSV) as Toreador leader and
Haven club owner Lillie makes loose alliances as needed, using her
allure for power, jealousy, and to support the arts. Her club is a
sanctuary and Lillie saves a young musician with her embrace, but
rock stars aren't super discreet. She protects the wrong vampires and
Julian insists they are no longer lovers but she makes her presence
known by spying on Caitlin when not biting, flirting, and having her
dalliances, too. Ultimately, Lillie still loves Julian and dislikes
when he lies, expecting the truth after what they've been through
together. This is a complex character – Lillie will stab a person
in the back and do it with a smile and we don't blame her. She
deserved more time and Haiduk's eyes are fittingly enchanting I must
say.
Detective
C. Thomas Howell (The
Outsiders) is
top billed on Kindred:
The Embraced, but
Frank Kohanek is a terribly over the top eighties does forties cum
nineties generic copper. The edgy delivery and angry scene chewing
jars with everything else, and point blank the series would have been
better without him. Frank starts so full of hate and thinks all
vampires are monsters even as he is helped and protected by Kindred,
but turns a vampire killer over to Julian because his law can't
handle them. His entire police element is unnecessary since the
Ventrue already have Erik King (Dexter)
as their inside cop Sonny, but he isn't featured half as much.
Sonny's reveals happen way too soon, leaving him to ride shotgun with
Frank as the stereotypical Black cop partner, and Kate
Vernon's (Falcon Crest)
seductive Alexandra also has her melodrama cut short when Kindred:
The Embraced sets
up her supposedly great romance with Frank but then tears it apart in
one episode. Channon Roe
(Bio-Dome)
as perpetually scowling Gangrel biker Cash doesn't think being
embraced is all it's cracked up to be, and he's actually not that
good of a bodyguard because he's always making moon eyes with leather
jacket bad girl Brigid Walsh (Army
Wives) as Sasha. Although
the motorcycle double entendres are cliché, Julian doesn't want his
last human descendant to be embraced, forbidding the romance between
Sasha and Cash. She doesn't believe the hear tell monstrous, but
Sasha is quickly caught between the love of one clan and the hate of
another. We know what to expect from an episode named “Romeo and
Juliet,” but the secret rendezvous, gang killings, and family
payback does what it says on the tin in fitting vampire style and
shows what Kindred: The
Embraced can
do. Jeff Kober (China
Beach) is
immediately excellent as the Nosferatu
leader Daedalus, decrepit and living underground but suave in a
smoking jacket as he does Julian's dirty work. Daedalus loyally does
the series' scary with a calm and quiet chill but falls in love with
a beautiful singer. The “Nightstalker” hour should have been
devoted to him, and we notice his absence in weaker episodes. Kober
isn't made up to be that much of an ogre, but Daedalus is ashamed of
his own clan and dabbles in alchemy to enchant and change his
appearance, for who would love him? He disposes of a nasty vampire
doctor for hurting children and befriends an ill boy who asks if he
is a monster. Daedalus wants to embrace him, but it is of course
against the rules. It's another fascinating dilemma that deserved
more time on Kindred: The
Embraced but
c'est la vie.
Although
there are no subtitles on the two disc DVD edition of Kindred: The
Embrace and the full
screen picture is flat; unlike today's overly saturated digital
grading, the night time scenes aren't uber dark thanks to practical
lighting and ambience. Some shaky cam zooms and herky jerky handheld
aren't so smooth now, but contrived police action is brief and choice
dolly zoom horrors and great vampire eyes forgive poor fire effects.
Picturesque Golden Gate Bridge scenery and San Francisco skylines at
dusk contrast charred bodies, morgue toe tags, lunar motifs, and wolf
overlays. Lavish wallpapers, draperies, artwork, water fountains, and
grand staircases make up for that then luxurious nineties pink marble
while creepy underground lairs, candelabras, and scary paintings
create an edgy industrial. Red silk, purple satin, crushed velvet,
and suave men's suits provide allure; women's fashions are both
nineties runway sheer and flowing old fashioned with tantalizing
slips and camisoles rather than then taboo nudity. Beheadings, skulls
in the incinerator, heartbeats, and flexing jugulars provide chills
while brooding nineties music invokes a sexy, classy simmer. Stained
glass ruins, graves, greenery, and roses create a sensuous, romantic
melancholy as Kindred: The Embraced remains
a fine mix of modern debonair and gothic mood. That beeper
though with the fake giant screen and super easy to read analog
text...lol. With eight different writers and six different directors,
obviously no one thought of having one cohesive narrative back then.
Maybe twenty-five years ago cross medium interactive content was
unfathomable, but today such a franchise with books, games, official
social media, and RPGs would be massive. Kindred: The Embraced was
caught in the middle – a series that didn't stand on its own but
nor did it satisfy the built in audience of Vampire: The Masquerade. Having gaming source
material may have even contributed to viewer confusion as Fox
shuffled the airings around and potentially out of order episodes
seemed lacking in information. Of course, had Kindred: The
Embraced stuck to its roots
instead of wasting time with nineties cop show intrusions, the
vampire love triangles and intriguing clan wars wouldn't have been so
crowded. Revelations that could take several seasons happen in
the first hour, and it's tough not to shout at the what ifs and
ponder what Kindred: The Embraced could
have been. Fortunately, Kindred: The Embrace is
easy to marathon, remaining entertaining as a fun introductory
piece for younger horror lite audiences as well as vampire fans and
nostalgic viewers looking for gothic panache.
