Blood Ties

Our Love Triangle.

Blood Ties (2007-2088) is a Canadian Live Action Vampire Detective Series set in Toronto, the old haunting grounds of Forever Knight. It ran two seasons for twenty-two (22) episodes total on Lifetime.

The series is based on the Blood Books by Tanya Huff. The leads are a private investigator, a vampire, and a cop. This show plays with and subverts several tropes of the Friendly Neighborhood Vampire genre: we are supposed to sympathize with Henry, but he isn't "friendly" in the conventional sense.

Henry Fitzroy has no visible Wangst. He is not The Atoner. He doesn't suffer from I Just Want to Be Normal syndrome, so he does not waste any time looking for cures. He likes being a vampire. Since he likes being a vampire, he does not want to kill his sire. He still carries a torch for her, in fact.

Strictly speaking though, Henry is the Vampire Sidekick of this equation. The actual lead is Victoria "Vicki" Nelson, a human PI and former cop, who's wound up specializing in cases from the unearthly side of the tracks. There is a Love Triangle between Henry, Vicki, and Vicki's New Old Flame (Police) Detective Mike Celluci, also human.

WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.

Tropes used in Blood Ties include:
  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer
  • And Starring: "And Kyle Schmid as Henry Fitzroy."
  • Beethoven Was an Alien Spy / Historical Domain Character: Henry Fitzroy, the bastard son of Henry VIII.
  • Black Eyes of Evil: Averted with Henry, whose eyes go black when he puts on his Game Face and while under hypnosis, as he is a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire (for a given value of "friendly" anyway).
  • Body Surf: "D.O.A."
  • Born-Again Immortality: The lovers in "We'll Meet Again" had this power. They would reincarnate after death, and their memories would return once they reached puberty. They would find each other and spend another lifetime together as a couple. Things go awry when the woman dies in an accident which simultaneously puts the man in a coma for ten years. When he reincarnates as Lee and finally gets his memories back, he can't find her.
  • Break the Cutie: "Heart of Fire" is a good example of this: the ultra-handsome, charming and quirky Henry Fitzroy is physically tortured by a mad priest, who beats, drains and starves the vampire into confessing his sins so the priest can kill him. The priest also enthusiastically Breaks the Cutie by showing him videos of his ex-girlfriend betraying him, trying to bait him into exsanguinating Vicki, and twisting a device that's lodged around Henry's heart with metal spikes. As the final Break the Cutie moment, he even kills a cute little rat Henry had spared despite his desperation for blood.
  • Charm Person: Henry, via Compelling Voice. Vicki is resistant.
  • Chinese Vampire: While not present, they are mentioned by Coreen in reference to "Illuminacion del sol," a sun-shaped weapon that paralyzes a vampire when stuck in his or her chest. Despite the Spanish name, possibly given by its previous owner Monsignor Javier Mendoza, it was actually created at the request of a Chinese emperor to battle jiangshi. Given that the weapon works on a Western vampire, it can be assumed that these jiangshi are the same, although the number of supernatural beings in existence in this verse could indicate otherwise.
  • Christianity Is Catholic: Justified for Henry, at least -- he originally came from a place where, as far as the locals were concerned, Christianity really was Catholic. When he has a run-in with a crazed immortal Catholic priest Mendoza, that Catholic priest came from Catholic Spain.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: See Break the Cutie above.
  • Comic Books: Henry writes graphic novels. (This was updated to a visual medium from the books, where he writes romance novels under a female pseudonym.) Mike makes fun of him for this constantly.
  • Cop Boyfriend: Mike Celluci.
  • Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: Detective Mike Cellucci is given silver bullets made for his police-issue Glock 9mm to kill a Wendigo. He pumps it full of silver before the creature explodes.
  • Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: When Vicki tries to convince Mike that she was attacked by a zombie in "Bad Juju":

Mike: It's pitch black and you're half blind. (Beat.) I said that last part out loud, didn't I?

  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Mike dies in Vicki's arms after being shot, but Henry hits the Reset Button on the Groundhog Day Loop and he's fine.
  • Dropped Glasses: Though in this case, Vicki has a spare pair and they're really just to let Mike know she was in the area.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Henry. Not only is he a Bishonen vampire with sexy curly hair and a tragic romantic past, but he spent large quantities of the story with his shirt off or ripped to shreds, lounging/writhing around in bed (again shirtless). He's also artistic, multitalented, superstrong, cute, chivalrous, and has a lot of funny stories about his past.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Pacha Camac is an Incan priest who has himself mummified so that he can be resurrected in the future.
  • Fakin' MacGuffin: In "Norman", the heroes Vicki and Henry are forced to give a magic dagger to the demonic villain Norman when he kidnaps Vicki's secretary and holds her hostage. Norman needed the dagger to complete a spell to release the uber-demon Asteroth into the world. However, unknown to the audience, Vicki and Henry had first taken the dagger to a priest to have it blessed before they gave it to Norman, so that when he used it, his spell of summoning failed and he was sucked back down to Hell.
  • Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: A bizarre example, where a child is shown sneaking out of the house to ride his bike. Just because you are the evil spawn of a dark elf, sneaking out of the house to murder one of the neighborhood children, that's no reason to ignore bicycle safety.
  • Fight Clubbing: "Necrodome." Yeah, guess what the twist to that one is.
  • Fully-Embraced Fiend: Henry embraces his vampiric nature. He seduces a girl every night to secretly snack on her while doing other stuff. He does give a speech to Vicki, including "someone has to die" in it. Coincidentally, the victim they are talking about is not dead, as Henry leads her to assume. He turned the girl. At the same time, Henry also has qualities of a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire.
  • Game Face: Henry extends fangs, and his eyes go black.
  • Goth: Vicki's assistant Coreen is a fairly well adjusted Goth. She even has an episode where she gets Vicki to solve murders at her Goth club.
  • Groundhog Day Loop: In "5:55". Done at night on this show, of course. It's not entirely clear what actually causes the loop, but it seems to be triggered by opening Pandora's Box.
  • Hollywood Darkness: Appears when Vicki and Henry enter a barn at night and Vicki starts going on about how she can't see. This trope is justified in-universe by Vicki's retinitis pigmentosa making it seem darker than it actually was, and additionally by Henry (and the were-panther antagonist's) supernaturally acute night vision.
  • Hollywood Exorcism: Coreen is possessed in the final episode by Astaroth, forcing Henry to seek the help of a priest who has done this before. An obvious Shout-Out to The Exorcist. It doesn't go well..
  • Hollywood Voodoo: "Bad Juju."
  • Horny Devils: Emmanuel the gardener.
  • Horror Hunger: After being tortured, Henry is set up to go after Vicki, but he ends up biting Mike. And later moves on to Javier.
  • I Love You Because I Can't Control You: At least part of Henry's attraction to Vicki is her resistance to his Compelling Voice.
  • I Love You, Vampire Son: Henry specifically mentions that a vampire only turns people he or she cares about. In his case, Christina warned him that natural vampiric territoriality would eventually force them apart, lest they kill each other.
  • Imaginary Friend: A young girl in "Gifted" can summon her imaginary friend in a semi-solid form.
  • Intangible Man: Lampshaded in "D.O.A.," where a ghost complains to Vicki that how come he can't touch stuff, but he can still sit on a couch.
  • Interspecies Romance: Henry and Vicki.
  • Jive Turkey / Totally Radical: Lee, the reincarnated 15-year-old, speaks both modern-day slang AND the slang of the 1920s (proven by Henry).
  • Latin Lover: Emmanuel the gardener.
  • Literally Shattered Lives: Medusa seduces and petrifies young men. When Vicki takes the statue of her latest victim, she sends a Mook to destroy the evidence, which he does by smashing the poor kid into pieces. After Medusa is dead, her victims get better, except for the smashed one.
  • Mayfly-December Romance: A requirement for Henry in dating. Though it's subverted with Maya, who he claims he's too old for. That's because he used to date her mother and still remembers her as a cute little kid.

Henry: "Oh, come on, she's a little young for me, don't you think?"
Vicki: "Isn't everybody?"

Vicki: No one likes a perky Goth.

  • Rain of Blood: One of a villain's victims drips onto Vicki.
  • Raised Catholic: Henry.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Henry was only seventeen when he was turned.
  • Reincarnation Romance: Sadly goes awry in "We'll Meet Again" when Helen is reborn ten years ahead of her comatose lover and has already married and gotten knocked up by the Romantic Runner-Up, having waited for him for several years.
  • Rich Idiot With No Day Job: Henry actually has a night job that he makes money from (graphic novelist), but he seems to have saved up well over the years. Plus, well, the crime-fighting with Vicki.
  • Rouge Angles of Satin: The opening credits of "Wrapped" (at least in the TV version) feature "Guset Stars."
  • Sadistic Choice: In the series finale, a demon makes Vicki choose between the life of one of her friends, or the power to save the world, which includes reversal of her near-blindness. She chooses her friend.
  • Self-Mutilation Demonstration: Henry demonstrates his vampiric nature to Vicki by shoving a knife through his hand.
  • Serial Killer: Magnus.
  • Shadow Archetype: Vicki and Henry are supposed to be this in a symbolic way. Vicki's retinitis pigmentosa means that she can't see at night. Henry's vampirism means that he will be seriously hurt by daylight. Her realm is the day, his is the night.
  • Silver Bullet: Kills Wendigo.
  • Smells Sexy: One of the odder examples: in one episode, Henry is apparently attracted to the smell of death and can't stop smelling Vicki after she returns from a funeral home.
  • The Spanish Inquisition
  • Staking the Loved One: Javier did it to Maria.
  • Taken for Granite: Brandon.
  • Temporary Blindness: Subverted here. Vicki has retinitis pigmentosa (and nearsightedness), which currently means she can see in the daytime fine but has issues at night. She tends to walk in front of cars and such.
  • They Fight Crime: She's a Canadian former police detective who is slowly losing her sight. He's a vampire. They Fight Crime!
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Grimoire is used several times to summon demons. Henry has his own copy, "confiscated" from a bunch of Medieval cultists, and uses it to sabotage summoning rituals.
  • Torture Always Works: Javier likes to do it with vampires to get them to confess to their crimes, after which he kills them (and drains them of blood to make himself immortal).
  • Trophy Room: Of shapeshifters.
  • Truncated Theme Tune: Blood Ties has a full theme song and opening sequence, but (at least on Lifetime Real Women where it's currently being rerun), the theme is cut down to a title card and brief musical clip, and the credits are all shown during the next scene.
  • Turn in Your Badge: Det. Mike Cellucci is asked for his badge in the finale. Considering he's been threatened with it for two seasons and finally left a hostage crisis to battle Astaroth with Vicki and Henry, it's completely unsurprising.
  • Undercover As Lovers: Vicki infiltrates a fertility clinic by posing as a patient and gets Mike to pose as her husband.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Henry and Vicky.
  • Vampire Hunter: Monsignor Javier Mendoza is a villainous variant. He was a Grand Inquisitor during the Spanish Inquisition, who captured vampires using any means possible, tortured them until they confessed, and then brutally executed them. Oh yeah, he also used their blood in a potion that stopped his aging process, allowing him to continue the hunt. He doesn't shy away from murdering innocents to get his prey. In "Heart of Ice", he murders a prostitute and drains her of blood, so that Henry's friends would give him up.
    • Interestingly, the only anti-vampire weapon they show him having is a sun-shaped Chinese-made object that weakens a vampire to the point of a human being stronger. The object has to be physically attached to the vampire's chest to work, requiring trickery, given the vampires' speed.
    • Mike attempts this too in early episodes, and helps Javier hunt down Henry.
  • Vampires Are Sex Gods: Henry is a master at performing the Kiss of the Vampire, so there's a long line of bimbos who want to jump his bones. (The book version is cheerfully bisexual, but this version is apparently straight.)
  • Weirdness Magnet: Vicki. Her demon tattoos draw supernatural things to her, explaining why all of her cases suddenly have to do with monsters and demons.
  • Wendigo
  • Who Dunnit to Me?: "D.O.A." starts when an undercover cop's spirit strolls in and asks Vicki to solve his murder. It eventually develops that he's technically still alive, he's just been evicted from his body.
  • Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: A voodoo witch does this to Coreen.
  • Wunza Plot: She's a Canadian police detective who is slowly losing her sight. He's a vampire. They fight crime!
  • You Said You Would Let Them Go
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