brightknightie | On the Hiatus

Natalie:	Six years ago, April 14.
Nick:	What's that?
Natalie:	Day they brought you in.
	-- "Last Knight"

When "Last Knight" first aired in May 1996, the exchange above was controversial for the date. The night they wheeled Nick into the morgue in the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" was Natalie's twenty-eighth birthday, of course, as the present was her thirtieth, and people like

amilyn had worked long and hard to determine Natalie's birthday from the prop calendars on the morgue wall, the weather in the episode, the air date and, for some, astrology. The date on which they had painstakingly settled was not April 14. In the years since, we've mostly shrugged our shoulders and accepted the date Natalie said aloud in LK, presuming that she knows her own birthday.

Today, this same exchange presents a new controversy of sorts.

hearts_blood reminded me recently that people who discover the show after cancellation naturally have no memory of the hiatus. They logically plunge straight from season one to season two to befuddlement when they finally reach this line buried in the finale at the end of season three. What's the math?

FK was canceled after season one. Filming ended, sets were stuck, "Love You to Death" aired in May 1993, GWD did a guest shot on Highlander, and many wonderful fans -- special wave to

wiliqueen among you all -- wrote letters upon letters to convince TPTB to revive the series. Honor and glory to those who wrote those letters, because TPTB relented and the series returned with "Killer Instinct" sixteen months after first season ended. That's Natalie's "six years ago:" the year of the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" (1990-1991), another year (1991-1992), season one (1992-1993), the hiatus (1993-1994), season two (1994-1995), season three (1995-1996).

But wait! you say. May 1996 - April 1991 = 5 years 1 month. Isn't Natalie's math wrong? ~sigh~ Technically, she's known Nick for five years and one month (aired order be darned), and she's counting that one month as year six. I suspect this is because "Only the Lonely" was filmed in 1992, not 1993, and they were thinking of [OtL-2] for when it all began.

Some stories these days are written as if the hiatus never happened, as if the transfer from Stonetree to Cohen's command and the renovation of the Raven happened over a single summer, not two in a row. But the hiatus is canonical, per LK. It didn't happen only out here in the real world. And I love that, because I love the stories written and set during the hiatus. I love the energy and creativity of that very special, precious time, when the fans knew Lacroix might be back, but Nick did not, and all the characters were beautifully established, but still mysterious and so open to adventures that were never dared quite the same way again after second season began answering so many questions. I also love stories written later and set in that period, partaking of all the rich possibilities that flowed so strongly then, power bursting through later canon. Old or new, hiatus stories rock.

Strangely, perhaps, it's my favorite time in FK: the year we shared, but didn't see.