This is the third episode of Femme Fatales season 1 (although it’s currently listed as the second episode on IMDB, because for someone reason they only count Behind Locked Doors as one episode, ignoring part 2). It’s written by Steven Kriozere (who co-created the series with Mark A. Alton, and who has a small role as a doctor in his episode) and is directed by Darin Scott.

Tanit Phoenix has her usual role as Lilith, the host of the series, but she also has a brief role as a nurse. She begins the episode by holding up some comic books (we can only see the cover of one, and it’s an issue of All-Star Superman) and talks about how all superheroes have origin stories (“an awkward teenager that’s bitten by a radioactive spider, a daring test pilot that’s bestowed a very powerful ring, an alien from the planet Krypton that crashlands on Earth”) and we’re about to see the origin story of a femme fatale.

Christine Dolon (who now works as a psychotherapist under the name Christine Cailler) n stars as Violet McCready, she’s a nurse who works the night shift at a hospital. She’s in a 1-year relationship with Greg, a surgeon at the same hospital (played by Scott Bailey), although she works the night shift while he works the day shift, which limits the amount of time they can see each other. At work one night, she finds out that Greg is cheating on her with Amy (Walker Brandt), the woman who runs the hospital. It’s not clear why Greg would show up at the hospital during Voilet’s shirt, that seems far too risky. But Violet is devastated, despite Greg’s ridiculous please to explain (arguing that his relationship with Amy “just sex” and that working through this could make his and Violet’s relationship stronger).

Robert LaSardo plays Laz, a violent gangbanger who was stabbed and is brought to the hospital. While Violet tries to help him, he sees a couple of other gangbangers being taken down the hall, these were the men he was just in a fight with and how he got stabbed, so he gets agitated while Violent tries to calm him down. He also makes several crude advances to her. Later he and one of the rival gangbangers (B.J. Clinkscales) get into a shootout in the middle of the hospital, and Laz kills him. Then he takes Voilet hostage and tries to get her to show him a way out of the hospital since they can hear police sirens out front. At one point he has her stop in a room so he can steal some drugs before he leaves, and they find Greg hiding there. Laz starts to beat Greg and Violent manages to stick Laz with something that weakens him and grabs his gun and points it at her. He taunts her that she doesn’t have the guts to shoot him, but the police arrive before she gets the chance. As the cops take him away he laughs at her and promises that whenever he gets out of jail he’s coming back for her, because he always gets what he wants.

The episode flashes forward sometime later, Laz is in a hospital prison bed. Violent shows up, it turns out she forced Amy to transfer her to the prison hospital, where she injects Laz with a medicine that paralyzes him so he can’t move or speak, but can still feel everything, as she now plans to torture him, presumably to death. She takes a scalpel and begins to carve into his chest before the scene cuts away. Then she shows up in Greg’s bedroom, making him think she wants to have sex with him, the pulls a similar trick on him, paralyzing him, as she pulls out a defibrillator and uses it to shock him between his legs. Ouch!

It’s not clear how she intends to get away with these crimes, but the point is she’s evil now. THE END

Not a bad episode. The story itself wasn’t as compelling, but Christine Donlon/Cailler is a decent leading lady. Robert LaSardo is good as Laz, but if you know him you know he’s basically made a career out of playing this type of character, so it’s natural for him. And Scott Bailey is suitable smarmy as Greg. And there were two hot sex scenes. There’s one between Donlon and Bailey. And there’s a fantasy sequence between LaSardo and Ariauna Albright, who plays a woman Laz fantasizes about while in ed.

Chacebook rating: FOUR STARS

Jason Majercik is selling this UNRATED 3-disc DVD set of Femme Fatale season 1 for $19.99. Email him at quinn_nash@hotmail.com for his softcore inventory list.