RECAP: Beauty and the Beast – Episode 4 – Basic Instinct

Evil masterminds have business cards and mythological protective beasts have feelings too

It’s late at night on the streets of Toronto NYC and Vincent is walking down the streets, hiding in the shadows as the vigilante he tries NOT to be. His super-senses alert him that there is someone in danger so he does a series of complicated beast jumps to get to a dumpster… I am sure there was a more direct route … Inside the dumpster, Vincent finds a dying teenage kid. He performs CPR on him and rushes him to a hospital where he puts him on a gurney and throws a lot of medical jargon to the orderly, which is sorta hot, and then disappears into the night again… you know like the vigilante claims he is NOT.

CUT TO a park where Cat, Tess and the other cops are practicing for a softball game against the fire department. We learn that 1) Cat sucks at softball 2) Evan plays cricket (no shocker there) and 3) Cat has a lousy sex life [that will change soon]. Anyway there is a lost ball and when Cat goes to look for it she finds Vincent hiding behind the trees; still stalkerish, but much less creepy and more welcome. He tells her about the kid he found in the dumpster and offers to help. Then Joe starts bitching about the ball and Vincent takes it from Catherine and throws it with all his super-strength surprising everybody. For some reason, I thought that was super-cute.

It is time for the case of the week. It is not CSI: Pretty People, because there isn’t a dead body. It doesn’t feel like Law & Order: Special Estrogen Unit either and it sure as hell is not like Bones, you’ll see why in a bit.

 Crime of the week:  Tommy Holt, 19. Beaten almost to death and dumped inside a dumpster (then saved by Vincent)

Suspects: His girlfriend Clarissa, his girlfriend’s ex Sean, Mr. Holt his dad (a reporter)

Cat and Tess investigate Tommy’s attack while he is still in a comma. They find a picture of his girlfriend inside his wallet and they also learn from his medical records that he has suffered abuse. So his father becomes the first suspect. His dad explains the traumas were caused by fights Tommy used to get into. Apparently he has something called ADHD, which makes him lose control when he is not taking his meds. See any parallels there? In summary, Tommy was a troubled teen; he even went to a REHABILITATION PROGRAM. His dad is also worried because he saw him wearing a FANCY WATCH.  And… I am already bored with this case… Come one, the dad didn’t do it… the first suspect is never the killer. Moving on…

Back at the WAREHOUSE Vincent is gathering supplies to go back to the crime scene and look for evidence, because they don’t have cops who specialize on that or anything… JT gives Vincent a reality dose and reminds him that he is not “normal” and that Muirfield won’t stop hunting him, just so he can have a proper courtship with his new girl. It is a little harsh, but he has a point. Vincent of course, ignores him. He also chose the wrong day to stop stalking Catherine because as she was walking on the street alone sans-stalkers, Ari from Nikita [the character’s name is actually Silverfox but am I the only one who believes Silverfox and Ari are the same person?] and his Muirfield goons abduct her. They take her to an abandoned building where Ari Muifield questions Cat about Vincent and she does the worst job ever pretending she doesn’t know anything. After a total of 2 seconds [not even exaggerating] she caves and starts defending him. She is all “it’s not Vincent’s fault you guys turned him into a killing machine and you know what else, Ari from Nikita? Killing my mom… Not cool, dude”

In the meantime, Vincent is back at the CRIME SCENE where he finds Tommy’s FANCY WATCH. He places the watch on a visible place so the cops can find it. Now, was that really necessary? I would imagine cops who do this for a living will be thorough enough when searching crime scenes. This is so not CSI… or maybe it is… CSI: Beast Protected NY. Back at KIDNAPPING CENTRAL, Ari Muirfield is doing his best to convince Catherine Vincent is not such a stand-up guy [or a mythological protective beast]. He tries the war angle, but she is not biting, then he tries the civilian angle and that gets Catherine’s attention. Ari shows Catherine the picture of a man who Vincent killed outside a bar. First Catherine is in denial but Ari is pretty convincing, he goes on telling her that he cannot control his “basic instincts” and that he should be put away because he is “lethal”. You can see doubt creeping in on Catherine’s face.

At the MORGUE Tess is visiting our favorite British M.E., alone, since her partner is supposedly busy

investigating the case and actually busy being held hostage by a black-ops organization. Evan, who is the only person in this office that actually does his job in a timely manner, has figured out that Tommy was beaten with a heavy weapon and dragged, which means he died somewhere else. Tess is not paying any attention because she had the “salacious” theory that Cat was having an affair with him. Since clearly that is not the case she is trying to figure out what’s up with Cat. It is obvious that she is having secret meetings with a supposedly dead vet/failed government experiment Tess… couldn’t you figure that out? And you call yourself a detective…

We are once again at KIDNAPPING CENTRAL where Ari Muirfield is trying to make Cat believe he is just trying to help Vincent. Since Cat is not stupid she is not buying the nice act, so Ari tries a different approach. He offers her information about her mother in exchange for Vincent. A month ago, Cat would have probably jumped at the opportunity, but things are different now. Ari gives Cat his BUSINESS CARD and basically tells her to sleep on it. Now, I am not an evil mastermind running a secret organization, but that seems like a stupid plan. Wouldn’t it be easy to just keep Cat there, contact Vincent and force him to come? I mean, that’s kidnapping 101, right? I guess Ari Muirfield is nicer than we thought after all. After the nicest kidnapping ever, Cat goes back to her apartment and she is surprised to find Vincent there. She gets all upset and paranoid, tells him to come inside and closes all the blinds. She was just kidnapped, so I guess it is understandable. Vincent is oblivious to the whole kidnapping thing so he just gives her an update on Tommy and… am I the only one who forgot there was a case of the week going on? Of course when Vincent finds out about the abduction he goes into protective mode. Cat just wants him gone which clearly hurts him, but she is spooked so I will give her a pass… for now

Back at the PRECINCT Cat is digging some information about the man Vincent “mauled” behind a bar. She is also trying to buy balloons for her future stepmom’s bridal shower. Hey, busy girls have to multitask. And speaking of busy girls, Tess comes back to actually work on the case. Won’t bore you with details, but basically thanks to the watch and dirt found on Tommy’s clothes they conclude he was killed in Westchester where he was in a recovery program for troubled teens.

At the WAREHOUSE Vincent is brooding in the cutest way possible: Sitting on his bed, punching a sand bag, sitting on a table, rubbing his face, etc… I think I could actually watch this for a while… But Vincent’s inner struggle is interrupted by JT coming home. He feels bad for “bursting Vincent’s bubble” earlier and is trying to make nice. He got him a book and everything, using his “biochem professor of the semester gift certificate”…he would so totally be my favorite teacher. Vincent tells JT to sit down and hands him a beer and then… he drops the M-bomb. JT blatantly asks if Catherine is dead and for some reason it made chuckle. After it is established that she is still alive, JT questions Ari Muirfield’s kidnapping techniques like the rest of us. Then it takes JT about five seconds to go into a nervous breakdown and conclude they need to “move move”. I wonder if there is a difference between move and move move… you know, like dead and dead dead. Vincent is absolutely convinced Catherine is not giving them up and he doesn’t want to leave… because he is in love I guess, but in all fairness leaving was probably the best idea for everyone [not that we want that]. JT, on the other hand, thinks Catherine might break if they splash water on her or something. JT gets ready to pack, but Vincent leaves to ‘do something’… meaning Catherine… no, not like that! He just needs to see her.

At the PARK, Tess is making Cat practice her batting skills (maybe she should ask JT for help). Tess gets a text from Joe telling her to go scout the opposing team’s pitcher, I wonder if that was a bootie call…So Tess leaves and Vincent appears. He asks Catherine if she has a way of finding Muirfield, she tells him about the BUSINESS CARD. He is worried about her, because he doesn’t believe they can be SO bad at kidnapping people. Catherine tells him she doesn’t need or want his protection, Ouch. And then she tells him she knows about his civilian victims. He explains the guy he killed outside the bar was about to rape a woman… that seems like a reasonable explanation to me, but she is still processing the whole thing. Vincent walks towards her and she recoils! He is obviously used to females looking like they want to jump him every time he walks closer so he is put off by her reaction and realizes she is afraid of him. Catherine explains she is a cop and that it is her responsibility to put people like him away. He tells her with sorrow: “You are trying to decide if I belong in a cage”, you can tell he himself is not sure if that’s where he belongs… you poor beast… He leaves and Catherine starts crying unable to stop him and unsure of what she just did. And cue EMOTIONAL SONG to make us all cry.

The whole thing broke my heart. It was very sad to see Catherine contribute to Vincent’s self-hatred but, I think it was necessary for her to go through that process. It was more realistic to see her have doubts at the beginning than just blindly accept the whole situation, this aint a fairy tale people...it just has the name of one. As we are still wishing we could jump on screen and give Vincent a hug, we see him at the WAREHOUSE drawing his own blood. Yeah, it is sorta hot… and yeah, I pretty much think everything he does is hot… I have issues, but you guys get it, right? So after drawing a few vials of his own blood, Vincent smashes his phone, grabs his jacket [not his usual jacket BTW] and leaves a note for JT and Cat: “Proof that I existed. Take back your lives. Goodbye” Aw, he is so selfless…

Tess and Cat go to the REHABILITATION CAMP in Westchester. It is actually called the “Achieve to Ride Program” so basically they have horses, troubled teens and rich people. They spot some polo clubs and conclude that could have been the weapon used to attack Tommy. So… they just concluded that… no further proof necessary? Shouldn’t they take Evan to the crime scenes so he can take some samples or something? I mean, Booth always takes Brennan… Anyway, the woman who runs the program, Lois Withworth, is also the woman who bought the FANCY WATCH and she is played by Madchen Amick (Twin Peaks, Ringer) so she must be evil, right? So Evil-Lois explains Tommy started working at the stables and playing polo after he finished the rehabilitation program, she also implies he stole the FANCY WATCH which belonged to her husband.

The watch was actually given to Tommy as a gift from his secret girlfriend, Evil-Lois’s daughter Not-so-evil-Clarissa. However, Clarissa broke it off with Tommy after discovering he was doping horses. And this is where the case of the week gives us some totally ON THE NOSE parallel to Cat’s life as Not-so-evil-Clarissa regrets the fact she got involved with a “bad boy” that came with his own “warning label”. As Cat thinks of her own bad boy, JT is also looking for him. Cat is still at the CAMP and they are briefly investigating Clarissa’s ex boyfriend Sean, but that won’t lead anywhere so let’s just skip it. Cat gets a call from a very freaked out JT. He is all “I can’t find my beast! What did you do with him?” He even threatens her and says: “I swear to God, they touch him, I will…” and I think it is super sweet that they have such a bromance… but as JT is threatening Catherine he finds Vincent’s note realizes Cat didn’t turn him in, he is turning himself in!

Cat apparently teleports herself to the WAREHOUSE because she gets there from Westchester in what looks like 5 minutes. Cat has the idea to dust her car for prints, find the identity of the Muirfield guy who touched it and then track his phone. That seems like a stupid plan… shouldn’t Muirfield guys be out of the system or at least use burner phones? But looks like we are dealing with the worst secret organization operatives ever. Seriously guys, at least watch a DVD of Alias, Nikita, Dark Angel or something.  As JT and Cat implement the most convoluted stupid plan that will actually work, Vincent is meeting Ari Muirfield at the RENDEZ-VOUS POINT. Vincent sets some terms which include he will turn himself in in exchange of Catherine’s safety. Ari accepts and tells Vincent NO-ONE else on Muirfield knows about her involvement… how convenient for everyone. Vincent doesn’t believe him, so he lets him know about his blood-insurance. Now see, Vincent was actually thinking things through, good Beast. Then, for no reason other than being nasty, Ari decides to play some mind games on Vincent and tells him he is not scared about M hurting Catherine, he is scared of hurting her himself… which is probably true.

At the PRECINCT Evan finds out that the horses were not actually doped, so that was a lie.  And, who cares about the horses when our beast-man is about to die? Cat and JT sure don’t which is pretty clear when Tess calls Cat to inquire about the car Not-so-evil-Clarissa used to drive so Evan can match it to the tire tracks he found in the alley. Cat replies and hangs up sooner than Tess can make a snarky remark about her hooking up with Evan. Now she is really confused because Cat is being extra mysterious and Evan is sitting next to her. At the WAREHOUSE Cat and JT are killing time by talking about Vincent. Cat asks JT if he is ever afraid of Vincent and he adamantly replies that he is NOT. She takes this in like she knew it all along. Finally Cat gets the location of Ari Muifield and team while JT has a heart attack, which we know about because he repeatedly says “I am having a heart attack”.

At the SECRET RENDEZ-VOUS location M guys are putting Vincent in chains like he is some kind of animal. Ari is being unusually warm and tells him they are working on something to make him better, and you know what? For a second I sort of believed him. But we don’t have time to find out because at that precise moment Catherine and JT arrive. Vincent tells Catherine she needs to go. Catherine is all “this is not your decision, you are a hero, you saved a kid bla bla bla…” and Vincent is “Oh, OK, I guess… I’ll just kill these guys and we can be on our way”. Then Ari tries to grab Vincent and Catherine takes out her gun and yells “TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF HIM”. SPOILER ALERT Show of hands if you wanted her to say those exact words to Alex in later episodes. So Catherine starts a shoot-out, JT-man-of-action takes out his bat then Cat starts kicking some ass (I guess she ran out of bullets), there is a pretty neat explosion and Vincent kills everyone. For some reason I was a little sad that Ari Muirfield/Silverfox died. So long Peter Outerbridge…

 

JT and Vincent stay to clean up the mess and Cat leaves. As she walks away you can tell by her very

meaningful glance that she has made up her mind about Vincent. She goes back to the PRECINCT because the damn case of the week is still going on. Tess is getting a confession out of Not-so-evil Clarissa. Basically she tells them that her mom attacked Tommy in self defense because she found out about the horse doping. Then Evil-Lois asked Clarissa for help to drop Tommy’s body in the city. Of course Not-so-evil-Clarissa didn’t know that her Evil mother was actually lying and she simply wasn’t too fond of her poor boyfriend and decided to take him out of the way so she could marry someone with a trust fund. Cat tells Clarissa her mom tricked her and “made her question what she knew was true”… not that she is talking about herself or anything so obvious. After arresting Evil-Lois for the attempted murder, Cat and Tess visit Tommy’s dad at the hospital. He is out of the comma and getting better. Tommy’s dad mentions whoever saved him is a hero. “Yeah, he is” Cat replies [and he is also pretty damn hot, she adds in her mind]. So that’s it for the case of the week… Finally.

So it is finally time for the infamous NYPD/FDNY softball game and after striking twice Cat hits a home-run… I am sure there is a metaphor somewhere in there but I am too tired to get philosophical [@flipgirltoronto pointed out it is a metaphor for the overall theme: Cat "trusting her instincts", which is pretty obvious now that I think about it. Thank you for your wisdom twitter followers] . It is a feel-good scene:  Tess is having a blast, Cat is proud, Evan is looking very cute and Joe is doing a funny dance. Cat and Tess even celebrate doing some ridiculous victory dance that makes them look like they are in high school, I am sure that’s the way all tough NYPD female detectives behave. Whatever, KK is cute.

Cat is back at her place and gets a text from Vincent. Don’t you think notes are more romantic? Well she goes to the fire-escape and he has her game ball… Aw.  She realizes he was there, stalking her like he usually does, but she is not upset or freaked out. She looks at him without any fear or doubt and explains she can’t think in black and white anymore, because their situation is gray. Translation: she is a cop and she is supposed to catch killers; that’s the way she used to think before, but now she realizes it is not as simple as that. Vincent is a killer, but he is not a bad guy, he is a victim and a hero. She knows that now, it just took her a while to figure it out. Vincent, on the other hand isn’t as accepting. He truly hates himself for everything he is and did. The brief moment she was afraid of him brought back all his misery. He can’t bear the thought of hurting either Catherine or JT. Catherine finally finds the way to put what she has been feeling into words as she tells him: “That first night we met in the woods… I knew that you would never hurt me. That was my gut. I’m sticking with that” and she says it with the utmost conviction, it is impossible for Vincent to argue or doubt it. She gasps like she is about to say something else and… the episode ends. I actually thought it was brilliant to cut the scene there. Good job editing team.

At this point in the season I had already decided to keep watching the show; however this is not my favorite episode. I felt the ‘case of the week’ slowed down the Vincent/Catherine story. So, after watching episode 4 for the first time I had concluded I liked the show, but it wasn't among my favorites yet… everything would change by episode 5 and 6.

MORE RECAPS HERE

  

QUOTES

Joe to Cat: Evan is better than you and he is only ever played cricket

Silverfox: I know it is romantic to think he is some kind of mythological protective beast

Tess: I had a more salacious theory that I would walk in and find you two together on the autopsy table/ Evan: Wouldn’t be great on the back

JT: We got to press the eject button of our lives

JT: Make-up now? Really?

Cat: CSU. CSI is a TV show

Silverfox: She just can’t stay away

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TVEmpress

The TV Empress is a Media Management graduate, screenwriter in the making (and financial engineer in the meantime). She has serious plans to take over global television. You can follow the TVEmpress on twitter @TVRepublik