RECAP: Beauty and the Beast – Episode 21 – Date Night

Harboring a half human boyfriend can be stressful and DNA is not a fancy gadget made in China

Our favorite NYPD female cops are at the GYM and Tess is going on and on about their next assignment which involves A.D.A.s and Yacuzzis [NOT at the same time]. Cat barely listens to her because she has her eyes glued to her cell phone screen. She finally announces “Tess, I am ten days late” and when I first saw this scene [in the preview clip] I went WHAT?! They do the “pregnancy scare” a LOT on TV, but for some reason this one REALLY shocked me. The fact that they released the clip before the ep aired and that it was the first scene of the episode made me think it was going to be just a scare. Thank God, I am not ready for a Baby Beast plot yet [or ever]. Tess mentions her head went to Breaking Dawn Part 2, which is EXACTLY where my head went; also the perfect example of a really bad supernatural/inhuman pregnancy plot.

Cat goes to the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB to break the news to Vincent. He doesn’t have the best reaction but not in the “I am not ready to be a father” way, more along the lines of “My baby will be genetically discriminated and… at the very least hunted! It will be a hunted baby!” But before he can go into a full meltdown, the pregnancy test results come back negative, which is a relief for everyone involved (especially me!). Without thinking much, Cat mentions not wanting to have a baby “right now”. Vincent takes her statement too seriously [as he usually does] and starts enumerating all the limitations they have as a couple [no kids, no marriage, no public appearances]. But who needs date nights and picket fences when you can have Beasts, DVDs and rooftops? Vincent fails to see the value of red vines and he somberly states “This is my present and this is my future” Cat simply says, it is WORTH it, as long as he is in it. Aw…

At the ASHCROFT Tess and Cat are riding the elevator when a family comes in. Cat smiles at the little kids while Tess recoils. Cat acknowledges that knowing she will NEVER have cross-species babies is having an effect on her. Tess says she has the right to get what she wants out of her relationship, which is sort of unfair. It’s not like Vincent is denying her children [and a marriage and a house] because he feels like it; the poor guy doesn’t have a choice! The girls finally arrive to Gabe’s suite and he asks Tess to go see if it’s raining outside get coffee, which I thought was very insulting! [Whatever happened to her girl-power??] As soon as Tess leaves, Gabe asks Cat about “the guy who helped her kill the sniper”, Cat is all “What guy? I killed him myself with my tiny-Asian-girl-ninja-skills…” Gabe keeps pushing and finally Cat admits that “the guy” was her boyfriend. Gabe goes further and says he saw the wreckage and he “knows WHAT he is”. Cat tries to convince him that her boyfriend is just a guy who works out a lot or something but Gabe has no more patience. He gets VERY upset and by “very upset” I mean CODE YELLOW. Yes, as in “about to Beast out” code yellow.

Even as an experienced Beast-Whisperer, Cat is shocked by this revelation so she pulls her gun on Gabe. However her Beast-hunter mode is tamed and her interest is piqued when Gabe mentions he has “medication” to suppress his DNA’s freedom of expression or something. Unfortunately, Gabe has developed a resistance to the medication and that’s why he has been studying Vincent’s DNA (which apparently has some “advanced add-ons”). Obviously Vincent is a newer and improved Beast (compared to Gabe), but in my mind he was also especial among his batch of super-soldiers. For some reason, I want to believe Vincent developed abilities and/or control the other soldiers didn’t. Anyway, Gabe proposes an exchange: V’s blood for his DE-BEASTIFYING MAGIC PILLS. Cat heads out to find Vincent and leaves Tess in charge of Beast-sitting; she also tells her something about Coffee and corrupted DNA not mixing well.

Cat finds Vincent in the middle of assembling a home cinema so they can watch movies while eating red-vines, Aw… Best boyfriend ever indeed. Cat tells Vincent about her Beast-findings. He is very skeptical and he is all “If I can’t operate on people I doubt he would be able to be in a courtroom without mauling anyone!” Cat tells him about the DE-BEASTIFYING PILLS and he still thinks it sounds “too good to be true”. However, Cat finally convinces Vincent to hear Gabe out with promises of movie theaters and Date Nights. You can tell he doesn’t like the idea but he is willing to do it for her, which makes it all the more romantic. A few moments later Vincent and Catherine ride the elevator to the “presidential suite for Presidents and Beast-Lawyers”. Suddenly gunshots and growls are heard. Vincent, Cat and Tess come running into the suite but all they find is a dead sniper and a broken window. Vincent goes after Gabe while Cat and Tess try to come up with a plausible explanation that may or may not involve Animal Planet. Joe calls Tess to ask if Gabe is OK, and she is all “if by OK you mean turned into an uncontrollable monster and roaming the streets of Manhattan… then yeah… but hey, at least he was NOT gunned down by a sniper, I can tell you that much”. Joe is pissed and he is being a little too hard on Tess, but he is the Lieutenant and he just lost a very high profile man he was supposed to protect… so I guess it is OK for him to be upset.

Gabe’s phone starts buzzing and Cat picks it up. It’s Cylon Tyler, who is just a tinsy bit late with Gabe’s DE-BEASTIFYING PILLS. What I want to know is why didn’t Gabe bring the necessary supplies with him? And… did anyone get the impression that during this entire phone conversation Tyler was putting on a “good Beast girlfriend” façade? Or maybe she was genuinely worried. OR … maybe… that was NOT Tyler… It was a COPY of Tyler…because… she is a Cylon… Yeah, I need to let this “glowing spine” theory go. It was just another inexplicable scar. In any case, I never trusted her. In summary, Tyler tells Cat Gabe is a nasty Beast, completely out of control, never to be outside and impossible to calm down without medication.

In the meantime, Vincent rushes to the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB for one of my favorite JT/Vincent scenes ever. JT is getting ready to meet Sara’s parents, which means he is steam ironing a suit to wear over one of his geeky T-shirts. I REALLY liked Sara! I am still mad that they never used her again and there is no mention of having her back for Season 2. But, back to the episode. What follows is completely quote-worthy:

Vincent: There is someone else in the world now with corrupted DNA
JT: Oh, God, she is pregnant?
Vincent: No, Gabe
JT: Gabe got her pregnant?
Vincent: Gabe is the one with corrupted DNA! Now where’s the tranq gun?

They both NAILED it! Which is absolutely no surprise for Austin (JT), but as I said before, Vincent is not usually a “funny” character. He is too busy sulking and/or looking hot. But he had very good timing throughout this scene. Vincent explains about Gabe and the pills, JT is shocked and starts making cell phone analogies. Vincent gets the sudden idea that Gabe would go after the Bustamontes in his Beast-rage. So he takes the tranq gun and goes to the Bustamontes’ heroine lab with Cat. And… is it weird that any mention of “drugs” immediately makes me think of how much I miss Breaking Bad? And it hasn’t even been a week since the show ended! How will I ever survive?  Anyway, Cat tells Vincent she got the meds from Tyler and suggests he could try some experimental Beast pills after they find Gabe. Vincent is all “But I am a new smartphone and we don’t have the same plugs” In other words, Vincent doesn’t want Cat to get her hopes up and he questions if she is starting to want the things he cannot give her. She says she will be OK if it doesn’t work but that she wants to be with someone who will “at least try to have a future”. Vincent doesn’t reply… and personally I was waiting for a very eloquent “RIGHT”, but he was distracted by an “inhuman” sound. It wasn’t Gabe, it was just an adorable German Sheppard and he was NOT happy to see a half human Beast with FELINE DNA. Everyone knows that dogs don’t like cats, terminators and cross-species Beasts. The dog runs away, but the drug dealer that came behind him wasn’t that smart. He attacks Vincent and he kills him in Beast-defense. Cat is also attacked by a drug dealer, but she manages to merely knock down the guy instead of killing him. Mistake.

While Vincent and Catherine fight crime without really meaning to, Tess finds an address Gabe wrote down on the hotel’s stationary. It is the address for the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB! Turns out, Gabe planted a tracker on Cat. Is that legal? I am pretty sure it is not… then why did he have what looked like an official request? On what grounds was he spying on Cat? This raises serious privacy concerns! Well, the biggest issue is that they’ve figured out Gabe-Beast doesn’t care about drug dealers, he cares about finding the next-gen Beast so he can “update” his DNA and remain competitive in the market for a little longer. Vincent calls JT to warn him and he tries to give Sara an excuse that doesn’t sound like “I am sorry I can’t make dinner, but I am about to be attacked by a genetically engineered Lawyer and the genetically engineered Doctor took the only tranq gun I had!” Right on cue, Gabe-Beast bursts [literally] through the front door. JT tries to reason with the beast and offers to settle their differences in a civilized manner, but the Beast is not interested. JT tries to fend him off with a chair, but the Beast ends up smashing him against a table anyway. What is it about JT that makes all beasts want to toss him around? Vincent arrives just in time and shoots Gabe several times with the tranq gun. Cat asks Vincent if he is OK [forget about the recently tossed around JT, what’s important is to ensure the strongest person in the room didn’t hurt himself while shooting a tranq gun]. Vincent IS in fact OK, he is just shocked and finally convinced that Gabe wasn’t simply sporting yellow contact lenses.

Cat talks to Tess [who is having a hard time dealing with her boyfriend/boss] and updates her on the status of the Beast Hunt. After talking to Tess, Cat approaches JT and asks why they aren’t excited about the prospect of a cure. JT explains Vincent searched for a cure for a long time and that the string of failures almost destroyed him. In the end, he was able to grieve his human self and embrace the Beast. JT is afraid to undo his acceptance journey by starting to look for a cure again. So, something about not putting the new smartphone on the old emotional roller coaster… At this point, Gabe finally wakes up and Cat makes the necessary introductions: “Gabe – JT, the one you almost ate; and Vincent – the really handsome one with the interesting DNA” Gabe looks genuinely confused and remorseful; apparently he completely loses awareness when he beasts out. Vincent and Gabe start arguing about whose Beast-life is the hardest [live in the open vs. having control]. Gabe proposes the “fair trade” again: “Your blood, for my MAGIC DE-BEASTIFYING PILLS” Gabe wants to replicate the stabilizers in V’s blood for himself. Vincent doesn’t believe he is precisely stable, which he sorrowfully mentions while looking at Cat. Before Vincent agrees to anything, Cat pulls him aside. She tells him he doesn’t need to make the “deal with the beast” just for her.  “You are different phones, I don’t want you to use his charger and break!” Vincent realizes Cat has been talking to JT about managing his “emotional roller coaster” and he tells her that he is ready to try again. He says he can survive failing this time, because he has her in his life. Aw…Vincent is one painfully romantic smartphone.

MUSICAL MONTAGE TIME! JT and his periodic table T-shirt take some of V’s blood [I like it better when he takes his own blood, is that weird?] The beasts shake hands and “deal with the devil” was the first thing that came to mind in that moment. Vincent gets the DE-BEASTIFYING PILL and he just takes it! Now, here is an idea… Why didn’t JT test the damn pill before Vincent ingested it like he was having vitamin supplements?! At this point in his life, shouldn’t he know better than to take experimental drugs without question? Last time he did that… they turned him into a Beast for God’s sake!

Later, Cat and Vincent are still at the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB and Gabe is back at his office. Gabe tells them the pill will last for around 12 hours. He also mentions he took the fall for the dead drug dealer and claimed he killed him in self-defense. After Cat hangs up, V mentions Gabe is “not bad for a suit” and Cat replies: “So it begins a very unique bromance”. It would actually be more like a “beast-mance” I guess… but everyone knows Vincent is already going steady with JT. Anyway, Vincent embraces his new Cinderella status and suggests they go out before he turns into a pumpkin. Once again, these guys are confusing fairy tales… but I’ll let it go. Instead of going to see a movie or have a nice meal [like any normal couple would], Cat suggests going to the hotel pool, which I thought was odd… until I realized we were going to see Jay Ryan in a bathing suit. So… Perfect date idea, no objections whatsoever.

               

While V and C have their “Date Night”, JT tests the pill. Why he didn’t do it BEFORE Vincent took it is beyond me. But let’s go back to our favorite couple. They are having a great time at the pool and Cat suggests movies and red vines for their next date. Vincent gets very serious and confesses he has bigger hopes and dreams, he wants the white picket fence… he wants it all. She is ecstatic and says she wants it too; she also says she never even thought she wanted those things until she found him [Aw, he’d make me want a picket fence too]. She points out M is still out there and Vincent says he would be willing to go into witness protection and… it was obviously all TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE! But let’s enjoy it while it lasts. Vincent sums up his happiness by saying: “I am out, I don’t have to worry about being provoked by something or someone or if I am in control, I can relax and I can be with you” It is all SO sad! I think it is incredible that I am able to feel so much pity for someone I find so… well perfect. Finally, Vincent kisses Catherine [it’s obviously super hot, no need to mention that, but I will anyway] but they are interrupted by someone telling Catherine she has a phone call.

It’s JT on the phone and he has bad news. In summary the “MAGIC DE-BEASTIFYING PILLS” aren’t so magic after all. They are sort of Beast-chemo and if Vincent keeps taking them he could die in around 3 years. Cat offers to pop Vincent’s Beast-free happiness bubble this time. It’s so sad... Once Vincent learns the truth he says he is willing to die in 3 years as long as he can spend his remaining time really living with Cat. She obviously disagrees. He then offers to save the murderous pills for special occasions but Cat is all “My Christmas present IS NOT going to be you committing slow suicide!” Cat makes him swear that he won’t take another pill and… I don’t know why she even bothers… If he has one big flaw it is that he is terribly stubborn [and so is she BTW]. They decide to spend the rest of his Beast-Free time at her apartment and couldn’t they do that any Heather-free day? Not saying I wouldn’t want to take him back to my place, but it is not exactly a Beast-free special activity, is it? CUT TO, the morning after. Cat is still sleeping and Vincent sits on the bed with the MURDEROUS DE-BEASTIFYING PILL BOTTLE in his hand. He hesitates before taking the pill while I DESPERATELY SHOUTED AT THE SCREEN. Unfortunately, fictional characters don’t seem to hear me very often, so Vincent takes the pill anyway. I thought Jay Ryan played this scene really really well. It had no words, but I could totally feel his struggle and see all of his emotions on his face. Devastating!   

AWWWW

Turns out Vincent picked the worst day to be human because the Bustamontes moved on from wanting to kill Gabe, to wanting to kill Cat. The guy Cat DIDN’T kill, Chewi Bustamonte, and some other NAMELESS DRUG DEALER break into her apartment. They attack Cat first and when Vincent finally shows up, we notice his human fighting skills are a little rusty. As a matter of fact I thought they were TOO rusty. I mean… Cat was kicking the sh** out of Nameless Drug Dealer and she is a tiny tiny girl. Vincent is a pretty big and fit man AND he was in the army… he completed basic training, didn’t he? Yet, he was getting his ass kicked until Cat points her gun at the guy who was attacking him. I am all about girl power and leading ladies not being helpless and all, but I thought this was a little too much. So Vincent doesn’t know how to be human anymore, I get it… let’s not go overboard with it. When both drug dealers are finally unconscious, Cat asks about V’s lack of transformation. He looks at her ashamed and simply says “I just wanted to go to the movies with you” and that is exactly the type of line that I hate and would have normally made me roll my eyes due to excessive corniness but I am SO “in love” with this love story [and JR’s delivery was perfect] that I went “AWWWWW” complete with a silly grin on my face and a hole in my heart! He just wanted to go to the movies with her! You’d have to be made of stone to not be moved by that!

At the PRECINCT Tess gives Joe a piece of her mind [her girl power is BACK!]. She says she is not expecting preferential treatment, but she won’t accept him taking it out on her either. She rhetorically asks if he is treating her like crap just to avoid people finding out they are together. He surprises her by answering YES. He elaborates: “I am trying to make sure that every time I look at you, everyone in this whole damn precinct can’t see all over my face that I am madly… wildly in love with you… I love you” And I thought this was probably the best Joe/Tess scene ever [unlike the filler scenes from the previous episode]. As I said before, I was never was quite on board with this couple only because I didn’t like the way they started, but this scene was pretty romantic. Tess is all “so this is what love feels like? Now I get what Cat is always talking about!” They are interrupted by the arrival of AGENT REYNOLDS who is there to collect the latest Beast-killed cadavers. Joe points out the FBI hasn’t been there to collect corpses since Ari Muirfield and the subway vics. In other words, things are about to get ugly.

Cat meets Vincent in the ALLEY OF RELATIONSHIP MOMENTS. Vincent tells her that he took the pill because he REALLY wants to have a “normal future” with her. She says that she wants a future too, but she doesn’t care if it is “normal” as long as he is in it. Aw [yeah, there are a LOT of “Aw” moments in this episode]. He says he was worried she might leave him if they couldn’t find a cure. She gives him some much needed reassurance using the roller coaster metaphor. Something like: “We are in the cart together and if it goes off the rails at least we will fall to our deaths together” OK, it wasn’t that dramatic, but you get the picture. They agree to let themselves fantasize and Vincent suggests they should have 8 cross-species children. EIGHT?! What kind of dream is that? It sounds more like a nightmare! Not even if they look like tiny adorable Vincents not even… And if Vincent can’t make me want to have 8 children no-one can. They compromise and agree on 3 children and a small dog. Then they walk behind a dumpster and start making out which is incredibly romantic. I guess true love doesn’t need fancy locations and expensive wardrobe [butthat museum kiss was awesome nonetheless].

Speaking of fancy, Gabe meets his girlfriend Tyler at a swanky terrace. He asks about Vincent’s sample and Tyler tells him she has good news and bad news [for Vincent]. Good news: it will work, bad news, what they need from Vincent will kill him. “Whatever it takes” replies Gabe dun dun dun. END OF EPISODE. For the record I NEVER trusted Gabe [or Tyler].

And that is it for now you guys, only one more RECAP to go before Monday and we are done! So look for it this weekend!

MORE RECAPS

QUOTE

Tess: It’s just, my head went to Breaking Dawn Part 2

Tess: You are harboring a half-human boyfriend, That’s stressful

Gabe: It stops my DNA from expressing itself

Tess: What is this, the zombie apocalypse?

JT [to Gabe-Beast]: I am not the one you’re looking for. My DNA is real boring!

JT: New rule, no-one takes the tanq gun unless we have a spare.

JT: DNA is not a fancy gadget made in China

JT [to Gabe]: I am the one you almost had for a snack

Vincent: You go with red vines and…I’m going along more with the thought of a picket fence

Cat: I never wanted to have a future with someone before I found you

Cat: I am completely materialistic and shallow and I just want you as my sugar daddy