RECAP: Beauty and the Beast – Season 2 Episode 1 – Who am I?

In the end it is all about epic love... or hemoglobin... I am a little unclear about that  

We learn that beast making doctors can be really lame. Also, evil organizations can easily be destroyed by starting a small fire. In addition JT gives us a lesson on zoology and Cat shows us all that there is no reason she can't buy a new car and redecorate her apartment while mourning.

I am back! First of all thanks to everyone that e-mailed and tweeted asking for the recaps to come back. It’s always good to know people actually want to read what you write! A little warning, this one ended up being a little long, but as you can imagine I had lots to say after being gone for so long!

If you have been following these recaps and/or blog you know that I was not what you may call an “instant beastie”. I started hating the show, but something kept me going until I flipped and became a super fan. By the time S2 premiered I had cried, suffered, tweeted, poll voted and forged friendships with this show. I was committed and ready to go! However…  I have to admit, my season 2 journey was also a little rocky. First time I watched this ep I did not like it at all [it considerably grew on me, although I still have a lot of complaints], then I watched episode 2 and regained faith because it had that “something”. Then it was hit & miss for a while. There were moments I loved and moments I didn’t like at all and some “unforgivable sins” I’ll be mentioning later. It wasn’t until episode 11 Held Hostage that I felt the show fell back into place and I mostly loved the episodes from that point on. So… I may seem a little too critical at first, but fear not! I am still a fully committed fan… I swear.

The episode starts with Cat sleeping on her kitchen table while her computer searches missing person databases.  We learn that  1) A lot of hot guys go missing in NY and 2) You can totally redecorate your apartment while the love of your life goes missing and your dad gets murdered. Oh! And conveniently Cat is having a dream about resurrecting Gabe right after Vincent was taken. The montage was beautiful and all, but you know what would have been nice? An actual scene! And that… is my main issue with this episode. Everything was too rushed! I don’t have any major concerns with anything that happened but nothing felt earned because they just steamrolled through the storyline and I personally couldn’t sort through all my emotions!

Anyway, Cat wakes up and calls JT to ask about Vincent probably for the 100^th time. Cat is convinced Vincent is out there because she can “feel him” aw… JT also wants to find Vincent because after protecting him for 10 year he “owes him” [for what exactly? If anything Vincent sort of owes JT, but whatever…] So, Cat loves Vincent, JT is a really good friend and Daddy Chandler is dead… wait? What? Yes, let’s just throw that in there and move on to the next scene! There is probably 200 still to go!!! NO TIME TO PROCESS IN THIS EP!!!

Time to go BACK TO THE BEST DECORATED PRECINCT IN NY, where in new BATB fashion we get 60 min worth of exposition in a 2 min scene. Joe is gone, Tess is single, Cat is obsessed but hasn’t cried, ADAs are the logical choice to run precincts? Gabe is alive and no longer a Beast? WTH?

Where to start..? I thought getting rid of Joe was a mistake. There was still a lot of potential with the Darius storyline which was never closed and I would have liked to get some closure with Tess. I understand not keeping him around due to the other [million] things going on, but they could have kept him as an Off-screen character with a potential guest-spot in the future. Also, I thought Tess was so badly written in this ep… not sure why. She is usually blunt, sarcastic and tough, but she came as a little insensitive for me. I know it is not Nina’s fault and her scenes weren’t necessarily badly written. However, the episode needed one good scene where Cat and Tess just talked [for longer than 30 seconds!] For instance, when Cat tells Tess that sometimes she feels like breaking down, but she can’t because she needs to find Vincent… THAT was the moment that needed to be expanded. Instead, they just burned through that convo and introduced the next twist.

Gabe comes running to Cat to tell her JT found Vincent. He is passing on the message because JT COULDN’T GET IN TOUCH WITH CAT… because she obsessively calls him every 5 hours but then decides to screen his calls? Anyway, JT just happened to come across a surveillance feed of Vincent being at a SHIPYARD. So we are 5 min in and they have already found Vincent? This episode has more plot twists than Downton Abbey! And there are a lot of plot twists [and a hell of a lot more characters] on Downton Abbey.

DO WE EVEN LIKE YOU?

Cat and Gabe arrive at the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB where JT reminds us that we shouldn’t trust [OR LIKE] Gabe due to the whole kidnapping and murder attempt thing. I mean… Are we supposed to buy that Gabe doesn’t want to kill Vincent anymore and suddenly he is all for saving him? And is he mourning Cylon-Tyler at all? As we ponder over Gabe’s ulterior motives, JT runs facial recognition software to see if the guy on the video is actually Vincent. He is not getting any hits… perhaps because he suddenly doesn’t have the SCAR?! Which brings me to the:

UNFORGIVABLE SIN #1: The scar – OK, I get the simplified Beast make-up decision. Not crazy about it, but it is practical. However… I don’t imagine the scar took THAT long and the fact that they just got rid of it like that… it seemed like they were disregarding the character and his backstory as it was originally conceived. I think the scar was important. It was a constant physical reminder of what had been done to Vincent [and his connection to Vanessa]. Something that made him different and damaged even when he was in human form. And… yeah, it was sexy as hell. So… I don’t care what the reason was. I was AM DEEPLY upset about this. (A/N I was informed on twitter that Jay had stated on an interview that the make-up gave him a skin reaction. Now, that I can understand, we wouldn't want anything to happen to his pretty face. However I still have yet to find a link and determine if this was specifically about the "scar make-up" and not the prosthetics which involve glue)

But let’s take a tums, go through the 5 stages of loss (of the scar) and let’s move on. JT is not sure if the guy at the SHIPYARD is really Vincent or just a really hot guy who looks like Vincent. Either way, Cat wants to find him => LOGIC <= [a look-alike is the next best thing I guess. I certainly wouldn’t mind getting one]. Cat rushes through traffic… And, apparently, on top of redecorating her apartment, she also had time to go CAR SHOPPING! This multitasking girl! Cat tries to call Tess for backup but calls Heather by mistake. Cat may be the most loyal girlfriend ever, but she is kind of a crappy sister if you think about it... Heather reminds Cat to attend some event at Daddy Chandler’s law firm. Cat is all “yeah, I’ll be there right after I rescue my cross-species boyfriend!”

At the SHIPYARD WHERE BEASTS MEET THEIR MAKERS, the M-Crew arrives with their boss: Li Zhao A.K.A. M-Li. And I gotta say… he was very disappointing! In fact he was THE LAMEST EVIL ORGANIZATION BOSS EVER! My dream actors for this role were Mark Pellegrino, Terry O’Quinn and Ray Weis [men who have played the devil himself] but this guy looked like he jumped out of The Fast and the Furious – Tokio or something. If they wanted an Asian actor, I have A LIST of better choices [Hoon Lee, Reggie Lee, Ric Young, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Leung, etc etc @pennpal02 even jokingly suggested Masi Oka would have been a better choice. Hey at least we would have gotten a Heroes connection out of it!]. (See Figure 1: Better Evil Organization Bosses)

Figure 1: Better Evil Organization Bosses. From left to right: Mark Pellegrino, Terry O'Quinn
Ray Weis, Hoon Lee and Masi Oka

So, THE LAMEST EVIL ORGANIZATION BOSS EVER approaches a handcuffed Vincent and starts poking the Beast and… let’s take a minute to acknowledge how hot Vincent looks. I really don’t get how he can get hotter, it seemed like an impossibility, yet it happened… is this gonna go on? While I analyse Vincent’s hotness limits, Cat arrives at the SHIPYARD, razzle dazzles a couple of thugs with her police badge and kicks their asses, which was pretty cool. What wasn’t cool was the SOAPY EXPOSITION SCENE going on inside between Vincent and M-Li.

Yeah… time for…  “The Young and the Beastly”

Li Zhao was just a young geneticist who inherited an evil corporation from his dad [any chance his dad can be played by Ron Rifkin? No? OK…] and started making beasts and selling them to the army [and private investors?]. In other words he is just a scientist who was in for the money… talk about rich character motivations [I say with sarcasm].

WHERE IS THE SCAR?!!!!!

And… that was an awful scene… wrong wrong WRONG actor, wrong timing. This was A BIG DEAL. Vincent is meeting the man that turned him into a beast! And instead of making it the climax that it should have been it was just one of the million things that happened in this ep. In any case, M-Li is all giddy because he just re-acquired his weapon [was he the one moving the pieces all along? Please say NO] but V doesn’t seem too concerned about it. V is no longer the type of Beast that can be subdued by some sort of titanium alloy cuffs… oh no, this is Vincent-Beast 2.0. So he just breaks the cuffs and attacks everybody until the beast-killing is interrupted by Cat.

V 2.0 seems unfazed by the hot chick yelling his name and he is more interested in killing Asian men. However, the interruption gives M-Li enough time to run away. Vincent turns around and walks towards Cat totally predatory [not in the Trust no one sexy way], with a look of “How dare you get in the way of my mission”. JT and Gabe arrive just in time to shoot V with a tranq gun. After Vincent unnecessarily runs around for a while JT shoots him 5 additional times and he finally collapses. Cat comes running to his aid. And the second they make eye-contact that “magic” thing they have going on happens. Cat says “All that matters is that you are back safe, I never stopped looking for you” to which Vincent replies “Who are you?” and then collapses. Dun dun dun.

ALSO READ: AMNESIA ON TV SHOWS: THE DREADED “WHO AM I?” PLOT

If I had written this episode, that would have been the last scene. I would have taken my time to explore Cat’s grief. Have some heartfelt scenes between Cat/Tess, Cat/JT… really explore how Vincent’s absence affected everyone and then reunite them in the end, with the sad twist of V having amnesia. Then everything else could have happened in the next ep and I would have been OK with it. But it happened too quickly! It didn’t feel earned! Also, I wasn’t crazy about how this scene was shot. I used to like how they shot the Beast… usually from Cat’s perspective and you could almost never see him clearly. We saw too much of V 2.0 on this shot for my taste. Plus, S1 one had a more graphic novel look while this looked too cartoonish. But I think they adjusted the style as the episodes went on. So I guess I can let it go now.

Vincent wakes up at the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB looking mighty fine [irrelevant information that I felt compelled to mention]. Cat asks again if he remembers her. Vincent looks at her like he is trying to will himself into remembering but fails. He apologizes and it is completely heartfelt. [Jay Ryan is a good actor, I dare anyone say otherwise]. She asks if he remembers JT and V assumes he is Cat’s husband… “Ouch” [as old V would say].

Finally Vincent tells them that they seem like nice folk and that Cat is “smoking hot” but he is not who they think he is. By the way Jay Ryan had the best delivery of that smoking hot line. He could have made it so annoying, yet he managed to make it sort of funny instead. JT convinces Vincent to stay by showing him a picture of them taken 11 years ago. He tells them about their long term bro-mance and that seems to intrigue Vincent enough to stay [I think the smoking hot chick should have been the selling point but OK…]. At that moment Cat gets a call from HEATHER-INTERRUPTER-EXTRAORDINAIRE, to remind her of her dad’s party. JT promises to keep Vincent there and Cat leaves. Seriously Cat, don’t leave your memory-less-Beast unattended! It’s just not a good idea.

M-Li arrives at M-HQ and is basically having a tantrum. Again, not what I expected from a character I had built up in my mind for so long! He calls DADDY-BOB on the phone and he is all “Someone sent my Beast to kill me buaaaaa and they even upgraded him without my consent buaaaa I want my Beast back!” In S1, I was under the impression Daddy-Bob worked for Muirfield and posed as an FBI agent. But apparently he is a legit G-man… like with an office and everything. So… can federal agents just go around town KILLING CYLONS [Tyler] that no-one will miss? *cough cough* Gabe, remember your girlfriend? *Cough* And since we are talking about PLOT HOLES: Why didn’t Tess tell Cat about Daddy Bob’s pic on Daddy Chandler’s iPad? You’d think that was worth mentioning, right?

Anyway, here is the new order of things… keep up. Daddy Bob works for the FBI, M-Li “is M” and he works for the FBI. Daddy Bob doesn’t like this whole BEASTS-GONE-WILD situation so he threatens to close down M. M-Li threatens to go to the press… oh! And HE WANTS HIS BEAST BACK!!! Daddy Bob hangs up and meets with his Rookie, but it is not Peter Mooney Rookie-M [or other Rookie Blue cop like say Gregory Smith, so I am sad]. Anyway, Reynolds and FBI-Rookie discuss M-Li and we find out that they are the Beast-puppet-masters DUN DUN DUN. Well… we kind of knew that already… so no dun dun dun I guess… Reynolds also figures out Cat might have found Vincent… dun dun dun [?]

In the meantime, Cat arrives to her late dad’s law firm [wearing a super cute dress]. She says she wanted to “dress up for dad” she forgets to add “and for my boyfriend who doesn’t remember me but he does think I am smoking hot, so I am using what I’ve got”. Cat goes outside to the WHO’S YOUR DADDY BALCONY and is approached by none other than Daddy Bob dun dun dun [OK I’ll stop]. Unlike M-Li, Daddy Bob can play the hell of a quietly-menacing scene. I love Ted Whittall and he seems like the nicest guy on twitter, doesn’t he? Anyway… without knowing it, Cat meets her bio Dad. He mentions Daddy Chandler and Cat says she never knew her “dad” worked with the FBI. I bet she didn’t know her mom “worked” with the “FBI” either… but she wouldn’t be here if Vanessa hadn’t… (“worked” with the “FBI”).

Daddy Bob starts asking questions about her case and Cat starts giving all sorts of unnecessary details like she is “working on a missing person’s case” [seriously, Yes or No are acceptable answers when talking with strangers]. The dynamic of this scene was great and it was one of the few scenes that was longer than a minute so it felt like a breath of fresh air. However… I have no idea how Daddy Bob went from “I just had an awkward convo with my bio-daughter” to “I know the exact address and phone number of where Vincent is”.

So, at the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB Vincent tries to understand his pre-Beast-upgrade life. JT informs him that only the two of them lived there and Vincent gives him a hilarious “Am I gay?” look so JT nervously and awkwardly CLARIFIES that they are just friends. Vincent is all “fiu… OK, How about the girl?” Vincent asks if they were “close” to which JT replies “You ARE close, seriously, it’s borderline EPIC” It IS epic. And THIS was a great scene. It had a beginning, middle and end. It had funny dialogue with a deeper unspoken meaning and it was VERY well acted [also that T-shirt was doing wonders for V].

JT asks V what I’ve been wondering all along “Are you a terminator Beast? Or what?” But Vincent tells JT to stop asking questions or else he will break his neck. JT is all “So that is a Yes on the terminator?” At that moment JT gets a call for “Condor” because Cat psychically transmitted V’s whereabouts to her dad, remember? Apparently Condor is the code name to spur V 2.0 into action. What kind of code call is that? “Joey’s Pizza?” now that was a code. JT tries to stop him by pointing the tranq gun at him and then Vincent has a Shawn-Spencer-Psych- Moment or BBC-Sherlock-moment depending on how you choose to look at it and starts zoning into JT’s vitals, sweat and whatnot. Vincent figures out that JT is too nervous to actually shoot him? Since when? He does it all the time! I don’t buy it…

At the LAWYER PARTY OF BIO DAD ENCOUNTERS some lady is praising Daddy Chandler’s pro-bono work [Where the hell is Brooke?] and then introduces Cat and Heather and invites them to speak to the crowd. Cat’s phone starts ringing. It is a recently tranqed JT. Hey… at least V didn’t break his neck… that is a positive sign. JT tells her about losing her Beast and Cat is all “Sorry sis, my biochemist friend just collapsed because my boyfriend tranqed him, gotta jet”. Heather is all “You are the worst sister ever”

It was at this point in the episode that I started thinking SLOW DOWN! Here is the deal. I don’t like long scenes. I suffer every time I have to write for theatre because they have these endless 10 + pages scenes. I like quick one page scenes. I am all for a shows with a quick pace. However, a quick pace means that the plot has to constantly move forward, it doesn’t mean that you must have 200 scenes on a 40 min show! [you would probably have 45-65] Even on TVD, which is known for its quick pace, they manage to have a good number of longer scenes when the situation calls for it. I am not saying the scenes on this episode were bad or that all should have been longer, not at all… but some of them absolutely SHOULD HAVE.

Back to the ep. Cat goes to the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB and JT tries to explain that V is gone, not just geographically at the moment, but metaphorically. Cat’s all “We are borderline TOTALLY epic, he WILL remember me!” And with that, Cat concludes that V might be going after M-Li. So… find the [lame] M-Boss, find the Beast.

At the PRECINCT Gabe is trying really hard to make himself useful in this episode [failing a little]. Tess bursts into his office and he is all “eh… you are not sleeping with me… what gives you the right just come here without knocking?” Gabe shows her the picture of M-Li Cat just sent and Tess is all “I am out of this Beast Business and do we even like you?” OK she doesn’t say that last part, but she was definitely thinking it. Then Tess tries to explain that she will always care about Cat but she is done caring about Vincent. And that whole dialogue bothered me a lot. 1) Cat found the guy she was searching for three months and she has zero reaction to that? At the very least she should have been a little shocked and 2) She is saying that she cares about Cat, and I understand that she thinks she needs to move on; but at the moment Cat is probably IN DANGER. So she could try to help her and convince her to move on later, but she is just like “whatever, call me when Vincent kills everyone or dies”.

At that moment, Gabe finds a record of Zhao on the SEC filed under the “Evil organization Stock Prices” category, I guess. So… he is “off the grid” but registered as a shareholder for a publicly traded company? Wait a minute… M is publicly traded? Please tell me they at least have a front company with a different name… Who am I kidding, It probably looks like this:

Muirfield, Inc. (MRFD)

 -NYSE 

44.13  1.06(2.35%) Aug 1, 4:01PM EDT

After Hours : 43.95  0.18 (0.41%) Aug 1, 7:59PM EDT

Business description:	Beast making evil organization
Major Holders	Lamest evil org. boss ever/ FBI
Prev. Close	45.19
Open	45.01
Bid	43.30 x 1000
Ask	44.31 x 1000
Risk Factors	Rogue Beast attacks, disagreements with the FBI, Ex-girlfriends messing with the assets’ feelings
1 Yr Target	0.00 since it will probably burn to the ground in 2 seconds or less
Expert recommendation	DO NOT buy… like seriously DON’T

And… we are back to RUNNING AROUND like there is no tomorrow... Vincent goes to his BACHELOR-BEAST-BOATHOUSE and finally checks in with DADDY BOB, updates him on his situation and then almost shyly asks “Sir, who is Catherine Chandler?” and I loved the way he asked that! You could see the impact that question was having on him. It was one of my favourite moments of the entire episode. Reynolds is all “Oh, she’s my daughter… did I forget to mention that you are sort of my son in law? But let’s not worry about that”. Ok, so obviously what Reynolds really says is to forget about Cat and Vincent is all “She seemed to know me, and I believed her… word on the street is that we are borderline epic plus she is smoking hot!” I liked that he was unwilling to let it go. Reynolds scolds him for being a silly beast and tells him to forget about his life before. Then he reiterates his mission is to KILL M-LI and Vincent gets all Jason Bourne again.

"Excuse me, I am having a "Charmed" moment"

Vincent goes to the SHIPYARD and picks up M-Li’s trail. See how I explained that in a sentence and less than 2 seconds? For some reason, the writers seemed to think we need a LOT of details about how BEAST-TRACKING works. And this will go on for the ENTIRE season! We really didn’t need this Beast-premonition regression sequence and the endless exposition coming later [complete with Rocking music from the 90s] There isn’t anything terribly wrong with it, but it took away precious minutes we could have been used for other things!! YOU’LL SEE WHAT I MEAN!

Luckily, Vincent Halliwell doesn’t take his premonitions any further [he doesn’t invoke the power of three beasts or anything like that]. He just leaves after Zhao’s trail after a 5 min scene that could have easily been 2 seconds long! Trail-scent-beast-tracking-time DONE. Cat is at the SHIPYARD too. She went there because that was the last place where they saw M-Li. So Cat was using => LOGIC <= and the entire scene where Gabe finds the SEC records was USELESS. Cat decides to be the most supportive girlfriend ever and go after Vincent so she can witness him destroying M and have “Justice” but not “revenge”. What is wrong with Revenge? I guess Cat never read The Count of Montecristo. Whatever… I really don’t care about M at this point or whether or not M-Li dies! LAMEST EVIL ORGANIZATION BOSS EVER!

So Cat starts following Vincent around NEW YORK… And it is time for MORE WASTED MINUTES SPENT ON BEAST TRACKING EXPOSITION! JT took a blood sample from the tranq gun and analysed it… because that’s what scientists do, I guess. Vincent’s DNA was slightly altered and now he can “slow-down and redirect the haemoglobin in his blood to heighten specific senses”… like ESP? ‘cause that’s what it looked like! JT carries on with his super complicated explanation that involves zoology, genetics, DNA, time-space-continuum and some other crap blah blah blah all to basically say that Vincent is a really good tracker! Seriously WHO CARES!? He used to track Cat all the time in S1 and I didn’t need any more details. He has animal DNA, it makes sense he is able to track. Enough with it! Again precious minutes that could have been used otherwise!!!

Then Cat almost gets hit by a car and her gasp attracts Vincent’s attention. He starts zoning in on her heartbeat almost like he recognizes it and… that’s the type of understated scene I love. It was so simple but it was perfect. It spoke volumes about their connection without going into any complicated exposition about genetics or haemoglobin. But… it is quickly over. V turns around and goes back to his mission to kill Sarah Connor… I mean Li Zhao. Huh… if Sarah Connor is Linda Hamilton and Linda Hamilton is Catherine Chandler and Vincent is the Terminator… OK, this new Beast is making me lose my mind a little… Or maybe is that black T-shirt and new hair-cut…

At this point we were only 8 min away from the end of the episode and it was clear that the resolution of the conflict wasn’t going to have enough time to be fully developed… if only they had cut/shorten some UNNECESSARY SCENES! So, Vincent is at the M-LAB trying to kill the LAMEST EVIL ORGANIZATION BOSS EVER. Cat follows him there, kicks some ass and then gets caught in a fire Vincent started. Vincent goes to finish M-Li, but is distracted by Cat’s cries for help. Vincent is a Beast on a mission, but nothing is as strong as Cat’s pull [and heartbeat apparently]. After a few seconds of hesitation the beast lets go of his murderous mission in order to save Cat. Not killing JT, saving Cat, this is promising... old V is in there somewhere.

Vincent jumps from a window with Cat in his arms, which I thought was a nice call-back to Playing with Fire [Beasts and labs on fire do not mix well… learn your lessons people!]. Once they land Cat is all “The episode is almost over because we wasted like 10 minutes explaining ‘beast-tracking’ so I might as well cut to the chase: WE ARE MEANT TO BE!” And THAT is the moment that needed to be showcased! It was the REAL reunion, not the one we got at the beginning of the episode. This time it was Vincent saving Cat [because it’s kinda his thing even if he doesn’t remember] and, although he has no memories of her, you can tell in that moment she mattered. It’s also the first time the real him resurfaces and this could have been an awesome scene. And it was pretty good but it was TOO SHORT. It needed more build up!

Daddy Bob gets the news that M-Li is still alive and I am guessing he is starting to think his beast is defective. Meanwhile Cat and Vincent are at her re-decorated place. Cat offers to fix a cut V got in his face… but don’t get too excited, he probably won’t get a new scar… Sad. Oh! And V 2.0 can’t heal himself anymore… How is that an “improvement”? Damn… M-Li is a really bad scientist on top of being the LAMEST EVIL ORGANIZATION BOSS EVER. So Cat cleans Vincent’s wound and man they have crazy chemistry. He looks at her intensely and apologizes for not remembering her. It’s sad and it feels honest. Cat tells him that it is OK because they get to “fall in love with each other all over again” which is an amazing line and not out of character at all, but again NOT ENOUGH BUILD UP to get to that point!

This scene was, according to me, what the entire episode should have been about. Not the special beast effects or explanations about beast powers or anything involving the FBI/M-Li. Above all this is a story about them: Vincent and Catherine. If they had cut some of the unnecessary scenes they could have been extended this scene and make them talk and then Cat could have ended with that amazing line. But, I’ll take what I can get and. Although not long enough, this was the best scene of the episode. Cat tries to make her point clear. She reminds him that they “are meant to be” and they WILL fall in love, and as romantic as all that sounds I would have preferred to have more subtle dialogue. They really didn’t need that many words, or maybe they did because they were RUNNING OUT OF TIME! Catherine is SO CONVINCED about their “destiny”, it is hard not to believe her. And you can tell V 2.0 believes her. It was so intense and emotional. My favourite moments were actually the silent ones, when Vincent was just processing everything she said and almost finding the truth in her eyes not her words.

Cat tells him she is devastated because of everything that has been done to him. She is so completely selfless … she is not thinking about herself, she keeps thinking about him. He takes it in, walks towards her and tells her he can’t “answer any more questions” and… I thought it was a little out of character for Cat to just accept that… but she does LOVE him beyond reason, so I guess she is willing to accept anything as long as she gets to have him by her side again. Cat begs him not to go and sort of promises to help him find [and kill? Arrest?] M-Li. She looks at him with so much intensity it’s almost like she pulls him towards her and he kisses her. You know how their kisses are always hot? This was painful, it was SO full of sorrow and I really wasn’t thinking “that’s hot” I was thinking “WHERE IS THE DAMN KLEENEX BOX?” That scene was SO WELL ACTED. That scene ended up being great… but the dialogue was not the best AT ALL. If you imagine two other random actors playing that scene without their amazing connection, I don’t think I would have been able to connect as much.

But back to the scene. Vincent promises to stay and when they are about to kiss again HEATHER INTERRUPTER EXTRAORDINAIRE calls Cat! What is it with this girl? Does she have a sixth sense that tells her when Cat is about to kiss Vincent? Cause it sure looks like it. Heather sent Cat a text that said “I am worried about you, are you OK?” and then Cat just breaks down completely and starts sobbing which I thought was beautiful and felt completely honest. It dawns on Vincent just how MUCH he means to this woman and realizing someone cares about you THAT much must be very powerful. She hugs him and tells him that she has lost too much, she can’t lose him too… and that moment right there… was perfect. AND THAT is what the show is about. If this episode had more scenes like this one [with all characters] and less haemoglobin talk it would have been awesome.

I am not sure what happens next. Did he stay? Did he leave? Did they go to bed together? Who knows because WE DON’T SEE IT! Next thing we know is that they found M-Li mauled, Tess is pissed and Vincent did it and not in a “beast-fugue” way, rather in a “Mercenary-Beast” mode. END OF EPISODE.

So… as I said I wasn’t happy with this episode when I first saw it. Mostly because I felt they made unnecessary changes. We know now that it was kind of the network’s fault for basically asking the writers to make the show friendlier to a wider audience [meaning men and supernatural/fantasy fans I guess]. After re-watching the episode, I liked it significantly better. There is still a lot I didn’t like, but the moments that worked really worked. And come to think about it… this show didn’t have that many PERFEFT episodes in S1 either. It did have a lot of PERFECT MOMENTS though.

And thanks so much for coming back to read these recaps. I know this one was MASSIVE! Next recap will be of a more manageable length, I swear! And I wrote two companion pieces to go with this one about AMNESIA and EVIL ORGANIZATIONS.

QUOTES

JT [to Gabe]: I am sorry, do we even like you 

V [To Cat]: You are smoking hot 

JT [to Vincent about his relationship with Cat]: You ARE close, seriously, it’s borderline EPIC

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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