RECAP: Beauty and the Beast – Season 2 Episode 2 – Kidnapped

Kidnapping can really work as foreplay, especially if you have mad chair-pulling skills

Cat takes Stockholm Syndrome to a whole new level. Vincent demonstrates how skilled he is with pressure points and chair-pulling. We also learn that drug dealers need beasts.

The episode starts with Gabe giving a press conference in relation to M-Li who was found beast mauled in Central Park. Now… I am no supersoldier nor a criminal mastermind, but… leaving a body in central park? Really? How hard could it have been for Vincent to grab him and dump him in the river? How about NOT killing him in central park? Whatever… Beasts seem to be lacking on the “killer for hire” front.

While Gabe is lying on TV, Cat and Tess are having morning coffee at the COFFEE SHOP OF GIRL-TALK AND BEAST CONFESSIONS. Tess is trying to make Cat see that Vincent is not Hulk with a heart of gold anymore. Gabe shows up and starts ranting about “helping Vincent help himself” or something like that… and seriously… I NEVER bought it. Cat defends Vincent and points out that after everything done to him the dude is entitled to some revenge against the LAMEST EVIL ORGANIZATION BOSS EVER. She has a point. She also says that “Vincent will NEVER hurt her” oh… foreshadowing is a bitch.

Cat ditches the INTERRACIAL BEAST HUNTING DUO and goes to see JT. Unfortunately he is not Vincent’s carrier pigeon anymore. JT is in a celebratory mood due to M being destroyed [in the EASIEST LESS SATISFACTORY WAY EVER]. Cat’s idea of a celebration is to throw JT’s tums away. But don’t fret, he has a spare bottle. Cat explains her plan to find Vincent and then basically kiss his amnesia away. To be precise, Cat wants to have “a picnic on her roof” [if that is not what the kids are calling it these days I don’t know what is]. JT, ever the voice of reason, points out that whatever they did to Vincent’s brain probably won’t go away by wining and dining him. But hey… the show is called Beauty and the Beast. So let’s give the ridiculous Disney “true love kiss” theory the benefit of the doubt for now. It worked on Chuck… I think…

So Cat does what every girl does while getting ready to have a romantic dinner with the love of her life: She fantasizes about their last encounter, she prepares his favourite food, puts together a picnic basket and then goes out on the streets to show his picture around to strangers. Just another Friday night in the life of a single gal.

Meanwhile, at the FBI HQ, Daddy Bob learns from his lackey that Vincent is AWOL. He concludes that since he mauled M-Li [in the middle of central park], there is no reason to doubt “his programming” [but plenty of reasons to worry about his murdering cover up technique if you ask me]. In summary, Daddy Bob trusts his beast. He clearly doesn’t know about the true love’s kiss plan in the works… or he knows it is a really stupid plan and he is not on Once Upon a Time!

After her search for Vincent fails, Cat goes back to her rooftop alone. Soon after Vincent and his new bad boy sexy attitude show up. Cat gets excited for a second thinking he remembered the ROOFTOP OF SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP MILESTONES, but he just saw her coming up. He asks her why she’s been stalking tracking him and he actually looks flattered and impressed. If you think about it, stalking has been a constant for them… Kinda sweet in a really twisted way. Vincent doesn’t seem to hate the idea of the “picnic”, but things get a little weird when Cat realizes whacking people might be more than a one-time gig thing for him. There goes her theory of personal justice and revenge…

Cat gets into cop mode and starts asking A LOT of questions. Vincent immediately shuts down and assumes Cat was more interested in the information than the picnic. And you know what? I don’t blame Vincent one bit for acting like that. He may not know exactly who he is, but he knows he is mixed up on some serious sh*t and here comes a smoking hot chick who claims to be the love of his life. Deep down, I think he knows he can trust her… but sending a femme fatale to seduce information out of men is the oldest trick in the book. So you can’t really blame Vincent for being distrustful. As a matter of fact, I don’t think he was as cautious as he should have been [and that’s because of all the irrational feelings he experienced for her]. In any case, Vincent makes it clear that he is not there for an interrogation and jumps off the roof. The man knows how to make an entrance AND an exit [and everything in between].

Cat runs after Vincent and calls JT for help. At that exact moment, Gabe calls her to point her in the right direction. But no, he is not suddenly psychic [thank God!], he has been surveilling Cat’s apartment, “but only the perimeter”… [so that makes it OK?]. Cat is all “Who the hell do you think you are? Vincent is the only one allowed to stalk me! All right?” What follows is a hilarious three-way-call/car-chase scene between Cat, JT and the interracial beast hunting duo. Basically Cat chases Vincent after he gets on a cab and starts heading towards Rikers [what the hell happened to just running on rooftops? Or renting a car? Or stealing a car?] Whatever, Beasts make some weird transportation choices, Tess and Gabe are going a little overboard with their “beast hunting” impromptu mission and Cat really needs to learn how to use the call-waiting function of her phone.

"Yeah, this isn't sexy at all" I say with a LOT of
sarcasm.

So… Vincent arrives at Rikers and gets his SNIPER GUN… that he was keeping where exactly? Didn’t he go straight from the rooftop to a cab? Anyhow… I think snipers are hot, so this scene was totally awesome. What could make it hotter? Going from sniper mode to doctor mode of course! Basically Vincent shoots a guy named CARLOS with a non-lethal substance. He has a seizure and is taken to the medical bay. V possess as the doctor on call and starts interrogating him about his “asset”.

While Vincent is doing all sorts of hot stuff, Cat is pacing outside the fence of the prison. She gets a call from Tess who starts lecturing her on the dangers of her murky undefined Beast situation. Cat has to go because Vincent grabs her, makes her faint [by applying pressure to her neck] and puts her on the back of her car. OK… kidnapping… not the nicest thing. But again, he just committed a felony, and the COP who claims to be in love with him followed him and is talking to ANOTHER COP. I think it is understandable to be a little panicky. Still… not saying kidnapping is a sign of a healthy relationship. Just thought I should CLARIFY.

Back at VINCENT’S BEAST VESSEL, Cat wakes up blindfolded and tied to a chair. Like me, she seems to understand Vincent’s state of mind and tries to gain his trust. Vincent is still sceptical about the whole “epic love” story. For Vincent, the big question is no longer “who am I?” At the moment he is more concerned with knowing WHO CAT IS! He acknowledges showing up at her rooftop was reckless and stupid. You can tell he is having a hell of a struggle with the whole thing. He just wants to be a good mercenary beast and get his next assignment done but Cat and her HEARTBEAT keep getting in the way! Cat points out that kidnapping her may have been an attempt to “connect” on his part. Vincent is not budging and he yells NO MORE QUESTIONS. So Cat starts making her case. She knows about him and if she wanted to burn him, she would have already. She also says he would be able to know if she was lying. And now… that actually makes sense. But I don’t think it is the “logic” that gets to Vincent, I think in the end he acts on instinct. And his instinct is that she is telling the truth.  

AT THE PRECINCT Tess is hoping Cat isn’t dead and she is just “connecting with her amnesiac boyfriend”. And she is… if by “connecting” you mean “getting kidnapped”… Cat sure seems to think they are synonyms. Gabe kinda blows Tess’s theory by telling her about CARLOS THE KINGPIN and the fake ID Vincent used to get into Rikers. He is clearly a Beast on a mission and Cat is probably not connecting… YET.

Now... that's how you pull a chair

Meanwhile, Vincent is trying to get his beast mercenary prep done, but he can hardly think over the sound of Cat’s HEARTBEAT. He gets up and rather nicely offers Cat some water for her motion sickness… Aw. I know… he still has her tied to a chair… but still… AW. Cat says water is fine but “acupressure” is better. She also takes the opportunity to mention V is good with “pressure points” [because of the whole pressure to faint thing…but she totally had other things in mind when she said it]. Vincent totally falls for it and unties her. He sits on the couch and PULLS HER CHAIR. OK, now I need to stop for a while to catch my breath. And I know for anyone who was just reading this, they wouldn’t get it… but man, I’ve never been more turned on by someone pulling a damn chair! Totally irrelevant parenthesis over.

Vincent apologizes for yelling at her and confesses that if she hadn’t been looking for him, he would have showed up eventually because there is a “pull”. He also admits kidnapping her may have been an excuse to spend some time with her. And yes, the whole thing was almost too hot to handle. The scene was so charged, in the best possible way. I thought the acting/chemistry was superb [as usual], but also the dialogue. Finally, they start talking about the famous Turkey and avocado sandwich and he offers to make her something to eat. And it is SUPER SWEET. It’s incredible how Vincent went from menacing to adorable in the span of 3 scenes and it was ABSOLUTELY 100% believable!

Meanwhile, JT is not the kind of guy who lets good food go to waste, so he is eating Cat’s picnic as he tracks her phone. He is caught with his hand in the picnic basket by Tess. They argue about the morality of beast hunting for a bit and then Tess starts looking for Cat’s car GPS password. That is why you don’t kidnap someone USING THEIR OWN CAR! Seriously… if you are gonna spend so much money on creating mercenary beasts; at the very least train them on some crime committing basics! Gee…

While Vincent prepares a sandwich and talks about 90s pop culture, he explains he remembers facts but has no personal memories. They did that to make him a “better soldier”. Cat asks the obvious question “SOLDIER FOR WHAT”? Not successfully kidnapping cops, that’s for sure. He avoids the question by asking Cat about their first date. Cat gives him the lowdown on their non-traditional relationship. She talks about the secrecy, the rooftop and how he tried to push her away but she wouldn’t have it. And she’s got him… you can actually see his walls coming down. And I am sorry… whoever said their “chemistry” was gone this season I really don’t get it because I thought this scene/episode was oozing chemistry! Also… I think chemistry is something that either is there or it is not. Can’t be created or destroyed [it can only be transformed?]. They could be playing archenemies instead of a couple and the chemistry would still be there.

TOTALLY BELIEVABLE

Anyway, Vincent stops making the sandwich and moves on to his next question… about their first kiss. Cat tells the story as he moves closer. She tells him she was hoping re-experiencing some things might trigger his memories. So Vincent is all “Sounds like a solid theory let’s give it a go” and he leans in to kiss her. She asks if he “remembers anything” a couple of times and he answers “no”. It starts a little pushy but then it becomes hot… like he is just shaking his head in order to keep kissing her. He also looks like he is being hit by every imaginable emotion, which is great. Finally Cat proclaims “You know? we did more than just kiss” and she doesn’t need to tell him twice.

This goes above and beyond Stockholm Syndrome

JUMP CUT TO Later in the BEAST LOVE BOAT. Vincent and Cat are lying in bed. He tells her if he knew what “picnic” actually meant he wouldn’t have jumped out of the roof. Cat asks… AGAIN if he remembered anything… and yeah, it stopped being hot and back to pushy. Not the right time. However, Vincent is all for the idea of giving it another go just in case. Unfortunately, they get interrupted by Vincent’s phone, probably the FBI calling him into action. They get out of bed and get dressed and then… Vincent TIES CAT BACK TO THE CHAIR! He does tell her he is just restraining her because he is afraid she would follow him and get hurt. And you know what? I believed him. I really think he tied her back to the chair to protect her.

At the PARKING LOT OF STOLEN KIDNAPPING VEHICLES, Tess is jealous because JT figured out Cat’s password [Nutty Professor] and not her. She probably feels bad after realizing Cat doesn’t trust her like she used to, but all she wants to do is protect her. I guess it’s still Cat, Vincent and JT against the world [little iffy with the Vincent part these days]. Anyway, through some solid detectiving [mostly on JT’s part], they find Cat’s location. Tess, who [unlike Vincent] has obviously watched Dexter, panics because finding someone’s cell phone by water “can only mean one thing”; and she is not talking about “gondoliering across the Hudson”. However, in all fairness, Cat’s activities were closer to a romantic gondola ride than to being murder. At that point, Gabe somehow manages to convince Tess and JT that it is a good idea for him to go alone to the boat. WTH? He doesn’t even give them any good reasons and they just agree! He must have some mystical lawyer persuasion powers or something because that made no sense whatsoever…

Gabe arrives at the boathouse just in time to watch a restrained Cat fall to the ground while trying to reach V’s computer. It’s pretty hilarious. Also hilarious, when Gabe goes up to the bedroom and realizes this kidnapping had a lot more “connecting” than your usual kidnapping. That is seriously taking Stockholm syndrome to the next level. Gabe unties Cat and they finally get to V’s computer [because he obviously didn’t think of taking it with him or locking it somewhere] and it is EXPOSITION TIME! Vincent created a fake internet profile [see kids, the internet is dangerous… the cute doctor can be a cute doctor beast] and he set a date with GINA GAROLO. She is related to JOE JOE GAROLO AKA Carlos the kingpin’s rival. Gabe suggests Vincent is a hired assassin and that Carlos hired him to kill Gina, which sort of made sense at the time.

So, Vincent meets Gina at a club. She and her girlfriends are more than pleased with how the internet date turned out. He asks her to go “somewhere” and she does what any hot-blooded woman would do and says “YES!” Vincent takes Gina to a private room but quickly realizes Cat is at the club because he hears her HEARTBEAT… and I will never get tired of that… EVER. Vincent confronts Cat and accuses her of being jealous. She is all “I am not jealous, I am just worried you are a hired assassin!” He doesn’t take it well [and yes, he was a little mean].

And now it is time for: THE BEAST OF THE WEEK. And yes, in case you were wondering… it is almost as annoying as the CASE OF THE WEEK last year [and lasts for about the same number of eps… maybe less].  This week we have:

NAMELESS DRUGLORD FAMILY HUNTING BEAST… I am gonna call him “CARTEL BEAST” 

Mission: Kill druglord relatives and get paid by other druglords. Whatever happened to good old fashion cartel assassins? They worked just fine on Breaking Bad… unless you count Tuco… and the cousins…       and those guys in the finale… OK, maybe they do need beasts.

So… Cartel Beast is hitting on Gina, but he is nowhere near as hot as Vincent, so he is not having much success. Gina is basically trying to get rid of him before V gets back… and correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t the beast had PLENTY of time to just KILL HER THEN AND THERE? These beasts are seriously bad killers! They need to borrow Tess’s Dexter DVD box set. Anyway, while Cartel Beast is unsuccessfully flirting with Gina, instead of… you know KILLING HER; Gabe enters the room and flashes his badge [from the District Attorney’s office? Why does Gabe have a badge? He is a FREAKING LAWYER!]. Gabe tells Gina to get out because he thinks Vincent is trying to kill her, so the COMPLETE STRANGER BEAST offers to take her to the BACK ALLEY and Gabe is all “OK”. And that is why he ISN’T a cop! [and shouldn’t have a badge].

As expected, CARTEL BEAST attacks Gina, Vincent-the-beast-slayer knocks him out, Gina runs, they beast fight… Vincent kills the nameless beast and Cat sees it. While Cat processes everything that happened [there are more beasts!] Vincent grabs the dead beast and takes the body with him! Aw… he is finally learning to cover his tracks after killing people…#progress #justnotintherightthingbutprogress.

What follows is one of my favourite scenes of the season and one of the first cute JT&T scenes. Tess finds JT at a bar and joins him for a drink. She very sincerely says she misses having her friend [Cat] to which JT replies “at least she knows who you are” and it is such a SAD moment. We have all been so focused on Cat losing Vincent that we didn’t give much thought to JT losing Vincent. He was a part of his life since they were little kids! He kept his secret for over a decade and yes, Cat loves Vincent; but JT does too. It’s a lovely scene as JT and Tess unexpectedly find some common ground and JT offers to share his tums… that’s a big deal! **SPOILER ALERT** After this scene I KNEW they were going to get them together. And I was completely against it at first… but was quickly converted, more on that later **END OF SPOILER

BACK AT THE PRECINCT Gina and his girlfriends will live to party another day. Gabe informs Cat that the going rate for a beast assassin is $7 billion [a little too much considering their considerable crime committing shortcomings]. Gabe is suggesting that Vincent may be owned by someone as well, but all Cat is hearing is that he saved Gina’s life.

Cat goes back to her APARTMENT and finds a note from Vincent that says “Roof” you know… like he used to, and it is super sweet… until it isn’t. Cat goes up to the roof and finds Vincent who is there to return her phone, take a rain check on the picnic and apologize for the whole kidnapping thing. Cat is all “no biggie, it was pretty hot as far as kidnappings go”. Everything seems to be going famously for our Beauty and our beast, until Cat [justifiably so] decides to ask some questions about his “employers” or rather “owners”. Now, I don’t blame Cat for wanting to know what is going on with him. But I also don’t blame amnesiac Vincent for not appreciating the suggestion that he is “owned” by someone. Vincent gets upset and in classic Cat fashion she pushes even further. Vincent deflects by basically calling Cat a one night stand, and now… that was rough, but I really don’t think he meant it… he was there to have a picnic for God’s sake! You don’t have picnics with one night stands. I think what happened here is that Vincent 2.0 started feeling like he was being careless and went into protective mode.

What follows is probably one of the most controversial scenes of the show. Cat keeps pushing as Vincent is clearly losing control. She grabs his arm and he turns around in beast mode shoving Catherine and sends her flying to the floor. He reverts to human form and it is clear that he regrets it the second it happened. But it was all that took to completely shake Catherine’s world and destroy the certainty that “he would never hurt her”. He apologizes and jumps out of the roof. A broken Cat goes to see Gabe and acknowledges that her beast is really a beast. I am not sure why she chose Gabe as her confidant… she didn’t really trust him at that point. I guess she thought Tess would get too protective and JT had a conflict of interests. Anyway END OF EPISODE.

So… I have complex feelings about that last Vincat scene [as everyone]. It was heart-breaking to watch for sure; however, I didn’t hate it as much as some people did. Let's be clear, I am NOT justifying what he did but...the reason for me not hating that scene is that I felt it had a purpose. Cat had been kidding herself, thinking that they could just pick up where they left off, regardless of the amnesia. So far… Vincent had the upper hand. He had the benefit of not remembering and therefore not caring [as much]. I think that situation was beginning to change, but Cat was still the one trying to convince him to trust her. This scene effectively reversed the roles. Suddenly it would have to be V making amends and winning her over. He would have to actively try to “remember” in order to be with her. It also established the dynamic for the rest of the season, where V needs to earn his humanity [and Cat] back. Finally, it made Cat come to the realization that this man is not the perfect man she lost. This is a dangerous man and her love would need to overcome that fact. It establishes a more extreme Beauty and the Beast scenario [which I thought was interesting]. So, as you can see… unlike many other scenes, I don’t think this one was useless. In fact it achieved a lot.

Having said that… it was very risky. I always loved that Vincent, almost by instinct was unable to hurt Cat and I sort of wished that had stayed true till the end. Still… I don’t think he meant to hurt her. The way I see it, it was the equivalent to normal people snapping and yelling something they regret later. He was not in control at that moment and this was probably the first time he was feeling such emotional turmoil since he was reprogrammed. In this context, while reproachable, I don’t think it was unforgivable. But… it was bound to upset people. Perhaps they could have found a middle ground, like Vincent hurting a third innocent party and Cat witnessing it… In any case, I don’t think this scene was meant to be taken lightly and I think there was a LOT at play that should be considered for both V and C.

I personally LOVED the episode. It was one of my favorites of the entire show [not just S2] and yes the last scene shocked me and broke my heart, but for me it didn’t take away from the wonderful episode.  

But I am sure everyone has thoughts about this! You are welcome to [respectfully] disagree in the comments.

 It would also be a good time to revised a post I wrote a while back about antiheroes on TV:

GO BE A BEAST

QUOTES

JT: Totally, undo three months of billion-dollar black-ops programming with a nice dinner. 

V: I can hear your heart beat/ C: Must be very annoying/ V: Distracting… 

JT: Looks like she is in 47 places in Manhattan alone [this was only for the ref] 

Cat: I think you said it because you wanted to protect me. I don’t think you actually wanted me to stay away/ V: I am sure I didn’t 

Tess: Yeah, he is probably gondoliering her around the Hudson! 

Gabe: In my former life I used to be cool

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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