RECAP: Beauty and the Beast – Season 2 Episode 13– Till Death

The lovely orphan black beast bones

Catherine and Tess discover that being a cop is hard when none of them is sleeping with the boss. In the meantime, JT decides to embrace the cheese factor again, but learns that solved cases are much more romantic than balloons. Also, Vincent realizes he is still in love with Catherine and shows it by becoming Gabe’s cheerleader… yes, it is a bit confusing.

Instead of going to Starbucks like any normal person, Cat starts her day by going to the BEAST DUNGEON… I need a catchy name for this place… “The Golden Eye Chambers” “Beagonstone” “The Beast catacombs” … I’ll get there. Anyway, Cat sees someone lurking in the shadows. She points her gun at the intruder, but turns out it is just Gabe. I know Gabe was trying to be sweet [and spend time with Cat]… but surprising someone inside a dungeon with fancy coffee is seriously creepy, don’t you think?

On top of bringing food items to an unsanitary location, Gabe thinks wooing a woman at inside a dungeon is appropriate [and/or romantic]. He asks Cat out on a date the following Saturday. Gabe’s invitation triggers a sudden flashback of the night he ABDUCTED AND TERRORIZED her. Good… I was seriously beginning to think Cat had amnesia regarding that night! But seriously, how could she ever get over THAT! Vincent’s kidnapping was sexy from the get go… Gabe’s, on the other hand, was something like The Shinning meets Supernatural [not the foreplay kind of kidnapping…] Cat gets so nervous she spills her coffee and it starts dripping somewhere below. So looks like there is a secret chamber below the secret underground dungeon…

Cat confronts Sam about the secret room and he claims he doesn’t know anything about it. Dana just wants to find the link between Tony Barnes and Frank Darnell; but she is busy planning her vow renewal ceremony. Sam invites Cat to the party on the following Saturday, which happens to be “Valentine’s day”. Cat freaks out when she realizes she inadvertently agreed to spend Valentine’s with Gabe [And he didn’t even arrange for a flashmob beforehand! How lame…] Cat is all “Gabe probably didn’t realize” and Dana is all “nope he in luuuv with you”. For some reason, I always wanted Dana to acknowledge Cat and Vincent had some “unresolved” sexual tension. I mean… it was pretty obvious and Dana is a profiler! So I was disappointed that she never picked up on that [instead she mentioned Gabe like EVERYBODY else].

After going to a dungeon, having breakfast with long lost archaeologists and NOT stopping by Starbucks, Cat finally shows up at work. The new boss is tearing the “chick team” a new one and he is not afraid to be politically incorrect. In summary, Cat and Tess aren’t closing enough cases, which sounds about right. However… remember when just a few weeks ago  they were the “best detectives”? Guess things aren’t as easy when their boss is not in love with either of them. In synthesis, they need to get more cases closed or get fired. Cat has too much dungeons-and-beasts-drama to worry about her precarious job situation, but Tess takes it pretty hard. Coming from a family of cops she can’t even contemplate the shame of being fired. Cat’s solution is to call Vincent and ask him to take care of the Tony Barnes case so they can focus on the NYPD cases. Cat also thinks it would be a good way to “distract Vincent”. She could just stop by and distract him with her heartbeat… but whatever.

At the HOUSEBOAT JT buys a secret Valentine present for Tess while Vincent wallows… in his robe. I hate that robe… I’ll give him a pass because he is supposed to be depressed and nothing screams depressed like a gigantic robe. But this is my one ROBE-PASS and all you get from me is ONE. JT is all “your girlfriend just died it’s OK to feel bad” and Vincent is all “Forget about that I am depressed because I ‘belong with Catherine’ … even Tori said so…” JT is shocked [by Tori’s dying epiphany] and I am a little shocked too [by V’s reaction]. OK… So… Tori is GONE, which makes me feel like I should be doing a happy dance on top of my dinner table. I definitely didn’t need an entire episode of Vincent mourning her and bringing her up every minute; but… if you think about it… she did just die and Vincent is CLEARLY just thinking about Catherine.

Regardless, I really can’t take more Tori. Not even the mention of her… so I welcome the insensitivity I guess. Unfortunately, Vincent tells JT that he is not going to honor Tori’s DYING EPIPHANY because he puts Cat in danger blah blah best thing he can do is “stay away from her”. So… we are back to frustrating S1 martyr behavior I see… he REALLY is back to his old self! Oh… Vincent. Take off that robe and remind us of why we love you…

Right on cue, Cat arrives at the houseboat. She updates Vincent on the Tony Barnes situation and asks if he is OK. JT tries to subtly let Cat know he is TOTALLY over Tori. Vincent listens while he eats a sandwich… OK, so I know “eating a sandwich” is not particularly relevant… but he was eating the hell out of that sandwich. I can only imagine how many sandwiches he ate throughout all the takes. Anyway… since Cat will be busy with work, Vincent agrees to take care of the Tony Barnes affair [alone]. However, things get more complicated when they find out Sam was just attacked at his apartment.

At DANA’S APARTMENT, Vincent tends to Sam’s wounds. Sam gets all paranoid and wants full security for their VOW RENEWAL CEREMONY. He suggests Cat, Tess and Vincent could be the “meaningful security team”. He also wants JT there… because sharing a dungeon is a bonding experience? Dana reminds Sam that Cat has Valentine’s plans and Vincent can’t hide his disappointment when he hears that. Aw... Catherine agrees to provide security because she loves to put herself in awkward situations [and she was probably feeling the pressure of Valentine’s with Gabe].

Cat calls Gabe to tell him that, instead of a romantic date next Saturday, they are on bodyguard duty with her ex. In turn, Gabe lies to Cat about being in his apartment. He is actually in a shady convenience store giving cash to a  Mexican-looking guy. That’s got to be a drug deal! Right? A lot of things went through my mind at that point; my favorite conspiracy theory involved Gabe getting some underground illegal drug that was keeping his beast at bay. But it wasn’t anything that exciting…  

In any case, Gabe keeps deflecting Cat’s questions and he doesn’t seem particularly interested in helping with the investigation. In his defense, guys are usually REALLY BAD at multitasking. Cat gets suspicious because she has trust issues [AS SHE SHOULD]. Nevertheless, I don’t think Vincent is necessarily the root of her distrustful nature. I mean… her mom was a beast-making doctor who worked for a secret evil organization, her dad wasn’t her dad and her bio dad was in a rogue mission to exterminate a posthuman species! Let’s not blame it all on the beast…

BACK AT BEAGONSTON [yeah I am sticking with that one for lack of a better idea], Cat runs into Vincent. He looks nervous and in pain. I guess it is not so easy to “stay away from Catherine” when the universe keeps pulling them together. It’s clear he doesn’t know how to be around her anymore… which is sort of sweet [and sad]. In addition, he can’t say “no” to her so he reluctantly agrees to come to the vow renewal.

Suddenly, Cat starts rambling about Gabe and his suspicious behavior. Vincent is probably blinded by his desperation to do good by Cat; because, instead of taking the opportunity to remind Cat of all the bad things Gabe did, he goes out of his way to defend him. Basically, Vincent doesn’t want to be the reason Catherine can’t trust anyone, but … come on… it is Gabe! She HAS reasons to distrust him! Either way; unlike the opening scene [which was just creepy], this dungeon Vincat scene was very sweet and even kind of hot. Lesson: dungeons can be sexy too [who knew?]. After a while, Vincent finds the entrance to the secret chamber, which turns out to be an incineration room, where they find a bunch of bones… OK back to creepy now.

JT analyzes the bones and comes to the conclusion that Frank Darnell [and/or Tony Barnes] was experimenting on humans and then killing the unsuccessful subjects. At that point, Tess arrives and starts bitching about her “secret admirer” who made her look like a “girl” in front of her boss with an ostentatious balloon bouquet. Unfortunately, Tess doesn’t share Vincent’s excitement for balloons. Aw… poor JT, he had good intentions. A discreet box of chocolates was probably a better idea, but you know JT… he embraces the cheese factor! Anyway, in her desperation, Tess made Sam’s case official NYPD business. Out of the blue, Cat suspects Sam is lying because burnt bones are supposed to be smelled or something…

Cat takes Sam in for questioning… with Vincent. OK, how is bringing a random civilian to an official interrogation professional cop behavior? “Hey boss… this is not an official consultant or anything… he is my ex, who was legally dead until a few weeks ago… Also, he was a murder suspect at one point… And did I mention he actually killed a bunch of people? But he is a human lie-detector so it is OK” And they wonder why their jobs are in jeopardy… In the end, Sam confesses to helping Frank with the experiments [wasn’t he an archaeologist?]. Faulty beasts were cremated. Sam didn’t know the victims, but he conveniently remembers one name: “Clara”. Also, there was a man who frequently visited the dungeon and Sam IDs him as Gabe! I completely believed him at that point.

After wrapping up the interrogation, Vincent tries to ease Cat’s worries while she looks for the mysterious “Clara”. Vincent tells Cat he didn’t “sense” anything suspicious about Gabe. In his words: Compared to him Gabe is a “choir boy”. My unfiltered first thought was: “You sure ain’t a choir boy, and thank God for that!” But, all jokes aside… how is Gabe a Saint all of the sudden? Let’s do a little compare and contrast analysis, shall we?

VINCENT (not that much of a "beast")	GABE (not a choir boy)
Killed evil scientists, out of control beasts and criminals	Killed random carriage drivers, innocent [and not so innocent] witnesses and his parents!
Shoved Cat in the heat of the moment, gave her a bruise and then felt AWFUL about it	Threw Cat across a courtyard and never gave it a second thought
Enlisted in the army after his brothers died	His girlfriend died and he didn't notice
Gently kidnapped Cat, gave her water, made her a sandwich and then had [consensual] sex with her.	Kidnapped Cat at gun point, locked her inside a room, attacked her in beast mode, almost killed her

I could go on… Cat finds three missing Claras. One is a thirty-something woman, one is 87 year old lady and they never mention the third Clara; so I am going to assume she was a clairvoyant in Chile. Vincent points out that an “octogenarian beast” is probably not Barnes’s endgame… but if it was… they would HAVE to cast Betty White… right? Or Maggie Smith! [Please dreamcast your male or female Octogenarian beast in the comments! I am serious…]

But BACK TO THE EPISODE. Cat has another mini freak-out about Gabe and Vincent calms her down [again]. Am I the only one who thought that scene was very hot? I wouldn’t have been surprised if they started making out; but instead, Cat identifies the right missing Clara. Turns out she was in the same orphanage as Gabe. Seriously how is everyone NOT accusing Gabe at this point? In addition, JT finds out that Gabe bought a ticket to Mexico [more drug alarms]. Vincent agrees to go search Gabe’s loft while Cat keeps him occupied.

Cat confronts Gabe. He confesses that he was planning a surprise romantic getaway to Mexico for Valentine’s day… and Cat believes him… just like that [Her trust issues sure went away quickly]. First of all, Mexico doesn’t exactly scream “Valentine’s day”, seems more appropriate for “spring break madness” or... well “drug deals”. Also… planning a trip to a foreign country with a girl you just started dating, without asking her first … kinda presumptuous, don’t you think?

While Cat goes on a gullibility fugue-state, Vincent raids Gabe’s loft and finds the MISSING BEAST SERUM! He goes to Catherine’s place where he finds her making out with Gabe. Seriously? That’s all it takes for Cat to get over some MAJOR red flags? A story about a trip? Did they even check if Gabe bought a ticket for her too? Whatever… Vincent grabs Gabe and violently pushes him against the wall. Gabe denies any beast-serum involvement and accuses Vincent of planting it. Cat immediately jumps to Vincent’s defense [at least she hasn’t lost all of her senses]. Gabe claims he is being set up and he gets really upset when he realizes Cat didn’t trust him and asked Vincent for help. Excuse me… but Gabe tried to KILL them in the past! I don’t see where he gets the moral high-ground to feel “betrayed” here. Before leaving, Gabe asks Vincent to tell Cat he is not lying. At least Cat seems to trust Vincent more than she trusts Gabe… but seriously, why get involved with someone you can’t even trust! WHY?

Back at the PRECINCT Tess frantically tries to close a case. Captain Ward congratulates her on the other case she closed [without even realizing it]. Turns out the Dean of the Biochemistry Department called personally to thank them for getting their particle analyzer back. Aw… JT got Tess a CLOSED CASE. That is SO MUCH BETTER than a banner!

Meanwhile Cat and Vincent come to the conclusion that it was Tony Barnes who framed Gabe. Vincent encourages Cat to talk to him and sort things out. Cat tells Vincent that she doesn’t know if she can get over what Gabe did, which is exactly the attitude she should have had all along! And… THIS was the moment when Vincent should have made a move! Cat was practically asking for it! But instead he says: “I gotta go”. He probably got scared of where the conversation was heading and decided to leave because “Catherine is better off without him” and all that crap. *Sighs* I just wish he had told her how he felt, that he still loved her but didn’t think he deserved her. That way, Cat would have had all the facts before deciding to start a relationship with Gabe.

While Cat investigated her murky love life, Tess was doing some actual police work. She found one of Sam’s attackers and discovered he just got an order to “terminate” him.  Cat goes to Sam and Dana’s and gets an unexpected sob story. Get your Kleenex box ready. Sam and Dana had a son who died of leukemia when he was 9 years old. His illness was the reason Sam got so involved in clinical trials [seriously, wasn’t he an archaeologist?] and he started submitting the kid to experimental treatments until one of them killed him. Aw… that is sad. So they just want to use the vow renewal ceremony as a way to honor their son and what they went through as a couple. Aw…

Vincent becomes obsessed with clearing Gabe’s name because he feels responsible for Cat’s inability to trust people. He feels he inadvertently sabotaged “Cabe” and wants to make it right [because he is a misguided selfless martyr]. However, he admits he was “so happy” when Cat told him she didn’t know if she could move forward with Gabe [because he is human!] JT says the obvious: “You still have feelings for her” Vincent replies with a quick and decisive “YES”. *Swoons* It’s hard to remember what Vincent did wrong in times like this…  JT tells Vincent this is the time to MAKE A MOVE and start wooing Cat. But Vincent is still in his self-deprecating mode and points out he is the source of all evil and trust issues blah blah…

Cat goes to Gabe’s loft to “grovel” by “bringing Mexico”. Why is Catherine apologizing to Gabe again? She had every reason to distrust him! And searching his apartment wasn’t nearly as bad as an abduction/attempted murder! Apparently, Cat’s new outlook on life is that Sam and Dana overcame adversity of the worst kind and she should be able to do the same... Yeah, that’s right Cat… WITH VINCENT! Who actually loves you and is not a psycho! [That’s always a plus]. Anyway, Vincent calls and informs them that all the bones belong to Gabe’s fellow orphans. Any chance the orphans were clones? Now that would have been cool… beast-clones [sorry got a little carried away by my sudden Orphan Black/BatB X-over fantasy!]

And time for an unforeseen case-solving revelation. Gabe suddenly remembers that Frank Darnell was part of a law suit involving a clinical trial. Sam was deposed on the same day so they had to know each other. Therefore Sam knew Frank wasn’t Tony Barnes, so he is most likely evil. After his conversation with Cat and Gabe, Vincent is bummed because he realizes his “window just closed”. He is obviously not aware that when a guy looks like him no window is ever closed! Ever…

At the GENTLEMEN’S CLUB they come to the conclusion that Sam may be planning to fake his own abduction and flee to Canada. They can’t legally charge him with anything yet, so they need to catch him in the act. In order for this plan to work, Sam has to think Gabe was successfully framed. Therefore, Cat needs another date for the party. They all turn to Vincent. Funny how no-one thought of JT; it is not like he was going “officially” with Tess. And why did Cat need a “date” after all? She wasn’t even a guest guest, she was there to provide security. But I am overthinking this. Vincent in a suit… let’s remember what really matters.

HARRISON: TOWN OF ETERNAL LOVE AND FAKE MURDER ATTEMPTS. Cat and Vincent arrive at the party looking gorgeous, of course, which prompts JT to proclaim they look like “Brangelina”. That was the corniest line ever… but the way Austin said it made me laugh a lot. Vincent goes outside to sense stuff, because flowers are like beast kryptonite or something. I have to say… that winter formal attire was really working for Vincent... The coat, the leather gloves… yeah, so much better than a bathrobe! Anyway, Vincent starts following a beep to a basement and Gabe follows him. The beep is obviously coming from a bomb, directly below the chapel.

Vincent takes off his coat [sadly stops there] and gets ready to get his hands dirty and disable the bomb [like a man]. Meanwhile, Gabe tries to weasel his way out of the mess. Gabe concludes they need to let the bomb explode. Sam needs to believe he died with everyone thinking he was the bad guy. Of course, for this to work, Vincent would have to “save him”. In the end, Gabe decides to put his life in Vincent’s hands. What was interesting about this scene was how differently these two men reacted in a crisis. Vincent can’t help taking on the role of “savior” while Gabe immediately turns to deception. After agreeing on the new plan, they go back inside. Gabe starts the charade and takes Sam away. Meanwhile Vincent tells everyone about the bomb and literally sweeps Dana away.

Gabe confronts Sam. He doesn’t say anything back but has the best “evil mastermind” expression plastered on his face. Gabe leaves the room and Sam triggers the bomb. He runs into the chapel and finds Catherine. He is all “Where is Vincent? He was supposed to save me! He promised!” Vincent finally shows up, grabs them both and jumps out of the window just as the bomb goes off [group self-defenestration].

Cat talks to Dana inside the squad car and informs her that they won’t arrest Sam. They want him to believe his plan was successful so he leads them to the real Tony Barnes. Dana says she can’t go on pretending she doesn’t know of his betrayal. Cat offers her to go into witness protection and Dana accepts, which is sad because I liked her a lot. So Dana leaves for good, but not before uttering a statement about Sam that applies to Cat’s life [like they used to do on S1]: “I was so focused on who he had been that I couldn’t see who he had become”. Very on the nose, but it was meaningful and true. However…  I think Vincent is finally back to a version of “who he was”. He is not exactly the same man, but his essence is back to where it belongs. Sadly, I don’t think Cat is ready to fully accept that yet.

Vincent finds Gabe hiding from Sam in the garden. He gives him some advice on playing dead [+ dining & wining Cat dead-man-style]: “Home gym” [God bless that home gym] + “a collection of decent takeout menus because Catherine doesn’t mind eating in” [Aw]. Vincent apologizes to Gabe for breaking into his loft and FINALLY Gabe says he should be the one apologizing for… you know TRYING TO KILL HIM! This conversation was probably the only honest “making amends” act Gabe ever did… but then again, who knows if he actually meant it! I kind of believed he was sincere at the time… and I actually really liked that scene [it was probably part of my “Oh my God, everyone can act” excitement during this entire episode]. The reason I thought Gabe’s apology to Vincent may have been sincere is that he didn’t get anything in return. Cat wasn’t listening and Vincent’s forgiveness wasn’t something he craved. Still… I always thought Gabe had a secret agenda… even if part of him was genuinely regretful.

While Gabe tries to find Catherine, Vincent talks to JT. Once again he mentions that he doesn’t deserve Catherine and he would only harm her [He doesn’t feel worthy! Aw]. JT tries to get it through his thick head that he is a deserving person who saves people even when they don’t deserve to be saved (Gabe e.g.). Vincent acknowledges that he is finally back to “doing the right thing” but that doesn’t erase the fact that he betrayed Cat and made her suffer. He says he “loves her” enough to let her be with someone who deserves her. All incredibly selfless and sweet, but HOW IS GABE DESERVING? This would all work wonderfully if Cat was dating a super nice guy who never tried to kill her… but Gabe just ruins the purpose of Vincent selflessness. Either way… Aw. JT tries to convince him to win her back but they are interrupted by Tess’s arrival. Vincent makes himself scarce to give them some privacy.

Tess tells JT she “didn’t hate the chocolates”. And this is a good tip for guys: No matter what a girl says I think we all like to get gifts. Tess also says that giving her a “closed case” is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her. And to show her gratitude, Tess decided to get a room at the inn! Wow… that was bold. I think JT would have been thrilled with a coffee date, but good for him, I guess.

Inside Gabe and Cat make up. Gabe tells her he has been making “grand gestures” (trip to Mexico, coffee, banners… ) to overcompensate for the “horrible things he did”. I don’t think any gesture could be big enough to make up for what Gabe did [+ coffee ain’t even a big gesture!]. Cat tells him that he doesn’t have to apologize [like hell he does] because he is a different person now. No matter how I look at this, I can’t find a way to be OK with it. If Cat is into being with someone who is reformed… why not be with the reformed man she actually loves?! None of this works because they forced a relationship that just couldn’t be due to past events. They NEEDED a new character to fulfill the role of Cat’s temporary love-interest.

Also, I think they ruined Gabe as a character with this arc. I actually liked Gabe [and Sendhil], but he was meant to fulfill the villain/morally ambiguous role. He was wasted for the most part of this season playing the “nice [?] guy making amends”. They kept forcing it, it didn’t work and the character turned into something way less interesting than it could have been. As for Cat, I go back to my initial hypothesis that she got scared upon realizing how dependent she was on Vincent. She wanted to prove that she can “exist” and “be happy” without him because he could be gone at any time. I think most of Cat’s actions were a result of fear [of how much it broke her to lose Vincent]. Anyway… Cat kisses Gabe, and of course Vincent sees them. Vincent walks away alone and heart-broken. END OF EPISODE.

I didn’t hate this episode, I enjoyed parts of it, didn’t understand parts of it and felt indifferent towards others. Overall I enjoyed it well enough, structure wasn’t bad and I though some lines of dialogue were particularly funny. I could even take the heart-break since I think it is an important part of the journey… HOWEVER, as I said many times before, the choice of boyfriend for Cat diminishes everything they were trying to do with this storyline [and it hurts the characters]. But TV is like life… can’t always get what you want.   

QUOTES

Sam: You’ve heard the name “Frank” before

Chief X: Maybe he was afraid to criticize the “chick-team” ‘cause it is not “PC”

Vincent: I like balloons.

JT: So this is what love looks like / (…) Tess: This is what needing a green card looks like

Gabe: You will save me, right?

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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