RECAP: Beauty and the Beast – S3E10 – Patient X

Here's … Liam!

In what is becoming a tradition of season 3, the episode starts with Vincent and Catherine going over the latest developments of the show their life. Eh… that’s what the “Previously on Beauty and the Beast” bit is for! But OK… At least this scene was kind of sweet [but not exposition-free]. In summary, Cat is feeling guilty for momentarily walking away from her “responsibility” to fight evil. Vincent tries to calm her savior identity crisis by telling her that “he relies on her” and it is OK for her to “rely on him” from time to time too [raise your hand if you want to ‘rely’ on him really badly]. In other words, we can count on at least one half of Vincat being on “world saving duty” at all times… Thank you?

Whatever the case, JT is not so happy about having to rely on others to keep him safe. He doesn’t like being in protective custody [where the hell is Heather BTW? Did she get kidnapped and no-one noticed?] and he is still obsessing about WHY Liam wants to kill him. Seriously, if a psycho supernatural killer with tailored suits was after me, I wouldn’t get hung up on the whys and worry more about HOW I am going to survive. But that’s just me… I guess JT can’t go against his scientist impulses. Per V’s suggestion, JT gives Alton  (SPARKY) a call. It looks like they became BFFs while we weren’t looking [they are former-serum-enhanced-blood-brothers after all… but didn’t Alton tried to kill JT, not solong ago? JT got over that pretty fast]. Unfortunately, Alton can’t shed any light on Liam’s motives. He is just happy to – you know – BE ALIVE!

Meanwhile, Liam is looking positively sinister and posing as a Doctor. He approaches a sweet sick old lady and offers to ease her pain. That’s… nice, I suppose. Not so nice, ending her suffering by blowing up the room! But Liam is not killing random grannies for the fun of it [he is not THAT crazy]. What he really wanted was to kill Alton, who was in the next room. Aw… I really liked Sparky… Technically he was killed by a spark… kinda fitting. With Alton gone, JT is the only [known] remaining target. So you’d think he would be suspicious when he gets an unexpected call to go to the university, but no… JT has not learned his lesson. Seriously… last time somethinglike this happened he ended up in a dungeon! Luckily, Vincent has finally developed some trust issues and points out that it could be a trap. So Vincent goes to the university and pretends to be JT. He does this by putting on glasses, a hat and a flannel shirt… And… I can’t cope with the cuteness… like seriously, I can’t. I don’t have anything clever to say about this… so I’ll just give everyone a minute to relive this moment on your mind *sighs*… Here are some visual aids:

In the end, Vincent’s disguise only gets him a close encounter with a student who got paid $100 to walk in on Professor Forbes. So… they were outsmarted by Liam? I got a bit confused here [I need someone to CLARIFY]. Was Liam’s plan to lure V away so he could attack JT at the guild? But V was not even at the guild… so why bother? Also… Liam’s team already raided the guild so… why didn’t Liam get there any sooner? Am I missing something here? In any case… they decide to move JT to a “safehouse” [read filthy motel] where he gets the NYPD VIP treatment: the 125^th division Captain as his own personal bodyguard.

After the failed HUDSON UNIVERSITY operation, Vincent and Catherine split up to investigate in their own ways. Cat comes up with a new theory that involves Julianna’s “Patient X” [Patients zero, patients X are always the key, why didn’t they start there?] She finds a John Doe in Queens who could be the elusive patient and decides to pay him a visit. In the meantime, Vincent tracks Liam. Well… he doesn’t exactly “track” him. He CHANNELS him, which is basically the same B.S., except his “channeling visions” have sound and are full of pikinsh auras. Great [I say with a LOT of sarcasm].

Vincent and Catherine end up at the same place [don’t they always?]: Patient X’s apartment. OK… so V tracked, channelled or whatever Liam there. That makes sense. But how did Cat find Patient X? Did she google search “John Doe’s home address”? Did he check into the hospital with a fake name but an accurate address? Did she get lucky and followed a random dude from the hospital? I can’t believe the “tracking” explanation is the most logical one here. Anyhow… let’s see who Patient X really is:

“SUPERNATURAL” BEING OF THE WEEK: “Patient X” – AKA Russel  (Julianna’s baby bro)

Origin story: He injected himself with the serum

Powers: Highly poor judgement [seriously, that’s all he can do]

Code name: Ineffective Martyr

But there is no time to bond with Russel [or get attached to him] because Liam placed a bomb in his closet! The three of them manage to escape. Vincent begins “channeling” Liam again and Cat brings Russel to the precinct to keep him safe. But that lasts for like 5 minutes, because Russel decides to get himself caught by Liam. His reasoning is that 1) he is dying anyway and 2) If he acts like bait, he might help V and C to catch Liam. Mmmm they already had a target [JT] out there… so what was the point of Russel joining him? Not the brightest crayon I the box, this one…

So Russel ends up at the abandoned Brewery where JT&T have been hiding [and rekindling their romance]. My question here is: In what universe is an abandoned brewery in Staten island considered a “safe place”? Let’s assume they were more concerned about staying away from civilians than keeping JT safe, because – come on – it’s like they wanted to get murdered.Liam arrives not long after Russel and does his thing: bomb the place while looking cool and badass. Vincent and Catherine arrive just as the bomb goes off and he is having some anger management issues. What started as “a [sexy man on a mission] turned into obsessive and blood-thirsty. At the Brewery, Vincent even yells at Cat for no good reason. Cat is all “do not tell me that all my sanctimonious speeches were there for nothing Mister!” But they can’t get into an argument because JT&T are still running for their lives. So, Vincent follows Liam’s trail and they finally end up face to face.

They fight, Vincent beasts out and then… “surprise surprise” Liam beasts out as well! [OK, V was more surprised than anyone… because seriously we all knew Liam-beast was a strong possibility, didn’t we?]. They fight for a while but then declare it a “beast draw” or a beast cease fire or whatever and Liam makes an exit. But in his own words: “This changes everything” dun dun dun.

OK, some quick thoughts. Liam is awesome. Jason is awesome. This is the kind of villain I’ve been waiting for since the show started [he even wears a long black coat!] He had great delivery of one-liners and I am glad they made him a “beast”. That’s what the show is about after all. They already flirted with the supernatural spectrum in the early episodes and now they are going back to the show’s roots. I just wish Liam had been introduced sooner! [and saved us from all the faux/undefined villains]

BACK TO THE EPISODE

After Liam’s attack, Tess comes to terms with her feelings for JT. She realises that she loves him and wants to be with him, which  probably means she has to spend the next few months safe-house hoping. Heather is still missing without anyone noticing and Russel is dead… did I mention he died? Well he died… for nothing. A minute of silence for the poor ineffective martyr.

But now … It is time for the final Vincat scene... Cat arrives home and finds Vincent sulking on the couch. He apologises for his behaviour and confesses that having Liam around sent him on a primal downward-spiral of the beast kind. So basically, he reverted to early S2 Vincent. However, this Vincent remembers Cat and is fully committed to her. That only makes him hate himself for acting like a beast… like a “predator”. Cat is confident that he will be able to overcome his beast urges. They kiss and hug and it is a tender moment, but you can tell Vincent is terrified of what this might mean for him.

END OF EPISODE

I was quite pleased with this ep [even with the extreme lack of logic at points]. Maybe not one of my top eps but the arrival of Liam felt so refreshing. I also liked Vincat’s interaction towards the end [although it still had a bit too much exposition, but it did make me go “aw” which is always good].

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