RECAP: Beauty and the Beast – S3E12 – Sins of the Fathers

Older women, younger Beasts

Just another day in Vincat’s life… which means they have to worry about all the usual stuff: protecting V’s secret beast identity, single-handedly saving NYC, stopping the vendetta of the supernatural killer, etc etc. However, there is a new issue for them to worry: BEAST LONGEVITY. As we learned on the last episode, Beasts are like whales [or turtles] and can live for centuries. Cat is not taking this new development very well and she is already envisioning herself as an old lady with a very good looking young beast. Could be worse, Cat... but I get it.

As for Liam, the new plan is to apprehend him, NOT kill him. I am all for this plan, since I love Liam, but Vincat certainly changed their tune. The reason they want a less lethal option is that – at some point between last week’s episode and now - they realised that Liam’s blood is magical or something. In other words, it can cure JT. Guess Liam is like Klaus Mikaelson and werewolves’ bites? Come to think of it Liam is a lot like Klaus… [Manipulative, vindictive, hung up on ancient family history, wanting to force supernatural bromances/army of minions, etc etc].

Anyway, speaking of JT…. He is busy having a dream sequence about playing professional hockey… wait… that is NOT a dream sequence. It’s actually happening. Strange, I know. But kind of made sense in the end. Tess has made it her mission to check items off JT’s bucket list. One of which was apparently hockey… [I would have guessed something more along the lines of smoking cigars with William Shatner]. In any case, JT appreciates what Tess is doing. However, what he truly wants is to spend his maybe-last-days-on-earth helping Cat and Vincent catch Liam. Because that’s what JT is all about: Being the best side-kick ever.

Meanwhile, Vincent gets a VIP referred patient at the hospital. It is Helen Ellingsworth. She is there because her “brother” Liam spoke very highly of Dr. Keller. Naturally she is shocked when V tells her that her brother ancestor is poisoning her with Thallium. Helen doesn’t believe him, but he is determined to save her life nonetheless. Unfortunately, Liam’s plan was to murder Helen and then make it look like Vincent accidentally killed her by prescribing the wrong treatment. It’s quite brilliant, I have to admit. Liam is quite Machiavellian.  

But the question is… why would Liam want Helen dead? Well… he wanted a funeral that would congregate all the Ellingsworths in one convenient location – a church - where they could be blown up all at once. Liam is pragmatic.

Since Vincent and Cat need Liam alive [and V can’t kill him anyway], their new plan is to erase his memory. Because if you can’t remember who you hate, you can’t have a murderous vendetta… For this plan to work they need:

1. One kidnapped beast – Done thanks to the magical BeaStone whose properties and reach keep changing from episode to episode. I usually have tracking logic issues, but this week I had GEM LOGIC ISSUES.
2. Chemicals that can be easily obtained at a university lab – Hmmm that seems way too easy! Even Cocacola has a more mysterious formula than this beast erasing concoction!
3. One morally ambiguous daddy with experience in beast memory erasing – Since Wentworth Miller is busy being Captain Cold, V has to take care of this prison break on his own.

So daddy Bob begins the process of erasing Liam’s memory while wearing JT’s shirt [everyone wants to wear that shirt]. Since Liam is getting some memory work done, he misses Helen’s funeral, but thanks to a conveniently pre-written eulogy, Vincat realise that he was planning to blow up the church. They arrive to the church just in time to stop the second bomb and save the Ellingsworth family.

Unfortunately, while Vincat were at the church Liam has a… less than ideal reaction to Daddy Bob’s memory therapy. Bob manages to make Liam forget about his vendetta against the Ellingsworth, but that only ignites his revenge desire against Alistair and Rebecca [which should have been the original vendetta in the first place… way more interesting]. To top that, the gem suddenly stops working [or wasn’t there in the first place?]. Liam manages to free himself and kills Daddy Bob in the process! No! But I guess that’s what happens to all good morally ambiguous TV dads… they get killed by beasts, blow themselves up inside caves with immortal psychos and take bald kids to undetermined points in a hostile future….  

R.I.P daddy Bob! You will be missed!

Not much happens after that [or perhaps I was too busy crying]. Liam escapes to plan his new vendetta, JT uses Liam’s blood to cure himself [when did they get the blood?] and Cat shares her concerns about Beast longevity with Vincent. I personally think V would totally be like Ioan Gruffudd in Forever and stand by Cat until she is in her 70s, but this new development certainly raises the stakes and brings a series of new conflicts.

I really liked this episode, one of my favorite of the season so far. I am now keeping my fingers crossed, wishing they don’t kill Liam in the finale because it is the best thing that happened to this show since S1!

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