Friday, July 22, 2016

Recap: BATB S4E8

Love is a Battlefield




Vincent decides to play "double agent" and even gets himself a partner named “Vaughn”, who is disappointingly not played by Michael Vartan. Meanwhile JT sits around and does stuff on his computer while realizing he doesn't want Tess to move on and Cat meets the new suit of the week... who is a woman. So at least they are going for gender equality [because suits don’t seem to be going for much else].

Welcome to the BatB-Universe, where watching the episodes is never enough and characters have to constantly talk about everything that has passed and will pass in an endless recapping loop. Why oh why do they keep explaining the plot?! That’s what the “previously on BATB” section is for! [I am starting to think that this recapping overload is almost as bad as in Shadowhunters A.K.A the worst show on Earth - yes, I hate-watch it. Yes, I’m ashamed].

Anyway, Vincent is still at Graydale [but Tahmoh is not- snif],  trying to become a Beast hunter but he has to prove his loyalty as a Graydale agent first. Basically, Vincent is knowingly working for the enemy, hoping to destroy them from the inside, while going on missions to retrieve rare random artifacts. In other words, V thinks he is Sydney Bristow [You didn’t think I’d make it through an entire season without Alias references, did you?].

On a related note, I still don’t quite get what Graydale Securities’ deal is. I am assuming they are some sort of “mercenaries for hire” type organisation with clients ranging from rich crooks to foreign governments. But… it is a bit unclear. Also… who the hell runs that company? Who is funding it? How does it operate under the radar? Vincent just walked through the front door and their HQ didn’t seem all that secret [They weren’t even masquerading as a bank!]

Elsewhere, looks like Tess is finally moving on, but not if Heather has anything to say about it. Since V is gone playing double agent and maybe-Evil-Kyle is not around, Heather needs a project. So getting JT & T back together is her new thing. Oh Heather… you should be spying on your boyfriend instead of focusing on the superfluous and repetitive C story of the week.

But back to the UNNECESSARY UNDERCOVER MISSION OF THE WEEK [yes, these are becoming a thing]. V is paired with a sexy Graydale operative named Vaughn [Seriously, that was her name]. Their mission: to recover two watches from some rich couple at a pool party. Oh, and they have to pretend to be married, because only married people can go to parties, I suppose. As far as spy missions go, this was kind of a bore.

Meanwhile, Cat has gotten acquainted with the GIRL SUIT OF THE WEEK. She is a DHS agent determined to catch Vincent [how original]. Their interaction is basically the same as it was with ALL the 500 previous suits of the week so I won’t bother to repeat it. What’s important here is that Girl Suit and Cat track down Vincent and crash the party to arrest him/warn him. Even with all their backup, the cops utterly fail. Girl suit is attacked by 90210-spy, while Cat is pushed to the pool by V in an attempt to “maintain his cover”. Because nothing says “I am over my wife” like pushing her into a pool.

Anyway, Vincent and Vaughn retrieve the magic watches and take them back to Graydale, A.K.A "BD-6" [BD stands for ‘Beast disparu” … someone will get this joke...]. Unfortunately Vaughn and her handler [or whoever that guy is supposed to be] are still unsure about Vincent’s loyalty. What does a beast need to do to prove his loyalty to a not-so-underground-evil-organization? Guess pushing cops into pools is not enough after all…

In summary, Vaughn is instructed to test V’s loyalty “one way or another”. Since this episode was one big fat cliche-fest, I was expecting Vaughn to try to seduce him. Luckily that didn’t happen. Her plan was simply to test him during the second part of their “spy mission” [if we can even call it that]. Basically, assassin and the beast use the magic twin watches to gain entrance to one of those high tech intelligent houses to steal… something [let’s face it, it doesn’t really matter]. Vaughn purposefully sets off a silent alarm so the security guard catches them in the act. She asks Vincent to kill the guard in order to prove his loyalty. And he does… for like 2 seconds. As soon as Vaughn is distracted, V goes into Macgyver mode and resurrects the guard with a homemade defibrillator. Someone said FLATLINING?

So, while V is backtracking on his latest unintentional murder, Cat arrives to the house and gets into a fight with Vaughn. The confrontation culminates with Vaughn falling onto her own knife. I guess Cat didn’t technically kill her [except she kinda did], but she is shockingly unaffected by it. Not that I was particularly attached to Vaughn, but still...  

Anyhow, at that point, Vincat can hear sirens approaching, so V escapes to “maintain his cover” [because a dead partner screams loyalty duh] and Cat returns to the DHS to maintain her cover. Vincent and Cat are the worst undercover agents ever and yet everyone seems to believe them. I feel this incredible need to send them an assorted DVD collection including The Americans, The Departed, Nikita and, yes of course, Alias.

The episode ends with a secret Vincat rendezvous in the tunnels, which was sort of sweet, but also incredibly stupid. I mean… how on earth did they get a bed down there? And why would they bring nice linens? Seriously…

Random Thoughts
  • The “femme fatale” plot was super lazy storytelling, in my opinion. At least Annalynne McCord can play a moderately convincing bitch which is much more than can be said about Amber.
  • If you think about it, Heather doesn’t get the best lines. However, Nicole really makes the most of every delivery. Good for her.
  • I have to say, even the stolen kisses moments are becoming old, because they happen 5 times per episode and are accompanied by the same dialogue every time “We can’t do this anymore” “But I am innocent” “We must find another way” “Love you blah blah”
  • At the intelligent house of unimportant missions, V sends Vaughn to check the elevator. I am assuming  he could hear Cat’s heart and knew it was her, so… not very nice to send an assassin after your wife, is it? Even if you need some space to resurrect someone. Guess we can take it as a vote of confidence on Cat’s skills?
  • Final Alias reference, I promise. The girl fight towards the end was almost like an Alias’s abridged best stunts. Think about it.. It started like a poor man’s version of the epic Syd/Francie fight from S2 finale and then ended like the Snowman fight [without the emotional impact]. Seriously, watch them and tell me if they are not similar.

9 comments:

  1. yeah..what u said....
    all i wanted is for it to end at a relatively high note but doesnt look like it at the moment..

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  2. I loved d ep thought was awesome I kno only way 6 more left so they had to cram it all in. As usual I love ur recaps I was laughing d whole time

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  3. You wrote "The episode ends with a secret Vincat rendezvous in the tunnels, which was sort of sweet, but also incredibly stupid. I mean… how on earth did they get a bed down there? And why would they bring nice linens? Seriously..."
    To which I want to add about 50 lit candles. The writers/producers never seem to get that Jay's and Kristin's chemistry together doesn't need any 'romantic' trimmings. A bit of uninterrupted bliss, that is all that is needed. If anything, the bits with flowers and candles etc is artificial romance, as if their love would need props.

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    1. haha true, but at least you could carry the candles in a backpack or smth, but how do you fit a bed through a series of tunnels? Like seriously, how?

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    2. Maybe they borrowed that bed from Liam's underground hideout. Liam had a bunch of old antique stuff down in the tunnels in 3x13.

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  4. I again found myself nodding in agreement while reading your review. Spot on, as always. Thanks xx

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  5. Laughing and totally nodding in agreement with all this...as I said in a previous review comment, it's becoming a game to count the plot holes now. To which I'd add: last week didn't The Beastmaster (aka Marc Singer, head of Greydal) say a flat no way to hiring V? Did I miss some explanation this week? And...the blonde DHS agt running the case barely trusts Cat, yet as soon as she's laid up in the hospital she basically puts Cat in charge.

    Also totally agree about the constant repetition...the character plot 'recaps' are as bad as a FOX reality show constantly show (for the uninitiated, after a commercial break the show abt 30 secs of what happened BEFORE the break, because obviously the audience forgot in those 3min)....Anyway, that and the endless "we've done crazy, but this is too crazy" lines (this season's version of "don't cross the line and lose yourself") is becoming a bit hard to take.
    I would love to know what KK & JR thought... the other actors were all actually much better off, they don't have the same lines over and over.

    I know it sounds like I hate the show this year, but I don't. I still love our characters and their interaction, and do enjoy some individual aspects of each ep. And the acting is, as always, top notch.
    I just wish the writing was better for them.

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  6. Me again. Looking forward to the review of the next ep... saw it here in Canada last night, & am going to put myself on the line by saying I thought it was FINALLY the ep we've needed for several weeks.
    There was still a bit of annoying repetition, BUT otherwise at the story was able to move forward and they actually addressed some of the consequences of what's been happening (or not happening) lately.

    PLEASE let the rest of the season continue this way!

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  7. Are VinCat actually holed up in Liam's old place and pretending to have a good time on his bed?? That's kinda morbid and not at all romantic! And yeah nice sheets are so necessary and easy to lug around when you're fugitives ~ I'm tired of having to rely on my own overactive imagination for the could have been so beauty-ful epic AMP 2.0 ~ thanks to the writers who have recycled everything past except that! A little less conversation a little more action please ~ Cat laughing at the end was the final nail! /o\

    Other than the disappointing ending ~ storywise well pretty much anything would come off better than 407 this season. Worst directing/editing for 408 though ~ all the VinCat kisses were angled so badly ~ MAJOR LETDOWN ~ yes that is uber important to me ~ cause I can put up with crappy storytelling and all the other eyerolling hairpulling blahness of the past 3 seasons as long as I get some elusive memorable VinCat!
    That being said ~ the planetarium reunion was my fave scene ♥
    V and his fingerless gloves at play *SWOOOON* I wanted tankporn and legs though!
    Sydcent LOL yeah!
    Vaughn in vain boohiss! Big deal that the name was used in 220 ~ that actually made it even worse!
    I also thought she-Vaughn was going to have to seduce V ~ that would have sat well with the fandom who was already blowing up that nothing kiss
    I was hoping Cat would be dressed up too when she infiltrated the party
    Snowman fight hah! Now THAT was intense and ever so sad for Syd (not Cat)! :O
    I can't remember anything else other than V's gratuitous chestporn so I'll end on that spectacular impression

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