This was very much an episode of finding purpose. The characters have all had a chance to recover a bit from the whirlwind events of last season (except for JT) and they’re all wondering… what’s next? For Vincent, it’s getting back to the life he had before this all started and forging a future with Catherine sans any beastly influences. Catherine’s on the same page as far as wanting to create a life with Vincent, but very much believes that everything that has happened to them has been for a reason and that they are part of something more. JT gets a little lost, feeling as though maybe his purpose was to die and hasn’t been able to mentally recover and move on in his life, while Tess believes that if you’re alive, you have purpose, so you better “get off your pity-pott” and figure it out.
Character Analysis
Let’s start with Vincent and Catherine. This is the first chance they’ve had to be an actual couple. The first season was the kindling of their love, but it had to burn within the shadows with the constant threat of Muirfield hanging over them. At that point a normal future together, white picket fence and all, was a dream that they accepted could never be realized. Cut to season two and Muirfield is gone, but everything has changed, especially Vincent, and they spent the year at odds while trying to figure out who they were without one another. Obviously, that didn’t work. They are better together, they know that. Now they have the chance to figure out who they are together. But with that brings it’s own challenges.
I felt that this episode showed that Vincent and Catherine are moving in opposite directions in terms of what they want for themselves and each other. They both want to be together and have a future with one another, there’s no doubt about that. But they have very different ideas of how to get there.
Vincent’s mindset makes complete sense. His life ended the day Muirfield turned him into a beast. Now that they’re gone, along with everyone else who’s been after him, and he has been brought back from the dead, he wants to get back to the life and the man he was before all this started. He doesn’t want to be a beast, the inner demon that goes against everything he is and everything he values. He’s a doctor that wants to save people. He has saved many people using his beast abilities, but he has also killed many people as well. Who would want that? That’s why when he finds out what Catherine has been doing behind his back he feels betrayed. As far as he is concerned, the beast in him has brought nothing but pain to their relationship and he can’t believe that Catherine would want him to be that monster. As JT once said, “It’s hard to be Dr. Jekyll when everybody keeps wanting Mr. Hyde.” Vincent thinks he can live without that side of himself and just ignore it, but of course that’s impossible. It seemed that locking the beast inside made it that much worse when he finally let it out. He was out of control on that rooftop when he almost killed Tyler Zane. We haven’t seen him that bad in a long time. He can’t be one or the other. He has to figure out a way to be both.
Even though I know that Vincent has to find a balance between his darkness and light, I was siding with him for pretty much the whole episode. Catherine’s motives, at first glance, don’t make much sense. But by digging a little deeper and looking at her character with a wider scope, I think I can understand her. The moment her mother was killed, Catherine was set on a path that she’s been running ever since. Not only did she spend nine years trying to get the the bottom of why her mother was killed and who saved her from the same fate, but it led her to being a detective. She became a protector of the innocent and devoted her life to helping people, just like Vincent had as a doctor. But where they differ is that Catherine had also become devoted to catching the bad guy. It’s a trait that has become ingrained into her and she can’t just turn her back on that. I felt that was one of the problems with season two; our core group became so self-involved. Gone were the days of Cat and Tess actually doing their jobs, and the show’s attempt to acknowledge that was smoothed over in a single episode with one (fake) closed case. Now sure, it doesn’t look like Cat will be spending much time at the precinct again this season, but at least it looks like she’ll be getting back to what’s important: helping people. They may be genetically modified people, but people none the less. So the fact that she feels it’s wrong to try to live a normal life, with everything she knows now and with the knowledge that people are out there doing horrible things, makes sense and fits her character. Still, in a way, I think it’s a bit selfish of her to pull Vincent into this as well. There’s no way she could be involved in this mission without him. It’s not her choosing a normal job, it’s her choosing this for both of them, because there is no way he would ever let her do this alone. I don’t think she’s actually doing it for any selfish reasons, as she believes this is part of their destiny. Everything that has happened to her since Vincent first saved her, every layer to her family’s past that she has uncovered, leading all the way back to a parallel life she shares with her ancestor Rebecca Reynolds, seems like too much to just be coincidence. She and Vincent believed they were destined to save one another, but what if it’s more than that? She feels this is a calling they can’t ignore.
Neither of them is completely right or wrong. Vincent can’t just bury his head in the sand and ignore who he is and everything that has happened. But Catherine needs to understand his side of things as well. When she said that she feels there has to be more than just their love, I felt that was like a slap in the face to him. For him, I think that is enough. Her love is what saved him, what brought him back to life. She calms the beast within him. As he said, “Without [our love], I’d be lost.” Now they can finally be happy without the constant threat of death or exposure and she says that’s not enough? I get what she is saying and I do believe that in a long lasting relationship there does have to be more than just love. There has to be individual and shared purpose. But for him I think love is his purpose. That’s why he proposed. Because life with her is all that he wants and that’s enough for him. Truthfully, I think it was much too soon for a proposal, as, again, they haven’t had a chance to be a real couple. There’s a lot of trials that need to come before marriage, much more normal trials than they are used to, and I think they are going to figure that out. But, as Heather said, they’ll need to talk to each other. They’ll have to find a balance between what they both want and work together toward a shared purpose.
For JT, it’s like he lost his sense of purpose after he almost lost his life. Many people fall into a deep depression during hard recoveries from nearly fatal injuries. For many it’s because they feel like they will never be the same, never be able to have the life they had before their accident. But for JT his question may be “What life?” In a way, JT has sacrificed the most in our group of characters. He has spent nearly 12 years doing everything possible to help and protect Vincent. Gave up his friends, relationships, probably cut ties with his family (not that we know anything of them). Who knows where he could have been in his career? He gave up everything. After nearly dying, what life is there to recover for? I felt really bad for JT during this episode and felt the others were being too hard on him. I do think Tess’ anger stemmed from a place of caring and worry; she’s watching the man she loves waste away and doesn’t want to lose him. She was just trying to help the only way she knew how, by tearing him a new one. Luckily, that gave JT the push he needed and his talk with Vincent made him realize that friendship can be a purpose. He may be a science whiz, but his value as a friend is so much more important. Before Catherine came along he was the one thing that kept Vincent going. Sure, he feels partly responsible for what happened to Vincent, but his pure friendship and loyalty has completely overshadowed that. I really missed the friendship between Vincent and JT, I felt like that element was greatly missing from the second season. So I’m glad that JT’s link to life and purpose involves his friendship to Vincent. Of course, it did seem a little too easy, and I don’t think JT is over this just yet. Especially since he still doesn’t know how he is alive. As a scientist, the fact that he can’t figure out how that serum cured him is driving him crazy. Along with the fact that he has seen what secret serums can do to people, he must be wondering if there are any other effects that just have yet to come to the surface. As are we all.
The Story
The show itself is in the midst of finding purpose as well. It lost its footing a bit in season two. It started strong and a lot of great ideas were brought to the table, but the writers seemed to be at war with themselves with where they wanted to take the show and just weren’t able to commit to any direction. Whether this was a difference of opinion between show creators Sherri Cooper & Jennifer Levin and new executive producer Brad Kern, or if it was more of a network vs. the writers thing, I don’t know. What I do know is that season two was a rough patch for the show, but this is not uncommon. Many shows start with a great idea in the first season, but how do you make that last? A lot of shows stumble during their second year as they try to figure out how to evolve while staying true to what they started with. I think that’s where we are with Beauty and the Beast. They have figured out what works and what doesn’t, but now they just need to figure how to keep what works while introducing things to help the show grow and stay fresh. This episode was a step in the right direction and from everything I’ve read about the third season it looks like our show is on the right track.
Brad Kern knows how to run a show and when he is allowed to tell the story he wants to tell, great things happen. I felt like the story part was a little lacking in this episode and felt no feelings toward the character of Tyler Zane, our first introduction to the genetic enhancement experiments, who didn’t even have one line of dialogue. But it was a good enough taste of what is to come and the focus of the episode was where it should be: on our characters and where they are at in their lives.
Jumble of Thoughts
- Way to abuse your police liberties to get to your date on time, Cat.
- Intimate lighting for an intimate episode, but some scenes were almost too dark to see our characters.
- Aaaw, they set their alarm for six minutes before seven. Randomly normal, cute thing.
- Latest street drug?! Oh come on, Catherine, even you don’t believe what you’re saying.
- Did we ever find out what happened to Vincent’s parents? If he has his mother’s engagement ring she must be dead, right? Also, why hasn’t his fireman nephew approached him since he “came back from the dead”?
- Loved the sassy, no nonsense ER nurse. Hope to see her again.
- That restaurant was waaay too yellow. There’s romantic & cozy and then there’s sickly.
- To the doctor that wondered how Vincent knew about the damage to Agent Thomas’ heart: he listened with the stethoscope before using his beast sense, so it probably just would have looked like he was thinking.
- Who has been paying the rent on Vincent’s house boat? I doubt Catherine’s father has been signing the checks from jail.
- How high can Vincent actually jump? Are we talking Superman level jumping here, or did he have to climb most of the way? Do red eyes mean “super beast mode” or just night vision? Cool fight, btw.
- Why will he lose his humanity if he kills this guy? He’s killed lots of people. Why is this the one that would make them lose everything?
- Kristin looked great. Loved her cute & casual outfit in the last scene.
- I wish more was said during the proposal, but it was still sweet. Especially Vincent making sure at the end. “Yes?” “Yes!” Was cute.
To Sum Up
All in all, a good start to the season. An intimate character piece that still moved at a quick pace, giving us just enough action to keep our hearts pumping. I give it a B+.
8 Comments
This was spot on. It sum up exactly my feelings about the first episode . Certainly, the plot and dialogues were a bit repetitive and rushed but I like the set up for the new BATB season. Hope they have a better
understading of their own show and characters. Too many times last season I felt there was some kind of anarchy and confusion in the writing room . The whole season accurately reflected that .
I too felt Vincent and Catherine were running in two different direction . Hope he won’t become sort of willing victim to be sacrified on the altar of Catherine past – present – future obsessions. Sometimes I wonder if he is allowed to have a different opinion . Poor Beast.
Thanks for the review. You say that Cath isn’t pushing her idea for selfish reasons but she certainly isn’t thinking of the effects for Vincent (other than he can be hurt because she thinks the new beasts are stronger). No thought of the humanity issue?
Twice Cath says “we are together for a reason, not just for love”! Rather hurtful, that. Just to make sure he gets the message that it’s not him, it’s the hero she wants.
JT is in fact saying that Vincent is in debt to the agents for saving his life. JT’s life is saved and he thinks it is only natural that it is Vincent who should pay the price. Talk about heaping the guilt.
Thank you for your review. I found that I had a lot of questions. It’s odd that we were supposed to forget that there was a list of international bad guys who were happily making beasts last season. They even showed power point presentations of potential beast making DNA in the penthouse of the charity ball. Did we forget all about them? It shouldn’t have been a shock to discover they were still at it. Wouldn’t they be the first ones to think of instead of acting like this was an entirely new and unexpected threat?
I was insulted that suddenly the experiment on Vincent is to be seen as “a gift” because it is convenient to use him as a weapon of first choice. For two seasons, we were led to believe he had to find a cure, “never go back” “take these pills so we can go on a real date” “normal” Now he is a wonderful new tool to use, but only when and how Catherine says how he is to be used.
It frightens me to think of where they might take the characterizations. Season 1, we had Catherine lamenting that she had to lie to her family and friends. In season 2, she doesn’t want to be protected. Yet in season 3, she starts out doing both of those things to Vincent.
The repetitive dialog hasn’t improved, instead has actually become worse. Poor Catherine even has to admit to it “I keep saying” yes she certainly does!
It is hard to sit through the information dumping about a character they didn’t take time to develop. Sitting on a sofa telling us an entire character’s history isn’t a good way to involve the audience.
Being the CW, we shouldn’t expect anything but unoriginal romantic scenes. Rolling my eyes at the first attempt at the proposal. Could it get more staid? Thankfully our leading characters can pull of the most trite scenes with panache.
I really enjoyed the episode. Yes, Cat is conflicted and yo-yos on what she wants, but it’s because she does want both and thinks they can have both. Plus, I think she likes being a team and saving people with V in a way only they can. They could never save the world from superhuman threats alone. Also, Cat did say they were in it together or not at all. She didn’t say that she was doing it regardless so she did want to make the decision as a couple. I do think she loves him then and would be with him regardless of him helping her stop the new threat. I think working together makes them closer because they realize how strong of a team they are. I do think it’s normal for the show to try to reframe him beastliness as a gift. I mean she saw it as one to some extent in season one so it isn’t a complete change. Plus, Cat has always wanted to get bad guys and that is the woman he loves so he understands. I think he was hurt at first like his love wasn’t enough, but then realized that isn’t what she meant. She just meant I want us to use our love for good. There’s a power in it and it would be a shame if they didn’t use it. I agree that she could have made it clearer to V so he didn’t feel rejected. I just think at this point they both know how the other feels about them, especially after all the crap they’ve been through. V proposed bc even if he didn’t Cat and him were going to be in it/together for life. Marriage just represents normalcy to him. And after being in a secret relationship for so long, you’d want to make it as public as possible; marriage is a way to do that. I don’t think marriage would have been such a big deal if he hadn’t been secretly dating her for so long or such a not “normal” couple for so long. Marriage helps them feel normal even though they don’t need it to feel like they are committed for life.
Oh and Vincat kills the romance/love scenes. Love the chemistry! So good and believable. That always makes an episode better. That’s why I never doubt their love and why they can say things that could be misinterpreted, but I know they don’t mean it that way. They always are acting out of love for one another so just look at things with that in mind. They can have different opinions. I think being normal is enough for Cat (she said she wouldn’t do it without him), but she feels like her and V should be excited to be more than normal so she wants to encourage him to do that. Wouldn’t you want to help people with your partner if you felt like only you two could? It’d be hard not to pursue that and Cat is always stubborn and determined to help people. It’s because she so strongly believes in their love that she even suggested it bc without it they couldn’t achieve the things they do. So she kind of was complimenting him/their relationship by saying how strong of a couple and love they have by saying they could deal with it and could conquer this problem. And he ends up reluctantly deciding to give it a shot by helping track down these new superhumans.
Finally got around to reading your review and I must say it was very solid and addressed a lot of my issues with the ep. I thoroughly enjoyed the ep apart for some niggling things. I really enjoy your writing style and breakdown of the recap/review. Can’t wait to read more from you!
Could have sworn I commented already. Good review Ian. I thought this was a solid season opener that serves its purpose in setting up the key elements of this season. Absolutely love that VinCat’s relationship is moving forward in the right direction and that they are keeping it real as they deal with issues like commitment and family. Tyler did not really impress me as the titular “Beast of Wall Street” as he didn’t say a word so we are left with more Qs than answers but perhaps that was the intention. In reply to your twitter Q ~ I get both Vincent and Cat’s POV whether to involve themselves in the good fight again. At first I was slightly leaning towards Vincent’s side as he totally deserves to have a normal life but anyone dissing Cat and implying she just wants to use Vincent for her own power trip into destinyland should really read Al’s so on point comments above. Al whoever you are I applaud you for saying everything I want to say so perfectly as to why Cat is so gungho in getting involved. That’s always been her character as Vincent understands she has to kickass and that’s who he loves. They both deserve normalcy and to save the world as destiny decrees for that is what makes their relationship tick and me glued to the screen. Vincent and Cat can argue over deco or danger I don’t care ~ as long as they handle everything together it works for me. They have the best couple chemistry that is just TV gold and 100% entertaining to watch ~ and that is what good TV is all about!
The losing humanity thing, comes from killing innocents. In S1 he killed bad people, he was a vigilante. But, if he kills the victims of these experiments, he looses the humanity. I akin it to an animal killing a human being, if they kill a person, then they are destroyed because of it, because once they go after people, they will keep on killing them
That’s my take on it and it makes sense. Vincent in beast mode is a dangerous animal, only Cat can control him. Much like a police dog that chases a criminal, if it weren’t for the cop calling them off, it would get nasty fast