The first rule of Beauty and the Beast is to never talk about the Beast. Catherine gets a new job and continues on her quest to protect Vincent from exposure by getting involved in an illegal fight club. Tess and J.T. are unable to move forward with their relationship, and Heather moves forward with a relationship when she probably shouldn’t.
This past Thursday’s episode “Down For The Count” focuses on three key thematic elements within our character’s lives: Control, Communication, and Change. First up…
Control
The face of control was played in this episode by Medjani, with his unnamed prized fighter playing its opposite, the loss of control and the fear that comes with that. Catherine embodies elements of both. Ever since her mother was taken from her on that fateful night, Catherine has done everything possible to maintain a semblance of control over her life. This came exceedingly more difficult with the start of the first season, where the fear of losing that control became ever prevalent. It’s no secret that Catherine had a controlling attitude, but, as I have mentioned in previous reviews, I believe this is where it stems from. So many things in her life are out of her control that she grasps too tightly to what she can control, while also attempting to control the things she can’t, or shouldn’t.
This season has brought that aspect of her character to the forefront. The premiere consisted of Catherine’s worry that she and Vincent could never have a normal life as long as there were threats against them; the fear of no control. With “Beast Interrupted”, she was determined to take control and keep their life of beasts separate from the rest of their life, going so far as to keep Vincent on the sidelines in an effort to normalize him. Now here in episode three, she attempts to meld those lives together, desperate to juggle, and control, both sides while fearing the loss of that control and everything falling apart if they can’t handle it.
This attitude has often led her to abuse her job, her friends, her sister, and even Vincent, to get what she wants. Of course, she feels completely justified in this, for what she wants is to protect Vincent and the life they are trying to create. The problem is that, even with her good intentions, it’s a very selfish attitude to put her own priorities over those of others. For example: putting Vincent through ridiculous tests, continually pulling him away from his job, and putting her own responsibilities onto her sister.
When it comes to Heather, I’m sure Catherine thought she was helping her sister. But underneath, it was still for her own personal benefit and simply a crutch. If she and Vincent are truly to find a balance in their lives, they need to handle it on their own.
Catherine also needs to learn to loosen the reigns when it comes to her relationships. Her need for control, telling her sister she can’t get involved with anyone, has led Heather to start a secret relationship with Kyle. Which leads us into…
Communication
Communication is key in any relationship, as Catherine and Vincent know very well. But Heather, who is obviously jealous of the life and love her sister has achieved, has now begun a relationship with Kyle that is starting off on the wrong foot. Not only will she most likely lie to her sister in an attempt to hide the fact that she is dating Kyle, but she blatantly makes it clear to Kyle that she has a secret she can’t share with him. Playful curiosity will undoubtedly turn to suspicion, which could very well lead to, yep, I’m gonna say it, exposure.
Someone else with a secret this episode was J.T.. He is uncertain of his future, turned down tenure and lost his job, and was afraid Tess would see that as a lack of commitment to their relationship. What hurt Tess the most is that he felt that he couldn’t talk to her about this. Which does show a lack of commitment. If you can’t talk to the one you love about important life events, you aren’t ready for commitment. And J.T. isn’t ready. His uncertainty has him stalled and he isn’t ready for…
Change
J.T. and Tess began their relationship bonding over the shared hardship of being best friends with a Beauty and a Beast. But with rogue beasts and super-human experiments behind them, and the threat of a beast bounty up in the air, they’ve realized they are at completely different points in their lives. Tess has reached a place of success and stability with her job and, naturally, wants to move forward with love. J.T., on the other hand, has come out from under the shadow of the Beast to find that he doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life. And when you are uncertain of your own path, it’s hard to walk alongside someone else on theirs. Change is inevitable in any relationship, but it’s hard to maintain that relationship when one is ready to move forward and the other is standing still. J.T. may love Tess, but at this stage that is unfortunately not enough. The question is, where do they go from here?
Change also comes to the friendship between Tess and Catherine. After years of working together, Catherine is moving on. This could be good for them. Catherine will no longer have to abuse her job for beastly means, and Tess will no longer have to cover up for her. The risk to Tess’ position as Captain has been a constant strain on the relationship between these two, so this may help to relieve that and return their friendship to one of equal footing and maybe even bring some fun back to their friendship, which I’ve felt has been lacking.
How It All Came Together
While we still have no progression with the “beast bounty” story arc, writers Benjamin Raab and Deric A. Hughes, along with new director Don McCutcheon, were able to craft a fun episode that really brought some much needed progression and change within our character’s lives. Catherine becoming a federal agent is something I expected to happen last season, so it is quite a welcome development. This is something that will allow her character to stop neglecting and abusing her previous job when it comes to beastly matters, where instead those matters will be the focus of her job.
The fight club plot, while ultimately fruitless and inconsequential, was a fun way to show of Kristin’s martial arts talents while still tying into a thematic thread. I feel a bit more weight would have been brought to this, however, if the final match had been between Medjani’s prized fighter we had already gotten to know instead of some random woman we don’t care about. This would have brought more emotional depth to the fight sequence.
Even with the fun of the fight club, the best scenes were the ones that focused on our characters and their relationships, with Nina Lisandrello giving the best performance I have seen in a long time. So often she is given such redundant dialogue to play that I feel she took great joy in the material here. It really showed, especially her final scenes with Catherine and J.T..
Also bringing some of their best work to the table was composers James Guttridge and Sean Hosein, with their music supporting and expanding upon the emotional depth within the scenes. Kudos to them!
To Sum Up
The focus on our characters, the performances of the cast, and some fun gung-ho action makes up for the lack of progression within the plot of the increasingly questionable validity of this beast bounty.