BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Woe, Destruction, Ruin, and Decay

Episode 213: “Till Death”

[photos: Ben Mark Holzberg/CW]

In my last write-up for Beauty & The Beast, I mentioned that chess pieces are on the move, and it seems things continue along the same lines in episode 13, “Till Death.” And if the title of episode 14 (“Redemption”) tells us anything, it’ll be more of the same. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, however; we still need to talk about episode 13! Here we go…

Cat enters the dungeon from last week, only to stumble on someone lurking in the shadows. Aww, how cute; Gabe has brought her coffee, but as quick as one of Vincent’s mood swings, Cat has a flashback of Gabe as a beast at the prison in his old mansion. Hello, random memory. In response, she anxiously spills her coffee, and notes it dripping into a space even further below them. Later, Cat asks Sam what could be underneath the dungeon, and he guesses a sewer line. He also asks Cat and her crew of misfit toys to come to his vow renewal with Dana upstate that weekend. On Valentine’s Day. And that’s the point at which Cat realizes her upcoming big date with Gabe is on V Day; so why doesn’t she seem pleased about it?

Under pressure from their new boss, Tess and Cat head to Vincent’s to enlist his aid in the Tony Barnes case, but while there, Dana calls to them know Sam’s been attacked at home. Vincent and Cat head over to get the full story, and Sam again asks them all to come up to be security at the vow renewal that weekend, what with Vincent’s special spidey senses being able to keep them safe.

When Cat calls to communicate the change in plans, Gabe’s a little evasive on the phone, which sets Cat into a tailspin. She talks her anxiousness over with Vincent, who simultaneously 1) reassures her that’s she’s just nervous because her last relationship ended badly, and 2) finds the level beneath dungeon. Whether the writers intended for this hidden area to be a metaphor for the Cat-Vincent relationship is debatable, but the area does contain a furnace chock full of charred bones.

JT confirms the bones are human and from more than one source, i.e., beast experimentation was done on more than one victim. Cat realizes there’s no way that bodies could have been burned that closely to Sam without his being aware of it, so his story about the sewer line implies complicity. Cat throws Sam into an interrogation room, where Vincent helps her (nobody at the precinct would have thought that odd?). Sam admitted he did things of which he wasn’t proud, and said he only really remembered one victim (a woman named Clara) and one regular visitor to the dungeon: a man who looked just like ADA Lowan.

Cat’s not quite ready to believe his accusation, until she discovers that a woman named Clara in the missing persons database was at same orphanage as Gabe at same time. Cat and Vincent actually argue a little about the next course of action: Cat feels they should look at it as a lead; Vincent thinks Cat’s freaking out and looking for excuses to push Gabe away. When JT with his mad infiltration skills discovers that Gabe has purchased an airline ticket to Mexico, Vincent agrees to search Gabe’s loft.

Cat at least does the honorable thing and confronts Gabe directly. He denies knowing Clara, but admits to the Mexico ticket purchase; he had been planning a secret getaway with Cat. Man, Gabe has me rooting for him more and more all the time. While Cat questions Gabe, Vincent breaks into Gabe’s place. There, Vincent finds that bottle of beast serum that JT made, taped up nice and neat underneath a desk. Uh oh. Vincent finds his way back to Gabe and Cat and confronts Gabe with it, but Gabe denies ever having seen it; Vincent, the human lie detector, confirms Gabe’s telling the truth. A very hurt Gabe huffs off.

So, where does this leave Cat and Gabe? Nowhere great. Vincent feels Gabe can get over the betrayal, but Cat admits to Vincent she has been holding back from Gabe by hiding behind her work. Add to it that someone is trying to frame Gabe, and poor Gabe is getting a raw deal. Vincent later confesses to JT that he still has feelings for Cat, and debates whether he should try to take advantage of the Cat-Gabe rift.

After her realization about Gabe, Cat apparently decides to give it another go. She shows up at his loft with Mexican food in-hand. She tries to assure him about where they stand, but he wants to focus on the Barnes case. With further exploration of the case, they uncover more of Sam’s lies, and they deduce that he’s planning to escape. Our team plans to let Sam think he’s succeeding.

Cat pretends to be on the outs with Gabe, since beast serum was found in his apartment; she shows at the vow renewal with Vincent (again in the suit, swoon!). Vincent hears a beeping sound emanating from down in the kitchen area, Gabe surreptitiously follows, and they find a bomb stationed just below the chapel. Vincent and Gabe decide to let the bomb go off in order to fake Gabe’s death. Gabe confronts Sam in the library to give Cat and Tess time to escort Dana out of the chapel; the bomb goes off, and Gabe has to go underground. Fortunately, that’s metaphorically speaking.

Cat and Dana sit in the back of a police car, and Cat lays it out for her. Dana realizes she has to go into witness protection. Tess realizes she needs some lovin’, and waves a hotel key card enticingly under JT’s nose. Cat realizes that Gabe’s not the person he used to be, and makes amends via liplock. Vincent watches on grimly, and the episode wraps.

Questions for next week: Cat and Vincent have both stated they’re still into each other. Ok, so we always knew this was the case, but it’s finally been stated. How the heck is Vincent going to make it up to Cat and get the long-awaited…wait for it…Redemption? Will Cat let down Gabe easy, or is it more likely that Gabe is going to go away altogether, comme our dear dead Dr. Evan? Now that Tess and JT have presumably closed the deal, what does that mean for them? Is there anything long-term in their future? What crazy schemes does Sam have in store for Vincent and Gabe? How do the other orphans from Gabe’s orphanage factor in? Is there anything more to the beast serum found in Gabe’s loft? Or has he secretly (or even knowingly) been injected with it?

See you guys next week, where we can decide just how much Dr. Keller has redeemed himself. ‘Til then!

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