Beauty Needs to Freeze out the Beast

Episode 111: “On Thin Ice”

THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!

[Photos: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW]

I’m a from-the-heart kind of person. There isn’t much that I do wherein I take a completely detached, objective view. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman; maybe it’s because I’m a mother; maybe it’s because of my family background; or maybe it’s just how I’m wired. Whatever the case, I recap how I live…my heart gets mixed up in the process. The down side of this approach is that when I’m not jiving with a show, I find it hard to put keyboard to paper. And right now, friends, I ain’t jiving with Beauty and the Beast. Mostly, I just want to take Vincent’s coat lapels and give him a few good shakes. Although he’s considerably bigger than I am, and has anger management issues, to boot…

Cat’s obviously not in a good place in this episode. She’s still recovering physically, mentally, and emotionally from the trauma of getting shot. She’s been placed on restrictive duty, so she’s bored out of her skull. Alex has come along and pretty much single-handedly disrupted the tentative balance between Cat and Vincent. Look, I knew that Cat and Vincent would need a catalyzing event to tip the balance; it just didn’t occur to me that the scales could ever possibly tip in the direction of “they won’t” in the will-they-won’t-they question.

Cat’s mandated therapy sessions serve her well, although there are a couple of small details that didn’t sit quite right with me. First, the therapist says that they’re there to talk about the trauma, but then he spends most of his time criticizing her coping technique of hard work. So that’s not really dealing with the trauma specifically. I don’t think they ever discuss the events of the shooting at all. Also, Freud said that working through one’s destructive feelings by directing one’s energies into a socially acceptable form is a good thing, a sophisticated defense mechanism. See, that psychology major did come in handy!

However, said therapist does a great job of clarifying where Cat is with everything: she has kept her heart locked up a long time, and Vincent the lug nut is tempted to fall back into a relationship that is safe and familiar but not really what he wants or needs. Yep, that’s about the size of it. Couldn’t have recapped it better myself.

Vincent shows up at Cat’s place, only to be called immediately by Alex. Cat tries to play it cool, and says it’s okay if he takes the call. She understands they were planning a life together. Vincent adds that he and Cat have only known each other for a few months. Cat icily tells him that it’s none of her business. Vincent, you idiot, when a woman tells you it’s none of her business, you best be telling her that everything that goes in her brain and in her heart is important to you, so it very much is her business. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Vincent redeems himself ever so slightly when Alex later disrobes in front of him, and apparently, he refuses the bait. It’s my understanding that men aren’t particularly good at refusal, so okay, props for not making a bad situation even worse.

Cat sees Alex at the hospital and retreats so that Alex can’t see her, but then observes Alex stealing some supplies. Concerned (and nosy), Cat finds that the hospital has reported several thefts, including narcotics, and Cat shares the information with Vincent. Unfortunately, this gives Alex the opportunity to let Vincent into her own secret: she helps run a medical clinic for the indigent. Vincent pitches in and thoroughly enjoys himself. Giddy with pleasure of doing something at which one excels, Vincent agrees to go to an old haunt of his and Alex’s: an old indoor ice skating rink. They slide around on the ice, hold hands, hug a lot, and start to kiss, when their tête-à-tête is interrupted by the police.

Threatened with arrest and exposure to Muirfield, Vincent refuses to tell his name to the officer. Alex reveals her complete failure to grasp the situation with her requests for Vincent to go ahead and provide his name. Cat’s just a phone call away, and upon arrival, she lies to and intimidates the beat cop into letting Vincent and Alex go. She then gives Vincent a well-deserved tongue lashing. She tells him that if in the process of exploring whether he can get his old life back he won’t protect himself, she’ll need to rethink the risks that she’s taken to protect him. What she really means is she’ll have to rethink the risks she’s taken to expose her heart to him.

With further reflection, a desperate suspect’s story of regret, and encouragement by her therapist, Cat later lets Vincent know where her feelings really are. That’s always supposed to work, right? Be honest, and the guy will be yours? Except Vincent says that he really kinda wants his old “normal” life back; apparently, he’s forgotten that he’s dangerous, on the run, and needs protection. Cat points out that Alex is willing to go on the run with Vincent, because she doesn’t really understand what she’s signing up for. Cat does, and Vincent, you’re thinking about kicking her to the curb? Cat, who told you that she accepts all of you, mutating cells and all? She’s runner-up? Yeah, I don’t like where this is going.

Evan, who is looking better and better all the time, continues his pursuit of the “cross-breed creature”. He and J.T. exhume the body of the bicycle messenger from which Vincent had protected Cat (remember the days when Vincent followed Cat around all the time to protect her?). When the samples from the testing initially show a match to the other samples of Vincent, Evan plans to get Joe formally involved so they have additional manpower to track Vincent down.

J.T. has a momentary panic attack before the test system indicates the samples are corrupt. Turns out the over-accomplished, leggy blond that Evan took to Cat’s birthday party has been distracting Evan with her talents, and she has corrupted the samples because…duh, duh, duh! She works for Muirfield. Good for Vincent that Evan’s off the trail, bad for Vincent that Muirfield is back on the trail.

Previews for next week imply that Alex and Vincent head off for a weekend alone in a cabin. Weren’t Cat and Vincent going to do that just a few weeks ago before Vincent starting experiencing fugues? They never quite got back around to that, did they? Fortunately, the Alex-Vincent version of good times appear to be interrupted by Muirfield and Cat’s masochistic need to protect both Alex and Vincent. That episode airs February 14^th, which gives us all a good two weeks to fume and protest before we see how things move forward. I suggest a glass of nice, crisp Sauvignon Blanc to dull the pain. Until next time!

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