BEAUTY & THE BEAST: Can’t Get (Enough) Satisfaction

Episode 116: “Insatiable”

THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!

[Photos: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW]

This week’s episode of Beauty & The Beast isn’t quite the amazing lovefest this week as it was last, which is a shame for a couple of reasons. First, I didn’t walk away from this week’s viewing with the same sappy feeling that I did last week. Second, the strengths of this show are the characters and the romance, and when the show is heavier on the procedural portion of the story line, it suffers.  So this week, there are some nits. Let’s see what we got.

The first scene of the show was predictably the best. Both characters are all dimples in the giddy aftermath of their first night together, and their morning quickly turns into another opportunity to, uh, get to know each other even better. If their first time together was marked by tenderness, this time appeared to be tinged with a bit more ferocity. Can someone turn a fan on?

Reality, unfortunately for us all, sets in. A few missed communiqués result in Cat showing up late to a crime scene attributed to Vincent. Cat knows Vincent isn’t the culprit, based on where she’s been, and Cat points out flaws with the team’s assumptions. Bishop is in no mood for Cat’s tardiness nor her dissension, and she gets a tongue-lashing in front of the team. Nice, Joe. ADA Lowan also takes time out of his busy schedule to show up at the crime scene and push Cat around a little. At least our girl doesn’t crumple easily.

Vincent’s DNA is missing from the crime scene, but Evan feels he needs more before publicly supporting Cat’s doubts. Accordingly, Cat and Vincent search for additional evidence so they can catch the guy trying to set Vincent up; they find an unusual spike from a medieval weapon. However, Cat and Vincent have absolutely no way of being certain that it belongs to the weapon used in the crime scene. Nonetheless, Vincent and J.T. visit an antique weapons dealer to find out more, but come up empty-handed.

Muirfield visits Evan and tasks him with thwarting the investigation. Apparently not busy enough, Evan takes it upon himself to test a scarf that Cat had left behind in his lab, and naturally, it blows positive for Vincent’s DNA. When confronted, Cat masks fear as righteous indignation; she justifies the DNA appearance as the result of having investigated many vigilante scenes over the previous months. Evan remains skeptical and dedicated to his mission to protect Cat, whether she needs his protection or not.

Joe Bishop, always a bit stern, has officially turned into a jerk. His determination to capture Vincent has transcended desire for justice and become lust for blood. He sidelines Tess to keep her safe, and has her follow up on cold leads instead of participating in planned raids. Despite initial resistance, Tess does her best to re-interview witnesses who’ve interacted with Vincent. Repeatedly, Tess hears that the vigilante saved lives with his interventions, and that his visage is cat-like. Yep, mee-yow.

Cat, Vincent and J.T. confer regarding Evan’s detection of the Cat-Vincent connection. Our heroes conclude they’ve probably passed the point of no return and hatch a plan to give the NYPD what they want: a dead body. J.T. somehow manages to get a cadaver out of the research lab by himself and into his little car. Um, how? Anyway, their plan involves leaving behind the dead body that resembles Vincent in build, torching the place, and having Cat switch the autopsy samples after Evan performs his examinations. I get how Cat can switch the DNA samples, but how she’s going to switch out the lung tissue samples to make it look as though the cadaver inhaled smoke is more of a mystery to me.

Cat calls ADA Lowan to grease the skids: she talked to some guys at Riker’s and they gave her the vigilante’s address. Uh, Cat, what’s going to happen when someone checks the prison’s visitor logs and finds that you weren’t there when you said you were? And while we’re talking about it, how is it, Cat, that you’re off doing your own “investigating” without any oversight from the rest of the team? They don’t exactly trust you. In any case, Lowan is so hungry for info, he just rolls with the address she gives him.

J.T. meets with Evan under the guise of discussing research status, but really to determine what Evan plans to do with his knowledge about the Cat-Vincent connection. Evan tells J.T. that he’s done with the research, given that the creature won’t be around much longer; not only is the NYPD after him, but also Muirfield, thanks to Evan’s tip-off.

Cat and Vincent prepare the old chemical warehouse for detonation, when Vincent’s Beasty sense picks up the sound of helicopters. Muirfield descends, and Cat and Vincent barely have time to escape and certainly don’t have time to set off explosions. Muirfield, for all their supposed superiority, shoot at barrels of chemicals and take care of the explosion issue. Darwinism in action. It will be interesting to see what the NYPD does about the extra unexpected bodies in the debris.

Bishop, who is head of homicide, is leading his team of detectives all donned in SWAT gear. I’m pretty sure that SWAT leaders would be handling SWAT-type raids, but hey, this is a show where the M.E. does hair, fiber, and all kinds of analysis that a CSI lab rat would do, not a medical examiner. Despite the questionable team composition, they all stand stunned when the warehouse explodes in a giant fireball.

Cat leaves Vincent behind in the tunnels underneath the warehouse, so she can make an appearance at with the rest of the task force. Vincent grabs a hidden bag and runs. Cat had asked him to stay put, so where was he running, and why?

ADA Lowan calls his two goons to his house to discuss how things went down with the raid.  Remember when I asked last week what Lowan’s agenda was, other than to bring a little smolder to the show?  When the camera zooms in on a wall-mounted medieval weapon missing a spike in Lowan’s home office, it’s clear that his agenda is a touch shady.

Now, Tess has been wandering around in the same tunnels based on an interview with a witness, and despite what are probably miles of tunnels underneath one the largest cities in the world, she just happens to bump into Vincent. He darts, she chases, and although he’s an enhanced super being, she runs as fast as he does and corners him. Threatened, he begins to change, and she shoots him. Tess, what the heck!?

Then, despite the fact that Vincent isn’t where she left him and some time has transpired, Cat manages to find both Tess and Vincent, just after the shooting. In her desperation, Cat drops all pretenses and rushes to Vincent’s side. She assures him it’s going to be okay, but how the heck is Cat going to get Vincent out of there? He’s got to be over two hundred pounds, and I’d be shocked if Cat weighs in at one hundred…soaking wet. But fear not, Beasties, reality is that Vincent isn’t in that much danger. Otherwise, they’d have to change the name of the show to Beauty.

If B&TB has as many episodes as The Vampire Diaries usually does, we’ve got six episodes left in the season. Still plenty of time for resolution to this and many more crises. And if we’re lucky, lots more time for Vincent and Catherine to, uh, get to know each other better. See you guys next time!

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