BEAUTY & THE BEAST: Reunited, and It Feels So Good
Episode 205: “Reunion”
THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!
[photos: Christos Kalohoridis/CW]
The fifth episode, season two of Beauty & the Beast opens with some lovely on-the-water shots by Vincent’s place, but that’s quickly torn asunder by a new beast we’ve never seen before smashing and slashing his way through the house boat.
Cat and Gabe, meanwhile, discuss by phone his difficulties finding her birth father and her plans for a reunion get-together with some of her high school girlfriends. Both characters are stunned into silence when Gabe fumblingly compliments Cat on how she’d look in appropriate clothes from a decade ago, i.e., low-rise jeans and a crop top. Yeah, if Cat didn’t know that Gabe had a bit of a thing for her beforehand, she does now. Awkward!
As Cat continues her party preparations, Vincent arrives. He suggests in a smolder-y voice that they try to trigger a few more memories. Vincent, did you just show up for a booty call? You cad. Cat, however, declines. She insists on taking the night off for some me-time; after all, they have to make sure they know who they are separately, too. Wow, Cat, good for you! I admit there have been times where I’ve wondered if maybe you aren’t co-dependent; way to assert your independence.
After her get-together, in which wine is consumed and Cat is harshed on for her previous poor choices in men (not a one-time occurrence, apparently), Cat’s journalist girlfriend Beth lingers, just in time to see Cat attacked in her bedroom by the same beast who trashed Vincent’s place. Unis arrive to gather details on the assault; Beth is all kinds of curious, whereas Cat is deliberately but understandably vague. Gabe and Tess also appear, and our little crime-fighting trio decide NOT to loop in Vincent until JT’s had a chance to examine the beast’s DNA left behind on Cat’s boot.
Unfortunately, when Gabe gets to JT’s with said boot in hand, Vincent overhears him discussing the assault on Cat; Vincent pulls a Salvatore brother-style departure, gets more details from Cat, then goes after the bad beasty. His spidey senses lead him to an abandoned church; the inevitable tussle ensues, but what’s unexpected is that bad-beast knows Vincent from their military days, and Vincent actually remembers it.
Vincent and Zach appear to pick up their friendship again, against Cat’s better judgment. Maybe Vincent should listen more to Cat’s gut, because Zach’s initial friendliness gives way to anger mismanagement over a game of pool and the tale of how Vincent stole Zach’s girl Gabriella from him. JT explains that this was while Vincent was on a break from Alex and that Vincent didn’t know the girl was with Zach, so our hero remains honorable (phew), but Zach ain’t buying it.
Just as Tess determines that Zach’s DNA from Cat’s shoe was tied to the homicide of Gabriella, Agent Reynolds (Cat’s dad, Condor) butts in, wanting to know details about the assault on Cat. Poor Gabe: unrequited feelings for Cat, pressure from the mayor to resolve all the unsolved cases from when Joe was in charge, and now Agent Reynolds getting up in his bizness. Gabe decides to take advantage: if Reynolds wants to help, he suggests that Reynolds do so by tracking down Cat’s birth father. Reynolds surprisingly agrees; wonder how this will go down.
Despite the brouhaha, Cat attends her 10-year high school reunion. A very brief scene of her on the dance floor endears Kristin Kreuk even further to those of us who love her. She’s really too adorable. Obviously, we viewers aren’t the only ones to think she’s adorable. The still nerdy guy wearing the high school mascot uniform pledges his undying devotion to Cat just as Gabe and Tess show up to express their concerns about Zach potentially attacking Cat further. Vincent shows up, too, given that his efforts to talk Zach down off the ledge failed. Gabe and Vincent momentarily argue over who’s going to be the one to take Cat to safety; Vincent, of course, triumphs, but the moment is humorous.
Nice try, guys, but your efforts were just a few minutes too late. Zach makes his way through the reunion crowd undetected, having ganked the mascot suit from nerdy mascot guy. The camera shows his beast claws extending through the mascot paws; I can see where this seemed like a good idea in the writer’s room, but did anyone else think that the effect came off as, well, stupid?
Vincent does what Vincent always does: he tussles with the beast. Cat, at first knocked out, revives and then sits quaking as Beast-Zach runs over to her to attack her. Really? This is the same Cat who fought back in her bedroom, and now she’s cowering? I didn’t buy it. In any case, Cat and Vincent win, and Zach bites the big one.
Vincent and Cat sit in the wreckage of the gym, and mull things over. Vincent reveals that he’s slowly beginning to realize how much Cat sacrifices for him, and he promises that once his missions over, he’ll make it all up to her. Well, I hope there’s some touchy-feely freaky-deaky stuff involved when he’s making it up to her, because it seems like these two took a purity pledge somewhere along the way. These sweet, chaste little smooches of the last few episodes….zzzz.
Vincent departs to escape police scrutiny, and he sends Gabe in to look after Cat, but not before taking a long, hard look at Gabe’s receding figure. Ah, it seems that Dr. Keller has picked up on Gabe’s feelings for Cat also. The plot thickens! Cat looks at a picture from her graduation and sees Agent Reynolds in the background. Between that, and the fact that Beth reported to Cat that Cat’s father pledged monthly donations to the high school natatorium, even after his death, Cat pieces together that Agent Reynolds is her birth father. Now, I get that Cat is a detective and all, but that seemed like a bit of a stretch to me. What do you guys think?
Questions for next week: First and foremost, can we get some lovin’, touchin’, and squeezin’? Holy cow, people, I need some vicarious living! The preview for next week says there are only two beasts left; is Vincent one of those two? When, oh when will the love triangle between Vincent-Cat-Gabe heat up? Man, I’m a sucker for a good love triangle. Are we ever going to hear from Heather again? Will journalist Beth be a recurring source of complications over the course of the season? What do you guys think about the new special effects we’re seeing in the show this season? Cat will inevitably confront her birth father; what will be revealed about her mother in the process?
Leave your comments below, because we love to hear from you! See you guys next week!
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