BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Black Chaos Comes Again
Episode 217: “Beast Is The New Black”
[photos: Ben Mark Holzberg/CW]
After what seems like forever, but was in reality twelve weeks, Beauty & The Beast is back on the air with another five episodes. I know there are many fans out there happy to see this show both back on the air and renewed for a season three. Would that Vincent Keller could get a little bit of the good luck that the show has gotten recently.
Just when Vincent and Cat are back together after months of will they-won’t they, the cops haul Vincent in handcuffs from Cat’s apartment for the murder of Tori’s dad. Cat naturally protests, but the arresting detective is adamant about the evidence. Vincent instructs Cat to get the gem. It would have been more helpful if he’d included directions or a treasure map, since Cat has no idea where the debeastifying gem is located. Flustered, Cat drops her badge on the sidewalk outside her apartment building.
JT and Tess wake after spending the night together. Cat calls JT and shares the news of Vincent’s arrest, as well as her suspicions that Gabe jealously turned Vincent into the cops. She asks JT where the gem is, but he too is clueless. Powerless to find the gem, Cat goes down to the precinct to intercept Vincent’s lab work, since they’ll use his blood to check his DNA, which could lead to awkward questions.
At the precinct, Cat realizes her badge is missing. She calls Tess to come down and help her out. While our two favorite detectives are on the phone with one another, JT is on his phone bawling out Gabe for purportedly narcing on Vincent. It’s a pretty funny scene, since both Tess and JT are still trying to keep the relationship under wraps.
Cat tries her persuasive best with the officer at the front desk, but her pushiness gets her labeled as potentially dangerous. Cat’s about to be escorted out, but Gabe arrives and uses his considerable influence to get Cat into intake. While Cat changes into her standard issue black police uniform in a bathroom stall, she admits to Gabe that she thinks he may have had something to do with Vincent’s arrest; Gabe assures her that’s not the case. When Gabe offers to do anything to help her believe it, Cat presses her advantage and asks if Gabe can get the charges dropped. From the look on Gabe’s face, the answer is no.
Cat finds her way back to Vincent, where he’s about to have blood drawn and the beast is about to assert himself. She calms him, but also takes advantage of the situation to ask for the gem’s location. Vincent conveys that his “bliss location” is his brother’s headstone. The other officers on hand think it’s a bit odd, but think little else of it. Cat also manages to gank the lab samples.
Cat, JT, Tess and Gabe confer outside; it’s decided that JT with his morgue credentials will swap out the samples that Cat took, and that Gabe will talk to the assigned ADA about the Keller case. In a turn of events that was clunky, Tess and JT get frustrated with each other during the conversation, and JT outs his and Tess’ relationship to Gabe and Cat.
Cat and Tess head to the cemetery to dig around the Keller brothers’ headstones, and Tess and Cat briefly discuss JT. Cat doesn’t judge; she’s more focused on fixing Vincent’s situation. Tess brings up all the logical flaws with the gem as a solution, but Cat can’t hear it. Tess offers reassurances that she knows they’ll overcome, and admits she’s personally struggling because she just doesn’t know how to help. The longer this show continues, the more Tess has become my favorite character. She’s strong but vulnerable, fun, snarky, and she likes to knock back a few. Best friend material, in my book. Oh, and of course, they find the gem, along with Vincent’s get-out-of-town-quick goodie bag. That Vincent, he’d be a boy scout if he weren’t harboring a violent monster.
Cat and Gabe review the evidence against Vincent. Pictures show Vincent dumping Windsor’s body. Cat begins to plan an elaborate defense: he was a hero war veteran with PTSD and amnesia, who found Windsor already dead and just couldn’t come forward. Cat’s plan quickly unravels when Gabe reveals that the police also found Windsor’s heart in Vincent’s refrigerator. Uh yeah, that’s a bit harder to explain.
Cat realizes then that someone is setting them up, and recalls that Vincent had a handler at the time who would have been very likely to stash away blackmail material for later. Cat visits her jerk father in jail. Reynolds wasn’t born yesterday, and only confesses to being happy that Vincent will be behind bars and that Cat will be safe.
With gem in hand, Dr. JT Forbes pays another visit to lockup. Vincent is ushered in for another blood draw; darn if Vincent doesn’t make an orange jump suit look good. JT bandages up the gem on Vincent’s arm, and in an attempt to assuage anxiety, informs Vincent that it’s JT’s blood going to the lab instead. Instead of being reassured, Vincent is concerned they are all taking too many risks for him.
Cat visits Vincent, and when she finds out that Vincent plans to plead guilty, she decides to admit her involvement and testify that Vincent killed Windsor in self-defense. Vincent won’t have it, since the revelation will show that Cat was involved in the cover-up. Cat’s mind is made up. After she leaves, Vincent starts a fight with another inmate, and is injured. During transport to a hospital, Vincent manages to rip open the bandage on his arm, beasts out, and escapes from custody.
Cat goes to Gabe to share her plan; you know, considering how she just broke up with him the day before or so, she’s really not giving the guy any space. And he seems perfectly okay with helping her with whatever she needs. Man, where’s the jealousy, the bitterness, the childishness? Well, at least Gabe ducks out of confessing the part he played in it. Gabe does offer to get Cat a good lawyer for when Cat confesses her role in the crime. They meet with the lawyer to talk things over, but when they hear on the news that a manhunt is underway for Vincent, they cut the meeting short.
When Cat, Tess, JT & Gabe come back together, they realize that Vincent got rid of the gem, beasted out and took off on purpose, solely because Cat told him she planned to come forward as a witness. JT worries that Vincent has bailed out on them, but Cat refuses to believe that he’s completely gone. JT leaves in a huff, and Tess follows. Tess asks why they’re back at the cemetary, but the conversation devolves into an argument over their non-relationship. JT stays long enough to checks the Keller brothers’ headstone. Vincent’s go-bag is now gone.
At home, Cat finds the gem on her coffee table, and heads to the roof where she finds Vincent. He claims he’s come to say goodbye. They argue the relative merits of coming forward or going into hiding, but in any case, he’s staying the night with her. Since Cat’s apartment has so many windows, they duck into her bathroom where they’ll spend the night together. Cat asks the obvious question: what if she needs to pee? Thank you! TV characters never tackle the tough questions like this one.
In a scene that ended up being way more effective that I thought it’d be, Vincent and Cat have a fully-clothed makeout session in a running shower. Meow. But then Gabe knocks. I love Gabe, I really do. In fact, some days I find myself rooting for him to win Cat’s love. Just wish he could have knocked about 30 minutes later.
At least Gabe’s got good news. He’s found who Reynolds paid to set Vincent up: an ex-con named Salvo. Cat leaves with Gabe to visit Salvo’s apartment, but there’s no information to be gotten from him as he’s quite dead. Gabe and Cat pay another visit to Reynolds, who claims with wide-eyed innocence that he had nothing to do with it. He does make a good point, however. His concern about Catherine being with Vincent isn’t only about protecting Cat from Vincent, but also from whomever else is after him.
Cat returns to her apartment once more, and tells Vincent he has to leave, because someone is after him. Although she initially planned to leave with him, the lights and sounds of an approaching helicopter force Cat to change her mind. She doesn’t want to slow Vincent down, and she trusts Vincent to find her again. They share a bittersweet moment when he handcuffs her to a chair to give her a cover story. Cat: “You realize this is the third time you’ve done this to me?”
After learning that Vincent fled, JT visits Tess and apologizes for taking out his frustrations on her. She manages the conversation deftly, they acknowledge their first “couple” fight, and decide to go get drinks. And for Gabe, he watches news about the fugitive Vincent Keller with a cat-that-ate-the-canary look on his face. What’s that about? And Cat? Well, while grieving in her conveniently darkened bedroom, she’s head-bagged and grabbed from behind by attackers unseen. Three guesses who finds her, and the first two don’t count!
See you guys next week after “Cat and Mouse”!
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