BEAUTY & THE BEAST: Worth A View
Episode 106: “Worth”
THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!
[Photos: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW]
With a fully picked up season, a love triangle now seriously underway, and a threat to Vincent that actually seems threatening, B&TB has hit its stride. Don’t get me wrong, the show will never have the same heft as Wuthering Heights, Casablanca, or heck, even The Notebook, but my weekly list of “Things I Hate about B&TB” has vastly dwindled. Without as many items to moan about, this week we’ll take the more traditional play-by-play approach with commentary injected where appropriate.
Let’s start out with, “Can I get a hallelujah!?” The writers at Beauty and the Beast have heard my pleas (and seen the approximately 469 emails that I sent) regarding the beginning recap! They still gave us a recap alright, but it was a new, improved and au courant version. Thank you, writing gods at the CW!
Vincent measures his blood pressure when Cat comes to visit. She justly wonders why the heck he didn’t show up for dinner, although her framing of the question was much more pleasant than mine would have been. Vincent claims he wasn’t feeling great; what he failed to mention was that his experience of not feeling great took place on the Brooklyn Bridge, where he mysteriously came to.
Cat’s obviously had some time to mull things over (guys, let this be a lesson to you; do not give a woman time to mull…it never turns out well), and she’s connected that Vincent’s birthday gift for her on the window sill could have given him an opportunity to see Evan’s kiss from last week. Vincent tells her she can kiss whomever she wants. You stupid, stupid man. You think she keeps coming over to see you because she wants to kiss whomever she wants? She wants to kiss you, ding-dong. What are you waiting around for? He apologizes, she says it’s not a big deal, tells him to feel better, and leaves.
Back at the precinct, Cat files with gusto, and Tess asks, “Who’s the guy?” Apparently, Cat only files when there’s a frustrating man in the picture (I’m personally trying to remember a time when I’ve had a non-frustrating man in the picture). At last and at least, Cat finally fesses up to Tess that there was a guy, but a non-relationship, going-nowhere type guy. Ah, so now we have upset Cat.
Before the partners can get too deep into the discussion, Cat’s dad shows up at the station, reminding Cat about dress fitting with her future step-mother Brooke (who’s Cat’s age, by the way), and asking her to give Brooke a chance. Evan saunters up and Mr. Chandler invites Evan to dinner despite Cat’s protests. Hehe. Yes, I know I should probably feel insulted as a feminist, but lately, I just find there’s so much to take seriously in life, so I laugh more. Sue me.
Cat later tells Evan he doesn’t have to go to dinner, and that she doesn’t want things complicated between the two of them. Evan insists things are not complicated, that they are simple. That it was just one meaningless kiss, and then he leans in, daring Cat to close the distance the rest of the way between them. Tall, rangy Evan with the accent is definitely swoony, and becoming much more believable as a distraction from Vincent. Behold evidence from last week…
At the police station, Tess busts Cat’s chops a bit about Evan, noting they were both blushing when they left the crime scene. Cat finally admits that Evan kissed her at the birthday party, and Tess protests, “What are we, strangers!? How could you hold out on me!?” Have I mentioned I love Tess? She is funny, loyal, offers to buy Cat drinks, and she calls Cat out on her BS. She’s the perfect partner in both crime-solving and crime.
Back at Vincent’s place, JT video chats with his new girlfriend (so cute!), but breaks off the discussion because Vincent needs a little of his own hand-holding. Vincent still can’t remember the events that led him to the top of the bridge. J.T. theorizes that Vincent pondering over Cat kissing Evan led to jealousy and an adrenaline rush which led to a fugue. And yes, it’s a real word and psychological phenomenon, which Vincent doesn’t appear to know. However, all med students, at least as far as I’m aware, have to take a course and/or a rotation in psychiatry, so it’s strange that Vincent doesn’t know what the word means. Whatever.
Tess and Cat have dress fitting with step-mom-to-be Brooke, where Brooke says some inspirational words about love conquering all. The really amazing thing is that the show’s producers put Cat’s character into a chartreuse strapless dress with a poofy skirt that manages to make Cat look really awful. Honestly, if you had asked me before, I would have sworn under affadavit that Kristin Kreuk could wear a burlap sack and look amazing, so I was heartened to see that even she can look dumb. I still don’t think she’s mortal, though.
Brooke leaves her sunglasses behind, but when Tess and Cat run after Brooke, they see Brooke being kissed by some guy. Oops, that’s gotta hurt. What’s the next logical thing that a cop with access to information would do? Of course she runs a background check on the bimbo! And finds out Brooke is still married! And of course she tries to tell her father. Except, yikes, he already knows about it and thinks Cat is being judgmental. Way to make it feel unsafe to tell you the truth, Dad. I’m on Cat’s side on this one.
Cat and Tess try to do a little crime-fighting at this point, and go to where their dead artist did some of his artwork when he was with the living. At his studio, they open exactly two drawers. Only two drawers. And both drawers dish up info useful to the case. Silly police work all because 40 minutes of the 42 minutes of air time are dedicated to moving the romance forward. I get it, but still…
To gather more intel, Cat and Tess opt to attend the gallery opening that night. As Cat finishes dressing at her apartment, Vincent shows up. Cat tells him that he doesn’t need to let her down easy. Why at this point doesn’t Vincent directly tell her: “Look, I’m into you. You’re beautiful, you’re smart, you’ve got a good heart, but I’m scared to hurt you”? I mean, yes, it would result in far fewer TV shows, but save yourself some pain already! Cat’s apparently struggling with a little bitterness, however, because all this time, she’s been telling everyone that Evan isn’t a date. Yet when Evan arrives, Cat specifically says to Vincent, “Excuse me, my date [is here].” Let me translate woman-ese, for you non-women. “You missed your chance, you stupid ^@!!&, and now someone smarter than you is here sweeping me off my feet. Way to go, dumb &*%.” Cat, you calculating little minx, I didn’t think you had it in you, but I gotta admit, I like your style.
Although dinner is off with the ‘rents, Evan accompanies Cat to the gallery. Vincent watces from the next building. His eyes go all beasty and glowy, and it’s actually done to okay effect. Thank goodness. I started to think that the folks in charge of effects on this show were all rejected applicants from SyFy’s Face Off. I still would like to see the effects guys and gals from Fringe head over to this show when they’re looking for work.
At the art gallery, where the motive behind this week’s murder takes shape, Evan leans in and flirts with Cat a bit, when Vincent appears with information on the murder. Cat excuses herself, and Vincent takes Cat to the victim’s studio where there are sketching and paintings of the artist’s love interest. The sheer number of paintings of the same subject leads Vincent to conjecture, “ This man loved this woman.” Knowing that the girlfriend had broken up with the victim a couple of weeks prior, Cat wonders why the girlfriend pushed the artist away. Vincent: “She didn’t feel worthy.” Cat: “How can you be so sure?” Vincent: “I know what it feels like.” Then he just disappears, leaving her there to ponder on that. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
The next day, Cat goes to Vincent’s. She confesses she spends most of her time looking forward to the next moment that she’ll spend with him, and that it never occurred to her that he might now know he’s the best thing in her life, even though it probably didn’t appear that way when she was macking down with another guy. Vincent, in turn, confesses that the old him would have smacked Evan square in the mouth. Vincent has another, “I suck” moment and says he doesn’t “…know how to do this…,” what with who and what he is. Cat disagrees, puts her hand on his face, says that who he is makes everything worth it, and then she says she has to go. Again with the leaving? Double Whiskey Tango Foxtrot???
Apparently, Cat’s departure gives Vincent plenty of rope, because Vincent next wakes up at night in the middle of a deserted street, with blood all over his hands. Looks like Vincent is lined up as a bona fide suspect in one of Cat’s cases. Awesome. I’m pretty sure that we’ll find out that Vincent is innocent, but previews pics of him sitting in jail don’t look great for our quasi-hero. Let’s find out together when B&TB returns November 29th. ‘Til then…
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