BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Danger’s Their Middle Name

Episode 305: “The Most Dangerous Beast”

[photos: Ben Mark Holzberg/CW]

In Episode 305 of Beauty and the Beast, we get some resolution to the lingering Bob and Carol problem, see J.T. take charge, and witness Cat and Vincent reach a new equilibrium.  While not the strongest episode on record, it’s solid B-material.  For your critique, here are what are in my opinion the strong and not-so-strong aspects of last week’s episode.

Strong:

• As Cat drills Vincent on the wisdom of his volunteer work upstate, she realizes she’s over-fretting and second-guessing, leading to a mid-sentence course correction, resulting in…”What if something happens …to your car?”  Cute.
• Both Tess and J.T. push back on Cat, who frankly really needs to be pushed back on lately.  When J.T. tells Cat she’s like a dog with a bone, he’s not wrong.  Cat’s character could really do with a little more balance between caring about her agenda, and caring about her people.  Tess also pulls rank on Cat, and does it in an appropriate and credible way.  Both scenes seemed totally in line with what we know about these characters and how they would likely behave in the circumstances.  Well done.
• Most of the insights and conclusions that our heroes have had with regard to the enhanced humans have been something of a stretch.  Half the time, I don’t even understand what they’re saying, and I have a pretty strong background in science.  But this week’s helpful hint from J.T. that Bob and Carol have to see to use their power actually made complete logical sense.  Science fiction is supposed to be plausible, so let’s applaud when it happens.
• I’ll be honest, while I’ve always liked J.T. just fine, he’s never been my favorite.  Enter Season 3.  J.T. has had a number of scenes where he’s demonstrated that he’s evolving, and I really like what I see.  He’s supportive, positive, and confident in a way that we didn’t see in the first two seasons.  He’s a character who’s finding himself, and I have to give a nod to the writers.  Let’s be real.  Austin Basis will never be a Calvin Klein model.  He looks like an average, normal person, unlike the other three leads who are all improbably pretty.  So I particularly love that he’s being built up to be more than just geeky background support guy.  The message is that anyone can be a hero and a leader, which is spot-on.  We don’t often get this message at The CW, so extra bonus points to the writers, show-runners, and network for showcasing talent that looks like the rest of us.
• When Cat says that she can’t shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen, Vincent demurs that it’s basically their reality, and that they have to have faith they’ll get through it.  I could not have appreciated this in my 20’s.  But having survived divorce, illness, job loss, poverty, and serious family conflict, I get it now.  You will get through it.  You just have to want to.  So thank you, BATB, for sharing yet another simple but very real truth with us this episode.
• Although I am skeptical about how it was that J.T. was able to find Vincent out in the woods upstate, J.T. nonetheless comes to his aid when he’s kidnapped by Bob.  Armed with nothing more than a stick, his wits, and a loud voice, J.T. manages to help Vincent help himself.  He didn’t let anyone naysay him or talk him out of it.  He knew what needed to be done, and made it happen.  Way to go.
• Cat: “We both have to have faith in Vincent and J.T.”  Well, about darn time, Cat.  Thank you!
• Despite Vincent’s and Cat’s fears that Vincent needs Cat’s presence to help him revert back to human, Vincent manages to revert back to his normal manly state simply through his memories of Cat.  I won’t linger on how Vincent managed to revert back to human before he and Cat fell in love, but I think it’s good for the characters and the show that they can have a little more independence now.  Smart change of direction for the show.
• J.T.: “My stupid plan wasn’t so stupid.”  No, J.T., it wasn’t stupid.  You are a smart person, who has been there through thick and thin with your friends, loyal to the end.  You have helped every step of the way with genius ideas, suggestions, and solutions.  Why any of these characters would think you’re stupid or question your judgment is beyond me.  You continue to tell yourself that what you contribute is of value…because it is.
• J.T.: “I love you.”  Then later, Tess: “By the way, I love you, too.”  Nuff said.
• Cat: “Would you ever stop your heart for me?”  Vincent: “Every time I see you.”  Wow.  Just wow.  If every man talked to his woman like that, I’m thinking divorce wouldn’t exist.

Not as strong:

• Cat, you are a reasonably seasoned detective.  How does running off every blond woman make any sense at all!?
• Every dismissive comment made to J.T. wherein he’s discouraged from doing anything stupid.  See above rant.
• How does Carol manage to obtain some meth from a defunct lab?  Maybe if she had a lot of time to plan it, but it looked like the amount of time that transpired between when she decided to come up with a new plan, and then actually having said meth in hand was quite short.  I mean, yeah, I get she’s a super-assassin, but that seemed a bit of a stretch.
• Why would Bob and Carol have needed a map of Manhattan if they have an apartment there?  And why would they have used super-secret black-light-only ink in the privacy of their own home?  And if they’re such super-secret assassins in NYC, the most paranoid place on earth, why would their apartment be so easy to break into?
• All of a sudden, Carol, the super-assassin who can see things in slow motion, misses her mark and hits Cat’s new partner instead?
• Vincent lobs a Molotov cocktail into the forest at Bob.  Smokey Bear says, “Only you can prevent forest fires, Vincent!”
• Tess, you’re not going to be a very good police captain if you allow yourself the luxury of freaking out in front of other police officers and detainees.  When you’re a leader, you don’t get to have a bad day; you freak out in private.  And that is why they say it’s lonely at the top.
• When Carol sees the look on the faces of Cat and Tess and realizes that Bob is dead, part of that sequence includes a closeup of Cat’s face and a slow-mo of Carol’s reaction.  Doesn’t sound so bad, but ugh, cheesiest camera work I think I’ve ever seen on this show.  I’m pretty sure I’ve seen similar camera work on Power Rangers.
• Tess socks J.T. in the arm to protest his decision to put himself in harm’s way for Vincent.  Not fair.  She’s a police officer who routinely puts herself in harm’s way.  Also, if we as women expect men not to hit us, we should hold ourselves to the same standard.  Real women don’t hit men.  Fictional women shouldn’t hit fictional men, either.

That about does it for this week.  Let us know in the comments what you think.  Validation is adored, but disagreements are welcomed, too.  I’ll see you later this week on Thursday during the upcoming “Chasing Ghosts” episode 306, wherein family and friends make pre-wedding celebrations a little more complicated than Cat and Vincent had in mind.  Until then!

[Official Site for the Show] [Previous article on Beauty and the Beast]