Photo Credit: The CW - Gloria Votsis (L) and Jay Ryan (R) as Julianna Keaton and Vincent Keller.
OVERALL GRADE = B - (80%)
Yes, I realize that this is the lowest grade I’ve given an episode this season but I’m writing this as my first impression of the episode. I grade these episodes based on how emotionally connected I feel to the characters and the storylines because it makes me CARE about what happens. And that’s what was wrong with this episode: I just didn’t CARE. And you might say, but there were a lot of situations where our character’s lives were threatened! True, but there was just something missing. It just didn’t feel credible to me. The situations they find themselves in, some of the character’s behaviors – it just did not feel credible to me. Worse, it wasn’t even justified. And yes, I blame this mostly on Catherine. I’ll get into more detail later but just know, I wasn’t happy with her this week. After last week’s amazing episode, this one just looked mediocre. There does tend to be a pattern with the show where they give us a really good episode followed by an OK one and then so on. Maybe this was just an off week because next week’s episode looks pretty dramatic.
Ok, so I’m going to break this episode down by the multiple story arcs that are happening within the episode: Vincent and Catherine’s wedding/budding romance, the superhuman assassin hunting them down, Heather getting a new job, and JT and Tess’s relationship. Only one of these arcs felt emotionally connected and made sense. And that was JT and Tess’s relationship. WTF!? That’s bad! I should be caring more about Vincent and Catherine, our titular couple, rather than the sidekicks! Thus, I’m going to talk about each of these arcs and discuss what worked and what didn’t.
Catherine, Catherine, Catherine. What the fuck is wrong with her?? I don’t know why, but the writers have made her so inconsistent this season! And it gets worse with each episode! She constantly contradicts herself, she’s annoying, pushy, controlling, indecisive, selfish, and I find her arguments to be illogical and she just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand her anymore and I get Vincent’s frustration with her. Every episode, especially this week’s, I find myself on Vincent’s side and every point that he makes to Catherine, I’m like “Yes! You tell her Vincent!” I don’t know if the writers meant for Catherine to be this irrational but it has just gone beyond reason. There’s a difference between being strong-willed and defiant to just being stubborn for no apparent reason, not to mention bitchy. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any beef against Kristin. She does an amazing job dealing with the menstrual mess that is Catherine and in her performances, she is trying to make us understand Catherine. Especially with the one she gave us last week, we know that Kristin plays Catherine wonderfully. But back to my Catherine tirade, what happened to the Catherine in Season 1? We liked her because she was tough and followed her own moral compass, despite every reason for her to abandon her pursuit for justice, including Vincent. In Season 2, we did get a bit of inconsistency with Catherine but that was justified by the emotional distress that she had gone through with Vincent. Of course, it would cause her to be weak and vulnerable, but she soon got out of her own misery and fixed herself. This season, she’s just all over the place and I find no reason for her to be acting this way. I keep thinking of reasons like maybe she is not ready to deal with a wedding, her history with her mom, and I thought last week was going to solve this problem. And it did I guess?? Because now Catherine is the one who want to get married as soon as they can, but she’s approaching it all the wrong way. And I understand that Catherine has never really gotten in touch with her feminine side nor has she been much of a romantic. She’s usually straight-forward and to the point. But c’mon! Eloping?? Using your own wedding as bait to find the superhuman assassin?? And although she plays it off as “just a piece of paper” Vincent makes a great counterpoint stating that “this isn’t about us just getting a driver’s license . . . we’re getting MARRIED!!” And when Vincent started talking about his parents and how he wanted their wedding to be magical, I was like “Wake up Catherine!! Prince Charming right before your eyes!” And in the end of their conversation, Vincent said what was all echoing in our heads, “I don’t understand why you don’t want our wedding to be a magical one.” What do you want Catherine!? Apparently, for Vincent to be almost killed, so she can finally realize that she actually DOES want a magical, beautiful wedding. Sigh. Anyways, I always enjoy the chemistry between Jay and Kristin but I can’t help but feel that their relationship has changed. And it’s all because of Catherine. In all of their interactions, it’s about Vincent trying to calm Catherine down when she has a BF (bitch fit) or some sort of OCD attack, making Vincent the voice of reason, logic, and steadiness. It’s like Vincent is always the bigger person trying to talk down a bratty little girl. That’s not good. Side notes: They keep saying “I love you” so many times that it just lost its “magic.” Also, the song choice at the end “romantic” scene was off-putting and ruined the Vincat moment for me.
Now, the superhuman assassin who knows that Vincent and Catherine are to be wed. Technically, a lot was at stake here and things could have ended badly, but like I said before – not really. And you know why? It doesn’t come off as suspenseful and dramatic when you know that in the end – Vincent and Catherine will remain alive because a) they’re still alive in Season 4 and b) apparently the big bad wants them alive. So . . . . not that exciting. Maybe that’s why Vincent didn’t look as worried when Voldemort threatened to throw Catherine off the bridge to drown by the hands of Niagara Falls. Not so much. Strangely, I got the most excited when Voldemort started beating Vincent in front of Catherine. I wanted Vincent to actually be in danger because so far, he’s remained pretty safe. Also, the moment when she was supposedly going to lose Vincent, Catherine gave up way too easily. Vincent also gave up too easy to, drawling out a last “I wuv u . . . “ before JT saves him. Again. I also got equally excited when Catherine started beating the fuck out of Juliana. She went bonkers on her! And the reason? Simply that she just realized that she could’ve lost Vincent and that woman was going to take away their “magical wedding.” So, yes I did cheer on Catherine to let her beast out. I actually laughed when Cat finally stopped, they all look at her, and she’s like “oh, shit,” and then the shot of Julianna and her swollen, bloody face was just too much. Ha! Don’t mess with her! All in all, Julianna will provide with some more information on the big bad, adding to the, what I call “Russian doll villain effect.” How this works is that as soon as we catch one villain, we realize that there is yet another more powerful villain, to uncover that there is only another higher villain, so on and so forth until we finally reach the core center. Just like the Russian dolls! And it looks like next week, it’s not over by a long shot forcing Vincent and Catherine to take a shot at their shotgun wedding. Ok I’m done with the puns.
People might blame Heather for spilling the beans or being too dumb to find out she’s being tricked, but I’m not mad at her. She looked pretty beat up and she handled it like a pro when JT came along to help. She remained calm and became very useful to JT. So, I’m glad that Heather is becoming more than just a naïve damsel in distress. Although I hate that she’s still being used as a tool to get to Vincent and Catherine.
Now, for the sad news and the part that seemed the most logical and emotional: Tess breaks up with JT. And we have seen Tess’s struggle with the whole superhuman case since the very beginning. She’s tired of dealing with this while being captain, plus no one seems to give a rat’s ass about Tess’s position. First it was Catherine risking her job and now JT, who comes into her office and sets up camp to do his superhuman hunt. That, I felt was a bit intrusive and unfair to Tess. What fueled her fire even more was that she provided both JT and Heather with witness protection, against the captain’s orders, and NO ONE cares. I understood Tess’s frustration when everyone was trying to get rid of their bodyguards. No one stopped to think how bad it would look on Tess. Everyone was focused on helping Vincent and Catherine. And Tess gets that. But she’s tired of this. She admires JT for his loyalty to his best friend but at the same time sadly realizes that JT will never be as loyal to her as he is with Vincent. We feel her resentment when she looks at Vincent and says ,”JT always comes through for Vincent.” Now, this break up is justified and hard to reconcile because both JT and Tess are right in their own arguments. Better yet, they’re no blaming one another. Tess admits that JT was right and is grateful for him but at the same time, needs someone who can be there for her and support her. JT is stuck between choosing his best friend or his girlfriend. Logically, he chose to help his friend because his life was in danger and Tess agrees with his decision. Yet the truth of it all is what hurts the most. However, it won’t be long before they come back together because they do love each other and I don’t think Tess can find someone else. Literally, Vincent and Catherine’s mess is screwing up everybody else.
The only thing that saved this episode was the climax scene and the character development between JT and Tess. As far as Vincent and Catherine go, the only thing we learned about them is perhaps how different their family backgrounds are. While Vincent described his parents as being very loving and romantic, Catherine described her parents as being very matter-of-factly. Yes, they loved each other but the way they expressed their love or thought of their relationship was different to that of Vincent’s. And it makes sense for Catherine’s parents to not be so romantic about their “happily ever afters” because they knew that they would have a life of secrets and danger before them. Vanessa’s work with Muirfield required her to be secretive and distant to her loved ones in order to protect them. But I’m glad that Vincent made Catherine see how important their wedding day should be. Next week, seems to be a very exciting episode! Gearing up for a wedding that probably won’t happen, somebody’s going to get fatally wounded. Maybe Vincent gets shot? The trailer makes it seem that way but maybe not. Also, Catherine looks really pretty and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next week!
Yes, I realize that this is the lowest grade I’ve given an episode this season but I’m writing this as my first impression of the episode. I grade these episodes based on how emotionally connected I feel to the characters and the storylines because it makes me CARE about what happens. And that’s what was wrong with this episode: I just didn’t CARE. And you might say, but there were a lot of situations where our character’s lives were threatened! True, but there was just something missing. It just didn’t feel credible to me. The situations they find themselves in, some of the character’s behaviors – it just did not feel credible to me. Worse, it wasn’t even justified. And yes, I blame this mostly on Catherine. I’ll get into more detail later but just know, I wasn’t happy with her this week. After last week’s amazing episode, this one just looked mediocre. There does tend to be a pattern with the show where they give us a really good episode followed by an OK one and then so on. Maybe this was just an off week because next week’s episode looks pretty dramatic.
Ok, so I’m going to break this episode down by the multiple story arcs that are happening within the episode: Vincent and Catherine’s wedding/budding romance, the superhuman assassin hunting them down, Heather getting a new job, and JT and Tess’s relationship. Only one of these arcs felt emotionally connected and made sense. And that was JT and Tess’s relationship. WTF!? That’s bad! I should be caring more about Vincent and Catherine, our titular couple, rather than the sidekicks! Thus, I’m going to talk about each of these arcs and discuss what worked and what didn’t.
Catherine, Catherine, Catherine. What the fuck is wrong with her?? I don’t know why, but the writers have made her so inconsistent this season! And it gets worse with each episode! She constantly contradicts herself, she’s annoying, pushy, controlling, indecisive, selfish, and I find her arguments to be illogical and she just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand her anymore and I get Vincent’s frustration with her. Every episode, especially this week’s, I find myself on Vincent’s side and every point that he makes to Catherine, I’m like “Yes! You tell her Vincent!” I don’t know if the writers meant for Catherine to be this irrational but it has just gone beyond reason. There’s a difference between being strong-willed and defiant to just being stubborn for no apparent reason, not to mention bitchy. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any beef against Kristin. She does an amazing job dealing with the menstrual mess that is Catherine and in her performances, she is trying to make us understand Catherine. Especially with the one she gave us last week, we know that Kristin plays Catherine wonderfully. But back to my Catherine tirade, what happened to the Catherine in Season 1? We liked her because she was tough and followed her own moral compass, despite every reason for her to abandon her pursuit for justice, including Vincent. In Season 2, we did get a bit of inconsistency with Catherine but that was justified by the emotional distress that she had gone through with Vincent. Of course, it would cause her to be weak and vulnerable, but she soon got out of her own misery and fixed herself. This season, she’s just all over the place and I find no reason for her to be acting this way. I keep thinking of reasons like maybe she is not ready to deal with a wedding, her history with her mom, and I thought last week was going to solve this problem. And it did I guess?? Because now Catherine is the one who want to get married as soon as they can, but she’s approaching it all the wrong way. And I understand that Catherine has never really gotten in touch with her feminine side nor has she been much of a romantic. She’s usually straight-forward and to the point. But c’mon! Eloping?? Using your own wedding as bait to find the superhuman assassin?? And although she plays it off as “just a piece of paper” Vincent makes a great counterpoint stating that “this isn’t about us just getting a driver’s license . . . we’re getting MARRIED!!” And when Vincent started talking about his parents and how he wanted their wedding to be magical, I was like “Wake up Catherine!! Prince Charming right before your eyes!” And in the end of their conversation, Vincent said what was all echoing in our heads, “I don’t understand why you don’t want our wedding to be a magical one.” What do you want Catherine!? Apparently, for Vincent to be almost killed, so she can finally realize that she actually DOES want a magical, beautiful wedding. Sigh. Anyways, I always enjoy the chemistry between Jay and Kristin but I can’t help but feel that their relationship has changed. And it’s all because of Catherine. In all of their interactions, it’s about Vincent trying to calm Catherine down when she has a BF (bitch fit) or some sort of OCD attack, making Vincent the voice of reason, logic, and steadiness. It’s like Vincent is always the bigger person trying to talk down a bratty little girl. That’s not good. Side notes: They keep saying “I love you” so many times that it just lost its “magic.” Also, the song choice at the end “romantic” scene was off-putting and ruined the Vincat moment for me.
Now, the superhuman assassin who knows that Vincent and Catherine are to be wed. Technically, a lot was at stake here and things could have ended badly, but like I said before – not really. And you know why? It doesn’t come off as suspenseful and dramatic when you know that in the end – Vincent and Catherine will remain alive because a) they’re still alive in Season 4 and b) apparently the big bad wants them alive. So . . . . not that exciting. Maybe that’s why Vincent didn’t look as worried when Voldemort threatened to throw Catherine off the bridge to drown by the hands of Niagara Falls. Not so much. Strangely, I got the most excited when Voldemort started beating Vincent in front of Catherine. I wanted Vincent to actually be in danger because so far, he’s remained pretty safe. Also, the moment when she was supposedly going to lose Vincent, Catherine gave up way too easily. Vincent also gave up too easy to, drawling out a last “I wuv u . . . “ before JT saves him. Again. I also got equally excited when Catherine started beating the fuck out of Juliana. She went bonkers on her! And the reason? Simply that she just realized that she could’ve lost Vincent and that woman was going to take away their “magical wedding.” So, yes I did cheer on Catherine to let her beast out. I actually laughed when Cat finally stopped, they all look at her, and she’s like “oh, shit,” and then the shot of Julianna and her swollen, bloody face was just too much. Ha! Don’t mess with her! All in all, Julianna will provide with some more information on the big bad, adding to the, what I call “Russian doll villain effect.” How this works is that as soon as we catch one villain, we realize that there is yet another more powerful villain, to uncover that there is only another higher villain, so on and so forth until we finally reach the core center. Just like the Russian dolls! And it looks like next week, it’s not over by a long shot forcing Vincent and Catherine to take a shot at their shotgun wedding. Ok I’m done with the puns.
People might blame Heather for spilling the beans or being too dumb to find out she’s being tricked, but I’m not mad at her. She looked pretty beat up and she handled it like a pro when JT came along to help. She remained calm and became very useful to JT. So, I’m glad that Heather is becoming more than just a naïve damsel in distress. Although I hate that she’s still being used as a tool to get to Vincent and Catherine.
Now, for the sad news and the part that seemed the most logical and emotional: Tess breaks up with JT. And we have seen Tess’s struggle with the whole superhuman case since the very beginning. She’s tired of dealing with this while being captain, plus no one seems to give a rat’s ass about Tess’s position. First it was Catherine risking her job and now JT, who comes into her office and sets up camp to do his superhuman hunt. That, I felt was a bit intrusive and unfair to Tess. What fueled her fire even more was that she provided both JT and Heather with witness protection, against the captain’s orders, and NO ONE cares. I understood Tess’s frustration when everyone was trying to get rid of their bodyguards. No one stopped to think how bad it would look on Tess. Everyone was focused on helping Vincent and Catherine. And Tess gets that. But she’s tired of this. She admires JT for his loyalty to his best friend but at the same time sadly realizes that JT will never be as loyal to her as he is with Vincent. We feel her resentment when she looks at Vincent and says ,”JT always comes through for Vincent.” Now, this break up is justified and hard to reconcile because both JT and Tess are right in their own arguments. Better yet, they’re no blaming one another. Tess admits that JT was right and is grateful for him but at the same time, needs someone who can be there for her and support her. JT is stuck between choosing his best friend or his girlfriend. Logically, he chose to help his friend because his life was in danger and Tess agrees with his decision. Yet the truth of it all is what hurts the most. However, it won’t be long before they come back together because they do love each other and I don’t think Tess can find someone else. Literally, Vincent and Catherine’s mess is screwing up everybody else.
The only thing that saved this episode was the climax scene and the character development between JT and Tess. As far as Vincent and Catherine go, the only thing we learned about them is perhaps how different their family backgrounds are. While Vincent described his parents as being very loving and romantic, Catherine described her parents as being very matter-of-factly. Yes, they loved each other but the way they expressed their love or thought of their relationship was different to that of Vincent’s. And it makes sense for Catherine’s parents to not be so romantic about their “happily ever afters” because they knew that they would have a life of secrets and danger before them. Vanessa’s work with Muirfield required her to be secretive and distant to her loved ones in order to protect them. But I’m glad that Vincent made Catherine see how important their wedding day should be. Next week, seems to be a very exciting episode! Gearing up for a wedding that probably won’t happen, somebody’s going to get fatally wounded. Maybe Vincent gets shot? The trailer makes it seem that way but maybe not. Also, Catherine looks really pretty and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next week!