Photo Credit: The CW - Jay Ryan (L) and Kristin Kreuk (R) as Vincent Keller and Catherine Chandler.
3x08: Shotgun Wedding – OVERALL GRADE = B+ (86%)
I was looking forward to this episode for various reasons. All of which primarily centered around the hope that this would be a rather “huge” episode due to: 1) the wedding and 2) the reveal of our very dangerous and mysterious threat. Meaning - big decisions to be made. And in some ways, this was a huge episode. But it did not turn out the way I thought it would. In the end, I felt disappointed and frustrated. Now last week, I explained my reasons as to why I’m beginning to dislike Catherine this season. But after reading some reviews, I decided that instead of focusing on reasons why I disagree with the way a certain character behaved or acted, I should instead try to understand the character’s motives. So, as you might’ve guessed, my big beef is with Catherine this episode. The other problem I had with this episode was Julianna who turned out to be a relatively thin character whose motives and tactics did not make sense at all and what’s worse – her character was pointless. Despite these character flaws, this episode was a major turning point, flushing out the character arcs of both Vincent and Catherine from the beginning of Season 3 and completely flipping them around. And that’s why I have hope for this show. This episode mirrors the season opener in that it is setting us up for what’s to come. And since this season has been heavily centered around character development, I think the choice to do this turning point is interesting because that means that what we get from here on out – is going to be completely different from what we’ve been getting so far. And that’s a plus because that means that we’ll get to explore different sides to our characters, resulting in some great performances, both from the ensemble and the individual actors.
So for this review, I’m not going to be talking much about what happened in this episode because let’s be honest, we all knew the wedding wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I’m going to be backtracking a bit through the season to draw out the individual paths that both Vincent and Catherine have taken to get to this point. If we go back to the first episode of Season 3, you’ll recall that two big decisions were made by Vincent and Catherine: a) let’s get married and b) let’s save the world from evil super-humans! Now, we all knew that juggling both would be impossible and so far, that’s what this season has centered around. Each episode this season has focused on each of the character’s struggles coming to terms with either: a) the wedding or b) saving the world, eventually culminating in this week’s episode. Let us recall that from the very beginning, Catherine was very adamant about saving the world, arguing that it was their destiny to stop these threats, thus putting their wedding on hold. Vincent, on the other hand, was determined to focus on their future so that they can finally get the happy ending that they deserve. By this point, we had established early on that both Vincent and Catherine felt very strongly and divided over their opinions about their future. Hence, what led them to marriage counseling. Keep in mind that all this time, Catherine has done nothing but obsess over finding the big bad and get it over with so that she and Vincent can move on with their lives. In fact, she was SO obsessed that it seemed like if there were no supernatural thrill threatening Vincent and Catherine, their relationship wouldn’t work. She was VERY determined to fulfill her call to destiny. Meanwhile, Vincent has been tagging along with Catherine but has always felt reluctant on the whole “destiny thing.” Who said that this was THEIR fight? All Vincent wanted was to prepare for their magical wedding day. In essence, we understood these characters as thus: Vincent being a hopeless romantic and Catherine being the pragmatic, determined one.
For this week’s episode, both characters had a realization where they finally see the other’s perspective on the two main issues they’ve been arguing about. Vincent realized that Catherine was right about chasing down the bad guy because in the end, it WAS their destiny. Hell, even Julianna made it clearer for him: You are the ONLY one who can stop Liam. After seeing the threat that has come upon them, Vincent realizes that it was unrealistic to be pushing the wedding when all hell was breaking loose. What’s even worse is that Vincent blames himself for all this!! The thing is that now that Vincent has finally accepted the challenge that he needs to confront . . . Catherine backs out. She quits!! WHAT THE FUCK? All it took was her wedding to be ruined to realize that maybe . . . getting into this mess was a bad idea. You can’t back out now Cat! You’ve already dug yourself in that hole! What I do not find credible is how quickly she changed her mind when all season long, she was totally on board with capturing the bad guy. Now, here’s me trying to understand Catherine: Maybe she JUST realized how huge of a threat she is up against. Perhaps she JUST realized how she’d be risking their lives and their happy ending. I mean, that Liam guy was pretty brutal. He messed up Vincent pretty badly. I think the fact that their wedding got ruined and seeing how they didn’t stand a chance against Liam – that made her take a step back. We also must take into account that the only reason Liam attacked Vincent and Catherine was because they had gotten in the way, by locking Julianna up in the chapel. If she had not escaped jail, then perhaps, Vincent and Catherine would’ve gotten safely married. The question is: Why didn’t Liam kill Vincent and Catherine? He was perfectly capable of doing so (Exhibit A: Julianna’s corpse). One obvious answer is that he wasn’t after Vincent and Catherine. The other reason is perhaps Liam needs them both for something and that makes me believe that Liam has an ounce of humanity in him. And from the looks of it, it seems like they will be teaming up together according to the future episode descriptions. Either way, that’s Cat’s reason for her decision to quit beast-hunting: Liam is not after us, so why risk our lives for it? Now it may seem that way now, but let us remind you Cat, that your fiancé is a beast. And that means that Vincent’s always going to be hunted, regardless of what the situation is. If that isn’t enough, we know that Liam is going to be hurting innocent people and Catherine, being a cop, is not going to let that go. Point is that somehow, this Liam situation is going to affect them so . . . Cat’s resolve is weak. Catherine finally letting this all go, is a HUGE step for her – very unlikely at that. And that’s why when we see her in the end (in plaid again), she’s peaceful and at ease because she doesn’t have a care in the world anymore. She’s so nonchalant and “mehh” about this and I hate how she just walks away and leaves a bleeding, frustrated Vincent on the rooftop. You can even see him look up to the night sky, flail his arms about in despair as if saying, “What do I do NOW?” Or “Goddammit, this woman is driving me crazy!!” Side note: I think it’s cute how Vincent is always making sure if Catherine wants to get married or not. Anyways, what we get in the end is a complete turn- around: Vincent is determined to hunt down Liam so that they can finally get married properly while Catherine has given up on beast hunting and instead wants to wait to get married? She claims that it’ll just get worse and worse, as if she did not see that coming. Looking at both their arcs, we get the roller coaster that is Catherine and the smooth and steady rock that is Vincent. I’m not picking sides here but I’ve been liking Vincent this whole season because I understand him. Of course he would push normalcy and a happy life with Catherine because that’s all he ever wanted: to be normal and happy!! And of course after seeing that the threat has become personal and may get in the way of achieving Vincent and Catherine’s happiness – only now does Vincent want to stop Liam. On the other hand, nothing that Catherine did ever made sense. I understand that she’s a crime fighter and all but she’s become careless putting Vincent in danger and even worse, putting themselves and others in danger. And now, after she’s risked everyone’s lives and they’ve gotten this far . . . now she quits? *sigh*
Now, Julianna. Her whole motive for everything she’s done is to stop Liam – a very powerful, unstoppable super-human. That’s why she created the superhuman experiments, hoping to create one that would match Liam and defeat him once and for all. Unfortunately, all her failed attempts led to innocent people dying. That’s when Vincent and Catherine stepped in – to stop the super-humans and stop the experiments. Julianna misread this as an attempt to thwart her capturing of Liam. She went so far to believe that they were working for Liam. Once she finds out that Vincent is a beast, she wants to know if Vincent could be “the one.” Hence, why Bob and Carol tested Vincent. And, it turns out that Vincent was quite the contender as he managed to find and stop Julianna’s experiments. It was never about Catherine. She just got in the way. What doesn’t make sense is why Julianna was going to kill Vincent in last week’s episode. If she needed him so badly, why do it?? Julianna even tells us that she needs Vincent to stop Liam. But in order to do so, Vincent needs to be injected with the super-human serum that Liam has. In effect, Vincent has to risk his own life, his humanity, in order to save the rest of the world. It’s a very noble and daring task to ask of someone. Although we’ve gotten to a point where you don’t have a choice anymore. In this week’s episode, it seemed like Liam knew who Julianna was and Julianna knew that he was coming. So in reality, Julianna is just a desperate victim. But the way she goes about it is so . . . confusing. She kills innocent people to save innocent people. She threatens to kill Vincent or Catherine who might be her saviors. She goes to extreme measures threatening both Vincent and Catherine by using each other as bait. Which is why it’s hard to believe Julianna. But once we see how Julianna was torn to bits, we would be desperate too. As far as we know, Liam is a bad guy because Julianna told us. But what if Liam, like Julianna, has a better purpose but is going about it the wrong way? Either way, Vincent sees how desperate the situation is and knows that this is a fate and a challenge that he must accept. Overall, the weak character development of Julianna leads me to believe that she was just used as a plot device to introduce Liam into the picture.
Meanwhile, all the other characters try to “protect” the wedding by not telling Catherine about Julianna’s escape. And when Catherine inevitably finds out, she is angry at everyone – especially Vincent. It’s not like you haven’t kept some information from Vincent in order to protect him before right?? First episode, ring any bells?? But in the end, she is right. If they had told her what was going on in the first place, maybe they could’ve gotten married safely and maybe Tess’s job wouldn’t be at stake. As a result, everything’s a mess. There were some nice character moments that came from this though. For instance, how JT is learning how to be there for Tess just when she needs him most. Everything that Tess has been dealing with this season is culminating in something that could potentially cost her her job. And we got to see a much softer side to Tess when we found out that she is a romantic and when she started tearing up while her chief was scolding her. It seems unprofessional to cry at work and that’s why it’s even more shocking that it’s Tess that breaks down. I also enjoyed the budding friendship/partnership between Vincent and Tess who both care about Catherine deeply. It was heartwarming that it was Vincent who picked up on what was happening between JT and Tess. There were several moments where Vincent wanted to get Tess to express her feelings and I think it was cute because it shows how Vincent cares for Tess. Most of the comedy of the episode came from Heather who spent the entire episode stressing out about the wedding while trying to keep Catherine away from the case. And it’s funny because Heather fails at it badly. Side note: Vincent’s romantic gestures . . . I can’t even.
As a result, all the characters are faced with an ultimatum which changes things for them. There’s still going to be a wedding but we won’t see it any time soon. Vincent finds himself at odds with Catherine because Catherine will try to convince Vincent to not go after Liam. But Vincent being the hero he is, will do it anyways. And this leads up to a pretty dramatic season finale, one that will oddly correlate with the season opener: What is their destiny? Will Vincent be able to stop Liam before it’s too late? How much is Vincent willing to risk? Will Catherine change her mind? And will that fairytale wedding ever happen? What’s even more dramatic is the possibility that Vincent might not even survive to get married – in order to save the world. So, it comes full circle. With that, I hope that we finally get rid of the Catherine that constantly worries and obsesses. The question is: who is going to join Vincent on this last final adventure? It won’t be easy because the stakes are higher for everyone. In time, I think the gang will get together for one last time but for now, things feel pretty divided. Tess for one, is certainly not going to risk getting involved because she is on thin ice back at the precinct. JT is going to support Tess because we see his loyalty start to shift from Vincent to Tess. But at some point, JT is going to have to help Vincent. That leaves Catherine. It won’t take long for her to jump on board because a) she’s not going to let Vincent face this on his own and b) the world is in danger. The question they need to ask themselves is whether Vincent can fend off Liam on his own or will he need to be injected with the super-human serum. I hope Vincent chooses the latter, sacrificing his own body to help others. There’s no question that there will be side effects and it’ll probably make things difficult for Vincent and Catherine. I know it’s cruel of me but it makes things more dramatic considering that the stakes are higher than ever and plus, Vincent looks hot all bloody and ripped up. There’s no doubt that Vincent will be getting the worst of it and I don’t want to jinx anything but a spoiler warned us that one of the characters will almost die. It’ll make the real wedding that much more suspenseful. Add a better wedding dress and a better location (fire escape) and you’ve got yourself a beautiful wedding ceremony! Side note: Seems like Il Cantuccio is Vincent and Catherine’s favorite café/bar/wedding reception place. It’s good for every occasion!
I was looking forward to this episode for various reasons. All of which primarily centered around the hope that this would be a rather “huge” episode due to: 1) the wedding and 2) the reveal of our very dangerous and mysterious threat. Meaning - big decisions to be made. And in some ways, this was a huge episode. But it did not turn out the way I thought it would. In the end, I felt disappointed and frustrated. Now last week, I explained my reasons as to why I’m beginning to dislike Catherine this season. But after reading some reviews, I decided that instead of focusing on reasons why I disagree with the way a certain character behaved or acted, I should instead try to understand the character’s motives. So, as you might’ve guessed, my big beef is with Catherine this episode. The other problem I had with this episode was Julianna who turned out to be a relatively thin character whose motives and tactics did not make sense at all and what’s worse – her character was pointless. Despite these character flaws, this episode was a major turning point, flushing out the character arcs of both Vincent and Catherine from the beginning of Season 3 and completely flipping them around. And that’s why I have hope for this show. This episode mirrors the season opener in that it is setting us up for what’s to come. And since this season has been heavily centered around character development, I think the choice to do this turning point is interesting because that means that what we get from here on out – is going to be completely different from what we’ve been getting so far. And that’s a plus because that means that we’ll get to explore different sides to our characters, resulting in some great performances, both from the ensemble and the individual actors.
So for this review, I’m not going to be talking much about what happened in this episode because let’s be honest, we all knew the wedding wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I’m going to be backtracking a bit through the season to draw out the individual paths that both Vincent and Catherine have taken to get to this point. If we go back to the first episode of Season 3, you’ll recall that two big decisions were made by Vincent and Catherine: a) let’s get married and b) let’s save the world from evil super-humans! Now, we all knew that juggling both would be impossible and so far, that’s what this season has centered around. Each episode this season has focused on each of the character’s struggles coming to terms with either: a) the wedding or b) saving the world, eventually culminating in this week’s episode. Let us recall that from the very beginning, Catherine was very adamant about saving the world, arguing that it was their destiny to stop these threats, thus putting their wedding on hold. Vincent, on the other hand, was determined to focus on their future so that they can finally get the happy ending that they deserve. By this point, we had established early on that both Vincent and Catherine felt very strongly and divided over their opinions about their future. Hence, what led them to marriage counseling. Keep in mind that all this time, Catherine has done nothing but obsess over finding the big bad and get it over with so that she and Vincent can move on with their lives. In fact, she was SO obsessed that it seemed like if there were no supernatural thrill threatening Vincent and Catherine, their relationship wouldn’t work. She was VERY determined to fulfill her call to destiny. Meanwhile, Vincent has been tagging along with Catherine but has always felt reluctant on the whole “destiny thing.” Who said that this was THEIR fight? All Vincent wanted was to prepare for their magical wedding day. In essence, we understood these characters as thus: Vincent being a hopeless romantic and Catherine being the pragmatic, determined one.
For this week’s episode, both characters had a realization where they finally see the other’s perspective on the two main issues they’ve been arguing about. Vincent realized that Catherine was right about chasing down the bad guy because in the end, it WAS their destiny. Hell, even Julianna made it clearer for him: You are the ONLY one who can stop Liam. After seeing the threat that has come upon them, Vincent realizes that it was unrealistic to be pushing the wedding when all hell was breaking loose. What’s even worse is that Vincent blames himself for all this!! The thing is that now that Vincent has finally accepted the challenge that he needs to confront . . . Catherine backs out. She quits!! WHAT THE FUCK? All it took was her wedding to be ruined to realize that maybe . . . getting into this mess was a bad idea. You can’t back out now Cat! You’ve already dug yourself in that hole! What I do not find credible is how quickly she changed her mind when all season long, she was totally on board with capturing the bad guy. Now, here’s me trying to understand Catherine: Maybe she JUST realized how huge of a threat she is up against. Perhaps she JUST realized how she’d be risking their lives and their happy ending. I mean, that Liam guy was pretty brutal. He messed up Vincent pretty badly. I think the fact that their wedding got ruined and seeing how they didn’t stand a chance against Liam – that made her take a step back. We also must take into account that the only reason Liam attacked Vincent and Catherine was because they had gotten in the way, by locking Julianna up in the chapel. If she had not escaped jail, then perhaps, Vincent and Catherine would’ve gotten safely married. The question is: Why didn’t Liam kill Vincent and Catherine? He was perfectly capable of doing so (Exhibit A: Julianna’s corpse). One obvious answer is that he wasn’t after Vincent and Catherine. The other reason is perhaps Liam needs them both for something and that makes me believe that Liam has an ounce of humanity in him. And from the looks of it, it seems like they will be teaming up together according to the future episode descriptions. Either way, that’s Cat’s reason for her decision to quit beast-hunting: Liam is not after us, so why risk our lives for it? Now it may seem that way now, but let us remind you Cat, that your fiancé is a beast. And that means that Vincent’s always going to be hunted, regardless of what the situation is. If that isn’t enough, we know that Liam is going to be hurting innocent people and Catherine, being a cop, is not going to let that go. Point is that somehow, this Liam situation is going to affect them so . . . Cat’s resolve is weak. Catherine finally letting this all go, is a HUGE step for her – very unlikely at that. And that’s why when we see her in the end (in plaid again), she’s peaceful and at ease because she doesn’t have a care in the world anymore. She’s so nonchalant and “mehh” about this and I hate how she just walks away and leaves a bleeding, frustrated Vincent on the rooftop. You can even see him look up to the night sky, flail his arms about in despair as if saying, “What do I do NOW?” Or “Goddammit, this woman is driving me crazy!!” Side note: I think it’s cute how Vincent is always making sure if Catherine wants to get married or not. Anyways, what we get in the end is a complete turn- around: Vincent is determined to hunt down Liam so that they can finally get married properly while Catherine has given up on beast hunting and instead wants to wait to get married? She claims that it’ll just get worse and worse, as if she did not see that coming. Looking at both their arcs, we get the roller coaster that is Catherine and the smooth and steady rock that is Vincent. I’m not picking sides here but I’ve been liking Vincent this whole season because I understand him. Of course he would push normalcy and a happy life with Catherine because that’s all he ever wanted: to be normal and happy!! And of course after seeing that the threat has become personal and may get in the way of achieving Vincent and Catherine’s happiness – only now does Vincent want to stop Liam. On the other hand, nothing that Catherine did ever made sense. I understand that she’s a crime fighter and all but she’s become careless putting Vincent in danger and even worse, putting themselves and others in danger. And now, after she’s risked everyone’s lives and they’ve gotten this far . . . now she quits? *sigh*
Now, Julianna. Her whole motive for everything she’s done is to stop Liam – a very powerful, unstoppable super-human. That’s why she created the superhuman experiments, hoping to create one that would match Liam and defeat him once and for all. Unfortunately, all her failed attempts led to innocent people dying. That’s when Vincent and Catherine stepped in – to stop the super-humans and stop the experiments. Julianna misread this as an attempt to thwart her capturing of Liam. She went so far to believe that they were working for Liam. Once she finds out that Vincent is a beast, she wants to know if Vincent could be “the one.” Hence, why Bob and Carol tested Vincent. And, it turns out that Vincent was quite the contender as he managed to find and stop Julianna’s experiments. It was never about Catherine. She just got in the way. What doesn’t make sense is why Julianna was going to kill Vincent in last week’s episode. If she needed him so badly, why do it?? Julianna even tells us that she needs Vincent to stop Liam. But in order to do so, Vincent needs to be injected with the super-human serum that Liam has. In effect, Vincent has to risk his own life, his humanity, in order to save the rest of the world. It’s a very noble and daring task to ask of someone. Although we’ve gotten to a point where you don’t have a choice anymore. In this week’s episode, it seemed like Liam knew who Julianna was and Julianna knew that he was coming. So in reality, Julianna is just a desperate victim. But the way she goes about it is so . . . confusing. She kills innocent people to save innocent people. She threatens to kill Vincent or Catherine who might be her saviors. She goes to extreme measures threatening both Vincent and Catherine by using each other as bait. Which is why it’s hard to believe Julianna. But once we see how Julianna was torn to bits, we would be desperate too. As far as we know, Liam is a bad guy because Julianna told us. But what if Liam, like Julianna, has a better purpose but is going about it the wrong way? Either way, Vincent sees how desperate the situation is and knows that this is a fate and a challenge that he must accept. Overall, the weak character development of Julianna leads me to believe that she was just used as a plot device to introduce Liam into the picture.
Meanwhile, all the other characters try to “protect” the wedding by not telling Catherine about Julianna’s escape. And when Catherine inevitably finds out, she is angry at everyone – especially Vincent. It’s not like you haven’t kept some information from Vincent in order to protect him before right?? First episode, ring any bells?? But in the end, she is right. If they had told her what was going on in the first place, maybe they could’ve gotten married safely and maybe Tess’s job wouldn’t be at stake. As a result, everything’s a mess. There were some nice character moments that came from this though. For instance, how JT is learning how to be there for Tess just when she needs him most. Everything that Tess has been dealing with this season is culminating in something that could potentially cost her her job. And we got to see a much softer side to Tess when we found out that she is a romantic and when she started tearing up while her chief was scolding her. It seems unprofessional to cry at work and that’s why it’s even more shocking that it’s Tess that breaks down. I also enjoyed the budding friendship/partnership between Vincent and Tess who both care about Catherine deeply. It was heartwarming that it was Vincent who picked up on what was happening between JT and Tess. There were several moments where Vincent wanted to get Tess to express her feelings and I think it was cute because it shows how Vincent cares for Tess. Most of the comedy of the episode came from Heather who spent the entire episode stressing out about the wedding while trying to keep Catherine away from the case. And it’s funny because Heather fails at it badly. Side note: Vincent’s romantic gestures . . . I can’t even.
As a result, all the characters are faced with an ultimatum which changes things for them. There’s still going to be a wedding but we won’t see it any time soon. Vincent finds himself at odds with Catherine because Catherine will try to convince Vincent to not go after Liam. But Vincent being the hero he is, will do it anyways. And this leads up to a pretty dramatic season finale, one that will oddly correlate with the season opener: What is their destiny? Will Vincent be able to stop Liam before it’s too late? How much is Vincent willing to risk? Will Catherine change her mind? And will that fairytale wedding ever happen? What’s even more dramatic is the possibility that Vincent might not even survive to get married – in order to save the world. So, it comes full circle. With that, I hope that we finally get rid of the Catherine that constantly worries and obsesses. The question is: who is going to join Vincent on this last final adventure? It won’t be easy because the stakes are higher for everyone. In time, I think the gang will get together for one last time but for now, things feel pretty divided. Tess for one, is certainly not going to risk getting involved because she is on thin ice back at the precinct. JT is going to support Tess because we see his loyalty start to shift from Vincent to Tess. But at some point, JT is going to have to help Vincent. That leaves Catherine. It won’t take long for her to jump on board because a) she’s not going to let Vincent face this on his own and b) the world is in danger. The question they need to ask themselves is whether Vincent can fend off Liam on his own or will he need to be injected with the super-human serum. I hope Vincent chooses the latter, sacrificing his own body to help others. There’s no question that there will be side effects and it’ll probably make things difficult for Vincent and Catherine. I know it’s cruel of me but it makes things more dramatic considering that the stakes are higher than ever and plus, Vincent looks hot all bloody and ripped up. There’s no doubt that Vincent will be getting the worst of it and I don’t want to jinx anything but a spoiler warned us that one of the characters will almost die. It’ll make the real wedding that much more suspenseful. Add a better wedding dress and a better location (fire escape) and you’ve got yourself a beautiful wedding ceremony! Side note: Seems like Il Cantuccio is Vincent and Catherine’s favorite café/bar/wedding reception place. It’s good for every occasion!