Photo Credit: The CW - Nina Lisandrello (L) and Kristin Kreuk (R) as Tess Vargas and Catherine Chandler.
OVERALL GRADE = B – (82%)
Is it bad that I felt more passion, heat, and emotional pang last season rather than in this season – the supposed “romantic” season?? Probably, if you’re one of those hopeless romantic people. If you’re not, you’re enjoying this season simply because of the story. I happen to be both of these although here, I would give preference to story, only because it promises much more compelling stories and characters. I only bring this up because I know that recently there has been constant bashing of the cast and crew on twitter by some very ardent and passionate fans. To some extent, I both agree and disagree with our fellow ‘beasties.’ Would I like to see more of Vincent and Catherine and their passionate moments? Sure, who wouldn’t? On a creative standpoint: do we need that to tell the story we’re trying to tell?? Now, here’s where I think the root of the problem is: Season 3 was sold to viewers as the most romantic season ever, promising a whole lot of passionate/intimate moments between Vincent and Catherine. In all honesty, we did get the passion – from their constant arguing. The reason why fans eagerly anticipated Season 3 (the only reason actually), was because they expected to see the steamy, romantic scenes that we had seen in Season 1. The fact is fans misunderstood the point of this season: there IS a lot of romance this season – just not the ones fans were expecting. And I get it. Story-wise, in order to get a fresh take on Vincent and Catherine’s romance, the relationship needed to move past its hot, young, and passionate stage, in order to naturally evolve into a more mature and developed one. Not to say that they still don’t have their hot moments off screen but fans argue that they felt ‘cheated.’ As a fan of the show myself, I always enjoy watching Vincent and Catherine. But as a storyteller/writer, it would make sense to develop their relationship and love by focusing on character, exploring new challenges and terrain, rather than just provide eye candy for the fanfiction writers out there. There’s more of an artistic value in the storytelling, while at the same time provides an ample playground for our actors – bringing out new sides to our characters and creating some interesting bits between them. If fans look at the season in this perspective, perhaps they may be able to enjoy the show a bit more. Am I enjoying this season? Not as much as the previous seasons, but I understand the intention. Hence, why I can appreciate the show all the more. The other popular complaint I’ve seen on twitter is the growing concern about Catherine’s wardrobe. In a nutshell, fans are upset that Catherine wears rather unflattering flannel way too much and what’s worse – she wears it when she’s in bed with Vincent. Fans have gotten so heated about this that they caused the costume designer to leave twitter! Again, would people like to see Catherine in lingerie? Sure, who wouldn’t? But, if we think about character – Catherine is a detective which means she is not someone who likes to flaunt her assets to people. It would be out of character for her to objectify herself by wearing skimpy, sexy outfits just to please Vincent. Note: we may get to see some of that in their honeymoon. Also, flannel is comfy and I enjoy wearing it. All in all, people should respect the cast and crew because they have to work with what they get – whether or not they like it. Well then, who’s to blame?? Who knows? Could be the writers, the showrunners, the network, etc. But blaming the actors sure isn’t the solution. Anyway, thought I’d get my two cents out there before heading into this week’s episode.
Like I’ve said before, each episode this season is structured around character development and although technically this week’s episode was about Vincent and Catherine coming to terms with one another, I felt that this was Heather’s episode. Finally!! We see that she is more than just the damsel in distress, the nosy sister, or the bossy wedding planner. Here, we finally get to see her be an adult and make a decision that matters. But more importantly, she is no longer kept in the dark when it comes to beast shenanigans and she is now a part of the Scooby gang. At first, she enters the episode “being classic Heather,” which means walking in unannounced and opening her mouth when she shouldn’t be. Also, why is Heather in Catherine’s apartment? Doesn’t she live in her own apartment? No wonder Vincent’s pissed at her. However, JT is the one who realizes that Heather needs to understand the history, the ties that connect Catherine to a greater destiny. Heather is skeptical of the whole thing because it all sounds like a bunch of BS. And as per usual BATB, it takes a near death experience for our Heather to understand her sister’s need to complete her mission. The reason why Heather gets the MVP award this week is because she was the one who convinced Catherine to change her mind and quit fucking around already. It’s also relieving to see Heather handling these chaotic situations a bit better. No more BFs, that’s for sure.
Of course, the main character resolution was between Vincent and Catherine. It’s stupid but it’s refreshing and I’ll explain why. It’s stupid because Catherine was just being stupid this week. Again, I understand why Catherine decides to quit the hunt: she’s afraid. BUT, that doesn’t explain how she pulled a complete 180 on us with no warning. It threw me off because Catherine was so adamant about her quest all along and now, is more confident than ever in her conclusion that she was indeed wrong all this time. The switch was just too sudden which is what troubles Vincent. What caused her to change all of a sudden? The thing is there couldn’t be a better title for this week’s episode – because Cat literally spilt all of the friggin’ beans!! And not just to anyone – to her chief and the DHS!!! WTF!? Apparently, she felt that blurting everything out would be better for everyone because: 1) Tess would be off the hook 2) DHS can take their case back and 3) I can finally be free!! Only two of those actually turned out to be true because you sure as hell ain’t off the hook Catherine! The other thing I felt that was illogical on Catherine’s behalf was treating Liam’s superhuman case like a regular cold case. Sure, exposing Liam doesn’t mean that it’ll expose Vincent but still – you should know better Cat. In fact, all of the characters think that Catherine has gone nuts and isn’t thinking straight. At one point when Vincent and Catherine are arguing in the hospital, Vincent gives her the perfect facial expression as if saying, “Really? You’re really going to go there?” None of the characters agree with Catherine’s decision except Heather, that when fully understanding the situation, agrees with the rest of the gang.
So far this season Vincent is always the guy that brings me relief that at least there’s someone thinking clearly. This week, I felt his frustration and anger but I didn’t agree with some of his actions. Whenever Vincent and Catherine aren’t necessarily seeing eye to eye in a situation – they always resort to doing things their own way - which says a lot about their characters: they’re both stubborn, independent, driven individuals. Yet, they should know better than to work separately behind each other’s backs. That’s where they were both stupid. Hello? Haven’t you learned anything from this season about teamwork? *sigh* Anyway, Vincent goes his own way tracking Liam while Catherine sticks to her case – eventually leading them to bump into each other time and time again. The fact is they were so focused on proving each other wrong that they forgot that Liam is also somehow connected to JT. Thankfully, they were able to warn JT in time and props to JT for being able to defend himself and Heather!! In the end, the Scooby gang realize that this superhuman case affects all of them in different ways: Catherine due to her ancestors, Vincent due to his DNA, JT due to his super-healing power, and Tess due to being captain. Whether they ignore it or not, this shit will find them. And it’s an unfortunate truth for all of them. But here, I commend Vincent for being the bigger person because he realizes that he doesn’t want to face this threat alone. His love and respect for Catherine is so that Vincent decides that he’ll do whatever Catherine decides, as long as they do it together. Thankfully, Catherine comes to her senses and decides that they should stop Liam and what’s even better . . . Vincent and Catherine are finally on the same page!!!!!! Which means that it’ll finally put an end to the whole lot of arguing they’ve been doing this whole season. I mean, I still expect to see some bickering and disagreements but at least we know that we’re moving forward together. I must also add, that it’s very easy to blame Catherine for all this mess but we must remember that no one WON the argument – Vincent and Catherine were both right in their opinions and they were both wrong in their assumptions. So, no one’s to blame here.
Onto the actual case: what we found out about Liam was that he has a whole bunch of people working for him – doing his dirty work, so to speak. He’s difficult to track. Not only that - Liam is killing and taking the blood of all current and past superhuman experiments. This means that there is more at stake and Liam’s plans may be worse than they thought. On the other side, we got to see some of our old characters like Alton and Zane. Next week, I think we’ll get to see Liam again and find out what he’s after.
Now that Catherine has passed on the superhuman case to the DHS (brilliant idea!), I have a feeling this is all going to bite her back in the butt now that she’s back on the case. Not only is she going to be secretly working on this case behind the chief’s back, she is going to get Tess involved yet again, and she’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to the DHS when they find her involved yet again. Both the chief and the DHS dude already sense something fishy with this case and it’ll only get worse. This means things are going to get tougher for Catherine and Tess – juggling their secret between their precinct and the DHS. Why’d you have to open your mouth Catherine?! She’s definitely going to regret it.
In conclusion, the purpose of this episode was to get Catherine back on track – which we did (thank god). Now that the Scooby gang has gotten back together, we can expect something similar to the Avengers (minus the awesome outfits)! Although mentioned briefly this week, I also hope that they bring back the Rebecca and Alistair storyline because the mythology backstory makes the whole concept of Beauty and the Beast ring louder, making it that much richer and epic. Note: I also didn’t understand how quick Catherine was to ditch her precious journal and everything her mom told her on the tape. I think that bump on her head did a little more than just a scratch. Well, here’s to next week! Cheers!
Is it bad that I felt more passion, heat, and emotional pang last season rather than in this season – the supposed “romantic” season?? Probably, if you’re one of those hopeless romantic people. If you’re not, you’re enjoying this season simply because of the story. I happen to be both of these although here, I would give preference to story, only because it promises much more compelling stories and characters. I only bring this up because I know that recently there has been constant bashing of the cast and crew on twitter by some very ardent and passionate fans. To some extent, I both agree and disagree with our fellow ‘beasties.’ Would I like to see more of Vincent and Catherine and their passionate moments? Sure, who wouldn’t? On a creative standpoint: do we need that to tell the story we’re trying to tell?? Now, here’s where I think the root of the problem is: Season 3 was sold to viewers as the most romantic season ever, promising a whole lot of passionate/intimate moments between Vincent and Catherine. In all honesty, we did get the passion – from their constant arguing. The reason why fans eagerly anticipated Season 3 (the only reason actually), was because they expected to see the steamy, romantic scenes that we had seen in Season 1. The fact is fans misunderstood the point of this season: there IS a lot of romance this season – just not the ones fans were expecting. And I get it. Story-wise, in order to get a fresh take on Vincent and Catherine’s romance, the relationship needed to move past its hot, young, and passionate stage, in order to naturally evolve into a more mature and developed one. Not to say that they still don’t have their hot moments off screen but fans argue that they felt ‘cheated.’ As a fan of the show myself, I always enjoy watching Vincent and Catherine. But as a storyteller/writer, it would make sense to develop their relationship and love by focusing on character, exploring new challenges and terrain, rather than just provide eye candy for the fanfiction writers out there. There’s more of an artistic value in the storytelling, while at the same time provides an ample playground for our actors – bringing out new sides to our characters and creating some interesting bits between them. If fans look at the season in this perspective, perhaps they may be able to enjoy the show a bit more. Am I enjoying this season? Not as much as the previous seasons, but I understand the intention. Hence, why I can appreciate the show all the more. The other popular complaint I’ve seen on twitter is the growing concern about Catherine’s wardrobe. In a nutshell, fans are upset that Catherine wears rather unflattering flannel way too much and what’s worse – she wears it when she’s in bed with Vincent. Fans have gotten so heated about this that they caused the costume designer to leave twitter! Again, would people like to see Catherine in lingerie? Sure, who wouldn’t? But, if we think about character – Catherine is a detective which means she is not someone who likes to flaunt her assets to people. It would be out of character for her to objectify herself by wearing skimpy, sexy outfits just to please Vincent. Note: we may get to see some of that in their honeymoon. Also, flannel is comfy and I enjoy wearing it. All in all, people should respect the cast and crew because they have to work with what they get – whether or not they like it. Well then, who’s to blame?? Who knows? Could be the writers, the showrunners, the network, etc. But blaming the actors sure isn’t the solution. Anyway, thought I’d get my two cents out there before heading into this week’s episode.
Like I’ve said before, each episode this season is structured around character development and although technically this week’s episode was about Vincent and Catherine coming to terms with one another, I felt that this was Heather’s episode. Finally!! We see that she is more than just the damsel in distress, the nosy sister, or the bossy wedding planner. Here, we finally get to see her be an adult and make a decision that matters. But more importantly, she is no longer kept in the dark when it comes to beast shenanigans and she is now a part of the Scooby gang. At first, she enters the episode “being classic Heather,” which means walking in unannounced and opening her mouth when she shouldn’t be. Also, why is Heather in Catherine’s apartment? Doesn’t she live in her own apartment? No wonder Vincent’s pissed at her. However, JT is the one who realizes that Heather needs to understand the history, the ties that connect Catherine to a greater destiny. Heather is skeptical of the whole thing because it all sounds like a bunch of BS. And as per usual BATB, it takes a near death experience for our Heather to understand her sister’s need to complete her mission. The reason why Heather gets the MVP award this week is because she was the one who convinced Catherine to change her mind and quit fucking around already. It’s also relieving to see Heather handling these chaotic situations a bit better. No more BFs, that’s for sure.
Of course, the main character resolution was between Vincent and Catherine. It’s stupid but it’s refreshing and I’ll explain why. It’s stupid because Catherine was just being stupid this week. Again, I understand why Catherine decides to quit the hunt: she’s afraid. BUT, that doesn’t explain how she pulled a complete 180 on us with no warning. It threw me off because Catherine was so adamant about her quest all along and now, is more confident than ever in her conclusion that she was indeed wrong all this time. The switch was just too sudden which is what troubles Vincent. What caused her to change all of a sudden? The thing is there couldn’t be a better title for this week’s episode – because Cat literally spilt all of the friggin’ beans!! And not just to anyone – to her chief and the DHS!!! WTF!? Apparently, she felt that blurting everything out would be better for everyone because: 1) Tess would be off the hook 2) DHS can take their case back and 3) I can finally be free!! Only two of those actually turned out to be true because you sure as hell ain’t off the hook Catherine! The other thing I felt that was illogical on Catherine’s behalf was treating Liam’s superhuman case like a regular cold case. Sure, exposing Liam doesn’t mean that it’ll expose Vincent but still – you should know better Cat. In fact, all of the characters think that Catherine has gone nuts and isn’t thinking straight. At one point when Vincent and Catherine are arguing in the hospital, Vincent gives her the perfect facial expression as if saying, “Really? You’re really going to go there?” None of the characters agree with Catherine’s decision except Heather, that when fully understanding the situation, agrees with the rest of the gang.
So far this season Vincent is always the guy that brings me relief that at least there’s someone thinking clearly. This week, I felt his frustration and anger but I didn’t agree with some of his actions. Whenever Vincent and Catherine aren’t necessarily seeing eye to eye in a situation – they always resort to doing things their own way - which says a lot about their characters: they’re both stubborn, independent, driven individuals. Yet, they should know better than to work separately behind each other’s backs. That’s where they were both stupid. Hello? Haven’t you learned anything from this season about teamwork? *sigh* Anyway, Vincent goes his own way tracking Liam while Catherine sticks to her case – eventually leading them to bump into each other time and time again. The fact is they were so focused on proving each other wrong that they forgot that Liam is also somehow connected to JT. Thankfully, they were able to warn JT in time and props to JT for being able to defend himself and Heather!! In the end, the Scooby gang realize that this superhuman case affects all of them in different ways: Catherine due to her ancestors, Vincent due to his DNA, JT due to his super-healing power, and Tess due to being captain. Whether they ignore it or not, this shit will find them. And it’s an unfortunate truth for all of them. But here, I commend Vincent for being the bigger person because he realizes that he doesn’t want to face this threat alone. His love and respect for Catherine is so that Vincent decides that he’ll do whatever Catherine decides, as long as they do it together. Thankfully, Catherine comes to her senses and decides that they should stop Liam and what’s even better . . . Vincent and Catherine are finally on the same page!!!!!! Which means that it’ll finally put an end to the whole lot of arguing they’ve been doing this whole season. I mean, I still expect to see some bickering and disagreements but at least we know that we’re moving forward together. I must also add, that it’s very easy to blame Catherine for all this mess but we must remember that no one WON the argument – Vincent and Catherine were both right in their opinions and they were both wrong in their assumptions. So, no one’s to blame here.
Onto the actual case: what we found out about Liam was that he has a whole bunch of people working for him – doing his dirty work, so to speak. He’s difficult to track. Not only that - Liam is killing and taking the blood of all current and past superhuman experiments. This means that there is more at stake and Liam’s plans may be worse than they thought. On the other side, we got to see some of our old characters like Alton and Zane. Next week, I think we’ll get to see Liam again and find out what he’s after.
Now that Catherine has passed on the superhuman case to the DHS (brilliant idea!), I have a feeling this is all going to bite her back in the butt now that she’s back on the case. Not only is she going to be secretly working on this case behind the chief’s back, she is going to get Tess involved yet again, and she’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to the DHS when they find her involved yet again. Both the chief and the DHS dude already sense something fishy with this case and it’ll only get worse. This means things are going to get tougher for Catherine and Tess – juggling their secret between their precinct and the DHS. Why’d you have to open your mouth Catherine?! She’s definitely going to regret it.
In conclusion, the purpose of this episode was to get Catherine back on track – which we did (thank god). Now that the Scooby gang has gotten back together, we can expect something similar to the Avengers (minus the awesome outfits)! Although mentioned briefly this week, I also hope that they bring back the Rebecca and Alistair storyline because the mythology backstory makes the whole concept of Beauty and the Beast ring louder, making it that much richer and epic. Note: I also didn’t understand how quick Catherine was to ditch her precious journal and everything her mom told her on the tape. I think that bump on her head did a little more than just a scratch. Well, here’s to next week! Cheers!