Beauty and the Beast - Season 1 Episode 3 - Recap and Review - All In

Well, I suppose Beauty and the Beast actually is developing into something good after all, as the overarching narrative of the series is taking shape, giving us a better sense of what this show intends to be. "All In" makes better use of the procedural formula, insofar as it relates to the developing partnership between Vincent (Jay Ryan) and Cat (Kristin Kreuk). It may not be a romantic necessity that binds them together just yet, but the narrative is finding plausible enough ways to put them together in service of something at least resembling a serialized plot. In this case, it's the episode-ending revelation that Vincent has been found out, and that shadowy, governmental figures loom in the distance, ready to reunite him with the rest of his dead soldier friends. It isn't Shakespeare, but it doesn't have to be. Anything that gives Vincent and Cat clearly-defined opposition and a purposeful goal will only help the series. And, unfortunately, it could still use all the help it can get.

So Cat is on suspension after interfering with a murder investigation, but that hardly seems to be her biggest issue. She's on the outs with her partner Tess (Nina Lisandrello), she can't seem to ever get hold of Vincent, her younger sister is bringing dudes over to their apartment and banging them, and a prominent judge has just been murdered downtown. For a show that's ostensibly about a cop, Beauty and the Beast doesn't really seem that interested in building interesting cases that could stand on their own, independently of the intrigue of Vincent's involvement. Here, Vincent insists that he's no Batman, that he doesn't simply traipse around the city looking for crimes to break up. However, Cat insists that Batman is more or less who he wants to be, from all the investigations he's interfered in. And so they team up when a Bosnian immigrant named Iris is arrested for the murder of the judge, a crooked man responsible for deporting her brother. Vincent believes the girl is innocent, and so Cat must investigate, on the DL, in order to exonerate the girl of the judge's murder. It's fairly basic, but the complications arise with Vincent's involvement.

There's a fairly interesting arc to pursue with Vincent, a man who enlisted in the military out of an impetus to do the right thing, to protect the weak and affect change in the world. There's also the more personal motivation of his brother being killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001. It's not that far-removed from Cat's motivation in becoming a detective, having lost her mother in a similarly tragic fashion. Both characters want to do good in the world, although both characters have misconceptions about what doing good will actually entail. Cat seems to believe that every case is a sort of analogue for her mother's murder, an avenue towards recompense for not having been strong enough to save her.

Though she's proven to be capable at her job, Cat seems to lack a fundamental understanding of the depths of human depravity, almost to the extent that she seems unprepared, or unwilling to confront just how messed up people can be. Vincent, however, seems to understand this all too well, having enlisted out of a benevolent impulse, and having that investment returned by the government essentially making him a monster. A hot monster, but a monster nonetheless. The old world of his former humanity is now closed to him, and so Vincent is confined to the shadows, for the most part, unable to do good in the world when the sun is out, pretty much. It's not a rich back story by any means, but there's potential for it to build on Vincent's character to the point where he becomes more compelling than the slab of angry meat he occasionally tends to be. That said, the contrast in Human Vincent and Beast Vincent would be better illustrated if there had been a more substantial difference between the appearances of the two personas. It'd be all too easy for Vincent to blend into a crowd when he's not hulking out. Of course, I'm one of the few people online who doesn't think Vincent's Beast form looks bad at all, so I guess it could be a lot worse than it is.

The improvements to the series also involve the filmmaking end of things. There's a decreased reliance upon voiceover narration to convey the story, and while the character developments fall along typically CW conventions (Cat is upset because she can't get in contact with Vincent, and has to reach him through J.T. by trading notes like a middle-schooler), the resolutions still resonate because there's still that chemistry between Kreuk and Ryan. It's kind of silly that Cat didn't immediately intuit that Vincent likely had a burner phone for keeping in contact, but it can be forgiven, since I imagine this isn't really a commonplace scenario for Cat to find herself in, even if Cat has suspected there's something more to Vincent than meets the eye. Maybe it's the fact that he's apparently been stalking you intermittently for the last nine years?

Either way, Vincent gives Cat his number, which is only good for another three days anyway. They then agree to simply take their partnership from there. The plotline is fine for now, and there's actual movement happening here, based on some surprisingly poignant business with Cat reigniting the Hippocratic urges in Vincent, which leads to him using his medical expertise to save a little girl's life. Less successful are the toothless arguments between the prospective couple when Vincent knocks out a sleazy club owner whom Cat had been investigating. It just feels like a totally contrived argument, particularly after Cat insisted on Vincent becoming involved, over Vincent's protestations. That said, it was interesting to see the first real instance of Cat talking Vincent down from his beast form, giving us the shade of the Beauty and the Beast story we're all used to.

"All In" shows that Beauty and the Beast can grow into something genuinely compelling. The Vampire Diaries lead-in seems to be helping its ratings, so I'd be surprised if The CW shelved it any time soon, even despite the abysmal reviews it's been getting. However, if I could give The CW any advice in the promotion of the show, it's to get its actors out there, doing the media rounds far more often. They appear to be really likable people, as the video below illustrates. A likable cast can do wonders for a show's numbers, particularly when it's a show fighting as much of an uphill battle as this. Hopefully, the presence of a clear, strong overarching storyline means that the show can begin to turn the corner and transform into something less beastly, and a bit more beautiful.