Beauty and the Beast - Recap: Jekyll and Hyde
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Recap and review of Beauty and the Beast - Season 2 Episode 14 - Redemption:
"Redemption" is an episode as thick with the possibilities of what might have been as it is dense with the possibilities of what could be. For every reflection on how Vincent (Jay Ryan) or Cat (Kristin Kreuk) could have done things differently in the past, there's a scene that posits that it doesn't have to affect their choices now. They could still be together, it would just take...well, a lot of work on both their parts. Of course, it would be easy enough for Beauty and the Beast to just put Vincent and Cat back together, but it's far more complicated than that. This week's story is one that concerns itself with the ownership of one's mistakes and regrets, in such a way that one can learn and grow from them. We all make mistakes, sure; but our response to those mistakes is what shapes who we are. Vincent could be petty and simply say "Screw Gabe!" like he does in Catherine's dream (nightmare?) at the end of the episode, but he recognizes that Cat being with Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is his cross to bear, and he can't hold a grudge against the guy for it. Similarly, Cat could easily cast Vincent out of her life altogether, in order to give her relationship with Gabe a better chance of succeeding, but she recognizes that this is unfair to Vincent. Their lives are irrevocably conjoined now, and while he's hurt her in the past, he's still not a bad guy, nor is he deserving of her scorn.
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So why aren't they together? Because there's still a fundamental misunderstanding at the heart of their relationship: Vincent takes it as given that all he has to do is tame his beast side to win Catherine back, when their breakup stemmed from much deeper issues than the fact that he was a beast; similarly, while Cat cares about Vincent, she often fails to recognize that she wields him like a blunt instrument, using him as a tool in her investigations like a bloodhound. I don't think it's anything she means to do, but her shortsightedness prevents her from recognizing the depth of Vincent's feelings for her, and just how damaging it is that she continues to depend on him in this way. As J.T. (Austin Basis) poignantly states, "It's hard to be Dr. Jekyl when everybody keeps wanting Mr. Hyde." Cat doesn't realize that she's been using Vincent, just like Vincent doesn't realize that there are things beyond his beastliness that prevent him from being with Cat. However, by the end of "Redemption," at least one of the two is closer to understanding, and changing as a result. In short, I can't wait for their inevitable reunion, because the groundwork has been laid for a genuinely satisfying moment (even if I do sort of wish Cat could have her own stories that don't revolve around being the third wheel in a love triangle).
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Okay, so that was a bit of a long opening. In short, how was the episode? Well, it wasn't my favorite since the show returned from hiatus, but I did have fun with the central story: Vincent, Cat, and the others are tailing Sam (Tom Everett Scott), who is searching for another man from Gabe's orphanage -- someone named Jacob Sutter -- in order to inject him with J.T.'s beast serum. The reason he's specifically targeting people from the orphanage is because, as Cat learns from her father, Agent Reynolds (Ted Whittall), the kids in the orphanage run by Muirfield were specifically chosen due to a rare genetic trait that makes them predisposed to beastliness. Inject the serum in an average human being, and their nervous system overloads, resulting in their death. But inject the serum in someone with the genetic markers for predisposition? You've got yourself a beast. And so the hunt is on to stop Sam before he finds Jacob Sutter and creates another problem they'll all have to deal with.
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The one positive in all this, however, is that Sam doesn't actually know what Jacob Sutter looks like. And so he's tracking down every Jacob Sutter in the area who fits the bill, and injecting him with the beast serum, without giving any thought to the possibility that he might end up killing an innocent man. One Jacob Sutter is killed when his body rejects the serum, while another remains comatose in the hospital, his prospects diminishing by the hour. Meanwhile, a third appears to be just who Sam is looking for. Basically, the primary story of "Redemption" takes on the characteristics of an action thriller, yet it has a lot more going on in the character department that makes it worthwhile.
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In tracking Sam's movements, Vincent arrives back at St. Benjamin's, the hospital where he did his residency. In a far more potent fashion, Vincent is brought directly into contact with his past. Not only does he encounter his old mentor, Dr. Markus (Christopher Heyerdahl), he also rediscovers his passion for medicine. In a terrific bit of character building, Vincent springs into action when doctors mistakenly declare a boy with a ruptured spleen "stable," taking over with such command and authority that no one questions why a guy in a leather jacket is barking out orders to orderlies. The episode makes a clear distinction: not only was Vincent once a man intent on helping people through medicine, he was damn good at it. And that recognition magnifies the tragedy of his entire situation. Not only has Vincent been deprived of this life, but the world has been deprived of a good doctor.
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The actions of this episode, in many respects, chart Vincent's gradual return to selflessly helping others. Sure, when "Redemption" starts out, Vincent wants to help because it'll help redeem him in Cat's eyes. He also plans on going "cold turkey" from his beast powers, in order to become more like a man. But as the episode goes on, Vincent's selflessness returns piece-by-piece. He stops doing things out of thought for reward, and instead returns to his old attitude of saving people out of the principle that innocent people deserve to be saved, no matter the toll it takes on his own goals. He spends most of the episode trying to save the Jacob Sutter that is slowly dying in the hospital, with J.T. working on an antidote to his own beast serum, which Sam injected into the man. In the process, Vincent comforts the man's wife, exhibiting the bedside manner of a doctor who hasn't lost a step. When it inevitably comes time for him to inject the antidote into Sutter, Vincent has a standoff with Dr. Markus that illustrates how far Vincent has come: Markus threatens to call security, which could lead to Vincent's arrest and the downfall of his friends' plans to stop Sam, since he's clearly vital to the success of their operation. But he's able to dissuade Markus from turning him in, insisting that the hospital has done all it can for Sutter. And so Markus agrees to the injection, allowing Vincent to give Sutter the antidote. And the effect is virtually immediate: Markus tells Vincent that Sutter is going to pull through, and that he was right to trust his own instincts, since Vincent ultimately saved a life -- and really, that's all that matters.
Credit: The CW
Credit: The CW
Credit: The CW
It's a rationale that is reflected in the conclusion to the A-plot of the episode, as Cat comes to find Vincent to ask for his help: Sam has found the right Jacob Sutter, and has turned him into a beast. And, together, they've captured Gabe, who attempted to save Jacob from Sam's clutches. Sam is intent on using the serum to turn Gabe back into a beast, since he already has the genetic predisposition to beastliness. And it gets worse: Vincent is overmatched by Jacob, as he's already lost a fight against the newly-formed beast. Granted, he lost the fight largely because he hesitated in finishing Jacob off, owing to his renewed sense of compassion. But that compassion is something that Vincent finds difficult to ignore, since he doesn't want to go around killing people. However, when Cat pleads with him to help her save Gabe, it's telling just how immediately Vincent springs into action. He doesn't even think twice before following Cat into danger, and the resulting fight nearly gets him killed and almost gets Gabe turned into a beast.
Credit: The CW
Credit: The CW
It's a fairly exciting action climax, as Vincent and Jacob duke it out while Cat gives chase to Sam, only to turn back when she hears Gabe's yell. Con: Sam gets away, but Pro: Cat is able to save Gabe from becoming a beast by shooting Jacob just before he can inject the serum. Cat essentially saves the day, but at great cost. As she confesses to Vincent, she's terrified at how quickly she chose to shoot Jacob, as it was the first time she didn't view a beast as a person first. Her slide towards moral ambiguity is contrasted with Vincent's clearer sense of his own moral identity, as his desire to win Cat back is matched only by his desire to affect some measure of change in the world by helping others. He's not exactly a crusader or anything, but he's helping in his own way, and it's a progression from the more single-minded, mercenary Vincent that pursued the gem. Vincent is beginning to understand that there's more to the division between Cat and himself than just his beastliness. By the same token, Cat seems to understand that things can't continue with Vincent the way they have been. In a chilling dream that mirrors Vincent's Cat-centric dream that opens the episode, Gabe orders her to cut Vincent out of her life, which she does after visiting Vincent's boathouse. But things get out of hand when Vincent insists they belong together, prompting Cat to shove him away. Vincent knocks his head on the countertop, and he slowly bleeds to death as Cat lets out a piercing scream...before waking up next to Gabe, who asks if everything is okay. The dream sequence is quite convincing, as it's played completely straight, and builds on the ambivalence Cat feels for Vincent at the moment.
Credit: The CW
Credit: The CW
Much like Vincent's dream centers on Cat wanting him again, Cat's dream focuses on Vincent's desire to win her back. But while one dream is optimistic, the other is an outright nightmare, reflecting Cat's reluctantly changing viewpoints on beasts. For Cat and Vincent to be together again, Cat needs to understand that while Vincent is a beast, it doesn't define him. By the same token, if Vincent doesn't want to be defined by his beast side, he needs to understand that not everything is necessarily about his beastliness. His attitude during the hunt for the gem wasn't exactly a good fit on him, but at the very least, he seems to understand that redemption takes longer than a few weeks. But he's trying. Lord knows Vincent is trying. "Redemption" isn't the best episode of the season, but Beauty and the Beast remains one of the most fun, underrated genre series on TV.