'Beauty and the Beast' Season 2 Retrospective Pt. 1: Vincent's Amnesia Storyline

It's one thing to keep Vincent (Jay Ryan) and Cat (Kristin Kreuk) apart for half the season, but it's another thing entirely to change Vincent's character so drastically from his Season 1 counterpart. And then there was Tori (Amber Skye Noyes) complicating matters, and Agent Reynolds (Ted Whittall) making things difficult for everybody, and Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy) doing his damndest to make amends for everything he did in Season 1, only to become more twisted than he was before in the process. In short, you can probably understand why it's a daunting task to parse out the meaning in everything that happened. But I'm of the mind that the overarching narrative of the season, in which Vincent and Cat are separated but inch their way back to each other, as if pulled on by gravitational forces, is a potent one. Granted, this is mostly because Jay Ryan Kristin Kreuk have taken their chemistry from Season 1 and built on it by illustrating that their relationship is less about destiny for its own sake, and more about the destiny they choose for themselves. It might border on corny romanticism, but I still think it's a powerful sentiment that complements the overarching story of the season quite well. In fact, I'd argue (and plan to) that every controversial element of this season was geared towards that singular storyline: How Do Vincent and Cat Make Their Way Back to Each Other? And your enjoyment of that storyline will ultimately decide how much you enjoy Season 2.

Credit: Sven Frenzel/The CW

This is Part 1 in an ongoing weekly series of mini-essays analyzing Season 2 from a narrative perspective by looking at some of the season's major plot points and assessing how they did or didn't fit into the overall structure of the season. I feel I should preface this by noting that this will by no means be comprehensive, in that I won't have the opportunity to get to everything that happened this season. Also, this isn't meant to be a recap of the season, since you presumably know what happened this season if you're reading this (and if not, just click the "Beauty and the Beast" tag to get access to my entire back catalog of reviews!). These also won't be as long as my usual, rambling reviews. These are mostly just a series of mini-essays about different aspects of the season as a whole. Hopefully, this will open up discussion in the comments! So let's get to it!

Credit: Sven Frenzel/The CW

THE CHANGE IN VINCENT KELLER

Starting with "Who Am I?" and running through until just around "Till Death," Vincent Keller feels like a completely different person from Season 1. Naturally, this is because he's lost his memories and is being used by Reynolds as an assassin for hire. But even at a fundamental level, he doesn't seem at all like the Vincent we knew before. While this wasn't as huge a deal when the season first started, it seemed like a serious misstep with each subsequent episode that went by without reverting Vincent back to the way he was. So much of what fans loved about the show was that central pairing between Vincent and Cat. Without that, the show often felt like it lacked a center, as characters drifted from each other into one-off storylines that didn't represent the show at its best. It was a lot like those rough early Season 1 episodes where the show attempted to be a straight, CSI-type procedural with light serialization and fantasy elements. I could get what they were going for at the time, but I just never felt the series worked until it began to embrace its supernatural and fantasy elements more overtly, while also serializing the storylines to craft a show that told a longer, richer story over a longer period of time. In Season 2, we get back to being a procedural of sorts, as Vincent hunts a new beast each week while discovering brief tidbits from his past along the way. And it works better than the procedural structure did in those first few episodes of Season 1, but I think the problem a lot of people had with the "Vincent has amnesia" storyline is that it undid much of his progress from the year before. In essence, he had to relearn many of the things he forgot, such as who he was, what Cat means to him, and how to control his abilities.

Yet I'd argue that this is exactly why the storyline worked.

It might seem weird to defend a storyline that drastically and fundamentally alters a character beyond recognition, in the way the amnesia storyline turned Vincent into a Tori-kissing, Cat-dissing, gem-hogging rogue at times. But I think it actually makes the end point of the season's story that much more poignant. Correct me if I'm wrong, but outside of a few brief memories here and there, Vincent never does get his full memories back. He's left to create new ones with Cat, meaning that he essentially falls in love with her all over again. While this might feel like deja vu from Season 1, their romance this season is presented less as something fated to be, and instead as something chosen to be. I mean, they try to find a way to make it work early in the season, before Vincent becomes obsessed with the gem, fixated on keeping Tori close, and intent on gaining revenge against Reynolds. But Vincent just isn't in the right frame of mind to be the man he once was, and this arc culminates in Cat shooting Vincent, and bringing their relationship past what could have been the point of no return.

Credit: The CW

Yet, despite all their intermittent warring in those first thirteen episodes, Cat never truly gives up on Vincent, and Vincent never really stops believing that there's more to Cat than even he might recognize. A romance is only effective if the two people at its center are willing to fight for it, and those first thirteen episodes, while controversial for how drastically they changed one of the show's main selling points, were necessary to illustrate that these are two people who've been through a lot just to get back to each other. Hell, by presenting Vincent and Cat with two separate potential love interests (Tori and Gabe, respectively), and having them outright reject those options after briefly exploring them, we see that Vincent and Cat are two people who've tried being with other people and decided, "Nah, not for me." Whether directly or indirectly, Vincent is measuring Tori against Cat, while Cat is measuring Gabe against Vincent. And in each case, those alternatives are ultimately found to be lacking. In addition, Vincent can begin to view life outside the context of always trying to rescue Cat, while Cat can enjoy a brief liberation from feeling as though she always has to stick her neck out for Vincent. By giving the two characters breathing room, the recognize that risking it all for one another isn't a duty for which they're unwillingly responsible, but a privilege they're independently willing to take on. That's why, even when Vincent felt inherently different as a character, I still found myself yoked to the storyline. Given where the season ends up, I feel it was ultimately the right call to keep them apart for half the season, in order to make their reunion more powerful.

Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW

This is without even mentioning that one of my favorite episodes the show has ever done -- the mini-heist movie "Ancestors" -- came about as a result of all this amnesia craziness. Short of the midseason finale, "Man or Beast?", it's the most heated and contentious Vincent and Cat have ever been, and it does a wonderful job in illustrating how formidable Ryan and Kreuk's chemistry is, since the ferocity of their passion made it clear what the characters' real feelings for one another were even before the characters themselves realized. For me, this is why Vincent's amnesia ultimately paid off. It allowed the writers to explore different facets of Vincent and Cat's relationship, in a way that wouldn't have been believable if they were still the same two people they were at the end of Season 1 (because how do they end up on such divergent paths if not for some inexplicable loss of Vincent's past personality?). While I'm not sure it was all executed as perfectly as it could have been, and while I generally loathe amnesia storylines (I'm looking at you, Revenge), I think Vincent's amnesia was worth the investment, given where we ended up by the end of the season.

Credit: The CW

Next week, I'll be looking at the villains of the season: which were necessary, which were a distraction, and how these villains affected the overarching storyline of the season. What did you think of the Vincent amnesia storyline? Was it worth the trouble given where we ended up, or would you have preferred the writers had taken Vincent and Cat's story in a different direction? Or were you one of the rare fans who never had an issue with it? Sound off in the comments!