'Beauty and the Beast' Season 2 Retrospective Pt. 5: A Season 3 Wish List

Beauty and the Beast Season 2 Retrospective Pt. 5: A Season 3 Wish List

And so we come to the end of my series of essays reflecting on Season 2 of Beauty and the Beast, and what better way to end it than to look ahead to Season 3? Considering just how touch-and-go it seemed for a while, it's kind of miraculous that this is something we get to talk about; hell, I don't think a single renewal announcement has made me as happy in five years, if not longer, than getting word that Beauty and the Beast would be coming back. But with that renewal -- and all the "upside potential" it carries with it -- comes a certain responsibility to the audience.

In short, no matter how passionate the audience, no fandom is guaranteed. I've said in the past that J.T. (Austin Basis) getting killed off would be the dealbreaker for me, the point at which I'm not certain I could continue with the show. When I tweeted that, I wasn't certain how serious I was actually being, since the show (thankfully) didn't pull the trigger on that particular twist. But I think it opens up a particular dialogue about what the show can/can't get away with, considering how controversial Season 2 was with many of the audience. In my interview with Austin Basis, he admits that they've lost some of the viewers along the way, and that Season 3 is an opportunity to win those lapsed viewers back. So can it be done? Or did Season 2 alienate too many fans? Can a show with a fanbase as passionate as that of Beauty and the Beast really cost itself viewers with creative mistakes?

Absolutely.

About a year ago, it seemed much of the audience was pining for a greater emphasis on the VinCat love story. It was understood at the time, due to the nature of the Season 1 cliffhanger, that Vincent (Jay Ryan) and Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) would be separated for a certain period of time. But what I don't think anyone was expecting was the complete erosion of both Vincent and Cat as characters. I explored the damages of Vincent's amnesia storyline in my first essay, and spent last week's essay exploring how Cat's relationship with Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy) fundamentally changed her character for the worse. I never would have chosen those subjects had they not been topics that were ripe for exploration due to the vocal fan outcry about the direction of the show over the course of the season. If I had a nickel for every tweet I read disparaging the Cat/Gabe pairing, or questioning the logic of having Vincent lose his memories and never fully get it back, I'd have enough money to fund Brad Kern's five-year plan for the show completely on my own. But the big point here is that those complaints aren't complaints for the sake of complaining: the fans had a point.

Sure, I defended certain elements of both storylines, but at the end of the day, Vincent losing his memories and never fully getting them back negates much of his growth from Season 1, while Cat's relationship with Gabe damaged her character by forcing us to question her sense and judgment. Neither were a show-breaker for me, but I could imagine how those things would be for some. So it will be important for Brad Kern and co. to find a way to strike a proper balance between his own ambitious ideas, and what fans actually want to see.

So what do fans want to see? Well, I can't exactly speak for Beasties everywhere. But I know what I want to see...

Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: A SEASON 3 WISH LIST

This isn't really a list of demands since, realistically, I'm just glad we have a Season 3 at all. But that doesn't mean we can't hope for more, and hope for storylines that will rivet us as much as when we first fell in love with the show. Now, I recognize that what I want to see might not be what everyone else wants to see, which is why I hope you all head on down to the comments to voice your opinion on what you want from Season 3. You really never know who might be reading! That said, here are just a select handful of things I'd like to see in Season 3.

Reduced emphasis on romantic obstacles for our protagonists:

Now, what I mean by this isn't that I think both of the show's big couples (Vincent/Catherine, J.T./Tess) should go through their romances without having to face any obstacles at all. But I think Beauty and the Beast, as a show, has far outlived the usefulness of a "Will they? Won't they?" romance storyline, in which two characters are needlessly kept apart for a huge chunk of the season simply as an easy way to stoke the fires of drama. Sure, we're affected by it, but I'm not always sure it's for the right reasons, as a lot of fans didn't particularly like the Vincent/Tori pairing (to put it mildly), and the fanbase nearly rose up in open rebellion against pairing Cat with Gabe. That said, there is use in having couples go through various obstacles: maybe an argument between Vincent and Cat gives each character a narrative through-line as they tackle whatever supernatural obstacle they face that week. They're still facing an obstacle to their romance, but it isn't dominating the entire arc of the season nor is it reducing their characters to living soap opera tropes. It allows Vincent and Cat to experience an adult relationship that doesn't have to feel confined to the narrative demands of what is demonstrably (at least to The CW, although demographics would beg to differ) a teen show.

By making Vincent and Cat -- and, to a lesser extent, J.T. and Tess -- characters who are almost solely defined by their relationship to one another, the show limits the amount of stories they can tell. In essence, every episode becomes about how Vincent is in danger and Cat has to rescue him, all while reflecting on how she can't live without him. Or vice-versa. I love Vincent and Cat's relationship, and think they make one of TV's best couples, but there needs to be more to their stories than just their feelings for each other, or whatever obstacle is keeping them from being together this week. By making the arc of a season about how Vincent and Cat are separated and need to fight their way back to each other, the show limits the opportunity to show us what they can really do as a unit that is together as a regular team, living (relative to them) normal lives and growing together -- as a couple and as individuals.

Please, let's not have anymore needless separation that ends up resulting in viewers spending half a season waiting for them to get back together. That's been the story for two seasons now, and I know you're capable of better, BATB.

More "Freak of the Week" storylines that tie together into one huge arc:

I felt Beauty and the Beast had a good idea in Season 2 in how they modified the procedural approach of Season 1 to make the show less like Law & Order and more like Supernatural. By this, I mean that while the show reintegrated a "Case of the Week" format via the hunting of the Beasts, it all tied together into a larger narrative in a way that very few of the cases from those first 13 episodes of Season 1 did. However, Season 2 did something pretty interesting with the idea that I haven't seen a lot of shows do before: the first half of the season had Vincent hunting down Beasts on the orders of Agent Reynolds (Ted Whittall), who wanted to tie up loose ends, while the second half handed off that responsibility to Sam Landon (Tom Everett Scott), whose purposes essentially changed the objective. In essence, Vincent and co. were still hunting down beasts, but for different reasons, as now they were trying to prevent Sam from murdering the men responsible for murdering his son. The objective is still the same, but the story is fundamentally changed -- yet the end points still tie together into a larger arc, making the seemingly unrelated "Cases of the Week" far more substantial.

Basically, Gabe turning back into a Beast is tied into how J.T. was forced to create a serum by Landon, meaning that the big climax for the end of the season is set up by the Landon storyline that dominates the second half of the season. However, the solution to the storyline actually comes from the first half of the storyline via the gem that is used to incapacitate Gabe, allowing Vincent and Cat to finish him, once and for all. The overarching storyline of the season creates a problem for our heroes while also giving them the tools with which to solve it, provided they're resourceful enough to put it all together. And while some would call that cheap, I actually love that kind of storytelling. Strangely enough, it's something J.K. Rowling would do in each new Harry Potter book, in that the solution to that book's big issue was usually some random object that would never be seen or heard from again in subsequent books (because how many times would a Time-Turner have come in handy later on down the line?). It gives the impression that the characters aren't learning anything with each book, but really, what they're learning is resourcefulness, or recognizing a problem and understanding how that problem can be solved. And I feel the same thing mostly happened here with Beauty and the Beast in Season 2. And it could be even stronger in Season 3 if the show opts not to split the narrative like it did in Season 2 (and I doubt they would anyway, since 13 episodes means they have to maintain a greater degree of narrative focus). The show has all the potential in the world to do this if, say, it has...

Vincent, Cat and co. hunting supernaturals:

Maybe I'm overreaching in my assumptions about where the show is headed, but I feel like the Season 2 finale opened up the possibility of Vincent and Catherine teaming up to take down supernatural entities on the orders of their newfound government friends. They don't give a definitive answer, but they seem to be mulling it over, especially since the government guys insist that there are actually worse things out there than Beasts. And that's fascinating to think about, as the show is now opening up an entire world where cases of the week can be serialized into something broader and farther reaching. Maybe some were created by government organizations, maybe others by accident, or maybe someone pulled a Gabe and did it to himself/herself? What kind of emotional toll does each scenario take, and what tactics are required for Vincent and Cat to take down each one?

There's a real chance to not only show Vincent and Cat in action together, thinking on their feet and illustrating why they're such a good team, but there's also the chance to tell a story of what happens when supernatural entities are hiding in plain sight, in our world. Even more intriguingly, there's the chance to explore what happens when that information comes to light. Does the government burn Vincent and disavow any knowledge of him, sending him on the run again? Or does society recognize the good that a supernatural entity like Vincent is trying to do, effectively turning him into a mysterious public hero a la Batman, with people praising him despite not knowing who this "Vigilante" really is.

In short, there are tons of possibilities here that have me excited for what could possibly be on the horizon.

More on the background of each character:

It's kind of crazy to think of how little we actually know about characters like J.T. and Tess (Nina Lisandrello). Hell, even Cat's early years are a bit of a blur. What was she like before her mother passed away? What kind of crew did she run with? Are any of those people still in her life? If not, could they possibly come back? I'm not sure someone like Cat was necessarily all that different before her mother died, except for being a bartender instead of a cop. But I'd love to dig deeper into that past. What was her relationship with Heather like then? I know there are limits to what we can and can't explore with Cat, but even ignoring all that, why don't we know more about Tess? I'd love to know what inspired her rough and tumble exterior. And Austin Basis offered some genuinely interesting hints about what J.T. and Vincent's early friendship was like, making me wish that we could get a flashback or two to see them back when they were fundamentally different people. These are all things I'd love to see, or even have referenced, and I'm hoping the show manages to find a way to fit some of it in, even with its reduced episode commitment.

A greater sense of fun:

I love Beauty and the Beast when it's in action-adventure mode. "Ancestors" is one of my favorite episodes of the show, and it's pretty much a straight-up heist movie with tons of action, comedy, and back-talk between the main characters, undercut with moments of genuine drama. This isn't to say that I don't love the show when it's being dramatic. But I feel the dramatic parts feel more if they're leavened somewhat by lighter moments and storylines. Show our characters cracking wise in the thick of things, gives us back some of that borderline swashbuckling spirit that the show has captured from time-to-time. It's always been a rare thing for the show to go all-out on the adventure elements, since the show is much more of an action-fantasy drama than an action-adventure with comedic elements, but I'd love to see the series explore different genres (both familiar and new) as it heads into Season 3.

Conclusion:

As with any show entering a new season, we have to measure our expectations. We won't all get what we want, but when the alternative is nothing, I'm more than willing to give Brad Kern and co. the chance to show what they've got in mind. This isn't to say that viewers should settle, but rather that there's more to any one show than its individual plotlines. Beauty and the Beast always has a ton to enjoy about a given episode if the story isn't working, whether it's the banter, the performances, or the action. I love this show because it genuinely does feel like hanging out with a familiar friend that has a pretty good idea what you like and doesn't judge you for liking it. Maybe the show can be cheesy sometimes, but dammit, I love dairy. And the moments of genuine, fist-pumping drama more than make up for the occasional misfires.

In conclusion, it's been an absolute pleasure going over Beauty and the Beast with you all this summer. I won't be going anywhere anytime soon, since I review plenty of other shows on this site, and will continue to report on Beauty and the Beast news as it becomes available. I'm going to New York Comic-Con this year and am hoping to have some scoops to bring back, with any luck. That said, I can't wait to return for Season 3 of Beauty and the Beast, and to chat about the show once again. This isn't to say that you can't always reach me on Twitter, but I'm stoked about the possibility of once again being given tidbits to talk about in the long, BATB-less interim.

It's been an honor, fellow Beasties. Keep roaring.

For more of my articles, just click Beauty and the Beast.