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Beauty And The Beast 1.11 "On Thin Ice" TV REVIEW
THE ONE WHERE Catherine is seeing a shrink after her shooting and Vincent sees a chance to get his old life back, but at what risk?
VERDICT This is an interesting episode. It’s arguably the most soapy episode that Beauty And The Beast has done so far and yet it kinda works.
Seeing Vincent getting lost in the chance to rekindle his past romance with Alex and the risks this makes him take is compelling. It helps that his romantic interactions with Alex are more believable than any he’s had with Catherine. The two actually look like a couple and their onscreen chemistry really works. The subplot about what Alex is up to – why she’s stealing supplies from the hospital – is a little too convenient a plot device to be true. We know it’s a way to give Vincent a chance to play Doctor again but having Alex working in a secret back street clinic helping the poor and the needy for free just smacks of being a bit too goody-goody. Despite all that she’s still a great character.
The close call with the police seems to bring it home to Vincent that he can’t have his old life back. When she swoops in to the rescue, Kritsten Kruek almost actually convinces us that she’s a tough cop. Almost. She does get across just how angry she is at Vincent and how selfish he’s being. Alex’s offer to run away with Vincent might seem tempting to the character but we know nothing will come of it. The show’s called Beauty And The Beast , not Doctor With A Scar And The Nurse . We suspect Alex will come to a sticky end very soon, probably just after she and Vincent decide to run away together.
Catherine using the mandatory police therapy sessions to discuss her relationship status is great too. At first it seemed trite, but the writers make it work and Kruek steps up for the task; you believe her character when she says all the things she says about her mum and her feelings for Vincent. It seems Vincent and Catherine make a great couple when they aren’t actually being a couple. They really need to work on that.
Elsewhere we have Creepy ME Guy and JT starting to work together on the cross DNA investigation which works really well. For a moment it seems like Creepy ME Guy might be brought on side and might actually be an asset, but he turns a bit mad scientist at the last minute. JT’s discomfort is well-played and having him on hand to throw ME Guy off the scent could be a good move. But it turns out that JT isn’t alone in interfering with the hunt for Vincent as it’s revealed that girlfriend Clair is actually working for Muirfield and is actively preventing Creepy ME Guy from finding Vincent. It’s nice to see Muirfield is still working away in the shadows.
There’s hardly any “Beast” action this week. Vincent almost “Hulks out” when he’s arrested but like last week he seems able to get it under control pretty quickly which is an interesting turn of events. Maybe he really is getting better at calming his beastly nature.
There are still problems; the Police Partner wanting to go to a party hosted by someone related to an active case just to pick up men is totally inappropriate. The character is terrible and never seems anything more than some horny girl playing at being cop while looking for a bloke to jump on. Even Catherine looks disgusted.
After going MIA last week, the crime-of-the-week returns, but it’s so slight as to be pointless. We spotted the person responsible straight off. And there’s another very heavy handed link in the motives of the perp to what Catherine’s going through.
So, this is a very talky, very character-based episode, but these characters are finally starting to find some dimensions and it’s mostly entertaining. There’s still way too much angst and they really do have the very same relationship conversations that they’ve been having since the show started over and over again. But we’re starting to actually care for them. Who knew that would happen?
STUBBLE All the men in this show have stubble. Vincent has been rocking the stubble look since the start but this week he’s joined in his unshaven look by Dave the Shrink and the billionaire suspect. Jeez, get a razor.
DAVE THE SHRINK You may recognise actor Brendan Hines, who plays Dave the Shrink, from such sci-fi TV as Angel, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and The Middleman or non-sci-fi show Lie To Me .
STALKER BEHAVIOUR OF THE WEEK Nobody. Not a single instance of stalking. Even when presented with a willing naked woman Vincent is the height of tact. In fact he looks terrified. What the hell’s happen to this show?
MURDER DEATH KILL A billionaire’s wife dies in a sabotaged parachute incident. It’s another case of the other woman did it.
BEST LINE
JT: “Someone please explain to me how a guy who’s unemployed, never goes out and is officially dead gets not one, but two smokin’ hot women fighting for his attention?”
Steven Ellis @Steven Ellis
New episodes of Beauty and the Beast air in the UK on Watch on Wednesdays at 9pm
