Ok – so watched the episode first time and I thought it was very good, but not as great as episode 1 and 2. Then watched it second time round and I absolutely loved it (surprise, surprise)! In my defence, the first time I watched it, it was 4am in the U.K. and yes you guessed right, I got up at 4am to watch the episode and then went back to sleep again (I am sad, I know!). My review will be a bit briefer this time round, less of a recap (hope so anyway). Oh and SAVANA I read your review and loved it, the only thing I’d say is watch the episode again, you may change your mind about episodes 1 and 2 being better ( I know I did ). Oh and another thing – watched the slow motion of the attack and I do think he pushed her right under her neck so no inconsistency there, if I am right – YOLIE may be able to check if otherwise
Negatives:
- Not sure I can think of many negative things to say about the episode so I will start with these so we can move on to the good things! I liked the beast of the week (who by the way is meant to be a very good friend of Jay’s from the old days) but the action sequence at the end (him and Catherine and him and Vincent in the elevator) was a bit weak. It would be great if that beast (besides being fast) was a big more formidable (at least as formidable as he was when he pulled a punch through the agent’s body in a split second). Cat was pretty good at fighting him and defending herself though she is Human and he is a Beast and then Vincent did not fight with him at all. I understand his strength is mainly speed (and shiny orange eyes) but a better fight sequence would have been good for the boys who watch the show . Also, the motivations of this beast were personal (he was not hired) – they need to be careful in the future as I said in my previous review that the beasts storylines are not random and disconnected
- in future episodes I would like to understand a bit more about these Murfield experiments and the role of the FBI in this – and is it the FBI involved or just Reynolds who also happens to work for the FBI. There seem to be many different type of beasts, say today’s beast doesn’t even transform so it would be great to have a bit more insight in the background story and why did they create so many types of beasts etc. etc. Not asking for it to happen right now, but would be nice if it was somewhat addressed in the next few episodes. Oh and I understand people have been experimented in different ways by Murfield but I would not want to see extreme beasts in the future (beasts spitting fire, beasts flying etc, lol they surely will keep grounded right, they won’t go over the top!)
- Catherine found out her dad is not her dad, yet at no point was there a discussion between her and Vincent about this, even though she did let Vincent know that she found out about it. Now, I understand this will be a major focus of future episodes and I am sure Vincent will be heavily involved in trying to help her out, but since she told him about this in this episode, I would not have minded a one liner or maybe two between them about it. I won’t even say that is a negative and logistically it may not have made sense at all to do this today but it just crossed my mind so I thought I’d mention it
- Again, not a criticism since it is very early days, but Tess’s role is not major at the moment, she will eventually need her own storyline rather than just acting as a support mechanism to Catherine (which I guess we all kind of know what it will be, J.T. cough cough)
I cannot fault the episode though, it was IMO beautiful, incredibly sad and dark, but beautiful. What was so good about it?
- Good, solid writing, not cheesy – the only cheesy /redone line lol was Cat in the elevator “Hi Sebastian, I thought I had Daddy issues” which I actually liked a lot even though a bit cheesy
- Thought the director did a good job too
- Brilliant character portrayal and in the right direction IMO – the character portrayal was probably one of my favourite aspects of this episode
- Brilliant acting
- Good, funny/smart one-liners (not as many as last time, but still plenty)
- Beautiful music
- Finally, a bit of a breakthrough in the relationship and in self-identity. No, I am not mad, they are at their lowest but they will (at least till hell breaks loose in episode 8) grow stronger – they needed to reach that low point and individually as well as together reach some realisations about themselves and the relationship
- Old Vincent is back – you could see glimpses in the first 2 episodes, but you can so see he is starting to regain his humanity and real love for Catherine now. It is not just an unexplained attraction and pull, it is more than that
- No major loopholes (which was quite common last season), at least none that I could think of but I may do so if I re-watch (or rather when I re-watch on the CW!!).
- The beast was cool (not so cool in the end scene) but the beast case was cool overall, was not bored watching it this week
- The pace was brilliant I thought – not too slow and not too fast, and a good combination of action/dialogue, emotional/funny moments.
- Flashbacks and wow moments. The flashback wasn’t as emotional as I thought it would be when I was imagining it lol (ok, my imagination may have run a bit too wild) but I think this is good, in that we don’t want Vincent to fully remember at this stage, we want him to just get a few flashbacks and fully fall in love with Catherine (which I dare say he really is getting there!!) before it all comes back to him. But I would at some point want to see a very emotional flashback
- Firsts which were handled brilliantly, such as the interaction between Vincent and Catherine when they were lying to each other (never seen them interact like that, and was extremely sad, felt sorry for Vincent too, but I thought done brilliantly– glad it only took them one episode to deal with the lying and hopefully will leave this behind)
- The Heather departure was handled really well and good acting from Nicole – also tied in very well with the overall episode theme “Liar, Liar”
- Lack of sexiness and romance – you must be thinking is she out of her mind? Yes, we crave for sexy and romantic moments but the lack of these in this episode made this episode stronger IMO. It was a very very difficult episode to watch emotionally but compelling at the same time and if sexiness and romance was included it would have ruined it I think
- I loved the way they worked together to deal with the baddie even though on completely different teams, reminiscent of season 1 and IMO very romantic …
- This episode I think was a good blend of season 1 and 2. So it did remind me of season 1 (the good things about it) but was still in the style and had the good things of season 2
Heartbreaking moments – tissues, Kleenex, wine, chocolate and other goodies needed
-Catherine telling her sister to go to Miami in the coffee shop
-Vincent telling J.T. he hurt Catherine and asking him to check on her…
-Vincent not wanting to lie to Catherine hence deciding to stay away ( I don’t want to hurt and I can’t tell her the truth so just please check on her) yet then Catherine deceiving him (not blaming her by the way)
-Vincent thinking that Catherine is giving him another shot
-The awkwardness J.T. showed when speaking to Vincent, not sure exactly how to deal with him
-Vincent’s pain and guilt throughout the episode
-The whole episode was heart breaking with them lying to each other so much
-Cat’s anger towards Vincent and how she speaks to Gabe about him (necessary, very understandable, makes absolute sense, but heart breaking nonetheless)
- Cat and Vincent’s dialogue towards the end of the dance scene when she storms off
-Cat’s genuine happiness first time Vincent pretends he remembers their pool time together only to be crashed a second later when she realises he is faking
-THE LAST SCENE – OMG, seriously the most heart breaking scene ever, more than cold turkey and seeing red (yes, more) though very reminiscent of the cold turkey scene I have to say. She closed the window at the end and I was soo sad, and it is even sadder casue we know and they know that this time round they have many more obstacles to overcome than last time (in cold turkey)
Funny moments/smart one-liners
-J.T. skipping lol
-Gabe’s one liner which we also saw in the trailer
-Cat in the elevator with her daddy issues one liner
- Cat: u think I need a scarf? Heather: yeah, people will think u have an abusive boyfriend
-Lie detector scene
-Vincent: Don’t ask don’t tell, Tess: like that ever works
-Cat: he wishes, I might use my heels to kick it out of him
-Cat’s and Vincent’s pre dance dialogue
-Gabe and Tess dialogue when she confronts him for liking Catherine
Vincat analysis – this was so difficult to watch, but so compelling at the same time. It broke my heart how they both lied to each other, and I dare say Catherine was less hesitant to lie to him than he was to lie to her. Firstly, Catherine: You can really see in this episode a U-turn. You can see she obviously still loves him as much and defends him in front of everyone but she has realised her previous stance towards him needs to change if they are to work. And once she finds out about her dad and the flashback lie I think she then reaches a point where she is not even sure they should be together and realises she needs her space and she needs to find herself ( I think more realisation will come up when true daddy identity is revealed). This is Cat now prioritising herself in some ways (very justified considering what happened before, considering the daddy news and considering that she had neglected herself for a long time in her quest to find Vincent). He will now really need to prove himself to her and show willingness to let her into his current life, otherwise she won’t badge. The irony is he has started changing, and the catalyst was his action last week (as I had said in my previous review of 2.02). We could really see his human side this time from beginning to end, in fact in the end scene he was old Vincent, you could really see his vulnerability throughout the episode and the fact that he genuinely really cares about her and does not want to lose her. I really felt sorry for him this episode, he has been conditioned to think and act in a certain way yet he is really challenging this now, he has really fallen for Catherine and is desperate to win her back and completely accepts that he was wrong, but it is too late as she points out. Obviously as Cat also says to Gabe in the beginning “he is the real victim in all of this” and provided he does prove himself to her they will grow really close again, closer than before. I am so looking forward to seeing exactly how this relationship develops and how they will overcome other obstacles in their way!
The Gabe story – bleh…..Ok, so people on Twitter were right. Gabe clearly will really like Catherine, he has not admitted to it yet, but why else would the writers mention it? Unless it is one of those things that are left unanswered but I feel this won’t be the case this season, they seem to be leaving fewer loopholes. Now, how do I feel about this? Well, I don’t mind it if he falls for her provided she doesn’t even consider falling for him. I can even (in the future) put up with a triangle of sorts, with Catherine questioning her loyalty to Vincent (I could put up with that I think) but not with Gabe of all people. I see no chemistry at all between these two (I could see a bit of chemistry between her and Evan who was a really charming guy), and if Catherine ever questions her loyalty to Vincent it better not be with Gabe!! Ok close your eyes and hear Vincent’s voice. Now close your eyes again and hear Gabe’s voice, eh nope! No way! Forget about it!! Sorry Gabe, but no competition at all here. So yeah, he can fall for her and Vincent can beast out and all, but she better not fall for him
Verdict: Loved the episode, up till now I have not been disappointed at all by Season 2! The only thing I am slightly worried about, is this the right episode for Sleepy Hollow viewers to see (now that SH is on hiatus) and convert to BATB? Probably not (lack of action), but what the heck you cannot deny how good this episode was. I hope I am not the only one thinking that!
p.s. sorry the review is long again, not as long as last time, but still long!