FINALLY GOT TO SEE THIS EPISODE!!!!! And I have GOT to say 1 thing: what the FREAK is wrong with my fellow Beasties?
For ME, this episode was WONDERFUL in EVERY WAY. I loved EVERY character and every interaction. Every. Single. One. And the FLOW of the episode finally worked for me, as well as the division between PLOT and individual character development.
----My Review----
COUPLE Interaction:
This was ENTIRELY consistent with VinCat. Quite frankly, Cat has always gone on and on about the romance of having the forbidden love, the hiding, the falling in love. At the beginning of Season 2, she even tried to put a positive spin on Vincent's amnesia by saying that they would get to do all of their "firsts" again--like kiss, date, etc. Which all made it PAINFULLY real how she has NEVER made it THIS FAR in a relationship before. After all the drama, Cat has no idea how to JUST BE STILL and live normally!
"Normal is HARD." -- Cat has had to fend for herself for so very, very long. And go from drama to trauma, over and over again. And usually find that the people she was leaning on, if she was leaning on anyone at all, were not up to the challenge. And other than JT, Vincent literally had NO LIFE outside of a warehouse. Meaning NO interaction with the regular world. So no struggle with figuring out how to balance personal life from professional life. He just had JT and video games!
Cat is territorial of her stuff. Her apartment has been her own private batcave for so long. SHE HAS ORDER in her place. (REMEMBER Cat in Season 1 --in "Worth" when she thought that Vincent was blowing her off, SHE FILED at the precinct--THAT was how Tess knew something was wrong. So Cat has to SPECIFICALLY put ORDER to EVERY LITTLE object in order to feel in CONTROL.) Now, our dear little miss obsessive control freak must cede partial control over her life, her apartment, her worries, etc. And as the episode progresses, Cat talks Vincent AND MORE IMPORTANTLY HERSELF through this all-important lesson. "Your problems are my problems." She GETS THAT and says that to Vincent while working the case.
So Cat gets the concept ONLY as a result of having to process THROUGH A CASE. Cat will do what is necessary to solve a case. IT IS A ROUTINE she knows. SHE IS USED TO A PARTNER ON A CASE and to making use of the resources at hand. So working through her case makes her work through the issue with Vincent as well. You have to COMMUNICATE in a case--the other person HAS to have ALL of the information, know your whereabouts, and divvy out the tasks between the two to get the case solved. And in building a case, you have to understand the MOTIVES behind it.
And NOTICE that THAT IS THE REASON that TESS knows Cat best AND knows EXACTLY where Cat's problems with Vincent truly lie. She points it out to Cat in the scene on the way to break into the agent's office. Cat is going to do EXACTLY what Cat wants to do and drag her partner along for the ride. So Cat thinks SHE must direct the relationship boat. But as the episode and case progresses, Cat learns to share the load as well as figure out the solutions WITH her team.
And Tess is CONFIDENT in the following: that she KNOWS her partner and best friend AND that she has faith and a comfort level with her lover. Tess has clearly been bullied by her brothers her whole life--they have banded together and treat her with contempt. Unfortunately, that is WHY Tess so lacks self-confidence when it counts. BUT JT BELIEVES in her, and she believes in him. BOTH of them have a COMFORT LEVEL and TRUST in one another and what they can do. I LOVED their interactions throughout this episode.
AND THAT IS WHY Tess and JT can give such GREAT advice to their best friends--for once, they are comfortable in their own homes and space with their loved ones. So they can use their energies to help their friends with their problems. I LOVED THIS.
In Season 2, Tess was whiney herself due to having lost her own relationship, particularly in the WAY she lost it--Joe's obsession over the vigilante, which messed with her CAREER as well. So Tess was MISERABLE and determined to keep Cat away from a man on obsessive missions that dragged everyone down with him. NOW, in SEASON 3, we get to see how DOMESTIC comfort leads to COMFORT in the professional field AS WELL--Tess ACTUALLY finally feels the confidence to pursue the CAPTAIN's position. All because JT had her back and reminded her of her OWN abilities, something her BROTHERS never did. Her brothers only ever tore her down, ESPECIALLY in any field where they were competitive. And she LIKES that JT is nerdy--and is able to show her own nerdy self without recrimination---hence, she can where her periodic table shirt!
JT
---Okay, I LOVE where this is going. So FRINGE and every other GOOD sci-fi show that I have loved! There is the mystery there. NOW WE KNOW that the agents themselves had NO REAL knowledge on JUST what the serum could do EXCEPT that it would save JT. But AT WHAT COST? Only the future and continuous tests (through cases AND ADRENALINE rushes, or fear or anger) will let us know what JT is "becoming."
So WE GOT TO SEE the START of that "something" tonight! JT felt ANGER at the way Tess' brothers were treating the two of them. AND HE RESPONDED by focusing and having perfect aim, something he himself admits he had no skill in before. So JT will continue to exhibit MORE abilities as the season progresses, I am sure. As to whether or not it affects his PERSONALITY remains to be seen. THINK "CHUCK" for those of you who have seen that series --the abilities of Chuck when received by Morgan, his best friend, affect the guy's personality BECAUSE of the tweak to the formula/intersect made by the Fulcrum. So there has been a "tweaking" of the serum going on, and how this will continue to affect JT remains to be seen. BUT JT has what long kept Vincent from succumbing to his beast side--a STRONG SUPPORT TEAM in his friends and Tess.
And ultimately, THAT is what SAVES VinCat. Their support team manages to confront them individually AND ENCOURAGES them to talk to one another. THAT is what most irks Cat--the fact that Vincent seemed willing to talk to EVERYONE ELSE about their problems BUT her. BUT THAT ALSO made Cat realize that she HAD TO LISTEN AND COMPROMISE. So she packs up some of HER things --because it needs to be THEIR home and NOT just hers. (Even if the lamp is just THAT ugly!)
Cat and Vincent have long had to deal with their PAIN and their PROBLEMS alone. Now, they have each other and their friends. They are forming their own FAMILY together. And I LOVED seeing this in operation tonight!
And Heather returns with some of her annoying little habits. THANK GOODNESS! She was beginnnig to sound more mature than Cat, and I didn't want her just around to give better sisterly advice. Tonight, she DOES recognize just how significantly close VinCat are, even if EACH has their momentary doubts and insecurities. So she HELPS both of them, as well as annoying the heck out of them accidentally. And SHE has to learn BOUNDARIES, JUST AS MUCH as VinCat in their own way! So her problems serve to actually HELP as well as pleasantly annoy. She and Vincent actually bonded some.
I even liked how they handled the hacker guy. He WAS a victim. In trying to solve his problems, he ended up killing the courier, which proved to be an accident. The guy was better able to control his abilities and left Agent Thomas alive. And in the end, Cat was able to make BOTH Alton and Vincent see that the end result of their fight would only be their mutual deaths. BUT IT ALSO showed that no matter VinCat's SURFACE insecurities, THEY STILL HAD that loving and SOLID FOUNDATION in their relationship that allowed each to PROVIDE THE OTHER with what was needed.
(I get why people are annoyed that the Hacker guy might get away with his actions. But on the scheme of things, the Hacker went after the guilty parties or defended himself. He really WAS a victim and DID stop himself in the end. Doesn't wipe the slate clean. But really, who would prosecute this case? Where is the proof? No jury is going to believe the electric stuff, so the best that can happen is for this guy to be cured or else inevitably succumb to the tumor. One way or the other, THIS ONE will solve itself. The Hacker either dies on the operating room table OR the tumor and the ability will be removed.) This guy was NOT Gabe--he didn't go deliberately looking to beast himself out in order to kill.
SO I LOVED THIS ONE! The FLOW of the episode had everything to it that last week's episode lacked for me. Don't get me wrong, I liked the beginning and ending scenes of last week's episode. BUT THIS ONE had EVERYTHING--great bonding moments (between the guys and the girls with their best friends) as well as showing relationship strengths and weaknesses. And VinCat have always been rushing from Danger to Danger, so they have NEVER had a chance to just be quiet and still with one another. And actually learn one another's individual interests and things done in their down-time. So I LOVED seeing how VinCat has so much to learn about one another. And that both is SO afraid to mess up! It is obviously VERY important to both to be together and to find out how to make it work. And Cat acts true to character: she gets mad at the other person and situation UNTIL she has a chance to truly think about it. And then she learns to compromise and empathize.
This was NOT "Ever After" for me at all. I felt this was a realistic portrayal of two individuals who have been ON THEIR OWN for so very long. Each has had to work SO HARD for ABSOLUTE CONTROL that it is tough to surrender some of that control to the other person. Each wants to protect the other, but each must learn to communicate and solve things together. THIS HAS ALWAYS been VinCat's toughest issue each season, although for different reasons. First, they quarrelled over what kind of involvement Vincent should have in the world and towards Muirfield, with various disasters (remember Orchard Industries?) when they DIDN'T work together and chose to "protect" one another or control the situation themselves individually. Same with the discord and distrust sewn into the relationship as a result of Beast Missions and Reynolds in Season 2. So they FINALLY have to tackle the situation head-on this season, rather than just moving on to the next mission or case.
Now, VinCat are proceeding with eyes wide open. BUT both realize just how committed they are to one another and making it work. So I am still LOVING it. I mean, I DON'T want my beautiful VinCat to lose their individual quirks and annoyances that actually made me love them in the first place! I love Cat's control freakery--I just love how she is coming to terms with it and realizing that she MUST let Vincent in and communicate with him. VINCENT came far tonight in learning to communicate. CAT is going to have to come farther in LEARNING to listen from the get-go, without doing that car turn JUST because she was angry and annoyed and wanting to knock Vincent on his head (LITERALLY in this scene!). Still LOVING these developments!!