|
I'm generally an open minded person when it comes to most things. I'll give a movie or show a try if it's new or if I've never seen it before. So when Beauty and the Beast started making the ad rounds, I though huh, that's a new concept, I can see it working. There have been all kinds of fairy-tale reimaginings, old legend reimaginings, and all kinds of other stuff. And usually, the stuff people come up with is astounding!
However, Beauty and the Beast fell really short of that expectation. Basically this is just CW's way of getting a younger audience into cop procedurals and I think they chose the wrong format to try it out with. Fans of the original story would be greatly disappointed in this show.
As is CW's way, there aren't really ugly people working on the show and even when one of the title characters, the Beast played by Jay Ryan, turns into an actual beast, he's clouded in shadow, all you see is a scar here, his yelling there, but there's nothing to suggest that he was an actual beast. What I liked about the fairy-tale was that Belle and the Beast actually worked at falling in love. They hated each other in the beginning, neither could acquiese to the other's point of view and it wasn't until the Beast saved her, that Belle started to see a softer side to Beast. It was like Beast had been angry and hateful for so long, he forgot he was a civil man.
Looking at the show, it has none of those elements. Yes the beast (actual name Vincent) is locked away in a building on the outskirts of town, yes he's in the attic, but there's no rose, there's no Lumiere or Cogsworth, Chip or Mrs. Potts. I know it's their retelling of the story, but they could have kept some of the elements. I liked where they went with how he got turned into a beast. In an age where advances in medicine and technology and medical testing paranoia are the norm, I can see how that would make sense. I like that they made it modern, I thought that was very clever.
Vincent has a friend in the form of J.T. played in the form of Austin Basis, a chubby guy with glasses. I don't know if he was supposed to embody a mix between Cogsworth worrisome attitude and Lumiere's hands off approach, but I just don't understand the relationship between him and Vincent. He's like his keeper but Vincent keeps doing things outside of what J.T. cautions him to do so it's like, why are you even there?
J.T. is just this neurotic geek with a side story that he teaches at college, and his only claim to fame is that he yells, worries, screams at Vincent that he needs to stay low and stay away from Cat, played by Kristin Kreuk. But to me, J.T. is more of a narrator for the folks at home. He tries so desperately to inform the audience that there is a real danger to Cat constantly coming around, yet you don't see it. To me there's no real danger lurking in the shadows beyond FBI taking away a mysterious body, Cat's computer crashing with a serious high level virus, a semi serious attack on Cat, and Vincent's outburst in a parking lot. That's basically it. And all J.T. does is wring his hands, pull out his hair, and pace back and forth before disappearing for practically the whole show.
My main problem is with the cop procedural element. Honestly, I could have done without it. What I didn't get was how she was studying to become a lawyer and nine years later, she's a cop and searching for her mother's killer. The mommy card is a little played and cliche, but they could have switched it up with her being an obsessed introvert who makes her living doing something else. You didn't really get to see Cat solving anything for herself, because in the very first episode, Vincent feeds her clues that lead her to the killer. In a recent episode, he's the one who told her the girl was lying. Without that, I'm not sure if they would have solved the murder. I get he has super abilities, but aside from the annoying "You're doing it wrong" look he gives her, it's like she's a flailing potato.
Don't get me wrong, I see tremendous potential in this show. It wasn't that long ago that Vampire Diaries aired on the CW and that got off to a slow start as well. I was excited to see it, but it was a lot of Elena sighing and wishing for the life she used to have. And they've completely forgotten about the diary aspect. Elena always narrated the show, but they dropped it mid season and now it's nonexistent. But as the show got on, it became more and more interesting and they didn't need the diary aspect. I think it's the same with this show. It may get off to a slow start but that's only because the writers are fairly new and are trying to navigate their way with new characters and something new for CW. They're trying to take a grisly subject, and make it a little more PG-13 friendly. I mean, just recently is Teen TV tackling subjects like gay people, murder, and sex, and cheating. Everyone on ABC Family and the CW is getting used to saying bitch since it's technically, not a bad word. It just means a female dog.
I know this review sounds like I don't like the show, but that's not true. I just feel like with this concept, they could have done so much better but since Armchair Execs are looking for cop dramas and medical dramas, they latched onto the one thing they had and tried to bulldoze it onto TV without really fleshing out where they were going with this. Because considering the way things are going, where are they gonna go when Cat's mom's murder is finally revealed? They could do something like with Castle to bring in a case per week and every now and again mention something about the mom and the grand conspiracy of things. But I just don't see where they can go with Beauty and the Beast but I'm willing to give it a try because Vampire Diaries started off the same way, and now it's one of my favorite shows. I'm strictly a Damon fan because I feel like he's suffered entirely too much. But, this isn't about that show, this is about Beauty and the Beast.
Cat is an okay character. I get that she wants to find out what happened to her mom, but she just charges head first into everything and doesn't care about the consequences. She finds out that Vincent is a beast and yes she has moments where she's scared of him, but she keeps coming back for more. Okay, this is typical YA fluff. Girl meets supernatural boy, instant attraction. I just wish that they had made it more along the lines of the original. Belle couldn't stand the Beast, she locked herself up in her room but she stood her ground with him, even though he yelled at her. In the show, Cat does kind of stand her ground, but she always does it with a scared look on her face. Like come on, get a backbone! She's the one who keeps going after him, keeps pestering him, keeps literally poking the beast, and yet she wants to get scared every time that scar spreads and his claws come out. Maybe I'm just a closet cynic, but I'd like my female leads to be a little stronger than that, a little more invincible. They can show emotion, that's fine, that's what seperates us from the animals (sorry guys), and I liked the bit about her sister. Honestly, I didn't know she had one, but I liked that it was KP from Make It Or Break It.
But Cat's character just doesn't do it for me. If she's supposed to be this woman who got into police work because of her mom, I'd just like to see her more obsessed. Yes she has a board but that's about it. I'd rather see her failing to connect with anyone in her life, constantly losing sleep over her mom, and now that Vincent's in the picture, I would rather see her pestering him with quuestions. I know that if contract killers came after my mom and there was some sliver of hope of finding out the truth from a beast type of guy, (who's more of a pretty boy in my opinion) I would jump on him, beat him to a pulp until he told me the truth. Yes, he could probably tear me in two, but that's perfectly okay because then I'd be a little closer to finding out the truth.
What I also didn't like was the dynamic between Cat and Vincent. Like I said, Belle and Beast couldn't stand each other, and Beast would literally yell at her to leave him alone yet he had this urge to talk to her and protect her. I can see where they're going with that on this show, but I'm just not seeing it. It's not clicking for me. She doesn't get angry with his outburts, she's just scared. He tells her to stay away, even tries to move away, yet he keeps following her and show up whenever she calls. It's like if you don't like each other, why are you still around each other? I think it would have been interesting if he did something to really turn her off, and then he obsessed over her and when she really did need him a la the wolf scene in the fairy-tale, then they started to find a common thread to work with. But as it stands, he's solving her cases for her.
I like the ambition behind this show, I'm willing to give it a chance. I just don't see where they're going with it. It's like they're trying so hard to blend supernatural elements that YA's really like, and cop procedurals that execs think YA's like. But I hope it opens up soon.
I don't get the role of Cat's partner either. They don't click for me . On screen, they just don't seem like such a good partnership. And it's like Cat is supposed to have this amazing partnership with her partner, yet she completely abandons her and prefers Vincent to her for solving the murder. Nina Lisandrello, plays Cat's friend Tess. I get that there's this secrecy thing that will always accompany supernatural elements, but Cat just completely breaks it off, no foresight or warning. Wouldn't it be a neat idea if Cat told her friend about all of this? I mean, everyone needs someone to confide in otherwise they'd go crazy. It's like liking a boy. You can't talk to him about liking him, so you have to have someone to unload on. Especially if they're supposed to be close, they should be able to share something like this. Yes, my friend would look at me weird if I told her I knew some half man half beast guy who was a government experiment, but I'm confident that my friend would go along with it for my sake, but first they would get my head checked, just in case.
It seems like there's a huge British invasion on television. Almost every show has a British person and British shows have a very big cult following in America and all I can say is thank you TV gods! This show's British person is Evan Marks played by Max Brown. All I can think is YUM! He is so cute and such a great actor, it's kind of sad that he chose this part. Not saying that this show can't make it, it's just that how long will you cheat potential fans? They also cheated his character though. He's supposed to be this womanizing medical examiner, yet all I see him doing is trying and failing with Cat. He constantly asks her out and her only response is that she doesn't want to be another knotch in his bedpost, but you don't see any angry women around the office. Come on, show of hands, if a British guy walked into your work place, you wouldn't jump his bones all because you don't wanna be another knotch in his bedpost? Like come on, women! Have a little backbone! Women like sex too and they can have it without it meaning something. So I think that's a weak reason and I think it's sad that they have this cute guy pining over the one girl he can't have. Not all guys are like that. Most would say F.U. and keep it pushing. I think it would be interesting if they had Evan stop asking her out and begin chasing after someon else, and Cat gets super jealous and Evan kind of exploits that but not meanly. Honestly, how long can you have someone push you away before you just give up? Yes, it'll make Cat a little self obsessed but at least it would give her a little character. People keep mentioning she's stubborn and blah blah, yet you don't fully see that during the course of the show. So I think it would be an interesting dynamic because then Vincent would have someone to compete with.
They should have named this show something different because it draws absolutely no parallels to the fairy-tale. At least with other reimaginings, there's some common thread but there isn't here. All they have is two gorgeous people and one of them is playing beast. I don't know if Evan is supposed to be Gaston, but if so, he falls short of the self obsessed male candy with the three women constantly fawning over him. The reimagining is what I'm having trouble with, is what I'm saying.
Like I said, this has great potential and I'm interested in seeing where it goes. But they have a long road ahead of them if they want to win this viewer over.
Hope you enjoyed this review, hope it sort of makes up for my two week hiatus. More to come promise! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
