Beauty and the Beast - Cat and Mouse - Review

This was a deep and eventful episode that explored issues of loyalty and trust among Vincent and Catherine's friends and associates.  At the same time, considerable attention was paid to the pattern of VinCat's relationship and how they need to find a way to break out of the cycle of Vincent as hunted fugitive with Catherine fighting to protect and conceal him. We had some surprises in store, from the identity of Cat's kidnapper, to Gabe dropping all pretenses of decency, with the latter aspect leading to some excellent confrontations between Gabe and the other characters.

I'll be supplementing this review with some lyrics from Foxes' song "Glorious" that reflect Vincent and Cat's commitment to their love despite all the forces that strive to tear them apart.

"Hollow ground and I keep on falling
Breathing in but it's not enough
When I drown my eyes in the river flowing 
You said you'd stay just a little more"*

At the beginning of the episode, Tess found J.T. badly hungover after a scotch-and-gummy-bears bender, all because he was worried about Vincent after his b.f.f. had to go back on the run.  J.T.'s devotion to Vincent is so strong and emotional, and an unhealthy manifestation like this shows how he tends to overreact to events that are pretty much part and parcel of Vincent's everyday life.  That's why it's a really good thing that J.T. now has Tess in his life to give him a little reality check about these habits, as his neurotic behavior is offset by her common sense.  Once motivated by Tess' news that Cat had gone missing, J.T. located Vincent using their prearranged rendezvous location at a diner.  Luckily for the world, Vincent was rocking the baseball cap and popped collar look this week.

Working it.

Vincent was stuck between a rock and a hard place and felt understandably frustrated about it throughout the episode.  He's unwilling to leave Cat behind again but if he stops hiding, he'll be put back in prison.  Unfortunately, his escape last week just makes him seem more guilty despite the fact that his killing of Windsor was in self defense.  Interestingly, Cat's disappearance ended up leading to a possible way out of this dilemma.

"the faith isn't gone
I still hear it calling 
But something is wrong 
The teardrops are falling 
Just before they hit the ground 
Oh, when I hear you say 
Don't give it up, don't give it up, it's glorious"*

J.T. hacked into Gabe's video feeds so he could keep his friend one step ahead of the  A.D.A.'s pursuit.  Vincent noted correctly that J.T. went way above and beyond by breaking into Gabe's home computer this way.  This incident, combined with J.T.'s contribution of his own blood to replace Vincent's sample last week, has me wondering if we're getting some foreshadowing that J.T.'s increasingly reckless, selfless assistance to Vincent may soon carry some consequences for our favorite nerdy sidekick.  At the same time, J.T.'s willingness to go to such lengths to help Vincent made for some intriguing comparisons as Gabe had no problem with complete betrayal and Tess dealt with her own tug-of-war between friendship, duty, and the question of whether protecting Vincent was really helping Cat.

Catherine, as it turned out, was kidnapped by the FBI.  Now, although we have seen our share of shady FBI agents on BatB, I do find it hard to believe that these agents would snatch Cat from her apartment with quite such violence.  And whether or not Cat was about to be questioned by the cops, necessitating a hasty approach to secure her assistance with his problem, Agent Knox's methods were totally inappropriate.  This seemed like it would be worth forgiving when Knox informed Cat, who was rightly dubious as to whether her abductor really was FBI, that in exchange for helping him rescue an undercover agent in danger at the U.N., he could get an exoneration for Vincent.  Since she really still wasn't buying a word Knox said, Catherine opened up a can of kick-ass that the agent had coming after his own assault on her the night before.  However, right after this, Cat ran into Vincent, who'd successfully tracked her.  Since this was really their only solution to the legal impediments threatening their chance to finally be happy together, Vincent was willing to hear Knox out.  I loved Cat's hilariously deadpan delivery of the line, "I'm sorry I hit you in the face with a chair" when she and Vincent came back into the room.

For whatever reason, Gabe has stopped pretending to be at all nice, understanding, accommodating, or anything less than utterly bitter and out-of-control vindictive.  Perhaps it was Reynolds' words to him in "Beast is the New Black" that reaffirmed Gabe's game-plan of capturing Vincent to supposedly stop Cat's life from being ruined.  Gabe is simply incapable of recognizing that the only person ruining Cat's life is him.  Even when he was with Cat, it never worked between them because she was not in love with him.  Gabe's ego won't let him accept that, so his vendetta against Vincent grows exponentially. 

Gabe hassled Tess like crazy about the need to arrest Vincent for Cat's own good, to the point that she seemed to waver in her willingness to keep going along with VinCat's plans.  However, when we got to the point where Tess was supposedly showing Gabe video feed that indicated Vincent's current whereabouts, I knew there was just no way that she would ever betray Vincent and Cat in that manner.  Even though it does bother her to have to join in the illegal shenanigans that are necessary to keep Vincent a free man, her loyalty to her friends is much more important than that when the chips are down.  Or as Tess put it so beautifully, "No Gabe, I picked a side. And it wasn't yours."

Catherine and Vincent had to put in plenty of hard work to get into the U.N., with Cat allowing herself to be captured by terrorists so that she would be held prisoner in the same room with Agent Mallory.  But once Mallory was free, Vincent and Cat were still stuck in the U.N. with the authorities closing in on them.  This was an intensely suspenseful and frustrating scene.  Even in this, the tightest of spots, Vincent was unwilling to go back on his new vow not to split up from Catherine.  In order to follow through on this resolve, the two had to jump through a window.  I momentarily questioned whether the window was made of cotton candy after it broke so easily, but Vincent's beastly powers must have instantly shattered it.  Cat and Vincent are just so brave and unrelenting in their adventures together that it makes scenes such as this exhilarating and satisfying.

Hurrying back to a grateful Agent Knox, Vincent and Cat were dismayed to hear that the exoneration had been revoked.  What?  I mean, I guess I'm tangentially glad that Agent Mallory won't be murdered by terrorists whose evil schemes were halted thanks to VinCat, but seriously, there's no reward for all the danger they put themselves in to pull it off?  Thanks a lot, Gabe.

Putting the pieces together that Gabe was no doubt responsible for this latest debacle keeping Vincent a fugitive, Cat went back to the N.Y.P.D. where she told her ex to "clear the room."  That's when I knew this confrontation was going to be really good, and the scene did not disappoint.  After righteously slapping Gabe in the face (have we been waiting for that all season or what?) Cat laid out all the reasons why he's totally out of line.  This, however, only brought out an even darker side of Gabe:

Cat: "Maybe you're right. Maybe some beasts only get worst."
Gabe: "Look, I can't change what you think about me. But I am not going to change what I am doing or why I am doing it. Vincent is a criminal and make no mistake, I will do whatever it takes to destroy him."
Cat: "Destroy him. Don't you mean arrest him?"

The theme that is aptly exemplified by this exchange is that even as a human, Gabe is more  vicious and cruel than Vincent could ever be.  Vincent's humanity remains intact despite his being a beast, while Gabe's version of human nature is twisted, selfish, and destructive.  I was also glad that Tess brought up Gabe's season 1 crimes in this episode right to his face, and that Cat affirmed that at one time she believed he had changed but now she sees that he hasn't.  Many fans have been irritated by the idea of Gabe being too easily forgiven for his misdeeds, but even the seemingly limitless patience and kindness of Cat, Tess, and Vincent has run out.  Thank goodness.

"I close my eyes and I feel your heartbeat 
A deep blue sea rushes over me 
When the thunder cries, I feel the warmth around me 
'Cause I found a place underneath your heart...

When the time is right, when there's no way out
I give it everything, I'll give it everything now"*

In addition to all of the delightfully romantic and typically swoon-worthy speeches given by Vincent this week ("Do we keep running away from each other or do we stand and fight? For us."  I die.), we also got a lovely rooftop scene with him and Catherine considering what their options may be at this point.  Indeed, it does seem that no matter what they do, Vincent and Cat keep ending up in the same roles, faced with the identical recurring issues that have plagued them since they met.  

Vincent: "I don't know. I can't believe we're like back where we started. Me hiding in shadows, you hiding me."
Cat: "At least it's romantic. Stolen moments, secret love."
Vincent: "Still, it's no future and I think we deserve a future."
Cat: "We'll have one, I promise. Together."

Even though they are trapped in an apparently impossible situation, it's heartening to see that Vincent and Catherine have come to a place in their relationship where they refuse to let go of the happiness they deserve.  Indeed, as Vincent emphasized earlier in the hour, their reunion was hard-won and they didn't get this far to back down now.  I can't wait to see how they will figure out a solution to the problems they face.

What did you think of this week's episode?  Share your thoughts in the comments!


*lyrics taken from the song "Glorious" by Foxes.

About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana

Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries, Hart of Dixie, Nashville, Beauty and the Beast, Witches of East End, Covert Affairs, and Continuum for Spoiler TV. She is a college English instructor and enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @SugarRushedBlog

Recent Reviews (All Reviews)