Friday, June 3, 2016

Beauty & the Beast 4x01 Recap: “Monsieur et Madame Bete” (The Beginning of the End) [Guest Poster: Bibi]


“Monsieur et Madame Bete”
Original Airdate: June 2, 2016

This episode opened with us getting a glimpse of Cat and Vincent in newlywed bliss. I love the chemistry between Jay Ryan and Kristin Kreuk, so naturally it was a delight to see these characters married and finally happy! ... Or so we think.

What we soon find out is that Cat doesn't want to leave their Parisian hotel room because she is paranoid Vincent will be outed as a beast, even after DHS swept all evidence, beast files, and everything else under the rug. (Again: or so we think.)

We then cut to a clip of J.T. with his students, asking them to pick topics and one of his students unknowingly enlightens him. The student wants to do research on beasts because well, he read it on a blog and knows they’re real. J.T. understandably freaks out, because this means DHS didn’t get everything off of the Internet and his best friend (and the whole team really) can be outed. He immediately goes to the one person who can help provide some clear perspective on this: Tess. When Tess doesn't provide him with the support he’s looking for and dismisses his claims of a threat and exposure, he reaches out to Heather. In an attempt to include Heather in the storyline, he enlists her crisis aversion expertise. They then come up with a plan to break into the blogger’s home and send a few posts in order to control the content he puts out. A little ridiculous, I know.

Back in the Parisian countryside, Vincent has finally gotten Cat to leave their hotel room and, while on a bicycle ride, Vincent senses the slow beating heart of a person on the verge of death. Vincent speeds to the scene, leaving Cat in the dust. He then discovers an accident with a couple and an overturned car. Vincent has to beast out to save them before the car catches fire. What was once an empty road now somehow becomes a road with multiple people taking videos of Vincent and his heroic gesture. When the police arrive on the scene, Cat tries to diffuse them, but she knows the husband saw Vincent beast out and she can't contain the footage that the bystanders have.

J.T. And Heather, meanwhile, are enacting quite possibly one of the worst plans they have ever had in the apartment of the blogger. Unfortunately when they arrive, they are too late and are met by a strange man who is clearly not the tenant. Heather finds who we assume to be the blogger dead, and the guy tries to kill them. Heather is injured and J.T. has to call Cat and Vincent to return home early from their honeymoon.

I get that Heather was injured, but maybe J.T. should’ve waited for a full report from the doctors before telling Cat and Vincent to come back because there is a threat looming. Maybe having just a little more information could’ve gone a long way in this scenario. However, with this being season four and all, we know how J.T. operates, and I really wouldn’t have expected anything less.

At the hospital, Tess is understandably concerned about and upset with J.T. for taking the law into his hands and coming up with this insane plan. They are supposed to be moving forward in their relationship and in their lives, and this is a huge step backward for them. While Tess is over J.T.’s jumping the gun antics, we all also know this is why she loves him. It is in this scene that Tess can sense that J.T. misses the craziness that comes with hunting beasts. But he assures her that is not it, and that he is genuinely worried about the new threat that is out there. Tess, being the incredible best friend that she is, wants Cat and Vincent to enjoy their honeymoon and worry about beasts after they've had a few days off to relax and enjoy being newlyweds. So she sends J.T. to try to convince them to go back to Paris, but the damage is done. After a lengthy airport lecture, Cat and Vincent are back for good and diving headfirst into looking for the killer.

Tess and Cat track the killer to DHS (which, by the way, there weren’t nearly enough scenes with Cat and Tess this episode and I am going to need more), and just like that, they walk in to find Agent Russo dead (RIP. He was a huge help to Cat and Vincent last season) and all beast files and information downloaded. The killer naturally escapes and the team looks to Cat and Vincent to come up with a better plan of finding and stopping him.

After this encounter with the killer, Cat and Vincent fear that Heather is in danger. They go home where they find her in their bed having a great time with a handsome paramedic who works with Vincent. As awkward as that was, Heather made a really good point once she was caught — she needs to have a life. They all do.

Cat attempts to give her the best sisterly advice, but at what point will their lives never be in danger? Cat and Vincent are constantly on the run from something or someone. When will the entire team ever lead happy and “normal” lives? Should everyone be expected to put their lives on hold until the threats are stopped?

So Cat talks to Vincent and realizes Heather is right. They can’t keep asking everyone to put their lives on hold for them. They decide to attack the threat, just the two of them and use Cat as bait to lure the killer to Vincent. Even in a crowded square and with Vincent on high beast alert, this seems like a terrible idea. They assume the killer doesn’t have beast powers, but this dude is definitely a trained assassin and he knows very well how to capture his prey. Cat ends up getting captured — which we all anticipated — and Vincent goes to J.T. and Tess for help. They find Cat in a warehouse where she tries to slow the killer from murdering her by claiming she knows nothing about beasts.

Cat gets herself out of the chains (Kristin Kreuk kicks butt in this scene), and Vincent arrives to save the day. Ultimately, he kills the guy and Cat covers it up on the police report, just like old times.

In the end, J.T. is honest with Tess and informs her that he doesn’t feel like he’s making a difference in the world (J.T., you are a brilliant scientist who is shaping and influencing the youth of today, so have some confidence!) unless he is hunting beasts. She says she understands and supports him, but I have a feeling that this will test their relationship in more ways than one as the season progresses. J.T. tends to react emotionally first, before really coming up with a plan, so this will continue to bother Tess who comes up with plans to take down criminals every day for a living.

Of course, Cat and Vincent finish their honeymoon by bringing Paris to their rooftop, and all is well. For now, at least.

This episode all in all was what I would expect from Beauty & the Beast. I’m sad it’s the final season, but curious to see where it will go. Will this season’s theme be about beast hunting? Will Cat and Vincent every get their happy ending and normal life? Will Tess and J.T. survive moving in together and fulfill his greater purpose? Will Cat and Vincent have a baby? Will a major character die this season? Will we get expanded storylines for Heather?

I guess we’ll have to tune in to find out! Share your theories and thoughts about the premiere in the comments below.

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