Beauty and the Beast 2.07: "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" Review!

Finally!  
This week's episode of Beauty and the Beast 2.07 "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?", was full of information, twists and good surprises.

The first scene of this episode opened with Cat (Kristin Kreuk) and Vincent (Jay Ryan). I was pleased to note that Cat did not gloss over the violent episode that occurred last week, in which Vincent ripped Windsor's beating heart from his chest. Cat is now having a hard time relating to Vincent and I was proud of her for sharing her feelings with him; in the past she would have just bottled up her emotions. It is a good thing they talked things over since she and Vincent have both been invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Agent Reynolds', (Ted Whittall) who is Cat's father.

At first, Cat declines Agent Reynolds' invitation to Thanksgiving dinner; but when Vincent discovers that the handler sending him on missions might be an FBI operative, Cat comes up with a plan to use her father's connection to the FBI to determine who is controlling Vincent's missions. Little do they know, her father has been the man ordering the missions all along. Luckily for Agent Reynolds, his was able to disguise his voice or he may have found himself in big trouble with Vincent. 

Following a team meeting, Cat and Vincent go to Thanksgiving dinner with her father; while Tess (Nina Lisandrello) and J.T. (Austin Basis) work on analyzing the recording of the handler's voice. Once at Agent Reynolds', things get awkward what with meeting his daughter's boyfriend. Not to mention, that he is not only aware that Vincent is a beast, he is also the unknown handler. Reynolds' plan was to utilize Vincent to kill all the other beasts and then dispose of him. But Reynolds' plan to kill Vincent was foiled early in the episode because Vincent sensed something wrong in the phone calls from his handler. Now, if only Vincent knew who was standing right in front of him.

Things remain awkward, until Cat finally opens up and begins telling her father that she and Vincent have friend in need. She goes into the details about this friend being part of the Muirfield experiments and that he/she is a beast. Reynolds tries to tell her that all the experiments were destroyed long ago and if there are still some beasts out there, that they're monsters that can't be saved. But she is persuasive and eventually convinces him to at least look at the information they have gathered. There is just one problem: they didn't bring any of the information with them. When Cat calls Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy) and explains the situation he agrees to bring them the information, but not before Cat reminds him not to bring anything that is connected to them. 

Tori, (guest star, Amber Skye Noyes) who we met as Windsor's daughter in last week's episode, “Father Knows Best”, arrives with Gabe. She has been hospitalized after a suicide attempt that everyone thinks was just an accident. She had decided she didn't want to live after she learned she is also turning into a beast like her father. Gabe checked her out of the hospital and brought her to Reynolds' because he didn't want her to be alone on Thanksgiving. Things are going fine until Vincent senses Tori's presence. Vincent then attacks Reynolds, who had been making snide comments about him, and runs from the house.

Even though Vincent has now exposed himself as a beast to Reynolds, Cat begs her father to give Vincent another chance. (She doesn't realize her father has already identified him as a beast). She wants to work things out because she is his daughter and she and Vincent need his help. He finally agrees and they sit down together for Thanksgiving dinner. Talk about a tense dinner table! Tori tries to make her father give Vincent credit for saving her life. At that moment, Tori and Vincent's hands touch and Vincent freaks out and runs out again. This causes Tori to have a panic attack, which brings out the beast within her and she flips the dinner over, table and all!

Everyone is shocked to find out that Tori is a beast as well. Genetically, something that must of have been passed down from her father. at birth. Reynolds leaves the room and calls one of his agents. He informs the agent there are now two beasts to be taken care of. Cat and Gabe attempt to calm Tori down, but she runs out. She finds Vincent and he tells her to stay away from him because whenever he's near her something happens to him. She explains that she does not want to be a beast and she needs someone to help her through it. They connect in that moment, and Cat walks in just in time to see them kissing.

Vincent runs after Cat to reassure her there's nothing at all to worry about and the kiss didn't mean anything, it just happened out of the blue. She tells him it's not the kiss she is mad about but the whole situation. She tells him that her father may still be able to help him but he needs to come back in. He then tells her maybe it's for the best if they part ways. But he only tells her that because Reynolds informed him that if he leaves Cat alone he won't turn her into the FBI. She seems stunned and hurt but tries to appear as if she just brushes it off.

J.T. and Tess have fun in this episode, I was really excited to see them working together to figure out whose voice was recorded telephone call. They have a heart-to-heart kinda talk about her family and her relationship status and he asks her why is she is single. Finally, a nice long kiss between the two of them, the moment I have been hoping for since season one. After the kiss, they try again to determine the voice on the recording, but all Tess can manage to hear are church bells in the background.

Reynolds' agent arrives at the house and convinces Tori he is her father's private driver sent to take her back to the city. Meanwhile, Tess and J.T. tell Cat they have identified church bells on the recording and Cat passes that information to Gabe. She and Gabe don't think too much of it at the moment. Reynolds comes in to apologize to Cat and as they are speaking Gabe and Cat become aware of church bells ringing outside Reynolds' home. And that is where the episode ends!  

What a cliffhanger! I really enjoyed this episode of Beauty and the Beast and can't wait for next week's mid-season finale. It seems like the episodes are flying by so fast this season, which is a sign the show is interesting and interested holds my attention. I do hate when shows take breaks, but it's understandable that they need time to film more episodes and have at least a little break for the actors and crew. I just hope the mid-season finale doesn't disappoint.

Beauty and the Beast season 2 airs Monday nights at 9/8c on The CW.

"Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" was written by Wendy Straker Hauser and directed by Jeff Renfroe. 

Photo Credit: The CW

Beauty and the Beast 2.06: "Father Knows Best" Review!

After seeing Cat (Kristin Kreuk) discover who her birth father is at the end of last week’s episode of Beauty and the Beast 2.05 "Reunion", I think a bunch of us beasties were hoping for some kind of showdown, or at least a few more details about Agent Reynolds (Ted Whittall) and his history with Vanessa. We were also left wondering about his motives and his plans for Vincent (Jay Ryan). 

From the start, this episode had the clock is ticking for Vincent to find another beast of the week,. especially I If Gabe's (Sendhil Ramamurthy) assumption that Vincent himself is the last beast on Reynolds' list of beasts to kill is correct, Vincent now only has two missions left and with one of them possibly ending in his own death.

Agent Reynolds informs Vincent that the next beast he's after goes by the name Kurt Windsor (Paul Johansson). Reynolds also informs Vincent that Windsor is powerful in the City, requiring a clean kill with no mistakes. Vincent still doesn't know who exactly he's working for, but realizes he must complete these last two missions in order to be with Cat in peace. Just as Reynolds is about to hang up with Vincent, Cat shows up looking for him. He tries to play it cool as if nothing is wrong but Cat comes right out with the "I know you're my dad" card. She invites him to have a cup of coffee with her sometime. Reynolds is left stunned and speechless as Cat heads out the door.

Vincent still needs to deal with the beast of the week. He knows the beast he's after is powerful, and rich. Windsor was also experimented on at approximately the same time as Gabe. So that means Windsor is a first generation beast created from the same strain as Gabe. Even though flat-lining didn't work on the last beast, Gabe suggested they try it on Windsor because they are both from the same strain and it worked on him.

As Vincent waits for instructions from Agent Reynolds to slip into the Windsor residence we see a red haired woman step out on the balcony. The woman is Kurt's daughter, Tori (guest star, Amber Skye Noyes). Before Vincent can make a sneak attack, Kurt senses him and comes rushing through the doors at him. Tori hurries inside and witnesses everything. Kurt then tries to choke Tori to death, thinking she let Vincent in the building. When Vincent witnesses Kurt attacking his own daughter, he grabs Tori and they rush out of the apartment building.

The next day, Cat meets Agent Reynolds for that cup of coffee and a chat. He gives Cat some of information that she wants but not all the answers she was looking for. He tries to pry more information about Vincent out of Cat, without looking like he knows about her and Vincent being together; but acting more as a concerned father. Cat is reluctant to confide in him and knows how to hold her own counsel. A news story comes on that interrupts their bonding time. The newscast details the high profile kidnapping of Tori Windsor and a five million dollar reward! But before they leave to investigate, Reynolds is successful in casting some doubts about Vincent in Cat's head.

Cat, meets up with Tess (Nina Lisandrello) and Gabe and they all try and to connect the dots between Vincent's mission and the Tori's kidnapping. Cat heads off to Vincent's houseboat to find him, but she only finds an earring that she says to herself better be Tori's. She doesn't get much time to look around because Kurt and his bodyguards show up looking for Tori. Cat manages to escape the houseboat unseen by hiding out of sight in the water.

Vincent takes Tori to the woods and ties her up. He tries to calm her down by explaining he didn't kidnap her, he actually saved her from her father who was in a beast rage trying to kill her. Vincent tells her that he never wanted to be a beast, but her father wants to be one because it gives him power and control. To prove his point, Vincent removes the tracking device on her arm; a device she knew nothing about.

Cat eventually finds Vincent in the woods with Tori. The three of them meet up with Gabe and she explains to them that rather than killing Kurt, flat-lining him might work. Cat visits Kurt, telling him the only way he can ever see his daughter again is if he allows them to kill him and then bring him back to life, which will destroy the beast within him. Cat's explanation convinces Kurt to agree.

They meet with Gabe and he explains to Kurt what has to be done. Kurt tells Cat if he's going to die, he wants to speak to Tori one last time. Cat arranges for Vincent to bring Tori to Kurt. They have a heart-to-heart talk just as he about to receive the injection that will kill him. But the beast within him has some kind of reaction and comes out.

Kurt knocks out Cat and Gabe with one blow, and a beast battle ensues between him and Vincent. Kurt is extremely powerful for a first generation beast and he nearly kills Kurt. But Kurt's animal nature takes over and he rips Kurt's heart from his body. Tori looks horrified by what Vincent has done, and Cat and Gabe are both shocked. Later, Gabe tells Tess everything that happened. She reacts by stating, "It seems like Vincent has taken a step backwards." She wonders how Cat is handing it and wonders just what will happen.

Toward the end of the episode, Reynolds catches up with Cat and orders her a coffee. He tells her that he took a chance hoping to find her and was pleased to see her there. Reynolds manages to get into Cat's psyche by asking her questions that would lead her to think Vincent is a lost cause and isn't getting better after all. With all her own thoughts circling in her head and now Reynolds' ideas as well, she decides to head over to talk to Vincent. She tries to show him she isn't afraid of him, but she tells him she is afraid of his humanity being lost forever because he ripped out Wagner's heart in front of her. She then tells him she hopes that it is only a case of two steps forward and one step back and getting his memories of them as a couple back is a good sign.

The last scene in this episode wasn't a VinCat one but one of Tori. She is seen arriving home to the now empty apartment she shared with her father. She is, of course, still shaken by her father's gruesome death. As she glances in the mirror, she notices her eyes shift and start to glow -- looks like we finally have our she-beast on the show. At first I wondered how it could be possible if she was never experimented on by Muirfield. Then I realized that her father was experimented on over 20 years ago before Tori was conceived and Tori was therefore a genetically created beast.

Overall, I loved this episode of Beauty and the Beast and thought it was well written and directed. I think the show is really starting to develop its own style and I just hope we have a strong enough beastie following to keep it going for at least a third season. The creators, cast and crew are simply great and it shows every week with each new episode.

Beauty and the Beast season 2 airs Monday nights at 9/8c on The CW.

"Father Knows Beast" was written by Brad Kern & Roger Grant and directed by Paul Kaufman. 

Photo Credit: The CW

Beauty and the Beast 2.05: "Reunion" Review!

Vincent (Jay Ryan) regains more memories by reconnecting with an old Army buddy, while Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) enjoys some girl time with old gal pals at her ten year high school reunion. What could be more perfect? Not always the case in Beauty and the Beast, as both our leads' paths connect in the worse possible way, another beast of the week case. 

In Monday nights new episode, entitled "Reunion", we see a new beast and this one is after Vincent. He first shows up in Cat's bedroom during her gal pal get together before the reunion. He attacks Cat and tries to kill her, but one of her high school friends rushes in, just in time. The beast jumps out the window, only to appear later as one of Vincent's old pals, Zack (guest star, Blair Redford), a friend from the Army that he served with in Afghanistan.

This episode gave us some good insight into several characters, including our beast Vincent, Cat, and Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy). It's always fun when a show does high school reunions. I think it's fun to explore certain characters' histories. In this case, we got a great glimpse into Cat's past. She was a track star, she wasn't super popular, though, and she even helped out some geeks along the way. She was actually uncomfortable when a former high school mean girl noted she didn't have a plus one with her. Yet, our Cat doesn't need a man by her side as she is confident on her own.

We see Gabe is going out of his way to help Cat. This time, he was helping her find her bio father, but he ran into all kinds of problems with files being under wraps and hard to track down. Even Agent Reynolds (Ted Whittall) stops by to check in on Cat after she was attacked by the beast. I think if I was Gabe, I could put two and two together and figure out that Reynolds has a connection to Cat.

Tess (Nina Lisandrello) makes a few appearances and more annoying comments about Gabe being in love with Cat. I know he likes her, and probably wishes he could be with her, since she is such an awesome lady. Tess gets him to admit feelings for her, yet I do not like it at all because I fear it may cause too much discord between Vincent and Cat later in the season.

J.T. (Austin Basis) was back this week. That was a plus because I do enjoy his character. This episode made me feel sorry for J.T. because I know Vincent wouldn't trust him or even listen to his skepticism of Zack's intentions. J.T. noticed a lot of red flags about Zack and tried to get Vincent away from him, but nothing seemed to work.

When Zack got Vincent to a bar, we saw he was trying to elicit some memories from Vincent, but his intent really was on retrieving just one particular memory: that of Gabrielle, a woman Vincent had a relationship with before he deployed for Afghanistan. It's not a good thing for Vincent not to remember since Vincent apparently stole Gabrielle away from Zack while he was deployed. Which left Zack with such a grudge against Vincent, that he killed Gabrielle. 

That's the point in the episode when things began to click. I realized that Zack wanted to kill Cat in order to even things up with Vincent. Zack later showed up at Cat's reunion and tried to kill her; but he failed because Cat always has her beast, aka Vincent, by her side to save her life. I think that's one of the best things of the show, you can always count on Vincent and Cat to save each other, no matter the cost.  

All the beast drama did make Vincent think without Cat's love he might have gone off the rails by now. We were treated to a sweet moment, a VinCat kiss, after an awesome beast fight. Yes, Vincent killed Zack and I was glad. I don't want anyone trying to kill off our beauty. Despite Vincent not having all his memories back of his time with Cat, they are slowly moving in the right direction. I think this development is something all beasties will love. They're growing closer and becoming one of the best couples on recent TV.  

After Vincent takes off, we see Cat sitting in the gym of her old high school as Gabe walks up. As the two converse, Cat is seen flipping through old pictures and in her graduation photo she discovers a familiar face in the background, Agent Reynolds. Cat has discovered her bio father at last.   

In the end, I enjoyed this episode. It gave us great insight on heretofore unknown history, plenty of VinCat scenes, some beast action, and a good story. I look forward to the next episode, entitled "Father Knows Best". I can only imagine what that will bring to the table. Guess we will have to wait until next week to find out more.   

Beauty and the Beast season 2 airs Monday nights at 9/8c on The CW.

"Reunion" was written by Eric Tuchman and directed by Fred Gerber. 

Photo Credit: The CW

Beauty and the Beast 2.04: "Hothead" Review!

 Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) and Vincent (Jay Ryan) just can’t seem to escape each one another’s lives no matter how hard they try. Last Monday's episode,"Hothead", was no exception. Just when a few of us Beasties thought all hope was lost for our beloved VinCat, things shifted for the better.

In this episode, Cat finally stopped long enough to put her life in order. She began by reconnecting with her best friend, Tess (Nina Lisandrello), which was a good start. Also, Cat began to pay attention to Vincent's feelings and quit pushing him so hard to remember their past. This allowed their connection to grow stronger, which is important to all of us that like these two together, whether as a couple or just as friends. 

No J.T. (Austin Basis), although he was mentioned once, by Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy). I found Tess a bit annoying in this episode with all her teasing of Gabe about his feelings for Cat. I think she needs to let that go and find something else to keep her busy, maybe like a new man for her.

Vincent had his first meeting with his nephew, Aaron (guest star, Bryan Dechart), who he hasn't seen since he was declared dead. I was very pleased with the chance to see more of Vincent's family and to learn more about his past. The moment he heard Aaron was a Keller, Vincent recovered memories of a family BBQ with both Aaron and William. He also remembered he and his brother Will being firefighters before he became a doctor. Until now, the only thing we knew about Will and his other brother was that they were killed in the towers on 9/11. I think it's great that in the future we may see more of Vincent's nephew and how their relationship develops. 

We also learned that all the Keller men are the same, that is, by being stubborn yet heroic. For example in this episode, Aaron tried to stop the beast of the week without anyone's help. He is a fireman but he should realize there is strength in numbers and it is sometimes necessary to also rely on others. Hopefully, in future episodes he'll learn some things from his Uncle Vincent. I think he has the potential to be a great character. If Heather (Nicole Gale Anderson) didn't leave for the job in Miami, they could have been a perfect match for a romantic connection. 

Gabe was on a mission to save Vincent in this episode, like Catherine did for him at the end of last season's finale by having him die, then bringing him back to life. By doing so, she killed Gabe's beast-side and made him human. Gabe knew it was risky, so he wanted to test it out on the beast of the week first. Long story short, they tried it out on the beast but it failed to worked. Obviously, you can't have a show called Beauty and the Beast without a beast, so maybe they're just hinting at the fact that someday when the show ends they will cure Vincent and he and Cat can live happily ever after..

The ending of the episode was perfect. I thought it was very touching for Vincent when he and Cat stood in front of the 9/11 Memorial. Vincent said "My brothers are here." Catherine's reply was, "they're heroes." It's nice that Vincent's memories are finally coming back little by little. He remembers he had brothers and seeing him visit the memorial was a sweet nod to his growing memories.

Overall, this was an excellent episode of Beauty and the Beast. I really enjoyed every minute of it and the writing on this show just keeps getting better with time. I'm so looking forward to next week's episode when Cat goes to her high school reunion. It should be good for some laughs and we will meet some new characters as well.

Beauty and the Beast season 2 airs Monday nights at 9/8c on The CW.

"Hothead" was written by Roger Grant and directed by Michael Robison. 

Photo Credit: The CW