Another thing that was really interesting about this episode, that also tied it to the freshman season of Beauty and the Beast, was the official FBI hypothesis on what is triggering Vincent’s memories. In season 1, one of the big discoveries was what caused Vincent to fugue out (black out, go all beast-like, and be uncharacteristically psychotic with no obvious explanation).
There was a long period of time when J.T. (Austin Basis) was convinced that Cat was the cause. He theorized that somehow Vincent’s strong emotional connection to Cat was having adverse physical and mental effects on his beast side. Later we found out that wasn’t the case. Vincent’s episodes were actually just another lovely side effect of the genetic transformation he underwent that turned him into a beast in the first place.
Agent Reynold’s (a.k.a Cat’s biological father) has thus far failed to wow us by coming up with any of his own original thoughts on the subject. He instead appears to have settled on a similar theory to explain Vincent’s recent memory-filled moments. Unfortunately for him, Vincent remembering his life pre-abduction and brainwashing makes him as much of a liability to Reynold’s top secret ‘scrubbing Muirfield’ mission as anyone else on the hit-list.
Does this list of government-sponsored super soldiers created for the purpose of doing both the FBI’s dirty work and being hit-men for hire sound vaguely familiar? It’s possible that the writers behind Beauty and the Beast are edging dangerously close to recycling recently used material from another CW show. Last season on Nikita, we watched Nikita and her Division co-horts hunt down the dirty thirty, a group of rogue government assassins. The only major difference being the genetically altered component.
I don’t necessarily mind the idea of adapting a story arc that worked out well on another show for your own purposes if it supports a compelling plot, but there seems to be a growing number of parallels between the two shows. Yet, I’m intrigued to see where Beauty and the Beast goes post-hunting all the other beasts down. On Nikita, once they put down all the other threats, Nikita was the next on the list – and the conclusion of that storyline is leading us right to the end of the series (airing later this year). Let’s hope this plot twist won’t take us down a similar path; especially when I’m just starting to like the new Vincent.
Are you a fan of the softer side of Vincent, or do you prefer the more hardcore version of his character we saw at the beginning of this season? Let us know in the comment section below, along with what you thought of this episode of Beauty and the Beast!
Until next episode.
