Although it seems that fans of Beauty and the Beast are still torn over how they feel about the new Vincent, one thing is for sure, there’s something awfully romantic about watching him fall in love with Catherine all over again, right?
Vincent (Jay Ryan) is slowly regaining his memory, which isn’t something that should really come as a huge surprise to anyone, but what you might not have counted on was for it to happen so fast, or easily. To be honest, it’s hard to completely understand the thought process behind making such a drastic change, if six episodes later the plan was to just revert back to essentially what we had prior to the revamp. And yes, I am saying that even after having witnessed Vincent literally rip the heart out of another beast (played by none other than One Tree Hill‘s villain extraordinaire, Paul Johansson).
His character isn’t the same gentle, selfless guy that we fell for in season one, but he also doesn’t have nearly the same tunnel-vision motivation and brash demeanor that he did when we first reunited with him only a handful of episodes ago. He went from beast with a conscious to beast for hire, and is now dangling somewhere around the half way mark, with a strong gravitational pull to his original style of genetic alteration.
The obvious variable in this transition is Cat (Kristin Kreuk). Since Vincent was nabbed in the Spring, she’s been absent from his life, until after several painstaking months of separation, he returned to New York as part of his directive by an unknown “handler” to rid the world of beasts. There’s something to be said about the gigantic distraction that Cat naturally becomes for him. Even when he can’t remember her, he can’t escape the intense feelings that his mind (and let’s face it, his body) naturally recalls. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, since I’m genuinely supportive of this core relationship that makes up the foundation of Beauty and the Beast, but it does bring with it inherent risks.
I don’t blame Agent Reynolds (Ted Whittall) for being skeptical about the entire thing – even if you discount the protective father angle. Vincent has proven that he’s a killer. Whether under the brainwashing of a secret government agency, or in a moment of passion, he is kind of passed the point where he can claim to be completely innocent. Naturally, since Reynolds is privy to all the top-secret information that Cat is dying to get her hands on, he knows more about the actual risks that Cat is facing – he also knows what the end game is. Vincent could very likely be the last man standing, and therefore the last target.
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