It’s been a long wait, but fan favorite Beauty and the Beast is finally back. After a lengthy (abrupt) hiatus that left viewers holding their breath waiting for answers both on and off the screen, The CW has not only brought the show back to finish off its sophomore season, but has also announced that BATB has been renewed for what looks like a shortened third (and possibly final) season. This might not have been the victory fans were looking for, but it’s at least a move in the right direction.
The writers left us with a pretty substantial cliff hanger before going off the air for close to three months – who was responsible for Vincent’s arrest? Social media was full of speculation, and I opted strongly for the theory that Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy) was behind Vincent’s bad luck. It looks like we were all wrong, though. There’s a brand new bad guy that was just waiting in the wings for some payback, and unfortunately for everyone, “he” just has really poor timing.
Don’t let the kitschy title fool you, “Beast is the New Black” keeps the cute to the bare minimum. Beauty and the Beast‘s highly anticipated summer premiere was filled with heart-pounding moments and a steady stream of disappointment. After Vincent (Jay Ryan) and Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) finally seemed to have put the worst behind them, they realize that it was only the calm before the storm.
As Cat paraded around New York City in her plaid pyjamas, also convinced that Gabe was responsible for Vincent’s incarceration, a myriad of different players were getting situated. Her first instincts, after dealing with the immediate blood draw issues and eliminating Gabe from her suspect list, was to pay her father a visit – and let’s just say that Agent Reynolds (Ted Whittall) didn’t win any points with his daughter on this episode.
Reynolds has been the overarching antagonist in one way or another throughout season two of Beauty and the Beast, and he’s a great candidate to be behind this mess as well. Although, he did make a convincing argument for why other entities may be inclined to see Vincent permanently out of the way. Especially with the collapse of Muirfield, I’d even bet money that Reynolds is still pulling some of the strings. Old habits die hard.
