I would have said that Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy) would be a prime candidate for the job. He could have swooped in all Dark Knight–like. Except that when he “died” he lost all of his super strength. Finally he has an opportunity to use his powers for good instead of evil, and they come up short.
Watching him get thrown around by Vincent like a rag doll may have been something he had coming, but frankly, the entire thing was mildly pathetic. We get it, Gabe is no longer a beast. I hope reminders like this start becoming less frequent. On the other hand, it made it pretty obvious that Gabe is just as desperate to get back into Cat’s circle of trust as she is to get Vincent’s memory back.
It’s not completely out of left field that Gabe would target his guilt in Cat’s general direction. Her mother was responsible for his stealthy exit from Muirfield when he was a child. It makes sense that he would feel the need to repay her daughter for the kindness shown to him, since she’s no longer around. And, he probably has some retribution coming to him for trying to kill Cat’s boyfriend. Perhaps he thinks that if he can save Vincent for her, that they will be even. I don’t know if that’s exactly how karma works, but it wouldn’t hurt for him to try.
Gabe isn’t the only passenger on Cat’s ‘Save Vincent’ train. Tess (Nina Lisandrello) and JT (Austin Basis) are aboard as backseat drivers with very obvious opinions on where they should go next. Tess’s interests lay in protecting her best friend, which makes her an interesting adversary to JT and his motivations. He also wants to save his best friend, but with the added bonus of not feeling like he spent the last decade wasting his time. I wonder if the interesting new dynamic they have found themselves in will facilitate some sort of romantic connection between the two. After all, when you’re harboring secrets to this degree, your dating options are dramatically reduced.
Even though Vincent has become this brainwashed, ‘paint by numbers’ soldier for hire, regardless of their motivations, there are still people that care about him. Their intentions may collide at some point, but for now they are still working somewhat together on the same page. Cat is setting the tone for where things are going, and she’s ready to take more of a defensive stance now that reality has settled in.
Besides the sharp turn in the romance story, there’s also a noticeable lack of actual police work taking place. The first season of Beauty and the Beast may have contained a lot of romantic interludes, but it also piggy-backed off of actual cases. Something about the shift in focus is throwing me off. I want to whole heartedly support all these new changes, but I’d like to see Cat and Tess, and even Gabe, work on a case that isn’t intrinsically-Vincent.
How long do you think this amnesia storyline will last before Vincent starts to have some recollection of his past? Will Cat be able to protect herself from her own memories before it gets her really hurt? Let us know what you thought of this episode of Beauty and the Beast in the comment section below!
Until next episode.
