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tv_talk2013-09-13 12:36 pm
raktajinos) wrote in tv_talk2013-09-13 12:36 pm
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Beauty and the Beast: A Primer
10 Reasons You Should Watch
OR
Don't Judge This Show Too Soon 'Cause I Did and Almost Regretted It
In honour of full disclosure, I should admit that I was NOT excited for this show before it aired. I can't stand the Beauty and the Beast narrative (its rapey, abusive, and just all sorts of fraked up), Kristen Kruek annoyed me really badly on Smallville, and the CW has burned me more than I care to admit with the early cancelling of their shows. So all of that together, its a wonder I tuned in at all. However I did (I think it was a mix of me wanting to see if it would be as bad as I thought it would be and my compulsive need to know all the tv things lol).
And I'm SO glad I did. It's a genuinely wonderful show and I'm OBSESSED with it. And I'm going to give you 10 reasons why you should check it out too.
You'd Like This Show If You Like: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fringe, Teen Wolf, Arrow
What Its About: BATB is about Catherine, a homicide detective with the NYPD and her badass partner Tess. They come across a case where the apparently perpetrator is a long dead soldier killed in Iraq. Catherine is fanatical about tracking down evidence and as a result of her gumshoeness she discovers Vincent, who is not at all dead, but hiding out away from the very government that he served. Vincent is a Doctor who signed up to go fight because his brother died in 9/11 and this spurs Vincent to volunteer for an experimental procedure that would turn him into a super soldier. The experiment works and there is an entire squad of super soldiers - but then the organization decides to kill them all and pretend it didn't happen. But Vincent survives and is now living life on the run because he's this man-beast. He looks like a hot normal guy most of the time, but it borrows from The Hulk for how his 'beast' side comes out. The series then follows Cat and Vincent's journey as a couple as they try and take down the multiple organizations hunting them and trying to give themselves a shot at a normal life in the future.
Characters:
Catherine 'Cat' Chandler  | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Vincent Keller Tess Vargas |  JT Forbes |  Joe Bishop |  Gabriel 'Gabe' Lowen |  Vanessa Chandler |  Heather Chandler |  Evan Marks |  |
The show is about the epic romance between Cat and Vincent, but what surprised me most of all about this show was how integral the relationships between the women are to the overall narrative. Cat is the central figure, and its her relationships with Tess, her sister Heather, and her late mother that form the foundation of the show. And I cant tell you how stressed I got when Tess and Cat were not-besties for a few episodes there (don't worry they fix it).
The female characters are realistic; they get pulled into extraordinary circumstances, but you still see them as people you'd be friends with; they aren't larger than life or superheroes. They are complex, they have flaws, they fight, they cry, they laugh, they have fun, the fail, they succeed. They are just normal people. And Kristen Kruek does a fantastic job; I may have been critical before, but now I'm totally in the fanclub for her. The show is rests on her shoulders.
Also, BATB is primarily written by women, which is fantastic, and the two Executive Producers are also women which just adds to the amazeballs.
This show is really heavy in mythology - but not sagging with the weight of it. You get the idea that the writers know exactly where they are going and the story they want to tell. Its not LOST. lol. Plus, its season-long stories and archs; you don't get answers every episode, but maybe the next one. There's so many questions about what exactly is Vincent? Who made him? what does Cat's mother have to do with it? (oh yes, its a family business), who the frak is Cat's dad and is he a KGB spy? Is there a cure? What happens with little beast-babies? What is going to happen to [spoiler]? Who is this other organization hunting them? Who is the mole? Etc etc. There's a lot of other questions, but I don't want to spoil anything.
I like tv that isn't whitewashed and BATB is not that. Of the eight regular cast members, six of them are visible people of colour. Holla. So not only do we have a narrative that gives complexity to female characters, but also to characters of colour; and diversity within that diversity. They are not stereotyped or given offensive plot lines, they are just wonderfully complex characters. And actually there's some really interesting race narratives that happen, especially for Gabe (played by the perfect Sendhil Ramamurthy) but I won't give any spoilers. Its not heavy handed either, there's no 'and now we shall talk about race' like its an afternoon special (or *cough*Glee*cough*)
The romance between Cat and Vincent is....epic. You will fall so hard in love with these two you will physically hurt (and thats the best kind of fandom feels amirite). Its not a will-they-wont-they story, you know right from the get go that these two are falling in love with each other and are going to go there. And its so wonderful to watch, to watch them fall in love through conversation and life-and-death situations. Its so goddam romantic you won't know what to do with yourself (but not cheesy). Kruek and Jay Ryan (who play the characters) have ridiculous chemistry on screen as well. And they commit to one another; commitment is hot stuff and watching these two decide to be together and be in 100% is wonderful. The other good part is that its not a triangle, there's no 3rd wheel or love interests being thrown at them every which way. There are moments, early on before they've decided to commit to each other that they look in other directions, but thats normal.
Because its based on a fairytale, BATB does twist the conventions of that narrative really well (and seeing as I hate the original, thats a good thing) rotating the roles of beauty, beast, huntsman, etc around through all the characters. Additionally, through this twisting there emerges some interesting conversations about identity and power. Like the race issue above, the gendered element is discussed as well - most prominently domestic violence. The original beauty and the beast fairytale is seen by many as an unsympathetic look at gendered/domestic violence (it pretty much teaches that if you love a man hard enough he'll stop hitting you). It is this that shows up in this show mixed in with a heavy dose of The Hulk as well. In BATB Vincent is consumed with anxiety that he'll hurt Cat, that he'll loose control and hurt her whether he wants to or not. He's especially concerned about this as their relationship progresses physically and the line between passion and violence is explored here. Its just really super interesting.
BATB is not set in high school. Thank goodness. Its about adults making adult decisions and OMFG is that refreshing. Its not even one of those 'adults-but-act-like-its-high-school' type shows. The CW is really into shows that are about delayed maturity, about people staying rooted in a hypersexualized adolescence (like Emily Owens MD) but BATB is not that. Which is really nice. I'm in my mid-late 20s and I enjoy watching a show about people in their mid-late 20s doing things that are appropriate for that age demo.
You will want to icon the crap out of every episode, I promise. You've got a GORGEOUS cast and then the direction/cinematography of the show is great too - lots of wonderful colours and shots to work with.
Unless of course you know someone who is a genetically enhanced mutant, than its totally realistic for you. There's no magic or curses or werewolves, Vincent's beastness exists in a completely plausible and scientifically-rational sounding world. Our world. There are laws (to physics and to federal statutes) and the show never steps beyond the realms of believability. With the way science and military organizations are going today, believing what happens to Cat + Vincent is not a stretch of the imagination. And like I mentioned above, the relationships between the characters is realistic. Sometimes you made dumb choices, or do things you shouldn't.
Sort of a tie-all for some of the things I've mentioned. I love a good plotty conspiracy story (mmm Bourne movies) with stuff blowing up and triple crossings of characters. But what makes that even better is when you have characters you love (and hate) to go along with it. For a movie this is less important, but for a tv show its integral. And while the conspiracy stuff on BATB is awesome, I get just as much thrill from scenes showing Cat, Heather and Tess going out for girls night at kareoke (yes this actually happens) or the small moments between Vincent and JT (his BFF whom I have totally not talked about this whole post but I promise is delightful) and how much they love each other.
Secretly, we're all addicts aren't we. Addicted to THE FEELS. Thats why we watch good tv (and also for potential paper topics, but I digress). I can promise you that you will have an over abundance of feels of all sorts of varieties if you watch this show. You'll flap your hands while you watch and you will totally cry a bit when Vincent confesses his love to Cat in a graveyard and you'll pump your fist when Cat beats the shit out of some scumbag and you'll hoot like a horny teenager when there's a workout scene. FEELS.
The writers are awesome. Not only do they deliver a great show each week but they are super involved with their fans. They are always on twitter and interact with people; answering questions, teasing spoilers, and just being charming.
Where to Watch
I'm Canadian so I don't know where US people would be able to watch it, but I'm assuming Hulu and probably Netflix. CW online probably has it as well. Or the less-than-legal sources like Project Free TV. The season one dvd/bluray comes out in a few weeks as well.
Notes
- I should also add that BATB is based on the 90s series with Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman but I've never seen that series (like seriously, he wore a catsuit...a suit made ofcats lol) but I do so adore Linda Hamilton.
- I'm also really sorry if I got too academicy in parts. Its how I think, I tried to *not* make it a paper hahahah, but alas, it still seeps in.
- I should also add that if you've decided to give it a chance (yay!), some people have said that the first 5 or so episodes of the series are a bit difficult to get through. Personally, I was into the show by the end of the pilot, but it did get significantly better the further into the season you go. Like most shows, it started off as a procedural crime show (why do networks insist on doing this!?) as Cat and Tess work to solve murders and Vincent helps. This structure is quickly abandoned (probably as soon as the network allowed them), but I urge you to watch through those as well.
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I like to support shows/networks/etc by watching stuff legally, but every network seems to have this problem of only putting a few episodes online. Which is great if your pvr didn't tape last night's episode correctly, but for everything else its kinda useless. Though now I'm glad they're putting them up within 12 hours of airing - it used to be a week later. Im sure there are legal reasons, but if the point of putting their stuff online for people to stream is to help bring in the coveted "demo", I don't see why they make it so easy for the "demo" to resort to other means. We're just going to get it elsewhere.
But you've got a few weeks before it comes back to catch up! Yay! I can't wait. October.
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its rapey, abusive, and just all sorts of fraked up <--yeah, this. But I am intrigued by the prospect that it's created largely by women. Interesting!
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its rapey, abusive, and just all sorts of fraked up
which is totally fine for a narrative if its aware thats what it is and is having a discussion about it. But the beauty and the beast story just tells it as this epic romance and I'm all "err.....no!" Its creepy as frak.
But this version is totally NOT rapey at all. Enthusiastic consent all around and no one gets kidnapped and abused into romance. Everyone is an eager participant in the romancing lol. And Vincent even consented to the experiments (though there are other characters who did not consent). But I don't find BATB upsetting or triggering in this regard at all. Its handled very well.
And with the original fairytale, if it was again something different - like say an exploration of a woman's bestiality kink (which it totally is - like Prince Beast and Beauty need to have a little chat after he's all human-pretty again lol). But its not that either; just returns to the comfortable heteronormative story. Blarg.
But I am intrigued by the prospect that it's created largely by women. Interesting!
thats what I loved too! I think it makes it different in subtle ways. The women talk like women do for one thing.
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Thank you for this post - it is an excellent pimping intro.