I know this has been out since Thursday, but I review three TV shows on this blog, that all come out on Wednesday and Thursday, creating a midweek clusterfuck and considering I reviewed the pilot the day this second episode came out, I thought I'd give it a while, work on another horror round up, before reviewing this episode. I mean not that many people really care about this show, do they? I'm in no rush right? Although the pilot of this show got more hits than my Supernatural review this week, so what do I know? Anyway, let's get on with it!
Really it's difficult to truly sum up Proceed With Caution because it's more threads of plot, rather than anything that works as a whole. So much of Proceed with Caution is made up of red herrings, it gives the episode a real stop and start, jerky pacing. And because so little goes anywhere or actually turns out to be what you think it is, a remarkably large amount of nothing takes place in this episode.There is a central case, which only really ties into anything else with its themes and ultimately has nothing to do with anything else. There is some more exploration into Catherine's Mothers death and the whole conspiracy thing, but little of it goes anywhere or adds very much. And Vincent himself spends most of the episode in a strop like some kind of awful Edward Cullen parody. And that is kinda it... To say this episode didn't work would be an understatement, I had fears for how the concept and premise of this show would carry through a whole season and now my fears are only further cemented.
One of the funniest things is how much the episode struggled to keep Vincent in it. At first what I thought they'd do is use Vincent's super powers to help crack a case they couldn't normally but they barely even do that, he just kind of wanders into the episode, normally at random and awkward times, just to wander back out again. He doesn't really have a place in this show and it feels so odd when he actually comes into it, all super powered monster.I think the problem is, Beauty and the Beast is a show that wants to be more about characters, rather than actual plot, but it's trying to give it the illusion of plot to give it some sense of direction when wrapped up in a forty minute weekly episode. What this ends up meaning is the plot feels superficial and the episodes just feel like nothing is happening. It probably doesn't help either, that this show lacks basically any originality, every plotpoint and character detail has come from somewhere else. And they do try to keep the plot moving with this constant threat of the conspiracy, but it just never feels tight or woven, it just feels like the episode is stumbling from one scene to the next as if anything could happen, like it's been made up as it goes along.
In the shows favour though, the action scenes are still extremely kick-ass and sure it's clichéd but I love how Vincent comes in and saves the day each time. I know I'm a guy and this is kind of weird, but I just really like the concept of having a guardian monster to come save me when I'm in trouble. Either way, I could watch Kristin Kreuk kick peoples ass with well choreographed, shot and edited fight sequences all day. This show has better action than Arrow and Arrow is a bloody action show. One of the biggest problems I have with the show is there isn't enough romance. Ironically this show has better action than Arrow does but just as ironically I think Arrow does romance and character relationships much better. I don't think Kreuk and Ryan have a lot of chemistry anyway but they are barely given a chance too, I mean sure the last two minutes of the episode was pretty romantic but what about the rest of it? Isn't their relationship supposed to be the heart of the show? Not some crappy police case? It's going to get old fast if their relationship is always pushed to the background so the only scenes they get are 'stay away!' 'no you stay away!' 'I can't stay away!' 'But I'm dangerous' 'well I'm not running' blahblah, sure this is great in teenage fanfiction but if they do this every week in a TV show, my word is that going to grate.
The whole sassy girl power thing was an issue in the first episode, but not one that was big or got in the way enough for me to hamper my enjoyment of the pilot. Here though, the fact they are doing it again, seriously got on my nerves. I mean I'm not a woman, so I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure women don't talk that way. It's either talking about men or flirting with men. And having central female characters, just to turn them into 'strong independent woman!' stereotypes is as annoying as it is insulting - you don't need to point it out, having a central female character may have been novel a hundred years ago, but now it shouldn't be a big deal.The episode is once again plagued by some really bad acting, I've almost gotten used to how bad an actress Kristin Kreuk is, but that just made me notice how bad an actor Jay Ryan is, our leading man. Why does he constantly walk like he has shit himself?
But honestly, at the end of the day, I think you'll either like this show or you'll hate it and there'll be no in-between. You're either a sucker, like me, for a brooding monster who a girl becomes involved with and falls in love with...or you hate that genre with all your being. Regardless of the quality of the episode, characters, action or anything else the people who will keep coming back to this show, will just be the people wanting to see a chick get saved by a big, sexy monster. Which is why I find it so odd that Catherine can kick so much ass and the episode puts so little focus on the romance, I get that it doesn't want to just be labelled as Twilight the TV show but the chick and the monster is all we care about, I mean if the other stuff you had to offer was any good, maybe we'd care, but it isn't so just give us what we want, damnnit!Pros;
- The action is still really good.
- I like Vincent, more as an idea and a plot device than as a character but I'm just a sucker for that brooding monster archetype.
- This show is basically not reviewable, if you like this genre of show, you're going to come back no matter how bad it is. Let's be honest, because I am doing it too.
Cons;
- Terrible pacing.
- This show is made up of stolen and ripped-off ideas that never actually come together as a whole.
- Can't you at least integrate Vincent better into the show?
- Where the hell is the romance? No one bloody cares about the police cases, give Vincent and Catherine more screen time!
- Stop with the strong independent woman crap, it's seriously dumb and annoying.
- Why is the acting so bad?
- The thing that made Twilight so enjoyable for me was that basically it made sure to satisfy every need and desire of its intended audience, it was pure, unadulterated wish-fulfilment. This show seems to be actively going out of its way to avoid doing this, why?!
Think About It!
-Locke
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