Beauty and The Beast: S01E14 - Tough Love.

Yes, a whole episode without Alex!

So this week Heather convinces Cat to try some normality with Vincent and Cat goes ahead and tries it. Yes, after everything so far, I don't know either. Of course shit goes wrong but it is all okay in the end, sort of. Beauty and The Beast doesn't really have plotting or story, is what I am trying to say. The whole show is just about a bunch of people who never learn anything and constantly use their stupidity to make their lives worse.

Honestly as a big romance fan, I actually really enjoyed Tough Love overall though, despite me spending a majority of the forty minutes throwing my hands in the air and asking what the fuck. At least this proves I was right in them cutting Alex out like the cancer she was. I mean even minus the fact that Cat and Vincent finally express their love and kiss (which had me fist pumping wildly), they get loads of great scenes and bits of dialogue together throughout.

Sadly, just because you enjoy something, doesn't necessarily mean it is actually any good and as a self employed critic, I want to be as balanced as physically possible. It's becoming very apparent that one of the biggest problems with this show is plotting. Pretty specifically, the show doesn't know how to pace any conflict. I mean I can understand the show getting worried about getting boring, but their conflict is always so forced and out of place. We're fourteen episodes in and so far the main villains have achieved...nothing but despite this we're focusing on Joe's brother crashing the dinner party or other shit and I know this is set up for the end of the episode but the pay off is like twenty minutes after this scene has finished, so I'm long since caring by the time the pay off happens.

Where is all that great action from the earlier episodes? Is it even possible to be nostalgic for a show this young? I liked it when it was all stylish action, cheesy romance and a bit of Twilight rip-off and I mean sure they've taken away those shitty cases of the week, which is great, but they haven't actually filled it with anything other than new ways to make sure this show never progresses or evolves in any sense and instead is stuck spiralling like a flushed turd that refuses to go down the U-Bend. And I'd say this is just because I am a guy and I want different things but I've seen straight, gay, male and female audiences all complaining about the same things.

Like I didn't find any of the stuff involving Heather intense, I just found it annoying. Why does she have to be so fucking nosey? If I had family members or friends, who would online search and build up my new partners entire past history, I'd cut them out of my life. There is a huge gap between protective and possessive. And this whole sub-plot was painfully unnecessary. I mean it isn't even like Tess and Heather are wrong, honestly with better construction and delivery this could have been really interesting but just in the context I just wanted to break things.

And you could also say it isn't Heather's fault, if Cat and Vincent were more careful or whatever, but it just seems like real plot contrivance that the woman who is housing probably the biggest secret in the world, has one of the most creepy, stalkerlike sisters in the world as well. I mean if they built this up over time, had Heather growing more and more suspicious and fearing for her sisters life I coulda swallowed it but this, this was just bullshit. I don't care about these sisters squabbling, I already have a little sister that I can squabble with.

Just a little fanboying aside, I can't work out if Evan is genuinely the best character in this show, or he just comes across as such because they only give him about five minutes screen time per episode. Then again in those five minutes, he seems to have more character progression and depth than anyone else in the entire show, so take from that what you will.

Overall though, this was the best episode of Beauty and The Beast in a long while. The final ten minutes of the episode were fantastic and the romance segments between Cat and Vincent through the first half an hour were strong enough to ignore all the shit floating around them. Sadly this show is still not going anywhere and although it's got a full season, I don't see this making it to a second season. I don't want that to be the case, I want those last ten minutes to be a taste of everything that Beauty and The Beast will be from now on but I have a habit of picking shows that like to fill me with hope, then laugh as they let me down again. Overall though, as said, this was probably the best episode since the break.

Pros;

• This episode really pleased my inner romance geek.
• No Alex!
• Well at least there wasn't a forced case of the week.
• Evan.
• Those final ten minutes. 
• Cat and Vincent finally kiss!

Cons;

• Why is Evan the only character who learns, adapts and progresses?
• Why doesn't he have more screen time?
• Why don't you use your shows actual villains for the conflict, rather than stuff you pull from your ass?
• Where did all that cool action go?
• Heather.

Think About It!

-Locke

What would you rate, 'Tough Love'?