(S01E06) "Vampires can't really be trusted with pets."--Mick St. John

I'll go ahead and admit it: I like it, in episodic dramas, when subtleties of the plot further a developing theme or subplot. Bear with me here: Moonlight isn't a soap opera, because the storyline isn't continued every week. There are definite cases with beginnings and endings. However, we all know by now that at its heart, Moonlight masquerades or moonlights (ba-dum bum!) as the burgeoning love story between vampire Mick St. John and human Beth Turner. In the backdrop. we also learn more and more about vampirism and its culture. So, I appreciate when the investigation, in its fashion, furthers the love story every week, and this week did not disappoint me.

Once again, the case unites Beth and Mick. Beth is covering a new fashion designer, and making fun of the broomstick sizes of the mannequins models, and it was nice to see Kevin Wiseman get to make an appearance, albeit small one, as her leering cameraman. When the model, Renee, suddenly convulses and falls to the floor and dies of an apparent overdose, it's mystery time! I am surprised Beth doesn't don a special suit when that happens.

There were some funny moments in this episode, like when Josef starts banging on Mick's freezer door to get him up. And then Mick just hung out in the freezer talking to him-- presumably naked because Josef tossed him a towel-- which was some nice eye candy. I love how Josef dresses, in his magenta suits. He needs Mick to find The Oldest Vampire, who has ditched him. Josef had a bit more to do in this episode, but it would be nice, once again, to see more of him. One complaint: Why does Josef seem more like a whiny teenager than a powerful 400-year-old vampire? It would be nice to see some of this so-called reputation we only hear so much about. Because he seems like more of a... dork vampire.

The link between the convulsing model Renee and the vanished old vampire, Lola, is the drug that has killed Renee. She apparently got it at Club Valis (sounds like? Vampire). The police can't identify it. Mick discovers what it is when he finds the burned out corpse of a vampire in a warehouse where Lola has stored a ton of silver. Naturally, Mick and Josef are a bit alarmed by the fact that she has just bought enough vampire to paralyze every vampire in Los Angeles.

Did you catch the fact that the morgue attendant, Terrance, was tasting the blood of one of the corpses, whose blood he was draining? No wonder they must love that job. But does the blood of a dead human really do as much for them as the blood of a live human? I can't imagine that it would. In fact, I know that I have read in other vampire lore that the blood of dead humans makes vampires sick, but this is a different show, so I'll just wonder about it. Regardless, it was a funny moment, and a nice touch.

There were more funny moments: In the nightclub Club Valis, where Beth has vamped her way in (the number of puns are just endless-- humor me), a guy comes up to her and says, "The drinks suck here." I love the play on words, especially if the club has been taken over by vampires.

Apparently, Beth's morgue attendant friend isn't a vampire. She has to bribe him by buying him an iPhone-- obnoxious product placement. I prefer it when we simply get closeups of their phones, but hey, the show has to stay on the air somehow, right? And it's not as bad as the Visa infomercials that call themselves episodes of The Dead Zone.

When Beth discovers that Renee's entry into Club Valis's VIP room is through a microchip under her skin, she asks Mick (who is at the morgue at the same time, of course) if he knows a good vet, which led to the quote I opened with. I thought that was funny too. The repartee between Beth and Mick started as your garden variety polite, embarrassed chit chat, which they are perfecting, and then became conspiratorial, and Mick offers to implant the chip into Beth's wrist. Did anybody else notice that Beth's earrings looked like drops of blood in that scene? These are some nice little touches, some real attention to detail.To distract her, he tells her he figures that their kiss was just an accident. So, the flirtation continues. Some commenters last week thought it was too soon for Beth and Mick to kiss; however, in a society in which people tumble into bed with each other with the slightest provocation, I think the kiss can be allowed.

There was some other nice humor in the episode too:

"Yes, well, perpetual coolness is the vampire's curse."-- Mick. I love the double entendre here too, because vampires, obviously, have no body heat.

"Just being human is so lame!"--Beth Turner
"I know, but you wear it well."--Mick St. John. These were toss away lines, but they underscore the main subplot of the episode (which I will talk about in a minute) and also the main tension that is developing between Mick and Beth. Beth is becoming more and more attracted to the vampire life, coinciding with her growing attraction to Mick. Mick is firmly rooted in the human world, and equally, adamantly, opposed to any talk of Beth becoming a vampire. He gave up a lot years ago to protect her from that fate, and he isn't about to let that go to waste now.

"I knew I should have closed the window."-- Lola. She addressed this to Mick, which showed us (hurray!) rather than telling us that she identified Mick as a vampire immediately.

The drug, the reason the vampires are being killed, and the reason for the overdosing, is vampire blood, otherwise known as Black Crystal (or, B.C.). This is not a new storyline by the way. My fellow TV Squader Brett Linder pointed out to me that this was also done on Blade, The Series. Deduct ten points for recycling ideas. Ahem. The drug provides humans with the seductive experience of what it's like to be a vampire, without them having to be turned. For Beth, who is insatiably curious anyway, the drug is irresistible. She tries two tastes of it, and it leads her to Mick's house an laughable attempt at a seduction. Mick
puts her in the shower while she begs him to turn her. Mick keeps his head turned from her, but it's like the anti-sex scene, because they are embracing, both in black, and both wet, and in another show it would be the sex scene. But Mick is trying to wash her and help the drug wear off-- also giving her a cold shower. It probably doesn't hurt him either.

Did you notice how Mick's forefinger twitched when Beth admitted that she remembered everything? I don't know if that was deliberate or not, but it's not the first time I've noticed that Mick does that sometimes in reaction to Beth. I would love to think it's a way that Mick can't help but show a reaction, subtle as it is. We get more of the tension between Beth's impressions that being a vampire is wonderful and Mick's regrets, but I think the toss away lines I discussed earlier were even more effective in some ways, because they were just said in passing. Sometimes what we say casually reveals more than what we think we intend to say.

I agree with commenters who have said that Josh and Beth need to just break up. We don't really know why their relationship is so important to them both, except for a reference to their one year anniversary and the fact that their relationship continues. We don't get voice overs from their points of view. This actually made me realize how much of a crutch the voice over continues, because the show doesn't have to show as much if it can tell us things. However, they are dealing with the time constraints of a one-hour show, so they have to move things along.

Beth keeps her black crystal. I wonder whether, or when, she will use it again. Could lead to some potent vampire sex, eh? If Mick ever decides just to go for it.