'Dancing With The Stars' Season 14 Dream Casting
What To Watch On TV This Week
Moonlight: 12:04 A.M.
(S01E08) "Me casa, su casa. That's Spanish for, 'Keep her out of my stuff!'"-- Mick St. John
Despite the fact that the future of Moonlight is uncertain right now (just like every other show on television at the moment, except reality shows), I am amazed by the huge following the show has garnered so quickly! I continue to love how the show builds on itself, episode by episode. Each episode can not only stand alone, but also contributes to the threads that are weaving themselves through the show's mythology and overarching storyline: The love story of Mick and Beth.
This episode had two major things going for it (besides a really creepily good and scary bad guy, Donny Shepherd-- don't you love how his name was Shepherd, and his "family" of followers were presumably his "sheep?" He also had the long Jesus hair, and he rose from the dead...): 1) It paralleled the storyline of Mick and Beth's first encounter, when Beth was a child (leading, indirectly, to Beth's discovery about who rescued her, and the fact that he has been keeping track of her all of these years); 2) It foreshadowed and echoed the story of Coraline.
Shepherd wanted to be turned into a vampire to escape death and reap his revenge on everyone responsible for his execution. Coraline presumably wanted to become human for the same reason: To exact her revenge on Mick for leaving her to burn to ash.
There was someone there, a witness, to their evil all those years ago. Two helpless, female, children. Those children, now adults, suffer flashbacks to that pivotal night in their lives, and are now in peril because the revenge will include their deaths (if Shepherd and Coraline are successful with their plots). When I was thinking about these parallels, I was also wondering why they had put this episode ahead of the next one that is to include Coraline, and that is when I wondered if it was foreshadowing what will happen next.
Coraline still has a powerful hold on Mick, but protecting Beth has become his very reason for living. I think that is what he meant by, "Now you know why it can never work." He finally addressed their attraction directly, but he persists in thinking that he is as much a danger to her as a protector. The sun coming up and shining in his face, and his putting his hand up to ward it off showed their differences as much as anything. Beth has her back to the sun: It warms her, and won't harm her. At the same time, she put her hand up in his, both as a form of shielding him from the sun (which also represents the number of occasions in which she has had to rescue him), and also of showing that dark and light can co-exist. There was some really nice shadow play with the cinematography.
Beth also tells Mick, "Since I have met you, I have stopped using the word 'Never.'" This is important: we are getting clues all along the way through Beth's fascination with vampirism that she would be agreeable to being changed-- and being with Mick would just be one of the perks, it seems. I have heard a lot of criticism of the show, comparisons between it and other vampire shows, but I have to say, they pack a lot into some very short, key scenes, and I admire that. The show's creators are clearly thinking longterm, rather than just one episode at a time. Hopefully that won't be for naught.
The show is also getting more gritty, more goth. The music was definitely more grunge, more black, in this episode, which may have been a nod to Kurt Cobain, whom they compared to Donny Shepherd. I was also slightly amazed at how graphically they depicted not only the execution scene, but also the murder of producer Jerry Drake (who was clearly supposed to be Jerry Bruckheimer, in a nice send up), with Shepherd filling the glass Drake has dropped with his blood, and drinking it; and the final be-heading of Shepherd. Say what you will about Mick and his desire to be human and protect them: He is a badass! That was intense.
I love it when Mick vamps out. He always seems to sort of guiltily enjoy it. And then he has his very human moments, such as when he pats himself down and realizes that his cell phone is gone.
I was surprised not to see Josef in this episode. I can't believe Mick left Beth and Audrey unprotected by anything but his home's defenses. Especially when Beth mentioned that they would order food in. He told her to stay out of his stuff, but not to be careful about letting in a delivery person with the food (not that that turned out to be an issue anyway, but it could have been). Mick certainly seems to have a few vampire friends, and there was nobody he could call to protect them from a rogue, vampire, serial killer?
We are finally seeing, also, the inevitable disappearance of Beth's boyfriend Josh, who was conveniently out of town when the D.A. (wouldn't that be his boss?) was killed. Beth admitted that their relationship was "Iffy" and she was a little distracted. So, he won't be an impediment much longer: The major conflict and tension in their relationship will be the vampire/human dichotomy, as it should be. I love how they have taken steps backward, to Beth's chaste kiss on Mick's cheek-- especially because regardless the size of her gestures toward him, he is so incredibly moved by them. My favorite part of the episode was when Mick was embarrassed about having stalked her her entire life, ashamed, because he knew that his interest in her runs much deeper simply than her protection.
Mick told her not to go into the office, and she did. Next, I think it's safe to say, she will find secrets upstairs and through the gray door. Not because I find the show predictable (and if it is, then I choose not to care), but because that is where all of the clues are pointing us. Very through the looking glass indeed, for our blonde Alice.
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