Beauty and the Beast (1987) S1 E6

## Plot

Lots of men are working to unload shipping containers from freighters at the docks. A man pulls up in a nice car, and calls a worker, Matt, over. He says another worker, Charlie Flynn, is still making noise, and the man tells him that enough is enough, and leaves. Matt gives a signal to the guy operating the crane, who moves a shipping container. Then he calls Charlie over to it. Another worker shoves him into the path of the falling shipping container, and he's killed. Another worker witnessed it. Vincent shows up in an elderly man's apartment. His name is Sam, and he's ill. Vincent gives him some medicine, which he got from another Helper, like Sam has been. Helpers are people who know about the World Below and help them get things like food and medicine and such. Vincent says Kipper will come the next day with food. Sam says Vincent shouldn't come back for awhile, because Mitch is back. Sam hasn't seen him yet, but he's going to come sooner or later, and Sam doesn't want him causing Vincent or anyone else who lives below any trouble. He tells Vincent not to put his faith in people, because they always let you down. Vincent points out that he never let them down when they needed anything. Catherine is reading about murder cases from the docks. They're run by the mob, and the union is trying to fight them. Joe assigns Catherine to the case, but tells her that it's dangerous. She meets Frank, a union rep who's been keeping the mob away from the docks for years. Now that the enforcer, Denton, is out of prison though, things are a lot harder. Anyone willing to testify against him is killed, and the D.A.'s office was only able to get him for extortion last time, not murder. Frank and Catherine will be working on the case together. They talk to some of the men who witnessed the incident. They don't want to talk though. The worker who witnessed it, Sweeney, was a friend of Charlie's. They're paying Denton just to keep working. Frank beats up a man who was threatening one of the workers. He tells Catherine that they have to keep pushing from all sides, and be patient. That night, Catherine tells Vincent about it. She's glad that she has a chance to make a difference, but is scared of failing, and of the danger. Vincent tells her that she won't fail. Two men break into Sam's apartment. He calls for help and tries to fend them off with his crutches, but they pull a knife on him. They're trying to rob him, but he says he doesn't have any money. Before they can cut him, another man comes in, beats them up, and throws them out. It's revealed that this is Mitch, and Sam is his dad. He knows he caused him a lot of grief, but he doesn't want his dad to hate him. Sam doesn't hate him, but he refuses to let his son move him into a nicer place with a nurse. Mitch knows about Vincent, and thinks Sam sees him as a better son. He says that Vincent wasn't so nice to him, when he spent five years in prison because he wouldn't let him hide out in the tunnels until the heat was off him. He leaves, and heads to the basement of the apartment building, where there's a tunnel entrance. A kid spots him and taps out a warning. Another kid tells Vincent and Father. Mitch and Vincent come face to face. They were friends when they were kids. It's revealed that Mitch is the mob enforcer, and lived in the tunnels for eight years. After he ran away, he managed to get work on the docks, by killing the guys who were in the way. Vincent says he used to be better than this, and still can be, but Mitch refuses. Vincent will show him the way out, but warns him to never come back. To make sure, they start sealing up the entrance below Sam's building, and secure all the other entrances in that area. Father accepted Mitch when Sam became too ill to take care of him. Edie hasn't been able to find anything on Mitch to help Catherine get him off the street so the workers will be willing to talk. She meets Frank at a bar. He's always working. He doesn't have a family. It wouldn't be fair to them, and the danger makes you think twice about it. Jack Sweeney is meeting them there. He still refuses to tell them anything, saying that he has to think about his family. Frank offers to give Catherine a lift, but she says she has her own car. It's a good thing too, because when Frank starts his car, it blows up, killing him. Vincent visits Catherine, and tells her to go no further with the case. She refuses, because it would compromise everything, including the way he thinks of her. She says she'll be careful. She visits Jack at his house. His wife and kids encourage him to stand up to Mitch, and he agrees to testify. Someone watches Catherine leave though. She helps the family pack up their things to move to a house in the country. They're going into witness protection. Before Mitch and his men can hurt them, or worse, the police arrive. Catherine heads back to her apartment, but Mitch and his men ask her where they can find Sweeney. Vincent feels that she's in danger. She hits Mitch, but instead of continuing to run, which is what I would do, she pulls out her gun. She's able to shoot one of the men, but when she tries to make a run for it, Mitch shoots her in the leg, which Vincent sees. Mitch leaves when he sees Vincent, who lets out a yell. He brings Catherine to a hospital, and begs her not to die. Mitch and his men are hiding somewhere, and Mitch is freaked out about pissing off Vincent. He shows up, and takes out the first guy quietly. He also takes out the second guy, which Mitch hears, as well as him taking out the third guy. Then again, it's all offscreen, so we don't know if he killed anyone or not. The third guy was severely injured, but could walk away afterwards, clearly traumatized. And then there was one. Mitch starts sobbing and begging for mercy. Before Vincent can kill him, Catherine wakes up, which he feels, and he lets Mitch live. He visits Catherine in her hospital room. She had a dream about him. They were walking down Fifth Avenue in broad daylight, and nobody looked twice.