Beauty and the Beast (1987) S2 E1

## Plot

Catherine heads to the park, or rather, under it, to listen to Franz Schubert's Unfinished Symphony with Vincent. She tells him that everything makes her smile. This is a great spot. He's heard all the great music here. They're just under the first row. She's been going to concerts here her whole life. It's strange to think that one night, they could've been listening to the same music. Sometimes, the stillness after made him feel alone, and other times he found a wonderful peace in it. Suddenly, lightning strikes, and then it starts raining, which prematurely ends the concert, but Catherine is thrilled, and refuses Vincent's offer to wear his cloak. Seriously, if every man in the world was even just a fraction as amazing as him, there would probably be little to no misogyny, sexism, systemic racism, wars, crime, etc. Catherine laughs as she gets soaked, and hugs Vincent, saying it's wonderful. They plan to hear more music on Thursday night. While walking through an alley, Vincent finds a young 18 year old man who has been doing drugs, because 1980s. He runs away when he sees Vincent and is hit by a car, but he's not seriously hurt. Vincent recognizes him and calls him Rolley. He used to live in the World Below when he was 11, and played the piano. He was very talented. He just knew how to play classical music. No one taught him. He heard it on the radio. He can play by ear, meaning he doesn't need sheet music. A Helper named Eli found him playing a piano in the basement of his shop and brought him to the World Below, where he met Vincent, Father, and Mary. He had been sleeping in the basement for weeks. Eli thinks he could be a great musical genius one day, but his older brother fools around, and sometimes he comes along, and if he gets in trouble, that's it. A precious gift like his has to be protected. You mean *a child* has to be protected, right? Back in the present day, Vincent visits Eli and tells him about Rolley. His older brother was shot and killed while trying to rob a grocery store. Eli last saw Rolley a few years ago, asking for money. He knew he was using. He was like a ghost. Eli doesn't want to look for him. He's seen too many ghosts. He does tell Vincent where the drug addicts hang out though. Vincent just wants Rolley to know that there are still people who hold him in their hearts. In another flashback, a woman named Miss Kendrick listens to Rolley, and says it's sad, because he doesn't know what he's playing. He's just copying what he's heard. Vincent and Father ask her if she can help. He has to learn how to read and how to read music, so he can understand what he's playing, and put all his feelings into it. Father introduces her to Rolley. She lives in the World Below as well, and teaches music. She shows him the sheet music for Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. She thinks it's God's favorite music. He can play it by ear. He practiced all the time after that, and when Vincent told him that he didn't have to, he said he did, so he could get good and stay. Vincent told him that everyone there wanted him to stay. The music he plays is very good, but he's the one that they love. In the present, some guys show up and harass Rolley, but Vincent makes them run away by growling at them. Rolley runs away again and enters a men's shelter. Vincent tells Catherine what happened. He has to see him, but it sounds like Rolley doesn't want to. He doesn't wanted to be reminded of the gift he lost, but as long as he's still alive, there's hope to regain it. Catherine is only trying to discourage Vincent to spare him the disappointment. She enters the men's shelter to help look for Rolley though. She tells him that she has a message for him, from Vincent. In another flashback, Mouse shows up with a keyboard for Rolley. Miss Kendrick recognizes it as part of a grand piano. Mouse took it apart. The rest of it is scattered everywhere. He tells Father that he didn't steal it, he found it, but he doesn't believe him, since someone doesn't just find a concert grand piano. Mouse found and disassembled it under the concert platform in the park. Miss Kendrick was excited to hear Rolley play on it when Mouse was finished. In the present, Rolley refuses to leave the shelter and see Vincent, even after Catherine tells him how important it is to him, though she doesn't know why. She offers to pay him to get him to go outside. In another flashback, Miss Kendrick asks Rolley where he's been. He was up top. He has a bump on his head. His brother Anthony did that to him, because Rolley didn't tell him where he went. Miss Kendrick tells him that Anthony may be his big brother, but he's not looking out for him. Sooner or later, he's going to get him into trouble, and she doesn't want to see that. Anthony told Rolley that piano lessons were for girls. Miss Kendrick says he knows that's not true. She offers to let him take a day off and have fun with the other kids, but he wants to show her that he can read the music. Rolley sees Vincent… and runs away again. He climbs a ladder, and ends up stuck on the roof when Vincent goes after him. He says there's nothing to say, but Vincent tells him that he left their love and their faith in him behind. He says it's not his fault. Vincent asks him why he left. He doesn't think Miss Kendrick would've wanted him to come back after what he did. He tells Vincent what happened. It was the day Mouse finished building the concert grand piano. Miss Kendrick wanted Eli to be there to hear Rolley play the Moonlight Sonata, so he offered to go tell him. He went with a boy named Paco, but while they were walking, his brother Anthony showed up on a moped, and Rolley had never been on one before, so he got on. He hung out with Anthony and his friends and forgot about everything else. He drank alcohol. Miss Kendrick showed up. She was looking for him. Anthony talked to her, and the two got into a scuffle. She fell, hit her head on a fire hydrant, and died as a result. Rolley blames himself for it, convinced that he's going to carry the guilt of it until the day he dies. Vincent tells him that nothing he or anyone else can do can change what happened. He has to accept that, and forgive himself. He says he can't do it. Destroying himself with drugs isn't the way to atone. Then Miss Kendrick's life will remain incomplete, and her death would be meaningless. Vincent asks Rolley to honor her memory by fulfilling his promise, and come back to them. That concert grand piano is still waiting for him to play it. Rolley tearfully says that it's too late. He can't. Before he leaves, Vincent tells him that they'll always be there for him. He won't come back. Vincent feels like he'll never see him again. Catherine tells him that at least now Rolley knows that he and the others will wait for him, and that they love him. As long as they do, there's hope. Well, that's a pretty bleak way to start the season, huh?