Beauty and the Beast (1987) S1 E1

## Plot

As you can probably guess from the extremely long title of this premiere episode, the show takes place in New York City in the late 1980s. In reality, it was filmed in L.A., but the time period was the present day… which was the late 1980s. Catherine Chandler shows up at her father's law firm, where she also works as a corporate lawyer. She's just getting in, and it's the middle of the afternoon. Her dad, Charles Chandler, wants to have dinner with her, but she says she can't tonight. Their best client, Tom Gunther, is having a party for the architects of the new project, as another excuse to wine and dine the planning commission. She's getting in late because she had errands to run. Charles asks her if she finds her work stimulating. She says she's not a fine corporate lawyer, just the daughter of one. At the party, Cathy is listening to an old friend from college, Eve, who's going through a rough time. She's trying to be compassionate, but Tom says Eve is a lush, meaning an alcoholic in this case, and a loser, and wants her to stick with him for the rest of the night. She refuses, and decides to go home. While they're talking, you may notice a woman behind them in a pink dress, who is called over by another woman offscreen. Her name is Carol. Catherine tries to hail a taxi, but it doesn't stop. A man offers to get one for her, but he fails too. A van pulls up behind them, and he grabs her, calling her Carol. He and some other men shove her into the van and restrain her. She says her name isn't Carol. The man says she's going to remember what happens to girls with big mouths every time she looks in the mirror, and he takes out a knife. They drop her off in Central Park, where she's found by another man. He takes her somewhere, and she wakes up with bandages on her face. She asks where she is, and the man tells her she's not in a hospital, but she is someplace safe. He introduces himself as Vincent, and says he and his father treated her injuries. She can't move because her ribs are broken. She tells him that her name is Catherine. Vincent talks to his father, who is upset about him bringing a stranger to where they live. If anyone caught him up there or found him down here, they'd kill him, or put him behind bars and make him wish he was dead. He couldn't just leave her there. She has to take antibiotics to prevent infection. Father, and yes, that's what he's credited as, was saving them in case something happened to either of them. Vincent says this was an emergency, because if he hadn't brought her here, she would've died. The moment she's healthy enough to leave, she has to go. Father asks Vincent to tell her nothing, and remarks that he has the soul of a doctor. When he studied medicine, they wouldn't admit minorities, and wonders what they would've done with Vincent. Then he kisses him on the forehead. Aw! You hear that super macho testosterone making guys? It's totally okay to show love and affection to other guys. There's absolutely nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of, and it's actually really sweet. Also, this was all done in one shot. One thing I liked in this pilot that sadly didn't carry over to the rest of the show was the cinematography. The rest of the series, and even this episode later on, feel a lot more standard with the shots and angles that they use. While feeding Catherine soup, Vincent tells her that he has to keep where they are a secret, because a lot of people depend on this place for safety. She says she'll keep their secret, and remarks about a tapping noise that never stops. It's people, tapping on the master pipes to communicate. Vincent finally tells Catherine that they're below the city, in tunnels and chambers that most people don't even know exist. She asks him why he's here. He says he was abandoned as a baby and left to die. Someone found him and brought him here, to the man who became his father. He raised him, taught him everything he knows, and named him Vincent, after the hospital he was left at, St. Vincent's. It's their own city. They're a family of individuals living according to a higher moral standard. Again, this was all done in what looks like one shot, but this time the camera slowly goes around the room instead of focusing on an actor. This focus on objects in the room, like a statue of a woman with a sword in her right hand, a Roman pillar, a metal one, a lamp, a model of the Empire State building, etc., and the later wide, far away shots of the same room help with setting up and blocking later scenes in your head, like when Vincent and Catherine finally see what the other looks like and talk to each other. Speaking of which, Catherine feels Vincent's hand, and is startled when she feels fur. In the city, the story of her being missing has leaked to the papers. And of course the New York Post tabloid is the one they show. Her purse was found in the park, and she's been missing for a week. Her father is incredibly worried about her. An investigator named Lieutenant Herman promises that he'll do everything he can to find her. She's starting to feel better, and is walking around again. The bandages are still on her face though, so she keeps bumping into things. Vincent has been reading *Great Expectations* to her, and they're supposed to read the last chapter today. He leaves to tell a boy to go to Chinatown and get some tea for them. While he's gone, she takes off the bandages, and looks in a mirror. She sees that her face has stitches all over it, and she, and by extension, the audience, finally sees what Vincent really looks like. He's sort of like a lion, with long hair for a mane, claws, fangs, a flattened nose, and a cleft upper lip. He can roar too, like when Catherine throws the mirror at him. To say she's in shock would be an understatement. He doesn't know how this happened to him, and we never do get a definitive answer. He was born, and he survived. It's time for Catherine to go back. He tells her that it happened, and what she endured will make her stronger. She says she doesn't know how to do it, because she doesn't have his strength. He says she does though, and she lifts the hood off his face. They leave, and end up at a tunnel that leads to the basement of her apartment building. She assures him that his secret is safe with her. Later on, she's operated on in a hospital by a Dr. Sanderle, and has a nightmare, which turns into a good dream when she imagines Vincent. It's the halfway point of the episode, by the way. Eight months later, her face is fixed, and she applies for a job at the Manhattan District Attorney's office. She becomes the new Assistant District Attorney, or A.D.A., and is working under District Attorney John Moreno, whose Deputy District Attorney, Joe Maxwell, is her new boss. They know she disappeared for ten days. She takes self defense lessons from a man named Isaac Stubbs to learn how to defend herself. She goes to the computer division of the DA's office and meets Edie, who is a little assuming of her at first, but then she looks her up on the computer and learns that she was the victim of an aggravated assault. Vincent can feel what she feels, even after so long, due to empathic powers he has, which have been amplified by the love he feels for her. It's never explained what those are about either. Catherine wants to find out if the men who attacked her ever went after their intended victim, and asks Edie to look up other aggravated assaults that happened on the same day, April 12th, 1986. They put the name Carol in, and compare each photo to Cathy's face, since the men confused her for someone else. They find the woman, Carol Stabler, and Catherine talks to her. It looks like she was hurt worse than her, since her right eye is still wonky. Or she couldn't afford surgery like Catherine could. She just wants to be left alone, even after Catherine tells her that the men mixed them up, and shows her a scar by her left ear. She leaves her card with her in case she changes her mind. Tom offers to walk her up to her apartment, but she says she's fine. He kisses her, but she doesn't kiss him back. Wait, are they an item? The newspaper heading did call her his girlfriend, and Joe called her "Gunther's girl", but I thought that was just trashy gossip, or a rumor. I've already seen this episode many, many times. So why is it that I keep finding new things to notice? While in her apartment, she hears something on her balcony, and gets *a gun* from her drawer. Excuse me for a moment while I tell myself that this is from 1987, and that her reasoning for getting a gun, to protect herself, is fairly reasonable and understandable, especially given what happened to her, her new line of work, and that she's pretty, fairly young, and lives alone. I'll just be a second. Maybe a few minutes. Or hours. Anyways, she goes outside to her balcony, and finds the book *Great Expectations* there, along with Vincent. They hug, and have so much to tell each other. She finally puts the gun down. Thank goodness! For a star from *The Terminator* franchise who learned how to pick locks and somehow did a one handed shotgun pump, I don't think that was proper firearm discipline. Then again, that training was for the first sequel, which came out in 1991 and was probably filmed in 1990, after this series. Vincent tells Catherine that he feels the things she feels when she does. He came to make sure she was well, and because he wanted to see her one last time. There's no place in her world for someone like him. He could never forget her, but he has to forget the dream of being a part of her. He tells her to be happy, and find someone to be part of. She doesn't want him to leave, and they finally read one of the multiple endings of *Great Expectations*. Carol has decided to help Catherine, and agrees to testify. She was working for an escort service called Mayfair. Their clientele are mostly rich, out of town businessmen. It's run by Martin Belmont. He was using the service to shake down his customers, and sometimes had the girls carry tape recorders, or get it on film. Carol refused to go along with it, and he thought she was going to tell the cops, so he sent his men after her. Catherine makes the arrangements for arrest and search warrants to be drawn up for them. Two of them are silently given names: Ralph Manconi and Lyle VanCelder. This isn't important, I just wanted to mention it. The way this show does and doesn't give information to the audience is fascinating, like not revealing that Mitch and Denton are the same person until partway through episode 6. Anyway, Catherine has an affidavit from Carol as proof. She can't go back to her apartment, but Catherine has a friend who's renovating a brownstone. She has to stay there for her safety. She assures Catherine that she's doing this for herself. However, a man with a tattoo follows her. Catherine visits the brownstone later with food… and finds her body on the floor, along with some men, one of whom attacked her. She attacks them and tries to run, but two other men come up the stairs. Vincent senses that she's in trouble, heads there, and kills the men. After they both get over the shock, he and Catherine head into the tunnels. Based on what Lt. Herman says, it's not a pretty scene. It looks as though the bad guys were mauled by a lion. He finds the hole in the brick wall, and says that he's heard that strange things are going on in the city, and under it. He's going to find out what happened. We never see this lush again. I think that's my new favorite word. Catherine says she owes Vincent everything, but he says she owes him nothing. They're a part of each other. They hug and say goodbye… for now. Aw! What a beautiful start to a romantic relationship.

## Review

I like a lot of things about this show. It's emotional, intelligent, open to interpretation, it doesn't talk down to its audience, it's subtle, things are implied and not always outright said, etc. There are a lot of subtle continuity nods. It drops you off in the middle of things, like you're already supposed to be familiar with late 1980s New York City. I'm obviously not, but I am familiar with Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman, both of whom I love. I really like Roy Dotrice's character too. Rest in peace Father. Rest in peace. You know, George R.R. Martin was actually a writer and producer for this series, before he wrote his *A Song of Ice and Fire* books. I love the makeup for Vincent. It was devised by veteran Hollywood makeup artist Rick Baker, who fought to have Perlman cast in the role, which started a long lasting friendship. Aw! To me, the central theme of this show are all of the relationships. The romantic love between Catherine and Vincent. The worried parent and grown up child dynamic between Vincent and Father. The older brother relationship Vincent has with the younger members of the World Below, etc. That being said, this is a still a pilot episode, and you can tell, since later episodes say that the people above can't find out about the tunnels or the secret community below, especially the authorities. That being said, Lt. Herman disappears after this episode, after the setup makes it seem like he's going to be a major recurring character that could potentially expose Vincent and the World Below, sort of like Inspector Javert chasing after Jean Valjean in *Les Mis*, so it ultimately doesn't matter this time. Or like a reporter trying to figure out a superhero's secret identity, a la Lois Lane in *Superman II*.