Beauty and the Beast (1987) S1 E14

## Plot

Finally! Oh, I've been looking forward to this episode for so long! It's one of my favorites in the first season, because it actually introduces a recurring villain, played by the late great Tony Jay. I loved him as Judge Claude Frollo and as Megabyte, like how I loved Ron Perlman as Hellboy, Slade, and Bular. And their roles here, obviously. So, because it's the 1980s, we have a weird portrayal of imaginary drugs in our first scene, because of that stupid war on drugs. FYI, I voted to make recreational marijuana legal in my state. I can't believe this show is over three decades old. Anyway, a woman pours some glitter all over herself, which is the drug. It's a hallucinogen. It winds up being the death of her when she walks into traffic. Right before she's hit, we cut to Catherine being wired. She, Joe, and the police department are trying to find out who the supplier of the drugs is. Catherine is going to pose as a potential buyer, and she'll have to let the cops in afterwards. Joe is worried about her, since going undercover is a big deal, but she points out that she volunteered. She meets the man who has the drugs, having just received some from the supplier, played by Tony Jay. Catherine claims that her name is Cynthia Hatch, and says that Eric sent her. He gives her a bag of the drug, but when he grabs her wrist and asks her why she's in such a rush, she attacks everyone there. Cool! It's like a non-superpowered 1980s version of a *Cloak & Dagger* fight scene. She opens the door, and the police shoot some people and arrest the distributor, Tyler Buckman. The next day, Joe, Catherine, and some cops, including a captain, go over it. They're working together to try and nab the supplier. Catherine interrogated Buckman, who gave her a rough sketch of what the supplier looks like. They can't show the public, since it might scare him into hiding. He didn't give his name, number, or any contacts. Buckman was always reached by messenger the night before they met. He always insisted on being paid with gold coins. This seems strange, but remember, paper money and coins only have value because society says it does, and that value fluctuates. If that value goes down, then the value of metals like gold and copper go up. One of the detectives, Jimmy Morero, is told to leave if what they're discussing doesn't hold his interest after he snarks about it. Catherine talks to him. He says they screwed up last night. They could've gotten Buckman anytime within the past two months, but they failed to catch their real target. He's frustrated, and she says he's not the only one. He admits that she's alright. She sees a photo on his desk of his fiancée, Carmen. She learns from an analyst that the drug was as unadulterated and pure as they've seen. The source could be some kind of fungi. It glows in the dark because it's bacterial, specifically, the kind that occurs in caves or ocean depths where there's little to no light. Or in secret tunnels under the city. Catherine tells Vincent about it. The drug has killed 49 people so far. Three times that many have been institutionalized. Catherine gives Vincent a sample of the plant, and he says that since they first met, he's felt a need in her to confront her fears, like she did the night before during the raid. He doesn't want her to take unnecessary risks due to what happened to her. She tells him that people need her help. She's doing this so that others will be spared having to go through similar ordeals. Vincent shows the plant to Father, and tells him about the supplier only accepting gold. Father suspects that it's a man they banished from the World Below before Vincent was born. His name was John Pater, but he called himself Paracelsus, after the alchemist. He helped create their world. Father speculates that in his quest for knowledge, he began to desire power. They eventually exiled him through force. It was their first real test as a democracy. At midnight, Catherine and Jimmy are still talking about the case. She suggests getting burgers, but he says he has to meet a friend. It's actually a new lead about a deal to try and catch the supplier. She tries to tell him to go in with backup, but he says it took him two and a half months to get inside the club, but when it came to the bust, the captain wouldn't listen to him. She asks to go with him, but he says she's not a cop. Father heads into a part of the tunnels that's green, and comes face to face with Paracelsus. He reveals that they've been keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't try to return. John came up with the idea of communicating on the pipes. He claims that they're no different, but Father says he is. John says they could've been gods. Jacob tells him that his activities threaten to draw attention to them, but John says he's too clever for the police. He says that the only way he'll stop is if Jacob kills him. When he leaves, he's cornered by Jimmy. He pretends to be an old, senile, homeless man, and when Jimmy asks what's in his bag, he reveals knives hidden in his sleeves, and stabs him, killing him instantly. Catherine meets Joe and the captain at the crime scene. She's devastated to learn about his death, and tells Vincent about him, including how hopeful and idealistic he was, and that he was engaged. She wishes she had a chance to get to know him better. Vincent tells her that the supplier does live in the tunnels, but if they turn him in, he'll tell everyone about them. He's already been punished to the fullest extent that their laws will allow. They have no authority over him, but Catherine says he's still their responsibility. By waiting, they put other lives in danger. Vincent tells her to live according to her conscience, while they live according to the laws that have allowed them to survive. Later on, he suggests to Father, Mary, and Winslow that he can stop Paracelsus from leaving the tunnels with the drugs, which will give them time to decide on a more permanent solution. Catherine's team almost decides to sweep the abandoned building, but luckily, the captain agrees with her that it's not worth it, though he does allow two men to keep an eye on it. Paracelsus knows that Vincent is following him, and traps him in a room with a collapsible wall. He's able to open it, but by the time he does, Paracelsus is gone, and he threw some of the glitter into the air, which has a strange effect on Vincent. He turns feral, runs through a brick wall, gets back to the tunnels, and hallucinates some *weird* stuff. Father finds him, and he kind of recognizes him for a second, but still attacks him. He leaves when Mary, Winslow, and some sentries show up, wielding torches. Father tells Catherine, who says that the effects of the drug only last three to four hours. However, Vincent isn't exactly human. He's holed up in an old section of the catacombs below them. It wouldn't be safe for Catherine to see him in his current state, but if he heard her voice, then the connection they share might be strong enough to get through to him. He's been silent for over an hour. Despite Father's objections, Catherine goes to him anyways. She hugs him, which snaps him out of it. Later on, he says he's ashamed that she saw him in that state, but he was grateful that she was there. She saved his life. Mary and Winslow are ready to keep discussing a solution to Paracelsus. Vincent says that he's sorry, but the time for that has passed, and tells Father that he can't understand how he's feeling. He says it's his responsibility to decide the harsh measures that Paracelsus will face. Catherine says he's still weak, but he says that fifty people are already dead. Basically, there's a time for talk, and a time for action. I'm getting *Power Rangers SPD* Kat Manx flashbacks now. Loved that show as a kid. In fact, I still do. Cruger and Kat were my favorite characters. Does that make me a furry? Vincent finds where Paracelsus grows the plants, and discovers that he knows his name. He says he'll leave, but wants Vincent to hear him out first. He asks him if he's content to accept Father's story, that he was found as a baby outside St. Vincent's Hospital, and asks him if he really believed that all these years. Describing scenes like these in this show is almost impossible for me. They're just so tense and dramatic! Just like Vincent questions what's true, so do we. They're just amazing scenes between phenomenal actors that completely immerse you. Paracelsus claims that he knows the truth, and asks Vincent if he's curious to know why he is the way he is. However, it's just a distraction to try and attack him. He drops the lantern he brought, which starts a fire. Paracelsus runs into it to try and save his gold. Later on, Vincent tells Catherine that he understands why she exposes herself to danger. Some risks are worth taking. There are some things worth risking everything for.