This is one of the episodes that shows Moonlight at its best worst and at the same time at its frustratingly worst. The previous episode ended in an effective, if not entirely surprising cliffhanger, and this picks up from there with a promising start: Coraline barely survives and states at the hospital that the wound was caused by accident, not by Beth. Meanwhile, in New York, an old man sends a professional killer to burn Joseph to death. And instantly, in the following scene, we get a terrific assault on Joseph's poker night, ending in a spectacular explosion caused by incendiaries used by the killer. Cue title sequence...
No bodies are found. When Mick visits, it appears Joseph and his two vampire friends were turned to ash. Mick has a look at the surveillance footage with the chief of security, who has been caught on cameras. And them, of course, comes the first "at its worst" moment: The Enhance Button. For decades, this *impossible* trope has been used in what probably amounts to thousands of movies and TV episodes: The viewers use a "Zoom" button to change the *focus* of the footage to get a clean, crisp look at the incendiaries. It doesn't work that way! Zooming is *enlarging* a part of the picture, it does *not* allow you to see details that weren't in the original footage/picture. Why is this such a big deal? Because Mick recognizes them as military grade and therefore gets a clue to go on. No Enhance Button, no clues. His whole investigation hangs on a goof! Argh! Coraline wakes up, but, jealous of Beth, refuses to tell Mick how a vampire can become a human. Ah, don't you just love women? Mick mourns Joseph and Beth consoles him. Aww... Now she's a nice lady. And cuddly. Then they run into Joseph. WTF? This would be a *great* twist, but then comes the second "at its worst" moment: no explanation is offered to how Jospeh survived the *massive* fire blast but his two buddies at the same table did not. Thanks to Mick's clue on military gear, he concludes that the guy is from Special Ops. That makes sense. Then, lucky for them, Beth knows a female hacker who can hack into The Pentagon's database to find the man's file instantly! WTF? Are the writers completely insane? No frakkin' way can some handy hacker break into Pentagon's database(s). Plus, how did she find the file so quickly? That's a third strike for this episode.
Fortunately, then comes redemption: Coraline, near death, displays fangs and almost bites her nurse. Whaaaaaat??? Now *that* was an awesome twist, but it also carries the danger that Coraline's ambiguous state will be explained in a stupid way later. Please, let it be something clever... Meanwhile, Joseph's head of security tells the assassin that Joseph survived. The assassin kills him. *That* makes sense, because Mick would have realized the head of security was bribed. A fight ensues between the assassin and Mick, who saves Joseph's (un)life. The assassin gives up his employer's name. Joseph claims he's never heard of him, but no one is stupid enough to believe him. However, the police are stupid enough to let the assassin escape. LA's finest...
Mick and Beth head to New York after Joseph, after Josh gets a confirmation from Beth that she has feelings for Mick. Somehow, the assassin gets to New York first. He killed two cops! He can't possibly use a commercial flight. Does he have a private plane? Agh! He interrogates the old man to know what he's exactly up against. Uh-oh... For some reason, Joseph just sits on his ass at his New York place instead of going after the old man, while Mick and Beth arrive to talk to the old man. Then comes a *brilliant* reveal, which also offers a new part into the Moonlight mythology of the vampires.
The rest of the episode is pretty okay, with a nice climax, unless you overlook the way Beth is now totally unaffected by the way Mick kills a human. Well, she's in love so it must be okay... Also, Joseph's character is developed further, which is a good thing. And we get a nice cliffhanger ending, which offers possibilities. Now if they only just wouldn't squander them... My vote is 6/10. Without the "at its worst" moments this could have been 8/10...
No bodies are found. When Mick visits, it appears Joseph and his two vampire friends were turned to ash. Mick has a look at the surveillance footage with the chief of security, who has been caught on cameras. And them, of course, comes the first "at its worst" moment: The Enhance Button. For decades, this *impossible* trope has been used in what probably amounts to thousands of movies and TV episodes: The viewers use a "Zoom" button to change the *focus* of the footage to get a clean, crisp look at the incendiaries. It doesn't work that way! Zooming is *enlarging* a part of the picture, it does *not* allow you to see details that weren't in the original footage/picture. Why is this such a big deal? Because Mick recognizes them as military grade and therefore gets a clue to go on. No Enhance Button, no clues. His whole investigation hangs on a goof! Argh! Coraline wakes up, but, jealous of Beth, refuses to tell Mick how a vampire can become a human. Ah, don't you just love women? Mick mourns Joseph and Beth consoles him. Aww... Now she's a nice lady. And cuddly. Then they run into Joseph. WTF? This would be a *great* twist, but then comes the second "at its worst" moment: no explanation is offered to how Jospeh survived the *massive* fire blast but his two buddies at the same table did not. Thanks to Mick's clue on military gear, he concludes that the guy is from Special Ops. That makes sense. Then, lucky for them, Beth knows a female hacker who can hack into The Pentagon's database to find the man's file instantly! WTF? Are the writers completely insane? No frakkin' way can some handy hacker break into Pentagon's database(s). Plus, how did she find the file so quickly? That's a third strike for this episode.
Fortunately, then comes redemption: Coraline, near death, displays fangs and almost bites her nurse. Whaaaaaat??? Now *that* was an awesome twist, but it also carries the danger that Coraline's ambiguous state will be explained in a stupid way later. Please, let it be something clever... Meanwhile, Joseph's head of security tells the assassin that Joseph survived. The assassin kills him. *That* makes sense, because Mick would have realized the head of security was bribed. A fight ensues between the assassin and Mick, who saves Joseph's (un)life. The assassin gives up his employer's name. Joseph claims he's never heard of him, but no one is stupid enough to believe him. However, the police are stupid enough to let the assassin escape. LA's finest...
Mick and Beth head to New York after Joseph, after Josh gets a confirmation from Beth that she has feelings for Mick. Somehow, the assassin gets to New York first. He killed two cops! He can't possibly use a commercial flight. Does he have a private plane? Agh! He interrogates the old man to know what he's exactly up against. Uh-oh... For some reason, Joseph just sits on his ass at his New York place instead of going after the old man, while Mick and Beth arrive to talk to the old man. Then comes a *brilliant* reveal, which also offers a new part into the Moonlight mythology of the vampires.
The rest of the episode is pretty okay, with a nice climax, unless you overlook the way Beth is now totally unaffected by the way Mick kills a human. Well, she's in love so it must be okay... Also, Joseph's character is developed further, which is a good thing. And we get a nice cliffhanger ending, which offers possibilities. Now if they only just wouldn't squander them... My vote is 6/10. Without the "at its worst" moments this could have been 8/10...
