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Moonlight 1.13: "Fated to Pretend" |
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Monday, 28 April 2008 |
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| Since the moment it hit the air, “Moonlight” has been the little show that wouldn’t die. Through endless showrunner shuffles and a thankless airing schedule (on Friday nights, no less), “Moonlight” has managed to grab a mid-sized core audience with its paranormal romance mystique. And it continues to have its back against the wall: the current batch of episodes had no showrunner, and the once-likely second season is a tenuous prospect.
So with all of those issues on the table, this episode was very important. It had to take the concepts from the earlier episodes of the first season and continue the story well. More than that, it had to start making the case for the second season. And all of that had to happen without the overly-serious tone that often comes when a show is fighting for its life.
This very long hiatus left Mick temporarily human and his relationship with Beth in an unusual place. Beth has been incredibly resilient and flexible since the beginning of the series (almost supernaturally so, to be honest), and she’s more than willing to roll with this particular punch. This is actually a dream come true for both of them, and the stage seems set for inevitable romance.
Yet, just as inevitably, Mick hesitates. His reasons are sound, but it’s the most predictable aspect of the episode. That hesitation makes it absolutely clear that Mick’s mortality will not last to the final act, that Mick and Beth will not have their sweaty dreams realized, and that the series will stick to those paranormal romance novel roots. The only question is how the events spool out to result in the expected outcome.
The key moment, in my opinion, is Mick’s turning by Josef. I’ve often mentioned that Jason Dohring was a remarkably strong casting choice, and this episode does nothing but confirm that opinion. It will probably be a very popular scene among the slash crowd, but artistically speaking, it’s very well done. This is an important character moment, after all, because for the first time, Mick willingly accepts the burden of vampirism, and he does it for the sake of the woman he loves.
So “Moonlight” has managed, once again, to overcome its challenges by taking the familiar (the overly predictable plot elements) and reshaping them to service the character development. And that, I think, is the key to the enduring popularity of the series: it has always come down to the characters. If the writers stay the course, “Moonlight” might very well survive to a second season. |
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