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Sunday, 18 May 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.
| Considering the fact that the producers, writers, and cast were all expecting (and practically promised) a renewal for a second season, it’s no surprise that this episode is not an all-encompassing series finale. And also considering the fact that the network wanted the additional first season episodes to be relatively self-contained, it’s no surprise that the episode doesn’t feel like a traditional season finale.
What is surprising is how well the writers managed to bring certain concepts together while focusing first and foremost on the relationship between Mick and Beth. Once the writers decided that the obstacles had to be removed from the board, it was always a matter of exploring how the relationship would be defined. There was never a question that it would actually happen.
Instead, it was a clever way to address the unlimited issues that come out of the vampire/human interaction. Humans are, in the end, foodstock to the average vampire, so the devil is in the details. In “Moonlight”, vampires have managed to carve out a community within the human masses, and the delicate balance is well maintained by a system of rules and laws. This seems obvious, especially in the post-Anne Rice paranormal romance fiction, but each incarnation manages to put their own spin on things.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s a perfectly rendered world, airtight in its own logic. One can see a hot, young, and sexually voracious vampire like Lisa surviving quite easily, given student turnover at the average large university. Josef would likely applaud her lifestyle and methodology. The Monaghans, on the other hand, seem a bit reckless. Wouldn’t it be just a little foolish to plaster so many marriage licenses all over the wall? Hardly discrete.
Yet it creates the impression, well exploited in this episode, that the Cleaners have been around long enough that the delicate balance has been well-attended. Vampires can maintain a lifestyle that keeps them relatively safe, and the problems are quickly removed. It becomes a question of complacency, when the danger of exposure is realized just a bit too late, too often, and the lifestyle becomes a liability.
Dealing with all of those issues gives Beth a chance to see some of what she had to know intellectually on some level. It also gave her a front-row seat regarding the consequences when someone becomes a threat. As I mentioned, Beth knew some of this on a certain level, since she set Josef after a threat to Mick in “Click”. Yet, for all that, it’s still shocking for her to face the realities of “freshies” and vampires living in plain sight.
I suspect that Beth would have been caught in the middle between the human and vampire worlds, had the series gone to a second season. This would have placed pressure on Mick, who was already standing in both worlds. But the season (and series) ends on a positive note, almost as if it’s the end of a novel where the author had been hoping to write a sequel. Mick and Beth reaffirm their love, and since that has been the through-line all season, it’s the only satisfying place they could have ended it. |
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