Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

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cassysj
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by cassysj »

Again I haven't seen these episodes in years. Alle I completely agree at how beautifully this episode was lit, Beth and Mick are gorgeous. The plot is ridiculous but I love the Freshie Flashback. Josef was fantastic. I have to say I know Josh is a man in love but I think it stretches belief that he would be present while Beth was doing her Buzzwire feed, especially after he mentioned he would be harboring a fugitive.

I do have to give Beth credit it's not easy to pull a trigger when you're trained like cops or military. She didn't freeze although the fact that Carl would have let her leave without a statement is beyond stupid but the reveal was great.
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by cassysj »

Wanted to add in this episode when they were comparing the printed word to Buzzwire and if people want real news they buy a paper. I may have believed that back then but I can't remember when I bought a newspaper
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by allegrita »

I had the same reaction! It's amazing how much has changed in 10 years. I miss newspapers. :sigh:
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by MickLifeCrisis »

We still get a daily newspaper delivered. Of course, it's only two sections (front section, sports section) and the front section is usually only 8-10 pages. But it is a daily newspaper! :reading:
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by allegrita »

The Los Angeles Times used to be an excellent paper, but it hasn't been in quite a while. :sigh:
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by Shadow »

:winky: I also really noticed how Julia's newspaper line didn't fit our world any more. It made perfect sense the first time around!

Interestingly I had almost the exact opposite reaction as allegrita did to this episode, watching it again all these years later. I remember absolutely loving OOTP the first time around, but also being very bothered by the story problems and plot holes, enough so that I really considered the episode to be a "guilty pleasure." Yet this time around, the problems with the story didn't affect me nearly so much, and I was mostly just overwhelmed by how beautifully made this episode is. The acting is amazing; I really don't know how they pulled off some of those lines and actually made them work. The production quality is very high. And with some wonderful character development as well, this episode really does manage to overcome its weak story.

And as allegrita mentioned, there are so, so many wonderful individual scenes in this! I also loved all the ones she mentioned, especially Mick with the lighter on the stairs, the "trust me" moment, and "wanna navigate", then also that wonderful voice-over where Mick is hesitating at the door of Beth's apartment imagining that he's telling her that he's a vampire, and.... probably my favorite, the whole scene with Mick and Bobby. That scene is so wonderful that I really didn't care how convenient it was that Bobby had gone blind. It was just so amazing to see Mick interact with such a very old friend, with the added plus that we also got to see them together in flashback. The scene with Bobby was a beautiful way to let us get a feel for just how long Mick has been around, and how hard it is for him to watch his friends grow old and, eventually, die. There were such nice little touches in this scene, too, like the way Mick quietly straightened one of Bobby's certificates on the wall. All of these favorite scenes, I liked even better this time around.

For me, too, this was where Beth and Josef first became interesting to me, like real people, not just the pushy reporter and the snarky friend. I noticed this, too, even more this time around. I hadn't remembered how hard Josef was on Mick all the way through, but at the same time it was obvious just how much Josef cared about him. Beth was so much more interesting to me than in the previous episode, with her memories, her relationship with Josh, and with her compassion and level-headedness starting to show through. It was a bit cliche I suppose, but I did like the fact that Beth saved Mick in this episode, rather than needing to be saved herself. And I hadn't really noticed on first viewing just how thoroughly Lee Jay outwitted Mick in this episode, at every turn. I liked the contrast with the previous episode ... in the last one, Mick's powers as a vampire were really on display, and in this one, we saw how vulnerable the vampire could make Mick.

And this one definitely goes on my "good endings" list. I think it might in fact be my favorite ending, though I'll have to wait and see what I think of the rest of them all these years later. But this one's amazing, like a tapestry at first, with the layering of the scenes ... helicopter, Beth, Julia, the street scene ... along with Lee Jay's voice over and the absolute perfect song in "Forever and Ever Amen" .... I found it absolutely hypnotic even before we got to Mick's apartment and the vampire reveal at the end.

(And I do remember the first time being so surprised, and so pleased, that Beth found out about the vampire in the second episode! I think there were only six episodes green-lighted at that time, and just in case the series ended on ep. six, I so wanted them to go full speed ahead!)

And I'd forgotten that this is the first episode that features the fabulous bookcase. I love Mick's bookcase. Of course this time around, I was thinking how lucky it was that Lee Jay had not found the weapons cache in there, given that he'd really been tossing the books around.

One thing that seemed odd this time around: Lee Jay knows that stakes paralyze vampires, presumably from his vampire research. But how would he know that? I'm not aware of any vampire mythology, save Moonlight, where things work that way. (Hm, maybe Lee Jay saw Mick's interview. :brow: ) Or ... I've always thought that Moonlight occurred in a parallel world that was exactly like ours except for the existence of vampires. But it would make sense that in that parallel world, the vampire literature and mythology would also be quite different from ours, drawing on reality rather than fantasy.)
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by MoonMarg »

We still buy the newspaper every day(both my husband & I read it every day). Our work still buys the paper each day as well and have it in the reception area for our clients to read. I hope they never go out of existence. I also still buy books from bookstores and have hope they too will make a comeback. My teenage kids and nieces love books and refuse to read them on line so that gives me hope the younger generation still care for a few old fashioned things.
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by MickLifeCrisis »

All very good points, Shadow! I was also curious about the books about vampires that Lee Jay had procured, and how they apparently told him all about stakes paralyzing and silver ammunition poisoning. I guess humans in LA know about them after all!

I never thought about if Lee Jay had discovered the secret hiding spaces in the bookshelf. :gasp:

And I also remember being pleased that Beth found out about vampires so soon. I thought the whole series was going to be about Beth being kept in the dark (pun intended!) about vampires, and I'm glad they didn't go that route.

Still bothered me that Beth just walked away from the shooting scene, Carl just letting her go, and her killing someone was never brought up again.
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by allegrita »

That's one of the reasons I love Shadow's In Between series so much. It handles all those dropped loose ends beautifully.

It bugged me, too, that Lee Jay was able to do book research on vampires... and then that concept was dropped like a hot rock. :shrug: One of the effects of the "showrunner shuffle" in those early episodes, I guess.

I hadn't thought about Lee Jay tossing the books around and maybe finding the weapons! :gasp: During the early episodes, Mick stored his weapons in that chest. I guess Harry and Gabby decided that the hidden compartments were cooler... :chin:
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by Shadow »

Perhaps Lee Jay's books were written by a disgruntled ex-freshie. ;)

Thank you for your kind words about In Between, Alle!
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by Ella713 »

I love this episode, but the only problem I have with it were the books that Lee Jay had read in prison. Correction Facilities are very careful of the material they have on hand and I doubt that would be something that was so readily available for him, unless he had a friend/family member buy them for him.
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Re: Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

Post by Lucy »

Shadow wrote:Perhaps Lee Jay's books were written by a disgruntled ex-freshie. ;)

Thank you for your kind words about In Between, Alle!
Golly gosh....think of the possibilities there. You let someone go past their 'drink by date' and there could be plenty of 'tell all' books
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