Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

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allegrita
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Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by allegrita »

Episode Title: "12:04AM"
Current air date: July 22, 2010

Guardian Angel's Episode 8 discussion thread with screencaps

The basics (from tvguide.com):

Synopsis:
Mick tries to protect a woman from a murderous cult after its leader is executed and his followers vow to kill those responsible for his death.

Written by: Jill Blotevogel
Directed by: Dennis Smith
Original Air Date: Nov 16, 2007

Guest Cast:
Lorena York: Bronwyn
Mark D. Espinoza: Father Garza
Sarah Foret: Audrey Pell
Mark Totty: Jerry Drake
Paul Keeley: Quinlan
Brian White: Lt. Carl Davis
Gideon Emery: Donovan Shepard
Mark Tomesek: Warden Cooley

My own thoughts about this episode:

I'd forgotten this ep was written by Jill Blotevogel! :slaphead: She's one of my favorite Moonlight writers, because she's good at getting to the emotions behind the action. And she does that here. This episode stands out for me for a few reasons: it has by far the best villain, Donovan Shepard, played brilliantly by Gideon Emery. It has a pretty good procedural with terrific emotional development. In fact, aside from its complete lack of Josef and the fact that it seems to pretend that "The Ringer" never happened, this is a favorite episode of mine.

For one thing, it really spotlights the different aspects of Mick. We see him in sympathetic protector mode with Audrey, in total bad-ass mode going after the Shepard-lookalike in Beth's bathroom, acting all flirty and mysterious at Jerry Drake's house, using his mad detective skillz in breaking into Beth's place to help Audrey, and breaking into the prison morgue, not to mention using his mad vamp skillz in going through the prison video surveillance... :melts: We see him scary and intimidating with the vamp priest, quirky and funny in the Alice in Wonderland scene with Beth, battling and getting the cr@p beat out of him when fighting with Shepard, and absolutely, devastatingly angsty at the very end. :melts:

We also have an opportunity to see sides of Beth that don't always come to the fore, as well. (Jill is the ML writer who most liked Beth as a person, I think.) In this episode, Beth is seen as a sympathetic character who reveals her own deep trauma and her inability to deal with it--so she just pushes it down into a box and closes the lid. We see Beth the courageous fighter who won't back down, even from the scariest vamp ever. We see Beth indulging her fascination for Mick, sniffing his sweater, :happysigh: and snooping through Mick's files to find info about him... and finding the file on her. And maybe most important, we see Beth being nurturing and sympathetic toward Mick in a way that has not happened before in Moonlight. Even when she fed him in Fever, she nurtured him physically, not emotionally. She didn't understand then. But here, she sees that he is in pain, he is vulnerable, and she yearns to comfort him and to make him understand that she's happy she's found out about the past. She doesn't blame him for anything--rather, she feels a huge sense of relief because finally the pieces have fallen into place. She's finally at peace, but he's shattered. That last scene on the balcony was just so beautifully done, both in terms of the visuals (the CGI wizardry was breathtaking) and the fabulous writing and acting.

Links:
http://www.tvguide.com/episode-recaps/M ... -7088.aspx
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1077041/
(No Wikipedia page is available for this episode)
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redwinter101
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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by redwinter101 »

Lovely intro, sweetie. I love this episode - for all the reasons you mention and also because Audrey is one of my favourite guest characters. Because sometimes they can make or break an episode.

Sooooo looking forward to watching tonight - my last chance in the same time zone as many of you!!!

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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by jen »

Alle

Thank you for the beautiful synopsis of 12:04--you so nailed it. I didn't realize how differently Beth comes across in this episode until I read your comments and you are absolutely right. This is the episode when we saw a caring and supportive Beth. Just as you said--nurturing. We saw a Beth who thinks on her feet in a crisis and the look she gave Donovan Sheppard he had her and asked where Audrey was was pure steel. She wrote Beth beautifully.

All of the episodes of Moonlight were visually beautiful and quite superb, but this is one of my favorites, too. Thanks for explaining so well!

Jenna

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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by librarian_7 »

Despite the egregious lack of Josef, this is one of my favorite episodes...I think it would make an excellent intro to the series for a new viewer. All the elements, and a cracking good plot.

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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by darkstarrising »

Not to mention great performances that gave us a believably frightened young woman, a psychotic vamp and a Hollywood producer that stared death in the face and thought about how he could profit by it.

O yeah, the wonderful vamp scenes!!
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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by librarian_7 »

I have always loved the "Mick wants to talk to him alone" ...with the screams in the background.

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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by wpgrace »

librarian_7 wrote:I have always loved the "Mick wants to talk to him alone" ...with the screams in the background.

Lucky
:giggle: Unusual understatement from Beth...

Tho... heavy sigh... I missed the ep on tv. I may go watch it on the DVD with the West Coast girls. :wave: Red, PGal, and Alle! :teeth:
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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by redwinter101 »

*loves being one of the West Coast girls*
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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by jen »

This episode was wonderful in so many ways. Visually stunning. Beautifully written, acted and filmed it is a pleasure to watch, each and every time.

The video and audio of what was telecast was less than great, but at least Moonlight was back on network TV.

Looking forward to next week!

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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by cassysj »

What's interesting is this was one of my least favorite episodes originally but I really enjoyed it tonight and the end is so beautiful visually.
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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by redwinter101 »

One small problem, the hotel I'm staying in does not have the CW.

I am NOT amused. :grumble:

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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by GuardianAngel »

Call me violent, but one of my favorite scenes of the whole series is Shepherd slicing the producer's throat and using the glass to collect some of it to drink. It's gasp worthy. LOL. Shepherd is such a sick, twisted character. One of the best villains.

On the negative side....I hate Mick's hair in this episode.
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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by Lilly »

redwinter101 wrote:One small problem, the hotel I'm staying in does not have the CW.

I am NOT amused. :grumble:

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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by redwinter101 »

I KNOW!!! I can get the frikkin' food channel or the weather channel or about 30 other obscurities - but not the CW!! *fumes*

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Re: Moonlight on the CW, Ep 8: 12:04AM

Post by wpgrace »

There a bar with a tv down the street, Red? Cos it's not THAT obscure of a network...
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