Moonlightaholics

Here's my take, mwj...Beth's jealous.

Up til now, what we've seen is Mick's attention solely on Beth. He's saved her a bunch of times, they've done a few cases together. Ignore for the moment Beth's got Josh - we've discovered Beth knows who saved her when she was little and you KNOW she's developing feelings for Mick (I don't know about y'all, but I don't go around sniffing the shirts of guys I hate).

Enter Morgan, who's a dead ringer for Coraline. Mick's already given Beth the "intense affair" talk, so we know this woman reminds him of Coraline (WE know she's Coraline, but THEY don't know it yet). Mick's attention is diverted.

Perfectly natural human response, I'm thinkin.

Yes, I could see the jealousy part, Mick and I were just taken aback by her demanding to know the answer to that particular question. But I guess her head was spinning and knowing if the sex was good would help her understand more about MickCora.

wollstonecraft61 wrote:I have a question for those who didn't like Beth's POV: Should the scene where Beth finds her prison/room in Coraline's house have been done without a voice over? Would it have made more of an impact without us being in Beth's head?

That's an excellent question, woll. Being that I wasn't especially happy with her VO in the beginning, I do think that her VO at the party house scene had merit. As you say, it had more of an impact.

Of course Beth is jealous! She's falling for Mick and she's always had his full attention. And no one is more of a threat than Coraline. She'd have to be blind not to see it and take it seriously.

It's a minor thing but I also think that Beth liked Morgan. From what we saw, Beth didn't have a huge number of friends and she'd connected with Morgan - so that may have contributed to her ire. Of course it's nothing compared to flat-out, full-tilt jealousy....

Red

Ooooh and also, in liking Morgan, she'd believed her and now maybe was realising that she'd fallen for a pack of lies. Nothing like being taken for a fool to make you a little bit annoyed...

Red

Oh, I totally agree with both points, Red.

I really got the impression from The Ringer that Beth liked Morgan. She had been concerned about her after the cemetary incident and they seemed friendly with each other so I can imagine it would feel like a double betrayal almost. Not only the things that happened in the past but to have this happen to her in the present. And then to see Mick's attention is diverted from her and towards Morgan/Coraline. All leads to a very hacked off Beth.

I thought Beth's question to Mick about the sex was completely understandable. I mean why did he stay with Cora? He was with her a looooong time. Even given the love/hate thing they had going on. Beth sees Cora as the monster so shes pissed and wants to punch back hard at Mick. It's the most intimate way...She's been pushing Micks buttons and can't get him into bed but all those years with Cora, night after night. (or day after day as the case may be)Plus I agree, she liked Morgan. She felt used. She's back into the triangle again. Morgan /Cora is on the hunt.

I agree with bluedahlia.
I think Beth is asking the question we as viewers probably had at the time; Here is Mick, whom she is falling for, and he is kind, generous, brave, dedicated to help people, her guardian angel. Why on earth was married to a woman who committed the horrendous act of kidnapping a child? Beth will have a more enlightening discussion with Josef later in the episode but at this point all she knows is that Mick's relationship to his ex was "like an infection" and that "he could have (killed) her anyway". She is curious. And jealous, of course

redwinter101 wrote:Ooooh and also, in liking Morgan, she'd believed her and now maybe was realising that she'd fallen for a pack of lies. Nothing like being taken for a fool to make you a little bit annoyed...

Red

Ooooooh is right! As y'all said, she learned at the end of The Ringer that sex wasa powerful link to his wife...who may just be THE FRIEND that Beth herself has brought into his scope again. Beth "introduced" Mick and Cora...er Morgan. That had to... irk. Particularly since she has let him know that SHE has romantic interest in him... he's turned her down so far, but not turned her away... so yeah, she got a little pushy with the sex question... and it was awkward...

But beyond jealousy, which I think in large part it is... she is intrigued about the sex. He's a vamp, a realllllly sexy vamp, and he described this "affair" to her that sounds OFF THE CHARTS... I mean, didn't WE all wanna hear more about the MickCora sex??? The girl asked a pertinent question and he didn't answer....bummer.

I thought the sex question made perfect sense. Beth's an investigative reporter and she's trying to together what she knows. Mick supposedly hates what he is. He told her his wife Turned him and he's not grateful. He'd killed her and and made it sound like that might have been the inevitable outcome even if she hadn't kidnapped Beth. Yet Beth has been witness to how he watches Morgan. The sexual attraction is an obvious draw even if it appears he doesn't want to want her. And now she's just found out Coraline had been a courtesan!

GuardianAngel wrote:I thought the sex question made perfect sense. Beth's an investigative reporter and she's trying to together what she knows. Mick supposedly hates what he is. He told her his wife Turned him and he's not grateful. He'd killed her and and made it sound like that might have been the inevitable outcome even if she hadn't kidnapped Beth. Yet Beth has been witness to how he watches Morgan. The sexual attraction is an obvious draw even if it appears he doesn't want to want her. And now she's just found out Coraline had been a courtesan!

Oh yes, definitely. Beth is not a flat character. She has depth and complexity, and I'm sure she has LOTS of reasons for her questions. Never forget that she's insatiably curious about everything, in addition to her personal interest in Mick. Her resentment and jealousy of Morgan (who she's pretty convinced is Coraline, even though Mick's trying to convince himself and her that it's impossible) are palpable in the scene in her car. And I was happy to finally see her showing some anger about it, frankly. That girl buries her reactions way too much--she's gonna get an ulcer.

GA, I love your one-paragraph exposition of Beth's motivations, and I think that finding out that Coraline had been a courtesan would make Beth even madder...and even more determined to find out answers...and more worried about what those answers might be.

I'm thinking that 12:04 would have been better placed before the Ringer. After the balcony scene in 12:04 the show of jealousy by Beth at the scene of the fire in the Ringer would have made perfect sense. Then the flow from the Ringer to FDL would have been seemless. And yeah, Beth is realising she loves Mick and here comes Morgan/Coraline and Mick's revelations about his past feelings for her are revealed. Beth is jealous and probably doesn't understand why Mick won't put the moves on her like he seems to have done with other women in his life. She's probably angry that Mick is weak when it comes to the ex, esp. after what she had done to both of them in the past. Guess she doesn't understand the draw of a sire/child relationship. And yes, I know we are not there yet, but after Beth stakes Cora the whole thing is all but dropped, Beth never calling Mick out for his supposed indescretion. THAT to me is the worst transition in the whole series. Sorry, but I wanted to say that in case I don't post on this subject again.

GA~~Splendid as always!

This is one of my least fave eps--probably have only watched it 2-3 times at most. Loved Beth's voice-over--thought it was a unique spin and really a nice touch. I give the show credit for doing something a bit different in that regard.

I thought the flow of the ep was off, also, and while it was striking to see the staking early in the ep----it would have had a much more powerful effect if it had happened chronologically--my opinion.

Honestly, Beth was already wound up from seeing Mick pay so much attention to Morgan and ask so many questions regarding her, couple that with the reveal of Cora---it's no wonder she lost her mind! The jealously she was already facing, then seeing the woman who kidnapped her and turned Mick (who really until this point, hadn't shared a whole lot with Beth about his history with Cora), well, I would have snapped, too.

Guess she doesn't understand the draw of a sire/child relationship.

I think this is less about sire/fledgling and more about man/ex-wife. Mick's feelings for Coraline have got to be confusing at best - he loved her, she Turned him, he left her but kept going back...he killed her. Now she's back and if he's in a tailspin, I gotta think Beth's in an absolute whirlwind of emotion.

Lisa, spot on observations - combine a growing attraction, anger, lust and jealousy and you're going to end up with a toxic cocktail. And the reason I re-watch this ep so little is because I HATE the underlying premise. None of the supporting characters illicited ANY sympathy from me - I wanted to smack them all. Hard.

bluedahlia3 wrote:I thought Beth's question to Mick about the sex was completely understandable. I mean why did he stay with Cora? He was with her a looooong time. Even given the love/hate thing they had going on. Beth sees Cora as the monster so shes pissed and wants to punch back hard at Mick. It's the most intimate way...She's been pushing Micks buttons and can't get him into bed but all those years with Cora, night after night. (or day after day as the case may be)Plus I agree, she liked Morgan. She felt used. She's back into the triangle again. Morgan /Cora is on the hunt.

Poor Beth, she is both jealous and pissed. If I put myself in Beth's shoes I think I would have reacted the same way. After having Mick's undivided attention for the past few months and they both know how they feel about one another at this point, without admitting it, and then his ex-wife shows up and she is absolutely gorgeous. I would feel so threatened. And the way Mick described their relationship to her- she had to know sex was a big part it. The one question I wanted jealous Beth to ask Mick was "Have you ever had any regrets about killing your wife to save me?"