Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 2: Out Of The Past

[librarian_7]

I didn't think Mick was cavelier with Eileen. I think he took the abuse seriously. Looked like it offended him and he wanted to protect her. It affected him enough that he wanted to kill LeeJay at the end and even mucked up the prosecution because of it.

Perhaps I expressed myself poorly...what I mean is the way he takes hold of her face to look at the black eye (and, uh, where's that "off the charts visual comprehension," pray tell? did he get an upgrade in the '90s sometime?). He doesn't ask to look at it, doesn't ask permission to put his hands on her--which in a professional setting, seems very, as I said, cavalier. He just grabs her face and angles it so he can see better. She should have informed him that was unacceptable. Regardless of his motives, it was odd.

Lucky

She was an abuse victim and Mick shouldn't have put his hands on her like he did, but I think he was offended by what happened to her. After all, he did go after Lee Jay for it.

LOL!! Poor Mick getting all caught up in women's issues? In the era when he dined liberally off freshies?

But nobody thought like that in the early 80's... particularly not a man who was, looks aside, already in his 60's... and who is, we know from the show, paternalistic and protective by nature...

I don't consider it a misstep by the writers at all...rather, a brilliantly subtle indicator of a different time.


And Mick, hesitating at Beth's door...the "Because I'm a vampire" VO is priceless...and paves the way for his admission to her at the end of the ep.

Lucky

[PNWgal]

Josef can't understand why Mick did not kill LeeJay - says that Mick is off his game (which leads me to believe that at some point Mick would have done just that).

Excellent, GA - this never occured to me. I always thought it meant that Mick seemed to be a step behind on this Lee Jay thing because of Beth. But then, it makes sense - Mick was originally going to kill Lee Jay for what he did to Eileen.

[GuardianAngel]

I never caught it before either, PNW. But I just watched it 4 times to get the screenshots. Here's how it goes:

Josef: You're way off your game, pal.

Mick: What did you say?

Josef: You heard me.

Mick: He had 25 years to plan his next move. You wouldn't have seen it coming either. (Apparently Mick thought the same as us).

Josef: That's not even what I meant. Why didn't you kill him, Mick? Why didn't you take this guy out? Why didn't you end him?

Mick: With LeeJay alive, there's a chance the truth will come out.

Josef: You think so?

Mick: Yeah.

Josef: It's not that you're worried about what some blond reporter might think if you've given that guy what he deserves?

Mick: This is a chance for me to erase a regret.

Josef: You know, I really don't see how.

It looks to me like, in the past, Mick would have taken LeeJay out. This change in Mick confuses and disturbs Josef.

[Fleur de Lisa]

You post pretty pictures and are smart, too.

Lucky I like you so much, GA!

[PNWgal]

Thanks for that, GA - reading the dialogue makes it a bit clearer.

[GuardianAngel]

Thanks. I consider myself a very lucky girl.



Josh has a friend in public affairs. He thinks he can get him to issue a statement that Mick turned himself in. He takes the phone recording and leaves. Mick reveals that he tagged Julia's car and invites Beth to navigate.



On their way to the warehouse, Beth confronts Mick about what LeeJay said - that he knows what Mick is. She asks him what was meant by that. Mick says he doesn't know. Beth doesn't believe him and tells him she's tired of his evasions. Mick says they all have secrets. Ohoo, maybe so but not the elephants that he has.



They get to the place and Beth is to wait in the car. Mick tells her to open the glove compartment and there is *gasp* a gun. Which Beth seems to know how to handle. Mick must have already given her the rundown and asks her to repeat it. If he doesn't come out, call the cops, don't come in, yada yada yada.



Mick performs a serious vertical leap onto the roof. He finds the right warehouse and jumps down, kills the two guys watching over Julia and lets her go with a command to run. But in the shadows was LeeJay. Who shoots Mick full of silver buckshot. Mick doubles over in pain.



LeeJay gives him another round of buckshot. Mick goes down. LeeJay has done his homework. He lights a blowtorch and advances on Mick. LeeJay jabbers about his imagining what it would be like to be a vampire. Mick delivers another line I love. "The last thing this world needs is an eternal you." Mick has a sense of humor under pressure. Another thing to put on the love list.



Mick's about to die. Guess who didn't stay in the car. Beth comes in, gun ready. She sees the flame and has flashes of her dream - the scary lady, Mick and fire. She pulls the trigger and gets LeeJay in the neck.

Mick makes a quip about Beth not staying in the car. See, more humor.

In the ensuing chaos, Mick slips away. As does Beth. Now we segue to Alex's Emmy worthy performance.

Mick gets home, weak and in pain. Damn, he forgets to close the door behind him.



He starts to guzzle much needed blood.




Beth walks in. She wants to know if he's alright. He doesn't answer, evades her. The dream flashbacks must be fresh in her mind. She asks Mick why she's dreaming about him.

Mick asks her to please leave in a way that makes my gut wrench.

Beth walks around so she can see him better. She sees too much. Asks what he is. Mick replies that he's a vampire.



Fade.

[wpgrace]

Major compliments on your pictorial AND commentary, GA...

Tho I must note that our love list is already long for only two eps in!!!

And this ep has one of the most poignant endings I have ever seen... It must have been quite a shock to those of you who actually saw it live the first time it aired!

[PNWgal]

Three lines.

Ten words.

A multitude of emotion and depth.

This is where Moonlight got me - when Mick puts his hand up and pleads with Beth not to look at him, I crumble like into dust. What a contrast between Red Room Mick, so confident and arrogant, and this Mick who's ashamed and scared and tries to hide what he is from this human woman.

This is where I realized Alex O'Loughlin wasn't just a pretty face - he was an amazingly talented actor.

So...I have a speculative question. We know Beth comes back to ask Mick questions about being a vampire, but what about that time span between "I'm a vampire" and that knock on Mick's door at the beginning of Ep. 3? Did she run? Help him? Freak out?

And - GA, you had me laughing all through this last group of pics.

[librarian_7]

I thought a lot about what happened immediately afterward...it was before I started writing fic, or I would have tackled it.

What I think...

Beth walked to the door. Shut it...he would have thought she'd left, but she didn't. She helped him somehow. And then maybe left before Josef got there to help with the silver buckshot extraction.

Lucky

[GuardianAngel]

*bows* That's Moonlight according to GA.

Good question, PNW. Just what DID Beth do when Mick reveals what he is. How could she leave him there like that? But would Mick have let her help? He had blood to drink but only the bagged kind (I'm betting not the most nutritional), he's weak and hungry. Would Beth being so close be too much of a temptation?

[PNWgal]

I thought a lot about what happened immediately afterward...it was before I started writing fic, or I would have tackled it.

I will if you will, Lucky.

Good question, PNW. Just what DID Beth do when Mick reveals what he is. How could she leave him there like that? But would Mick have let her help? He had blood to drink but only the bagged kind (I'm betting not the most nutritional), he's weak and hungry. Would Beth being so close be too much of a temptation?

Would Mick have let her help? Probably not, given his overactive hero complex.

Stop poking the muse, GA - I have enough unfinished fic on my plate....

[coco]

I must admit it's one of the things I've always wondered about after that episode. What did Beth do? Did she leave or stay and help? I would like to think she stayed to help him and that he let her but I'm not entirely sure. I know that's not at all helpful in this discussion

[SirenSong]

What did Beth do after the "I'm a Vampire" admission? She probably kept rambling on about her "dreams" about him as the poor man was devastated and doubled over in pain. That is if the writers had continued that bizarre dialogue from earlier.

My money is on her having bolted out the door.

[Fleur de Lisa]

I think that in light of the fact she was so shocked at his admission, she probably offered in a half-out-of-it kind of way to help him. And he probably just told her to go home, that he would be fine and they would talk soon. That isn't how I wished it would have happened, but since the writers left such a huge black hole there, I imagine that is what we were supposed to think occured.

[wpgrace]

I'm thinking fanfic challenge myself...

Your adoring fans await you writers... cause this is a question that has bugged the hell out of all of us... and knowing this venerable group, we'll get lots of different answers... all of them fantastic.

I think you oughta go for it!

I'll read it. And leave my usual pithy comments, but then if I were a writer, I'd post fanfics... so you're stuck with what I got... which DOES include admiration and adoration.

And Fleur, it's 7:00 EST... go to the party... in the Where the Hell is Alex thread... all welcome.