MOONLIGHT 1.2 – "Out Of The Past"

Writer: David Greenwalt
Director: Fred Toye

Cast: Alex O'Loughlin (Mick St. John), Jason Dohring (Josef Konstantin), Sophia Myles (Beth Turner), Jordan Belfi (Josh Lindsey), Tami Roman (Maureen 'Mo' Williams), Brian J. White (Lt. Carl Davis), Kevin Weisman (Steve Balfour), Lawrence A. Mandler (Young Detective Bobby Desmond), Jose Acevedo (Joseph's Assistant), Kevin T. McCarthy (Reporter #2), Hal Williams (Detective Bobby Desmond), Josh Wingate (Lee Jay Spaulding, 20s), David Fabrizio (Lee Jay Spaulding), Cosimo Canale (Ricardo), Catherine Kresge (Reporter #1), Jon Jon Briones (Party Goer), Brian Oerly (Cam), Rachel Kimsey (Eileen Hannigan) & Lisa Sheridan (Julia Stephens)

Mick faces an unpleasant part of his past when a convicted murderer, who knows he's a vampire, is released from prison...

Mick: Lee Jay knows what I am.
Josef: Wow, you really did mess up.

It's only the second episode, but Moonlight is moving with quiet confidence, likely because writer David Greenwalt is on familiar ground -- having worked on Angel, another vampire detective drama. Out Of The Past is let down by a disappointing hero/villain dynamic, but it's nevertheless solid improvement over the premiere...

The crux of the problem for vampire gumshoe Mick (Alex O'Loughlin) this week involves Lee Jay Spaulding (David Fabrizio), a bald-headed murderer jailed in 1983, but who has since rehabilitated himself and is being released as a minor "celebrity" thanks to a best-selling book ("Wronged Man"), written by enamoured reporter Julia Stephens (Lisa Sheridan).

Mick is worried about Spaulding's release, as he's the only man who knows Mick's a vampire – after Mick attacked him in an alleyway for killing a client (and making it look like suicide), but was forced to retreat when the cops showed up.

Out Of The Past hits the ground running, and the idea of a criminal pretending to be a reformed man, whilst actually plotting to slay a vampire when he gets out, is fun to watch unfold. Spaulding's plan cleverly involves framing Mick for various acts of violence against him, although I found it irritating Mick was so easily tricked! He has preternatural speed and enhanced physical abilities, yet came across as quite a walkover, which deflated some of the scenes.

This episode also finds Beth (Sophia Myles) dreaming about sexy saviour Mick, although her boyfriend Josh (Jordan Belfi) seems to be the dependable, understanding type – which should make the undercurrent of a "MickBeth" love tryst juicer to see unfold.

Beth is particularly puzzled about why Mick is appearing in her childhood memories now –unaware her saviour was actually there, saving her as a child from vampiress Caraline, and has been keeping a watchful eye on her ever since.

However, Beth grows suspicious of Mick's identity when she notices a photo of him in her friend Julia's book about the 1983 Spaulding case. It appears that vampires can be photographed using modern techniques, you see. Approaching Mick about it later, he claims the identical photo is of his father, which alleviates her suspicions.

Mick is worried about the safety of Spaulding's besotted fan/author Julia, who could become the killer's next victim, so goes to see his detective friend Bobby Desmond (Hal Williams) who also investigated the 1983 case. Bobby is now an elderly blind man, consequently unaware his colleague from 25 years ago hasn't aged a day. This scene between Williams and O'Loughlin is one of the episode's strongest; the actors have a touching rapport, and the way Mick has remained youthful and strong, in contrast to his physically frail friend is amusing and slightly sad.

Josef (Jason Dohring), Mick's vampire playboy friend, is also concerned about events – frustrated that Mick didn't just eliminate Spaulding back in '83. Indeed, flashbacks reveal Mick was closer in personality to Josef back in those days, seen in a clichéd 80s party with Duran Duran's "Hungry For The Wolf" playing and suckling form beautiful women's necks. But Mick was also very naïve 25 years ago, threatening Spaulding with a beating for his crimes, thinking that would be enough to stop the killer.

The episode builds to a neat climax with Spaulding breaking into Mick's apartment (he affords that luxury on a P.Is income?) and takes his martyrdom to the next phase: shooting himself in the arm, before calling the police and implicating Mick with the deed. Mick is forced to run away with incriminating evidence he's a vampire (blood bags mainly; no mention of that "freezer room" glimpsed in episode 1).

With Mick forced into hiding, he persuades Beth he's being framed by Spaulding, and she opts to believe him – despite having learned he lied about having a father, after discussing the matter with his blind friend Bobby. Regardless, she helps him upload a video dismissal of Spaulding's claims he shot him on the BuzzWire website.

Fresh out of hospital with his arm in a sling, Spaulding's dark side is finally revealed to naïve Julia when he takes her hostage at a nearby warehouse – calling Mick to insist he give himself up and go to jail, or Julia will be killed. Beth's boyfriend Josh (a lawyer for the District Attorney, helpfully) helps Mick by issuing a fake release to the police, saying he's been delivered to the authorities...

This gives Mick and Beth time to find Julia (whose car was fortunately tagged with a GPS beacon by Mick earlier), and they arrive at the warehouse. Ordering Beth to stay in the car, Mick heads inside alone, taking out some of Spaulding's goons easily -- thanks to his supernatural speed and dexterity. Unfortunately, Spaulding is armed with a shotgun loaded with silver buckshot, and blasts Mick to the ground, taunting him with certain death at the hands of a flamethrower.

Luckily for Mick, Beth didn't choose to stay behind in the car (she's an investigative reporter, after all), and has sneaked inside the warehouse, shooting Spaulding in the neck before he can torch the man who saved her life.

Soon after, the injured Mick scrambles back to the sanctuary of his plush apartment, drinking from blood bags to restore his health. Clearly in a mess because of the poisoning silver (pale, sweating, pupils dilated, fangs half-exposed), he's shocked when Beth arrives to help – puzzled about why he vanished from the crime scene. Despite his best efforts to make Beth go away, she won't be persuaded, finally seeing his vampire visage for herself...

Out Of The Past certainly kept me engaged throughout, and it was definitely a marked improvement on the rudimentary Pilot. O'Loughlin and Myles don't have much chemistry together yet, but Dohring is quite a fun injection into proceedings as a vampire veteran with loose morals. The supporting cast were also good, particularly Lisa Sheridan as Julia, Hal Williams as Bobby and David Fabrizio as Spaulding – although the latter should have been more intimidating and vicious, instead of continually playing the martyr card.

The production itself is quite glossy where it counts, although it has that soft-focus/low-budget vibe about it at times – particularly in an unconvincing greenscreen for a moving car at the end, and the slightly-stilted nature of Mick's acrobatics.

Overall, David Greenwalt's script is quite layered and intriguing, if never quite eliciting the tension it was aiming for. Mick was on the back-heel too much throughout, while the specifics regarding Spaulding's 1983 murders, his prison rehabilitation, and subsequent adoration by the likes of Julia weren't convincingly explained. I'm also irritated by the way a voice-over is used to fill in gaps of information, or provide an "inner-voice" for Mick – as they're mostly unnecessary.

But yes, Out Of The Past kept me entertained, I'm growing to like O'Loughlin as the lead now, and I'm pleasantly relieved Moonlight isn't going to spend ages stuck in a Clark Kent/Lois Lane-style quandary over identity.


26 February 2008
LivingTV, 10.00 pm