MOONLIGHT 1.11 – "Love Lasts Forever"

Writer: Josh Pate
Director: Paul Holahan

Cast: Alex O'Loughlin (Mick St. John), Sophia Myles (Beth Turner), Jordan Belfi (Josh Lindsey), Brian J. White (Lieutenant Carl Davis), John Everlove (Paramedic #2), Maurice Compte (Bustos), Emilio Rivera (Chemma Tejada), Manuel Urrego (Jorge Perez), David Blue (Logan), Margaret Easley (Dr. Alison Lin), Luis Fernando Moncada (Huerta), Jon Emm (Judge), Shelbie Bruce (Nicole) & Jeremy Denzlinger (Paramedic)

Josh is working to convict a dangerous gang member, who threatens Beth's life...

"The truth is, I don't know what I would do. What I
do know is, at the end of the day, not a lot separates
life and death. Only one thing... eternity."

-- Mick St. John (Alex O'L oughlin)

By focusing on its own fledgling mythology, Moonlight has become a lot more interesting in recent weeks. The introduction of Coraline awhile back, and last week's focus on Josef has invigorated the series, and this energy continues into Love Lasts Forever – with an exciting, if rather empty-headed, storyline for Josh (Jordan Belfi) and Beth (Sophia Myles).

District Attorney Josh has been working for the past 2 years on a case to imprison notorious gang leader Chemma Tejada (Emilio Rivera), but is put into a quandary when Tejada has some thugs assault him, before making it clear his girlfriend is now a "marked woman" unless he drop his investigation. Concerned for Beth's safety, Josh considers backing off from the case, but principled Beth is adamant he should continue his work. Someone has to make a stand against Tejada, who will inevitably continue to hurt and kill people if they let him go free.

Mick (Alex O'Loughlin) soon hears about the threat to Beth's life and offers to help protect her, which Josh gratefully accepts. Unfortunately, Tejada makes bail and dispatches two goons, led by Bustos (Maurice Compte), to kidnap Josh as punishment for all the trouble he's caused. With Mick and a police protection unit keeping focused on Beth, Josh is easy pickings for Tejada's men – who jump him outside his house, bundle him into the trunk of their car, and drive off. Mick and Beth follow in hot pursuit, using Josh's cell phone to triangulate his position.

Josh Pate's script forms the leanest, most frenetic episode of Moonlight yet. It's quite a departure from the usual style and plays more like an episode of 24, clearly having fun with a stream of exciting sequences: an assault on Josh by biker thugs, a sniper's attempt to assassinate Beth, a breathless car chase through L.A, etc. Everything comes to a heart-wrenching climax as Josh is rescued, only to be shot multiple times through the back of the trunk by a semi-conscious thug, leaving him fighting for his life on the ground!

Mick's medical training as a soldier in WWII comes in handy, and there follows a genuinely tense and rather icky scene with Mick improvising emergency treatment for Josh's wounds: cauterizing a neck wound with a car's cigarette lighter and tying off an artery using a necklace! I squirmed a lot, but was also rather taken by the scene's realism and surprised by how effectively it was pulled off. Sadly, Josh doesn't survive the ordeal, and Mick refuses to save his life by turning him into a vampire, despite Beth pleading with him.

Josh's death sends Mick into a rampaging mood, as his ordinarily secretive stance regarding his vampirism takes a backseat to vengeance. After scaring Bustos in an interrogation room (simply by revealing his white, dilated eyes and fangs), Mick gets the location of Tejada and arrives at the Latino's bar looking for revenge. As a force of nature, Mick tears up the place, doing nothing to hide his monstrous side, before coming face-to-face with Tejada and biting down on his neck.

Of course, even with Josh avenged, nothing can bring Beth's boyfriend back. Beth is seen grieving for the loss alone, as Mick arrives to try and make her understand why he couldn't turn Josh into a vampire as some kind of "miracle cure". Beth doesn't understand – asking him what he'd have done if she was the one dying. Mick says he'd do the exact same thing, but his voice-over admits he's not sure...

Love Lasts Forever is undeniably very exciting in places and one of the few Moonlight episodes that captured my attention and refused to let go. Director Paul Holahan's handling of the action was impressive and the actors did a fine job, particularly during Josh's protracted death scene. As I've mentioned before, one thing I've enjoyed about Moonlight is how Josh/Beth weren't written as doomed to failure with Mick on the scene. They made a nice couple, too – and Josh wasn't the domineering, dislikeable creep he could have been.

However, where this episode falls down is in the details. Tejada and his gang were gross stereotypes, written as simple boo-hiss Latino villains without any texture. They were evil for the sake of being evil, and many of their actions weren't very plausible. The whole episode seemed like it was the world of writer letting off steam, with everything cranked up to the max at the expense of intelligent plotting. Fortunately, the action was engaging and the actors really sold the emotional scenes. It was great fun to watch, but it was also disappointingly thin on story and characterisation.

A tiny subplot existed for Mick and Beth, who go to a laboratory to test the blood Mick took from Coraline last week. The doctor there can't find any abnormalities (with Mick hoping it could explain how Coraline has turned from a vampire back into a human). However, she does mention two interesting things: the blood is so pure she assumes it has come from a child, and the blood type is the incredibly rare AO-negative – the same group as Beth.

Is that why Coraline kidnapped Beth as a child – she needs to feed on that blood type? Or, in my own outlandish theory, is Beth actually Coraline's daughter? We've never seen Beth's family, have we. Feel free to pick that one apart, but it just occurred to me. Or, how about this: the blood is childlike in its purity because Coraline's actually a brand new clone? Just putting it out there.

Overall, this is an essential episode in terms of Moonlight's mythology, and certainly one of its most entertaining and intense stories. It's a shame the Latino gang were underwritten and the plot so wafer-thin, but if you've been disappointed by the lack of thrills, action and super-powered fights in a show about a vampire detective, Love Lasts Forever more than delivers.


29 April 2008
LivingTV, 10.00 pm