Writer: Josh Pate
Director: Chris Fisher
Cast: Alex O'Loughlin (Mick St. John), Shannyn Sossamon (Coraline/Morgan), Sophia Myles (Beth Turner), Jason Dohring (Josef Konstantin), Tami Roman (Maureen 'Mo' Williams), Brian Maillard (Bandmate #1), Roddy Jessup (Bandmate #2), Rhomeyn Johnson (Fire Inspector) & Stephen Jackson (Hank)
Mick becomes obsessed with a woman he meets at the scene of a blazing fire, who is the spitting image of his dead wife...
The mystery surrounding Mick's (Alex O'Loughlin) ex-wife Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon) is finally focused on, and the story even finds time for Josef (Jason Dohring) to come out to play. The episode is obviously an important one for fans eager to learn more about Mick's past, but it's awkwardly put together and only its sense of mystery holds things together...
While witnessing a building on fire, being covered by BuzzWire reporter Beth (Sophia Myles), Mick is astonished to find his ex-wife Coraline amongst the spectators, taking photos of the inferno. The woman, calling herself Morgan, doesn't recognise him, but Beth reveals she's a photographer she's know for the past few months. Mick is amazed by the similarities between Morgan and Coraline (they look, sound, and act the same), but senses that she's human – so it can’t possibly be his vampire bride, can it?
Mick becomes obsessed with Morgan, particularly when she requests his help in finding her stolen cameras. Morgan backed-up her photos on a datastick, and she searches through them for some reason for the theft – discovering one snap of a man in a window of the burning building, apparently strangling a woman! Mick is immediately struck by the parallels between the case and real-life, as he killed Coraline inside a fiery building himself...
Certain that Morgan is playing him for a fool, Mick consults Josef – who doesn't pay too much attention to Mick's wild claim of Coraline returning "from beyond the grave", until he hears that Mick never saw Coraline's remains with his own eyes. Later, when Morgan arrives at Josef's apartment, he is forced to agree with Mick that the similarities between Morgan and Coraline just can't be accidental. So is Morgan an imposter?
There's certainly enough intrigue and uncertainty in The Ringer to ensure you stick with it, but the story isn't handled well and it starts to test your patience. There are a number of hazy flashbacks sprinkled throughout, revealing how Coraline seduced Mick at a pool party, after spotting him in a cheesy band, but while it was nice to get some background on their past, none of it excited me. The flashbacks culminate with Mick arriving at Coraline's home, to find she already has the company of a man. So she's a man-hungry player. Fine. We could have guessed that.
The most frustrating thing is how poorly the mystery unveils. I find it quite dubious that Morgan could tale a photo of someone inside a burning building with such clarity, but I find it utterly implausible that the killer would know someone sneaked a photo of him, find the photographer, and steal their camera! But Mick, Josef and Beth never question it – despite it being pretty solid evidence that Morgan must be lying.
And there are so many parallels to Mick's past with Morgan's case, it just can't be coincidence – but Mick remains unsure and puzzled for too long, and likewise those around him. The fact Morgan isn't a vampire is the only reason to believe she can't be Coraline, and consequently the only thing that keeps you invested till the end. But, really – what were the other options? A clone? Too silly. An identical twin sister? Brushed aside when they research Morgan's family history. A genuine instance of a doppelganger? Nah, too coincidental.
Beth is pushed firmly into the background for the first time here, with Mick and Morgan taking centre stage. It was great to see Josef leave his snazzy apartment to help Mick in a few scenes, even if he didn't do much and looked content to lounge around during the investigation! Maybe my hope for a Mick/Josef partnership might not be a good idea, after all. The writers seem to like Josef as a smart-mouthed, millionaire hermit, with no interest in other people – particularly the daily grind of humans. That's probably how a 400-year-old person would behave, but I was still left disappointed.
Shannyn Sossamon gets a chance to shine away from a few blurry flashbacks, and her performance is half the reason The Ringer remains watchable. Sossamon must be grateful of a decent role (she spent season 1 of Dirt as a schitzophrenic's vision), and Morgan/Coraline appears to be a worthwhile villain for Mick to deal with. It's a shame the script wasn't stronger for her, but her extraordinary beauty and allure permates the screen. She even makes the faintly ridiculous flashbacks palatable by complimenting them with a dreamy quality to her performance.
Overall, this should have been must-see stuff given the links to Mick's past and the emergence of a more personal villain to contend with, but the plot isn't strong enough to make it work. There are just too many holes, and those superfluous flashbacks didn't elevate the present day events. It’s all a bit too murky, implausible and wastes some good opportunities. The question hanging over Mogan's identity kept me watching, and I enjoyed Sossamon's performance, but everything else left me colder than Mick's freezer unit.
To end on a positive; did Moonlight get a budget increase? It all looked glossier and slicker than usual, those "vampire jumps" look to have been improved, and the burning building effects were very well done. It's all superficial, surface-level stuff, but The Ringer was visually more engaging than previous episodes.
1 April 2008
LivingTV, 10.00 pm
Director: Chris Fisher
Cast: Alex O'Loughlin (Mick St. John), Shannyn Sossamon (Coraline/Morgan), Sophia Myles (Beth Turner), Jason Dohring (Josef Konstantin), Tami Roman (Maureen 'Mo' Williams), Brian Maillard (Bandmate #1), Roddy Jessup (Bandmate #2), Rhomeyn Johnson (Fire Inspector) & Stephen Jackson (Hank)
Mick becomes obsessed with a woman he meets at the scene of a blazing fire, who is the spitting image of his dead wife..."Coraline drove you crazy the whole time that you knew her, and now she’s dead and she’s still driving you crazy. You need to let her go."
-- Josef (Jason Dohring)
The mystery surrounding Mick's (Alex O'Loughlin) ex-wife Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon) is finally focused on, and the story even finds time for Josef (Jason Dohring) to come out to play. The episode is obviously an important one for fans eager to learn more about Mick's past, but it's awkwardly put together and only its sense of mystery holds things together...
While witnessing a building on fire, being covered by BuzzWire reporter Beth (Sophia Myles), Mick is astonished to find his ex-wife Coraline amongst the spectators, taking photos of the inferno. The woman, calling herself Morgan, doesn't recognise him, but Beth reveals she's a photographer she's know for the past few months. Mick is amazed by the similarities between Morgan and Coraline (they look, sound, and act the same), but senses that she's human – so it can’t possibly be his vampire bride, can it?
Mick becomes obsessed with Morgan, particularly when she requests his help in finding her stolen cameras. Morgan backed-up her photos on a datastick, and she searches through them for some reason for the theft – discovering one snap of a man in a window of the burning building, apparently strangling a woman! Mick is immediately struck by the parallels between the case and real-life, as he killed Coraline inside a fiery building himself...
Certain that Morgan is playing him for a fool, Mick consults Josef – who doesn't pay too much attention to Mick's wild claim of Coraline returning "from beyond the grave", until he hears that Mick never saw Coraline's remains with his own eyes. Later, when Morgan arrives at Josef's apartment, he is forced to agree with Mick that the similarities between Morgan and Coraline just can't be accidental. So is Morgan an imposter?
There's certainly enough intrigue and uncertainty in The Ringer to ensure you stick with it, but the story isn't handled well and it starts to test your patience. There are a number of hazy flashbacks sprinkled throughout, revealing how Coraline seduced Mick at a pool party, after spotting him in a cheesy band, but while it was nice to get some background on their past, none of it excited me. The flashbacks culminate with Mick arriving at Coraline's home, to find she already has the company of a man. So she's a man-hungry player. Fine. We could have guessed that.
The most frustrating thing is how poorly the mystery unveils. I find it quite dubious that Morgan could tale a photo of someone inside a burning building with such clarity, but I find it utterly implausible that the killer would know someone sneaked a photo of him, find the photographer, and steal their camera! But Mick, Josef and Beth never question it – despite it being pretty solid evidence that Morgan must be lying.
And there are so many parallels to Mick's past with Morgan's case, it just can't be coincidence – but Mick remains unsure and puzzled for too long, and likewise those around him. The fact Morgan isn't a vampire is the only reason to believe she can't be Coraline, and consequently the only thing that keeps you invested till the end. But, really – what were the other options? A clone? Too silly. An identical twin sister? Brushed aside when they research Morgan's family history. A genuine instance of a doppelganger? Nah, too coincidental.
Beth is pushed firmly into the background for the first time here, with Mick and Morgan taking centre stage. It was great to see Josef leave his snazzy apartment to help Mick in a few scenes, even if he didn't do much and looked content to lounge around during the investigation! Maybe my hope for a Mick/Josef partnership might not be a good idea, after all. The writers seem to like Josef as a smart-mouthed, millionaire hermit, with no interest in other people – particularly the daily grind of humans. That's probably how a 400-year-old person would behave, but I was still left disappointed.
Shannyn Sossamon gets a chance to shine away from a few blurry flashbacks, and her performance is half the reason The Ringer remains watchable. Sossamon must be grateful of a decent role (she spent season 1 of Dirt as a schitzophrenic's vision), and Morgan/Coraline appears to be a worthwhile villain for Mick to deal with. It's a shame the script wasn't stronger for her, but her extraordinary beauty and allure permates the screen. She even makes the faintly ridiculous flashbacks palatable by complimenting them with a dreamy quality to her performance.
Overall, this should have been must-see stuff given the links to Mick's past and the emergence of a more personal villain to contend with, but the plot isn't strong enough to make it work. There are just too many holes, and those superfluous flashbacks didn't elevate the present day events. It’s all a bit too murky, implausible and wastes some good opportunities. The question hanging over Mogan's identity kept me watching, and I enjoyed Sossamon's performance, but everything else left me colder than Mick's freezer unit.
To end on a positive; did Moonlight get a budget increase? It all looked glossier and slicker than usual, those "vampire jumps" look to have been improved, and the burning building effects were very well done. It's all superficial, surface-level stuff, but The Ringer was visually more engaging than previous episodes.
1 April 2008
LivingTV, 10.00 pm
