MOONLIGHT 1.13 – "Fated To Pretend"

Writers: Gabrielle Stanton & Harry Werskman
Director: David Barrett

Cast: Sophia Myles (Beth Turner), Alex O'Loughlin (Mick St. John), Jason Dohring (Josef Kostan), Tami Roman (Maureen), Jacob Vargas (Guillermo), Jennifer Chu (Architect), Erika Ringor (Office Novak), Victoria Pratt (Dee Dee Dwight), Amy Motta (Interior Designer), Ksenia Solo (Bonnie Morrow), Edoardo Ballerini (Pierce Anders), Bonnie Root (Ellen), Antonio Elias (Luis Perez), David Blue (Logan), Eric Winter (ADA Benjamin Talbot) & Christopher Cousins (Kent Morrow)

After the Editor of BuzzWire is murdered, a still-human Mick helps Beth with the investigation...

"I'm actually gonna have to chase this guy? Crap."

-- Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin)

Moonlight has been cancelled. So this is the last bunch of episodes -- ordered by CBS after the writers' strike ended, giving hope to fans that Moonlight was "in favour" and would return next year. An inventive campaign, where fans donated blood to prove their devotion, just wasn't enough. It's a shame, as the show's pretty good fun at times and has definitely developed well...

Fated To Pretend finds Mick (Alex O'Loughlin) living the high-life as a human, enjoying in the day-to-day comforts people take for granted: sleeping in a warm bed, drinking coffee, eating hot dogs, walking in the sunlight, etc. Beth (Sophia Myles) has forgiven him for refusing to turn dead-boyfriend Josh into a vampire, just 6 days after his funeral, so they're now growing closer and taking picnics on the beach. She moves on fast, that girl.

This week's crime involved the murder of Beth's boss Maureen (Tami Roman), whose death is being investigated by new A.D.A Benjamin Talbot (Eric Winter), who isn't very impressed by Mick's reputation and warns him to keep his nose out. But Mick and Beth soon find evidence of the case Maureen was working on before she dies (on a USB data-stick hidden amongst some tampons) and mortician Guillermo (Jacob Vargas) confirms that Maureen was killed by a vampire.

Maureen's files contain information on a few suspects, including a donut company, a mayoral candidate and Josef! Josef pleads his innocence over a charity scam, Beth speaks to the donut company's chairwoman (whose spokesperson may have died from eating their product), and Mick investigates mayoral candidate Morrow (Christopher Cousins) – whose wife died in a car accident 3 years ago

Morrow seems the likeliest candidate, and Mick eventually finds a man called Luis Perez (Antonio Elias) -- the valet on the night Mrs Morrow died -- who reveals that her husband was driving the car. Morrow's daughter Bonnie (Ksenia Solo) attempts suicide back at her dad's campaign HQ, by threatening to jump off a roof, having known about her father's role in her mother's death. Mick stops Bonnie from jumping and it turns out the teen falsified an incriminating e-mail from Perez pointing the finger at her father – rather than just tell the cops! Yeah, it doesn't really make much sense.

But, no matter. It's clear that the Morrow situation has little to do with Maureen's death, so they turn their attention back on the donut spokesperson who had died – discovering that she had liposuction. Mick, Beth and Talbot go to the plastic surgeon Dr Anders (Edoardo Ballerini) who did the procedure, only for him to "vamp out" once he's provoked and tear up his own office. Mick, now a puny human, can't do anything to stop his rampage. Anders kidnaps Anders and Talbot, but Mick is left alone (why?) and gets stitched up by Guillermo. It also becomes clear that Dr Anders has been siphoning rare blood types from his clients and selling them on.

At his apartment, Mick prepares to go after Anders alone, but Josef makes him realize he wouldn't stand a chance as a human (by effortlessly disabling him). Mick is forced to agree, so persuades Josef to turn him back into a vampire. Josef obliges and the pair head to Anders' office (where he has Anders and Beth tied and blindfolded on the floor), and together they lead an assault on Anders and his vampire colleagues.

Afterwards, Beth isn't sure Talbot will be able to let all the unanswered questions lie – as he was blindfolded and unable to see Josef and Mick as vampires. She's also sorry Mick had to turn back into a vampire to save her, as she knows how much he relished being human again. But she lets him know it's not the vampire/human divide that's keeping them apart: it's just him.

Fated To Pretend was indicative of Moonlight's general problem: the procedural elements are either bland or ridiculously strained and nonsensical. This episode required suspension of disbelief (the easily-founded data-packed memory stick with the easiest password ever) and once again relied on Guitar Hero-playing geek Logan (David Blue) to push the plot on with technical mumbo-jumbo genius. And the red herring subplot with the Morrow family didn't make much sense, as it relied on Bonnie going to extraordinary lengths to snitch on her father – when an anonymous call to the cops would have sufficed!

But, as usual, you tend to latch onto the vampire and romantic elements to pull you through the quagmire of half-baked ideas. It was great fun seeing Mick adjust to life as a human and the vamp-powered fight sequences are now very accomplished – although the amount of hissing and snarling puts H.R Geiger's Alien to shame! I was disappointed to see a Josh replacement turn up so quickly in Talbot, but his dislike of Mick might lend the show some freshness. We'll have to see where it goes – which won't be far, given there are just a few episodes left until the curtain comes down.

Overall, this was disappointing after a strong run of mythology-heavy stories just recently. While unoriginal, Moonlight's silly-but-entertaining when it tackles vampirism, the Mick-Beth romance is quite engaging (in a sugary way), but the plots are often unable to craft a water-tight procedural. And that's certainly the case here.


13 May 2008
LivingTV, 10.00 pm