Beauty and the Beast, The CW

Review: Beauty and the Beast Re-Imagined on The CW

Beauty and the Beast, The CW
Jay Ryan and Kristin Kreuk of Beauty and the Beast | The CW

UPDATE:  CW has picked up Beauty & the Beast for three more scripts.

I took a gander at The CW’s newly re-imagined version of Beauty and the Beast starring Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) and Jay Ryan (Terra Nova) in the title roles and I’ve got to say, I rather enjoyed it.

The show has gotten mixed reviews, but I’m a sucker for romance, supernatural or otherwise. Ryan smolders on screen as Vincent Keller, and the sparks fly with co-star Kreuk as Detective Catherine “Cat” Chandler.

Having never really gotten into the previous Beauty and the Beast incarnation starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton, I really had nothing to compare this show with (aside from the fairy tale and Disney’s version of it).

In this version of the age-old tale, Keller is a beast by human intervention. Once a human guinea pig in a military super-soldier experiment, Keller is targeted for death by the military after the experiment goes awry. See, when he is enraged, he’s unable to control his super-human strength and heightened senses.

Under the guise of his supposed death, Keller returns home but must remain underground and in the shadows as he is still a hunted man. He does so with the help of his childhood friend, Forbes (Austin Basis).

The story begins in 2003, when Cat is just a lowly student studying for her LSATs and working in a bar. She is witness to her mother’s grisly murder, and just as she’s about to meet the same fate as her mom, someone — or something — races in to save her. Over the years, no one believes that her savior is some human monster;  everyone chalks it up to her hysteria and a forest animal. Fast forward to present day where we find Cat a detective with the NYPD where she once again encounters her rescuer to find out it is Vincent.

So, I can suspend disbelief that this gorgeously hot guy is a “beast,” and while they try to “ugly” him up with a scar and some prosthetics when he goes beastly, he’s still just eye candy to me. I can also suspend disbelief that he has lived in seclusion (somewhat) in an abandoned loft with his buddy (who has an Iron Man-Stark Industries-type setup in his living room). I can suspend disbelief that he roams the streets at night, saving innocent people from various crimes.

What I can’t believe is that Cat makes detective with the NYPD in less than ten years?  From once being a student studying for her LSATs to deciding to join the NYPD to being a beat cop to becoming a detective? I guess it can happen, but it seems highly unlikely. Funny that I couldn’t get past that bit of the storyline, yet the other things I could.

Putting that aside, however, the show held my interest enough to make me want to see what happens next week … and that’s a good thing.


Posted

in

by

Comments

3 responses to “Review: Beauty and the Beast Re-Imagined on The CW”

  1. Jane Boursaw Avatar

    I am so glad you said that about her being a detective! I thought the same thing – willing to believe the whole beast thing and super soldier thing and night-time vigilante thing. But she just seems way too young to have worked her way up the ranks as a detective. But yeah, I’m already a little obsessed with this show and will definitely keep watching. I know he’s working on an antidote, but he and Cat already have great chemistry.

  2. Ally1524 Avatar
    Ally1524

    I thought I’d check out your review since I heard Beauty and the Beast just got a full season order. I haven’t been able to watch the show because I’ve been working extra hours at DISH, but I plan to check it out. I already set it to record on my DISH Hopper, which has enough memory to save the entire season, so I can go back and catch up whenever I have time. Your review makes it sound pretty good, too. I’ll have to check it out sooner rather than later.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *