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Moonlight: Fleur de Lis

“It was a very complicated relationship.”

According to Josef, “Mick and Coraline’s relationship is one of those terrifying, completely self-destructive freak shows that you spend your whole life searching for, knowing that it can only end with one or both of you dead.” That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?

I anticipated hating this episode as soon as I realized that it was using two tricks typically used to generate interest out of a dull or poorly written plot: the internal monologue and the conclusion shown in the first few minutes (there must be a name for this. Is it prolepsis? Sort of?) The first is an indicator that the writers feel like the actor can’t do his job (even though Sophia Myles definitely can) or that the actions of the character will not be comprehended by a stupid viewer (even though this stupid viewer likes to think she could have followed the plot anyway.) The second is used to generate suspense where there is none.

But it worked. Mick and Beth decided to trick Coraline into revealing herself, and they did—finally. What they didn’t count on was Coraline wanting to be revealed. And what Beth didn’t count on was Coraline being human (oops!). That left us with quite a cliffhanger, since for most humans being stabbed through the heart with a stake is bad news.

Beth and Mick didn’t count on Mick’s excitement at realizing that Morgan was Coraline, either. The scene in the shower was tantalizing: is Mick still drawn to Coraline, or is he drawn to the possibility that there’s a cure for vampirism? His comments to Beth in the final scene could be read both ways. I guess we’ll find out in the next episode.

The plot of the week dovetailed nicely with the Mick-Coraline-Beth triangle. In the p.o.t.w., a son wants to sleep with his (step-)mother and kill his father. (There should be a play.) Beth has similar urges: She wants to kill her would-be stepmother and sleep with her father. But she’s not just epitomizing the Electra complex. She’s also coming to terms with her own personal tragedy, and she’s most hurt by Mick seemingly having forgotten it.

For the first time, I am very excited about the next episode.

Bites:

• Mick: “I’m on a special diet.”
Coraline: “Yeah, you and everybody else in this town.”

• Beth: “I had a boyfriend in college who taught me how to pick locks. He thought it was a neat party trick.” Really? It sounds like one of the dullest party tricks imaginable.

• Beth: “I guess immortals don’t shop at the Shoe Barn.”

• Coraline: “It was like pay-per-view, but with more hair.” Hilarious.

• Coraline: “There’s gotta be something for Beth to do. Maybe a threesome or something?”

• Josef: “Mick and Coraline’s relationship is one of those terrifying, completely self-destructive freak shows that you spend your whole life searching for, knowing that it can only end with one or both of you dead.”
Beth: “That’s your idea of love?”
Josef: “What can I say? I’m a romantic.”

And Pieces:

• Coraline was turned in the 1700s, and was branded as a courtesan. Literally.

• Coraline has a thing for musicians. Mick was a musician.

• The catty waiter was great. “Why do you keep meeting people at restaurants?” Why, indeed? And on patios, no less?

• Mick looking at wet Coraline through the glass shower door was a reversal of her looking at him through the window, and him falling into the pool, in “The Ringer.”

Three and a half out of four Freuds.

Josie Kafka is a full-time cat servant and part-time rogue demon hunter. (What's a rogue demon?)

3 comments:

  1. Hi Josie

    I have only ever commented once on Billie Doux. Don't know why that is because I love this site and think you all do an amazing job especially Billie. :-)

    Anyway you stated
    "I anticipated hating this episode as soon as I realized that it was using two tricks typically used to generate interest out of a dull or poorly written plot: the internal monologue and the conclusion shown in the first few minutes (there must be a name for this. Is it prolepsis? Sort of?) The first is an indicator that the writers feel like the actor can’t do his job (even though Sophia Myles definitely can) or that the actions of the character will not be comprehended by a stupid viewer (even though this stupid viewer likes to think she could have followed the plot anyway.) The second is used to generate suspense where there is none."

    Its called Media Res. I remember doing it in my English Literture course. Heres a wikipedia link -:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_medias_res.

    I don't actually mind when TV shows do this but as you said it is always used for suspense and sometimes there isn't any need to generate any (the story should do that itself). Some people see it as a cheap trick however I must admit that this episode used it well and I was waiting for you guys to review this episode as it was one of my favourite episode of Moonlight.

    All the way from the UK,
    Kaz :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Kaz,

    Thank you for your great comment and your research! I thought about whether or not it was starting in media res, but I decided that isn't quite it: in media res technically means in the middle of things--so when we meet Odysseus, he's almost done with his journey, and we learn both what came before that moment and what came after. Lost, too, starts in media res: we learn what happened to the characters before their time on the island and after they crashed.

    With this episode, though, we learn what came before, but not what came after. Maybe there's an in termina res? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kaz, lovely comment. Why did you wait so long? I know, I know -- we never miss anything, eliminating the need for comments. :) Seriously, lovely comment. Post some more!

    I loved this episode. I loved the Oedipus Rex parallel with Mick's client as the relationships between Mick, Coraline and Beth just kept shifting. Even though you know how it ends, the episode keeps the viewer off balance. I certainly wasn't expecting that joyful shower discovery scene the first time I saw it. And we're going, maybe Coraline is cool after all, and Beth stakes her?

    ReplyDelete

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