Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Moonlight: Sonata

Mick: "I can't close the door on Beth."

Throughout the series, the door to Mick's apartment has symbolized the division between Mick and Beth. He's a vampire. She's a human. What sort of future can they have?

On the one hand, there is the inherent inequality in human/vampire relationships, exemplified by Josef and his "freshie." Beth was fascinated, revolted and upset when she walked in on Mick and Josef munching on Simone. Beth wants Mick to be faithful romantically, but that's not all — she apparently wants blood fidelity as well but at the same time, she's uncomfortable with the very idea. (I just made up that term, 'blood fidelity.' I like it.)

On the other hand, Mick turning Beth so that they can be together forever has drawbacks, and not just risking an eternal coma like Josef's Sarah. What happened to Emma and Jackson certainly makes eternal love less attractive. Boredom and infidelity killed Emma. Well, that and stupidity; she should have kept her mouth shut. And frankly, Jackson should have walked away.

But anyway, back to the door symbolism. Throughout the series, we've often seen Beth coming to Mick's door and getting turned away. I thought it was lovely that in the end, Mick came to Beth's door, and she finally let him in. They're together, finally, behind that closed bedroom door. Mick and Beth overcame what was separating them. They don't have to go the way of Josef and Simone, or Jackson and Emma; they can make their own rules. Will Mick eventually turn Beth? We'll never know. I think we all have to draw our own conclusions. (Do you think they will? Post a comment!)

Even though it ended sadly with a double execution, I got a charge out of the impromptu vampire posse carrying out a prison break on the streets of L.A. It was just fun. It reminded me of one of Anne Rice's early vampire books – I think it was Queen of the Damned, where a bunch of vampires got together and decided what to do about a seriously problematic rogue vamp, like an undead summit of sorts. And it also allowed us to say goodbye to all of vamps in the series.

Where would Moonlight have gone if it had gotten a second season? Yes, there was that list of vampire names turning up on Talbot's desk, and that might have been interesting. I'm sure Mick and Beth would have had romantic growing pains as they continued to meet clandestinely at the morgue. I bet we would have seen the return of Coraline and the French Royal Vampire Family, and I bet Logan would have become a cast member. Maybe the situation with Josef's beloved Sarah would have been resolved in an interesting and unpredictable way.

Actually, I would have loved learning more about the Cleaners, because they rocked.

Bits and pieces:

— Jackson was played by Jonathan LaPaglia from the sci-fi series Seven Days. And the head Cleaner was played by the wonderful Claudia Black from Farscape. With Alex O'Loughlin, that made three Aussies in this episode doing American accents.

— Emma and Jackson were married for 150 years. Mick and Coraline were married for 33 years. I wonder if they were actually together for that entire time?

— Josef founded Hearst College. He said he lost a bet with William Randolph.

— Lisa the permanent co-ed vampire said she'd been in college for forty years. I can kind of see that. But how does she pay for it? Student loans are forever. Mine certainly is.

— All those wedding licenses. No one ever wondered about that? Mick did say they rarely had human guests, but I thought vampire secrecy was important. Jackson and Emma just died because of it, didn't they?

Quotes:

Beth: "I feel like I'm back at my high school prom."
Josef: "You know, prom wasn't really big back in the 1700s. High school, either. The plague. The plague was big."

Mick: "We call them 'freshies'."
Beth: "Is it like a paid arrangement, or friends with benefits?"



Josef: "Hi, Beth. We were just having drinks."
Beth: "I can see that."
Simone: "We should go."
Josef: "But this is so awkward. I love awkward."
Mick and Josef "sharing" Simone was surprisingly sexy.

Mick: "Police found blood on Dominic's body. I was just making sure it wasn't Simone's."
Beth: (sarcastically) "They have laboratories for that."

Beth: "You okay?"
Mick: "Yeah. Well, I got hit in the face with a sacred ass paddle."
Beth: "Karma."

Beth: "It's so romantic."
Mick: "They probably have a double wide freezer as well."

Simone: "We're just a blip in their lifespan. To love us is to watch us die."

Mick: "Questions?"
Logan: "Can my code name be Lando Calrissian?"

Logan: "Leeeeeroy Jenkins!"
(I'm told this is really hilarious if you know World of Warcraft. I don't know World of Warcraft.)



This series had so much potential, and Alex O'Loughlin, Sophia Myles and Jason Dohring were so great together. Moonlight just missed the return of the vampire craze by months, too; I bet the CBS execs were kicking themselves. "Vampires are hot now! We threw away hot vampires!"

Four out of four freshies,

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

2 comments:

  1. I doubt Mick would change Beth. The thing with vampire series is that apart from very minor characters (like harmony on Buffy) or people we just met nobody get turned into a vampire. You're either a vampire from the start or a human (or a non-vampire supernatural being) till the end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your great review of my favorite episode of my favorite vampire show. Glad you enjoyed it.

    I do most sincerely hope the CBS execs experienced some regret after prematurely cancelling our little show. Wouldn't mind swinging "the sacred ass paddle" in their direction myself.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.