By Brandon Nolta

If a vampire is sitting in a tub filled with ice and giving the ceiling a thousand-yard stare, that’s a fairly good sign that things aren’t going too well for said vampire. That’s where Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin) finds himself at the beginning of this week’s episode, and if you’re confused, don’t worry. Like every self-respecting detective, Mick’s got a noir-inflected voiceover to explain it all, complete with flashbacks. Harrison Ford’s probably grateful his turn in BLADE RUNNER didn’t have the flashbacks; the voiceover sucked badly enough as it was.

Anyway, back to our episode already in progress. Thanks to Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), the only mortal who knows Mick’s a member of the Nosferatu Nation, Mick’s got a missing persons case. There’s an arms dealer on trial for murder, and the main witness is hiding out in a safe house, up until an assassin ventilates the place. The witness, the former nanny for the arms dealer, leaves town on the good foot, and Mick manages to find her and convinces her to return for the trial. The fact that she’s pregnant by the murder victim is just one more complication in the ongoing thrill ride that is Mick’s life this week.

Unfortunately, the assassin is a persistent fellow, and manages to track Mick and the witness thanks to a leak in the D.A.’s office. In the act of losing them, Mick and his charge end up stranded in the desert, which tends to have more sunlight than vampires like to have. Not a good situation for our hero, who is dire need of blood, and with his only source being his pregnant and fearful witness … it’s a piss-poor situation. Until Beth shows up. Will he feed off her to save the witness? If he does, will he be able to stop? What the hell do you think? It’s CBS, for heaven’s sake; if it were going to end in blood and tears, we’d be watching it on FX or HBO or something.


Despite the ham-handed voiceover that O’Loughlin is saddled with, this episode feels smoother than its predecessors, mostly because of a few scattered moments between Myles and O’Loughlin. Myles, especially, gets the chance to do some nice understated emoting, showing her growing attraction to Nick balanced against her uneasy horror at the predatory side of Mick’s nature. So far, the show seems to be meandering toward romance, so expect MOONLIGHT to go deep into treacle soon. When it happens—and on the Tiffany Network, how can it fail to do so?—be sure to pack a snorkel.

Before it does, however, there’s enjoyment to be had between Myles’ sexy charm and O’Loughlin’s low-key approach to ruthless predatory acts. MOONLIGHT is fitting into a low-key stride, and unless they go über-violent with it (always a possibility with bloodsuckers; NEAR DARK should be the prime example of that, or perhaps the latest entry in the undead sweeps, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT), here’s hoping CBS in its finite wisdom keeps it on the laid-back tip.