By Brandon Nolta
Imagine how screwed up Beth Turner (Sophia Myles) must feel right now. In short order, she finds a cute PI named Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin), starts to fall in love, finds out he’s a vampire, and while she’s processing that, she shortly finds out that he’s the guy that rescued her from a kidnapping when she was young. Who should show up right about this time? A dead ringer for the vampire ex (Shannyn Sossamon) that kidnapped her, and who Mick thought he’d killed. On top of Mick’s and Beth’s broiling hormones, this makes things less than transparent.
A couple of episodes ago, it was Mick who was obsessed with the ringer, a photographer named Morgan. This time around, it’s Beth who demonstrates this obsession two minutes into the episode by staking Morgan. Naturally, this needs some explaining, so we quickly flashback to the previous 24 hours, where Beth is stalking Morgan; now that Mick’s role in her childhood trauma has been clarified, she’s itching to find out if Morgan is really Coraline the 300-year-old vampire minx. By way of apology for giving her the bum’s rush a few TV days before—and as a way to keep an eye on her—Mick hires Morgan on as a photographer for a lucrative surveillance job. Unfortunately, the evidence Mick gathers leads him to think his client plans on whacking the surveillance target, which doesn’t sit so well with him. He decides to find out more, while Beth makes the same vow with regard to Morgan.
Of course, Beth finds out a few things, though whether they mean what she thinks they mean … well, it’s a TV drama. Use your best judgment. Meanwhile, Mick and Morgan are definitely sharing an attraction, which inevitably leads to what is euphemistically termed “public affection.” Will Beth be jealous? Well, as seen in the beginning of the show, she stakes Morgan. It would be stretching credulity to assume the little green-eyed monster doesn’t have a hand in it. Luckily for us, the show’s writers throw a change-up at the audience; this week’s nourish voiceover is performed by Beth, and it’s a nice switch in perspective to hear what Beth’s thinking. It would be cool if they did this more often.
When Beth makes a visit to Coraline’s old party house, she discovers that Morgan’s been doing a little photo stalking of her own: of Mick and Beth. Creepy. Not as interesting as Mick’s visit to the guy the surveillance target is sleeping with: the client’s son (and the target’s stepson; this ain’t that kind of show). What starts out as a mission of warning turns into an opportunity for Mick to get a lead salad; turns out the trophy wife and her stepson are planning to kill Mick’s client, who appears to seriously need it … but I digress. Things, as they usually do in vampire dramas, eventually come to a point. Modern romance is so hard …
It’s a creepy and disturbing episode, brought to a head nicely by Beth’s decision to stake the now-human Coraline, which has ramifications galore. The only real flaw is that Sossamon can’t act worth a damn, and is completely unbelievable as a powerful, deranged temptress. Pretty much derails the whole shebang, actually. If you can overlook that, however, it’s a powerful play in MOONLIGHT’s run, and should lead to future fun. Keep your eyes on the skies.