Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast: The Final Season has split fans of the hit show since it aired in its entirety more then a decade ago. Will time have killed off the nostalgia factor or will fans of the show flock to own a copy? Time will tell.

The reason the show was divided amongst fans occurred when the show lost one of its main characters and the show evolved from a romantic story for women to one that was geared more towards men. Regardless its obvious that the show simply lost steam in its final season as the show grew contrived by dialogue and forced emotion which eventually got the show cancelled.

Vincent (played by Ron Perlman of Hellboy), the man-beast, became a one dimensional creature in this collection. His character grew far to tragic for his own good and spent pretty much the entire season moping and becoming over dramatic about everything. The character just did not seem to work on a natural level and his poetic monologues at the start of a few episodes did not help the abysmal dialogue that went on throughout the show.

The introduction of two characters to the show was more then likely the shows biggest mistake, especially since the characters just didn’t seem to have purpose, as was apparent when considering their dialogue and or character. The first being Gabriel, the antagonist of the season, whose speeches seemed to go on forever and without purpose. The dramatic effect they were probably going for would have worked if only the writers would have remembered that less is more. As a villain he was mostly a shadow character that never really got his hands dirty or posed a real threat to anyone directly on a physical level. Next is the introduction of Special Investigator Diana Bennett (the new beauty of the show) whose introduction comes from a conversation between Joseph Maxwell, a long time friend and admirer of Catherine (Linda Hamilton), and a policeman. The dialogue between the two men leads you to believe that Bennett is a methodical take no prisoners kind investigator who works alone to avoid having her time wasted by inferior help. For her first two episodes it seems that this is exactly who Bennett is but as the show rolls on her methodical take no prisoners character is quickly driven to become weak and love struck by Catherine and Vincent’s story. Though Jo Anderson who plays Bennett gives her character as much life as she possibly can, the show just did not permit her character to bounce back.

The show has some redeeming value but for the most part the series was to over dramatic and sappy for my tastes. The time gap is the most trying for the show but what hurts it the most is the sudden switch in story and the decrease in quality when it comes to dialogue.