Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 7: The Ringer

[Luxe de Luxe]

yep.... this scene is all gooey goodness as far as I'm concerned.....

firstly, a rattled Mick is a sexy Mick (ok, granted, an [insert anything you like here] Mick is a sexy Mick). And I'm with grace... he knows on a deep level that this is his wife, its funny, because usually the most sensible thing to rely on is your senses, but his senses here keep pointing him in the wrong direction - she's human, she's human - and this is why he's so confused.

And I just love it when Josef gets firm - someday Mick.....

Good point, Luxe. Yes, Mick's senses are telling hime one thing but his gut is telling him another. So the vamp would have to say, 'no', this is not Coraline (like Josef is) but the man, the PI knows this is Coraline. Besides the fact that if it IS Coraline, he just might have his prayers answered - there's a way back - and he SO wants that to be true.

ITA GA. Wanting to believe something is an incredibly powerful thing.

You raise a good point about vampire vs human in this. Perhaps Mick was readier to believe it was Coraline not only because he wanted to so much, but because he'd been trying to hold on to his human side. JOsef, all vamp, just dismissed the notion because it didn't make sense from his world view.

(BTW - I've always suspected that Josef knew about the cure.. don't know why, just do.)

[wpgrace]

Luxe... I agree; it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to believe that Josef, who was likely still in Europe during the Terror, didn't know some of the French vamps were passing themselves off as human SOMEHOW. Almost impossible to believe he didn't know Coraline's bloodline too. Would he have been able to add the numbers and come up with an organic mortal cure? Maybe not... but he had to know SOMETHING, some masking device existing, etc. He just didn't think Mick needed to know... or something like that. But Joe Cool could NOT have been ignorant about all of it. He HAD to know something...

And GA... I know the jacket pics were just up on deck and all, but still you posted em... and he looks SOOOO good in that scene, does he not???

[coco]

I too think Josef knew a LOT more about the cure than he let on about.

[Luxe de Luxe]

Luxe... I agree; it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to believe that Josef, who was likely still in Europe during the Terror, didn't know some of the French vamps were passing themselves off as human SOMEHOW. Almost impossible to believe he didn't know Coraline's bloodline too. Would he have been able to add the numbers and come up with an organic mortal cure? Maybe not... but he had to know SOMETHING, some masking device existing, etc. He just didn't think Mick needed to know... or something like that. But Joe Cool could NOT have been ignorant about all of it. He HAD to know something...

And GA... I know the jacket pics were just up on deck and all, but still you posted em... and he looks SOOOO good in that scene, does he not???

I think you're right grace and ... going with the darkfic theme of Coffee House.... I suspect that Josef kept info about the cure to himself for completely selfish reasons, because he didn't want to lose Mick. Mick is Josef's only true friend, and J is alone in the world.

[PNWgal]

Again - I think Josef knows more about A LOT of things than he's letting on to Mick, the cure being one of them.

This scene is just another reason why The Ringer is one of my favorite episodes - I love any interaction with Mick and Josef. I especially love Josef's smack-upside-the-head dose of reality of "somday, you're going to have to stop hating what you are".

Although - a wise old fellow ML'er had a theory that Mick didn't hate what he was. Mick hated enjoying what he was.

[Luxe de Luxe]

..... I've got it! I know why I suspect that J knew.....

In this scene, I think Josef makes a freudian slip. He knows it exists. He responds to Mick by saying "forget about the cure, there is no cure" (or something like that). He doesn't refer to it as "that foolishness" or "that nonsense", he refers to it as The Cure... you can practically hear the capitals in the way he says it. That would only happen if you knew something did exist.

[Luxe de Luxe]

Although - a wise old fellow ML'er had a theory that Mick didn't hate what he was. Mick hated enjoying what he was.

Nodding head in total agreement. That's why dark Mick is so fascinating.

[wpgrace]

Although - a wise old fellow ML'er had a theory that Mick didn't hate what he was. Mick hated enjoying what he was.

I LOVE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[redwinter101]

I love speculating about what Josef did and didn't know. I think he had to have known something - even if not the specifics. And we know that he knew Lance so it's not really a stretch.

As for Mick and Coraline, I've always thought that his body knew Morgan was Coraline; it just took his brain a little while to catch up because there was so much conflicting information. I also think he was torn between wanting it to be true, and not. Well, that's hardly news as he confessed as much to Beth so I'll shut up now.

Red

[wpgrace]

I love speculating about what Josef did and didn't know. I think he had to have known something - even if not the specifics. And we know that he knew Lance so it's not really a stretch.

As for Mick and Coraline, I've always thought that his body knew Morgan was Coraline; it just took his brain a little while to catch up because there was so much conflicting information. I also think he was torn between wanting it to be true, and not. Well, that's hardly news as he confessed as much to Beth so I'll shut up now.

Red

Oh never shut up, Red ... there are those of us who ought to shut up , but you are not among that group...

[GuardianAngel]

I have kind of fallen off the rails here but haven't given up. I hope you haven't either. On this discussion or on me.

In order to make this less time consuming for me (and therefore easier for me to make updates) I am going to do less screencaps and try to initiate more discussion.

So here goes....the ending to the Ringer.

Mick and Morgan drive up to the entrance to the cemetery and they have a discussion about how bizarre this whole thing is. Being in the right place at the right time? What are the chances? Morgan mentions that Beth thinks it's the angle they need to make the editor happy.







Morgan wants to know what the deal is with Beth and Mick. He says there is no deal. Morgan replies that Beth likes him. He counters with the fact that Beth has a boyfriend. Morgan insists that it's there if he wants it. Mick asks what about her. She doesn't answer but gets out of the car and says that she'll handle the guards. Mick watches her and then flashes back.



Human Mick goes to Coraline's house all dressed up. He wants to know why she left him the other night. As he asks her why he notices that she has a man there, in the house. He says he 'gets it' and leaves. Coraline watches him leave.









As Morgan talks with the guards Mick gets out of the car and goes into the cemetery and enters the mausoleum. He searches with a flashlight up and down the halls until he finds the empty shelf where Matola's ashes should be. He goes to leave, hears a noise and is attacked by Matola.







Matola leaves and Mick attacks him outside. They fight. Mick realizes Matola is a vampire. Mick vamps out.







Morgan comes upon them and shouts out, scared. Mick is distracted by her and Matola vanishes. Morgan takes off and Mick runs after her.



He catches her. She's freaking out. He grabs her arm and realizes the cut she received when she was robbed is bleeding. How can that be? How did she not heal? Mick sniffs at it and then goes at her again, looking for her tattoo which he cannot find. Morgan takes off again. There are guards about. Mick gets back to his car.







Next, we see Mick back home with Beth. She wants to know what the hell is going on. Mick tells her that Morgan is the spitting image of his ex-wife and that he was convinced Morgan was her up until the cemetery.



He explains that Coraline died just like the woman in the fire. Beth points out that that woman was murdered. So was Coraline. Beth asks by who. Mick admits it was by him.



She wants to know how that happened. Mick realizes out loud that Beth doesn't know (doesn't remember). She gets angry. How could she know? Instead of answering her question Mick walks away and asks her a new one. Did she ever have an intense affair? She struggles to answer the question. He tells her she'd know if she had one. it's like an infection. It burns you up.



It makes you do things you wouldn't normally do. Mick has another flashback. He's drunk and goes back to see Coraline.



She comes out but won't let him in. He walks around the windows, they circle each other. Finally he picks up a chair and throws it through one of the windows and steps him. They grab each other passionately.









Mick tells Beth he never thought he would feel that way again - insane. But then Morgan showed up. Yup. Mick screwed things up. He tells her he didn't know what was in his head and what wasn't.



Beth figures out that Mick tried to get Morgan to reveal herself in the cemetery. He says yes, but there was no tattoo.



Beth asks if Mick was disappointed. Mick has no answer. Or is his lack of response his answer?



Beth gives a report on the fire and deaths. When she finishes Maureen tells her she did a good job. Beth says she has to thank Morgan who is standing on the sideline.



Morgan gives her a wicked look and leaves.



Next we see Morgan sitting in front of a mirror, removing makeup from the back of her shoulder. A fleur de lis tattoo is revealed. GASP!!




Here are a few questions: What's your take on Matola? I think he was the man at Coraline's house when Mick came by. Am I wrong? Is there no connection? Or has he been in this with Coraline all along? Might he even be one of her brothers?

Is the drunk Mick who throws a chair through a window a peek at a very passionate Mick we rarely see? Is this more who he really is? Or is it a matter of a female vampire's allure which drives him over the edge? It would seem that he only gets this way with Coraline.

[redwinter101]

Oh I love this section so much - probably my favourite of the whole season, for so many reasons.

Firstly, Mick is all over the place. He doesn't know whether he's coming or going - his sense of self, and control over what's going on around him, isn't just shattered, it's disintegrating and getting worse. Each new action, new event, adds mystery upon turmoil. And beneath it all is his belief that Morgan is Coraline. Why is she playing games? What does she want from him? And with each question he asks about her, come more questions about himself. Does he want her to be Coraline or not? How does he feel about her now? How does it affect his burgeoning relationship with Beth? I thought it was so revealing that he was so insistent to Morgan about Beth having a boyfriend. He didn't deny his feelings but he still wanted Morgan to know that he and Beth weren't together.

The flashbacks are wonderful too. Coraline looks divine in the scene where Mick turns up to find another man there (I do think it was Mottola) - all butter-wouldn't-melt seduction, but with a softness that we didn't often see.

And then, oh my oh my, the chair through the window - preceded by Mick's wonderful sly smile through the glass. It. is. just. divine. Divine. A love like that - a passion that has burned across decades - it's no wonder Mick is all over the place.

The ending - Mick's indrawn breath and closed eyes - said it all to me. He desperately wanted Morgan to be Coraline, at the same time as he desperately wanted her not to be. The conversation with Beth about an intense affair was really brutal; he was basically saying to her that she couldn't understand the depth of his passion. Bearing in mind where they were at the beginning of this episode, Mick wondering if they had a future, that things were starting to come together for them, it just goes to show quite how much Morgan has disrupted Mick's equilibrium. That's why she was such an important character - because she brought conflict, she brought drama, she made Mick question everything. Enormous kudos to Shannyn for the cemetery scene - she played it with absolute conviction - it's no wonder Mick was convinced.

And GA, this:

is just a wonderful cap. Totally and utterly enthralling.

Red

[GuardianAngel]

I agree, Red. Coraline is a wonderful character - she brings such passion out of Mick. And you're right, Mick didn't know whether he was coming or going. As Josef tells him, Coraline really knows how to yank his chain.

I'm sure his feelings were mixed about wanting Morgan to be Coraline. Can you imagine all the stuff going through his head. If she IS Coraline, he didn't kill her - he didn't murder his own wife. But if she's not dead Beth could be in danger. And so could he. If she IS Coraline, she knows a way to become human again. She's found a way back. If she is NOT Coraline, he's losing his mind. But nothing has really changed. Status quo. And he's just traumatized an innocent woman. AND let her in on his vampire secret. But then, how is Matolla a vampire? Only a vampire could have fought him like that.

Isn't that pic gorgeous. It's so.....Shakespearean.

[redwinter101]

And if she isn't Coraline, then he's just kissed some random stranger, just because she looks like Coraline. where does that leave him and Beth?

Red

[GuardianAngel]

He hasn't kissed her yet. LOL