Moonlightaholics

The little half-smile he gives her when Leni is hugging him is so sad and apologetic... but it still gets me that he left her sitting on the floor. MEN!

You are so right. I could watch that over and over. (No, really.)

We do watch it over and over!

There were so many wonderful elements in this episode

I am always surprised with how open Mick is about his abilities around humans--when Josh walked him through the scene, he spots and correctly interprets details that the police had missed (the number of shooters, that smoke makes a good silent partner, and the way Lenni exited the building--all good detective work, but the presence of estrogen in the blood is pure mobile vampire lab and he had no way of knowing that outside of his gorgeous nose).

Jenna

Oh, man. I missed the party.

Another point that I adored here was how Beth showed her growing attraction for Mick. Her heart was in her eyes, how could Josh not know what was happening. We didn't know all the rules, and I'm sure that she was partly responding to basic vamp appeal, partly to half forgotten memory, partly to sensing a fascinating story here and partly to this enigmatic, gorgeous guy who didn't respond to her as she expected.

The scene when Beth went home, walked into her apartment and lost it was one of the most powerful in the early days of the series. I don't think that she could entirely say why at this point, but her heart was already fully engaged.

When she arrived at the motel after Lenni's call, and is in the bathroom with Mick, volunteering to feed him because he needs it, she tells him that she wants to do it, then 'Look' and from the movement of her head, she said something else but the lines were changed. I wonder what she was originally going to say there.

At the end, JoshBeth is no longer a happy place for Beth. She recognizes at some level that the emotional landscape of her world is changing.

Jenna

Mick is trying to keep his emotional barriers in place, but really doesn't want to.

That oft quoted line from the voiceover at the end that goes something like, 'maybe it was her blood in my veins that let me feel her--her very living heart--or maybe we've always been connected'



I miss them

jen wrote:When she arrived at the motel after Lenni's call, and is in the bathroom with Mick, volunteering to feed him because he needs it, she tells him that she wants to do it, then 'Look' and from the movement of her head, she said something else but the lines were changed. I wonder what she was originally going to say there.

I can't remember where I heard this, perhaps at the Paley Center Moonlight Night or from Trevor. Perhaps someone else remembers, but I do know it was Beth saying something along the lines of "I give blood to the Red Cross all the time. I can definitely give up blood to save you." That is obviously NOT the exact words she said. Does anyone have the script handy from Fever? It might be in there.

I remember that it was along those lines but that it was said in a joking manner. It just didn't fit the mood of the scene so they took it out.

Thank you both so much!!!

I have wondered about that. Finding Moonlight post cancellation has meant I have missed a lot of stuff like that.

Jenna

I was never really a fan of Fever but I liked it a lot more this time. The first time I saw it I remember I was in Alabama on a retreat at EWTN. Aside from the Beth feeding Mick this was a very good episode for Josh. It showcased what kind of man he was and makes you see what Beth saw in him. He just really never had a chance once Beth met Mick. Although whatever they used for the ice cubes in the tub was ridiculous Poor Mick was so desperate not to feed it finally took Beth's common sense The fact that it was a Josefless episode probably originally colored my feelings.

I've re-watched this but haven't yet had the time to write down my thoughts.... but I did see something in the episode that I'd never noticed before!

I remember the first time I watched this, I wondered why the seemingly abandoned motel had a working ice machine. Later I remember hearing somewhere that the motel was actually supposed to be under renovation, which would explain why there was ice in the machine, and also why there was no one out there on a Sunday. But I never noticed anything in the episode that would indicate that was the case ....until this viewing! This time, I finally saw the ladders leaning up against the wall, the plastic on the windows, the supplies piled on the roof, and the "closed for renovations" sign on the office door. I never noticed any of that before.

Shadow wrote:I've re-watched this but haven't yet had the time to write down my thoughts.... but I did see something in the episode that I'd never noticed before!

I remember the first time I watched this, I wondered why the seemingly abandoned motel had a working ice machine. Later I remember hearing somewhere that the motel was actually supposed to be under renovation, which would explain why there was ice in the machine, and also why there was no one out there on a Sunday. But I never noticed anything in the episode that would indicate that was the case ....until this viewing! This time, I finally saw the ladders leaning up against the wall, the plastic on the windows, the supplies piled on the roof, and the "closed for renovations" sign on the office door. I never noticed any of that before.

I had noticed the equipment and the "closed for renovations" sign before, but I never made the connection that it was a Sunday and that was why no one else was around! I assume they broke into the actual hotel room.

I rewatched this recently, too. It still bothers me that when Mick was going through the crime scene with Josh (and with other police on scene) that Mick didn't seem to keep his vampire skills very hidden. He sniffs the blood on the floor and then tells Josh it's not Leni's because there isn't any estrogen in the blood? And Josh just takes that in stride? And, after Mick does his vampire jump down the fire escape (btw, where were all the people in that alley that the perp saw when he tried to chase after Leni?), Josh looks out the window, sees Mick on the ground already, knowing someone couldn't climb down the fire escape stairs that quickly, and he just shrugs. Which is I guess what we all have to do when we watch it!

At the diner, I always expected that woman walking out of the women's restroom with her little girl and meeting Mick walking INTO it to report him to the management. Especially considering she must have seen/known that Leni had just walked in there. Even if this was 10 years ago, that should have raised some red flags!

And Beth's crying seemed very fake to me; she did a better job in other episodes.

But all this nitpicking is not to say I don't like this episode. I really do! And I love the scene at the end where Josh kisses Beth's bandaged bite marks, repeats Mick's phrase of "we make a pretty good team" and Beth's reactions: to Josh's face and then her expression when he walks away and can't see her.

I absolutely adored this episode when I first watched it, and fell totally in love with Moonlight after watching it. ( I had thought I loved Moonlight before, but this was a whole other level.) I'm not sure if I even noticed the oddness of the ice cubes the first time I watched it, I was so caught up in the story! Though I watched it so many times during that first year, it's a little hard to remember exactly what I noticed, or missed, the very first time. I do remember feeling as if the show had really come together during this episode, that the show truly now knew what it was and where it was going. (I still feel that way after re-watching, too, even though I now know how crazy things still were behind the scenes.)

On re-watch, I still adored this episode. One of the first things I noticed was how comfortable Mick and Beth were with each other, compared to how they had been in the previous episodes. There were plenty of awkward moments for them to get through, but there was a connection between them here I just hadn't felt before. It also felt to me that this was the first really strong story in the series. (I did find myself wondering why I felt that way about the story, since there weren't really fewer plot holes than there were in the other episodes. I suppose it's because I found the story to be so emotionally satisfying.) I really loved the production, as well. So many things came together in this episode, like the music .... they had used good songs at the end before, but previously I'd found the incidental music to be kind of jarring. In Fever, there was such good use of multiple songs, "Vanished", "Just Like Everyone" and "Into Dust" all used at the absolute perfect moments. And for the first time I really liked the incidental music as well, especially the music used during the bathtub scene... it was just exquisite.

This was a great episode for Josh, too. We already knew he was a good guy, but this episode really made it clear how devoted he was to his job and how courageous he was. I really enjoyed the scenes where Mick and Josh were together ... talk about awkward! Mick's jealousy was quite obvious, but he did manage to stay civil. The scene where Mick went through the safe house was very striking. We'd seen Mick "smell the past" before, but there was something especially vivid about the way he did it here. It seemed more that he was experiencing what had happened than that he was just seeing it. It was so chilling seeing how the police were gathering evidence and trying to figure what happened .... while Mick knew exactly what had happened and had, in a way, lived through it. Mick also was very blunt about presenting what had actually happened, either because he was trying to show off for Josh out of jealousy, or maybe because of the intensity of the past he'd just experienced. It was probably foolish of him to mention detecting estrogen in the blood, but I don't really see where that would be dangerous. Josh would figure he's either got an amazing sense of smell, or that he's a charlatan (I had the impression Josh felt as if he'd hired a psychic) ... it doesn't seem likely anyone would leap to a vampire conclusion. (And we already know that Mick isn't exactly "extremely careful' about concealing his secret, either.) I think jumping down the fire escape was a lot more foolish, and was certainly dangerous, but still, it totally seems like something Mick would do. (And maybe, with his vampire senses, he actually knew that no one would see him do it? Hmm.) And wow, I sure did love it when he did that! Vampire jumping scenes are awesome.

One thing about Josh's actions that I didn't think about until this viewing was the way he slugged his assistant when he found out he was the leak. It was a very satisfying moment, but it occurred to me this time that Josh probably really damaged his case against the guy by doing that. But overall, what a great episode for Josh this was.

Leni was also a wonderful character, and I thought the actress did a brilliant job playing her. I loved Mick's interactions with Leni, and had to smile when Mick said that sort of thing was not his forte. He was so compassionate toward her, and he really did understand her so well. (In fact his interaction with her kind of convinced me that he'd grown up with a much younger sister.) The moment when he realized Leni was pregnant was just so lovely.... and he even did a pretty good job explaining, with logic, how he'd known that! And oh, that moment in the restroom when Leni asked if Mick had kids. The expression on Mick's face was just heartbreaking.

I particularly loved the little moments that reminded me of Mick's actual age, like the way he tipped his hat to the woman and little girl leaving the restroom. (And how wonderful it was to contrast that bit of ritual politeness with the fact that he was barging into the womens' restroom.) It was quite an awkward moment, but I wasn't surprised that the woman didn't report him; it actually didn't even occur to me that she might. (Maybe that's because I was so charmed by the hat-tipping; now that MLC mentioned it, it sure does seem like that would be a risk.) And how much I loved Mick's voice-over about his experience in the Battle of the Bulge! Considering Mick's age, knowing that he was a young man during World War II, there was just no way he wouldn't have been caught up in it, and I was SO hoping that the show would acknowledge that. I can't really describe how happy I was when it did! And that was another amazing contrast, Mick's description of the freezing cold and frostbite he'd experienced back then versus the terrible heat that was killing him now.

And there were such great vampire moments too, like the voice-over when Mick admitted that if things got too bad, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from feeding on Leni. That's so horrific to think about, that no matter how totally he was committed to protecting her, no amount of will power could stop that from happening. It really brought home why Mick hates his vampire state so much, since we'd seen so much of how useful being a vampire could be. (I did find myself wondering if Mick was right about that, or if maybe he had more self control than he knew, but it seems like he was probably correct about that.)

The bathtub scene was amazing, and the ending scene was, somehow, even better. Now that I've watched Fever's ending again, I think I can safely say that it is my absolute favorite Moonlight ending. "Into Dust" is utterly perfect in the scene, and Mick and Beth leaning on each side of the door, so very close to each other and yet so far apart, was possibly the most beautiful scene in the show. I love that they didn't see or speak to each other, and we only heard Mick's voice-over.

And, going on to the little issues the episode had, I was once again too caught up in the story to really notice them (though I did notice all the signs that the motel was undergoing renovation, at last!) The ice cubes somehow never bothered me all that much, except for the weird way they never, ever melted. (It must have taken Beth over an hour to get there, Mick was burning up with fever, and the ice cubes didn't melt?) Of course, perhaps Leni kept on bringing in more buckets of ice, and we just didn't see that. The other thing that I thought was odd in my early viewings was the way Beth answered her phone when Leni called ... it seemed very odd that she said "Beth Turner." When I watched this years ago, I'd never had a smart phone, so it didn't occur to me to wonder why Beth didn't notice this was Mick's phone calling her. I wondered about that, this time, but then it occurred to me that maybe Leni wasn't using Mick's phone. I don't remember her ever giving back the cop's phone, so maybe that was the one she was using, and Beth might not so readily have remembered that name. (However, I did often wonder why the motel didn't have a land line.)

It did occur to me at some point to wonder why Beth hadn't prepared, and brought blood bags with her, or why Mick hadn't had Leni call Josef instead, but on reflection I think what happened in the episode actually made more sense. Mick was obsessed then with protecting Leni, and I can't imagine him letting Josef get near her at that time. (And he was in such bad shape he definitely wasn't thinking clearly .... it seemed like he just wanted to see Beth once more before he died.) And even if he had been thinking clearly, how would Mick have relayed through Leni how Beth should go about procuring blood bags? Beth wouldn't have known where to get them, and she certainly had no problem with the idea of giving her own blood to Mick. I wondered, this time, if she'd been planning to give her own blood to Mick ever since she got the call.....


Scorecard so far:
Mick saves Beth--- II
Beth saves Mick--- lll

There's something else about Fever that interested me that I wanted to mention, that I forgot in my last post (hard to believe I forgot anything in that epic, I know!) I thought it was rather odd and interesting that they put the bathtub biting scene from near the end right at the beginning ... I can't remember the name of that technique, but it's not uncommon, and I almost always dislike it when it's done, because I think it gives away too much. But in this case I thought it worked quite well. I've been wondering if the reason it worked for me in Fever is because it wasn't what really ended up happening, but a hallucination. (Still, they used the same technique in Fleur de Lis and it also seemed to work pretty well, and that was what really happened.)

I do often wonder if it would have worked better without that early scene. (If only there was a way to watch the episode, edited just a bit, for the first time again, and find out!)