M & C appreciation thread 2

[mwj01]

Ooh they are gorgeous! Hard to pick a fave, but I have to say, you can almost see sparks flying off that elevator pic!

Thanks Phee!

[mwj01]

I'm still not sure how she had the strength to turn away from him in this scene! Well played Cora!

[wpgrace]

WOOT PHEE!!!!!! Beauties!!!!!

And Sister... she played that boy soooooo well... I couldn't have done ANY of it. I'd've been a mumbling bumbling idiot in his presence... so kudos to Cora from the get-go!

[mwj01]

No doubt Sis! I'd have flung that door open with all my might and...well...it wouldn't have looked as cool as Cora!

[wpgrace]

No doubt Sis! I'd have flung that door open with all my might and...well...it wouldn't have looked as cool as Cora!

Ah but you would've looked hot... and that's what really counts, huh?

[Emma-lee]

Thanks Phee and MJW for the wonderful decorations!!

There is no way that I could have turned away from him. And in those pictures, you can see the chemistry between them. How he even thought he wanted the blonde is beyond me,

[mwj01]

Found this review of FdL that I'd saved from when the show first ran and thought it would be appreciated here. A refreshingly atypical take imo. Enjoy!

http://www.pinkraygun.com/2007/11/30/mo ... ur-de-lis/

Moonlight: Fleur de Lis
By Heather Cee

To paraphrase Dinosaur Comics: Beth Turner is boring, Coraline is awesome.

When’s the last time you watched a show that so effortlessly flipped its own loyalties, and - probably - without meaning to? With the Mick/Beth relationship stretched to its complicated limits, and Mick’s angsty, romantic bastard routine playing itself out like a one-note pop song, the return of Coraline was like seeing Julie Andrews sway over the crest of a hill. Suddenly Beth was icy, Mick anything but, and the dark beauty with the fleur-de-lis tattoo was wreaking some intriguing emotional havoc in the span of a single hour.

This week it’s crystal clear that it was never the circumstances surrounding Coraline’s death that had such a hold on Mick, but the woman herself lingering in the P.I.’s bloodstream. We knew St. John and Coraline were given to spontaneous combustion at the start of their courtship, but to see their chemistry in full-blown action after her delusional attempt at winning him back and his setting her on fire?

Think about it: he set her on fire. Setting aside the limited options of tried and true vampire disposal, Mick’s breaking point - the kidnapping of Beth - leads him to dole out the most painful, horrific death possible to the woman he loves and hates in equal measure. She’s the demon he’s desperate to exorcise. And now she’s back, and human; the woman who was once the primary roadblock to Mick’s redemption may now be his best shot at salvation. And the girl who seemed to be his rescue from Coraline’s grip is now the woman who’s plunged a wooden stake right into that second chance’s heart.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: Beth Turner is our narrator this week, and she is pissed. She’s parked outside of Morgan’s apartment, binoculars in hand, when Mick meets her for a heart-to-heart on the particulars of his ex-wife. Mick may have half-heartedly convinced himself that Morgan is not Coraline, but Beth can’t shake her suspicions - particularly with Mick so enthralled with the mysterious photographer. Taking what little information Mick reluctantly offers up, Beth begins digging into Coraline/Morgan’s past, while Mick and Morgan join forces to tail a rich man’s wife suspected of an affair.

And by joining forces, I mean they generally fill any space they’re in with mad-crazy sexual tension and a tangible sense of personal history, even before Coraline gives up her game. Feel free to ignore the specifics of the case they’re working - the ‘ole rich husband thinks trophy wife is cheating, wife is cheating with rich man’s son, and our crack investigative team thinks the husband’s about to murder the wife, but in fact it’s the adulterous couple who are planning to kill the rich guy (your brain’s hurting from all that originality, innit?). It’s all about the sparks, and Mick’s surprisingly restrained unveiling - beyond a shadow of a doubt - of Morgan’s true identity as she showers in his apartment.

Coraline really is human, and major props to Alex O’Loughlin for nailing a cornucopia of emotions in one fell swoop at this realization - confusion, desire, joy, and utter wonder that Coraline may be the key to “curing” his vampirism. The desperation underlying his hope is almost painful. Well played, show.

In the meantime, Beth researches the fleur-de-lis, flesh brand of choice for criminals (including courtesans like Coraline), and breaks into Morgan’s apartment, where she discovers photos of Mick from the fifties. A visit to Josef reveals the complexity of the Coraline/Mick dynamic in blunt, uncompromising detail, and Beth’s final straw is the discovery of Coraline’s house of glass, where she finds surveillance photos of her and Mick on a desk and a little girl’s full-on dream bedroom tucked away downstairs. Creepy! Confronted with this reality, memories of her time in the room come flooding back, as well as Coraline as her captor. Enraged, Beth smashes a wooden chair and stomps out of the house with her impromptu stake in hand.

As much as I enjoyed this episode - the casual sensuality of Coraline, her owning the role of the villainess, and the genuine hotness of Coraline/Mick shower action (hello!) - I find myself supremely annoyed with the turn Beth’s character takes as the episode reaches its climax. She has every right to her fury; Coraline is the woman who traumatized her as a child, after all. But with an endless stream of snide comments about Morgan, her ultra-possessiveness of Mick, and then barging in on Mick and Coraline in a state of undress, her motives are tainted with petty jealousy rather than righteous anger.

And, in that case, where the hell does she get off? She’s been putting the moves on Mick, yet has never offered to relinquish Josh, nor has she laid her feelings out there in plain terms for Mick. Sure, there have been allusions, and there was that whole weepy balcony scene when Mick’s role in her kidnapping was revealed, him being her “angel,” blah, blah, blah - but come on. Are we really supposed to feel sympathy for Beth when she reels on Mick with a “How could you?!” the moment she spots a half-naked Coraline slinking down the steps? Not “how could you betray my trust after what she did?” but “how could you sleep with her, you bastard?” And then the claws come out in the form of a wooden chair leg to Coraline’s human chest.

Ugh. All’s fair, girlfriend - Coraline may have been playing head games with Mick, but at least she acknowledges it. You’ve had the guy on a yo-yo for weeks.

Stop defining Beth with Mick, show. It didn’t work at the beginning, and it’s weathering the storm of romantic complications badly. Until I can make myself care about Beth Turner as a person, I’m not buying what you’re selling - except the stuff with Coraline, and Coraline with Mick. I’m not sure what’s hotter: Coraline’s powerful hold on Mick’s psyche, or the hints at just how bad Mick can be when Coraline’s in the picture.

Mmm. Bad Mick. Yes, please.

[wpgrace]

I totally resemble this blogger... meaning I totally agree... and very much enjoy the WAY she states her case... with a sense of humor and savoir faire. How very Cora!

for bringing this here to us, Sister! Kinda explains what happened to a lot of us, who were otherwise following along, obediently but frustrated to a certain extent, with the whole MickBeth biz... then , along comes Cora and whole show lit up. As did Mick. And his libido.

[mwj01]

I totally resemble this blogger... meaning I totally agree... and very much enjoy the WAY she states her case... with a sense of humor and savoir faire. How very Cora!

for bringing this here to us, Sister! Kinda explains what happened to a lot of us, who were otherwise following along, obediently but frustrated to a certain extent, with the whole MickBeth biz... then , along comes Cora and whole show lit up. As did Mick. And his libido.

Oh yeah, all of that Sis! What a joy to see! And it gave us this...


Credit: Tuga

[Phoenix]

If anyone needs me, I'll be here watching that *points up* for the next few hours. (Thanks, mwj.)

[wpgrace]

Whew! Importing a little Tuga-art! for that, Sis!

[redwinter101]

I love that review - it gives a really good balanced view, both of the sheer unavoidable heat between Mick and Morgan/Coraline and the unfortunate way that the show dealt with Beth and her motivations.

Thanks, mwj.

Red

[wpgrace]

Maybe the show didn't make Beth perfect for a reason tho... maybe that was on purpose. I mean, if she WERE so utterly perfect, then Mick would really have no good excuse for his continuing fascination with Coraline. Plus, people never are perfect.

So Beth had some very odd and annoying flaws... and behaved quite inconsistently at times. I know her most ardent admirers don't think so, and those of us who do often just blame the writers for that... but maybe, just maybe, it WAS on purpose. People DO get unreasonably jealous and we don't always respond consistently, particularly when romance and lust are part of our motivation... She wasn't maybe meant to be the ONE we all id'd with totally, the perfect princess. Yes. Folks came to do that, and those Final Four I think reflected too much of what the rabid fanbase was hollering for... in a quest for ratings I guess... and how'd that work out for em?

But maybe her dark side, and Cora's, were meant to be symmetrical... so that whoever Mick was with at the time, we were supposed to feel his loss on behalf of the other one.

I know my husband preferred Coraline... I think a lot of men found her more appealing, even knowing she was a schemer. Beth was a schemer too... but was less honest with herself about that. And Beth was more a tease... Cora might plot behind your back but she could be counted on to leave the bathroom door unlocked when she took a shower...

[mwj01]

Very interesting points Sister, although I disagree on one…I think Mick would have had good excuses for his continuing fascination with Coraline irregardless of Beth. Although I doubt Beth would agree that any excuse was a good one. Something within him would forever draw him to her whether she was scheming or not. Her return freed him to an extent, mainly from the guilt he carried, but he'd never really be free. And he might have been further conflicted on whether he wanted to be or not.

I see all the main characters as having both strengths and flaws, which is what makes them interesting. The writers would’ve fallen short had they made them one-note. Why would Beth have to be perfect and pristine for Mick to love her? So I’d like to think it was that she was intentionally written with faults just as the others were, because the writers already took the easy way out with MickBeth by simply removing Josh and then Coraline. Complete cop outs in both cases. No, Beth is not all sweetness and light and Coraline is not pure evil. What would it say about Mick that he kept returning to Coraline for decades if she had no worthwhile qualities? He too had shortcomings, albeit none in the allure department, but not to the extent that he wouldn’t be able to easily tear himself away from an evil doer.

[wpgrace]

Very interesting points Sister, although I disagree on one…I think Mick would have had good excuses for his continuing fascination with Coraline irregardless of Beth. Although I doubt Beth would agree that any excuse was a good one. Something within him would forever draw him to her whether she was scheming or not. Her return freed him to an extent, mainly from the guilt he carried, but he'd never really be free. And he might have been further conflicted on whether he wanted to be or not.

I see all the main characters as having both strengths and flaws, which is what makes them interesting. The writers would’ve fallen short had they made them one-note. Why would Beth have to be perfect and pristine for Mick to love her? So I’d like to think it was that she was intentionally written with faults just as the others were, because the writers already took the easy way out with MickBeth by simply removing Josh and then Coraline. Complete cop outs in both cases. No, Beth is not all sweetness and light and Coraline is not pure evil. What would it say about Mick that he kept returning to Coraline for decades if she had no worthwhile qualities? He too had shortcomings, albeit none in the allure department, but not to the extent that he wouldn’t be able to easily tear himself away from an evil doer.

I don't disagree! I think he will always be fascinated with Cora... with or without any Beth in his life... he continued to dwell upon her all those years when Beth was only a kid... Josef made that clear... sorry, I didn't mean to imply otherwise!

And also, that was kinda my point... Beth DIDN"T need to be perfect for him to love her... and she wasn't. But it always amazes me that there are those who think she MUST be.

And the writers so took a dive with killing Josh and then sending Cora to Vampire Siberia... the MickBeth woulda been more interesting with a foil other than the not-very-foilish Talbert...