Moonlightaholics

Episode Seven: The Ringer

Summary: Mick becomes obsessed with a woman he meets at the scene of a fire. This woman, named Morgan, looks exactly like Coraline. Things get more complicated when Mick begins looking into the theft of Morgan's cameras and discovers eerie similarities between this fire and the fire that killed Coraline.


We haven't finished with B.C. yet (my apologies) but I didn't want to hold up discussion on The Ringer so we'll do both until B.C. is finished.


We begin with Mick exercising. Always a joy.



He notices a fire and stops.





And shows up at the scene.



He helps out the fireman trying to get the hydrant on.









Beth is there too, covering the story.



She sees Mick and approaches him. She tells him what she knows about the fire.



He knows the history of the building. His parents used to bring him there for brunch on Sundays.



Beth commiserates, saying she knows how hard it must be for him to have powers but unable to help. He says its frustrating.



Beth gets back to her photographer. Mick watches her leave. His VO tells us that at the oddest times you might start feeling lucky. Like maybe you found somebody. And then BAM! That's exactly when the ex-wife shows up. Mick focuses on an attractive brunette in the crowd.





Mick's VO gives her a name. Coraline. The woman who Turned him.





Mick thinks back. We see a seductively beautiful woman in a red dress. She meanders through an outside party and up to the platform where the band is playing.







She captures the attention of the band members.





One of them remarks that she's something else. Mick replies that he wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers.





They watch her. Another band member tells them that she drops more at Saks in one day than they make in a year. Doesn't look likeMick cares.





Looks like Mick doesn't care. He's awestruck.



Coraline looks back and smiles at Mick.

So happy to be discussing this episode. Wonderful start, GA .

First off, I loved the opening exchange with Beth; it matched his voiceover so beautifully. They do look like a couple at the start of something: the easy banter, the way she touches him, the smile (oh Lord the smile).

I love that cap of Mick with his hands clasped together - so beautiful. I also loved that he told her about coming to the hotel with his parents; it's the first time (I think) he's reminisced about a sweet moment, not about something terrible that happened to him.

And then, bam! And we get the beginnings of flustered, bewildered, confused Mick. By the end of the episode, he'll be a lot worse than that....

And I may be the only one, but I hated the "crackers" line. I'm sure it was the vernacular of the time but it just sounded clunky to me.

Red

redwinter101 wrote:And I may be the only one, but I hated the "crackers" line. I'm sure it was the vernacular of the time but it just sounded clunky to me.

Red

Clunky, but fitting in an odd way. We do know, after all, that Coraline liked to eat in bed...

eris wrote:

redwinter101 wrote:And I may be the only one, but I hated the "crackers" line. I'm sure it was the vernacular of the time but it just sounded clunky to me.

Red

Clunky, but fitting in an odd way. We do know, after all, that Coraline liked to eat in bed...

I do love this episode, because IMO I think Mick and Coraline chemistry was amazing. Yes I think Beth and Mick were sweet together, but when Mick and Coraline shared scenes together, something just worked. Please, don't get mad at me for this, but I sometimes wonder if Shannyn played Beth how much different would the romance been between the two of them.

nayp, I agree about Alex and Shannyn having amazing chemistry and I think Mick/Cora burned up the screen. But it was a totally different kind of chemistry from Mick/Beth. The motel bathtub scene in Fever, the rooftop kiss in FtP - they give me shivers too. I think both actresses did a fantastic job (and thank God for re-casting!) and were the right fit for their respective roles.

Red

Well now, Alex would have chemistry with a chair, or a rug, or a phone booth... so no surprise he can rock with either leading lady...

Now... I LLLLOOOOOOVVVVVVE this episode. For one thing, this was MY first full ML ep... I had found it the week before, halfway thru BC but I tivo'd THIS one and got to see the whole thing. And my daughter watched it with me. And we were both lost forever. Hooked, snared, caught.

I will note that, since this was kinda my first real experience with the show, I did not come into it with preconceived ideas about the characters. So I didn't hate Cora. Didn't hear all that stuff about her in the first several eps. So I thought Morgan was cute and sexy, and that this show was sorta a love triangle show... which girl would ultimately get the guy? And I didn't care... just LOVED the guy!

And Red, the crackers line wasn't written right or, sorry usually-perfect Alex, spoken right. It is usually spoken I'd let him eat crackers in my bed!... or He can eat crackers in my bed anytime. The cadence works better and it's about a positive statement... the guy's so cute he can mess up my bed with cracker crumbs. They place a negative in it... he wouldn't kick her OUT of bed. Screws up the cadence and the thought process... and the joke really. And he said it stiff... cause he may've never heard it spoken before. I have. A lot. Southern....

Oh P.S. Don't you LOVE it when he helps the firemen with the hydrant. Kick Ass Mick!!!!!! In a looooooong cool coat! Damn!

That makes sense, Grace. There is a rather crude English version, which has nothing to do with crackers... but I'll save that for another time

Red

Red, I do like Sophia, just thinking out loud about the actress's switching parts. I had this great reply to your post, then mary started this firemen, hydrant, and long cool coat thing, totally forgot what I was going to say.

mary? Do you mean Grace? 'Cos she can always be relied on to trigger that train of thought .

It is intriguing to think how Sophia and Shannyn would have fared if the casting were the other way round but I think there is the whole blonde/brunette light/dark theme that worked for the show.

Of course, the odd redhead would have made things so much more interesting.

And now I realise I'm wandering waaaaaaaaay off topic, so, back to the first party scene at Cora's house. I loved the instant nature of their connection. I've always seen this as fate, really - they were both ready to meet each other at that precise moment in their lives. To 1952 Mick, Coraline must have seemed incredibly exotic, glamorous - out of his league. But that didn't stop him - I loved how cocky he was in those early scenes and I think that's what piqued Cora's interest and made her more interested in him than just as a plaything.

Red

redwinter101 wrote:mary? Do you mean Grace? 'Cos she can always be relied on to trigger that train of thought .

It is intriguing to think how Sophia and Shannyn would have fared if the casting were the other way round but I think there is the whole blonde/brunette light/dark theme that worked for the show.

Of course, the odd redhead would have made things so much more interesting.

And now I realise I'm wandering waaaaaaaaay off topic, so, back to the first party scene at Cora's house. I loved the instant nature of their connection. I've always seen this as fate, really - they were both ready to meet each other at that precise moment in their lives. To 1952 Mick, Coraline must have seemed incredibly exotic, glamorous - out of his league. But that didn't stop him - I loved how cocky he was in those early scenes and I think that's what piqued Cora's interest and made her more interested in him than just as a plaything.

Red

Red, yes I meant grace, didn't have my four cups of coffee this morning. Don't know if I liked the cocky Mick, so arrogant and a ladies man. I find it strange, that the new Mick is the total opposite of the old Mick

I think the old Mick was fascinating and, you're right, different in so many ways from the modern Mick. I think that's what I loved - we see how his years as a vampire have changed him from a cocky young man trying his luck, to the brooding soul of today. But the humour and lightness remains throughout and he is still very definitely our Mick.

He threw a chair through Coraline's window (oh my) but he also would have battered Beth's door down at the end of Sonata if necessary. So he's learned, he's calmed a bit but he's still a man of passion.

Red

Gotta love a man who's cocky in a Hawaiian shirt!

More later; I've got computer issues to deal with.

*is terrified that mwj's computer issues may result in lost pics*