Moonlightaholics

Episode Title: "Sleeping Beauty"
Current air date: August 5, 2010

Guardian Angel's Episode 10 discussion thread with screencaps

The basics (from tvguide.com):

Synopsis: Mick hunts for an assassin hired to kill Josef and learns a secret Josef kept from him for more than 40 years. Mick also discovers the hit was put out by a dying man with a personal vendetta against Josef.

Written by: Written by: Trevor Munson and Ron Koslow
Directed by: John T. Kretchmer
Original Air Date: Dec 14, 2007

Guest Cast:
Ian Abercrombie: Richard Whitley
Nick Tarabay: Ralf Martan
Kavita Patil: Doctor Duffy
Jordan Belfi: Josh Lindsey
Paul Rae: Tom
Alice Greczyn: Sam
Al Galvez: Dan
Rashawn Underdue: Tim
Edward Carnevale: Doorman
Robert Noble: Toupee Man
Elizabeth Chambers: Model
Betty A. Bridges: Paula
Dierdre Holder: Nurse Linda
Jane Galloway Heitz: Elderly Woman

My own thoughts about this episode:

When I was lucky enough to meet Trevor Munson a couple of months ago, he told us that Sleeping Beauty is the only episode that is truly his and Ron's... they were given the opportunity to do exactly what they wanted, with almost no interference. And wow, those two make a good team!

Like many people, I really fell for Josef in this episode. Jason Dohring did an absolutely amazing job of showing us the cracks in Josef's facade of flippancy and self-assurance. We saw the loneliness and heartbreak within those walls. And Mick saw a side of Josef he didn't know existed. Mick and Josef essentially switched roles in this episode, with Josef misbehaving and Mick acting like the elder brother. It was good to see them able to swap in this way. It says a great deal to me about the nature of their friendship. And I loved seeing that sometimes, they can really piss each other off.

Sleeping Beauty is full of wonderful, intimate scenes between the main characters: Mick and Beth, Mick and Coraline, Mick and Josef, Beth and Josh... and these one-on-one conversations do so much to illustrate what I think of as the main theme of this episode: the fragility of life and of relationships. Everything ends. Rich and poor, vamp and human, everybody dies... well, almost everybody. Sometimes, death might seem a blessing.

Each of the characters learns that you can't hang onto anything forever. Not love, not life, not money, not security. The ground will shift under your feet when you least expect it, and everything you thought you had turns to ashes and dust.

By the end of the episode, Coraline has turned back into a vampire and disappeared, Beth has made a decision to go home and try to make things work with Josh, Mick has gone from hope to despair (and broken my heart with that hands-on-the-glass moment), and Josef is left with his sleeping love and her diary.

And us? We're left with a million swirling questions. Everything's in a state of flux, and the only thing we know for certain is that big changes are ahead for everyone.

Links:
http://www.tvguide.com/episode-recaps/M ... -7090.aspx
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1077032/
(No Wikipedia page is available for this episode)

How lucky you were to get to discuss this episode with Trevor. For me, this falls right in the middle of ML's purple patch - episodes 7-12, where I think they really hit their stride.

There is such a beautiful balance to this episode - we are familiar with Josef by this stage but we don't really know much about him. We've only had a fairly one-sided view of his relationship with Mick. And then there's the ongoing development of Mick's relationship with Beth (and the ending).

This episode moves all of those character arcs forward significantly and I adore the Mick/Josef interaction. It really gave their relationship depth, both in what it revealed and in what it showed us Josef had hidden from Mick all these years.

And finally, we get some insight into the emotional history of at least a part of Josef's long life - and the extent to which that is at odds both with his professional persona and his relationship with Lola, is startling.

I so wish I could join you all to watch tonight. Have fun and I look forward to reading your comments tomorrow.

Red

Since GuardianAngel has kindly volunteered to continue her unfinished episode discussion thread for Sleeping Beauty, I will lock this one down. I hope everyone will post comments on that thread after watching tonight!

Here's a handy link to GuardianAngel's episode thread with screencaps.