Moonlight Ep. 1-02 “Out Of The Past” (re-post)

(Note: this was originally published at FADPOV on 08-Oct-2007.)

OK, I think my opinion of this show is rising. And it’s almost entirely based on one tiny item in the plot… it turns out the reason why vampires can’t be photographed is because pre-digital photographic paper used a silver emulsion. Now that we’ve gone digital, the silicon chips in your camera have no problem recording their images. That is, like, the coolest little bit of original vampiric lore I’ve come across in a long time. (And if you’ve heard it before, please don’t email and burst my bubble, ’kay?)

Also? Implying that vampires like playing World of Warcraft? That gets you an automatic five points of extra credit.

This episode, Beth gets another big exclusive story: the release of Lee Jay, a man wrongfully jailed for murder 25 years ago. Problem is, Mick knows he was rightfully jailed: he’d been hired as protection by the victim, and failed miserably. Even worse, when he’d shown up to take fatal revenge on Lee Jay, Mick revealed he was a vampire just before he was interrupted by a conscientious cop. Now, Lee Jay is coming for his own revenge, and he’s had 25 years to research and plan it.

Mick’s got another problem, too. Despite his attempt to soothe Beth out of remembering her childhood encounter with him, she’s continuing to have dreams about his rescuing her 22 years ago. Even worse, the journalist who’s helped Lee Jay “prove” he’s innocent has written a book about his ordeal, and it’s got info on the P.I. who attacked him just before his arrest… complete with pictures. That one from 1950 gave me the giggles. And Mick’s insistence that it was his dad – no, seriously, he got really lucky in the gene department – made me giggle too.

I actually was drawn pretty far into the plot this week, though it’s a little unfortunate that it was largely due to trying to figure out what Lee Jay’s next move was going to be. Shows need good Villains of the Week, but at the same time, they need to be building up the main character rather than relying on the villain to provide the main interest.

Lee Jay does make a despicable yet fascinating villain, though. When Mick followed him into the restroom at the book release party, I immediately groaned at what a bad idea that was. Sure enough, not only does Lee Jay attempt to stake him, he smashes his head into a window and staggers out, screaming that Mick assaulted him. And when Mick comes home to find Lee Jay sitting in his apartment, and Lee Jay ended up shooting himself in the shoulder and calling 911? I honestly didn’t see that coming.

Lee Jay’s little plan is quite good, actually: set Mick up for a fall just like he set up his battered wife’s death to look like suicide. And naturally, since Lee Jay’s just been exonerated, no one’s ever going to consider that Mick might actually be innocent of Lee Jay’s attempted murder. Except for Beth, who has doubts after reading through Lee Jay’s original case file and sticks with her gut feeling that Mick can’t have done what Lee Jay claims.

The climax of the show was fairly routine: of course Mick saves the journalist Lee Jay had hoodwinked, and of course Beth disobeys his order to stay in the car and comes just in time to save Mick from actual death. It’s interesting though that it seemed like Beth pulled the trigger and shot Lee Jay almost accidentally, as she had flashbacks to her childhood abduction.

I was a bit startled that Beth found out Mick’s secret at the end. After he managed to hide it in the premiere, I figured they would draw their cat-and-mouse out for quite some time. I’m not sure whether I think it’s a good thing or a bad thing, though from the previews of next week, it sounds like Beth finds it rather cool.

Other little moments I liked: the fact that the officer who arrested Lee Jay didn’t get killed. The minute I heard that Lee Jay had left a message “forgiving” him, I figured his body would be found in the third act. But nope, that was a red herring that had a happy ending for once: he was just introduced so Beth could track him down and get another clue that Mick is hiding something from her. Also fun: my realization that Lee Jay became a metal sculptor in prison because that meant he could get handy with a blowtorch and always have one around to burn Mick up with. Quite crafty, show. And I applaud the fact that you didn’t feel the need to bash us over the head with it. Trust the viewers and we’ll trust you!

This show still isn’t out of the woods with me. It’s extremely obvious that they’re doing green-screening during the driving scenes, which is painful, and I’m not really sold on Mick having all these abilities: becoming undead means you can climb buildings like Spider-Man? Um, okay. But this episode did pick up a little, and had more of a ‘together’ feeling despite its flaws. Hopefully, it’ll keep climbing.