“Beauty and the Beast”: The First Season might not be the smoothest freshman season or anything, but there’s enough there to keep watching starting with Kristin Kreuk who finally gets to headline a series after many years on “Smallville” playing second fiddle. Yeah, some of the storylines are a bit soapy and although I liked Kreuk, it does take some time taking her seriously as an NYPD detective.
“Beauty and the Beast”: The First Season
(2012-13)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Fantasy, Drama
Paramount | NR – 923 min. – $49.99 | October 1, 2013
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Various Writer(s): Sherri Cooper-Landsman and Jennifer Levin (developed by), Ron Koslow (created by) Cast: Kristin Kreuk, Jay Ryan, Nina Lisandrello, Austin Basis DISC INFO: Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
THE SEASON
Plot Outline: Catherine “Cat” Chandler (KRISTIN KREUK) is a smart, no-nonsense homicide detective who is haunted by her own tragic past. When she was a teenager, Cat witnessed the murder of her mother at the hands of two gunmen. Cat would have been killed too, but someone – or something – saved her. Nine years later, a case leads her to discover that Vincent Keller (JAY RYAN), a soldier killed in action during military service, is actually alive. As Cat gets to know him, she starts uncovering the mysteries surround her mother’s murder and just who (and what) Vincent really is.
Episodes:
1. Pilot
2. Proceed with Caution
3. All-In
4. Basic Instinct
5. Saturn Returns
6. Worth
7. Out of Control
8. Trapped
9. Bridesmaid Up
10. Seeing Red
11. On Thin Ice
12. Cold Turkey
13. Trust No One
14. Tough Love
15. Any Means Possible
16. Insatiable
17. Partners in Crime
18. Heart of Darkness
19. Playing with Fire
20. Anniversary
21. Date Night
22. Never Turn Back
Quick Hit Review: Based on the ads, production stills and even the DVD cover artwork, “Beauty and the Beast” didn’t seem to be up my alley, a fantasy-horror series aimed more at ‘tweens, the same ones clamoring for each and every Twilight movie, with the same soap opera tropes seen on the CW. However, the actual product, while indeed seemingly aiming for an entirely demographic than I’m in, was fairly entertaining and the two leads, Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan, provide good performances and give what could’ve been generic characters some life and dimension.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5
The 6-disc release comes in a standard DVD Keep Case which slides into a semi-glossy slip cover with matching front and back covers.
Disc 1:
Episode Commentary – Writer/Executive Producers Sherri Cooper and Jennifer Levin on the ‘Pilot’ Episode.
Deleted Scene (1:15) on the Pilot episode
Disc 2:
Deleted Scenes (8:50) on ‘Saturn Returns’, ‘Worth’ and ‘Trapped’
Disc 3:
Deleted Scenes (14:19) on ‘Bridesmaid Up’, ‘Seeing Red’, ‘On Thin Ice’ and ‘Cold Turkey’
Disc 4:
Deleted Scenes (6:23) on ‘Trust No One’, ‘Tough Love’ and ‘Any Means Possible’
Disc 5:
Deleted Scene (0:51) on ‘Playing with Fire’
Disc 6:
Season in Review: The Beginning (14:24) chronicles the origins of the series and coming up with a new twist to a classic story.
Creating the Beast (10:36) shows the make-up for the Beast character.
Dressing the Beauty (9:17) goes over the costumes for the different characters.
Gag Reel (8:34) provides the usual on-set antics and line flubs.
Deleted Scenes (2:19) on ‘Date Night’
VIDEO – 4.0/5
“Beauty and the Beast”: The First Season comes to DVD from Paramount and shown with a 16×9 enhanced widescreen aspect ratio. The picture itself is clean and no major signs of artifacts and minimal pixilation, normal for a standard definition transfer. Darker scenes, for which there are than a few, also look pretty good.
AUDIO – 4.25/5
Each episode comes with a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 track showing off clear dialogue coming from the center channel and respectable depth for the various action-oriented scenes using the front and rear speakers.
OVERALL – 3.5/5
Overall, “Beauty and the Beast”: The First Season might not be the smoothest freshman season or anything, but there’s enough there to keep watching starting with Kristin Kreuk who finally gets to headline a series after many years on “Smallville” playing second fiddle. Yeah, some of the storylines are a bit soapy and although I liked Kreuk, it does take some time taking her seriously as an NYPD detective. However, I still enjoyed the series and hopefully subsequent seasons will expand the mythos.
Published: 10/04/2013