Moonlight: Love Lasts Forever (Episode 111)

Hey, it's that vampire show

In his abode, the Fortress of Style, Mick exercises shirtless as the Emo Voice Over (EVO) blathers on about an immortal struggling with mortal feelings. I'm sure Mick's innermost feelings are, like, rilly important and all, but I'm afraid I can't concentrate on anything but his sweaty chest.

See what I mean?

We cut to Carl the Cop and Josh the Wonder DA as they try to bully a mobster into wearing a wire for them. The mobster, a man named Tejada from El Salvador, refuses and makes a clear threat against Josh. Outside, Josh tells Carl he might need some protection. Ya think? It's those kind of keen survival instincts that'll keep you alive, Josh. Well, for the next -- spoiler alert! -- 35 minutes or so.

Later that night, two mystery thugs on motorcycles attack Josh in a parking garage. After they beat him, one tosses a picture of Beth with an "X" over her face and advises Josh that it's not a good idea to accuse innocent men. According to the captions, the guy originally ended that thought with an "ese," but I guess they decided it was a tad too stereotypical.

Beth's place, for which I have no clever nickname. ("Apartment of Impending Misery," perhaps?) Mick has a vial of Coraline's blood, which he hopes might yield some answers about how she regained her mortality. Beth notes that Mick really hates being a vampire, but her tone is one I might use to discuss hating traffic, or something equally mundane. Mick agrees that he has a hate on for being a vamp. Beth thinks it wouldn't be so bad to live forever, since Mick will one day get to see flying cars and "diet soda that doesn't suck." Whoa, whoa, WHOA. I must raise a spirited defence for diet pop. Diet Coke and Fresca are nectar of the gods, Beth. Step off.

Where was I? Mick tells Beth that seeing flying cars isn't as much fun when you're eternally lonely. Well, he's got a point there. Mick doesn't want to use his usual vamp research channels for testing Coraline's blood, since while he sees it as a cure, other vamps might think it more sinister than helpful. A beaten Josh suddenly arrives, and Mick dutifully leaves. Josh tells Beth about Tejada and his threats, telling her that he's quit the case, but Beth has still been marked for death. Let's hope Steven Seagal doesn't show up.

As Josh cleans himself up, Beth tells him he can't quit. Josh lets her in on the fact that Tejada mutilated the wife of a prosecutor in El Salvador, and Beth insists, "That kind of thing does not happen in the U.S." Um...where is this "U.S." you speak of? Is it anywhere near the States? Because stranger things have happened, sweetheart. Josh insists that he can't risk Beth's life, but she gets all fired up about doing the right thing, leading to them both getting fired up, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. In the afterglow, Josh tells her how much he missed her. Awww. (Simmer down, McBeth shippers -- he'll be dead soon enough!)

A worried Mick goes to Beth's after she stands him up at the blood analysis place. Mick clearly notes that Josh and Beth slept together, but hides his jealousy well. They tell him about the need for protection for Beth, and Mick agrees that Josh shouldn't step down from the case. He promises Josh that he won't let anything happen to Beth. Josh says he knows Mick won't, and it's a nice moment between them. Clearly designed to make Mick feel even guiltier when Josh gets whacked.

At Tejada's daughter's "sweet 16" party (she didn't already have a Quinceañera?), Tejada dances with her before Josh and the cops storm in and arrest him. He threatens Josh again as he's led away, and his daughter weeps and wails melodramatically. Life's harsh for a mafia princess.

At the blood lab, the technician tells McBeth that Coraline's sample was completely clean, and she assumed it was from a child. Hmmm. She does add that the type is A-O negative, which is extremely rare and also happens to be Beth's blood type. The blood plot's thickening!

Josh meets with Tejada's lawyer in a judge's chambers for a bail hearing, and they both argue their cases. Tejada is also present, and this is totally not how it goes down on Law and Order. Or in real life, I suspect. Tejada gets bail for 5 million, and he'll be out by dinner. Meanwhile, Beth ponders the blood type coincidence, and Mick notes that the best type of blood for a vamp to consume is the fresh blood of a child with the same blood type as the vamp. Beth's rather sicked out by this revelation.

Outside the lab in the bright sunlight, Mick's supersonic vampire hearing picks up a gun being loaded and a bullet whizzing towards Beth's head. He shoves her to the ground and speeds towards the shooters, who hightail it out of there. (This time the captions add, "Vamos, vamos!") Mick has blood on his shirt, but it's from the now-broken vial of Coraline's blood.

Commercials. I was at the panel for the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles pilot at Comic-Con this year, and it killed. Can't wait to see how the rest of the show turns out.

Apartment of Impending Misery. Beth tends to her scrapes and bruises and Josh arrives with the cavalry: Carl the Cop and a few other guys. Josh and Beth hug in the bedroom, and Mick supersonically hears their joint I love yous. Woe. We cut briefly to Tejada telling his henchmen to bring him Josh alive. Back at Beth's, she watches Josh get into his car outside, and witnesses said henchmen spiriting Josh away in the trunk of their car. Apparently the cops protecting Beth are all inside, which doesn't make a lick of sense. Bottom line: Josh is gone, and McBeth are in hot pursuit, leaving Carl and his useless cops behind.

McBeth lose the baddies, and Beth calls Josh's cell, which is thankfully on. Mick calls another in this show's long line of expendable tertiary characters, a guy named Logan (shout out!) Griffen. Logan is a technogeek who's enjoying a big glass of blood while he fiddles around with the insides of a computer. He's played by the delightful David Blue, a.k.a. Marc's awesome boyfriend Cliff on Ugly Betty. Logan triangulates Josh's location as Beth continues calling Josh's cell and yelling for him to pick up. Uh, he's kind of literally tied up at the moment, Beth. Logan gives them Josh's location: Griffith Park. Mick calls Carl and passes on the info.

Beth follows Mick's instructions and gets down after they screech to a stop by the henchmen's car in the deserted area of the park. Mick leaps out and gets his fight on as he dispatches the henchmen, taking a bullet in the process. However, as Mick and Beth open the trunk and start to help Josh out, one of the baddies comes to and shoots Josh multiple times though the backseat. Josh is hit in the chest, neck and even the crotch.

Adding insult to injury

Poor Beth screams in horror, and Mick knocks out the shooter. McBeth carry Josh out of the trunk, and Beth calls 911 as Mick gives Josh first aid. Beth's in shock, but Mick takes control. The EVO tells us Mick was a medic in WWII, so he's got some experience in the area. Carl arrives and takes away the bad guys as Mick uses the car lighter to cauterize Josh's neck wound. Ouch! Beth cries, Mick repeatedly calls Josh "Buddy," and although Mick does everything he can, it's clear Josh isn't going to make it. Josh and Beth recall their first date, and...crap. I'm crying. I know, I'm easy! But really, this is sad. The EVO ponders the fragility of life, and McBeth begin CPR.

The sunlight is draining Mick, and he's looking rather pasty. As Josh fades away, despite all of Mick's mad medic skillz, Beth heartbreakingly pleads with Mick to turn Josh into a vampire. But Mick refuses, telling Beth that death is part of being human. I think both Sophia and Alex (and Jordan Belfi as Josh) are doing a great job here.

The paramedics arrive and bust out the paddles (why not bundle Josh into the ambulance and do that on the way to the hospital?), but it's too late. Beth tells Mick to stay away, and she walks off to sob. Mick looks at the blood on covering his hands, and it would be totally awesome if he licked some of it off.

Well, I did skip lunch...

Police station. Mick asks Carl for five minutes along with one of the henchmen. With his back to the glass, Mick vamps out and demands to know where Tejada is. Carl and another detective watch but don't listen in, which I call total bullshit on, but whatever. The henchman freaks out at Mick's vamp visage, and gives up Tejada's location at a bar. However, Mick gives Carl false info, since Mick's out for revenge.

At the seedy bar, Mick vamps out and starts a fight, and then the EVO notes that this is the part "in every bar scene" when the bartender pulls out a shotgun. Hee. The bartender misses, and Mick finds Tejada in his office. In an awesome sequence with heavy metal music on the soundtrack, Tejada puffs up and tells Mick his days are numbered, and then Mick vamps out and chomps on Tejada's neck, killing him. FABULOUS. Mick's a vampire, after all, and it's nice to see him not always doing the right thing.

Apartment of No-Longer-Impending Misery. Mick arrives to comfort a grieving Beth, and he explains again that being a vamp isn't the same as being human, and he couldn't do that to Josh. Beth wonders why Mick goes on living if he hates what he is so much, and the EVO answers, "You make me want to." Awwwww.

Aloud, Mick says he's not really sure. He tells her that he's done a lot of bad things and has tremendous guilt. Beth asks if Mick would have saved her in the same situation, and he says no. But as Mick leaves Beth to her tears, the EVO tells us that if it was Beth's life in his hands, Mick's not sure what he would do. He says that what he does know is that, "At the end of the day, not a lot separates life and death. Only one thing...eternity." Fade to black.

Wow, that episode really flew by. Good work, show! Of course, now there's only one ep left, just when things are really getting good. Sigh. Anyway, vaya con dios, Josh. May you find a chick in heaven who's really into you.