Customer Reviews

Beauty and the Beast - The Final Season

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Note: This review contains SPOILERS.

This is an issue that has divided Beauty & The Beast fans for almost twenty years, and reading the reviews here, I can see a lot of people are still bitter. While the show certainly suffered the loss of Linda Hamilton, I personally found there was still plenty to enjoy in this abbreviated season.

For one thing, the season-long story arc served the show quite well. The second season's cliffhanger ending left a lot for the writers to explore. So much fuss was made way back in 1989 about the show being "retooled" to attract more male viewers. And I'll admit, there's probably a sizable portion of the potential male viewing audience that is attracted to the increased action and violence. But was the show really THAT different? We still have Ron Perlman and all the others giving it their all (and it was quite an emotional and yes, violent arc for Vincent). The late, talented Edward Albert got moved into a series regular slot. And I can't think of another series villain as vile as Stephen McHattie's Gabriel. And for you action fans, there's Lance Henriksen's appearance as the vicious assassin, Snow.

Even amid all the death and sorrow, there are moments of beauty. "Walk Slowly," the follow-up to the 2-hour season premiere, is one of the best-written episodes of the entire series. Jo Anderson is no Linda Hamilton, but she evidences real concern and determination to help Vincent. And the return of Rolley (from season two's "Chamber Music") evokes sympathy, as well as reminds us that there was always more to this fictional universe than just Vincent and Catherine.

To the uninitiated who may not have seen this season: It's really not as bad as many people would have you believe. If you accept that Linda Hamilton only appears in 2 episodes, maybe that will lessen your potential disappointment. And if you've followed the story this far, it just makes sense to see it through to the end. No, it's NOT as good as the first two years. But it's still a great show, and I hope you will give it a chance.

The only other concern I have, as others have pointed out, is that the asking price for a shortened (12 episodes) season is the same as for a full season. But as any true fan will tell you, it's something of a minor miracle that we're finally getting season 3 on home video in ANY format. I'm grateful for that, and I have no hesitation in shelling out the $$ to complete my set.

When the second season of Beauty and the Beast ended, I was one of the many people who wrote to get the show renewed. I had never done anything like that before, but Beauty and the Beast was a show to be passionate about.

I don't remember disliking Diana. As an audience, we weren't given much to work with where she was concerned. And it didn't help that she wasn't "Catherine."

What I do remember, vividly, is the relationship that developed between Vincent and Elliot Burch. For me, the third season was wonderful and wonderous because it showed love enduring. Both men loved Catherine and Catherine loved both of them -- though Burch's feet of clay prevented her from having a deeper relationship with him. (The first season episode where he's introduced even has Vincent acknowledging that Catherine is falling in love with Burch, so please don't think I'm being heretical.)

Seeing how loving Catherine changed Burch and made it possible for Vincent, and, to a lesser extent Joe Malone, to work with him was for me the ultimate affirmation of the value and purpose of love.

All the men who loved Catherine, forged a bond through her. It was lovely to watch, and I can't wait to own the third season.

The 3rd season of Beauty and the Beast definitely takes the series in a very different direction. As the new opening reveals, once Vincent gets past Catherine's murder he will dedicate his life to avenging injustice - in other words, he has been recast here as a sort of beastly Batman, searching the skies for the Beast Signal which will let him know that his services are needed. Much of the first five or six episodes are focused more on the gritty world Above than on Vincent's world in the tunnels - the photography is very different, with a sharper, darker overcast (much of the warmth associated with the tunnel worlds is lost). Additionally, character inconsistencies (especially with Roy Dotrice's "Father") undermine the overall fabric of the story for those of us who followed it closely the first two seasons. This is a much more violent show now, and it's much more "black and white." The new villain, Gabriel, who dominates many of the episodes, is simply evil personified - there is no development of his character, no understanding of his motivations. He is simply evil, and Vincent becomes the force of good which will win in the end. Gabriel is Paracelsus without the poetry, without the history that made his demonic persona work. There was always a hint with Paracelsus that what he really wanted was to be part of the tunnel community again, but he just couldn't figure out a way to do it. The only thing we know about Gabriel is that he's a monster.

Catherine's death itself is not what changed this series - actually, Diana's character could very easily have become a new "Beauty" for Vincent, had the relationship been given a chance to develop. The problem is the new tone, the darker perspective, the shift away from the tunnel community that had dominated the second season, and the fans' resistance to anything that even suggested that Vincent could move beyond his bond with Catherine and love another woman. The message of the first two seasons is clearly the power of love to conquer hate and fear; this would imply that Catherine's love for Vincent SHOULD enable him to love again - after all, that's what he always told her about the nature of love. Here, in Season Three, Vincent's grief is palpable, and Ron Perlman does an amazing job demonstrating what it is to feel loss. But there are subtle moments between him and Diana that are hopeful and beautiful - and I, as a fan of the series, find solace in such hope.

While watching the first episode (Though Lovers be Lost) is not easy, know that there are things beyond it of great value. Elliot Burch's character, especially, is given both a chance to redeem himself and chance to give Catherine a beautiful gift. Diana becomes a fascinating and original character whose own connection to Vincent is believable and real - she is not Catherine, but rather an independent and introspective woman who may have much more in common with Vincent spiritually than Catherine ever did. It would be so easy to see Diana becoming a part of Vincent's world. So, suffer through the difficult death and grieving scenes, be prepared for the shift in focus, but enjoy the new stories being told here about Vincent and the two worlds in which he lives. Yes, it's flawed - but there is still enough beauty to justify a return visit.

I am an all-season fan of Beauty and the Beast, meaning I love all three seasons--but as a fanzine writer, I wrote primarily "fourth season", or what I thought had happened after third season. The third season of Beauty and the Beast offers some of the most dramatic and well-written television that has ever aired. The acting was superb. Once you begin watching, you will be riveted.

Jo Anderson as Diana is lovely, brave and poignant...desperately in love, before she ever meets him, with a man who may never love her. Ron Perlman as Vincent is even more incredible than he was in the first two seasons. They compliment once another beautifully.

Does third season get a bad rap? Yes. But see for yourself and watch it.

Looking at Beauty and the Beast as a whole story is, to my mind, essential to come to appreciate the vast range of emotion and depth of perception the series portrays.

To watch this show over twenty years later is to fall backwards in time and re-experience the magic. Watch the show all the way through...again. And if you've never seen it, don't miss it this time!

Rhonda Collins

This show is one of those shows that has been with me virtually all my life. I remember watching Catherine fall dead into Vincent's arms and crying my eyes out when I was 9 years old. The emotional impact, though somewhat lost on me at the time, so stuck in my consciousness that I actually bought the VHS tapes, 2 episodes at a time, when they were being released that way, 10 years ago. But I purposefully avoided watching anything after "Though Lovers Be Lost". I assumed it would just be too painful.

In recent months, to my shock, I discovered that the DVDs were available, and bought seasons 1 and 2 and began watching them again. As an adult, the power and poigniency of this show hit me like a ton of bricks to a degree that it had never, before.

But, again, I was planning to avoid the third season this time too, save for "Though Lovers Be Lost" which I still had on VHS and is essential for at least a meager amount of closure. But the sense of loss and grief I felt when I finished watching it this time around was crushing.

After a few months of recuperating from her death, I decided that maybe I should give season 3 a chance. Which is what I am doing right this moment.

And here's what I've decided about the third season so far:

1)Thank God there was a 3rd season. I can only imagine how much it would have sucked if Linda Hamilton's leaving had left the show hanging entirely. I have had that experience with shows I loved far too many times.

2)Thank God they brought in Diana Bennet rather than trying to replace Catherine with a different actress. Not that I think they would have done that but it has been known to happen.

3)The fact of Catherine's death, though miserably sad, actually heightens the emotional punch of this love story. I mean, how boring would Romeo and Juliet be if nobody died?

4)At the end of "Though Lovers Be Lost", this most recent go around, I found myself just unbearably sad and kind of let down. Not remembering all the explicit details, I was surprised that Vincent didn't have more of a reaction to her death. More like the reaction she had, earlier in the episode, when she thought he was dying. It just seemed flat.

When I decided to give season 3 the benefit of the doubt, however, I found myself startled to realize that the second episode was EXACTLY what I had wanting from that story. It was a gem I was not expecting to find - a full episode that included a beautiful and well composed montage set to their beautiful theme song, a few more precious moments with Catherine (though she was dead), an actual kiss (though she was dead for that also) and 45 minutes of vincent weeping with grief and the sorrow of love cut short. Now THAT was worth spending the money on!

Ever season of Beauty and the Beast has woven its spell around me a different way. In the first season, we learn of the development of Catherine and Vincent's relationship, as well as being introduced to the wonderful people Below. In the second season we saw the two hero's love fourish and the different trials and tribulations they had with separation issues, and Vincent's internal demons.

The third season, in my opinion, is what really shines out of the entire series. While there are only 12 episodes, the excellent writing and story arcs completely make up for it. Ron Pearman is at his best as Vincent. Really, in my opinion, his best acting the entire series. You also really get to know more about what makes people tick "above" and how Catherine really touched everyone she met.

You gain more respect for Eliot Burch, Cathy's on-off boyfriend from earlier times. Joe Maxwell gets a real backbone, and I kind of disliked him at times. New character Diana certainly does NOT take Catherine's place, and her and Vincen't relationship is far from being a romantic one. I have read in places that she seems to have some sort of paranormal powers, but I have not seen that in the episodes I have watched so far. She seems to have excellent insticts and investigative skills.

Now the character Gabriel, man I love to hate this guy. He's just pure evil incarnate. You can tell that Vincent's son is sensitive to him, because every time Gabriel is in the room it seems the child gets distressed.

A couple plot elements have gotten me a little confused so far, but it is negligible at this point, and I am hoping is cleared up by the time I watch the last episode.

The third season is not to be reviled, instead it should be savored as a true and little-seen treasure. There is no joy without sorrow and the relationship between Vincent and Katherine, which flourished during the first two seasons, is what sustains Vincent in his time of sorrow. Indeed, Katherine's love is what sustains Joe as well as Elliot throughout their confrontation with Gabriel and allows Elliot to make the ultimate sacrifice. Season 3 is taunt, very well paced and probably the best written season of the entire series. Love does not last forever, but it is the memory of love that sustains us. Ron Perlman rocks in this season!

Length:: 7:26 Mins

This is where the wealthy and the powerful rule. It is her wiorld, her world apart from mine. Her name is Catherine. From the moment I saw her, she captured my heart, with her beauty, her warmth and her courage. I knew then, as I know now; she would change my life, forever....

He comes from a secret place, far below the city streets, hiding his face from strangers, safe from hate and harm. He brought me there to save my life. And now, wherever I go, he is with me in spirit. For we have a bond stronger than friendship or love. And although we cannot be together, we will never, ever be apart...

Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairytale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent,(a mythic, noble man-beast) and his Catherine (a savvy assistant DA in New York); and a secret Utopian community of social outcasts living in a wondrous world beneath the city a sanctuary where Vincent is protected and loved. Through an emotional bond connecting Vincent to Catherine, he is able to sense the dangers her job brings her, and he comes to be her protector as well as the man she loves beyond all measure. The series follows the developing relationship between these two and nicely fleshes out the underground world of labyrinth tunnels, mystical waterfalls, and people who have come together to form a loving and nurturing family. In a twist from the original tale, however, this "beast" does not transform into society's idea of beauty after gaining the love of Catherine. Rather, Vincent's inner beauty is allowed to remain the focus of who he is and it is Catherine's former "shallow" self that is the ugliness transformed by their love of each other

Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990) Linda Hamilton (Catherine) and Ron Perlman as "Vincent". Filled with romance, fantasy and most of all, TV''s romantic couple. Sit back and watch this home-made video which features songs and screen captures from the series and a special, suspense moment from the episode "The Watcher" (season Two)

Hmmm, something smells wrong here. Season 3 is 13 episodes (if you count THOUGH LOVERS BE LOST as 2 eps) and it is priced higher than either Seasons 1 or 2 which had 22 episodes each? I mean if this final season was loaded with extras sure, but if all we get is 13 eps, $60 retail? REALLY? WITH A STRAIGHT FACE? ;)

I know I'll get slammed for it but I admired the writing of the third season. I also found Diana to be a beautiful and very interesting character and could easily accept a bond forming between her and Vincent. The writers did the best they could with what they were dealt...the pressure of the fans wanting more and Linda Hamilton not coming back. Yes, as an obsessed fan I was devastated by what occurred but the writing continued to be excellent and actually pretty clever I thought. I wish though that they had completed a full third season; it would have been interesting to see what they would have come up with.

After all of these years I'm amazed that there are still so many of us even thinking about this show....before I discovered the many B&B websites and then that they were releasing the DVD's I thought I was alone!

Laura