Beauty and the Beast - The Final Season

Movie / Show Details

Amazon.com

Beauty and the Beast’s controversial final year plays like a one-arc epilogue. The impression comes from a change in direction and a smaller slate of episodes (12 instead of 22). While the second ended with the suggestion that Catherine (Linda Hamilton) had met her maker, two-part premiere “Though Lovers Be Lost” confirms that she’s healthy–and pregnant–but Vincent (Ron Perlman) can no longer sense when she’s in danger. Then Catherine takes on a case that jeopardizes her life, and Vincent arrives too late to save the day. Fans felt betrayed by the development, since the two were presented as soul mates rather than tragic lovers (Hamilton left the show because she and husband James Cameron were expecting a baby). With Paracelsus vanquished the previous year, Gabriel (A History of Violence’s Steven McHattie) steps in as resident bad guy. Before he orders Catherine killed, Gabriel absconds with her son. Thereafter, the opening changes to reflect a focus on Vincent. While he teams up with Catherine’s former flame, Elliot Burch (Edward Albert), to catch her killer, district attorney Joe Campbell (Jay Acovone) and detective Diana Bennett (new cast member Jo Anderson, portraying a harder-edged character) work towards the same goal. Their obstacles include Gabriel’s henchman Snow (Millennium’s Lance Henriksen as an icy blond) and two drug kingpins (played by Ugly Betty’s Tony Plana and Medium’s Miguel Sandoval).

Despite its tarnished reputation–and higher body count–Beauty and the Beast’s third season averts disaster for the most part. If Vincent and Diana share a lower-wattage chemistry, they still work well together, and the rest of the cast offers good value, particularly Perlman and Roy Dotrice, who would re-team in 2008 for another adventure about a misunderstood man-beast, Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. –Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

Once upon a time is now and forever: Beauty and the Beast: The Third Season of the Emmy Award-winning, fan favorite show is more captivating than ever in this 3-disc collectible set. This unique fantasy-crime drama series features the adventures and romance between Vincent, a mythic, noble man-beast and Catherine, a savvy assistant DA in New York. These two share a strong, mystical bond that enables Vincent while in his underground lair to sense whenever Catherine is in danger in the World Above. In the powerful final season, Catherine, pregnant with Vincent¹s child, becomes a victim to a murderous drug-lord who steals her baby from her after she gives birth. Drawing strength from the everlasting love and unbreakable bond he and Catherine share, Vincent relentlessly pursues her killer, determined to bring him to justice and to rescue their child. Synopsis for Seasons 1 & 2: The Beauty and the Beast TV show was a fantasy series about a man-beast (Vincent) and his love for a beautiful assistant district attorney (Catherine Chandler). Vincent lived in an underground world beneath New York City where his gruesome looks were less important to his peers than were his caring and benevolent personality. Together, Vincent and Catherine had many adventures both above and below ground level and their love for each other continued to grow.