Follow TV Tropes

Following

Series / Beauty and the Beast (2012)

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beautybeastcw01.jpg

A reboot/modern retelling of the TV series Beauty and the Beast (1987) that debuted on The CW in 2012.

Featuring Kristin Kreuk as Catherine, this version retains the New York City setting, but Catherine is a cop and Vincent (Jay Ryan) is a handsome human (save for a scar on his right cheek) who has super strength and speed as the result of a secret government project involving animal DNA. Whenever he gets angry, he transforms into a violent and uncontrollable beast.

It ended in 2016 after four seasons.


Tropes used in the show:

  • Alliterative Name: Catherine Chandler.
  • Artistic License – Biology: The Muirfield experiment and Vincent's transformation.
  • Artistic License – Military: In the pilot, Vincent, a doctor, enlists in the army and becomes a grunt that joins a program where he's experimented on. As a doctor, he would have been commissioned as an officer. Admittedly, this would have decreased his likelihood of being an experimentee (vs an experimenter). The funny thing is, they could have made him a (para)medic (an enlisted position), and still given him the medical background.
  • Ascended Extra: Heather, Cat's sister and former roommate, who after appearing sporadically throughout the first season, and seemingly being Put on a Bus during season 2, returns as part of the main cast of season 3.
  • The Atoner: Gabe. Subverted when he becomes darker as the second season goes on, all in the name of "protecting Catherine." It finally blows up in everyone's faces when Gabe takes the beast serum and becomes a monster again.
  • Betty and Veronica:
    • In Season 1, Catherine (Veronica) and Alex (Betty) to Vincent (Archie).
    • Later Season 2 has Catherine (Betty) and Tori (Veronica) to Vincent's Archie.
    • Followed by Vincent (Veronica) and Gabe (Betty) to Catherine (Archie).
  • Beast and Beauty: Literally, given its basis in the fable. Cat is Beauty and Vincent is Beast.
  • Beta Couple: J.T. and Tess as of Season 2 Episode 16.
  • Big Apple Sauce: Though filmed in Canada, the show takes place in NYC.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Facilitated by how he hangs out spying on people, Vincent gets to play this rather frequently.
  • Break the Cutie: Catherine, so much. First, her mom is murdered in front of her eyes, then she is almost killed herself, later she loses who she believes is her father and Vincent gets kidnapped. When she finally finds him, though, his memory of her is wiped.
    Catherine: I've lost so much. I can't lose you again, too.
    • The same can be argued with Gabe. Season 1 portrays him as a guy who, like Vincent, never wanted to be a beast and only wanted to grow up normal; said beast powers ended up costing his mother's life. When he finally was rid of his curse and fell for the one person who can truly make him happy, his own jealousy and Catherine's indecisiveness for whom she truly wants to be with ends up costing his friendships with nearly everyone on the show, ending with him becoming a monster again, both outside...and in.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Zigzagged with Gabe. Killing him also killed the beast so when Catherine revived him, he came back normal. Later he takes the serum which turns him back into a beast. Then Catherine and Vincent use the gem to keep him normal until he provokes them into killing him (in self-defence).
  • Bus Crash: Implied with Alex when "Claire"'s partner gets onto the bus in the seat behind her.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Catherine and Heather are half-East Asian on their mother's side while their dad is Caucasian.
  • Catapult Nightmare: Vincent has one in which his beast side comes out, uncontrollably, during an intimate moment with Cat, hurting her. He concludes they Can't Have Sex, Ever.
  • Cursed with Awesome:
    • Vincent is cursed with inhuman speed, strength and senses. The only downside is he gets a little vascular and his teeth get kind of funky. The glowing yellow eyes might sound freaky, but the way they look in the show is actually just really cool.
    • Gets even cooler in season 2 when his DNA has been modified to act as a human tracker, sense peoples heart beats like a human lie detector, and that's just when he's in his human form, and can now control his transformations and they even repaired his facial scar, which may have made him look badass, but now makes him almost as beautiful as Catherine.
  • Deadpan Snarker: J.T. and Tess. Gabe can be pretty good at this too when he wants to.
  • Death by Origin Story: Catherine's mother is murdered by two assassins.
  • Destructo-Nookie: Not as extreme as other examples, but Vincent and Cat make a really big mess when they have sex.
  • Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Presently a case of "Female-On-Male Sexual Harassment Is Okay," but Tori's use of her pheromones on Vincent is treated as a non-issue. Catherine doesn't seem to see how ethically repugnant Tori's behavior was, because she's too focused on how much of Vincent's erratic behavior she's been letting slide. Were Tori a Tony and were Vincent a Veronica...
  • Expy:
    • Given that the series is a parody of the old French fable all of the main characters are this. Cat is Belle, Vince is Beast, JT is the household staff changes by Beast's curse, and Evan turns out to be the long awaited Gaston.
    • The Beast mutates into a super-strong, overly aggressive monster, a little bit like The Hulk.
    • He's also a handsome, brooding superhuman worried that his violent nature will harm the female lead, much like Edward Cullen.
    • Tess is similar to Edie from the original.
  • Enter Stage Window: Vincent enters Cat's apartment (or simply attracts her attention) mostly through her bedroom window.
  • Face–Heel Turn: The progression of the second season slowly culminates in Gabe turning insane due to his obsession with Cat and everyone turning against him, ending with him taking the beast serum.
  • Government Conspiracy: Muirfield, the outfit behind the experiment. They want to recapture Vincent and circumstances suggest they may have been behind the murder of Catherine's mother.
  • He Cleans Up Nicely: When Vincent wears a tux in episode 9.
  • Here We Go Again!: After everything they went through, those two still can't get over their pathological need to help people. Still, if they could would they really be our heroes.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Evan in episode 18. Also an example of Redemption Equals Death.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Gabe, at the beginning of the second season when Cat "kills" his beast side.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal:
    • Vincent spent ten years trying to find an cure.
    Vincent: I'm just helping out, okay? And for once, J.T., I almost feel normal.
    • Gabe as well, though he took a more extreme method in trying to rid himself of the beast gene: killing Vincent and harnessing his DNA.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: What ends up happening to Gabe to finally end his life.
  • Invincible Hero: Usually, Catherine never lost in a physical fight, as she can hold her own in one. Even Vincent, who can easily take down every enemy he confronts, since he is obviously mutated into a man-beast.
  • Involuntary Shapeshifter: Less and less as time goes on, but Vincent's abilities are tied to emotion and adrenaline.
  • It's All My Fault: The reason JT is so devoted to Vincent. When Vincent was enlisting into the Military after 9/11, JT was the one that convinced to join Muirfield, under the assumption it would keep him safer, unaware of the experiments that would turn Vincent into a Beast. Cat later explains that JT has nothing to feel guilty for, as Vincent made his own decisions.
  • I Owe You My Life: Gabe to Catherine after the latter revives him after being shot by Muirfield, curing him.
  • Jekyll & Hyde: Vincent and his "beast" personality.
  • Last of His Kind: Vincent was the only one to escape being terminated by Muirfield. We later learn this isn't true.
  • Living Lie Detector: Vincent can usually tell if someone is lying, using much the same metrics an interrogator with a mechanical polygraph would use: heart rate, pupil dilation, and perspiration.
  • Love Makes You Evil: Gabe who, after being cured of being a beast, starts to fall for Catherine. When it doesn't work out he gradually starts slipping off the rails to the point of taking the beast serum again and trying to kill pretty much everyone.
  • Male Gaze:
    • A more innocent version in which Vincent is dumbfounded by Catherine as she descends down a staircase looking even more radiant than usual in stunning dress while the two are scoping out a Masquerade ball, literally lifting off his mask to get a full view.
    • Honestly this could be said by most of the men who come in contact with Catherine.
  • Missing Mom: Catherine's mother was murdered in front of her when she was younger, and it drove her to become a police officer.
  • Monster and the Maiden: Catherine is a normal woman and NYPD detective. Her boyfriend Vincent is a Super-Soldier infused with animal DNA. Together they combat crimes and government conspiracies.
  • Rescue Romance:
    • Catherine and Vincent bond over the fact that he saved her from her mother's assassins years earlier. She reciprocates by helping to protect Vincent from detection/recapture by Muirfield.
  • Rule of Pool: Cat and Vince jump off a boat into water fully clothed to avoid an explosion in season 3, episode 3. Vince pushes Cat into a pool during a fight sequence around a pool where everyone is fully clothed in season 4, episode 8.
  • Running Gag:
    • Vincent and J.T. have a security system that can also shut down all wireless signals... if Vincent remembers to turn it on.
    • Tess getting J.T.'s name wrong like "T.J.".
  • Sanity Slippage: Gabe's love for Catherine has twisted into an obsession to the point where he ends up retaking the beast serum.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: All the beasts in the show have their eyes glow an ominous yellow color.
  • Super-Soldier: Vincent's "beast" form was given to him by military scientists during his time in the army. The again after he's kidnapped and "reprogrammed" to follow orders without question.
  • That Liar Lies: Vincent can tell when someone's lying by their heartbeat and will often say so to them or someone else.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: What Gabe feels has happened to him. "Losing" Cat to Vincent, having nearly everyone turned against him, and then having Cat tell him straight to his face that she wants nothing more to do with him anymore threw Gabe's morality off the cliff. By this time, he took the beast transforming formula and once more became the very thing he tried so hard to rid himself off in Season One; if everyone is going to treat him like a deranged beast, then he might as well be that deranged beast.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: JT is revealed to be this as he was the one who had Vincent signed up for the Muirfield project, thinking it would help him on the battlefield.
  • Was Once a Man: Played Straight.
    Vincent: I guess it reminds me of who I use to be.
    Catherine: A doctor?
    Vincent: Human.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: There has been no mention of Brooke, Heather and Cat's stepmother, especially after their dad's death.
  • Wham Line: In the season one finale when Vincent is captured and taken via net and helicopter:
    Reynolds: Don't shoot [Catherine], She's my daughter.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Vincent, the original beasts from his army unit, and some later beasts like Tori, were all average, well-meaning citizens who had their normalcy ripped away by monsters like Reynolds and Muirfield in their attempt to create the perfect supersoldier.

Top