From the moment I finished watching the pilot episode of The Gates, I wondered, “Just how long are they going to keep this ‘clueless cop’ act going?” Sure, Nick doesn’t come across as the brightest character on the show, but he is insanely suspicious of everyone around him. Plus, there seems to be a death every week in this quiet suburb. So when’s he going to wise up?
Turns out, it didn’t take that long. This week, in an episode entitled “The Monster Within,” Nick finally learns the truth about the monster within Dylan Radcliff.
This revelation occurs during the Daddy-Daughter Dance (as so many Earth-shattering revelations do) when Dylan and Nick took their daughters to the dance together, at the behest of their wives. While relations are a bit chilly at first, the two quickly warm to each other, sharing in their common bond of fatherhood. Near the end of the night, Teresa leads Nick away for a moment to “ask him a question” for her boyfriend, Marcus. As soon as they’re alone, Teresa draws a gun on Nick and they walk into the woods.
Teresa reveals herself to be actually named Amanda -- the sister of the man Nick shot while he was a homicide detective in Chicago. Earlier in the episode, we learned that Nick had shot the man in cold blood, and knew the victim was unarmed; Nick knew the man was a rapist and murderer, and he didn’t want to see the man walk free. Now, it appears Nick will get his comeuppance. Or at least he would… but not while Nick’s new vampire buddy is on the watch! Dylan “vamps out” on Teresa/Amanda, and Nick is witness to the whole event. And then the credits roll! That’s a juicy stopping point to lead into next week.
While the “monster within” title could very well refer to Nick learning of Dylan’s true nature, there seemed to be a good deal of monstrous qualities this week. Sarah also learned about Nick’s monster within, when Nick admitted to her the truth about the Chicago shooting. Or the title could also refer to Andie, as she finally learned the truth about her Succubus heritage from her father (but only after Charlie falls victim to her supernatural charms).
The title may even refer to Brett, as the episode begins with Brett having to kill a hunter during his wolf pack run. The hunter shoots his friend Lukas, and would have killed him had Brett not sprung into action. Unfortunately in Brett’s haste to flee the scene of the crime, he leaves some things behind: a) his jacket, b) traces of blood, and c) perhaps most important, the body. The jacket and blood I understand, but the body? Come on… that’s like Murder 101. You have to trash the corpse.
Coach Ross is there to tend to Lukas’ wounds when the group returns from the forest. Though the Teen-Wolves all claim they outran the hunter, Ross sees through their lies immediately. Ross finds the body and moves it 10 miles away from the crime scene, then covers for the group when he is brought in to the police station for questioning. Later, when Ross confronts Brett about what he found, he says he won’t tell “The Council” on him, but Ross does kick Brett off the football team.
The last major plotline addressed in this episode was that of Claire and her feasting fanged former flame Christian. Claire and Christian rendezvous at a bar outside of The Gates, presumably to find another meat-sack to drain. However, the potential victim Christian chats up at the bar turns out to be none other than Barbara – The Gates’ Queen of gossip. Claire puts a stop to the interaction, and Barbara leaves the bar. This puts Claire at risk, as not only will news of her bar-hopping with a gentleman caller spread around The Gates like wildfire, but it greatly increases the chances that Dylan will find out Claire has been meeting up with Christian to feast and who knows what else.
Christian offers to kill Barbara, thus solving the problem in his eyes, but Claire refuses. After seeing someone she knows almost become a victim of her attacks, she begins to see the victims of these feastings as real people instead of anonymous lambs to the slaughter. She begins to realize the magnitude of what she’s done, and the risk it’s putting to her and her family. Christian doesn’t like this one bit, and suggests Claire leave Dylan to return to her old lifestyle. Claire says that she loves Dylan and doesn’t want to leave him; she realizes marriage is about compromise, and that she doesn’t have such a bad life in The Gates after all.
Other quick hits from this week:
* It’s funny that in the same week Claire begins taking responsibility for her actions, Dylan is the one to jeopardize their family by exposing his nature to the chief of police. Only minutes before, Dylan says to Nick how he would do anything to protect his daughter… and yet, he puts his daughter at risk by saving Nick’s life. This represents a power conflict of emotions in Dylan, and I hope the opportunity isn’t squandered to have that character arc pay off in the next episode.
* If Coach Ross was keeping Brett’s best interests at heart, wouldn’t he want Brett more involved with the football team? It would keep him out of trouble. The first thing Brett does when he finds out he’s off the team is go running – but this time, without the wolf pack. And this is one day after almost getting killed by a hunter – the same way his brother and father were killed. I suppose “heightened pattern recognition” is not one of the senses that comes with being a werewolf.
* Teresa/Amanda could have shot Nick several times over, had she not launched into a speech reminiscent of a 1980’s Bond villain. She got caught Monologuing! Guess she never saw The Incredibles.
* Speaking of Teresa, boy is Marcus going to be sad that his loving, awesome, kind-of-mooch girlfriend is dead. I’m guessing he’ll be even more of an eager beaver than usual in trying to hunt her killer down. And I wonder if her real name will be brought to life, and Marcus learns about her link to Nick.
* I wish the scene with Andie and her father -- in which she learns her mother was a succubus -- wasn’t cut short. Conversations don’t get more awkward than that, people. And can you imagine the look on her face when she assumes her dad is a crazy person? I’ve been waiting on that conversation for two weeks now, but the writers wasted an opportunity for a really hilarious moment. Oh well.
* This week alone, Nick learns Dylan is a vampire, Andie learns she’s a succubus, Coach Ross learns Brett is a killer and Sarah learns Nick killed someone in cold blood. How are the writers going to top this next week? My guess: Leigh reveals herself to be the second gunwoman on the Grassy Knoll.
