FanGirls: Moonlight "Dr Feelgood " (103)

Moonlight

“Dr Feelgood” (Ep 103)
Mick searches for a new vampire who can’t control his thirst.Original Air Date: Friday, October 12, 2007

“Being a vampire sucks. It's a bad joke, I know, but it's the truth.”

We pick up more or less where the last episode left off. Beth, now about a week later, has returned to Mick’s place to talk about ‘the other night’ (aka Mick sucking on some O positive take out). She plays the denial card but then quickly realizes that it’s real and the journalist gets curious. Mick tells her only that he’s not the only one and the secret of their existence is a life or death one. Oh and he doesn’t bite people. Beth’s query about vampire creation leads to a flashback to 1952 where we see the newlywed Mick and bride about to start some procreation of their own. His “I’ll love you forever” takes on a whole new meaning when his bride gives him a hickey he will never forget. Mick can’t bring himself to tell Beth his tale of woe and sends her off, her curiosity far from sated (bad move when someone digs up stories for a living).

Cut to “EXT. LA Street -- Night” and witness a poor fellow out for a stroll who is mauled down by a driver. A good samaritan (a doctor even) stops to help the poor unfortunate soul, who is a vamp. A little while later the Doc is caught munching on some junk food at a local Kwikmart. He is a little more than cuckoo for cocoa puffs at that point, shouting to the clerk that the food has no taste. In the scuffle the guy is scratched and we can all guess the details Beth reports “haven’t been released.” Beth overhears the cops “rabid pit bull” theory and coaxes her way into the off the record detail that the guy had no blood left.

This starts a dual search for the vamp, who Mick quickly figures out is wild and unguided. We get a few talking heads scenes to explain why this is bad news. First with Guillermo, a fellow vamp who has the sick sense of humor to work in a morgue. Then Josef. And last with the good doc himself, right before Mick slays him and dumps him in a trash incinerator.

Along the way we get more flashbacks to the happy wedding night and the aftermath. We also get a weird moment of Mick smelling the attacking vamp, which would be totally wacked if he didn’t follow it with a psuedo-science comment about smelling decay on the body (vamps always smell a little dead, ewww). And the introduction of “The Cleaner”, a hot vamp with a knack for hiding bodies and covering up dangerous details. The Cleaner leads Mick to the vamp who oopsed and made a wittle baby vamp. There’s also some Josef snark, particularly while practicing his putt to take on Tiger. And a ‘just a myth’ moment of Mick being literally pinned to the floor by Daddy Dearest. Seems stakes don’t kill, they just paralyze. Works for me since sticking a big piece of wood in a mere mortal kinda ruins any plans to hop up and dance a jig.

In the end, the day is saved and Mick finally fills Beth in on the missing piece of who exactly turned him. As a show of trust.

I think if I had to sum up this show in a single sentence, I would say that it is a character drama fronting as a vampire cop show. It’s certainly too slow to be an action show and the ‘talking’ moments are almost Mamet in style and length. But taken in those terms, the show is growing on me. Course Mick being hot as heck doesn’t hurt.