EPI-LOG ARTICLE on Beauty and the Beast
review by Nina Johnson. Click here for contents.

Episode 1 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Once Upon A Time In The City Of New York

Once Upon A Time In The City of New York (airdate: Sept 25, 1987). Socialite lawyer Catherine Chandler is attending a dinner party that showcases her fiancee's architectural project. She is talking with a friend about his case when her fiancee, Tom Gunther, pulls her aside and advises her that she is wasting her time with a lost cause. Catherine then abruptly leaves the party. Once outside, she is looking for a cab when a man starts harassing her. While she is talking with him, a van comes out of an alley and an attacker grabs her. He throws her into the back of the van and asks "You goin' home alone tonight, Carol?" The attackers threaten Catherine and warn her to keep quiet because they are going to teach her how to keep her mouth shut. Catherine insists her name is not Carol but they pay no heed. The van cruises through a deserted section of Central Park and throws out Catherine along with her purse. She rolls down an embankment as if dead. She is picked up by a hooded figure and carried to a drainage tunnel. The unknown savior carries her through several tunnels and finally down a spiral staircase. Later, we see Catherine all bandaged and alive. She finally awakens to hear a soothing voice croon "You're safe...you're safe now". Catherine asks him who his is to which he replies, Vincent. Catherine tells him her face hurts and he gently tries to take her mind off the pain by telling her that he will be right there if she needs anything. Vincent leaves her to rest and goes through the cavern to another room where he talks with an older man, Father. The two of them are discussing what to do with Catherine since Vincent found her and Father, a doctor, saved her. Later Vincent feed Catherine some soup. She begins to ask where she is and Vincent replies that she is in some underground tunnels below New York City and that there are many others who live there. Vincent tells her his story of why he lives there. Catherine reaches out to help Vincent feed her and she touches his hand which is covered with fur. Above, a search is being made for Catherine, while below Vincent helps Catherine recover. While his out of the chamber, Catherine finds an old headlight and uses it as a mirror. She slowly pulls off the bandages and looks at the prominen stitches. As she is staring at her stitches, Vincent comes up from behind her. For the first time we see that he is more lion-like than human. Vincent's reflection frightens Catherine and she screams, then throws the light at him. They look into each others eyes, and Vincent turns to leave. Catherine starts to run after him, but ends up on the bed in tears. Vincent finally comes back still wearing his cloak and carrying one for her. His face is visible and he tells Catherine that he has always been able to accept himself as he is "until now." Vincent has brought the cloak for her to wear as she goes above ground. But she is fearful of how the world will reacy to her now that she is disfigured. He assures her that she has the stringth to face the challenge and she removes the hood. As she looks at him, Vincent realizes that she isn't afraid of him anymore. Vincent then leads Catherine throuhg the maze of tunnels and past several of the people who live there. They finally stop at a tunnel that is in Catherine's apartment building basement. They start to embrace but Vincent holds back. Voices are heard and he retreats to the safety of the shadows, while Catherine must now return to her world alone. Catherine decides to have reconstructive surgery. On the operating tables after being anesthetized, she begins to enter a dreamlike state. She is in her office then she sees where she was abducted and the van. She is once again in the van, but instead of her abductors, there are friends having a party. Her fiancess is with another woman, and all her friends laugh at her, the "big loser". She turns to look behind her to see Vincent returning her look with love. Out of the anesthesia, she wakes in a hospital bed. Once again her face is covered with bandages and she calls out, "Vincent?" But it is only the doctor wo promises to help her. Meanwhile, Vincent has clumbed an elevator shaft and sits on the roof of a building that overlooks Columbus Circle.

Eight months later Catherine is working the D.A.'s office for District Attorney Moreno and Assistant D.A. Joe Maxwell. She has also hired Isaav Stubbs to teach her self-defense. At the D.A.'s office she meets Edie who complains about Catherine's easy life until she reads Catherine's police file and learns why she turned to a job that helps innocent victims. Edie and Catherine become friends and together they investigate all the aggravated assaults that happened that same night. April 12, 1986. One of the victims, Carol Stabler, and Catherine look very much alike - until they were both disfigured. Catherine talks with Carol and pleads for her to bring the attackers to justice. But Carol is afraid because she had already experienced their anger. Catherine leaves her cards and tells Carol that she has someone to talk to. Catherine informs Tom that they no longer have a relationship. In her bedroom she begins to finish up some work when she hears a noise on the balcony. Taking her gun, she inds a learther-bound copy of Great Expectations, one of the books that Vincent read to her while she was recovering. As she turns around, she sees Vincent in the shadows. They are both glad to see each other and she informs him of her progress. Vincent tells her that he wanted to see her just one last time. He also tells her that he can feel her emotions as she experiences them. He doesn't understand it or why it is happening. They join hands as they sit on the balcony. Then she reads the last paragraph of the book aloud - And as the morning mist had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so the evening mists were rising now. And in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her.

The next morning at the office, Carol Stabler is waiting for her. She will testify against the men. Carol works for an escort service "Mayfair" which is run by Martin Belmont. Carol is placed in a safe house but is followed by a henchman of Belmont's. Catherine goes to have dinner with Carol that night and discovers Carol dead. Two thugs come out with knives and Catherine grabs a lamp. She knocks the two men down and begins to run. Meanwhile, Vincent, who was playing chess, has sensed that Catherine is in danger and he begins to rush to her. The thugs manage to grab Catherine. As Martin Belmont prepares to kill her, a growl is heard, the wall is smashed, then the door breaks open. Vincent arrives and kills the thugs. Vincent and Catherine leave through the basement. Once inside the tunnels, Catherine says "I owe you everything. Everything!" Vincent replies that "You owe me nothing, I'm part of you, Catherine - just as you're part of me. Wherever you go - wherever I am, I'm with you." They embrace then turn and slowly walk away. He to his world and she to hers.

Guest Cast: Ray Wise as Tom Gunther, Ron O'Neal [Bring 'Em Back Alive] as Isaac Stubbs, Tony Mockus as Lt. Herman, Ava Lazar as Carol Stabler, Jason Allen as Kipper, John McMartin as Charles Chandler, Don Stark as the 1st abductor, Rawn Hutchinson as the 2nd abductor, Sanford Clark as Martin Belmont, Barbar Allen Bennett as the co-worker, John Petlock as the surgeon, Neil Elliot as the partolman, Lora Zane as Cathy's friend, Richard Fancy, Joel Hershman, Arlene Banas, Charles Champion, Kimber Sissons.

Writer: Ron Koslow.

Director: Richard Franklin.