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

Episode 23 (Season 2, Episode 1)

Chamber Music

Chamber Music  (airdate: Nov. 18, 1988).   Catherine drops by Joe's office before she leaves for the evening.  He invites her to have dinner with him but she can't - she has a date.  She is going to an orchestra concert in the park.  Beneath the pit are Vincent and Catherine.  They are happy in each other's company.  Lightning flashes and it begins to rain.  Vincent tries to cover Catherine's dress with his cloak but she just stands under the grate and lets the rain pour on her.  He takes her back to her apartment entrance later.  She promises to go with him on Thursday to hear the Brandenburg concertos.  Vincent begins to walk in a deserted part of the city.  He finds a vagrant on the street.  He stops and looks at the man.  The man flees from Vincent and Vincent mutters "Rolley?"  Vincent has a flashback.  In Father's chamber is Vincent, Father, Mary and an older man.  A young Negro boy about eleven is playing the piano.  The boy is Rolley and he has not family except and older criminal brother.  Vincent asks Rolley if he would like to stay in the tunnels awhile and he agrees.  Vincent goes to the older gentleman and sits beside him while he sleeps.  The man, Eli, wakes up and Vincent informs him that he has seen Rolley.  Eli is amazed that Rolley is still alive.  Eli claims that Rolley's brother was killed the previous year in a robbery.  Vincent assures Eli that he is going to try to get Rolley to come back with him and leave his life of drugs.  Eli warns Vincent that Rolley is too far to come back, but Vincent is insistent, and Eli tells him he might find Rolley at a garage.  Vincent has another flashback.  Rolley is again playing but this time a woman is listening to him, Miss Kendrick.  She expresses her amazement and wonderment over seeing and hearing a child prodigy.  She declares his music technically perfect but with one flaw - no emotion.  Miss Kendrick is the music teacher of the Tunnel World.  She asks him if he would like to learn and he says yes.  But if he is to learn how to play with emotion, he must unlearn all he has and start over again, reading music.  She asks him if he knows the Moonlight Sonata and he replies no.  She decides to begin teaching him the piece since he doesn't already know it.  She then asks him to play something he really likes.  He begins to play the Moonlight Sonata, indicating he knows the music just not the names.  Meanwhile, Rolley is in an old warehouse with other drug addicts.  Vincent is behind a pillar watching him when he has another flashback.  This time Rolley is practicing the Moonlight Sonata and reading it.  It is very difficult for him but he keeps trying.  When Vincent asks him to have dinner, the boy refuses saying he has to practice his music to be able to stay in the Tunnel World.  Vincent gently explains that they love him whether he can play or not.  Vincent comes back to the present where a group of thugs have come in and are harassing the addicts.  Vincent snarls at them and Rolley runs away.  Vincent chases him but Rolley hides out in a men's shelter.  Vincent then goes to Catherine and tells her about Rolley and where he is.  He begs her to help him and she goes to the shelter.  The attendant is hesitant to let her in but she uses her D.A.'s office ID.  Catherine finds Rolley and wakes him up.  She threatens him and he begins to talk with her.  While waiting outside, Vincent remembers seeing Mouse and the children bring in pieces of a piano.  Father wants to know where they got the piano.  Mouse tells him he found it as there are many underground in the Park.  Father gets the idea.  The underground stage has many of the pianos and he lets them assemble the piano for Rolley.  In the present, Catherine bribes Rolley with $100 for him to talk with Vincent.  He snatches it but she grabs it and tears it in half, promising her part after he talks.  They go outside and Vincent approaches, then Rolley runs down the alley.  Vincent catches Rolley on a fire escape and asks why he left the tunnels.  Rolley begins his story: He was to have a recital.  He and Paco were going to get Eli so he could attend when his brother stopped them.  Rolley went with him on his scooter.  Rolley lost track of the time and they brought him back when Miss Kindrick was calling for him.  Rolley's brother and friends tell him that they will take care of her.  They grabbed her purse, then knocked her down.  Her head struck a fire hydrant and killed her.  Rolley has always felt responsible for her death.  If he had answered her when she called him, she would be alive.  He was unable to face the tunnel dwellers with the guilt.  Vincent tells Rolley that they will always be there when he needs them.  Then Rolley climbs off the fire escape and disappears.  Vincent cries over the loss of Rolley.  Catherine tries to reassure him that Rolley knows he has someplace to go if he needs to.  As she takes his hand, the strains of Moonlight Sonata are heard.  Then a view of the grand piano in the chamber sitting all alone and unplayed.

Guest Cast: Janet MacLachlan as Miss Kendrick, Theodore Bikel as Eli, Terrance Ellis as Rolley (adult), Garland Spencer as Rolley (child), Shavar Ross as Anthony, Dion Basco as Paco, Philip Diskin as the attendendant, Vonte Sweet as Freind, Marcus Chung as the punk.

Writer: Ron Koslow

Director: Victor Lobl