Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Moonlight...gone too soon.


What do you say about a shamus over 85 years of age that is young and vibrant, mysterious and intrigue surrounding his every other action?  So grab a fresh willing victim, open an artery and feed.  This is Moonlight.
 
Spoilers exist in a realm of darkness and mystery…

Writers Ron Koslow (Lifeguard, Beauty and the Beast, My Life and Times and Beauty and the Beast remake) and Trevor Munson (Lone Star State of Mind and Moonlight) try to unfold a show of humans and vampires without it being clouded with too many flashbacks, horrible atrocities and the need for more Victorian garb than an Anne Rice novel.  They give a spin to scoff at coffins and holy icon warding them off.  Garlic can leave a bitter aftertaste in one’s mouth.  They do adhere to the mythos that stakes merely paralyze vampires and fire and decapitation are always the call of the day.

A private investigator named Mick St. John (Alex O’ Loughlin of The Holiday, August Rush, The Back-up Plan and Hawaii Five-O) gives us the viewers a bit of narrative of life as a vampire from his perspective.  By all accounts he is a young pup in the realm of forever ranging in at the age 85.  Yes our protagonist is not old as dirt like for example: Nick Knight from Forever Knight or Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.   He is barely out of touch of the mainstream but lives by a code similar to theirs.  A bit of a foot dragging vampire in that eternity is a bit of a bummer.   A murder is captured on a digital network called Buzzwire.   The lead investigative reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles of Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, Outlander and MI-5) has a veracious appetite for success and a gnawing hunger for the truth that she could easily end up a chalk outline.  She and Mick meet at the crime scene, he charms her then swoops off into the night leaving her wondering if that just all happened.   

Oh don’t worry readers there more bloodsuckers out there.  Take Mick’s best bud and mentor to all things fangy, Josef Kostan (Jason Dohring of Deep Impact, Veronica Mars, Supernatural and Ringer) a 400 year old investment financial wizard and ruthless for corporate takeovers.  He gives a light hearted standing on vampires enjoying the humans for food, fun and fiscal gain.   Mick’s main hang-up is he did not request to be made a vampire by his bride-to-be and somehow she kept this all secret.  Not exactly a difficult task. “Say Honey, why do I never see you eat at all?”    Bit of a pointer there.  

 Alas this series has only 16 episodes and we are left with that same achy Firefly moment without even a band-aid of Serenity to patch it up.   Shot in L.A. and my belief vamps just want to feed on models and movie stars, these series of stories unfold of murder, conspiracy, vampirism and human brutality.   It all has that nice third person narrative that the detective delves into and frankly went before it really had a chance to shine.   Guess the popularity of the Jersey Shore tromped it so proof that taste in American viewing pleasure can be limited but feel free to snag a copy because all in all it was enjoyable.

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