MOONLIGHT: Vampire CSI Killed Before Its Time

In the spirit of this being a vampire blog, we’ve decided to kick off with something already deceased:  CBS ‘s Moonlight (2007).  

Tragically killed before its time, this show followed a crime solving private investigator and vampire, Mick St. John (think CSI, starring the undead). Mick (Alex O’Laughlin :D) is your typical brooding, conflicted vamp,  turned against his will by his ex-wife, Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon). Mick plays the intrinsically flawed hero attempting to atone for the misfortune of his vampirism by solving crimes in L.A. with the help of Beth (Sophia Myles), a tabloid journalist.

We like to think of Mick as a vampire on a rocky quest to find a way to live with what he is. He refuses to feed on humans (though he does drink “Red Cross Issued” human blood), and he clings to his desperate desire to be as human as possible. He is constantly thrown into conflict, however, as it is his vampire nature that enables him to solve crimes and protect the people he cares about.

        

VAMPIRE CANON

Turning

Turning someone into a vampire in the Moonlight universe follows almost an identical path to Dracula, Interview, and others: drain the human’s blood, feed them yours, and presto—you’ve sired a vampire. Snaps for sticking to the old standard.

Freezers= Coffins for the 21^st Century

Poor Dracula. He missed out on the electronic age. Creatively upgrading the archaic myth that vampires sleep in coffins, the creators of Moonlight decided that Mick and his undead buddies should catch their Zs in body-sized freezers. Slightly weird at first, but when you consider that, well, they’re dead, and what else would you do with a dead body ? it makes sense.

Stakes

Moonlight takes a different approach to the “stake to the heart” myth—not death, but paralysis. Again, an interesting takeoff on an old classic.

Eyes

One tell-tale sign of a hungry (or pissed off) vampire in the Moonlight canon—the eyes. No dreamy “Edward Cullen” topaz eyes here… these vamps go crazy blue-white on us. It’s conspicuous and altogether inhuman, which make for some interesting moments throughout the show.

Photo Reflections

Again, a modern spin on an old aspect of vampire nature. In Moonlight, it is explained that while vamps cannot be photographed because of silver emulsion in film, digital photos are no problem.

Sunlight

Sorry to all the vampire purists out there, but the Moonlight vamps don’t spontaneously combust in the sunlight. Instead, their energy is drained by prolonged exposure… which could prove problematic for a vampire in L.A….

Silver

Plain and simple, silver= poison.  

Real World Integration

Another thing we like about this show is the attention to “real world” detail, and the effort put into explaining how the vampires are able to co-exist  so closely with the rest of the mere mortals. We see the way the vampires work to protect their identities and stay invisible, and the consequences that follow when they don’t. The whole concept of a “Cleaner” who is called in to patch up feedings gone awry is pretty nifty.  So is the concept of vampires working late nights in the morgue.

WHAT WE LIKE:
1. One of the best “revelation moments” in vampire history.

Question:  How many times have we seen the melo-dramatic, confrontational “I’m a VAMPIRE” line delivered?

Answer: More than we’d like to count.

Moonlight successfully takes possibly the most crucial moments in a vampire-human drama like this one and pulls it off superbly. There’s no Edward Cullenness about it… we see Mick as vulnerable, reduced to literally cowering behind a counter as he grudgingly admits to what he is. Trust us, it’s a moment, and definitely one of our favorites in the show.

2. Josef

Allow us to introduce you to one of the best supporting characters ever created in a vampire show like this. His name is Josef Koston, a 400-something year old vamp who’s snarky humor and biting sarcasm play off against Mick’s more self-loathing tendencies. Think: a nicer Lestat to Mick’s happier Louis (for all you Interview fans out there).

WHAT WE DON’T:

1. THIS SHOW WAS CANCELED

Dear Asshole Producers in Charge of Picking Programs for CBS: You created an awesome show. It won the 2008 People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama. It got higher ratings than Gossip Girl. You set us up for a BRILLIANT season 2, and then you took it away from us. WHY?? WHYYYYYYYY???
WHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY???????????????????????????????????????????????

2. The Ex-Wife/Boyfriend Subplots

It’s always easy to create surplus melodrama by adding romantic entanglements for the two main characters who are so obviously meant for each other. In Moonlight, both our hero and heroine have their emotional baggage. For Mick, it’s his psycho but beautiful ex-wife Coraline; for Beth, it’s her do-gooder, white-knight D.A. boyfriend, Josh.  

The Coraline subplot drags a little, that is, until she discovers a secret about vampirism and the possibility is introduced that she might not be all bad. Then we can tolerate her.

Josh bothers us because he is just… too… good. The guy is the perfect boyfriend, and as you might be able to imagine, he is powerless to stop his girlfriend from becoming hopelessly attracted to her undead crime solving partner. The path that this character’s role takes is a familiar one, that we feel like we’ve seen many times before. The one good thing we can say for Josh is that he remains a genuinely good guy (i.e. no character assassination for the sake of the Mick/Beth romance).

The show ran for 1 season (16 episodes) before it was canceled. We consider it to be a tragedy—and (we grudgingly admit) that this show might have been saved if it had been able to ride the “Twilight Wave”: it debuted and fizzled out just before the craze erupted.

Reruns of Moonlight currently run on the CW on Thursday nights, and occasionally on the SyFy Network. Season 1 is also available on DVD.

We think that everybody should check out this show—it’s creative, fun and packed with vampire drama! Fangtastic! 

Fang Rating :

4/5 Fangs