With a new episode of the CBS show “Moonlight” airing tonight, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at it and compare it to two other shows about vampire detectives: “Angel” and “Forever Knight.”
In “Angel,” David Boreanaz played the title character, a broody vampire P.I. in Los Angeles who’s seeking redemption. Geraint Wyn Davies played Nick Knight, a hopeful but naive vampire detective in Toronto on “Forever Knight.” Alex O’Laughlin plays Mick St. John, a… well I haven’t got a bead on his disposition yet but I can tell you he’s a vampire P.I. in Los Angeles on CBS’ new show “Moonlight.”
As a fan of both “Forever Knight” and “Angel” I was chagrined when I heard about “Moonlight.” My gut reaction was, “Wow. Hollywood really has run out of ideas” and “Vampire detective? Again? Why couldn’t he be a vampire web designer or vampire accountant?”
I suppose police work is logical job for them to be in if they’re seeking redemption. They want to help the helpless so it stands to reason they’d put themselves in a position to help, such as detective work or taking cases as an investigator. So I guess I can talk myself past that roadblock.
Let’s look at some more similarities between the three shows:
Tortured Vamp falls in love with feisty blonde:
- Angel never really got over his love for Buffy.
- Nick’s loves weren’t blonde but they were plenty feisty.
- Mick St. John seems to be falling for a spunky blonde internet reporter.
Vamp feels overwhelming guilt for his past:
- Angel was cursed with a soul that forced him to face hundreds of years of slaughter and mayhem. For most of the show’s run, Angel holds on to a slight hope from a prophecy that says if he redeems himself fully, he will be rewarded by becoming human.
- Nick Knight refuses to drink human blood as he searches for a cure that will make him human.
- Mick also won’t drink ‘from the tap’ so to speak, preferring instead to drink bagged blood.
Vamp has an even older vampire, or ’sire’ that either guides them or tries to get them back to their old ways:
- Angel’s sire, Darla, did her best to make Angel lose his soul and return to his wicked ways.
- Nick’s sire, LaCroix was always looking for ways to manipulate Nick in an attempt to get Nick back in the killing fold.
- Mick’s comes in the guise of friend who’s centuries older than himself. So far his purpose has been to make Mick ensure the fact that vampires are amongst the cattle stays a secret.
When “Moonlight” was announced there was a lot of rumbling from fans of “Angel” who felt that it was ‘ripping off’ their beloved show. Tonight’s episode is a pretty good case-in-point: Mick has to be a bodyguard for a rising starlet. In the episode “Eternity” on Angel, he became a fading starlet’s bodyguard. I suppose the differences are the rising/fading aspect. And apparently Mick’s starlet gets murdered as opposed to nearly getting eaten by her bodyguard as shown on Angel. It’s dangerously similar but I can’t quite get my back up about it until I actually see the episode. - EDIT: Finally watched it this weekend, and I think the similarities were fairly minor between the two shows. I can forgive it.
“Angel” was deeply steeped in a carefully woven tapestry of vampire and demon lore that began as far back as the first season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” It’s richly layered, well-written and had that as its base when “Angel” the spin-off began. I believe, despite the similarities seen in “Moonlight,” it will be very difficult to touch the brilliance of “Angel.” I don’t think “Moonlight” is even trying to do that.
I think perhaps “Moonlight” is striving to be a standout despite borrowing some themes from other shows in this genre. It’s beautifully shot. The sets are dramatic and lovely. The use of flashbacks has slowly unraveled a bit of Mick St. John’s brief vampiric life and created interest in it.
That’s one definite difference from the other shows: Mick St. John is a relative newbie to vampirism than his counterparts on “Angel” and “Forever Knight”. Angel was around 250 years old and Nick Knight was around 800.
I’ll continue to watch. There are some things I rather like about it such as the fight sequences and well, the vamps just look cool when they vamp out. I’m hoping for deeper layers on the show but I can make do with just having The Pretty.
