‘Beauty And The Beast’: Executive Producer Brad Kern Previews ‘Epic’ Season Finale

The stakes are higher than ever for Cat (Kristin Kreuk) and Vincent (Jay Ryan) as The CW’s “Beauty and The Beast” heads into its Season 2 finale this Monday night.

Gabe Lowan (Sendhil Ramamurthy) has shed all traces of the suave assistant district attorney who strolled into their lives in Season 1. Instead, the former ladies’ man found himself unable to cope with Catherine’s romantic rejection, and when all hope was lost, he opted to inject himself with beast serum instead of dealing with the pain. Now, he’s out for revenge. He killed Cat’s journalist pal Beth (Annie Ilonzeh) in last week’s episode and he’s out for more blood – specifically, Vincent’s.

“BATB” Executive Producer Brad Kern shared with AccessHollywood.com some hints at what to expect in the show’s season finale, airing Monday at 9 PM ET/PT on The CW.

On How Bad Things Are With Gabe: “I think it’s safe to say that he’s off the rails. But that’s a good thing because his emotional journey this year — from being a character who had to prove himself to Cat… to falling in love with her and at least giving us the possibility that he could be somewhat of a threat to the Cat/Vincent romance, but then losing the love that he thought was his to the beast, Vincent — is a lot of emotional energy that just keeps building up inside of this character, over the last several episodes. And the beast is really the next last logical step for a character who tried to redeem himself,” Kern said. “So he’s going into the season finale willing to take the nuclear option to do whatever it takes. If he can’t have Cat, Vincent’s not gonna get her either, no matter what.”

Can Vincent 2.0 Match Gabe’s Return To His Beast State? “The finale will lean heavily into that question, not just from a physical, practical point of view, but also from a moral point of view. How far does Vincent have to go? Does he have to cross the moral line from human to beast, from which there’s no return, in order to stop Gabe?” Kern said of questions fans should be thinking about. “Does Vincent have to cross the moral line in order to win the war against Gabe, but then lose Cat in the process anyway? So Gabe’s willing to do whatever it takes to destroy Vincent.”

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On Cat’s Importance To The Episode: “Cat is the driving force in this episode because she’s gonna have to tap into and discover and understand better what her place in the mythology is, separate from Vincent, and rely on the journals which we set up, and her ancestor Rebecca, and what Rebecca went through 150 years ago, in order to know how to both save Vincent and their love,” Kern said. “So, it’s really Cat’s story to drive. She must tap into her mythology and she must learn from her ancestor’s past if Vincent’s to be saved, both physically and emotionally.”

There Will Be Alistair/Rebecca Flashbacks: “We certainly are going to. I mean, the season finale, I believe it’s safe to say, is epic. We weren’t sure if we were getting picked up or not when we were writing it and making it. We didn’t get the pick up until after the last episode was edited, so we had to write a show that could have been a series finale, and in that vein… [we] wanted to make a big episode and dealing with Alistair and Rebecca will be part of that show,” Kern said.

The Mysterious Organization Who Took Vincent’s Blood Will Return: “They’re gonna have a surprising effect on a part of this show… that is part of how we set up what the Season 3 storyline could be,” Kern said.

— Jolie Lash