Mick St. John, Warrior
Moonlight, CBS, Friday night at 9p.m 
STATS: Mick St. John (played by Australian actor, Alex O’Loughlin) did, but didn’t want to be a vampire when his wife turned him on their wedding night in 1950. He misses the simple things in life, like eating food and lying on the beach in the middle of a hot afternoon. Although, he can be in sunlight, without bursting into flames, (a myth he claims), it is dangerous for him to take in too much of a good thing in the form of ultra-violet rays. As vampires go, he’s young in comparison to his best-friend Josef. Who is over four hundred years old, where Mick is only fifty years into his afterlife. He is building up a PI business when he has a chance meeting with a girl he knew when she was a child, and was kidnapped and held by his deranged wife, Caroline. He killed his wife, while he rescued Beth, who he now has an uncommon history and attraction for; now that she’s all grown up.
THE LOOK: 6′2″, with blue eyes and wavy collar length hair. Mick as a PI, uses his inherited heightened senses to sniff out suspects, and uses his inhuman strength as protection against those who mean him harm.
LEADING LADY: Beth Turner, (played by the actress, Sophia Myles) a reporter who as a child was kidnapped by Mick’s vampire wife. Rescued by Mick, she has only fleeting and sorted memories of the incident. When she realizes Mick is the man who carried her from the burning house so many years before, there relationship is forever altered and complicated. Before he was just a pesky PI who seemed to show up whenever she was around, to the man who saved her life from a mad-woman when she was a mere child. A reporter for a local Internet rag, she fights against her growing attraction to Mick, and the Vampire side of his life. Constantly questioning why she likes him. Was it because of his wife? Or was there a real attraction brewing?
BOTTOM LINE: Mick St. John is following in Angel, (of Buffy fame) footsteps. A PI like Angel, the difference, instead of getting his meal of blood from the meat market, he gets it from the county morgue from a vampire who works there. YUK! Still I like Mick. He’s easy going and not very old in the vampire community. His fascination with Beth is a bit creepy. But Mick’s good looks and effortless manner makes up for it, making him likable. The vampire world he walks in is just that, vampires. There is a interesting crew who is called in to clean up vamp messes, so as not to give the local police a heads-up on their underworld activity. Mick dismisses a lot of myths, about the sun, mirrors and what have you, which is fun and interesting. As-much-as Mick might be just another pretty vamp, I still like him, and even like his growing relationship with Beth; who is strong and independent. As my dad would say, it’s worth a gander to watch.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: It seems the good vampire who doesn’t prey on humans is becoming the norm. Do you find it more attractive? Or the old conventional Count Dracula type? Who does prey on humans and those he claims he loves.
April 24th, 2008
Lee 
in
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April 24th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I don’t mind the “kinder, gentler vampire” in small doses, but I find him to be a watered-down version of the biter, for whom I have a preference. They say the vampire market is petering out, so it seems to me like they’re trying to remake him in an attempt to appeal to that portion of the audience who doesn’t want a “monster” for a hero. “See, he’s not a monster, just a regular guy who’s really well preserved for his age and has a restricted diet. How can you not love him?” For me, that removes a lot of the conflict, but if it’s added well elsewhere, I don’t miss it. (Much.)
April 24th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I don’t think gentle vampires are realistic at all. A compelling vampire is torn between his two natures–the ‘evil’ one in which he’s trapped in, and the human one. Something along the lines of Lestat. And yes, a compelling vampire would even drink from those he loves, though you would expect him to fight it.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I haven’t watched this show, so can’t judge Mick. I like a good balance. A vampire who has to fight his baser instincts, but who ultimately can stop himself when he needs to.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
These are interesting comments on Mick. I do like the fighter vampire. Lestat and I find him to be very four demensional, surprising and damaged, (as most Vampires are) and very compelling. Mick hasn’t hit that stride yet, but hopefully he will as he grows in this show, if it lasts. One never knows.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I loooove Mick. He is always fighting who and what he is. The feelings he has for Beth are so sweet. I like that Mick is gentle to Beth but the bad guys have to watch out when he turns all ‘vampiry’. LOL
April 24th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
A kinder, gentler vampire is such an oxymoron, isn’t it?! I’ve said before that I don’t much like vampire books [with a few exceptions like Twilight by Stephenie Meyer]. With that being said, I do thing that the inherent conflict in a vampire story is that he’s fighting his base instinct as Edward does in Twilight, but if that’s all we get, then it all becomes the same. Any character can be well-developed and those are the exceptions to the rule, just as in those breakout novels. It’s the new twist on an old character that makes it fresh. I’m not sure what more you can do with a vampire story. [?]
Mick sounds like an exception to the rule. =)
April 24th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I don’t care for the PC vamps. It’s like telling us he’s bad but he really isn’t.
April 27th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I love vamps. I can’t help it. Although I don’t like them all. Some of the ones I read in books now are just copies of other popular vamp characters. Such obvious copies that they’re cheesy.
But yeah, I love vamps. Although I won’t watch that show. It seems like such a rip-off of “Angel”, and I LOVED Angel.