'Feed the Beast' Recap: 'Fire'

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Over the course of its first season, Feed the Beast has consistently proven itself to be one thoughtful and intelligent television show, since it has gone above and beyond a simple tale of two men trying to run a restaurant with silly drama surrounding them. It has instead become a showcase for the human condition, exposing our common weaknesses and fears and examining them in careful fashion, and last night's season finale was no exception to this rule.

In a way, 'Fire' served as a hybrid episode, giving us more of who we are and what we do, while at the same time, going above and beyond, allowing for the characters to continue to grow upon what they have learned and the end result of this was nothing short of spectacular...and scary. Because as it turns out, the theme for this week's episode was 'taking control' of one's life and while that proved useful for Tommy and Dion, they weren't alone in finally finding direction and getting everything under control. The Tooth Fairy just so happened to do the same and well, that's where the terrifying part comes from, but before we get to that part of the story, let's take a moment and discuss Tommy and T.J. because  their journey last night was downright incredible.

If anything, we have slowly been witnessing the transformation of Tommy Moran all season long and last night he finally shed the title of incompetent drunk and took on the new roles of capable father and competent sommelier/restaurant owner and well...this is the moment we were all waiting for. He was completely in control when it came to his son's life last night, guiding him for a change, keeping Dion out of fatherly decisions when necessary and knowing when to hold back and let his son have some fun as well. It was simply wonderful to see T.J. smile more than we've ever seen in this episode, despite the trouble he's caused in the past few weeks and speaking of the young T.J. was finally able to put together all the pieces to his trauma last night and we learned that he has been drawing Rie's death on paper over and over, not to cope, but to fill in the blanks that trauma created for him...allowing for something spectacular to happen...

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T.J. ladies and gentlemen finally spoke, he finally let his father know that he remembered everything that fateful day and that it looks like his mother's accident, was no accident and well...one has to wonder if everything dark that's happened to Dion and Tommy in the past year all relates to The Tooth Fairy (more on that in just a bit). Because as was mentioned a moment ago, he too took control of his destiny. He filled in the blanks for Tommy, letting him know about Dion's debt and the offer he made regarding the new restaurant and well...it allowed for Dion to come clean to Tommy about those debts and it forced Tommy to try and do right by his friend and offer Patrick a 25% stake ownership wise in Thirio, something that Dion was absolutely against.

Which brings us to that ending. Because every storyline we've discussed so far, every moment between these characters was building to something stunning. It was in those final moments that T.J. spoke and in those final moments that disaster struck, because Thirio was in flames. Someone, opened the gas line, set a burner to low to blow the place sky high and well...all signs point to Patrick. After all, it's clear this episode he had enough of being told he was incompetent or a screw up by his father and the fury that came with this saw dad sent back to prison and introduced us to a different kind of Patrick altogether. Yet, while there is no concrete evidence that he was indeed the man responsible for Thirio's devastation, so many signs point to him. Dion rejected the notion of giving him the ownership stake, he just so happened to be at the poker game that Dion helped rob with his uncle and well...it makes sense for him to set the place ablaze to get exactly what he wants...his own restaurant and hopefully Dion and Tommy under his thumb and working for him.

But, let's circle back to T.J.'s admission to his father because this sudden twist of events when it comes to Patrick also implies the possibility, that he is the one responsible for Rie's death. After all, we know of his love of Dion and that he likes to keep an eye on him from afar and if he saw those flirtatious advances between the two of them, one could not put it past him to remove her from the sick little equation in his mind as well. In the end however, we can only hope that Dion, Tommy and T.J. survived the blast, because the show left that possibility quite vague, and wow...what a devastating episode. After weeks of wading through a quagmire of human emotion and silly decisions, Dion and Tommy finally had it together and now Thirio is lost, their dream left burning and who knows where this story will go from here. As of press time, AMC has not renewed this show for a second season, so if by chance the story doesn't move on from this point, then perhaps its legacy will be nothing more than a grand sweeping tragedy of two men, who did too little too soon to get their lives back on track and to end it like that, would be a bold move indeed. 

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