Rating : - Will Catherine Ever See "That Heavenly Face" Again?
Catherine gets a job offer in Providence, Rhode Island that would make for a spectacular career advancement. She is reluctant to take it because it would mean leaving New York and moving away from Vincent. She consults him on the matter. Though Vincent can scarcely bear the thought of her moving away, he knows that he is all that is standing between Catherine and the job opportunity. He is too noble and self-sacrificing to allow himself to stand between Catherine and ANYTHING that might be good for her, so he lies through his fangs and tells her that the best thing for BOTH OF THEM is for her to go to Providence and fulfill her potential (though, of course, it will only make both of them miserable). But he talks her into it. Afterwards, deeply distressed, he walks out of the tunnels without, perhaps, taking his usual care in concealing his identity. He is captured by a scientist. The scientist studies him as one might a lab animal and plans to unveil him to the world as a great discovery (I will note here that parts of the episode don't hold up to strict standards of plausibility). Catherine eventually manages to track him down and assist Vincent to freedom. The final scene is one of the most powerfully-moving in the entire series. In it Catherine leaves no doubt as to who her "heart's best treasure" is, or whose "heavenly face" she feared she would never see again. There will be no more talk of moving away from New York for a job offer.

In 1998 I conducted a poll among Beauty and the Beast fans asking them to rate the 44 episodes of the first two seasons on a 1-to-10 scale. 31 fans participated. "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" finished 18th out of the 44 episodes.

I placed "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" 11th in my own personal 1-through-44 rank-ordering of the episodes.