Credit where credit is due: I was able
to figure out how to talk about this episode only after I had a chat
with GoingRampant about it. The episode just seems so weird that
it's kind of hard to know what I should be saying. Rampant, however,
pointed out the comparison to the werewolf legend. Obviously, the
legend of the werewolf is now so widespread that signs of a werewolf
attack could potentially be recognized as such by law-enforcement
officials who found a body under circumstances that fully fit neither
an animal nor human attack. Yeah, they wouldn't believe it, but the
concept would at least be familiar to them, and a detective desperate
enough to consider supernatural explanations would at least let his
brain drift in that direction.
This episode, however, deals with a
Native American legend far more obscure, and thus more baffling to
police. The Deer Woman, a woman with hooves for feet, who has sex
with men, and then tramples them to death. The results are both
horrifying, and hilarious. Furthermore, even after ruling out the
mundane, police are still confused as hell since they don't know the
legend.
Personally I suspect the main
character, Detective Dwight Faraday (Brian Benben), is intended to be
autistic. He's considered a burn-out, and it's implied the
department keeps him on working “animal attacks” mainly as a
reward for previous service. Where the other detectives overlook
evidence that doesn't fit their personal theories, he obsesses over
details, even when they lead to downright bizarre conclusions. A
redneck appeared to have been killed while highly aroused, by an
unusually large deer (or one that put all it's weight on two legs)
that somehow got into his van, then kicked it's way out. The other
detectives write the hoof-marks off as a sledge-hammer, despite the
shape, while Faraday continues to think of scenarios.
While Faraday is trying to sleep we get
several mental reenactment of the event, and by his own admission the
most probably is that an attractive woman beat the man to death using
a deer's leg as a murder weapon, and even that he writes off as
“stupid.” The others are even more bizarre, and by far the most
entertaining part of the episode.
I don't really consider this episode
scary, mainly just because the Deer Woman would be such an easy
threat to avoid to anyone who isn't a complete moron. Don't go to a
secluded place to have sex with a mysterious woman who won't talk
moments after meeting her. Literally, asking “how are you?”
would have prevented every death in this story.
Racially, this episode is kind of a
mixed bag. On the one hand, Faraday's partner, the only black
character, bites it. Furthermore, director John Landis and his son
Max are credited as the only writers, indicating there was little
input from any actual Native Americans. Even the actress who plays
the Deer Woman herself is Brazilian (Cinthia Moura). I will,
however, give them a tiny point for a fairly non-stereotypical
bit-part. They learn the legend of the Deer Woman from a bartender
at a Native American casino. Rather than play him as a Noble Savage,
or some kind of Mystic, he's portrayed purely an adorable mythology
geek. He doesn't believe a word of the legend, but thinks the story
is hilarious.
As for whether or not I'd recommend the
episode, I lean yes. It certainly doesn't stack up to...really
anything else Landis has ever done. It also falls short of pretty
much every previous episode, except Incident On and Off a Mountain
Road, and maybe Homecoming.
However, it does have a level of charm to it just through sheer
goofiness, and Detective Faraday is an excellent character, who an
entire series could easily be built around. It's a shame he didn't
have a better episode.
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