I'm tempted to start this review by
asking “who let Rob Schmidt direct an episode?” However, that
seems a little unfair, since I haven't seen Wrong Turn
as of this writing. Still, this is one of the lesser Masters
episodes, although it never falls to the depths of Deer
Woman or Fair Haired
Child None of the scares are
anything special, and the story didn't do anything especially
creative with it's own premise. The major scares the episode is
built around are “skinless person,” “ghost,” and “unwilling
organ (skin) donor,” all of which have been done before and better.
The twist, while not awful, is carried out in the laziest way
possible.
I've heard people
complain about films that avoid focusing the camera on “mysterious”
characters until the filmmakers are prepared to reveal their
identities. While that is a lazy cliché, this episode takes it a
step further. Large portions of the opening scene are simply not
shown to us. There is no in-universe reason for this. We're not
being shown a glitchy recording, and the camera doesn't follow other
events. Parts of the scene are just missing. Why in God's name the
episode didn't just skip this scene, establish the needed information
through dialogue, and show the full scene at the end I will never
know.
The episode opens
with dentist Dr. Cliff Addison (Martin Donovan) and his wife Abby
(Julia Benson) in a car crash. Cliff gets out safely, but the car
catches fire before Abby can escape, burning her severely. For the
remainder of the episode she's skinless, lying in a hospital bed,
psychically attacking Cliff. He has visions and dreams of her
skinless corpse attacking him. He gradually grasps that if she dies,
he'll be going with her.
Cliff is told that
she's in a coma, but the episode has her look at him so blatantly
that there's no ambiguity about it. We also see images in her eyes
when the camera zooms in on them, like something out of a
Saturday-morning cartoon. Abby is awake, in pain, and attacking
Cliff. Cliff is told that she'd be OK if they could find a skin
donor, but without a complete body transplant she'll be dead within a
few days.
The episode is
obviously inspired by the Terry Schiavo case, with Cliff trying to
get a Do Not Resuscitate order, while Abby's mother (Linda Sorensen)
keeps appearing on television, calling Cliff an abuser. There are no
actual courtroom scenes, so the mother seems to only appear to remind
us that this is just like the Terry Schiavo case, because god forbid
this episode not be exactly like it's inspiration.
We find out partway
through the episode that Cliff had an affair with his assistant,
Trish (Robin Sydney), and that Trish wants to continue it now that
Abby is out of the way. Trish provides us with gore fodder when
Cliff harvests her skin, desperate to save Abby and keep his own neck
intact. How the hell a dentist has the skill to do that, or how he
even knew Trish was a compatible donor, I haven't a clue.
The eventual twist
is yet another example of a horror plot line that would have been
better if it had been revealed at the beginning. Abby was pregnant,
but leaving Cliff because of his affair. So Cliff intentionally set
the car on fire. In retrospect, that makes his situation much more
interesting. If Abby dies, her spirit will kill him. If she lives
and regains consciousness, she'll be able to testify that he
attempted to kill her. Instead of this story, we get boobs, as he
has sex with both Trish and ghost-Abby.
I'm a bit confused
about the final scene, which shows Cliff arriving and home, throwing
Trish's remains in the trash can, and being greeted at the door by
Abby giving him a death glare. He hangs his head and walks inside.
Is he dead now? Or just haunted by her spirit? Is she stuck with
him as much as he's stuck with her?
...oh, and the
episode has Corbin Bernsen as Cliff's lawyer, projecting evil
everywhere. I love Corbin Bernsen, but this is not his best work.
Overall, the
episode just isn't worth your time. It's ill-conceived, not scary,
and doesn't have a lot of original ideas.
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