Fear Itself: Spooked - The Watros Effect
Everything’s Better with Cynthia Around
The second installment of NBC’s new horror-suspense anthology Fear Itself managed to improve upon last week’s premiere simply by casting bigger names — specifically Cynthia Watros and Eric Roberts — with a more obvious talent for getting viewers “Spooked.”
That’s not to say that the cast members of the first episode, “The Sacrifice,” are untalented, however. They just happened not to find themselves in the episode with the more character-driven plot.
“Spooked” was all about character, too, mainly Roberts’ Harry Bender, a disgraced cop with a bad attitude. He’s forced to work as a private investigator sniffing out adulterers after his violent style of interrogating witnesses, guilty or not, results in him losing his badge immediately after he solves the high-profile kidnapping of a senator’s son.
You know you’re disliked on the job — or have some pretty darn terrible karma — when you break the case, find the victim, and still get kicked to the curb. Talk about harsh.
Fifteen years later, enter Watros’ Meredith King, who identifies herself as a distressed social worker convinced her husband is cheating on her when she’s at work. Meredith convinces Harry to take her case with the requirement that he conduct his surveillance from the house across the street since her spouse would quickly notice a van parked outside.
This meeting and one other in the same restaurant are pivotal because they alone contain most of the clues needed to unravel a sizable chunk of the story’s mystery.
Of course, Harry is willing to grant Meredith’s request — why shouldn’t he since it sounds very reasonable? — the central mistake that leads first to his mental unraveling and then his ultimate fate.
Did “Spooked” spook me? Actually, no, it didn’t; but that wasn’t from lack of trying. I was just studious enough to pick up on those clues capable of helping me prematurely figure out what Meredith was up to, which lessened the impact of the events inside the eerie house.
What the episode did do, though, is puzzle me repeatedly. Every time I thought the plot had reached the end of the line, another twist in the road revealed itself. Add to the mix Watros’ terrific performance — alternatively innocent and malevolent when necessary — and I almost don’t mind that the horror element was missing in action.
Almost, I say, because I still need me some scares; otherwise it just doesn’t seem right calling Fear Itself a horror and suspense anthology series.
The Verdict: B-
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Fear Itself currently airs Thursdays on NBC at 10pm EST
Photo courtesy of Frédéric DUPONT
