Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction SE01 EP04 - "E-Mail/Cup of Joe/Secret of the Family Tomb/Wheezer/The Unknown Patient"

Episode Name: E-Mail/Cup of Joe/Secret of the Family Tomb/Wheezer/The Unknown Patient
Original Airdate: June 15, 1997

1) E-Mail

Laurie, the secretary for Mr. Goth, breaks up a meeting between her employer and a woman attempting to collect half a million dollars from her deceased uncle. She received an anonymous e-mail claiming that the woman in question was not the niece, but an impostor. Laurie investigates this further, and communicates with one BigBiz, who claims to be the deceased uncle Edward. He also states that Laurie must find his real niece, who lives in Brooklyn. The next morning, the woman comes back to finally collect the money, but Laurie than reveals the truth: the woman is indeed an impostor, and was actually the nurse of Edward, pretending to be the niece to get the half million dollars.

The most amusing portion of this story is the 90's internet. We have made amazing advances since then. More importantly, though, the content of the story is quite solid. The acting can sometimes be a bit iffy, but overall, it's an enjoyable ditty. I rated this one as "True."

Rating for story: Above Average

2) Cup of Joe

Three college girls are heading off to a party in the middle of the nowhere, and the long hours driving almost causes a collision. Luckily, one of the girls sees a billboard showing a diner off the next exit. Upon going down the road, however, the girls find nothing but a "Road Closed" sign and a scary individual with a flashlight. When they get back to the highway, then run into a police officer, informing them that the road ahead is blocked due to a landslide. If they had gotten there 30 minutes earlier, the three girls would have been buried. One last thing: according to the officer, there are no billboards on this highway - they are illegal.

Some of the acting was over dramatic, but this was a rather spooky little piece. The rainfall, along with the drowsy driver and dark roads made for a rather tense situation. This was a quite enjoyable segment, and recommend it highly. I believed this to be "True."

Rating for story: Above Average


3) Secret of the Family Tomb

Dori Stone ran away and ended up dead. Worse for Mr. Stone, his wife died of a stroke ten days later, and is placed in the Stone family tomb. Afterwards, vandalism in the tomb occurs (without the lock of the tomb being broken), with flowers and pictures being thrown around. The third time this happened, Sgt. Jim Keene discovered a message simply stating "Not Here." Mr. Stone's priest approaches Keene, and let's him know that Mr. Stone discovered Dori's diary, which indicated that Mrs. Stone was abusing her, which is what caused her to run away. After moving the body of the mother, the vandalism never occurred again.

Again, this was an overly solid story, and the conclusion was both fun and satisfactory. While there's never much actual threat to any of the characters, there is an aura of spookiness throughout the segment. Another highly recommended story, I feel. I consider this one "False."

Rating for story: Above Average


4) Wheezer

Zack and his dog Wheezer are a constant staple of their neighborhood. The relationship between the two is astounding, but it's all cut short when Wheezer is hit by a vehicle. After a burial, the family and friends are obviously downcast, but that night, somehow Wheezer, or a dog that looks much like Wheezer, came back, and reunited with Zack.

While most of the beginning of this story is purely filler, it does show the strength of the relationship between boy and dog. The pain of losing a pet is not one I've yet experienced, but I can only imagine what Zack's character went through. It's rather sweet, almost, when Wheezer comes back to Zack. Nothing scary here, or really unsettling, but a good story here. I rated this "True."

Rating for story: Above Average


5) The Unknown Patient

Dr. David Sanders is new to the hospital, and on the first night, a seemingly homeless man is brought in, unconscious and apparently suffering from a heart attack. Despite his superior telling him to give it up, Sanders keeps up the attempts to resuscitate the man. After even he determines the unknown man is a lost cause, they find the only indication of the man's identity is a medal found on the body. Early next morning, a family shows up, citing an obituary in the morning's paper. When Sanders hands over the medal, the family accepts it, and leaves the nurse and Sanders mystified, as they never released the name of the John Doe, and no obituary from that hospital was published that morning.

Alas, while this segment isn't at all bad, it's rather lackluster compared to the four other stories. It was, more than anything, lacking the punch at the end that I've come to expect from segments of this show. A few questions were never answered (such as why the man appeared to be homeless, or why he lacked identification), which also added to the average feel of the segment. I called this "False."

Rating for story: Average


Much like the second episode, this is an overly solid episode as a whole. Four of the five segments were quite well-done, and two of them strike me as quite memorable, being the second and third segments. One of the finest episodes thus far in the series.

Unfortunately, again, when it comes to picking which stories were true and which weren't, I only got two correct, leaving me overall in this series so far with a whopping 30%.

For episode: 2/5
Overall (for series): 6/20


Rating: Above Average


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