Original Airdate: August 3, 1997
1) The Candlestick
After threatening a divorce after years of a loveless marriage, John kills his wife, Allison, bludgeoning her with a candlestick, the only witness being a parrot. After extensive questioning by the police, he appears to be in the clear - until the parrot speaks the last words of Allison - "No, John, please don't."
This is a story that strikes me as being exceedingly average. It's a story that many have heard before, and it's not uncommon by any means. As more often than not, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction is a story-driven show, this doesn't bode too well. That said, it was acted perfectly well, so it's receiving an average rating. As to whether or not I find this true, I indeed rated it as such.
Rating for story: Average
2) The Diner
Lizzie and Jake Gillespie are an adorable elderly couple who run a diner, their virtue being kindness, as they often let homeless individuals in after-hours and provide them a meal. But that meal is their last, as it's poisoned, Lizzie and Jake reasoning that they must be so miserable, it's better to help them die. Their latest victim, though, appears to be, according to his dog tags, none other than their long lost son, who hasn't been seen in 25 years (who was reported to be killed in Vietnam).
This story took me for a ride. Elderly serial killers aren't overly common, but I really liked that surprising aspect. Crazy enough to think that they're actually helping these people by killing them, I did expect them to kill their homeless son, or at least run into him through their deeds. And indeed they killed him. Sort of a sad ending, too, as while I could care less about the parents, the son, a homeless veteran with brain damage, was a pretty nice individual. This was a solid story, one I don't remember seeing in my childhood. I rated this false, as it seemed all too coincidental.
Rating for story: Above Average
3) From the Agency
At a rather posh diamond vendor, a little girl gets locked in a vault accidently. The manager is off the premise and left his phone in the shop. And the police, even though they have their best trying to crack the safe, will still take hours to do so, and the little girl won't last that long. But a girl reportedly from a temp agency, at the shop for a administration job, takes over, talking to the girl and asking her to say the first direction (left or right) and the first number that comes into her head. After extracting this information, the safe opens and the girl is (get ready for it) safe. This temp worker, Amy Farraday, leaves soon afterwards, and the real Amy Farraday walks in seconds later, surprising the police and the employee on scene.
Guardian angel stories never did much for me, and that's what this is, more or less. You can see the ending coming long before it reaches the end, and for stories that are supposed to be surprising, that's not a good thing. This struck me as one of the few sub-par stories we've had thus far. It might be fine to some, but this is one I can do without. That said, I did rate this as true.
Rating for story: Below Average
4) The Magical Rose Garden
An elderly couple, Maude and Jerome, live down in Florida, after moving away from their son and daughter-in-law in Minnesota. But they're not a normal couple - Maude occasionally has psychic flashes, warning her of danger to herself or her family. These prove useful, as they save their son from a bad investment and their grandchild from being fed food with glass laced in. But the rose garden, where these psychic flashes always take place, seem to be doing a number on Maude, and after each incident, she's getting weaker and weaker. Finally, on advice from her doctor, Jerome destroys the garden, realizing only after his son called him and thanked him for warning him off the investment that he may have made a terrible mistake.
This episode seemed rather busy, but everything made sense in the end. Or at least, most things did. Was it the rose garden that was allowing these psychic flashes to occur? And if so, why? Or is it as Maude had suggested, and these flashes were just symptoms of an allergy (I know the idea of a psychic allergy might seem amusing, but apparently it was a serious suggestion)? The ending is slightly ominous too, or at least I feel it is - while Jerome should have realize the folly of destroying the garden, it didn't hit him until after he had done so. What will that action lead to in the future? We can only guess. I enjoyed this story, but rated it false, due to it's overly fantastical nature.
Rating for story: Above Average
5) The Jeep
American soldiers stationed in Australia in World War II have a close encounter with enemy bombs. In fact, a huge shell was dropped on top of the hood of their car, but they're able to get away. Upon examining the vehicle after the attack was over, believing it to be a miracle they weren't killed, they find something amazing: shrapnel that has the name of the driver's father on it. His father had junked an old Chevy, one with his name engraved in, and that scrap metal was used by the Japanese to create the bomb.
This is one of the stories in which Brolin tells us, with sound effects in the background to immerse us as best as possible. The story's mildly interesting, but completely possible in warfare, so I rated this as both average and true.
Rating for story: Average
This is a rather scattershot episode - two average stories, one sub-par story, and two above average story. Because of that, this episode will be getting an average rating. Stand-out segments I'd recommend are The Diner and The Magical Rose Garden, proving again that you cannot go wrong with stories focusing on the elderly.
Just to note, this is both the final episode of season one (a six-episode season - intense, I know) and the final episode hosted by James Brolin. In seasons to come, Jonathan Frakes graces us with his presence. Brolin did quite a fine job, and he was a pleasure to view.
On brighter news, I got right three of the stories tonight, which is pretty good for me, if you've been keeping track of my record. If not, it stands as such:
For episode: 3/5
Overall: 11/30
Plenty of time left for me to improve, or more likely, fail even more so. Overall, though this was a solid episode, though not enough to pull it above average.
Rating: Average
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