I recently purchased a First Alert OneLink Instructional DVD from Amazon.
It arrived complete with a bonus gift of two First Alert OneLink smoke detectors. Times must be tough for the DVD industry, because I thought it was pretty extravagant to throw in two free smoke detectors on top of a perfectly good instructional DVD, but I thought, “Hey, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to move merchandise.”
It made more sense to me (kind of) when I watched the movie, which was about how to use the smoke detectors. So I guess it was one of those promotional gimmicks. Like “Hey look, I’ve got the same smoke detectors as the guys in the movie. Cool, huh?”
That was what I believe these First Alert guys were trying to do with this smoke detector/smoke detector DVD set-up and I will concede that it was a clever plan. These smoke detectors are unique from other smoke detectors, in that they communicate with one another via a wireless signal, so that if one goes off, they all go off. That’s pretty awesome in itself, but let’s forget about the bonus gifts and get to the nitty-gritty about this little film that I watched called “Our Safe Home,” made by the First Alert production company.
Ostensibly about smoke detectors, “Our Safe Home” is more about a romance about two people — Nick and Janet — that unfurls over a sometimes tender, sometimes tense discussion of First Alert products.
Nick is a divorcee, as indicated by the absence of a ring on his left hand. His big puffy tan vest suggests a ruggedness about Nick, but the lack of fishing lures dangling from the vest indicates that Nick is not so far entrenched in his bachelor ways that he cannot be tamed by a good woman.
We start with a tight, narrow-range shot of Nick standing on the front porch of a nice, sterile suburban home. We can tell by the throaty tone of his voice and general self-assuredness that Nick understands a thing or two about protecting a home from fire and carbon monoxide. But we’ll soon find that Nick hasn’t seen it all. World-weary and shop-worn though he is, Nick knows a good thing when he sees it, and isn’t afraid to admit it.
“It’s the newest, most exciting safety technology that families have come across in a long time,” he says. “Because when you have First Alert OneLink alarms, you have a network of battery-operated alarms that can respond as one.”
A “network that responds as one”? You’re talking about your want of a stable relationship with a woman who loves you for who you are, Nick. We hear ya buddy: loud and clear.
And who should walk up to the very porch upon which Nick stands but Janet: an expert on state-of-the-art smoke detection technology.
Ready to “explore” (I think you know exactly what I’m talking about), Nick and Janet walk into the house, together. And here’s where the intrigue begins. Nick starts off by explaining his knowledge of how dangerous fire can be, and Janet supplements his knowledge quite adroitly. He’ll lay down a fact about fire, and she’ll give one right back before Nick has even put a period on the end of his sentence.
“That’s right, Nick. And did you know a fire can double in size every thirty seconds?”
Whoa, Nick — this ain’t Janet’s first time at the rodeo.
Her ensuing discussion of carbon monoxide is one of the most tense moments of the film. Nick is mostly quiet during Janet's soliloquy, and lets her do most of the talking. But is Nick silent because Janet is showing him a new and exciting world that he has never seen before? Or is he merely being coy, letting Janet take the reigns with the conversation to see if she truly is the one for him. I’m not quite sure, and that’s what makes “Our Safe Home” great for repeat viewings because the intrigue is always there and never fully solvable.
The tension finally explodes when the smoke detectors come out. And here’s where I noticed something that I hadn’t before. What’s that on Janet’s hand I see? A ring. Janet is married.
If you’ve seen “Bridges of Madison County,” I think you know where this is headed.
When Janet starts talking at great lengths about First Alert OneLink smoke detectors, I think it’s plain as day what has led her to this point. Caught in a loveless marriage, Janet found inspiration and the strength to carry on in her one true passion: smoke detection technology. She once loved her husband, but sometimes days and even weeks passed without so much as an “I love you” or a simple peck on the cheek. It was a marriage in name only, and just forget about the bedroom because that was only good for sleeping or staring at the ceiling wide-awake and dreaming of a better life. So she dived right into learning and understanding smoke detectors. First Alert, Kidde, General Electric — all the name brands and even the generics (when she was feeling low). The smoke detectors could never talk to her. All they could do was emit a shrill, rhythmic 120-decibel beep. But at least the smoke detectors responded, damn it!
And now, with Nick, Janet found someone who understood.
“Okay. So I’ve got my First Alert OneLink alarms, and I’m ready to install them,” Nick says. “Where do I begin?”
Nick might as well have said: “I understand you, Janet. Show me. Show me. Introduce me to new and sensuous pleasures of the flesh. I am your’s now, Janet. I am your moment. Take it.”
And believe me, she does. Inserting 9-volt batteries, pressing link buttons and reset buttons, pressing them again to see if they work properly — it’s all there. And when you’re finally done playing spectator to Nick and Janet’s voyage of love and exploration, you’ll ask yourself just how the twenty minutes you spent watching “Our Safe Home” went by so fast, but you won’t need to ask yourself whether our 50-years-young couple stayed together or not, because you’ll know in your heart that they have.
“Our Safe Home” is available on Amazon.com for about $60 and comes with two bonus smoke detectors.