Season 2, Episode 2: Remembering Melody
Well they can't all be gems. Sometimes you just need to slog through episodes to get to the good ones. But this one wasn't without its merits.
We start with the protagonist, not driving, but biking?
Wow what a nerd. There wasn't anyone really notable in this episode. Susan Blakely plays the titular "Melody" in this episode and while it looks like she's steadily done a lot of TV, I didn't really recognize her in anything. David Dukes who plays biker lawyer here, also had done some TV shows in the 1990s but wasn't too big a star either. That's okay, I'm not here for the stars. I'm here for...
Yeah that guy. Wow, he's in the crowd with all the extras. This is what they are all looking at:
Woah! Did anyone get a good look at the driver?
Well what do you know, The Hitchhiker predicted self-driving cars. This must have been one of the early models that ran down pedestrians.
Here is a rare exchange with the Hitchhiker. Instead of being berated by the main character, he appreciates that he helps him up after the accident. The Hitchhiker informs Ted, our free-wheeling lawyer character, that there was no driver for that car. Ted doesn't buy it and goes off to figure out who to sue for this.
It was pretty funny to me that the Hitchhiker suddenly breaks the fourth wall here while extras are still milling about behind him. I was hoping one of them would ask him who he is talking to. We learn that Ted Miller thinks he knows who he is and where he wants to be so he races to grab the golden ring. But as fast as Ted is pedaling, he can't escape his past. Or a speeding car it would seem.
When Ted gets back to his apartment, I notice something on the screen.
Hold the phone! The source material is written by the Game of Thrones writer himself? I had to check this out and so I read the short story this was based on. They definitely changed a bunch of things although I suppose the main points are there. In the story, Melody is presented as a pretty needy and selfish person from this guy's past where in the show, Melody was someone who supported him and his roommates financially and took care of them and now just needs help. They had to fit this guy into the mold of a Hitchhiker type villain I guess. One thing that remains the same in both is there were four roommates, with Michael and Anne rounding out the family. They all made a sacred promise to each other they would always be there for one another.
Ted works with his girlfriend Jill at the law firm. She is presented as pretty mean in this, but in the story she was actually much more sympathetic to him and Melody.
We get an interesting shot of Ted as he's trying to recover from almost getting killed.
Nah you can't see anything.
He hears someone at the door but when he looks through the peephole...
There is no one there. But then when he opens the door...
Melody!
This episode is a bit on the slow side, probably because the source material is mostly conversational. We get her sob story about why she needs a place to stay. We see him being annoyed that she needs help. There is a lot of conversation between them about the life they had and the promises...bla bla bla.
Back at the office Ted goes into the hell elevator from Angel Heart.
It starts plummeting for no reason...until it stops. Wow what a day this guy is having.
After failing at work, he goes back home. Suddenly this happens...
These love scenes are not in the story, this is purely for HBO.
They fight because Ted doesn't want to help her even though he promised. He's not a hippie anymore, he's a yuppy! She mentions that two years ago on this day she sent him a telegram that said "There will never be any other way." Huh, I wonder what she means by that.
Ted seems upset by all this so escapes to Jill's where he has a disturbing dream. He realizes he needs to go back to his apartment to find Melody.
Great now it's Poltergeist III with the wind blowing through the apartment.
Melody gets naked and walks out the door, but seems to just fade away.
Ted returns to see his apartment trashed.
Wow it looks like the apocalypse in here.
He checks the bathroom...
That's actually a pretty cool visual. The words "Something to remember me by" is written in blood on the mirror. This is a line taken from the short story, although it wasn't quite that horrifying. As you can imagine he freaks out, but Jill comes just in time to calm him down.
After she hugs him, the apartment looks back to normal. But what about the lady in the tub?
Oh she was just screwing with his head the whole time. The car, the elevator, the blood. But what's this?
Jill finds Melody's obituary. Who put that there? Apparently she's been dead for two whole years! Realizing what Melody, or at least the ghost of Melody has been doing causes Ted to call their old friend Anne to warn her.
But instead, it's Melody on the other line. She has plans for all of them. But what? It's never mentioned.
I have to say, the ending on this is pretty tame. Did I say tame? I meant lame. This guy doesn't get any horrible ending except the feel of his own guilt and nothing even explodes.
The closing shot of the Hitchhiker leaving the apartment building lets us know that Ted made promises out of convenience and out of guilt, but when he broke the promise of innocence, he betrayed not only another but himself as well. Yeah and he also betrayed his girlfriend by having sex with a ghost. Don't forget that part.
The Hitchhiker looks up at the apartment here and this made me wonder for a second...
Was he Melody? Was he taking the form of her just to mess with him because he never thanked him for helping him up after the accident? Does the Hitchhiker possess powers like this?
I guess we will never really know. This episode...meh. I'm hoping the next one picks up a bit and gives me more than these weepy scenes.