I guess the Shard of Medusa story wasn't long enough, so they tacked it onto the "Friend in Need" story to make a story. Which isn't a bad idea: the Shard story is pretty forgettable. For one thing... a rock is an antique? Okay... They weren't even trying hard with that one, were they? Donna Goodhand makes an effective villainess for what little she has to do. The idea of an artist killing for their craft would be done better down the road in "The Maestro."
The story features Micki as bait. Again. It's not much of a story, and its presence probably helps the main storyline. For one thing, it adds some body to the occasional past mentions that Jack and/or the cousins are off looking for some other antique. The Shard is essentially one of those "mentioned in passing" stories, and helps to give the series some weight by showing that the cousins deal with lots of "little" cases as well as big "antique of the week" cases.
For another, the intertwining of the Shard story with the Ricky/coffin story gives the latter some gravitas. The two stories never meet except in passing, and the intercutting is a little confusing. DeJager is holding an exhibition at the same time that J.B. is breaking into Ricky's house? Shouldn't they both be at night? Or both during the day?
Kerim Malicki-Sanchez and Zachary Bennett are decent actors, which makes up for a lot. There's no sign of Micki's friend's son, from last season's "Bedazzled". J.B. has a bit of personality and Bennett contributes to the episode with his talent. Malicki-Sanchez had previously appeared briefly in the series (as Jack's son Peter) and it looks like he's continued a film career through at least 2020. Good for him: he's fairly talented, and has a fey-like quality.
It also helps that the episode undercuts the expectations it sets up. All of Ricky's initial shots are POV and there is heavy-breathing Dolbied in. So we expected Ricky to be some fearsome monster. Instead he's just a cute-looking kid. At least initially. Later we discover that he's a corpse that has been animated through the power of the cursed coffin.
And this is where credibility gets stretched. Sort of. By now we should be used to the cousins getting involved with antiques that just happen to be around. So now they live within bike-riding distance of a house where a cursed antique--the child's coffin--was used. This is the point in the original broadcast where I gave up and just said, "Okay, the Vendredi curse must somehow draw in Lewis' relatives, too." It still stands out as a sore thumb 20+ years later. Ah, the 80s and syndicated TV, when we didn't care about the level of coincidence involved.
Bennett and Malicki-Sanchez also have some chemistry and actually seem like friends. The fact that we get both of their backgrounds with a little more time to breathe helps, unlike Richie in "Bedazzled". Who came across more as a plot contrivance. Like many second season stories, Ricky's fate is more of a tragedy and the story gives the whole thing some time for Ricky's tragedy to play out.
The writers pull out all the stops, having Ricky beaten by his father and turned into a flesh-eating... whatever he is through no fault of his own. Again, that's where having two stories in once helps. The "main" story doesn't have to have a bad guy, because DeJager serves that role in the secondary story.
DeJager does "invade the shop" using Micki's left-behind address (thanks, Micki!), and uses J.B. as a hostage to get the Shard back. So the two stories do intertwine briefly.
There are parts of the story that are a bit mawkish. As was usually the case when the production staff did stories with children: see "Bedazzled" and "The Playhouse". But the fact that Ricky is a tragic victim--he didn't ask to be brought back to life or given the hunger to keep himself alive, and he ultimately sacrifices himself rather than kill his friend's aunt--and the actors are decently engaging helps. Unlike "The Playground", there's no indication that the production staff is "writing down" to the two child characters or their presence in the episode. Yes, it's a retelling of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", and J.B. being proven right about his claims that kids stole the bike Ryan gave him leads to a rushed reconciliation at the end. But it's better than the nothing we've got in the past.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The story features Micki as bait. Again. It's not much of a story, and its presence probably helps the main storyline. For one thing, it adds some body to the occasional past mentions that Jack and/or the cousins are off looking for some other antique. The Shard is essentially one of those "mentioned in passing" stories, and helps to give the series some weight by showing that the cousins deal with lots of "little" cases as well as big "antique of the week" cases.
For another, the intertwining of the Shard story with the Ricky/coffin story gives the latter some gravitas. The two stories never meet except in passing, and the intercutting is a little confusing. DeJager is holding an exhibition at the same time that J.B. is breaking into Ricky's house? Shouldn't they both be at night? Or both during the day?
Kerim Malicki-Sanchez and Zachary Bennett are decent actors, which makes up for a lot. There's no sign of Micki's friend's son, from last season's "Bedazzled". J.B. has a bit of personality and Bennett contributes to the episode with his talent. Malicki-Sanchez had previously appeared briefly in the series (as Jack's son Peter) and it looks like he's continued a film career through at least 2020. Good for him: he's fairly talented, and has a fey-like quality.
It also helps that the episode undercuts the expectations it sets up. All of Ricky's initial shots are POV and there is heavy-breathing Dolbied in. So we expected Ricky to be some fearsome monster. Instead he's just a cute-looking kid. At least initially. Later we discover that he's a corpse that has been animated through the power of the cursed coffin.
And this is where credibility gets stretched. Sort of. By now we should be used to the cousins getting involved with antiques that just happen to be around. So now they live within bike-riding distance of a house where a cursed antique--the child's coffin--was used. This is the point in the original broadcast where I gave up and just said, "Okay, the Vendredi curse must somehow draw in Lewis' relatives, too." It still stands out as a sore thumb 20+ years later. Ah, the 80s and syndicated TV, when we didn't care about the level of coincidence involved.
Bennett and Malicki-Sanchez also have some chemistry and actually seem like friends. The fact that we get both of their backgrounds with a little more time to breathe helps, unlike Richie in "Bedazzled". Who came across more as a plot contrivance. Like many second season stories, Ricky's fate is more of a tragedy and the story gives the whole thing some time for Ricky's tragedy to play out.
The writers pull out all the stops, having Ricky beaten by his father and turned into a flesh-eating... whatever he is through no fault of his own. Again, that's where having two stories in once helps. The "main" story doesn't have to have a bad guy, because DeJager serves that role in the secondary story.
DeJager does "invade the shop" using Micki's left-behind address (thanks, Micki!), and uses J.B. as a hostage to get the Shard back. So the two stories do intertwine briefly.
There are parts of the story that are a bit mawkish. As was usually the case when the production staff did stories with children: see "Bedazzled" and "The Playhouse". But the fact that Ricky is a tragic victim--he didn't ask to be brought back to life or given the hunger to keep himself alive, and he ultimately sacrifices himself rather than kill his friend's aunt--and the actors are decently engaging helps. Unlike "The Playground", there's no indication that the production staff is "writing down" to the two child characters or their presence in the episode. Yes, it's a retelling of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", and J.B. being proven right about his claims that kids stole the bike Ryan gave him leads to a rushed reconciliation at the end. But it's better than the nothing we've got in the past.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?