After the esoterica of the last three "and now for something special" episodes, "Spirit of Television" features a return to the good ole antique-hunting and "kill someone for something valuable" tradeoff that most antiques in the past have provided.
The usual trope of the antiques being "greedy" kicks in. The antique television demands more of Ilsa, killing-wise, by giving her less life in return for her finding it victims. I understand that the antiques want to speed their users on the way to corruption. But it seems self-defeating. Half the time the accelerated killings give away the user, and soon the antique ends up in the vault. I guess they don't communicate among themselves before they get tossed in the vault.
Marj Dusay as Ilsa is okay. Anyone remember her from 'Spock's Brain', among many other 60s, 70s, and 80s TV shows? No? Oh, well. Paul Bettis as Jack's old pal and fellow magician/spiritualist-debunker is pretty good, although he didn't do much before or since. Other than a "blink and you'll miss it" appearance on 'Repetition' earlier this season. Again, it's interesting to see the show focus on older characters. F13 gave Jack a fair amount to do, probably because he's the veteran actor and leaves Robey and Monarque in the dust, and Jandini as part of Jack's magician background is something we had gotten more of.
Bettis gives a good portrayal of grief, renewed belief, and skepticism in the short screen time. Dusay as Ilsa has more to do, and she gets a young lover so she can have deeper characterization. I do like the interaction between Ilsa and William. Actor Paul Humphrey is as good as William, wanting to learn what Ilsa does. Like Bettis, Humphrey didn't have much of a career. That's a pity, since he's pretty good here. And his character is a pleasant change: a younger man who really loves the older Ilsa. Which is an averted version of the May-November relationship in '13 O'Clock'. William is conflicted over Ilsa being a murderer, which helps to give a little more depth to her.
That makes the climax even more confusing. The last we saw of William, he was at Ilsa's manor and she was telling him that he couldn't help. Then he's at the shop helping Ilsa shove Jack at the TV. It robs the character, and the couple, of what little sympathy we might have had for them.
The Ilsa/William relationship helps the viewer to sympathize Ilsa. Hey, if William likes her and William's a nice guy, then she can't be all bad. Right? And Dusay does a good job of being practically insane from the television showing her the date of death. A Sword of Damocles hanging over her head. It makes her victim as much as killer. Like Aubrey in "My Wife As a Dog", she comes across as more of a human being because she's just trying to save her own life. Yes, she has to kill to do it. But it's for a more sympathy-bringing cause than money or sex. Or both.
The cinematography is also good, mostly involving the cursed television. Both the souls that originally appear friendly, and then turn rotting and gaunt (with the shots of old TV footage in the background) as they accuse their victims, is impressive. As are the shots of the victims' souls being trapped in the television, and then being sent to... somewhere. The imagery captures the feel of "spirits" hence the title. Which is more apropos than most episode titles.
Ilsa as a medium comes across as a little odd. Were "celebrity mediums" big in '89? Like prior ventriloquism and night club mentalism, séances seem a bit old fashioned for the show. And the episode hits most of the tropes: Ilsa was an unknown up to five years ago.
Wiggins is good as always. Monarque doesn't have much to do. Neither does Robey, but at least she acts well doing nothing.
And of course, Ilsa starts rotting, judging from her fingernail falling out as well as the lesions on her face because of her "degenerative disease". I guess writer Bob Holbrook (in his only TV script anywhere) didn't think we'd get the message that Ilsa was dying unless he wrote the script to show she was literally going to pieces. Or maybe Jorge Montesi added the makeup job to make the episode more F13-like. Who knows?
Overall, "Spirit" isn't a bad episode or a good one. It just... is, with a lot of revisiting of stuff we've seen before. Bygone fad, check. Decaying victim, check. A friend of the trio becoming a victim of the object? Check. The object user hauling around an unwieldy object to kill people (like with the trefinator and the electric chair)? Check. An invasion of the shop? Check. The fact that only the victim can see the spirits (whatever the heck they are) isn't bad. So the episode is just barely above "average".
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The usual trope of the antiques being "greedy" kicks in. The antique television demands more of Ilsa, killing-wise, by giving her less life in return for her finding it victims. I understand that the antiques want to speed their users on the way to corruption. But it seems self-defeating. Half the time the accelerated killings give away the user, and soon the antique ends up in the vault. I guess they don't communicate among themselves before they get tossed in the vault.
Marj Dusay as Ilsa is okay. Anyone remember her from 'Spock's Brain', among many other 60s, 70s, and 80s TV shows? No? Oh, well. Paul Bettis as Jack's old pal and fellow magician/spiritualist-debunker is pretty good, although he didn't do much before or since. Other than a "blink and you'll miss it" appearance on 'Repetition' earlier this season. Again, it's interesting to see the show focus on older characters. F13 gave Jack a fair amount to do, probably because he's the veteran actor and leaves Robey and Monarque in the dust, and Jandini as part of Jack's magician background is something we had gotten more of.
Bettis gives a good portrayal of grief, renewed belief, and skepticism in the short screen time. Dusay as Ilsa has more to do, and she gets a young lover so she can have deeper characterization. I do like the interaction between Ilsa and William. Actor Paul Humphrey is as good as William, wanting to learn what Ilsa does. Like Bettis, Humphrey didn't have much of a career. That's a pity, since he's pretty good here. And his character is a pleasant change: a younger man who really loves the older Ilsa. Which is an averted version of the May-November relationship in '13 O'Clock'. William is conflicted over Ilsa being a murderer, which helps to give a little more depth to her.
That makes the climax even more confusing. The last we saw of William, he was at Ilsa's manor and she was telling him that he couldn't help. Then he's at the shop helping Ilsa shove Jack at the TV. It robs the character, and the couple, of what little sympathy we might have had for them.
The Ilsa/William relationship helps the viewer to sympathize Ilsa. Hey, if William likes her and William's a nice guy, then she can't be all bad. Right? And Dusay does a good job of being practically insane from the television showing her the date of death. A Sword of Damocles hanging over her head. It makes her victim as much as killer. Like Aubrey in "My Wife As a Dog", she comes across as more of a human being because she's just trying to save her own life. Yes, she has to kill to do it. But it's for a more sympathy-bringing cause than money or sex. Or both.
The cinematography is also good, mostly involving the cursed television. Both the souls that originally appear friendly, and then turn rotting and gaunt (with the shots of old TV footage in the background) as they accuse their victims, is impressive. As are the shots of the victims' souls being trapped in the television, and then being sent to... somewhere. The imagery captures the feel of "spirits" hence the title. Which is more apropos than most episode titles.
Ilsa as a medium comes across as a little odd. Were "celebrity mediums" big in '89? Like prior ventriloquism and night club mentalism, séances seem a bit old fashioned for the show. And the episode hits most of the tropes: Ilsa was an unknown up to five years ago.
Wiggins is good as always. Monarque doesn't have much to do. Neither does Robey, but at least she acts well doing nothing.
And of course, Ilsa starts rotting, judging from her fingernail falling out as well as the lesions on her face because of her "degenerative disease". I guess writer Bob Holbrook (in his only TV script anywhere) didn't think we'd get the message that Ilsa was dying unless he wrote the script to show she was literally going to pieces. Or maybe Jorge Montesi added the makeup job to make the episode more F13-like. Who knows?
Overall, "Spirit" isn't a bad episode or a good one. It just... is, with a lot of revisiting of stuff we've seen before. Bygone fad, check. Decaying victim, check. A friend of the trio becoming a victim of the object? Check. The object user hauling around an unwieldy object to kill people (like with the trefinator and the electric chair)? Check. An invasion of the shop? Check. The fact that only the victim can see the spirits (whatever the heck they are) isn't bad. So the episode is just barely above "average".
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?