Fear Itself: In Sickness and in Health

(S01E04) When I got the chance to review this week's episode of Fear Itself, I was pretty excited. Firstly because I knew it starred James Roday and Maggie Lawson from Psych, and secondly because it was directed by John Landis.

While I admit that Landis' directorial offerings in the theater have been less than stellar in recent years, he still holds a special place in my heart for being the man who brought us Trading Places, The Blues Brothers and Animal House. I was also excited to see how Landis, Roday and Lawson do with a different type of script than the one they worked together on with Psych.

I was hooked almost from the beginning. I almost fell asleep during the setup about the wedding being "too soon' and all the bridesmaid junk, but once Lawson opened the note and the great theme music kicked in I was ready to go.

The only word I can use to describe the first fifteen minutes of the episode is uneven. I loved how Landis used the innate creepiness of the church and its decorations to weird me out, but seeing Roday deliver his lines the exact same way as Shawn Spencer made it hard to believe his character. Lawson, on the other hand, was emoting so little that I couldn't figure out what her character was thinking at all. I never thought I would be in such a hurry to see the cigarette smoking man.

Another nice scene was between Lawson and her bridesmaids after the wedding. The way Landis used the angled mirror was very cool to see. Unfortunately, it completely overshadowed the lackluster storytelling. Between the phoned-in performances of the stars and the thick Canadian accents of the co-stars, I wasn't sure which was making me more uninterested.

What's worse is I had figured out the twist by the half-way point, so I didn't even have that to keep me going. My only hope was that Landis had put in a "See you next Tuesday Wednesday" somewhere for me to find.

With ten minutes to go in the episode, I couldn't have been more disappointed. If I wasn't obligated to finish watching the episode, I most likely would have bailed right then and there. The whole situation is quite sad, really, because I wanted this show to be good.

In my many years of watching TV, I have noticed that anthology shows seem to be an undying staple of American television. I suppose it has something to do with the early days when it was a lot easier to get some writers and actors to work on one project for the week and then be done with it. As far as supernatural or horror anthology series go, it's clear that The Twilight Zone is the standard by which all others are judged, but since the day TZ debuted, no other show has even come close.

There have been a few series with a decent episode here and there. Amazing Stories had its moments, and there are those that have a fondness for The Outer Limits, but shows like Darkroom, Monsters, Nightmares & Dreamscapes and both of the updated Twilight Zone abominations have all been supremely sub-par.

It's clear to me that Fear Itself is no better. When the ending came and Lawson revealed that she was, in fact, the serial killer, I wasn't surprised. I was, however, angry that none of the other questions got answered. Without going through the entire list, how about we just find out why Lawson's character was so afraid of her groom when she knew all along that she was the killer and not her husband?

This episode was a failure to say the least, but the saddest part is that I will still watch next week in hopes that it gets better.