After a rather strong start to the third season, Tales from the Darkside was bound to eventually lose some momentum. It does so with this lousy lesson in not dumping annoying characters on screen for an entire running time, expecting us to not check out in aggravation. This was just a case where those involved in the writing and direction tried to get too cute, with the conclusion perhaps amusing to some while I had already given up on the episode before this. A kid is bored, and his parents seem too involved in other things while he yearns for entertainment. His wife-beater shirted pops is reading the sport section, telling his son to look at the all-news sections that provides only the most entertainment a child could imagine. However, he notices the lottery winner number and soon realizes that his parents have that ticket number themselves. Ten mil but they don't do anything with it. Meanwhile a number of greedy folks stop by or call them looking to be financed. A former friend of the mother's (Mark Blankfield), named Tinker, soon arrives looking to be financed for his invented "total recall" drug which opens the brain to allow for greater learning capabilities and memory. However, father Harlan (Joe Carafello) doesn't want anything to do with Tinker while his wife, Margery (Catherine Battistone), invites him in and is more willing to listen to his offer. The kid, Jonathan (Jason Horst), is mostly confined to his room, begging to come down to the living room through an intercom, with the parents emphatic that he stays put.
Fans of Blankfield understand that he has that flexible rubbery face perfect for physical comedy. He was quite a visible working actor in the 80s on both television and movies (mostly involving his relying on acting silly and manic). He's sadly forgotten, but if you watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Blankfield gets to steal scenes. He was also a part of horror comedies like Frankenstein General Hospital or Jekyll & Hyde: Together Again. In this episode, he's so over the top and madcap crazy, he sweats buckets and looks to be losing his breath. It is energy exploding on screen, but I think he just doesn't have the material or cast to play off of to benefit an audience who'd care. The point was that the total recall pill had adverse effects on Tinker that was simply too much on an adult brain to endure. The child finally taking front and center of the story, with the parents put in their place after one of the total recall pills proves its value, is supposed to satisfy us. I think it only gives us an end we perhaps longed for after about five minutes of this tiresome episode.
Fans of Blankfield understand that he has that flexible rubbery face perfect for physical comedy. He was quite a visible working actor in the 80s on both television and movies (mostly involving his relying on acting silly and manic). He's sadly forgotten, but if you watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Blankfield gets to steal scenes. He was also a part of horror comedies like Frankenstein General Hospital or Jekyll & Hyde: Together Again. In this episode, he's so over the top and madcap crazy, he sweats buckets and looks to be losing his breath. It is energy exploding on screen, but I think he just doesn't have the material or cast to play off of to benefit an audience who'd care. The point was that the total recall pill had adverse effects on Tinker that was simply too much on an adult brain to endure. The child finally taking front and center of the story, with the parents put in their place after one of the total recall pills proves its value, is supposed to satisfy us. I think it only gives us an end we perhaps longed for after about five minutes of this tiresome episode.