Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Mourning After" (February 12, 1999)

The final episode of Brimstone (1998 – 1999), titled “Mourning After,” rivals “It’s a Helluva Life” as the best installment of the short-lived horror program.  The repetitious “investigation of the week” formula is dropped, and instead this story focuses squarely on Detective Stone (Peter Horton) and his predicament.

In particular, Stone desperately wants to reach out to his wife (or, technically, widow…) Rosalyn (Stacy Haiduk), who still believes he is long dead.  But Stone isn't certain how to approach her, or even if it is right to burden Rosalyn with the truth of his situation as the Devil’s bounty hunter, essentially.

“Mourning After” takes place on Valentine’s Day as a lonely Stone reminisces about his life with Rosalyn.  In particular, he remembers the day they moved into a second story apartment together.

In the present, Stone follow Rosalyn home and discovers that she has a new man in her life, a handsome real estate attorney named Barry (Mark Valley).  But the more Stone probes, the more he grows concerned about this character.  As he soon learns, Barry is actually a vengeful Ashe (Teri Polo) in disguise.  She is looking to become Rosalyn, actually, so that Stone and she can share real love together.

A charming and heartfelt hour, “Mourning After” finds Stone battling his conscience.  Is it right to burden Rosalyn with his presence, and the facts of his (admittedly strange…) life?  Or, as his beloved wife, does she simply deserve to know the truth?  If she had him back, would she care about the circumstances?

Stone’s jealousy also pops up when he meets Barry, and there are some great moments here for Horton to play barely concealed rage as Barry keeps discussing how beautiful Rosalyn is, and how he just likes to just spend the weekends at home with her.  Of course, this is coded talk for sex, and Stone just quietly burns.

As the last episode of the series -- though not intended as such – “Mourning After” sees the return of the monstrous but incredibly sexy Ashe (Teri Polo), who is still on the loose when the credits roll.  The episode also brings Rosalyn a realization that her husband is alive.  

After saving Rosalyn from Ashe, Stone leaves his wife a Valentine’s Day snow-globe that boasts significance in their shared history.  But while Rosalyn now has information that her dead husband is actually alive, the series seems to leave Stone with the idea that, perhaps, he has seen Rosalyn for the last time.  

His final, emotional moments in the series -- looking back at Rosalyn while hiding on the side of a speeding garbage truck -- seem to indicate that Stone has made his peace and decided to put the past to rest, if only so Rosalyn can truly live, and truly move on.

It would have been wonderful to see the next chapter of this tragic love story, but of course, Fox canceled Brimstone (1998 – 1999) and brought the story to a premature end.   Originally, "It's a Helluva Life" and "Mourning After" aired consecutively, meaning that the series ended on a true high note, and an incredibly emotional one too.

Watching Brimstone for the first time since 1999 (when I wrote about it in my book Terror Television), I have been struck by how well the series holds up in 2012.  The visuals are beautiful, and Horton and Glover are really terrific in the series.  Glover has the flashier role, of course, but Horton just quietly holds the whole enterprise together, presenting audiences the portrait of a flawed but very human man.  

I just can't help but think that if Fox had shown a little more faith, Brimstone would have caught on, and run for at least three years or so.  It deserves to be more than a cult-tv obscurity.  It's really that good.

I hope an official DVD is forthcoming.

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Faces" (January 29, 1999)

“Faces” finds Brimstone (1998 – 1999) back on more formulaic ground.  Here, another Hell Convict is on the loose in Los Angeles, wreaking havoc, and it’s up to Det. Stone (Peter Horton) to send him back to the Devil. 

But, as we have come to see with Brimstone, even a more formulaic installment boasts a twist or two, and manages to make the “criminal of the week” story one about Stone himself, and his life and decisions.

In “Faces,” the Devil (John Glover) mysteriously directs Stone to 153 Green Street, a suburban street address where a man named Karl has just been murdered by a Hell escapee who suffers from multiple personalities. 

Stone befriends one of those personalities -- a helpless teenage boy named Brian -- and questions him about the others, including the violent Vic, and the protective Tammy.  Stone soon uncovers the fact that Brian was the subject of a 1957 book called Beaten Down, and that he went to Hell for murder.  But he’s back now to finish off his abusive step dad.

The problem, however, is that if Stone sends Vic back to Hell, the innocent Brian goes to Hell with him.  And Stone has begun thinking of Brian as the son he never had…

“Faces” opens at a batting cage in Los Angeles as Stone watches a loving father (Jerry Hardin) and a child bond together over baseball.  This sight gets Stone in a contemplative mood, especially since Rosalyn (Stacy Haiduk) and Zeke were trying to have children at the time of his death in 1983.  Stone begins to take advice from Hardin’s character, and wonders what his life might have been like if his own father hadn’t been such a “brutal bastard.” 

Stone as a prospective father -- and Stone as the wounded son -- are the characters that dominate “Faces,” and make for an engaging, emotionally-affecting hour.  As has been the case for a while now, the actual investigation of the crimes is far less interesting than the focus on Stone and the issues he tackles.  This episode is filled with wisdom about fathers and sons and despite the formulaic investigation, manages to be a strong hour. That is especially true when Stone must send Brian back to Hell for eternity.

Since Brian is an innocent, this predicament raises a question of justice.  Though Vic is a guilty bastard, why should Brian – essentially an independent personality-- be punished for his sins?  This is one more notch in Brimstone’s obsession with moral shadings within the confines of a good/evil, black/white universe.

There are a number of powerful observations and jokes in this episode.  At one point, the Devil points out that he is a father…and points to members of Congress (then bent on impeaching President Clinton…) as his “sons.” 

Another moment suggests that some men become parents to “fill the empty space” where a “father’s love should have been.”  In another moment, the Devil suggests to Stone that men want sons so as to satisfy “the insatiable narcissism” of the male of the human species.  These are all caustic and powerful notes in a story about fatherhood.

Watching “Faces” today one can detect how the writers on Brimstone were virtually longing to escape the criminal of the week formula and venture into more character-based shows. The final episode of the series, “Mourning After” reveals just how well that approach could work.  It’s a shame that the series didn’t last beyond a dozen or so programs.

Next time, we finish off Brimstone with “Mourning After.”

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "It's a Helluva Life" (February 5, 1999)

“It’s a Helluva Life” is one of Brimstone’s (1998 – 1999) finest episodes, a playful and often moving variation on the classic 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life.  Only here, Detective Stone (Peter Horton) is the one who gets a tour of his life... in this case by the Devil and a lookalike angel, both played by the delightful and acerbic John Glover.

In “It’s a Helluva Life,” Stone unexpectedly spots his wife, Rosalyn (Stacy Haiduk) during his pursuit of a bank-robbing Hell escapee, and then debates with the Devil about the arc of his life. 

The Devil suggests that Stone was always been a bad, irredeemable man, destined for eternity in Hell, and then reminds Stone (via flashbacks) of the time he framed a notorious criminal for drug possession. The Devil also shows Stone his continued neglect of Rosalyn, and reveals how Stone started down the dark path as a young boy.  In one vision, Stone sees how his father's own bully-like ways were passed down to him.

But then an angel shows up and reminds Stone that the truth is not nearly so black-and-white as the Devil suggests, and that Stone’s final chapter on Earth is yet unwritten.   The Angel takes Stone back to his first meeting with Rosalyn, decades earlier, and reminds him how their love began at the Policeman’s ball in 1980.  Finally, the Angel suggests that Stone boasts “a divine purpose.”

Once more in Brimstone, the nature of good and evil is explored in a significant and nuanced way.  In “It’s a Helluva Life,” the audience is once more asked to countenance shades of gray.  Is it right to bring a known criminal to justice by manufacturing evidence against him if that is the only avenue to make the populace safe?  Can we forgive a boy for his adult trespasses because he was mistreated by an abusive father?    There aren't any clear-cut answers.

What this episode truly discusses is this: what is “evil” in human nature really about?  Can it ever be mitigated or forgiven because of extenuating circumstances (like intent, and upbringing)?  

Or, contrarily, is evil but a deed which once wrought, cannot be undone. Once you have committed evil, does that act of evil forever shade your future?

For instance, The Devil suggests to Stone that even the “thought” of evil counts, because it poisons the soul. Yet the Angel contradicts Satan, and suggests to Stone that “Universal law,” essentially is open to the idea of mitigating circumstances.  I’ve written it before in these blog reviews, but the magic and genius of Brimstone is the way it explores moral relativism within the confines/context of a dramatic universe of absolutes. God and the Devil exist, and so good and evil must exist in their purest form.  But how man chooses navigates the universe involves shades of gray.

I believe that “It’s a Helluva Life” is the finest episode in the Brimstone canon because it breaks established formula and doesn’t focus intently on the hunt for the Hell convict of the week.  

Instead, Stone’s choices -- and Stone’s nature as a human being -- are at the core of the drama.  We learn a lot about his history in this story, and Stacy Haiduk  delivers a great performance as the tragic and winsome Rosalyn.  She comes across as beautiful in spirit and form in this episode, and the scenes in which Stone delivers emotional hurt upon her are almost unbearably painful to watch, because we know where they are both heading.  

Perhaps above everything else, “It’s a Helluva Life” reminds you to cherish those you love in the time you have on Earth, because that time could be unexpectedly cut short.  In the fast hubbub of life, it’s all-too easy to let a hurt go unacknowledged.  Here, Stone is burdened with regrets and paths not taken, and there's no easy way forward.

I admire that “It’s a Helluva Life” is emotionally moving without being schmaltzy.  In large part, this is because Horton underplays Stone’s revelations, always keeping the character’s emotions close to the vest.  But the schmaltz factor is also reduced because John Glover is so damned good as the Devil, forever puncturing any moment that threatens to become pretentious.  Glover gets a great line here about Stone and “zooming” away on the Highway to Heaven.  In that moment, the series truly lives up to its nickname: Touched by a Devil.

With only two episodes left to go in its abbreviated run, Brimstone hits a high-point with "It's a Helluva Life."

Next week on Brimstone: “Faces.”

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Carrier" (January 15, 1999)

“These microbes never cease to amaze me. An orgy of pain and suffering in such a little tiny package. You really have to give that old bitch Mother Nature a lot of credit.”

-The Devil (John Glover), in “Carrier.”

“Carrier,” this week’s episode of the Brimstone (1998 – 1999) blogging retrospective, is a solid place-holder, if not a step forward for the inventive horror series.  The tale follows the by-now established and familiar series formula -- with Detective Stone (Peter Horton) tracking down a Hell escapee --but with few intriguing twists or turns.

This week, the convict on the loose is lovely Sally Ann McGee (Alexandra Powers), a woman who died in the 1920s and carried a deadly disease. Sally Ann ended up in Hell because she learned she was a carrier…and knowingly infected a city’s water supply with her saliva, an act that sickened hundreds of innocent people.  Because she is from the Roaring Twenties, Sally Ann dresses like a flapper and likes to sing the 1921 foxtrot hit, “Ain’t We Got Fun.”

The wrinkle in the tale is that Sally -- her disease now super-powered from her time in Hell -- manages to infect Stone for a time.  The detective is rightly shocked by this development because he is invulnerable to bullets and other forms of weaponry. Technically, his body is dead…so how can it get sick?  The not-entirely convincing answer is that residents of Hell can harm other residents of Hell.

Even in a relatively routine story like this one, the Brimstone writers continue to explore the idea of each escapee excavating some aspect of Stone’s persona or central dilemma.  Here, Sally Ann faced true horrors in life. It wasn’t her fault that she was a disease carrier, and she didn’t deserve to be treated badly by medical authorities, locked away and quarantined without mercy. 

But Sally Ann then chose to harm others in response to bad treatment.  Her response -- her application of free will -- is what consigned her to damnation. 

In this story, of course, is a lesson for Stone.  He did wrong in life, killing his wife’s rapist, Gilbert Jax, but that doesn’t have to be the end of it.  He can still choose to do the right thing, and choose not to wallow in his guilt, or hurt others.  It’s a good point, and part of that Brimstone equation that I love.  

The writers in the series always make the scenarios dominated with difficult moral shades, even though they are dealing with a universal hierarchy of good and evil.  That intelligent approach to storytelling is still evident even in tales that aren’t that overly memorable, original or fresh.

Next week, however, I’ll feature one of Brimstone’s all-time great episodes: “It’s a Helluva Life.”

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Lovers" (January 8, 1999)

After the gravity (and shock…) of the previous installment, “Ashes,” “The Lovers” is a really fun and light episode of the 1998 -1999 horror series Brimstone.  The Stone/Devil banter is funnier than ever, and the Devil (John Glover) even shows up as a used car salesman, an occupation which is just about perfect for the guy.

This episode is, broadly, about love, the most important connection between human beings.   Accordingly, “The Lovers” commences with a view of love’s absence.  Stone (Peter Horton) looks around him, everywhere, and sees families, lovers, and old married couples…a fact reminding him of his isolation and separation from the ebb and flow of humanity. Since he has returned to Earth, he has not known love.

Meanwhile, the Hell convicts of the week are a wicked combination between Bonnie and Clyde and Romeo and Juliet: star-crossed lovers/criminals who defied others’ expectations of them in life, but also committed murder to protect their love.

After buying a wreck of a car from the Devil, Stone sends one of the lovers, Paco Gomez (Jesse Borrego), back to Hell, unknowingly leaving Paco’s lover, Jocelyn Paige (Shannon Sturges) alone, and in mourning. 

But rather than letting Stone send her back to Hell, Jocelyn does the deed herself.  She cuts out her own eyes rather than be separated from her true love.

The Devil calls this act “killing two birds with one [Ezekiel] Stone,” but the episode raises, again, the question of a universe of black-and-white.  Is it right or moral for two people in love -- even criminals -- to be separated for all eternity in Hell?  It seems an excessive punishment to me. 

Anyone who can truly feel love for another person is a person who should not be classified as beyond redemption. 

Even Paco’s Hell-created powers in this episode reflect the  story’s leitmotif about love.  He is able to “burn the hearts out of people.”  That sounds like a description of love so strong it hurts, right?

In terms of visuals, “The Lovers”  is less steely, de-saturated, and colorless than many episodes of Brimstone.  The sun seems to actually shine down on Stone for a change (at least at Venice Beach, where he goes roller-blading…) and that too seems an allusion to the power of love.

The episode’s final punch-line is also a funny one. After realizing the surprise that Jocelyn is a Hell-escapee too, Stone makes the connection that there may be one more villain of the week on the loose.

Accordingly, he shoots out the headlights of the car that the Devil sold him…and sends it straight back to Hell.

Next week: “Carrier.”

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Ashes" (December 18, 1998)

If “Slayer” and “Encore” didn’t already prove how the turn-of-the-century horror TV series Brimstone (1998 – 1999) could scale the heights of TV series greatness, then certainly this week’s episode, “Ashes” does. 

In this story, Detective Ezekiel Stone (Peter Horton) teams up with Detective Ash (Teri Polo) to investigate a series of arsons in Los Angeles.  Houses of faith from various religions are being burned down by an unknown culprit, and worse, someone inside those burned buildings seems to be conducting ceremonial human sacrifices.  One night, Stone even dreams of being the victim in one such sacrifice.

At one crime scene, Stone discovers a 4,000 year old Canaanite knife, and realizes that he is facing, perhaps, the most powerful of the 113 Hell escapees.  Meanwhile, Ash and Stone grow ever closer while working together, and this episode features an unexpectedly hot sex scene between them in a car.  Unfortunately, it ends badly when Ash sees all the strange tattoos on Stone’s chest.  She brings things to a stop when she realizes she doesn’t really know who Stone is.

The episode’s final revelation, I must admit, threw me for an absolute loop when I first saw this episode in the 1990s.  It turns out that the escaped convict of the week – the arsonist who is angry with God (or Yahweh) is not a guest character, but Ash herself.  In fact, as Stone learns, she is actually Ashur Badaktu, the “ringleader” of the break-out down below  Worse, she escaped from Hell in the first place (with 112 others…) by tricking and seducing the Devil (John Glover) himself.

It’s a great and absolutely unexpected twist to transform the put-upon, curious and very human Detective Ash -- whom we have seen in virtually every episode so far -- into the series’ villain.  This episode also answers some critical questions about her judgment, and why she has been willing to let Stone take the lead on so many cases in her jurisdiction.  It turns out, they really are two-of-a-kind.

The chemistry between Stone and Ash (and Horton and Polo) is terrific in this episode, and the latter half of the episode (after the typically dull police procedural aspects…) really sizzles.   The final punctuation, of course, is the Devil’s realization of what has occurred.  “You fool, you’ve fallen in love with her,” he says to Stone with dismay.  Stone counters that he isn’t the only one, and the look on the Devil’s face is priceless.  Ash is so powerful a personality that she has pulled the wool over both of their eyes. 

The episode’s climax, in which Ash transforms from a blond, 20^th century police officer into a dark-haired Caananite warrior is also a real shocker.  When Ash escapes, her survival makes “Ashes” the first episode of Brimstone in which Stone doesn’t send a convict back to Hell.

In many ways, “Ashes” feels like it introduces one of the final and most important elements to Brimstone: the individual explicitly working against Stone and the Devil’s agenda.  Had the series lasted, I’m certain she would have been an even more important player…

Next week on Brimstone: “Lovers.”

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Executioner" (December 4, 1998)

This week’s episode of Brimstone (1998 – 1999), titled “Executioner,” isn’t one of the best in the series catalog.

The story involves Det. Ezekiel Stone (Peter Horton) hunting down a vigilante killer who uses electricity to fry those who have escaped the hand of justice.  Stone teams with a feisty district attorney nicknamed “The Dargon Lady” and “the Iron Maiden” played by Michelle Forbes to investigate the case, and at first pursues a red herring (Robert Knepper) before targeting the right man  (John Hawke).

This story is far more routine and by-the-numbers than most Brimstone episodes, with fewer twists and turns. Although the supporting cast is indeed strong, and the Devil (Glover)/Stone repartee is as amusing as everywhere (particularly a reference to Regis and Kathie Lee), this episode really drags.

Late in the story, the Devil makes an observation that the killer here has appointed himself “judge, jury and executioner,” and explicitly compares that act to Stone’s vigilante murder of Gilbert Jax, his wife’s rapist.  

This kind of social commentary – and mirror for Stone -- is usually the thematic point of a Brimstone episode.  By investigating each Hell escapee, Stone gains some new insight into his own humanity, and his own failings.  Here, however, the comment by the Devil feels shoehorned into the proceedings to give the story some meaning beyond the dull, plodding murder investigation.

The most interesting aspect of this episode, perhaps, involves Detective Ash (Teri Polo) and Stone growing (almost) intimate over a game of pool in a bar.  Just as they are about to kiss, a waitress walks by pours a drink on Ash, thus ending the romantic moment. 

We learn afterwards that the Devil paid the waitress to spill the drink.  The funny thing about this whole sequence is that it when viewed in context of this episode alone, it plays merely as the Devil being his usual, mischievous self.  However, in light of the next episode in the canon -- the brilliant and shocking “Ashes” -- it takes on a whole different aspect.  After that episode, we understand there are reasons why the Devil doesn’t want Ash to hook up with Stone.  In fact, from a certain perspective, the Devil is even protecting Stone.

The relatively poor “Executioner” reminds the viewer that Brimstone is an exceedingly strong series only when it travels beyond the repetitious police procedural format, and only when it remembers that the series concerns more than chasing the supernaturally-powered criminal of the week.   With a few exceptions, installments such as this one are as dull, predictable and forgettable as your average first season episode of Grimm.

Fortunately, Brimstone hits its stride again in next week’s show, the aforementioned “Ashes.”

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Repentance" (November 13, 1998)

This week’s episode of Brimstone is titled “Repentance,” and appropriately so. 

The story involves Detective Stone’s (Peter Horton) investigation of a gruesome murder.  Specifically, a homeless man, Harry (David Proval) witnesses a man cutting out the eyes of another man.  

Stone looks into the horrific act, and finds a clue -- a brass pin -- tying the crime to a Dutch S.S. Nazi uniform, and a Hell escapee known in life as “the Angel of Mercy.”

However, Stone soon learns that this Angel of Mercy (Norbert Weisser) has returned from Hell to make restitution for his crimes, and that the real culprit here is another man, an addict who was once also homeless…

For Brimstone to succeed as a believable work of fantastic art, an episode like “Repentance” had to exist, and I’m glad it does.  

The story finds Stone tracking a Hell escapee who isn’t actually the perpetrator or criminal of the week.  That wrinkle is a welcome one, and reminds us that all evil in the world does not originate from the realm below.  

By contrast, I was deeply disappointed by the first season of Grimm (2011 - ) because week-in and week-out, every single crime investigated by the lead character was caused by a fairy tale creature.  This fact did two (bad) things simultaneously.  First, it painted the fairy tale creatures as lawbreakers and violent offenders, all.  Secondly, it suggested that man was not culpable for any criminal activity in this world. Rather, he was just victimized by monsters that happened to be disguised as men.  It’s a terrible dynamic, and feels very two-dimensional.

Brimstone seems to have thought this problem through with “Repentance,” and figured it all out.  We can’t expect that every criminal act in the world is caused by one of the 113 Hell creatures, and that adds an element of verisimilitude to the storytelling.  Sometimes, in his travels, Stone will run up against human evil rather than supernatural evil.  This fact reminds us that man is fallible.

On a thematic level, “Repentance” lives up to its title.  It concerns a man who wants nothing more in life than to make-up, in some way, for the crimes he committed.  He is out to redeem himself, but as the episode points out, he must also be forgiven in the eyes of others. 

To his credit, Stone makes that leap in this episode.  Our culture claims to be a forgiving one, yet on a daily basis we see how this isn’t always so. 

 Once more, I enjoy how Brimstone threads this particular needle.  The show clearly exists in a universe of blacks and whites, and of good and evil, but Stone is constantly asked to make decisions that require him to think in shades of gray, and nuance.  

He determines that the Angel of Mercy is innocent -- that he has paid for his crimes -- but he still must send him back to Hell, regardless. 

Finally, this episode also adds another piece of delightful Brimstone mythology: Stone’s love for the now-defunct 1980s “Reggie” candy bar (after Reggie Jackson).  By episode’s end, he’s got a box of them to enjoy, thanks to a collector…

Next week: “Executioner”

In the meantime, here’s a Reggie Bar commercial:

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Slayer" (December 11, 1998)

The 1998-1999 Fox horror series Brimstone conjures up another strong installment with “Slayer,” an action-packed tale which pits hang-dog, world-weary Detective Stone (Peter Horton) against a merciless Carthaginian warrior from the Punic Wars, Hasdrubel Skaras (Richard Brooks).  

This unusual nemesis can actually “blend into in the landscape,” and he revels in “the slaughter of innocent bystanders.”

The episode commences with a bang when Hastrubel Skaras unexpectedly challenges Stone at a city diner.  The “slayer” punctures one of Stone’s eyes (the windows to the soul, remember...), and nearly sends our protagonist straight back to Hell.  

Naturally, the Devil (John Glover) isn’t too happy about this one-sided confrontation, and suggests to Stone that perhaps he ought to be employing Hanstrubel Skaras to recover the escaped convicts, not the detective.

Using a deadly Hittite blade, the ancient slayer sets out to murder the widows of several police officers in Los Angeles, a violent ploy to make Stone stop hunting him, and even join up as an ally.  The threat is clear: by killing police widows, Hastrubel reminds Stone that his wife, Rosalyn (Stacy Haiduk) is also a police widow, and therefore also one of his targets.  

Out-matched, Stone finds himself in something of a tactical conundrum.  If he warns Rosalyn of the threat, he may be leading the (nearly) invisible Skaras right to her.

Given these strategic problems, "Slayer" is the first episode of Brimstone in which we feel Stone is truly up against an enemy he really may not be capable of defeating, and that fact makes for a compelling hour.  

Brooks is great here, too, just as he is in Firefly’s “Objects in Space.”  Brooks brilliantly portrays a loquacious, physically-intimidating villain, one who projects a cunning intelligence.  “Slayer’s” opening scene in the diner is something of a masterpiece as Skaras talks and talks and talks, almost hypnotically.  Watching this scene, I realized that Brooks could sell me anything.  His delivery is mesmerizing, and I love the way he relishes each threat, each insinuation.

The good vs. evil conflict is resolved imaginatively in “Slayer” when Stone determines his enemy’s only weakness.  Hastrubel may be able to blend in with the landscape, but when he moves about, he still creates movement; he still displaces air.  Accordingly, for the final battle Stone sets up candles throughout a Catholic cathedral and then traces Hastrubel’s movement by their flickering.

Amusingly, you may find yourself thinking of James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984), while watching “Slayer.”  

Much like Arnie’s Terminator, the Slayer here goes after the mother of one target, and then kills that matriarch so as to learn the target’s location.  And, when saving one widow, Stone -- wearing a Kyle Reese-like trench coat  --remarks: “Come with me if you want to live,” echoing Reese’s first words to Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).

Despite such similarities (or perhaps tributes…), “Slayer” makes for a very tense confrontation between a warrior of the past, and a warrior of our age, and in the process allows the audience to ponder how much things have changed in a millennium. 

A thousand years ago, harming the innocent was apparently no big deal. Life was cheap.  In fact, it was a joke to men like Skaras.  But today, soldiers and police go out of their way to avoid hurting non-combatants, at some risk to themselves. A thousand years ago, such mercy was considered a sign of weakness.  On Brimstone, however, it is a sign of Stone’s character and strength.  

Also, a thousand years ago, this monstrous soldier, Skaras, could rely on his dark magic to deceive his opponents. But today, Stone has science on his side, so maybe it's a fair fight.  It’s a great and involving dynamic, regardless.  “Slayer” is such a fun episode because we get to measure Stone against Skaras, and consider who remains the greatest of all warriors.  Not incidentally, we get to ponder the fact that both warriors ended up in the same place: Hell.

Next week: “Repentance.”

Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Encore" (November 6, 1998)

The fourth episode of Brimstone (1998 – 1999), “Encore” continues the pattern set down by the third episode, “Heat.”  

In specific terms, that means the Hell-escapee of the week isn’t merely a diabolical fugitive to be apprehended and sent back to Hell, but a deliberate reflection of Detective Ezekiel Stone’s (Peter Horton) personality and situation.

In this case, the villain of the week is Gilbert Jax (William McNamara), the man who raped Stone’s wife, Rosalyn (Stacy Haiduk) in 1983 and by doing so destroyed the Stone marriage.  Stone murdered Jax, and that’s the reason Stone was consigned to Hell.  Now, Jax is back on Earth, and living with his mother, Evelyn McNabb (Louise Fletcher).  She believes her son has been in Heaven with the angels and is getting a second chance at life on Earth.

While Stone hunts Jax down, he relives the day of Rosalyn’s rape (via flashback), and compares his own feelings of powerlessness and rage to those of another rape victim’s husband.  That man gets “angrier and angrier” every day, and Stone counsels him to calm down, lest he take the same path that Stone took; the path that led the detective to Hell.

In the end, Stone dispatches Jax with some difficulty (arranged by the Devil [John Glover]) and there’s a terrific final scene that helps to explain succinctly why Brimstone is such a great series.  Jax disappears, and his mother, Evelyn, sits down heavily, realizing that her son is gone…for good this time.  Then, she asks if Stone is an angel and if Gilbert has been “sent back to Heaven” where she feels he “belongs.” 

Instead of arguing with Evelyn about the merits of her (terrible...) boy, Stone is quiet…and lets her keep her delusion.  He doesn’t tell her the truth that Gilbert is back in Hell, and Damnation is where he actually belongs.  

This small moment reveals that even in a situation where Stone has been grievously wronged and feels absolute rage, he realizes he can still be decent to someone else who is hurting.  There is nothing to gain by shattering Evelyn’s image of her wayward child. So instead of laying more hurt at her feet, Stone holds his words, and it’s a powerful and moral act.  It’s a great moment for the episode, and for the series.

“Encore” also looks long and hard at Stone’s behavior in other ways: his murder of Gilbert back in 1983, for example.  The Devil accuses him of “denial, pride, and self-righteousness,” and those are feelings all of us might have in a similar situation.  Stone lost everything because of what Jax did, but also because of how he, personally, responded to what Jax did.

Stone knows too well that to indulge those feelings of denial, pride and self-righteousness with action (and murderous action to boot) is to indulge his dark side, especially since he abuses his position as a police officer.

Again and again, Brimstone charts this fascinating trajectory. Stone is a man stuck in a universe of absolutes: Heaven/Hell, God/Devil, Good/Bad.  Yet everything he experiences on his journey is a reminder that life isn’t that simple or black-and-white.  

He keeps finding shades of gray in the human experience, and trying to countenance what they mean.  The show thus asks questions about the differences between vengeance and justice, and suggests that even “monsters” like Jax are loved by their mothers, and that such love can be respected.

It’s a very, very challenging dynamic, and it’s absolutely part of what made Brimstone must-see TV.  I loved that on Friday nights in 1998-1998 -- between Brimstone and Millennium, -- viewers got a double dose of the horror genre at its best, a genre that can ask and answer the big questions of humanity in a meaningful way without seeming preachy.