Fear Itself "In Sickness and in Health" (2008)

I'm not going to say much about this episode as I thoroughly detested it. After two so-so episodes and one that had great potential but still performed only adequately this episode was quite literally the straw that broke the camel's back. The writing was awful as the twist is quite obvious simply based on the preview of the episode. Under scrutiny however the twist that the note was delivered to the wrong person would make no logistical sense. Yet that is exactly what happens in the story. Taking this into account none of the character motivations stand to reason and even if it had been some other twist they still would not have been able to rectify how the other characters behaved. The characters in the story act in a certain way as directed by the script and not one of them has an ounce of sense. Why would this woman be so threatened that she is marrying a serial killer if she herself is one? Does it never occur to her until the very end that the note is about her? Why would her soon-to-be husband act in such a hostile manner when he sees something is seriously bothering the love of his life? He loses all self control and chases after her in a homicidal rage just to talk to her?

The rest of the episode built up around this twist also does nothing to engage the audience. Multiple red herrings are dropped into the audience's lap just to take their minds of the predictability of the ending. From the opening shots of the church with a crucified Jesus status in the middle of the hallway, you know that this place is anything but romantic and no normal wedding party would ever happen here. There is no suspense or thrills as the characters are not worthy of the audience's sympathy. The woman is obviously the one the audience is supposed to connect with as she has just been told she's marrying a serial killer. You should be frightened for her as her new husband slowly loses control and then be utterly shocked when you find out it is her who is the killer as she is the one you sympathize with. All the other characters are written to direct you in the manner, but that fact that there is not a normal person in the entire cast do you ever believe their motivations. This show is being officially dropped. Burn Notice season two is more worthy of my time and everyone else's.

Favorite moment: The casting of The X-Files' William B. Davis (The Cigarette-Smoking Man) as a near deaf fatherly priest. It was nice to see Davis on television again and he is the one character you could probably like in this disaster of an episode. He also is hard of hearing which I'm sure the audience was quite envious of throughout the episode.