Jordan Manmouth is a writer of horror novels. He says he isn't afraid of ghosts, although he'd like to be - it's living people that are scaring him, agents, ex-wives, and critics. It seems his wish is fulfilled very soon. He hears a scary noise and sees a phantom in the mirror. When he turns round, the phantom is gone, but it comes back (almost) every time Jordan looks in a mirror. The phantom gets nearer to him every time he sees it, and it seems to attack him from behind, so he gets more and more terror-stricken. Will he be able to find peace again?
I liked this story very much. There's a lot of suspense as the phantom gets nearer and nearer and seems to attack Jordan. And it's not just mirrors that scare him: he begins to see the phantom in just about any reflecting surface until in the end he even sees it in... (I won't tell because that would mean to give away too much). Sam Waterston is very good in my opinion; he plays Jordan's panic very believably. I guess Tim Robbins also performs well, but it's hard to tell because he has lots of make-up on. I think the music is simple, but I liked it because in my opinion it was very fitting for a horror story and helped heighten the suspense.
In most ghost stories you know where the ghost comes from. In this story it's not clear (at least at first). And if it's not clear, that might make a story even scarier. For example, I think that 'A School Story' by M. R. James is very scary because you don't know where the ghost (or demon) comes from, and I think the same goes with a lot of stories by H. P. Lovecraft. But the fact that the phantom in this story appears in mirrors might be a clue to where it comes from. A mirror can be a symbol for a gate to another world (as in 'Through the Looking-Glass'). So perhaps it's the gate to the realm of ghosts and Jordan's phantom is a kind of punishment sent from there because he says ghosts don't scare him (and at the beginning of the story he says he'd like to be scared by them, so perhaps the ghosts are simply taking him at his word.) There are of course more possible interpretations. A mirror can be a symbol for one's desires (as in 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone') or for one's soul. Looking into it might show you your inner self. Jordan seems to be a quite arrogant man, so perhaps the mirror shows him his rotten inner self that may be more dead than alive (the phantom looks similar to the zombies that appear in the film clip that is shown at the beginning of the episode). The title of the episode may also be a hint. It's probably an allusion to the fairy tale 'Snow White', and the question here may be 'Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest of them all?'. And the mirror shows Jordan he is the ugliest by showing him the ugly phantom. Lastly, it could be the case that the mirror simply does what every mirror is meant to do: it just shows him a true likeness of himself. I think this interpretation is somewhat similar to the interpretation that it shows him his inner self. I guess the ending is probably a hint that this interpretation is possible, but I don't want to be more specific because I don't want to spoil too much. (One other point: the apparition is called 'Jordan's Phantom' in the titles. A phantom can be just an illusion, but it can also be an apparition or a ghost. And it might be important that it's not called 'The Phantom', but 'Jordan's Phantom'. It really seems to be something that belongs to him. (The other people in the story don't see it.))
I think if you like ghost stories you will probably like this episode. (Keep in mind that it's been said that the eyes are a mirror of the soul...)
I liked this story very much. There's a lot of suspense as the phantom gets nearer and nearer and seems to attack Jordan. And it's not just mirrors that scare him: he begins to see the phantom in just about any reflecting surface until in the end he even sees it in... (I won't tell because that would mean to give away too much). Sam Waterston is very good in my opinion; he plays Jordan's panic very believably. I guess Tim Robbins also performs well, but it's hard to tell because he has lots of make-up on. I think the music is simple, but I liked it because in my opinion it was very fitting for a horror story and helped heighten the suspense.
In most ghost stories you know where the ghost comes from. In this story it's not clear (at least at first). And if it's not clear, that might make a story even scarier. For example, I think that 'A School Story' by M. R. James is very scary because you don't know where the ghost (or demon) comes from, and I think the same goes with a lot of stories by H. P. Lovecraft. But the fact that the phantom in this story appears in mirrors might be a clue to where it comes from. A mirror can be a symbol for a gate to another world (as in 'Through the Looking-Glass'). So perhaps it's the gate to the realm of ghosts and Jordan's phantom is a kind of punishment sent from there because he says ghosts don't scare him (and at the beginning of the story he says he'd like to be scared by them, so perhaps the ghosts are simply taking him at his word.) There are of course more possible interpretations. A mirror can be a symbol for one's desires (as in 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone') or for one's soul. Looking into it might show you your inner self. Jordan seems to be a quite arrogant man, so perhaps the mirror shows him his rotten inner self that may be more dead than alive (the phantom looks similar to the zombies that appear in the film clip that is shown at the beginning of the episode). The title of the episode may also be a hint. It's probably an allusion to the fairy tale 'Snow White', and the question here may be 'Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest of them all?'. And the mirror shows Jordan he is the ugliest by showing him the ugly phantom. Lastly, it could be the case that the mirror simply does what every mirror is meant to do: it just shows him a true likeness of himself. I think this interpretation is somewhat similar to the interpretation that it shows him his inner self. I guess the ending is probably a hint that this interpretation is possible, but I don't want to be more specific because I don't want to spoil too much. (One other point: the apparition is called 'Jordan's Phantom' in the titles. A phantom can be just an illusion, but it can also be an apparition or a ghost. And it might be important that it's not called 'The Phantom', but 'Jordan's Phantom'. It really seems to be something that belongs to him. (The other people in the story don't see it.))
I think if you like ghost stories you will probably like this episode. (Keep in mind that it's been said that the eyes are a mirror of the soul...)