There's no horror quite like that of the innocent trapped in a nightmare asylum horror, it's a totally unique kind of terror. I find that the natural grim atmosphere of such places with the white walls and tightly controlled clinical environment, is very disturbing to me. There is a twist: Suzi is declared insane throughout when she really isn't, and by the end she may very well be. Not much of a twist, but it is one. And there are definitely scares, how about the grisly moment when hapless nice husband Paul is stuck with the biggest nastiest looking needle you've ever seen and coldly murdered? It's one of the most chillingly sickening moments of the whole series. I don't think a true Tales fan would ever truly dislike this episode. Surely by anyone's standards it's one of the very best examples, especially of season 2. There's just one part I don't like, it's when Reed Birney's character is standing at a rainy window musing to himself. Everything kinda goes off for a second there.. I thought Richard Thomas was terrific as the perfectly villainous Dr Trask. He did a great job of making himself appear all buttoned-down and restrained, yet sinister and devilish, with the slicked-back hair and cold eyes. I liked how you could see his calm persona fraying at the edges as the character became more unhinged and worked up. In everything else I've ever seen him in, Richard Thomas has always played likable and funny guys - who knew he could so brilliantly play such a heartless fiend! It suited him. One thing I didn't like though was the wall of monitors in his office. I thought that was a bit over the top and verged on super-villainy. I also loved the performance of Rose Weaver as his heavy/matron. I thought she conveyed a lot of silent heavy-eyed menace in her small part. You may never look at a carrot the same again! I thought Patricia Clarkeson was particularly great as for most of her role she's silent, but you could always tell exactly what was running through her mind. My favourite scene is one of the strangely stylish moments shown from the camera monitor's POV, in a black and white static haze. It's when she's wandering around her cell and then towards the camera. I just find it to be a powerfully poignant moment. She looks beautiful, but also quite unnerving and other-worldly. I also love the music, I think it adds immensely to this tale. To me this episode is a great one solely because of the acting of the two leads. I thought they had great chaotic chemistry together, because the roles are such opposites. He, having her so completely at his mercy in his twisted sanatorium web, and she mute and confined, condemned to witness one horror after another. She was like his prize, his helpless, idealised captive angel, a woman who will listen to whatever he has to say without any of the "endless yammering". By the end the tables are of course turned in classic fashion, and it is she who stands merciless over him, who is now the weak and pitiful one, handing down his judgement. I like the mystery of her fate. I think that's exactly how it should be. A lot of these tales are too wrapped by the end. That's fine, but the ending to Mute witness to Murder has a nice surreal edge to it that sets it apart from all the others. The Dr is out..of his mind!
"I could attempt to explain myself... But if you don't mind, I think I'll just skip the self-justification".
24 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers