4 to 4 1/2 comments:

1. This show to me is almost "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tips his hat to Elspeth Eric". Indeed, Doyle lived way before and never knew the latter (with her slow, psychodramatic love stories on the RMT) but it almost feels like he honors her here albeit with his signature flair, detail and edginess..."The Parasite" is essentially a one-sided love affair. Sir Arthur made some wonderful non-Sherlock Holmes short stories.

2. There have been several well-done vampire tales on the RMT. This show is a variation on that theme, where instead of gobbling blood the antagonist goes after (for lack of a better phrase) the life force of her paramour. The RMT had one other similar tale - the downbeat, somewhat-strangely-named "The 800 pound gorilla" starring Mandel Kramer, Earl Hammond and Teri Keane. In that story everyone we cared about bit the dust. I liked this show better, and it had some humor to it (listen, for example, to Rose's fellow educator discuss his classroom antics while "under the spell").

(And one of my favorite moments is at the very beginning of the first act, right after E.G. says the words "Gilbert...Gilroy")

3. That's when one of the best. RMT. Music beds. EVER. sounds.

It's a shrill, almost off-key piccolo alongside a glockenspiel or other mallet instrument chime, joined seconds later by a bass or contra-bass clarinet* beneath hitting what I think is the lowest "A" note possible, followed moments later by an oboe and bassoon. It's essentially a gothic woodwind quartet, playing an ominous, sinister sound that so well sets the listener on edge. Which is why it's such a good counterpoint to...

4. Norman Rose in a jaunty, victorian, educated, accomplished-but-not-quite-arrogant voice responding "Professor Gilbert Gilroy, if you please. I've worked hard for that distinction."

Just because one was doing a monologue on the RMT didn't necessarily mean one's character was going to make it through the episode. However, the slight smile in Rose's voice is, without going any further, reassuring - especially alongside the aforementioned music.

Not the most action-packed, but a fun listen regardless, IMO.

* I believe a case could be made, were one ever to ask "What was the favorite instrument of the composers of the CBS/Twilight Zone/RMT music", that the answer would appear to be "bass clarinet".

From the long soliloquy on the signature RMT theme to several music interludes both jazzy and sinister, this instrument was lovingly used with frequency. Makes me almost want to learn to play it. ")