The Others: Eyes (1.3)

One of the many things that's making The Others so different and interesting as a show is that so much of each episode is taken up by the titular ensemble smuggling their way into the lives of people in need. Unlike the protagonists of The X-Files, this show's spiritual cousin of sorts, the Others have no official reason for getting involved with victims of hauntings or whatever, and have to go out of their way to convince folks of their own helpfulness. It's another example of this show being a little different to anything else around, and Eyes proved that sometimes people, no matter how spooked they may be, just aren't open to a bunch of wacky psychics telling them how to fix things.

Eyes is a lot spookier and schlocky than either of the previous episodes, something that probably isn't helped by William Malone's direction. Malone is a horror veteran with very specific ideas of what grosses folks out, so we get a lot of jittery monsters, white-faced zombie-things and eyeball close-ups, similar to his film work around the time this episode was made, the maligned House on Haunted Hill remake and that horrible internet-killer shit show Feardotcom.

Regardless, it's an intriguing horror episode with some impressive special effects and a lot of fun as Satori performs her own little rituals to get rid of the ghosts. Sandy Molian isn't at all a sympathetic victim, which impacts the episode somewhat. Maybe if he were a little less cartoonish, but that first scene in the doctor's office comes off crazily artificial.

The emotional heart of the hour arrived whenever Albert appeared on-screen. Like her interaction with Elmer last week, it's Marian who seems to bring the best out of these old dudes, and her discussion with Albert about his past was emotional and heartwarming. It also nicely contrasted with the A-plot, both involving eye-sight and seeing things you really shouldn't be seeing.

This was a little much at times, but it maintained that same tone and relaxed spookiness that made the first two episodes so exciting and different. B

Credits
Guest stars Jim Pirri (Sandy Molian); George Wyner (Doctor); John Aylward (Albert McGonagle)
Writers Glen Morgan, James Wong Director William Malone