The False Prophet

This "TFTD" episode titled "The False Prophet" happens to be a good one even though it's a romantic and fantasy type episode that has a strange feel and weird ending to it. It stars Ronee Blakley(from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" fame)as Cassie Pines a woman traveling from Iowa who's taken advice from her local fortune teller who's told Cassie that she should travel to Lubbock, Texas to find her true love. When Cassie makes a stop over at an all night diner in Oklahoma she discovers a mechanical fortune telling machine named Horace X, and supposedly he can tell the future! As the episode grows you can in some ways notice that Cassie becomes attached to Horace as it's he who advises her against going to Texas to find love, instead Cassie is advised to be aware of false love and false prophets. It turns out Horace will be straight with his predictions as when a supposed man of faith that a priest shows up and he wants to romance Cassie. It is then that Cassie takes his advice and tells the supposed man of faith no. Horace on the flip side is very demanding of Cassie as you will see that Cassie will lose her chance at life and love as this machine will become so possessive it sucks her up literally and figuratively! Overall good episode one of the best and it was a great way to end season one. It was nice to see a romantic and fantasy type themed one that ends in such a strange and technological way.

THE FALSE PROPHET is a pretty much nonsensical episode of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE. It's the final episode of season one and it ends the season on a real low with a quirky romantic-comic-fantasy that just doesn't belong in this type of series at all.

The narrative involves a young woman who's advised by a fortune teller to travel to Texas in search of true love. Whilst there she has a run-in with an electronic fortune telling machine with whom she begins to have an unusual relationship. The whole episode is played for quirky laughs and is dragged out with needless romantic scenes which make it near unwatchable.

Stupidity level unbelievable. Really terrible way to end a season and disgrace for overall good series. Three out of four last episodes are so terrible that I'm not sure if I want to continue with next season. I suggest skipping this episode so it doesn't spoil Tales for you.

2,5/10

There are several dull episodes in this series and this is one of them. The main character is very unlikable. But instead of being unlikable because she's evil, manipulative, or shrill, she is unlikable for being a complete moron. She seems to lack common sense and even basic intelligence. She's a breathy bimbo who lacks street smarts and makes one stupid decision after another. It is hard to feel sympathy for her when she meets her ultimate fate.

With the arrival of the preacher, finally the story starts to come to life. He's a sleaze, but at least he's got personality. The character almost saves the episode, but not quite. This episode was written by Jule Selbo who also wrote the awful episode 'Grandma's Last Wish'.

This seems to be the last episode of the first season. Well, that's not the most exciting, for sure. OK, the basic plot permits this story to belong to the series policy. But it is so boring, so uninteresting, those twenty two minutes seemed to actually be one hour and a half. I would not say it is a bad episode, no, it's not that lousy, but just boring. Since I began this tv show dedicated to horror and fantasy stories, I got used to this kind of disappointment, so I will survive to this episode and proceed with the next seasons, the next episodes, because I know that I will find more gems there, as I did for the first season.