By Melissa Antoinette Garza
This is one of my favorite episodes. I would always look forward to this one when it would replay on HBO. It isn’t that it’s particularly frightening, but it’s most certainly an original tale with great acting and a conclusion that offers a punch.
Mary Jo (Patricia Arquette) is a young woman held captive on a farm by perverted George Yates (Chelcie Ross) and his wife Louisa (Susan Blommaert). She is forced to help out with the chores as they had caught her stealing and threaten to call the police if she refused to assist.
Not only does the Yates use her as free labor, but she is also frequently assaulted. With Louisa the abuse is just physical and emotional. She is aided with a walking stick because she suffered polio and uses the stick as a weapon to beat Mary Jo with it. She threatens violence if Mary Jo doesn’t complete her chores correctly.
The abuse from George is far worse as she constantly has to worry about being sexually assaulted. George doesn’t even try to hide his attraction for Mary Jo. He peeps on her and gives her tasks to do so he can get closer to her. It’s obvious that he makes her feel uncomfortable and she tries to stay from him, but he is persistent. One day, while she is milking the cow, he comes up behind her and tries to force himself on her. She fights back and as he attempts to rape her, George hears his wife coming down to check what the racket is about. He hits Mary Jo over the head with a glass bottle.
She escapes while George tries to deny doing anything to Louisa. She goes through the field and passes out in front of a tall scarecrow. It is here that she begins having delusions that she is in a relationship with the scarecrow. She tells Louisa and George that she’s in love with him. George concocts an evil plan and decides to get dressed like the scarecrow in effort to seduce Mary Jo.
Needless to say, things do not go as planned.
This tale is just as good as I remember it. It most certainly has a moral to it. It’s an intelligent story with a surprising twist.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8.5/10
