By Geno McGahee
The Ray Bradbury Theater series is absolutely a mixed bag. There are some real scares and some very interesting, but not so scary, stories. Then there are tales like THE EMISSARY that wanted badly to be a straight drama but squeezed in a horror element to get it a pass. I had a feeling that they would do that as I sat through 23 minutes of the 25 minute show.
Martin (Keram Malicki-Sanchez) is a sickly kid that has only one friend…his dog named “dog.” The dog is let loose on the town and comes back with different things. It runs through flowers and comes back with some pieces of it. It brings back a bone and other things and Martin considers it an education of the outside world. I’m sure a lot of people were educated when they stepped into what the dog left behind. There are leash laws for a reason. This dog was nice enough but it has to shit somewhere and without a human carrying a shit bag, some poor soul is going to be walking and take a big step into it.
The thought is that if the dog can bring home flowers and bones, perhaps it could bring Martin some friends. This is before the internet and TO CATCH A PREDATOR. Martin makes a special dog tag for him and sends it out to look for friends, leading to sixth grade school teacher, Miss Haight (Helen Shaver). She follows the dog home and befriends Martin…and this is before all those teacher/student sex headlines. Amazingly, the mother of Martin lets the two speak and closes the door to give them privacy. Wow, have times changed. Then again these are times when parents trusted Boy Scout leaders and priests. A female teacher is small potatoes.
Haight keeps visiting and then one day, dies. At the 22 minute mark, she dies, and nothing has happened out of the ordinary. (SPOILERS) You’re going to make her a zombie, Bradbury, aren’t you? Yes, he does. The dog goes missing and returns the house, bringing back his best friend, Miss Haight. It’s a rip off. You only see the skeletal hand…nothing more. I’d like to see full zombie.
EMISSARY is watchable but the weak payoff at the end and dull trip there make this one a lesser in the series. I can’t blame Bradbury. This was the second season and he may have been short an idea or two and just said fuck it and threw a zombie into one of his non-horror tales. I still recommend it but it’s not one of the better ones.
Rating: 5/10
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