This season, Forrest McNeil has jumped from woman to woman in an effort to replace his ex-wife Suzanne. However, this week’s episode sees Forrest haunted by the ghosts of his past, namely his former relationship with Suzanne.
The first storyline involves Forrest being asked to catfish somebody. He’s unfamiliar with the concept, and he’s apparently barely aware of www.google.com, so clearly the internet isn’t his thing. Fortunately, he, his dad, his intern, and his intern’s girlfriend are all living in Forrest’s office now, so he has help to form the perfect catfishing persona. He will be the perfect fisherman as Ace Shrift, which is, of course, an anagram for catfisher.
Then, in the process, he finds his wife’s profile online, and he becomes enamored with the idea of catfishing his wife. Forrest is clearly working through some things, but his catfishing is working, until Suzanne asks to Skype. At this point, up against the wall, Grant fortunately steps in to let Forrest know that the man whose face he used is the shortstop for the Dodgers. It’s convenient, but we also get to hear Forrest say “shortstopsman,” so it all balances out.
In a bit of insanity, Forrest gives Joe Dale Jr. his entire retirement fund to get him to Skype with Suzanne as Ace Shrift. He’s happy with the results. He hated the beginning, and the ending, of the process, but he loved the middle of it, giving it three stars. This is the last we see of Suzanne in this episode, but it is not the end of her presence, which lingers on like a bad piece of fried catfish.
The second story comes to us from snail mail, much to A.J.’s delight. While it is implausible that an adult woman, even a young one, wouldn’t know what paper is, it’s hilarious to hear her refer to paper as “thinly sliced threes.” Anyway, the letter writer wants to know what it is like to stay in a haunted house.
There are all sorts of ways this could have gone. All sort of zany stories Review could have done. Forrest and his dad go to the “haunted” house from the neighborhood he grew up in and… nothing happens, because ghosts aren’t real. It’s a nice little twist, and then it gets even better when Forrest realizes the true haunted house is the one he and Suzanne used to live in. Forrest breaks into the house, and wanders around distraught. He gets drunk and realizes the house is haunted, and he’s the ghost. Oh, also he falls asleep in the bed and when he wakes up an old Asian lady stabs him and he falls down the stairs.
That would feel pretty bonkers if we weren’t coming off an episode wherein a cult is shot down by the United States government. This episode balances things perfectly. It’s very funny, and the reviews play out in clever, unexpected ways. However, it has a bit more subtlety to it, and a bit more humanity. Granted, it’s Forrest’s humanity, and he is a warped human, but that’s what makes the show work. Watching Andy Daly play Forrest in his drunken despair and delirium is wonderful. This episode may very well be the low point for Forrest, at least emotionally, and we’re talking about a guy who was shot multiple times in the opening episode of the season.
Four stars.
Chris Morgan is not the author of THE book on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but he is the author of A book on Mystery Science Theater 3000. He’s also on Twitter.