Main cast: Michael Woods (Rick Henson), Jerry Orbach (Cameron), Season Hubley (Miranda), and Page Fletcher (The Hitchhiker)
Director: Clyde Monroe
Aww, Cabin Fever is the final episode of the fourth season… yes, it’s the closing episode of the season. While the previous two seasons had the same number of episodes, they felt interminable, while this one moves at a giddy pace. Time really does move quickly when one is having fun, and the fourth season had been a blast since the last few episodes.
This episode takes on the usual “hot guy and a troubled married couple” premise. The hot guy in question is our professional hustler Rick Henson. He may not rock a pair of jeans as well as the Hitchhiker himself, but he does it well enough to get himself hired as a cabin boy by Miranda. Miranda is married to the mean SOB and B-grade horror flick director Cameron, and they are about to take a boat trip to an island.
Miranda definitely isn’t above availing herself to the charming ministrations of Rick, especially when her husband shows a bigger preference to mushrooms than people and talks down to her like she’s an idiot. However, what will happen when Cameron inevitably finds out? He and Rick never get along from the start, when Rick challenges him and calls him a has-been, so things can get really ugly…
Let me get straight to the big problem with this episode: Michael Woods. This fellow has no charisma, utters his lines like he is made of marble and thus has problems emoting like a human being, and I have no idea how this fellow could be a lady’s man like the script makes him out to be. Given the eventual twist, it makes sense that Rick is as dumb as rocks, but the issue here is that this character has zero charisma or screen presence. Mr Woods is simply dreadful here, and given that Rick is a major character, he causes this show to take a huge step backward after the last few episodes.
Jerry Orbach is fine, as is Season Hubley, but it’s hard to care for an episode when one-third of the major cast of characters is such a weak link and dead weight. Without any sexy moments to distract from Mr Woods’s black hole of a screen presence, and he’s not pretty enough to be a distraction on his own as well, this episode is a dud.
They should have slotted this one early in the season and let one of the last few episodes close this season on a high note.
