Main cast: Melody Anderson (Sterling Jenkins), David Elliott (Jason), and Page Fletcher (The Hitchhiker)
Director: Michael Robison
Why hasn’t anyone given Page Fletcher a haircut? He is often the hottest guy in an episode, but I’m becoming increasingly distracted by how the hair at the back of his head is slowly forming a large triangle, like he’s wearing a wig usually used for actors playing noblemen in period European movies… wait, that’s not a wig he is wearing, is it?
In Cruelest Cut, there is a woman with blonde frizzy hair, seen from her back, killing men that hire her for sexual services. The show really wants me to believe that she’s Sterling Jenkins, a prostitute with sass and not a small amount of disdain for her johns, so that means she’s not the killer.
While making her usual rounds on the same night that the killer has taken out their latest victim, Sterling is approached by a man, Jason. He’s willing to pay her to help him with his stalled car. It’s a Jaguar, ooh.
She really doesn’t want to entertain his persistent efforts to give her a ride, help her out when she’s looking stressed (her pimp is giving her a hard time over her, uh, work productivity), et cetera.
Since her pimp is dogging her, though, and business is slow the next evening, when he shows up again to ask her out for dinner… what the heck, he’d do. He seems like a nice guy and he’d even pay her to go out with him.
Jason doesn’t even want sex from her. Previously, he wanted help with her car, now he wants her to help him pick colors for his new apartment because he says he is color blind. He’s charming, funny, sweet… and too good to be true, perhaps?
This episode is a pretty solid Lifetime movie compressed into the usual episode runtime, and I am pleasantly shocked by how coherent, well-paced, and enjoyable it is.
A big reason for this is Melody Anderson’s solid performance as the tough and cynical hooker that can’t help falling for Jason, because he’s the first person in a long time to say the right things to her: how she deserves love despite her profession, how beautiful she is inside out, etc. This character exudes bad-ass and vulnerability with ease when the situation calls for it, hence I can’t help rooting for her.
Also, David Elliot plays pretty well a charming guy that, at the same time, exudes some kind of vibe that there is still something off about him. Nonetheless, this episode is all about Sterling.
The twist is a pleasant one, and it catches me, at least, by surprise so hurrah for an episode that isn’t completely predictable.
For an episode in The Hitchhiker, especially the fifth season, this one is the closest thing to awesomeness.
