Main cast: Roberta Maxwell (Marybeth), Greg Spottiswood (Adam Ross), Cyndy Preston (Stephanie Duvall), and Page Fletcher (The Hitchhiker)
Director: Timothy Bond
Dying Generation opens with a much younger Greg Spottiswood in full denim metal and T-shirt and ripped jeans get-up that screams “This is what old people think kids are like in the 1980s!”, doing a cringe-inducing “I’m playing an invisible guitar, woo-hoo!” thing while his friend Katie is getting buried just a short distance away.
I laugh because I will always associate Mr Spottiswood with those Avonlea-style movies and TV shows, so this one feels so wrong somehow.
Oh yes, and before anyone tells me, I know, he was also fired from the producer post at some show for making some cast members feel unsafe or something, but if I am going to be like those purple-haired, blue-ticked imbeciles on social media that cancel everyone that does anything that does not conform to my worldview 100%, I will have only those perpetually scolding and nagging imbeciles to be my friends and idols. That, people, is a fate worse than death.
Anyway, back to this episode. Mr Spottiswood’s edgy character, Adam, has a girlfriend, Stephanie. She’s the more goody-goody type, and we all know how good girls like their bad boys. They decide to investigate a fortune teller, Marybeth, whom Katie visited shortly before she committed suicide. Apparently, her clients have all been “murdered”, according to Katie’s boyfriend Brian,
As it turns out, Marybeth isn’t a fortune teller. She’s a super disillusioned, bitter former activist that also happens to know how to make a tea that activates one’s ability to see brief visions of their future. She considers herself a non-profit organization that helps idealistic youths become “more realistic” adults and charges only five bucks per person to cover the cost of the ingredients to brew the tea.
Naturally, she offers Adam and Stephanie the opportunity to drink the tea, although she warns them that their friends all committed suicide because they couldn’t accept what they saw of their future. Of course the two drink the tea.
I’m not sure what to make of this episode, really. While suicide is definitely an adult theme, this episode has a Goosebumps-ish tone, using supernatural elements as placeholders and stand-ins for typical teen angst. As a result, this one feels really out of place among the killer hookers and horny assholes of The Hitchhiker.
I like the premise, but the episode never fully fleshes out anything. The characters are one-dimensional and range from bland to annoying, and the episode hurtles to a rushed ending that doesn’t really do anything to elevate the story.
The whole thing is an excuse to tell the audience that it’s better not to know the future. Sure, that’s nice to know, but surely they can tell a better story to drive home the message?
Still, I have to give it to this episode: Marybeth is a hilarious and ingenious take on a fortune teller! Maybe I’ll throw in one extra oogie for that alone.
