Main cast: Bart Shatto (Clayton Wagner), Courtney Costello (Beth Wagner), Amanda Chambers (Faith), Geoffrey Dawe (Dean), and Rip Torn (Narrator)
Director: Joe Wiecha
Clayton Wagner’s first and only bestselling book was published seven years ago. Since then, he has been struggling to come up with another book. Eventually, his agent Dean has him ghostwriting whatever titles that come his way in order to make ends meet, the latest being a steamy romance under the pseudonym Constance Lovebird.
One possible reason why Clayton has no juice for writing anymore is because, during the writing of his greatest hit, he had an affair. When he spies an attractive neighbor, the artist Faith, and runs over to comfort her after she appears to try to cut her wrists, they end up having a great night of love—sorry, there is no sex scene shown in this episode. What do you know, he finds his inspiration soaring on wings the morning after. He comes crashing back to earth when Faith starts pestering him. You know, for a woman that is supposed to be dead for the last three years, she can be quite clingy…
Yes, Fatal Distraction is just a take on that movie, and it cheerfully admits to basically ripping off the premise by having Clayton’s wife Beth tell him that she has seen that movie already, when he tries to explain away his affair to her. Hence, this is one of the rare episodes in Ghost Stories that have an adult premise full of sex and adultery, but at the same time, it’s completely watered down to avoid awkward questions from kids that watch this episode with their parents.
In many ways, Clayton is set up. Faith is clearly looking for a man to become a victim of her wrath at being jilted while she was alive, and any bloke would do. However, it’s hard to feel sorry for that douche-nozzle, as he’s horrible to his supportive and long-suffering wife and is a terrible person all around.
It’s also hard to appreciate this episode because for the most part, it’s lazy. There is nothing interesting here, just an unlikable douche starring in a watered-down take of that movie, tangling with a jilted psycho that is nowhere as interesting as Glenn Close’s character. I’ve seen much of this episode before in other shows and films that wants to be modeled after that movie, and whatever that is left isn’t worth remembering.
Also, who cast the actors for female characters in this show? I’d be interested to know the criteria they use, because once again, the ladies playing the female characters are as flat can be. The men—Bart Shatto and Geoffrey Dawe—emote and deliver their lines like actual human beings, while the women flatly deliver their lines like they are only doing this because they had been forced into it or something. Are they only paying the male actors? The frequent disparity between the male and female leads in terms of acting performance surely can’t be a coincidence!
Anyway, let’s throw this one onto the growing heap of forgettable duds in this series.
