Main cast: Bill Paxton (Trout), Jonelle Allen (Sunny), Bud Cort (Wax), and Page Fletcher (The Hitchhiker)
Director: Thomas Baum
It’s pretty amusing to see that Bud Cort gets the special guest listing in the opening credits and not the late Bill Paxton. These days, one would be more likely to go, “Bud who?” Then again, The Hitchhiker has somehow become a platform for unexpected names to show up. How did that happen?
Mr Cort is Wax, a quiet and polite fellow that is clearly not right in the head. Mr Paxton is Trout, a loud and violent lunatic on a crime and murder spree. In short, they are indeed Made for Each Other, in a totally non-homosexual way, of course. I mean, sure, the episode has these two characters gazing into one’s another eyes, but who says men can’t be just friends, right?
They meet when Trout picks up Wax as someone he can bully and push around for a fun time, when he spots the latter dithering over buying a bottle of wine that is on sale. Wax tends to let himself be pushed around so he goes along with Trout.
Trout decides that he’d find a woman for Wax to get laid, and that’s how the prostitute Sunny comes into the picture.
Now, it’s pretty obvious early on that Wax is a serial killer, as he is seen trying to stop himself from buying another bottle of wine. You see, he kills his victims by poisoning a bottle of wine and letting them have a sip of it, and he’s trying to stop the habit.
When Trout brings him and Sunny back to Wax’s place, Wax dashes to hide away the poisons laid out in the open. So yes, he’s the Wine Killer dubbed in the news.
Predictably enough, the night soon turns violent as Wax doesn’t respond well to Sunny’s efforts to get him to be receptive to her overtures, and Trout becomes increasingly annoyed with them both.
This episode is pretty predictable, but it’s a well-acted one with the three main actors all putting on a good show. Sunny is no weakling, while Wax and Trout are watching, interesting variations of admittedly played-out stereotypes.
All things considered, this one is alright. It’s not as memorable as it could have been, but it’s easily one of the better episodes of this season.
