Main cast: Tony Haskin (Billy Thorpe), Nena Haley (Kelly), Dalia Fayed (JD), and Rip Torn (Narrator)
Director: Greg Francis

Personal Demons begins with Charlene, a social worker, getting killed by schizophrenic Billy Thorpe, who has missed his last few appointments and is adamant of not being sent back to the hospital. Actually, as social worker Kelly that inherits Billy’s case will discover, Billy is being “guided” by JD, his “personal demon” that is urging him on to commit all kinds of violent acts. He feels some connection to Kelly, who shares that she too was once like Billy until she managed to become better, but this only means that JD will intensify her campaign to have Billy kill Kelly ASAP.

This episode is very similar to the previous one, in that it could have been so much better if the script hadn’t taken some short cuts and had things become stupid just to conveniently push things on towards an ending.

The premise isn’t the most original or groundbreaking, as the characterization of the voices inside a schizophrenic person’s head as demons or devils has been done many times before. However, the cast actually resembles human beings for once, and Billy is a pretty heartbreaking character that is both sympathetic and sinister at the same time.

Unfortunately, the late third or so of the episode takes a turn for the very dumb, with Kelly happily meeting Billy alone in the middle of the night in a deserted place, solely to facilitate a quick jump to an ending. Also, what happens to Kelly by then is pretty abrupt, as if I had been on a ride that somehow skipped a few important stops while I’m not looking.

This episode is a good attempt, and considering the episodes in this series so far, it’s actually not bad at all. There isn’t much surprise or ingenuity here, but still, it’s one of the more watchable episodes to date.