Main cast: Melonie Diaz (Meg), Ethan Kent (Ralph), Gavin Kent (Ralphie), Ross Partridge (Bradley), and Lily Gladstone (The 911 Operator)
Director: Sarah Adina Smith

Room 104 is an anthology series of horror, thriller, whatever, which each episode taking place in a hotel room. Room 104, naturally.

So, here’s the first episode: Ralphie.

It has a familiar premise: a babysitter, Meg, is hired by a clearly distressed man Bradley to care for his kid, Ralph, for a few hours. Ralph locks himself in the bathroom, and after much persuasion, Meg convinces him to come out and share with her what is happening.

You see, Ralph is trying to keep the mean and violent Ralphie from creating trouble. Meg understandably assumes that the boy has an imaginary friend and is playing make-believe, so she tries to play along until Ralphie emerges from the bathroom to terrorize her.

Ralph and Ralphie are never seen at the same place and time, at least at first, so is Ralph having some kind of split personality, or could Ralphie be very real indeed?

There isn’t anything here that is surprising, but fortunately, the cast members carries the show to the finish line.

There are kid actors here in the spotlight roles, so this episode will make or break by their performances. Fortunately, the two kids do a solid job here with their line deliveries and range, so the episode is watchable.

Melonie Diaz is solid as Meg, and I always feel that she needs a better agent because… really, that horrific Charmed reboot?

I also like that the episode allows the suspense to build at a nice pace, letting Meg and Ralph interact and bond in a convincing and even sweet manner so that when the hammer falls, the blow hits harder.

All in all, while the story itself holds few surprises, this one is a pretty good season-opener of an episode.