Main cast: Reid Tucker (Thomas Morgan), Barbara Lowin (Mrs Morgan), Ben Kaplan (Thomas Morgan Jr), Sandy Thompson (Jennifer), and Rip Torn (Narrator)
Director: Greg Francis
Thomas Morgan Jr, or Tommy, was a handsome doctor that served third-world people like a gorgeous white savior. Well, “was” is the operative word, as Tommy was blown up by a bomb and his body parts are now buried in a coffin. His father Tom is unable to accept his son’s death, however. He has modeled Tommy as his ideal son, a better version of himself, and his denial of his son’s death is such as somehow, Tommy ends up at their doorstep the night of the burial, apparently still alive.
He and his wife deduce that the Red Cross must have mistakenly identified the poor dead bloke that is now buried to be their son; now that Tommy is back, nothing else matters. However, this is Ghost Stories, so nothing is ever that simple or clear cut.
Resting Place is of course, The Monkey’s Paw given a far less malevolent twist. Tommy isn’t, sadly, a brain-eating zombie or a demon-possessed creature. Instead, this is about how a control-freak, domineering father can be a destructive presence in his child’s life, and sadly, in Thomas’s case, he isn’t aware at all about the effects of his actions on Tommy. The episode made it pretty clear that Tommy is, in fact, dead, and it is his father’s inability to let him go that forces him to continue existing when he’d rather just have eternal rest. Hence, the emotional crux of this episode lies in the actor that plays Thomas…
… And good lord, what an awful actor that is. Normally, the female cast members are the weakest links in Ghost Stories, but this fellow clearly steps up to right the gender imbalance. He is so bad that his terrible performance equates to at least three awful lead actresses on this show. Monotonous line deliveries devoid of emotion, really awkward and mistimed attempts at emoting, the wrong facial expressions for every scene—this fellow has it all. Is he a father or uncle of the gaffer roped in to play the character after they have run out of money to hire actual actors?
Because of this horrible, horrible actor, there is zero believable emotion or character development in an episode that demands these things. It’s pure cringe. Fortunately, this story line is pretty common in anthology series, so it’s not like there isn’t a better version of Resting Place out there. Then again, that’s Ghost Stories in a nutshell: there is always a better alternative to this show.
