Director: Dean White
Cast: Laura Allen (Julia Mallory), Courteney Cox (Lucy Spiller), Ian Hart (Don Konkey), Alex Breckenridge (Willa McPherson), Jeffrey Nordling (Brent Barrow), Josh Stewart (Holt McLaren), Ankur Bhatt (Kenny), Mashari Laila Bain (Bartender), Alex Weed (Addict), Lyn Mahler (Dr. Sandler), David Blue (Toby), Mariette Hartley (Dorothy Spiller), Paul Reubens (Chuck Lafoon), Kristin Minter (Dana Pritchard), Randall Batinkoff (Jimmy Rembar) & Lonnie Hughes (Gabe)
Lucy has trouble sleeping, Willa teams up with Don to uncover a celebrity wedding, and Julia deals with rehab...You've got to love Don Konkey's opening narrations; they bring us up to speed on Dirt's storylines as if it's the year's juciest gossip. Ian Hart is doing great work on the show, although Don himself is pushed into the background again for this episode. But he does get to show-off this year's must-have gadget for every paparazzo: a pram containing a fake baby and camera lens. He's the Q of photography.
The Thing Under The Bed is very much another transitional episode, with the altar girl murder storyline being put to rest, after creepy paedophile Reverend Sweet tells Lucy (Courteney Cox) that her dead father "worries that you're not sleeping." Suitably chilled to the bone, insomniac Lucy begins a more determined investigation into her past and uncovers a mysterious photo under a bed. To me, it seems hotshot journo Lucy might be about to suffer the ultimate irony: that the biggest story of her life is personal.
Her digging for family dirt gives us a few nice scenes with mother Dorothy (Mariette Hartley), who's about to have a nip-tuck operation, but in a more private area than you'd imagine! Hartley's good in her role as the sneery mom, although no script has yet exploited her as the vile monster she perhaps should be.
In fact, the whole show is softening somewhat. Lucy has been given necessary depth, but mostly through chipping away at her Ice Queen persona. I can understand why, but a lot of what made Dirt so appealing in the first few episodes was the prospect of getting a new TV superbitch. Lucy is becoming a touch too sympathetic now, so I hope she finds her inner bitch again.
Writer Sally Robinson does a great job with this episode, which doesn't have many big moments, just plenty of good developments.There are some lovely one-liners and phrases sprinkled throughout her script. I particularly liked Lucy's Apocalypse Now moment ("I love the smell of P.R bullshit in the morning"), her rebuttal to claims of insomnia ("I'll sleep when they put a stake through my heart"), or Willa's breathy comment to lover Brent that "we can talk dirty, but we can't talk Dirt."
Yes, Willa (Alex Breckenridge) continues her office romance with publisher Brent (Jeffrey Nordling) in this episode, oblivious to the fact he's one of the seedy creeps she's paid to unmask. Willa has an interesting take-charge attitude recently, perhaps buoyed by recently work success, so it's going to be awful when she finds out the truth about Brent's little video collection. Willa's own subplot about trying to uncover a celebrity wedding is sadly the least interesting part of this episode, and doesn't go anywhere interesting or different.
Holt (Josh Stewart) is still as sappy and forlorn as usual, moping around sets and glaring at snap-happy fans. Stewart only really seems to excel if he's acting alongside Laura Allen as girlfriend Julia, who's currently in rehab. A scene with Holt supporting her at a circle meeting is quite touching and, after he finally unburdens himself of his guilt over her car crash (he caused it), it's quite a cathartic moment. I find myself really wanting these characters to rise above the trashy L.A lifestyle and find peace together... but I'm not sure Dirt deals in happy endings!
The main thing I'm enjoying about the show is how it doesn't take itself too seriously. It knows it's disposable junk TV, but revels in it. It's good drama written with tongue-in-cheek humour, that throws up silly tabloid-inspired plots every week and the actors all service the material perfectly.
The writers also have a great handle on the characters now, with delights coming from simple throwaway moments, like: schitzophrenic Don taking great pleasure in sticking a shredded bank statement together, even when it's not necessary to; or the way Holt and Julia's tearjerking moment in rehab immediately cuts to Lucy putting eye-drops in, with one false tear running down her cheek.
The directing was also strong from Dean White, who gave us a few quirks that weren't strictly necessary (like time-lapse photography), but he also seemed to give more scope and beauty to exteriors. Things just seemed more polished and beautiful, helped immensely by sunny L.A itself of course!
By the episode's end, The Thing Under The Bed has nicely developed Lucy's storyline with her father's suicide, provided a big step forward for Holt and Julia, but also sets-up an enticing new element for Lucy: who is now on the receiving end of an intrusive camera lens. In a touching final scene, in her moment of inner turmoil, she turns to Don, perhaps the only friend she has, and snuggles up to him on his sofa... like a lost child with the father she's lost.
