After the gravity (and shock…) of the previous installment, “Ashes,” “The Lovers” is a really fun and light episode of the 1998 -1999 horror series Brimstone. The Stone/Devil banter is funnier than ever, and the Devil (John Glover) even shows up as a used car salesman, an occupation which is just about perfect for the guy.
This episode is, broadly, about love, the most important connection between human beings. Accordingly, “The Lovers” commences with a view of love’s absence. Stone (Peter Horton) looks around him, everywhere, and sees families, lovers, and old married couples…a fact reminding him of his isolation and separation from the ebb and flow of humanity. Since he has returned to Earth, he has not known love.
Meanwhile, the Hell convicts of the week are a wicked combination between Bonnie and Clyde and Romeo and Juliet: star-crossed lovers/criminals who defied others’ expectations of them in life, but also committed murder to protect their love.
After buying a wreck of a car from the Devil, Stone sends one of the lovers, Paco Gomez (Jesse Borrego), back to Hell, unknowingly leaving Paco’s lover, Jocelyn Paige (Shannon Sturges) alone, and in mourning.
But rather than letting Stone send her back to Hell, Jocelyn does the deed herself. She cuts out her own eyes rather than be separated from her true love.
The Devil calls this act “killing two birds with one [Ezekiel] Stone,” but the episode raises, again, the question of a universe of black-and-white. Is it right or moral for two people in love -- even criminals -- to be separated for all eternity in Hell? It seems an excessive punishment to me.
Anyone who can truly feel love for another person is a person who should not be classified as beyond redemption.
Even Paco’s Hell-created powers in this episode reflect the story’s leitmotif about love. He is able to “burn the hearts out of people.” That sounds like a description of love so strong it hurts, right?
In terms of visuals, “The Lovers” is less steely, de-saturated, and colorless than many episodes of Brimstone. The sun seems to actually shine down on Stone for a change (at least at Venice Beach, where he goes roller-blading…) and that too seems an allusion to the power of love.
The episode’s final punch-line is also a funny one. After realizing the surprise that Jocelyn is a Hell-escapee too, Stone makes the connection that there may be one more villain of the week on the loose.
Accordingly, he shoots out the headlights of the car that the Devil sold him…and sends it straight back to Hell.
Next week: “Carrier.”
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