2.06 --- Nightsong

Directed by : Bradford May Written by : Michael Reeves Starring : Lisa Eilbacher, Antony Hamilton First aired : 11th of October, 1986. Andrea Fields (Lisa Eilbacher, An Officer and a Gentleman, Beverly Hills Cop), a young DJ working late nights at a local radio station, is seemingly drifting through life without anything to live for. She continuously spurs off all advances from her DJ colleague Ace, who, thinking that it might cheer her up, buys her a record of her ex-boyfriend who disappeared five years ago. Slightly amused by that, Andrea plays the record, and Simon Locke, her ex (Antony Hamilton, Nocturna, Howling IV), mysteriously appears outside the DJ cabin. Andrea greets him with a slap on his face, and after an angry tirade in which she voices her discontent about him just becoming MIA without letting her know, throws the Nightsong record at him. Simon disappears, but reappears later outside the radio station, and saves her life by tugging her away from an oncoming motorbike. They start talking again, however Andrea is not ready to open old wounds, and flees. Back at her place, the Nightsong album appears out of nowhere on her turntable and starts playing - and with it comes Simon, convincing her that he means no harm. They start kissing and everything seems to be alright, until Simon breaks it up and confesses he has to show her something. Simon drives Andrea far out to the coast, and tells her the truth - five years ago, when his record was due to be released, he got afraid of success and drove to this place with a motorbike. Suddenly, he lost control and died - but his spirit was revived when someone found his record. Andrea cries that she loves him, and Simon says that he knows, which is why he saved her from that motorbike - which was in fact him, coming after her. He shows her his skeleton from the bike crash, and disappears. Some time later, a listener calls and requests Nightsong to be played - Andrea, somewhat relieved, agrees. *** So far, this is the pits of season 2. While What are Friends For ? and The Storyteller got close to being just bad without respite, Nightsong got there in a hurry. It kicked off somewhat interesting, but the solution was telegraphed the moment Locke appears (props to director who seemingly wanted everybody and their sister to know he's dead before it's revealed), and the twist so muddled and nonsensical that even that little credibility built to that point collapsed like a house of cards. Lisa Eilbacher tries hard, but her effort is completely offset by unneccessary hammy Antony Hamilton, who delivers his lines in a faux-Shakespearean manner, as if he's performing in some grand scale theatre play. Not to mention he looks a lot like Dolph Lundgren, too. Avoid this. Nightsong trivia : Simon Locke's Nightsong is actually performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the song appears on their 1988. reunion album American Dream. Worth noting that that song is arguably the best part of this episode.