F13:TS 25 - Cupid's Quiver

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Episode Recap #3: Cupid's Quiver

Original Airdate: October 17, 1987

Starring:
John D. LeMay as Ryan Dallion
Louise Robey as Micki Foster
Chris Wiggins as Jack Marshak

Guest cast:
Denis Forest as Eddie Monroe
Carolyn Dunn as Laurie Warren
Ross Fraser as Hastings
Kevin Lund as Bowser
Dennis Fitzgerald as Harold
Richard Alden as Security Guard

Written by Stephen Katz
Directed by Atom Egoyan

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We begin at bar where frat guys are enjoying drinks and hitting on ladies. Sitting at the bar is a creepy dude who keeps making eye contact with a woman at a table. She roughly rebuts his advances and the guy chatting with her tells him to go away. She flat out tells the dude she doesn't want to dance with him, then heads off with the other man. Creepy guy goes back to the bar and the item he brought in, wrapped in a burlap sack. He opens the sack, revealing a hideous cupid statue, which begins to move. It directs its bow at the woman and a beam of light acts as an arrow, shooting forward and striking her arm.

As soon as she is hit, her feelings change and she allows the creepy guy to dance with her. She wants to get a hotel room with the man and he grabs his cupid and they leave. In the motel room, they fall onto the bed and make love as the cupid watches. Later, she tells the man she has never felt this way, that she thinks she loves him. This causes him to beging to strangle her.  The frat guys over hear and bust into the room, attempting to stop the man from choking her. One of the guys, Bowser, notices the cupid and picks it up.

At Curious Goods, Micki is reading the paper and asks Jack about the cupid in the manifest. Jack tells them about the history of the statue, which is called the Cupid of Malek. He says the man who originally commissioned the thing was so ugly that no woman could look at him without turning away. He vowed vengeance on those who denied him love and had the cupid cast in his own image.

Micki scolds Ryan about reading the comics and he reads the article about the attack in the motel room. Micki finds the entry in the manifest about the cupid and who bought it. Jack finds articles on the man which show that he has also committed three murders and was sentenced to death. Micki wonders and Jack says there is an old witches' saying: "If it looks like a bat and flies like a bat, it's a bat."

At the motel, the owner tells them about seeing the cupid when they all broke into the room to stop the killer. He doesn't know what happened to it, but remembers the college guys looking at it. He doesn't know who they were, but recalls the frat symbol on their shirts, something about a heart with an arrow going through it.

At the college campus, a man in a tree uses a camera to watch an attractive co-ed as she walks. A security guard catches him, asking him what he is doing. He lets the man go, thinking his obessesion with woman is harmless. The man, Eddie, later approaches the girl, Laurie. She is visibly nervous when he talks to her, knowing he is strange. He think they are an item, since she dated him, but Laurie reminds him all she did was help him with homework once.

Eddie persists, scaring her, until Micki and Ryan approach, asking for help locating the fraternity with the heart and arrow. Eddie shows them his t-shirt, with the symbol. Laurie offers to show them where it is, obviously trying to get away from Eddie. Micki picks up on this and says they'd like the walk. Laurie is relieved and they leave Eddie behind.

Eddie jumps in his truck and races over to the frat house. He begins cleaning up and the head of the fraternity, Hastings, asks him to clean up for the party they are having. Eddie asks if he can attend, but the man says that just because they let him wear their shirt doesn't mean he is a member. Eddie goes up to clean one of the bedrooms and is captivated when he spots the cupid statue. Bowser comes in and takes the statue from Eddie, mocking him and telling him to clean his room and leave his stuff alone. Eddie continues to stare at the statue.

No one in the bar finds this ugly thing weird?

Micki and Ryan talk about how they'll get the statue, Ryan telling them to just pretend they are cops. In the house, they meet Bowser, who invites Micki to the party. Hastings arrives and  asks why they are there and they ask about the statue. Ryan says they are there on official business, but the man asks if they have a warrant. Ryan admits they aren't cops, but that they need to find the statue. No go, Hastings says, so they leave. Outside, they again run into Eddie, asking if he found a statue. He feigns ignorance and they leave. Ryan says that tonight, Micki isn't engaged, planning to use the party to their advantage.

Later, in the basement of one of the buildings, we see Eddie's make-shift bedroom, complete with dozens of photos of Laurie. He also has the cupid statue, having stolen it from the fraternity. He stares at the antique, seeming to know what the object can do for him and his obsession with Laurie.

Back at the store, Micki, Ryan and Jack talk about how they can get the statue. Jack has an idea. We cut to the fraternity, where Jack has gotten himself hired as a bartender for the party. Ryan and Micki are there as guests and Jack tells them his punch is basically a truth serum. He is hoping to use it to get the whereabouts of the statue.

Outside, Eddie is again photographing Laurie and her date as they kiss. He then attempts to get into the party, but the frat head won't let him in. Dejected, Eddie drives off to the local bar, with the cupid under his arm. Inside, he appoaches a lady at the bar, who turns away from him.

In the frat house, Micki and Ryan search for the cupid, Micki aghast at the goings-on, Ryan havin fun. Jack has slipped a few drinks to Bowser, who admits to having the cupid upstairs. Ryan and Micki follow him up, but the statue is gone. Bowser remembers Eddie Monroe holding it earlier. Ryan and Micki head out after Eddie.

At the bar, Eddie places the statue in front of him. The woman asks about it, then scoffs and turns away. Eddie asks her for a light and when she turns back, the cupid shoots her in the cheek. She is instantly smitten with Eddie, who isn't very shocked that the cupid can do what it did. He asks her to go for a ride with him and she agrees and then head out and into his truck.

Micki and Ryan find Eddie's room, Ryan comparing it to Dracula's home. They step over Eddie's home-made burglar alarm and find all the pictures of Laurie but no cupid statue.

In the park, Eddie and the girl make out and then have sex in his truck, the statue again watching. Later, she tells Eddie she loves him and he knows as soon as she says it he has to act. He takes out a bottle of honey and shares it with her. He leaves the truck to take a leak.

Doesn't everyone pull out a bottle of honey AFTER sex?

Micki and Ryan realize Eddie has a serious problem and worry about Laurie.

When Eddie returns to the truck, he has a beehive, which he tosses into the car with the lady. She can't escape and, as the leering cupid and demented Eddie watch, she is stung to death by the bees.
Back at the party, Jack is hearing Hasting's life story, who is spilling his guts after drinking Jack's spiked punch. Micki and Ryan arrive and tell Jack about Eddie. He goes off to find Eddie while they go off to find and protect Laurie. Jack hears about the local bar and head out to find Eddie, who is confused now about what has happened with the statue. Jack learns where Eddie was headed with the girl, and drives off.

At the party, Ryan and Micki learn Jack left and head out themselves.

In the woods, Jack searches for Eddie and falls down and finds the dead girl. Bowser steps out of the woods and sees Jack, who tells the boy to call the police.

Laurie and her boyfriends are outside when he goes back to the party for more wine. Eddie approaches and scares Laurie. She says she is with someone and asks Eddie to go away. He says he has something for her and shows her the statue. Later, Micki and Ryan spot them. Eddie takes off with Ryan in pursuit as Micki stays with Laurie. Ryan chases Eddie into a building, hitting Eddie with a pipe and getting the statue. They try to get Laurie to leave with them, but she is reluctant. Jack arrives and tells them about the dead girl he found. Eddie listens in to all this as the security guard happens upon the group. He thinks they have stolen the statue from the fraternity and confiscates it. The group heads off, vowing to get the statue back tomorrow. Eddie approaches the guard and convinces him that the statue belongs to "his" fraternity. The guard gives it back to Eddie.

Our trio has brought Laurie back to Curious Goods to keep her safe from Eddie. She asks about the statue, but Micki says she wouldn't believe it. Laurie says she is tired and wants to sleep. Ryan, Jack and Micki talk about the statue and Eddie and Ryan hears Laurie pick up the phone and call Eddie. She is already under the cupid's spell, it appears. She tells Eddie she loves him before hanging up.

We then see her crossing the college grounds to the building Eddie lives in. In his room, she finds a table set up for a romantic dinner. Eddie steps out of the shadows, cupid in hand. He turns her around and is shocked to find it is not Laurie, but Micki with a wig on. They overheard the phone call. Ryan tells Micki to let him in but Micki can't. Eddie talks about Laurie and the girl he killed. Micki runs off as Ryan finally gets inside. But Eddie uses the cupid on Micki, causing her to fall in love with him.

Ryan demands Eddie let go of Micki, but he refuses and instead, hits a pipe with an axe. Instead of stopping Ryan, this cause steam to burst out. Micki is knocked out and fall to the ground and Eddie is burned in the face. He runs off, cupid in hand, with Ryan in pursuit.

Eddie climbs up to pipes overhead, trying to escape Ryan. But he slips and Ryan watches as the man falls to his death. Ryan takes the statue from Eddie's dead hands and he leaves with Micki, now free from the cupid's spell.

Micki bravely dons a blonde wig and takes Laurie's place.

Back at the store, the trio is placing the cupid in the vault. Ryan flippantly says "another one for the trophy room." Jack reminds them they are dealing with forces no one comphrehends and they shouldn't take it lightly. He says they have make sure they items they store in the vault stay there, because if they do get back out into the world, the next time they try to retrieve them, they might not be so lucky.

Upstairs, Laurie offers an apology for her actions. They tell her it wasn't her fault. Ryan asks her out, but she says someone is picking her up. Her boyfriend arrives and she leaves. He wonders if he just touched her with the cupid, but Micki scoffs at him. He then asks Micki out to dinner. "Dream on." she says, before heading upstairs. Jack raises his eyebrows as Ryan looks his way.

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My thoughts:

Another good, early episode. The cupid is a creepy antique and why no one seems to question these guys bringing it into bars, I don't know. But the curse is a great, primal one and we can see people easy falling under its sway.

This episode makes me wonder if the cursed antiques have a subliminal way of communicating with those people who would be susceptible to using them in evil ways. Eddie is taken with the statue when he first sees it, but Bowser merely leaves it on a shelf in his room. Eddie is then seen sitting with it and he somehow then knows what it can do for him. Creepy to think the cursed antiques can connect with easily manipulated people.

Our group continues their brave mission to get the items back and to protect the lives of innocents, even bring Laurie back with them to keep her safe. No one will ever acknowledge all they do, but they keep doing it nontheless. True heroes.

Denis Forest is a great guest star, and one we will quite a few times on this show, each time as a different character! He played the creepiness and villainy well.

Also love Jack's truth serum punch and when the frat head is spilling guts - very funny scene!

Next week: "A Cup of Time"