'Room 104' season 3 episode 1 shows how betrayal, murder and magic set things into motion
'Room 104', the HBO show, is a brilliant source for character study and with its third season, we see that it hasn't changed. The last two seasons -- episodic anthologies -- portrayed the lives of people who passed through a popular American motel's room number 104. This season, however, we see the writers delve into the past to show us why guests who have stayed in this particular room in the past have experienced certain things. In this episode, we see betrayal, murder and a little bit of magic that seals the fate of what we know today as 'Room 104'.
Written and directed by Macon Blair, the episode revolves around a brother and sister -- Remus (Luke Wilson) and Roma (Christine Woods) -- having a picnic dinner on a piece of land where an inn is expected to be built soon. It starts with Remus and Roma discussing the death of their father. Remus was not able to make it to the funeral because he was away travelling, enjoying being on road too much to go through the inconvenience of flying from a far off land back home for his father's funeral. Even as Remus tries to explain why he couldn't travel, we see his sister's expression highlighted by the bonfire and all that we see restrained fury. She doesn't seem able to fathom that this man, her brother, shows no remorse for what he has done to her. Yes, this is not about him missing their father's funeral, but this is more about how he left her to take care of their very sick father.
This becomes apparent as their conversation that begins on a light note but takes a turn for the serious when Remus asks his sister if she has found someone. How can he expect her to find a man when she was, in her own words, 'busy wiping the bottom of their father'? That's when it becomes crystal clear that Roma never intended this picnic to serve as a welcome party for a brother who left her hanging. Yes, she does show him how she has planned to convert the piece of land that was left to her and her brother by building an inn. She even hints at working with her brother, but that is not acceptable. Not when it was she who took care of their father and put up with unspeakable things in the name of caring for him.
It is when she hands over a glass of drink that Remus refuses to partake that we understand her intentions. Her disappointment when she hears that Remus has quit drinking shows what the drink was meant to do. Her attention falls on a revolver piece that Remus carries along with him and when she asks him to teach her how to shoot, we think we know the ending of this one. But that's just it! What we saw so far was just a prelude to an interesting twist. The fact that we understand the undercurrent in Remus and Roma's relationship purely based on Woods' and Wilson's performance in combination with great writing is what is fascinating about this show. There is a lot of freedom for writers to play with their narration style and even plot devices.
For instance, Swofford (Eric Edelstein), a supernatural being's introduction to this tense scene is a way in which the show has tried to keep itself from falling prey to redundant plot lines. By reinventing how 'Room 104' came into being with a touch of the supernatural, this season is off to a good start and from the looks of it, it can only get better.
The next episode will air on Friday at 11 pm ET on HBO.