‘Whistable Pearl’ Recap: ‘Night Terrors’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 202 of ‘Whitstable Pearl’. To revisit the season two premiere, click here.
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One of the biggest benefits of a television show obtaining a second season order, is that the folks behind the scenes… can toy around a bit with the story. Obviously, nothing earth-shattering or plot changing will happen in that respect, unless of course, a bold move is in the cards from the get-go. But this is where the writers can take a moment to try new things or perhaps do something a touch experimental. Or in the case of the next episode of Whitstable Pearl on Acorn TV… perhaps throw out a quality homage to a true crime drama classic. Since ‘Night Terrors’ is a story that tipped its cap to one of Alfred Hitchcock’s finest works, Rear Window.
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A feat it accomplished, by having Mike suffer through a nasty leg injury, one that put him on leave and left him on his couch. Which of course, was difficult for Mike, since he is a man of action and constantly needs to be in motion and well… being stuck by his window, looking out over the neighbors… allowed for that homage to take place. Because much like L.B. Jefferies, Mike was able to peer into other lives and observe what appeared to be quite the concerning crime. For one fateful night, one of Mike’s neighbors, a man named Noah… woke up in the middle of the night in a fit and appeared to attack his wife with physical violence. Prompting a phone call to the police on Mike’s part since he was up and that led… to a surprise.

In that, Noah suffered from night terrors and would randomly wake up in that manner and his wife would have to talk him down, and she wasn’t eager to press charges, all of which seemingly resolved any concerns. But watching them more closely, since he had the time, revealed a lot of shady behavior from Noah. The kind that spoke to a man that might be faking his night terrors to manipulate his way toward murder and freedom, since he turned out to be quite the ladies’ man. Which in turn prompted him to get Pearl involved in the case. Because she could keep an eye on him a little closer than Mike could and well, it’s a good thing that she did. For eventually, another suspicious night of behavior prompted Pearl to just head over there to see if Noah’s wife was safe and she was, with a caveat.

Because this time, Noah went too far and wouldn’t rise from his terrorized slumber, and that forced her… to do the unthinkable and defend herself. Which more or less put an end to this whole madness, save for the fact that something didn’t quite add up for Pearl. For she found it odd this moment was suddenly the moment when things spiraled out of hand, when she’d seen Noah push the envelope further on different nights alongside Mike. Which in turn prompted her to re examine the evidence and the fact that the walls in their home were paper thin, and how that could have easily allowed for her to hear Noah’s affair next door since he used the neighbor’s house often for such acts and well… that led Pearl to discover that the opposite happened here.

In that, this broken wife used her husband’s night terrors as cover to commit murder in the name of self-defense when it was vengeance for infidelity. And had it not been for Pearl’s concerns, Mike could have been hurt badly or worse. But thanks to Pearl, all was well, and of course… her actions reminded Mike of what they mean to one another. But since we will have to wait to see if anything comes from that, we can in the meantime, celebrate one fun episode. One that really did a phenomenal job of paying tribute to Hitchcock since Mike was a new iteration of L.B. in this tale and it was just a delight to see this series let loose and have a little fun in that manner, and offer a compelling and original case to along with it. And all this does is leave us eager to see what other surprises await us at season two rolls along. Until next time.  

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