The first interesting shot in this episode is of Terry O’Quinn.  And since that comes after several shots of a topless stripper, that is a testament to Mr. O’Quinn.  It is interesting because it instantly transported me back to Lost.

Having John Locke show up as the fire inspector in short sleeves and a necktie just seems perfectly in synch with his Lost persona after being a Costco worker, box company clerk, substitute teacher, and house inspector.  If Juliet had been the stripper maybe they would have had something here.

He introduces himself as “Martin Zeller, Fire Marshall – Violations Inspector” but we know who he really is.  Bill the Assistant Manager tells Zeller he remembers his daughter Hiley working at the club, which is probably not a good thing to say to a bureaucrat with a badge.

Zeller goes into the office to see Puck, the manager.  He tosses some photos on Puck’s desk.  They are nudes of a Zeller’s daughter which Puck had been mailing to him . . . and Zeller has been keeping.  Puck disgustingly gazes at them and says, “been there, done that.”  Although the disgusting part is him wearing a vest-with-no-shirt ensemble.

Zeller says, “You think it’s pretty cute sending me this trash, don’t you?  Well, I’ve got a surprise for you, Puck.  Nick Ciola retired.  I’m the new Fire Marshal.”  Puck denies sending the photos, but Zeller says he’s shutting this place down.  Puck makes him the same offer that kept Nick from shutting them down — girls and cash.  Zeller says “Nick was a good Fire Marshal, but his flesh was weak” which is so John Locke.  He orders the club to be vacated immediately.

Zeller goes home to find his daughter Hiley arguing with her boyfriend.  For some reason, it is staged like a play.  It is widely lit, the ceiling is very high, the furniture is sparse, and the back wall is large, flat and bare.  It really is off-putting, like they were trying for something and just bombed. ^[1]  Her boyfriend storms out.

Hiley says she has been kicked out of school and her scholarship has been revoked.  Now her boyfriend has dumped her because his parents will think she is not good enough for him, not being in college.  I guess they were all cool with her shaking her yabbos on stage at the local titty bar, though.  She says even Puck and Bill treated her better than that.

Here’s where it gets a little too random.

• Ziller gives up his ethics and takes the cash from Puck so Hiley can afford to back to school.
• Hiley tarts herself up for a reunion date with her boyfriend.
• Ziller visits a guy with an ant farm.
• Bic, the ant farm guy, anxiously hides the ant farm before answering the door for no reason I can see.
• Then he sprays something all around from an aerosol can.  RAID, I hope.
• Ziller accuses Bic, saying he can smell smoke.  I guess the aerosol spray was to mask the smoke odor.
• Ziller finds the ant farm and says, “I thought they cured you!”
• Bic was using a magnifying glass to fry the ants.  Unfortunately, he is working in a dark room.  A few rays of sunshine are coming in, but not enough to kill an ant.  And I doubt a fried ant generates all that much smoke.
• He tells Bic that the nudie bar must be burned down because it is full of bugs.
• Well, wait, how is he going to pay for Hiley’s tuition now?
• Bic says, “I hate bugs!” although he seems to love that ant farm.
• Ziller says the time to do it is Sunday when it is closed.  Hunh?  This ain’t a Chic-Fil-A, although it will have the same number of gay dudes inside.  A nudie bar is going to be booming all weekend.
• Sunday night, Ziller goes to the club and the fire department is just putting out a huge fire.  He sees rows of body bags, but doesn’t seem surprised even though he said the club would be closed.
• Puck barely made it out alive, and is still smoking.  He says the club was having a special party for Hiley, and shows Ziller a charred bracelet that belonged to her.

One thing that does totally work is Ziller’s understated shock at seeing his daughter’s bracelet, and realizing she is dead because of him.  Huge kudos to TOQ for that scene.  But back to the griping . . .

• Consumed with grief about all the topless dancers he has left unemployed, and also his daughter, he kills himself.  This is also effectively done, but that is one crazy apartment:  The living room is like a stage, this bedroom is like a Bedouin tent with flaps (curtains) being billowed about by the wind, and the front door has a large frosted window like an old-timey office.
• Ziller points the revolver up under his chin.  When we see his body, the top of his head is intact, though.
• His answering machine picks up a call from Hiley.  “Dad, I eloped!”
• With Bill.
• What?  Where did this come from?  I thought she and Puck had hooked up at the club.  We only met Bill for a few seconds.
• Bill says her father should be happy because he’s rich.  I thought he was  just an assistant manger at a nudie bar.  Maybe not cash-rich, but to me, wealthy in so many other ways.
• She makes that phone call from a booth with all the glass broken out, and in a pretty sketchy neighborhood.  Why?
• At least one small plot-point is resolved.  We learn Bill took the nudie shots of Hiley and sent them to Ziller.  While she’s on the phone, he takes a hundred shots of here.  Seems like a crazy waste of film in the pre-digital era.

This was an unusual TFTC episode, with absolutely no supernatural element.  If you don’t think too much, it works thanks to Terry O’Quinn.  With anyone else, it likely would have been a snoozer.

Other Stuff:

[1] The wall later becomes transparent to show Hiley talking in her bedroom.  It is a nice effect, but is so artsy that it stands out just as much as when it appeared to be a stage.