The demons that torture our soul are patient lot. Always in search of a welcome host: be it a wal-street wiz kid or a burned out social worker. When these demons take residence, the line that divides the sane from the haunted becomes an illusion...only the demons are real.
A social worker pursuing a mentally unbalanced man who escaped from a halfway house discovers that her client is prodded to murderous actions by a malevolent demon. Starring Tony Hale, Nena Haley, Dalia Fayed. Originally aired October 27, 1997. — Rip Torn, ending narration of episode.
Tropes:
- Abandoned Warehouse: Billy Thorpe and his demon J.D. hide out in one.
- An Aesop: Don't work too much, or you'll snap and kill someone one day.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Billy screams out for J.D.'s help as he gets taken away by the cops.
- Ambiguously Bi: The demon J.D who takes a special interest in her host Billy Thorp. And then she takes an special interest in her newest host Kelly, stroking her hair lovingly as she does so.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The malevolent demon J.D gets away with murdering and manipulating innocent people and using psychologically stressed souls like Billy Thorp and Kelly Delgado to get away with it.
- Big Damn Heroes: The police saving Kelly at the end.
- Bittersweet Ending: Billy is arrested and taken into police custody where they can lock him away in a mental hospital, but the burnt-out social worker Kelly is left traumatized and loses her mind all over again. Eventually snapping and killing her husband whilst becoming the demon J.D's newest victim in the process.
- Break the Cutie: Kelly goes from an heroic yet overworked sane social worker to a mentally broken woman by the end of the episode thanks to Billy Thorp and his demon J.D traumatizing her.
- Catchphrase: The demon J.D says "This is bad. Really bad".
- Clingy Jealous Girl: J.D. has shades of this as she orders Billy to carry out her orders to murder suspicious witnesses and gets jealous when he says that this new one (Kelly) is different and that they should spare killing her.
- Cooldown Hug: J.D. gives one to Billy to calm him down when he panics about killing another witness.
- Depraved Bisexual: The demon J.D who is a Morality Pet to both the male wall-street wiz kid and the burnt out female social worker by the end.
- Despair Event Horizon: Kelly loses her mind again after after being traumatized and nearly killed by Billy Thorp and his demon J.D.
- Foreshadowing:
- Kelly talking about the troubled Billy Thorp, "This guy's a lot like me, Tom. I just feel like I know what he's been through, you know?"
- Tom to Kelly "You straightened out your problem a long time ago."
- "Let's just say I understand his demons."
- Billy to his demon J.D about the social worker Kelly looking for him: "I swear she's different. I mean, I know she is. I can feel she is."
- Fate Worse than Death / Go Mad from the Isolation:
- Billy fears being taken away to "a special place" (possibly a Psychiatric Hospital) if the police gets a hold of him and worst, his demon J.D. won't be able to go back with him to that "special place" he'll be locked away in because they won't let her.
- Kelly's husband suggests to her that the two of them going away to a place where they won't be disturbed by work or noises, they'll rip the phone cords off the walls. This doesn't sit well with the workaholic Kelly, so she kills him to avoid this fate.
Tom: Kelly, enough. You've worked night and day since what happened to Billy Thorpe. Enough, be done, Finito. I spoke to Dr. Campbell about what you been through, and he wants you to come in for an evaluation. In the meantime, Frank's agreed to give you some time off. I think a nice long rest is just what you need, honey. Maybe I'll take you to the mountains so I can lock you away from everybody safe and sound. We'll rip out the phones and the TV and...we won't have to talk to anybody or do anything...We'll stay there as long as it takes to get you back on track...
- Hates Being Alone: Billy's worst fear being kept all alone in a psych ward prison without his demon J.D to keep him safe.
- Heroic B So D: Kelly suffers this complete with a Thousand-Yard Stare and hearing voices shortly before she snaps and kills her husband.
- Here We Go Again!: Kelly becomes the next victim tortured by demons.
- Hearing Voices: Both Kelly and Billy suffered from this. Kelly hearing things due to severe overwork and Billy claiming that he hears a demon named J.D telling him to commit murders.
- I Love the Dead: Implied between the tortured host(s) and their demon J.D.
- Living Emotional Crutch: The demon J.D is this to both her victims Billy Thorp and social worker Kelly Delgado.
- Manipulative Bitch: J.D. getting mad and threatening to let the police find Billy and take him away to an awful place. This works as Billy immediately takes back his words and comes crawling back to J.D. begging for her guidance.
- Mirror Scare: After losing her mind and killing her husband, Kelly goes to the bathroom and washes the blood off her hands with bleach. When she closes the medicine cabinet, the demon J.D is suddenly standing right next to her in the mirror.
- When Billy kidnaps Kelly at knifepoint and takes her hostage, he fixes the car mirror and the demon J.D is shown in the mirror looking at with with a raised eyebrow and an evil smirk accompanied by a Scare Chord.
- Morality Pet: The demon J.D is this to Billy who relies on her for safety and comfort. She eventually becomes this to newest victim Kelly.
- Near-Villain Victory: Billy comes close to murdering Kelly. Then the police arrive at the abandoned warehouse.
- Room Full of Crazy: Or a room full of dead bodies, in this case.
- Scare Chord: Plenty heard in this episode.
- Slashed Throat: J.D suggests Billy murder Kelly this way.
Billy: It's her eyes, I can't do it while she's looking at me.
J.D.: Then slit her throat from behind!
J.D.: Then slit her throat from behind!
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Kelly just stares blank into the distance after all the trauma she went through with Billy Thorpe and his demon J.D.
- Wham Shot: After returning home and Kelly's husband talks about getting some her help, Kelly moves her hand under her stack of case files and the camera pans down...showing she's holding a knife. In the next shot, her husband is lying dead on their bed and she is washing the blood off her hands with bleach from their bathroom medicine cabinet.
- Wedding Ring Removal: Kelly removes her wedding ring as she washes the blood off her hands from killing her husband.
- Workaholic: Both Billy and Kelly. It's what caused them to go insane. Billy used to work 7 days a week, even sleeping at the office where he worked.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Billy lures Kelly into a trap by faking needing her help, knowing that she would come to the rescue to help him.
