The Nightmare Before Christmas – Episode 4 begins with what appears to be a spirited Christmas dinner at Grandma Veronica (Llewella Gideon) and Grandad Wilfred’s (Joseph Marcell) house. Everyone appears to be enjoying the festivities until an unexpected visitor arrives. It falls on Queenie Jenkins (Dionne Brown) to answer the door and when she does, she awakes in a cold sweat. This is not only revealed to have been a nightmare, but it appears to be a reoccurring one.
Queenie is internally debating how everyone can be so happy around the holidays when she’s interrupted by Jacob Stone (Elliot Levey) with the offer of cupcakes. Their ensuing conversation suggests that Queene may have accepted the fact that she and Tom Blake (Jon Pointing) are no longer together. Jacob offers the sage advice that the most important relationship anyone can have is with themselves before rushing off to rescue his burning food. With him gone, Queenie turns her attention to Cassandra Stone (Elisha Applebaum), who appears more anxious than usual. Queenie soon learns that it is the absence of Cassandra’s new mystery man that is the cause for that.
Later that night, Queenie receives an unexpected visit from Guy Carew (Joseph Ollman). He doesn’t attempt to hide the fact that he’s there for a hookup. Although she doesn’t appear to be in the mood for a visit, she relents when he promises to spend the evening. He does agree to be gentler.
Queenie receives an even more awkward visit the following morning from Frank Ssebendeke II (Samuel Adewunmi). Once he reveals that he’s really come to see how she is coping with being alone on the holidays, she appears to be touched.
Queenie attends a Christmas church service that spins awkwardly out of control the moment Sylvie Jenkins (Ayesha Antoine) shows up. Queenie responds by pretending she doesn’t exist and continues to do so when the family later retires to Veronica and Wilfred’s house. Sylvie makes what appears to be an earnest approach to inquire about Queenie’s life, but she only responds harshly while moping in her room. When she does gather the resolve to join in on the festivities she overhears Jenkins (Michelle Greenidge) tell Sylvie that now wouldn’t be a good time to ask Queenie to be a character witness at her upcoming court date. Sylvie not only agrees but also appears to be genuinely concerned that Queenie will turn out to be like her.
After Grandma Veronica’s lengthy blessing, the family sits down for the Christmas feast which turns out to be rather cordial. At one point, Maggie even turns on the record player and begins dancing, but Queenie is besieged by what appears to be a have a panic attack and rushes from the house under the guise of a work emergency.
While at work, Queenie receives a text from (Cristale De’Abreu), inquiring about her vanishing act, but becomes sidetracked by Ted Noman’s (Tom Forbes) inquiries about her Christmas. Although their conversation is brief, Ted not only hits on her several times, but he tempts her with offers of champagne that she accepts. After a bit of alcohol and some joking around they nearly kiss. It is Ted who backs away but Queenie who subsequently leaves for the bathroom. A bit of internal debating reveals that they both agree that their hooking up would be a bad idea. That goes completely out the window when Queenie finds him waiting outside the bathroom door.
Queenie makes the offer, he accepts, and Silent Jean (Menyee Lai) overhears the pleasure that ensues. Unfortunately for Queenie, it appears that the pleasure is all Teds. Despite being rather well endowed, he apparently has no retrain. He promises to make it up to next time but things only get more awkward when he kisses her on the forehead and leaves.
Later that evening, Queenie has to reach out to her mobile phone’s friend list (The Corgis) after receiving a Merry Christmas text from Tom. Darcy Pike (Tilly Keeper) is the first to receive the inquiry and although she doesn’t respond, she tells Simon (Edward Harrison) that a reunion wouldn’t be good for Queenie or Tom. Kyazike Mayagenda (Bellah) is the next to receive the text and chooses not to respond either but tells Frank that she hopes they don’t get back together.
The episode ends with Cassandra advising Queenie to process the message before responding. She also thanks Queenie once again for supporting her earlier at the party. As Queenie listens to the response, a quick scene shows Cassandra playing Scrabble with Guy and her father.
Queenie Review
I certainly cannot say I was expecting Guy to be Cassandra’s secret man, although it wasn’t too shocking. I was, however, a bit surprised by Sylvie’s arrival and the reveal that she needs Queenie to be a character witness. It was a given that she would show up sometime and I guess around the holidays would be the perfect time. It’ll be interesting to see how Queenie’s relationship with her mother evolves as well as how awkward things get at work. I’d give the episode a 5.5 out of 10.
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