I don't quite get what they were going for here, but this is an entertaining episode, if nothing else. It seems like it would make a better Amazing Stories episode than Tales from the Darkside due to it's lack of any violent or scary content and it's focus on heavy handed drama. The whole episode felt like it would lead to something, but it didn't, nor does it explain itself. It's just a bizarre plot left to the imagination of the viewer, as well as the writer of the episode I'm sure.
Prudence (Jessica Harper) is a sensitive woman who just can't help from crying. She meets Ambrose (Victor Garber) a psychiatrist who collects her tears, along with other peoples', in a perfume bottle that he is constantly smelling. And that's about it for the plot. Nothing happens.
I'm fine with open ended endings, leaving portions of stories to the imagination, but this episode is just ridiculous. It's like the writer came up with an interesting premise, and a couple good characters, and just ended the writing there. Prudence is one of Darkside's deepest leads, and Ambrose is one of the show's most mysterious antagonists (I guess you can call him that), so why were they put in such an unfinished episode. The tacked on ending made no sense either, and I'm quite confused on how this end relates to anything that previously happened.
This episode is entertaining, but ultimately vague, frustrating and confusing. Maybe an extra 5 minutes would have added some to the plot and stretched this into a good episode.
My rating: ** out of ****. 30 mins. TVPG