User Reviews

Lonely bookstore owner Sarah (an appealing portrayal by Kim Griest) takes drastic measures to alter her plain appearance in order to win over handsome male customer Joe (a solid performance by Kevin Geer).

Writer/director Tom Noonan not only relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, but also handles the offbeat premise in a smart and thoughtful manner. Moreover, Griest astutely nails the awkward shyness of her mousy character while Sharon Sharth lends nice support as mysterious magic woman Carmen. The sad surprise ending packs a devastating emotional punch. A moving and effective change of pace show.

Monsters: The Bargain starts as shy book shop owner Sarah (Kim Greist) becomes depressed after one of her customers named Joe (Kevin Geer) that she has fallen in love with refuses to even acknowledge her, Sarah feels that she needs to be prettier & calls an ad from an old magazine promising a new face to anyone who wants one. Later that night a severely disfigured woman named Carmen (Sharon Sharth) turns up & makes a bargain with Sarah, in return for a mask that will make her beautiful Sarah has to give Carmen her books & promise to follow the 'rules'. Desperate Sarah agrees but soon discovers that she has to pay a sinister price for her new face...

Episode twenty three from season two of Monsters this originally aired in the US during May 1990, written & directed by Tom Noonan this is an instantly forgettable episode with little to recommend it. The basic story feels like a feel good Disney fantasy film for the first twenty minutes as a shy woman gets a magical new face that allows her to pull the man of her dreams but the final few minutes the horror themed twist kicks in that makes little to no sense. Why, for instance did Carmen with Sarah's face turn up at Joe's apartment? Carmen didn't even know Joe? The idea that a woman would accept a plastic mask from a complete stranger with a horribly disfigured face on her verbal insurance that it will make her beautiful & believe it is stretching credibility a little bit & an idea that The Bargain never really recovers from. The concept of the episode, the poor script & the predictable twist help make The Bargain twenty one minutes of horror anthology telly that you can safely skip, there are better ways to spend twenty minutes in front of the telly.

There's nothing of any real note about The Bargain, the sets are alright but basic & there's only three paper thin character's in it. There's no real monsters in this episode, there's a woman with a face that looks disfigured like it has been burned but nothing else worth mentioning.

The Bargain is yet more evidence that season two of Monsters is tailing off, this is the penultimate episode of the second season & judging by The Bargain maybe the makers were saving the least to last...