Room 104 – Season 4 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Bangs

A cosmic hair-cut, a divorce and a glowing pair of scissors. Yep, Room 104 brings back the surreal weirdness for its latest episode. While interesting on paper, the execution is lacklustre and fails to really hit the same heights some of the previous episodes have done in this season.

Our setting is a divorce party held for Eva, as she discusses her failed marriage to Derek with best friend Jaimie. She’s there to get a haircut but isn’t sure whether it’s the right move for her.

As Jaimie starts cutting some of her locks, Eva looks at her dress which seems fit differently than it did before. As Jaimie leaves the room, it appears as if a magical pair of scissors are the culprit.

Every time she cuts, the hotel room transports her to different stages of her life. The first includes Walker, her first love, singing to her with his guitar. The second sees her with ex husband Derek, make-up smudged round her face.

After a Groundhog-Day encounter with him, Eva cuts her hair again. The third time sees her in a neon-lit room with Poppy, who motivates Eva to be her best-self. After chopping another lock of hair, Eva returns to the present-day hotel room again.

She bemoans her luck and worries about starting over again. Jaimie sits with her on the end of the bed though and apologises for pushing her too hard.

As they look up, a brilliant yellow light brings them to a basket. Within that is an electric razor. As Eva looks solemnly over at Jaimie she says, “Shave me.”

So there we go, that’s the plot for Room 104. In a way, the episode thematically touches on that idea of moving on and not dwelling on the past. The scissors and razor are supposed to personify a new identity and cutting away the loose threads of your life.

In true Room 104 fashion however, the execution is lacking. The episode throws in surrealist elements for the sake of it and the Groundhog Day segments don’t work that well.

Compared to what we’ve seen previously this season, Room 104 delivers an indifferent episode. It’s not terrible but it’s far from some of the better slices of drama we’ve been graced with in the past.