This February, Midnight Social Distortion will be celebrating Black History Month by honoring Black horror characters, in particular Black horror survivors, throughout the twenty-eight day period. Each day will feature one black male and one black female survivor in horror and sci-fi to bring light to the positive, albeit still problematic, black champions of representation in horror. Some disclaimers first: obvious spoilers ahead, and not all horror survivors will be featured this go round, but will appear in later posts down the line.
Tom Hodgson (Brandon Scott)
Character Arc:
One day Tom discovered a new door in the basement of his childhood home that he knew didn’t belong there. It puzzled him and his new wife Jillian to how it got there and why they couldn’t open it. The door represented, at first sight, a blight (or rather an unwanted puzzle) on their perfect existence.
You would think with Tom having the perfect house, the perfect gig, and, most importantly, the perfect wife, that he wouldn’t have anything to worry about in his world. But Tom is a liar, and with unnecessary lying comes fuckery that layers your life threefold. The lies Tom was telling, however, consumed the fuck out of his and his wife Jillian’s lives like a blob hellbent on taking over the earth.
See Jillian had spotted Tom arguing with an unknown woman, and saw him going to another woman’s house late at night. She combed their phone bills and when she asked him about all of this, Tom threw a hissy fit, and accused Jillian of putting him in her father’s adulterating shoes again. Big mistake.
Turned out that Tom possibly had a secret love child with the unknown woman and was angry that she didn’t tell him about it, which is ironic since he didn’t have the balls to tell Jillian the truth himself. Especially when his reasoning behind it (he didn’t want her to think she was just like her dad) was a pretty viable example as to why he should disclose this information.
Nonetheless, Tom’s ill-advised way of “protecting Jillian” inadvertently created the murderous Pretzel Jack from Jillian’s mind, which resulted in the murders of his best friend, his counselor, and nearly himself, as well as that other woman. In the end, Tom sided with his wife to stop the madness that their secrets created, and get their happily ever marriage back on track.
Final Thoughts
As much as Tom lied throughout the first two or three episodes of Channel Zero: The Dream Door, I couldn’t really fault him one-hundred percent. He, nor Jillian to an extent, knew she could create a being who would kill with just a simple thought. But at the same time, I couldn’t let him slide doing exactly what Jillian’s dad did to her mother: lie. While Tom didn’t necessarily cheat, he still didn’t make matters any better. All of this is why Tom’s complex nature makes him a great character for a horror narrative as this. It enhances the drama and the plausibility for the story to unfold the way it played out. Like I said with Jillian’s entry, seeing Tom and Jillian lead this particular type of horror narrative was a well welcomed rollercoaster ride. I loved the way they fought together in the end once they got on the same page. I love that they got a happy ending. I loved their love. It was rewarding and refreshing to see this type of narrative on TV and I can’t wait to unpack the show’s symbolic imagery once the opportunity arises. But for right now, welcome to the Hall of Black Horror Survivors, Tom Hodgson.