Although the series is primarily about Fiona occasionally one of the other characters will get a high profile episode. "Nightmare" is just such an episode for Jack. This episode also gives a few cryptic hints at more mysteries surrounding Rick Phillips and his death.
The story opens with Jack at a foggy funeral. It is unclear who the funeral is for and suddenly a strange child appears at Jack’s elbow asking "Is this what it’s like, Jack?" Jack awakens from this nightmare to see Fiona staring at him oddly. It seems that they’re about to arrive in the town where Irene’s younger sister Elaine lives. (note: Although Elaine and her husband are called Mr. and Mrs. "Braddock" by Fiona, they are listed in the credits as Elaine and Kevin "Barret")
This is the first time that any member of the Bells’ extended family appears and Irene is agitated. She feels slightly intimidated and overshadowed by her little sister’s material success. Elaine and her family live in an expensive, well-furnished home in a very nice neighborhood while Irene spends most of her time living out of a tour bus.
When the tour bus arrives at the "Braddock/Barret"s Jack is startled to see the kid from his dream. The child is Clu’s young cousin Danny. As the rest of the combined Phillips/Bell families enter the mansion Molly asks Carey a seemingly innocent question about college. "It’s great," he responds. "It’s challenging. It’s interesting. I love it… I dropped out". He intends to explain this to his own mother when she appears to be in a better mood… unless, of course, he can talk Molly into breaking the news for him. She declines. The indications continue to grow that Carey will be joining the cast on a regular basis.
There are also indications that the idyllic life that Irene has been envious of might not be as great as she has imagined. Elaine and her husband seem to bicker at the drop of a hat and their son appears to be suffering from some sort of psychological problems. Danny appears tired and troubled.
That night Danny again appears in Jack’s dreams and "something" is after them both. A groggy Jack is tormented by Clu and Fiona at breakfast the next morning. Fi then tries to grill Jack about his latest nightmare and is startled to learn that Clu had a very similar dream. Molly notes that the boys seem to have shared a "convergent dream". As Fi gapes at her mother’s unexpected knowledge on the subject Molly appears to suddenly realize that she looks like a flake and cuts short her explanation.
Elaine proposes a field trip to the local mall which prompts another minor spat with Kevin about his working on Saturdays. At the mall Molly is treated to stories about Elaine and Irene’s childhood. It is obvious that the two women have always been very different types of people. Meanwhile Jack is trying to keep his distance from Danny. He is clearly disturbed and confused by both the child and the nightmares. When Carey drops Danny from his shoulders to a seat on a bench beside Fiona the three older boys then make a bee-line for a music store. In this moment of relative quiet Danny admits to Fi that he seems to have pulled Jack into his nightmares and is worried that Jack doesn’t like him. Fi tries to reassure him that everything will work out, but she still doesn’t quite understand exactly what is going on.
She soon gets a feel for the problem as she and Clu find themselves in the same dream that night. Jack, however, in rational Jack-fashion, believes that this is his dream, his subconscious, and his imagination. Even in his dreams, though, Fiona is persistently advocating supernatural phenomena and Jack is impressed with his own imaginative detailing. He is less thrilled, though, when they all become trapped in a brilliantly white room and are bombarded with a painful, deafening noise. Danny leads them to safety by crawling under the bed and into his "dream room", but Jack refuses to be led around by a figment of his imagination and tries to leave.
Jack ends up back at the hazy funeral that he has seen before. This time he recognizes his mother as one of the mourners. Presumably this is a fragment of a memory from his father’s funeral. He is then shown another ragged "memory" which includes a peculiar conversation between his parents. Jack would have been only five years old at the time this conversation occurred, but given its potential importance and timing, it is possible that Jack’s unconscious mind has stored it away until he was old enough to grasp the meaning of it. As Molly and Rick give no indication that they see Jack (at either five or sixteen) it may be that young Jack had been eavesdropping.
The scene is that of three-year-old Fiona’s bedroom. Fi is sleeping soundly as Molly and Rick carry on their quiet argument. Rick is apparently preparing to leave. Molly is clearly worried.
Molly: Rick, you can’t keep doing this. It’s getting too strange. It’s scaring me. I don’t want anything to happen to you.
Rick: I’m sorry, but I can’t stop now. Not with what I’ve seen… with what I know… Don’t worry, honey. I’ll be home soon.
Taking into account the very deliberate shot of Rick’s car keys it seems likely that this is the last time any of them saw Rick alive. What is Rick doing? What is getting strange? What is scaring Molly? What has Rick seen? What does he know? Does it have anything to do with the book that he took to his sister Melinda? These few lines add so many new questions to the events surrounding Rick’s death and add a new level of intrigue to this already engaging show.
As this image fades, Jack is left alone in the empty white room yelling for his father. Fiona runs to him demanding that he somehow bring their dad back so that she can see him. Jack tells her that he’s gone, but he realizes at last what it is that is chasing him. It’s his own fear – fear of losing Fi and their mother like they lost their father. He explains to Danny that they each have their own "monsters" and that Jack’s "monster" has always been chasing him. It isn’t Danny’s fault. He then offers to help Danny confront his own monster while Clu offers a supportive shoulder to Fiona.
Jack and Danny stand in the white room as one by one the items that had been there vanish and the shadowy monster appears. Jack tells Danny to stand firm and face it. It slowly unravels to reveal Danny’s arguing parents. It is likely that the vanishing objects in the big white room had been sources of previous confrontations – a motorcycle, jewelry, large screen television. With the monster identified the children all awaken.
Clu approaches his aunt and uncle in an off-screen meeting that was apparently also attended by his mother. He seems to have explained to them about the source of Danny’s nightmares although it’s doubtful that he explained exactly how he came to know about the problem. As the Phillips/Bells prepare to depart Fiona and Clu leave Danny with promises to write and call. Jack is the last person out of the house and Danny calls him aside. The child is aware of how uncomfortable Jack seems to be with the whole supernatural situation but thanks him for "making the monster go away" anyhow. Jack doesn’t actually acknowledge his role in the events, but he does tell Danny to think of him as an extra cousin.
In an odd moment of lightheartedness Jack hugs Fiona for no apparent reason before boarding the bus. Fi looks at him as if he’s gone nuts, exchanges a baffled look with her mother, and then follows. Later that night Jack again dreams of his father. This time Rick is holding young Fiona and seems to "see" Jack standing before him. Although no words are spoken Rick seems to be giving Jack his silent approval for a job well done.
Notes:
Danny: Connor Widdows
Elaine: Nicole Oliver
Kevin: David Kaye
Rick Phillips: Chris Gibson