On night two of the Rosemary’s Baby miniseries, Rosemary battles sickness, pain, and subterfuge as she comes to suspect her friends and husband of some funny business regarding her unborn child. Meanwhile, Guy struggles to allay Rosemary’s fear as he continues to enjoy rising success.
The Breakdown
Rosemary awakes the morning after the ritual and is disturbed that she doesn’t remember anything from the night before. When she learns that Guy supposedly had sex with her while she was passed out, she feels violated. Guy assures her that she was active and seemed into it. Rosemary is reassured and tries to have sex with Guy before he heads to work, but he claims he is exhausted and cannot respond.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner is investigating Jacques death on the operating table and discovers a shadowy figure moving through the security video. Later, Rosemary goes out with Julie and talks about how ever since baby night Guy seems distant and uncomfortable. Rosemary looks at Julie’s crucifix necklace and starts to feel sick. They go on a tour of the catacombs where Rosemary continues to feel sick and pained and eventually faints. Guy meets her at the hospital where he learns that she’s pregnant.
Rosemary goes to see a Dr. Sapperstein and expresses concern about the pain she feels even though she’s taking care of herself. He says that it’s a high risk pregnancy, but prescribes a daily fresh vitamin smoothie made from the Castavet’s garden. Later, when Rosemary tries the drink she says she doesn’t like it, but is persuaded by Margaux to drink it. Rosemary continues to feel sick and pained. Meanwhile, Guy goes out to do some networking with movie executives to talk about turning his novel into a movie.
Julie visits Rosemary and is alarmed at how sickly she looks. Julie makes some jokes at Rosemary’s expense and eventually makes her smile. She takes her out for a girl’s day out and gets Rosemary a chic new short haircut. As Rosemary sits at the salon, her nose starts to bleed and she begins to feel panicked. Julie takes Rosemary to see Dr. Bernard, who checks out her ultrasound and expresses some concern over some blood anomalies. The doctor suggests further tests, but when Rosemary discusses it with Guy he gets angry. He convinces her not to risk the baby by doing more tests.
As Rosemary prepares a chicken for dinner, she is compelled to eat the raw chicken liver. When she realizes what she’s doing, she is disgusted. Later, as Rosemary brings her laundry upstairs she is startled by Steven Marcato, who touches her belly and tells her to be strong. When she goes to the Commissioner to report it, he claims that no one has seen Marcato for thirty years. As she leaves, she recognizes Margaux in the hospital security photo from Jacques’ death. The Commissioner starts to think that maybe Rosemary did see Marcato. Later that night, as Rosemary feverishly tosses in her sleep, she hallucinates that Guy is Marcato and freaks out.
Guy voices his concerns about Rosemary to the Castavets. He’s worried for her safety and threatens to take her home, but Roman says that Rosemary will be safe only as long as she is in their care. He then threatens Guy with permanent writers block and constant failure. Julie calls Rosemary and convinces her to submit to an MRI. Guy goes to see Julie to submit his resignation to focus on his writing. Julie is angry with Guy for neglecting Rosemary, and then Guy pretends to try to seduce her to steal her necklace. Before Julie can take Rosemary to get the MRI, she is badly hurt in a kitchen accident and dies.
After Julie’s funeral Rosemary sees Dr. Bernard and wants to make another appointment for an MRI. Guy says no and Rosemary tells him that she’s not asking for permission. Suddenly her pain stops and she is afraid that maybe the baby is dead until she feels a kick. When Guy feels the baby kicking he snatches his hand away. A few months later as the Castavets throw Rosemary a baby shower she reveals that the baby is a boy. Roman is ecstatic and Guy is morose. Roman reminds Guy that he should show Rosemary more affection.
On a walk in the park, the Commissioner approaches Rosemary and tells her that he discovered seven women with missing hearts over the last thirty years. When Rosemary refuses to listen to him, he reveals that Nana was pregnant when she died and tells her to take care of herself. When Rosemary gets home she finds that Guy has prepared a romantic meal. They have sex for the first time since baby night. Margaux checks in with Guy the next day and she warns him against getting re-attached to Rosemary, only to keep her happy.
Rosemary discovers a secret passage connecting her apartment with a freaky secret room. In the process she finds the book that Nana had been reading before she died. The book is called All Of Them Witches and discovers that Steven Marcato is an anagram for Roman Castavet and that they’ve been performing satanic rituals and witchcraft on her. Rosemary calls the Commissioner to tell him everything she found out. He tells her that he’ll meet her later. As he hangs up, it is revealed that he is in a meeting with Roman.
When Guy gets home Rosemary is in a panic and tells him everything she has discovered and that she wants to leave. Guy tries to convince her that her ideas are ridiculous. When that doesn’t work, he tells her that he’s on her team and that he’s going to help her. As Rosemary looks for her passport she discovers Julie’s necklace in Guy’s drawer and she realizes that Guy is in on the plot too. Elsewhere, the Commissioner interviews Roman about all the missing women from his building over the years. He claims not to recognize any of them, then subtly bribes the Commissioner. Roman also steals the Commissioner’s lighter.
Rosemary sneaks out of the apartment while Guy is on the phone. She calls the Commissioner and arranges to meet him. On his way to meet Rosemary, he begins hallucinating, sweating, and bleeding from his face. He arrives where he’s meant to meet Rosemary and then gets run over by a truck as Rosemary watches. Rosemary goes to see Dr. Bernard and tells him the whole story. Dr. Bernard says that he doesn’t believe her, but the fact that she believes she’s in danger is enough for him to guarantee her safety. He gives her a sedative and leaves her to rest while he makes some calls. When she awakes he has brought Guy and Dr. Sapperstein to take her home.
When they arrive at the apartment building, she feigns a pain and escapes their clutches. She locks herself in the apartment, but they get in and restrain her. In Rosemary’s distress, her water breaks. When Rosemary wakes up she discovers that she’s been in the hospital for three days and that her baby died. Later, as Rosemary and Guy sail down the seine and scatter their child’s ashes, she tells him she doesn’t think they can be together anymore. As Rosemary sits at home she hears an infant crying from the Castavet’s apartment. She breaks in and finds a group of people surrounding a bassinet. She threatens the group with a knife and looks at the baby. He looks normal except for his eyes. Roman tells her that he is the child of Satan and that she must be his mother. She almost kills her baby, but seems compelled to care for him instead. Finally, Rosemary rolls a baby stroller along the Seine. A couple tells her how beautiful her baby is, and she agrees that her baby is perfect.
The Analysis
The first comment my boyfriend made after the conclusion of this episode is that this Rosemary’s Baby miniseries remake lacked any of the dread that the original so expertly conveyed. I tend to agree, that any of the fear and danger was so obviously depicted, the villains so attractive and lackadaisical, and the reactions from Rosemary so disproportionately urgent and intense, that the whole thing seemed rather silly. I used the word “bland” for the last episode, and I stick by it. This whole thing was bland as hell.
First of all, I object to graphic depictions of the “accidents” that befell Rosemary’s friends and Guy’s academic rival. There is something about the lack of mystery and the complete stunting of audience imagination that makes these scenes completely ineffective. We talk about desensitization, but that’s not really the issue here. There’s something to be said about leaving the horror and violence up to the audience’s imagination, because anything the filmmaker designs or depicts will never be as scary as what the audience can imagine.
Which leads me to the ultimate insult, the reveal of the Satanic baby. There’s a reason Polanski didn’t show the baby at the end of his version. And you know, there’s just nothing scary about a regular baby with awesome color change eyes. And now that they actually showed us the baby, there’s no way we can imagine it as anything else, because it is what it is. There’s no way our minds can create the perfect, horrific version of that baby tailor made to our own personal fears. Now that is much scarier than anything they can show us.
On the plus side, Zoe Saldana is probably the best actor among a pretty bland cast of characters. She is utterly believable and pathetic and tragic and charming and just great to watch all around. However, as I mentioned last time, her character seems much too clever and strong to allow such obvious subterfuge to take her in. And I know that mother’s rights are still a thing that is battled by old white men, but a story like this, told in this way, about a woman like Saldana’s Rosemary somehow just seems unlikely. There definitely needed to be some tweaking in story or character in order to make it resonate with modern audiences – especially considering that Polanski’s classic still strikes us – and especially women – so close to home. It is a model metaphor for everything a woman fears about pregnancy and childbirth and possessive, greedy men. I’m afraid that this Rosemary’s Baby remake just doesn’t hit the right nerves.
Official Site: NBC.COM
