Tales from the Darkside : My Own Place of Confusion

My Own Place of Confusion

In the episode "My Own Place", Sandy is amazed that he's going to get such a big apartment all to himself for only $285 a month, but he soon realizes that he's not alone in the apartment. It turns out that Ram (from India) also lives there, although apparently nobody else can see him.

Sandy gets fed up with this roommate (that he was never told that he'd be having) who refuses to leave, so he boards him up in the bedroom before he goes to work (because if you want someone to leave, lock them in!)

When Sandy comes home from work, Ram is gone, and Sandy fears that Ram has jumped out of the window and killed himself. Then he gets really tired and falls asleep, and (all of a sudden) he's now in crowded India, and the people there decide to throw him out the window and kill him.

The episode ends with a lady now being shown the apartment (most likely to be the next human sacrifice for the Hindus).

So what does it all mean? Was Ram just a ghost that only he could see? If so, how did he wash Sandy's clothes and hang them up in the apartment and make him & his girlfriend-Laura dinner? This ghost can do all of this and still not be seen by anyone else?

And why didn't Laura believe Sandy (or at least be aware that something odd was going on)? She surely would know that he wouldn't wash his clothes like that or know how to make a gourmet Indian dinner.

Searching the internet for reviews and answers, I mostly see puzzled ones (like mine), but one person who liked the episode says that it is "clearly an attempt to contrast the shallow capitalist life with the spiritual karmic life of the east".

It is? So is it trying to tell us that it's better to sit on the floor Indian-style and get all spiritual and karmic than to actually go out and try to earn a living?

And Sandy got what he deserved? He seemed to feel bad when he came back home and took the boards out, but apparently, it was too late. Once you board up the weird Indian ghost roommate (who washes your clothes with stones and watches you bone your chick), it's all over for you.

What on earth was he thinking?
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