Episode Recap: Ashes on My Pillow

Jill and Tom are newlyweds starting married life together in a new house that was gifted to them from Tom’s mother. The catch? It’s the house that Tom grew up in, so there is a lot of unexpected boxes – and baggage – in the basement. During dinner with Tom’s friend Jason and his girlfriend, they discuss a few memories from the past, including Jill’s old drawings of a character called “Pretzel Jack” – a bendy clown that Jill drew as a child after being inspired by circus performers.

That’s when a weird door appears in the basement that nobody has ever seen before. They can’t open it, so they ask Jason to come over and investigate. He brings a shotgun, of course, and they allow him to blast multiple shots at the door. After shimmying the damaged handle off, they find a long, dark, industrial-looking hallway that leads to another door – this one with a handprint in the center of it – that won’t open, even after multiple shotgun blasts.

They check in with a somewhat creepy neighbor who isn’t super helpful and then on a whim, Jill heads down to the basement one night when Tom is out. She puts her hand on the handprint, and the door opens. When she looks inside, a terrifying clown whips  around and twists his body as he runs past her. She calls the police, reminding everyone the intruder was already in the house. Jill also suspects Tom is cheating on her, and like, he might be, because he keeps going to a mysterious woman’s house.

Jill resorts to asking Tom’s friend, Jason, if he thinks that Tom is cheating on her, and — after a heated argument when once again Jill is told that her past experience with a cheating father has predisposed her to assume the worst in men — that TERRIFYING CLOWN stabs Jason. Like, a lot! He then does a peculiar contortionist dance and runs out. What’s next? Let’s keep watching, shall we?