Amazing Stories episode 2, "The Heat," is a moving ghost story with an interesting ending twist. The AppleTV+ reboot of the series continues with a tale about disenfranchisement, sexuality, and fighting to be heard, with a welcome change of pace from the premiere.
"The Heat" revolves around best friends Sterling (E’myri Crutchfield) and Tuka (Hailey Kilgore), high school students who both know that athletic prowess is their ticket out of their neighborhood. Their chosen sport is running track, and they push each other on the field, training to be the fastest sprinters they can be. Sterling, in particular, is close to reaching the time she needs to earn herself a college scholarship, but her life is derailed after a devastating hit-and-run at a street party.
On their way home from the after-party, Tuka is hit by a car and killed. She returns as a ghost wandering the streets to witness her own funeral. However, as hard as she tries, no one can see or hear her. Miserable, she follows Sterling around as she investigates the hit-and-run and tries to get justice for Tuka's death. One day, while out at the track, they discover that Sterling can hear Tuka when they run together. Tuka comes to believe that the reason she is stuck and hasn't moved on to wherever her spirit is supposed to go is that she has unfinished business. She believes she needs to push Sterling to be her best and to win the college scholarship. From there, the story unfolds with some truly heart-wrenching moments and on-p0int acting that bodes well for coming episodes of the new Amazing Stories.
What Happens in Amazing Stories: The Heat's Ending
Unfortunately, "The Heat's" happy ending somewhat lessens the emotional impact of the rest of the episode. With the help of ghost Tuka, Sterling is able to train for the track meet, but after she is confronted by Tuka's killer for having damaged his car earlier, her knee is smashed with a bat and she is too injured to complete the race. She discovers then that Tuka was not meant to train Sterling so that she could win the race, but so that in their shared pain they could it their mutual love they have for each other.
This scene, in particular, is emotional and heartfelt. It's powerful because the tragedy of Tuka's death has brought them together as "more than friends", and shows them what matters most in life. Tuka then fades and wakes up back on the street where she was hit, and immediately asks Sterling to kiss her. She's alive and given another chance at life. Everything that has happened while Tuka was a ghost took place over the course of mere moments in her head. Tuka and Sterling are able to start again, now with a renewed sense of what's important. While it's great to see Tuka's story come to a happy end, the deus ex machina nature of it takes away a lot of the stakes the episode attempts to build.
Is Sterling Going To Get The Track Scholarship?
This episode of Amazing Stories ends before the audience can see if Sterling, now with a second chance, is able to win the track meet and earn the college scholarship she has been working so hard to get. After all, with all of the events that included her previous training having only taken place in Tuka's ghost reality, it remains to be seen if she'll be able to succeed in real life. A lot of what gave her motivation before were her emotions from the tragedy and Tuka's ghost pushing her to succeed. Will Tuka, now living, be able to repeat what she was able to achieve before while as a ghost, pushing Sterling to be her best?
The good news is, if Tuka is able to push Sterling to run her fastest time, she won't have to worry about her knee being bashed in by the hit-and-run guy's bat because she hasn't done anything to his car this time. Perhaps she'll be able to live the life she's dreamed of. Tuka, on the other hand, has a second chance herself. What will she do with her life now that she has seen what can happen and how it can all fall apart from one momentary bad decision?
What Was DJ Meant To Do?
While chasing after her friend, Tuka runs into another ghost on the street named DJ who explains to her a little about how her situation works. She discovers that DJ has been dead for years and has tried doing nice things for other people, but still doesn't know what he is meant to do to move on from his purgatory-like state. He its that he wasn't really doing much before he died and thinks he needs to do something worthwhile. After Tuka returns to the world of the living, she visits DJ's memorial on a street corner and tells Sterling about how he finally did something big by helping her. From nearby, DJ is watching them and smiles as Tuka and Sterling turn to leave. He nods his head, realizing that he's finally done what he needed to do, and his ghost fades away. It seems he became a ghost after his death in order to show Tuka the way when she died.
Amazing Stories: The Heat's Real Meaning
Overall, Amazing Stories' second episode is more than just a ghost story about righting the wrongs of a bad decision. It also deals with social class, race, and sexuality. Tuka and Sterling are, after all, from an underprivileged neighborhood and are doing everything they know how to do to improve their lives. Their families don't have the means to send them to college and so they're on their own in the world, with only each other for . It is this shared bond that gives them the strength to succeed, which, as it turns out, is a romantic one as well.
This focus on Tuka and Sterling's sexuality could have come across a little heavy-handed, but doesn't. When Tuka wakes up and discovers her experience has been a warning to act now and not wait when it comes to important things like love, she immediately shares a kiss with Sterling. While the fact that Tuka wakes up to find it was "all just a dream" serves to somewhat dull the stakes the plot has been building up to this point, her living to fulfill a romantic relationship with her best friend does refreshingly reverse the "bury your gays" trope that is commonly seen these days.
