The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for “In Sickness And In Health,” an episode of the NBC anthology show, “Fear Itself.” As the episode begins, Sam (Maggie Lawson) is getting ready for her wedding in the women's dressing room with her two best friends. While she has had tumultuous relationships in her past, her whirlwind romance with Carlos (James Roday) has culminated in a rushed wedding boycotted by her brother, the only family she has and with whom she has lived her whole life. Still, Sam is determined to go through with the ceremony, never wavering until she is handed a note from a mysterious woman. The note reads: "The person you're marrying is a serial killer." She refuses to tell her friends what the note says, but they can tell she's obviously shaken. Instead, Sam sneaks to see the groom before the ceremony †generally a big no-no, but she needs reassurance †and talks herself out of bowing out. So, they wed and it's off to the reception. However, an argument with her friends leaves her alone in the church and a sitting duck for a frightening encounter with a mysterious stalker. Finally, she makes her way to the reception, but her new husband begins to act strangely. She speaks with his uncle, who alludes to some dark history in Carlos' past. She gets jittery and Carlos' temper flares to a frightening rage. She calls her brother and leaves a lengthy message on his answering machine confiding that she thinks she has made a terrible mistake by marring Carlos. In the end, they have a showdown alone in the church and he traps her inside the confessional and makes a confession of his own. He recently had dinner with another woman while Sam was out of town. When he revealed to the woman that he was engaged and could not see her again, she became angry and stalked him. He believes this woman left Sam the note to stop the wedding. Finally, Sam says that the note didn't say he was unfaithful. In fact, the note was meant for him, but the priest is hard of hearing and gave the note to the wrong person. She stops there, however, and fails to reveal what the note did say. Cut to the mysterious woman in the red scarf entering her apartment full of severed body parts, trophies prominently displayed. The woman removes her scarf and reveals she is in fact a man. He plays his answering machine and Sam's message fills the room. What Worked The episodes seem to be improving as time passes. Last week's "Family Man" and this week's episodes are far and away better than the first two. I really enjoyed watching Lawson and Roday become these characters. They are talented actors on a really funny USA show "Psyched," but this episode allowed them to play darker characters. And "The X-Files'" Cigarette Smoking Man as the priest was a great touch. Besides the cast, there was some fun foreshadowing with the little girl and little boy in the beginning and after Sam read the note. Overall, I found the cinematography and production value to be really satisfying. And this is the first episode of "Fear Itself" that was suspenseful. Yay! Not to mention that the twist at the end was a nice touch. What Didn't Work That said, there did seem to be some holes in the story. First of all, Sam seemed really frightened of Carlos during most of the episode. Sure, any new bride would feel uneasy in that situation, particularly if this was her first glimpse at Carlos' violent temper. But if she's a serial killer, shouldn't his tantrum and spooky family seem like small potatoes? Perhaps after the reveal at the end, we are supposed to interpret her fear as fear that he would learn or reveal her secret, but she genuinely seemed terrified of him when she was running from him in the church. Also, the red herrings thrown at the audience from all sides during the reception felt like overkill (pun intended). And I'm not particularly fond of so many loose ends. For instance, what did happen to Carlos' parents? What was his role in their deaths? And just what is up with that crazy uncle? Or is that uncles? While I can appreciate a story that tries to throw me off the trail, setting up so many loose ends and making nearly everybody seem like an escapee from the loony bin may not be the way to go. I also was not too surprised by the surprise ending. When the episode began, I suspected that both the bride and groom had received the same note and they would be unwittingly pitted against each other in some weird wedding gladiator showdown. However, after Carlos started acting so suspiciously, I knew that Sam had to be the killer. (No wonder all her previous boyfriends mysteriously disappeared.) Unfortunately, this pattern has become too common and therefore predictable to be scary. And one more gripe, but this one falls into a general complaint category regarding all television weddings. Why do all television weddings not even remotely resemble real-life weddings? No bride is ever left alone for a second the entire day. Any woman who has ever worn a wedding dress knows she can't even use the restroom by herself in those things. And it is customary for the newlyweds to arrive together at the reception, preferably as quickly as possible out of consideration of their hungry guests. And where were all the guests when she was having her heart to heart with Carlos' uncle? Credit Where Credit is Due "In Sickness and In Health" was written by Victor Salva and directed by John Landis. "Fear Itself" airs Thursday nights at 10/9c on NBC.