This episode could very well and rightly be considered a metaphor for the concept of hell - an eternal suffering from which there is no escape or hope for relief. It's very well done in the way it keeps the viewer guessing about what's really going on with pool man Ritchie Almares (Lou Diamond Phillips). The dream therapy experiment he was subjected to by Virtuacorp was in fact a prison sentence for a heinous crime he committed, and now all bets are off as he's made to pay the price by lying on a slab and reliving a nightmare existence as opposed to spending a life sentence in a cell. The concept here was quite original and if ever pursued, might in fact wind up being a deterrent to all manner of vicious crimes. But seeing as how this program aired twenty years ago, the idea apparently hasn't caught on.
Review of The Pool Guy
