Theoretical Biochemist Martin Decker is in the titular cell 2426 for “displaying anti-social behavior, wrong thinking, and other intellectual crimes against the state. Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, curable only by intense therapy sessions, followed by a full confession. Once cured, Martin will be released . . . or buried.”
I understand releasing him if he has been “cured” (i.e. he now mindlessly spouts the deep state’s talking points on all matters). He would then serve as 1) a warning to others who might dare to think independently, 2) a proselytizer for the regime, 3) the new weekend host on MSNBC. But if he was “cured”, why would burial be an option?
Decker is brought in and strapped to a chair. Dr. Olstroff looks into his eyes and decides he needs another “treatment”. He is zapped with electricity. Olstroff says, “You could make things very simple by telling us where to find the notebooks.” Apparently “What notebooks?” is not the desired response as Decker is jolted again.
Decker is afraid that, with a few modifications, the GMO plans in his notebook could be used to created a weapon of mass destruction. Asked why he designed such a thing if he was afraid of it being used, he says, “I am a scientist.” He believes that ideas have an intrinsic value. The old man agrees, “Value when used in service to the state.”
Decker thought his creation was a way to end famine and hunger, but nukes can already do that. Oh, he was thinking of increasing the food supply, not decreasing the mouths? I guess would work too. He fears the state would just use it for biological warfare.
As if incarceration and torture weren’t enough, the state gives him a roommate. The guards bring Josef in and give him a pretty painful looking shot to the melon. Josef immediately begins talking of escape. Decker reminds him of the stone walls, but Josef says he can go anywhere he likes “with his mind”. So maybe that beat-down really did some damage.
As Josef is telling him about teleportation, a guard comes in and says, “The doctor will see you now.” Great, the only doctor who doesn’t keep you waiting. The doctor taps a syringe, and suddenly we see Decker and Josef sitting in a nice European cafe. He can’t believe he’s there. Josef says you just have to believe. Hunh? Decker just said he doesn’t believe. More importantly, a European babe comes in and sits near them.
Anyhoo, it is just seconds later that Decker is back in the chair and getting a shock that must make him envy that lucky bastard Josef getting away with a mere concussion. Decker later tells Josef he knows it was just a drug-induced dream because the girl had shaved her pits. He is convinced that Josef’s teleportations are also just dreams, and tells him he doesn’t want to share in his insanity.
After another brutal beating, Decker eases off on that insanity talk. Josef talks him through the teleportation process, and they both awaken in a safe-house. Decker says he must understand how this was done. He theorizes that it was “some kind of biochemical energy exchange.” So like a theoretical biochemist!
Because Decker is too well-known to venture outside, Josef offers to retrieve the notebooks for him. Decker writes down the location and Josef takes off. Decker can’t resist looking out the window. He is stunned to see he has teleported not into a safe-house, but into a 1968 episode of Mission Impossible. The street noises he heard are coming from speakers.[1] He has never left the prison.
The spy Josef and the Olstroff are watching him through a one-way mirror. [2] With all the resolve and anger that Decker can emote — and being played by Dean Stockwell, that is just about zero — he vanishes before their eyes. Olstroff tells Josef, “If he is not found, you will be held responsible” like he had any freakin’ idea that would happen. Ya know, I think this guy just likes hurting people. What a bad egg.
The last shot is of Decker tearing pages out of his notebook and tossing them into a fire, thus dooming millions of starving people to a life of misery.
As this series is wrapping up its third and final season, maybe they are starting to figure it out. This was a great, atmospheric episode. Even though it ultimately had another of the TZ happy endings that I am sick of, it established its willingness to go to dark places.
Good stuff.
Footnotes:
- [1] It is strange that, in contrast with the overall quality of the episode, this reveal is botched. In the first, totally unnecessary sweeping shot, it isn’t even clear what we are seeing. The second static shot makes it clear, and is entirely sufficient. Was the episode running 1 second short?
- [2] Classic Wiki definition: A one-way mirror, also called two-way mirror . . .
The first interesting shot in this episode is of Terry O’Quinn. And since that comes after several shots of a topless stripper, that is a testament to Mr. O’Quinn. It is interesting because it instantly transported me back to 
Zeller goes home to find his daughter Hiley arguing with her boyfriend. For some reason, it is staged like a play. It is widely lit, the ceiling is very high, the furniture is sparse, and the back wall is large, flat and bare. It really is off-putting, like they were trying for something and just bombed. [1] Her boyfriend storms out.
This was an unusual TFTC episode, with absolutely no supernatural element. If you don’t think too much, it works thanks to Terry O’Quinn. With anyone else, it likely would have been a snoozer.
Helen Parch is working on her preserves, eating what she can and canning what she can’t when the party line rings 3 times. She surreptitiously picks up the receiver in the way the TV people always seem to think does not make a click on the other end. Helen loves to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations.
Detective Atkins drops by to ask if Helen remembers a man named Heywood Miller. Curiously she does not ask how he ended up with two such lumbercentric names — no wonder she’s a spinster. Why yes, she does recall him as “That awful man . . . a fool, a gambler, and heaven knows what else.” She thinks back 8 or 9 years to just after he and Mrs. Miller moved to the community . . . . . .
Later, while telling the famous story of her back-to-back Bingo wins that would be in her repertoire’s rotation for the next 9 years, Miller interrupts them again. This time he says he needs to call a doctor for his wife. Helen tells Gertrude to stay on the line, that they are wise to his tricks. Naturally, his wife dies.