John Haney is sick in bed. His son John Jr. answers the door and greets his brother Jamie. There is also a Jonas and a Judge in the episode — this won’t get confusing. OK, I’m going with Mr. Haney, Junior, Jamie, Jonas and Judge.
Since the episode is clearly based on the bible, I might as well have called the first three Isaac, Jacob and Esau. I’m guessing Jamie will = Esau [1] because he has a mustache. Jamie also seems to be a bit of the Prodigal Son as he is returning home for the first time in 10 years. He is also kind of a dandy with suspenders and a fat tie, whereas Junior is wearing overalls indicating that he stayed on the farm with his father or is the 1960s stereotype of a lesbian. [2]
They hear a crash above and run upstairs. They find the cadaverous Mr. Haney — oddly not played by Boris Karloff — on the floor. The brothers lift him back into bed, but he babbles incoherently.
Junior reminds Jamie that he stole money from their father when he ran away 10 years earlier. Jamie counters that he was only 17 and that money was coming to him anyway. Since he was 10 years old, his father had him doing chores like a servant or a slave or his child. Jamie is only back now because he figures their father has built up his cash reserves again. After Jamie goes up to bed, Junior says to the empty kitchen that Jamie wasted his time coming back — if the old man dies, he gets nothing.
Sure enough, the old man croaks. When the family gets back from the funeral, Junior gives the old man’s will to their lawyer Jonas Atterbury (Karloff). As Junior said, he inherits everything. Jamie has an ace up his sleeve, though. And by ace I mean alternate will, and by sleeve I mean coat pocket. He hands it to Jonas who sees that it proclaims Jamie as the sole heir, and is dated later than the first will.
Jamie wastes no time in announcing that he plans to sell the farm and ship their mother off to an old folks home. Junior contests the will. He tells the judge that he doesn’t trust his brother to take care of their mother because he is “a liar and a thief.” After Jamie’s lawyer objects, the Judge says, “this court will not tolerate name-calling”. Also horseplay and wedgies will be frowned upon. The Judge adjourns the court “until 2:30 o’clock.” WTF?
While Jamie is visiting a buyer for the farm, Junior goes back to the house to get some things. Upstairs he sees his dead father rocking in a chair. Mr. Haney just says, “Genesis 27.” After he disappears, Junior goes downstairs and tells them of his experience. His mother recognizes the citation as the story of Jacob and Esau and the case of the stolen birthright, and the less desired afterbirhright. Junior pulls out the family bible and Jamie grabs a loaded rifle that they apparently keep in the kitchen. Jamie flips through the pages, but finds nothing important, just yada yada, word of God, yada yada.
Back in court, Junior asks his mother if maybe there is another bible laying around the farm. Jamie has the same idea and finds another bible in the attic. Yet another will is inserted in the book at Genesis 27. Junior is again named the sole heir.
Post-Post:
- [1] Wrong. The episode really put no effort into paralleling the biblical story. That is really the weakness of the series. They come up with one scene of a dead person appearing and forego any other characterization or metaphor.
- [2] Strange how the stereotype evolved to include hot babes. I believe this was done to give guys an excuse why beautiful women won’t talk to them. That’s the excuse I use, anyway.
On 
Leslie greets him with a big hug and wet kiss. Brad is not very responsive, so she says, “You’ve either been out with another woman or you need a new brand of pills.” Taking place in 45 BC (before Cialis), I have no idea what that means. Is this what Geritol is for? I’ve heard of it all my life, but never had any idea what it does — good job Madison Avenue! Also in that category — Gold Bond Powder. What the hell? Something for old people, I think.
The next day, he dresses as a mechanic and takes her car to the beach house, but hides it behind some bushes. That night, he picks her up from work in a rental car and they go to the beach. [3] Before they go for a midnight swim, Leslie returns a knife he left at her place.
In a superb double-twist, Leslie stabbed Janice to death, then set Brad up for the murder and his only alibi is that he was murdering Leslie at the time. Oh sure, we could quibble over the time-line. Or how she certainly seems devoted to Brad even after he threatens to end their relationship. But why overthink it?
Nine year old Cathy is making her father one of those breakfasts that only a parent would find edible. I must admit she is pretty adorable as she presents him with a crudely wrapped birthday present — a wallet that she made. He opens it to find a family picture of Cathy, himself and his dead wife. For Father’s Day she got him a mug with his prostate exam results on it. Dammit, this is not what I want from the Twilight Zone! But it is heartbreaking.
nuns are just wrapping up a rummage sale. A nun tells him that is impossible because all of the children have been adopted. No wait, they just moved to a new building. As he is leaving, he sees the girl on a swing. She points to a large lump under a tarp. When he looks at it, then back at the swing, she is gone.
That night, the little girl comes walking into Dad’s bedroom. She says she wants Toby, and that the Sisters will be mad if they find her out of bed. She leads him back to the bed he just bought and climbs in. She introduces herself as Sarah and asks Paul to tuck her in. He looks away for a second — at nothing! — then back at the bed to see that she has just disappeared. 
He is, of course, overjoyed to see his little girl awake. However, he is a little taken aback when she asks for Toby. But then she smiles and nothing else matters — like, what happened to Cathy’s soul.
Stephen has just rented a new house, and his girlfriend stops by. He immediately gets the feeling that “there should be an art deco chair and an oriental rug right there.” His deja vu brings on several jarringly edited, awfully-lit flashes to the past — exactly the motif that undercut New Year’s Day.
The next day, Stephen has more flashes of a man holding a knife to a woman’s throat. He later hears a woman’s voice calling for Maxie. He goes upstairs and in the same god-awful lighting sees a woman in the bathroom stripping down. I try not to purposely be negative in these posts, so I am being honest when I say the woman is singing one of the most annoying, terrible, tuneless songs I have every heard — it doesn’t even make up for the stripping [1]. A few seconds later, he sees her pop to the surface in a bathtub of bloody water. A hand forces her head back down.[2]
That night, Stephen awakens to jazz music and sees Max and Zelda bathed in the awful amber lighting. They are playing cards just as Stephen and Karen had played Scrabble [3] moments before. Once again, Max pulls a knife on her. Stephen tells this to his psychiatrist who hypnotizes him again . . . Max is at a party with Zelda. She is dressed as a flapper and flirting with some of the other guests as she dances to a song that is almost, but not quite, 
This is surely a waste of words but: In a featurette, the director made a point of saying that the walls were painted green in the present, but painted red in the past to reflect the passion of that era. So why is Zelda’s dress green in the past, and Karen’s dress red in the present? So she did not blend into the back-ground under the awful lighting?