Dane Ross enters Klemm’s watch shop and is taken aback by the overwhelming sound of ticks and tocks and clicks and clacks of a hundred clocks stacked chockablock like knick-knacks and bric-a-brac on the shelves. He should be wary of this place as it would be impossible to work here without going insane.
Ulrich Klemm comes out and greets Ross. He hands Klemm a watch that can’t count steps, can’t check heart-rates, can’t display texts, and can’t give GPS directions. The bloody thing just tells time. Klemm is none-the-less impressed at the time-piece. He has not seen one since he left the old country, but thinks he can fix it.
Ross admires the clocks in the shop. Klemm says he brought them from the old country. Sadly, he was not able to bring his famous automatons — clockwork figures. On the hour, the figures — birds, angels, policemen, construction workers, Indian chiefs, bikers — would appear and give little performances.
With admirable precision, all the clocks in the shop strike 6:00 in unison. Klemm’s beautiful grand-daughter Lisa comes through the door, which is pretty clever when you think back on it. She asks Ross to stay for dinner. He accepts under the pretense that he wants to see more of Klemm’s work (i.e. any other hot grand-daughters).
In the rear, Klemm displays figures which play the piano, shine shoes, and some mechanical birds in a cage. Lisa says these are just simple versions of the work he did for kings in the old country and queens in the village.[1] Ooops, she cuts her finger preparing dinner and Klemm bandages it.
After dinner, Lisa walks Ross to the door, and he asks her out. She says she can’t because her grand-father is so protective. However, the next time we see them, they are at a German restaurant where, it is safe to say, they are not there for the food. Ross has been promoted and asks Lisa to move with him to Seattle, which was part of the USA at the time. But she won’t leave her grandfather.
They go back to the shop. Ross tells Klemm that he is taking Lisa to Seattle whether he likes it or not. Klemm seems to hypnotize Lisa so that she agrees that she cannot go and will never leave Klemm. Staring blankly at him she says, “I will never leave you.” Klemm tells her to go to her room. She complies without any acknowledgment of Ross as she exits.
Ross accuses Klemm of turning his grand-daughter into an automaton. Klemm says he is protecting the one thing he loves. “The one thing I rescued from my old life and brought to this new world. She’s my masterpiece and no one will take her from me!” Klemm pulls out a knife. Fearful that he is going to be served more German cuisine, Ross leaves.
Three months later, Ross is living in Seattle. He sends his friend Jack to the clock store. Klemm says the watch will be ready Tuesday.
No wait, Jack wants to know why Ross’s letters to Lisa have not been answered. Klemm says Lisa is sick and Ross made her that way. He scoffs at the Amerikanische Doktors and the heartpills they give her. He insists, “I will not let her die!”
Alarmed by Jack’s report and the newly proposed $.05 postage rate, Ross returns to Klemm’s shop, to find it boarded up. He busts in and finds Klemm slumped dead at his desk just like I expect to go. He has left a note that says he was willing to give his life for Lisa to live. Ross goes into the back room and finds Lisa sitting in a wheelchair. Ross is thrilled to see her there, eyes wide open. But she is lifeless as a mannequin. He hears a ticking and puts his ear to her chest. There he clearly hears the clockwork ticking in her chest.
First off, let me be clear that this was a great episode and the final shot was awesome. That said, I do feel like the writer [2] came close to cheating with some of the dialogue and stage direction in the first half as to whether Lisa was an automaton from the start. But the proof that Lisa was not an automaton is pretty clear. If Klemm could make a device that looked like the 22 year old Lisa, would he have made her his grand-daughter?
Also, I’m not clear how Klemm saved Lisa. Yes, she has a ticking heart, but she is glass-eyed, silent, and perfectly still. This is life? At the top of the hour does she do a table dance?
Other Stuff:
- [1] The dictionary labels this merely informal, so I’m keeping it in
- [2] Robert Bloch, so who am I question him?
- AHP Deathwatch: Anne and Ross are still with us. Jack passed away in January.
- Oddly, Bloch’s previous script for AHP also involved a clock.
- Nice bit of trivia from bare*bones: Anne Helm went on to be in an Elvis movie, and moved in with him after filming ended. It’s good to be the king.
Minna has purchased the house for her brother Paul and his daughter Ann to live in after the death of his wife. 
Later, Minna tells Ann she needs to be patient with her father who, after all, just lost his wife. Of course she is an 11 year old who lost her mother and a delicious glass of lemonade, so she is the rock in that family. Ann says she knows her father wishes she had died in the accident instead of her mother.
Of course, the magical Song cracks the case. He tells Paul that Ann just pretended Jennifer, Rose and Mary were the dolls to wrap her head around the fact she was living with dead people. “Nursery occupied by something other than dolls,” he explains. In the 1920’s, three girls died from a gas leak in that room. They too had a nasty father, so they are guiding Ann to soften Paul up.
The first scene is yet another example of how the producers did not understand their own program; especially after the bastards shipped it across the pond. It has all the ingredients to grab the audience and make a great first impression. We are in an advertising agency. What better place for some dazzling creativity (well, around Super Bowl time, anyway)? Various admen, adwomen, adLGBTQ, adnauseum are making their pitches for the latest new & improved toothpaste. To be fair, the editor got it, as it was finely chopped between each brief presentation. Sadly, the performers are so lifeless, and the music so insipid that the setting and editing are squandered. It just sits there like the Queen.
On the sidewalk where he just plopped, [4] Jacqueline, Alistair, sacked Adman, and a client are huddled, clearly in cahoots. Turns out there were no cops; that was just a suggestion implanted by the group using the device. Jacqueline says, “You’re right, the silent version is much more powerful” even though v1.0 also made no sound. [5]
William Benson is enjoying a weekend at the Pinto Casino in Las Vegas. Or maybe not enjoying at this particular moment, because his chips are being depleted faster than the Ozone. Hey, whatever happened to that crazy Ozone? It was going to kill us all, now it never even calls. In a move that seems reckless to a non-gambler like me, he puts his remaining chips on Black 11 [1] at the roulette table. The ball lands on Red 25.
Like a good citizen, he reports the found cash to the police. He is shown in to see Captain Bone, which was my nickname in college. Bone already knows about the cash, but he says $102,000 was reported missing! He is dubious that Benson did not take the other $10k for expensive scotch or hookers or worse — waste it. There are tense accusations and denials before Bone calls the owner of the cash.
I felt cheated when I watched the episode — it felt more like an act break than a real ending. In reviewing it, however, I see I was wrong. This is a masterful surprise ending, and a subverting of the usual AHP tropes. Innocent people often get the shaft on AHP, but they aren’t usually the protagonist. Benson has been nothing but honest and honorable for the entire episode. That’ll teach him.