A couple are is dancing and discussing what a tramp the woman is (by 1959 standards, anyway). There are 2 gunshots which are effective shocks even though (i.e. because) they are so unrealistically staged. They are dancing very close and shown from just below the shoulders when the shots are heard. It is almost comical what a non-sequitur they are. Before the shots, the woman’s arms do not move, so it is as if she was holding the gun between them the whole time. As we hear the shots, there is absolutely no recoil.
The camera pulls so far back we can see the director — no wait this has been a scene filmed for a movie. Stage-victim Oliver Matthews picks himself up and heads for his dressing room. He opens up a bottle of hooch and unloads on his assistant, Miss Hall. He hates the film, hates that he has been reduced to a small role, and hates having to act beside Myra Robbins. But he’s not just a h8ter, he does love that booze. Miss Hall gets him to put down the bottle by offering a sedative.
Her slavish devotion is repaid by Matthews telling her, “You ought to find yourself a man. You’re drying up, Pretty soon you’ll have fewer choices.” He goes on a Serling-esque harangue of self-pity about himself and mockery of Miss Hall. This a pretty pathetic pair. Even as Matthews is cruelly taunting Miss Hall on the way out the door to Mexico, she is obsequiously fawning over him.
We are tricked as he actually goes home, not that the director gives us any clue — this could have been a place in Mexico. However, the wardrobe lady from the film set who Matthews had earlier pretended not to know walks in and is all smiles. I was expecting that his previous ass-hattery was an act and that he would be charmingly in love with the lowly wardrobe lady, Grace Dolan. Well cheers to them for fooling me, but jeers for them subjecting me to another depressing co-dependent train-wreck of a relationship.
In this pairing, Dolan is blackmailing Matthews to keep quiet about his role in her daughter’s murder. Ya know, most parents might take such evidence to the police. He insists that he is broke and can’t keep paying. She nastily demands that he write the check anyway and damn well better find a way to cover it. As she is leaving, he asks her to stay for a drink which is not at all suspicious.
As she is looking through his record collection, he dumps a bottle of his sedative in her glass and charmingly stirs it with his finger. As a result of the drug or his grubby finger, Dolan passes out. She is so disgusting that he isn’t tempted to do anything but kill her. He loads her in the car, wraps her in chains and gives her a long shove off a short pier.
He returns home and finds Miss Hall there. She knows what Matthews did, but will not tell the police as long as he will be her boyfriend.
This episode is a victim of its own success. Franchot Tone is just great as Matthews. And, by great, I mean repulsive. Miss Hall is so needy, you go right past empathy into thinking “what’s wrong with this woman?”, and Grace Dolan is just as nasty as Matthews. There is just no one to root for or identify with.
Post-Post:
- AHP Deathwatch: No survivors.
Cowboy Jake Miller is having a crisis of conscience — he can’t remember the faces of any of the eight men he has killed. His brother Ben rightly reminds him that even if he could remember their faces, they’d still be dead. Nearby, a preacher is having a bigger crisis as an alien materializes and possesses his body.
Frank & JD go to the saddle boutique. The possessed Preacher strolls by and gives them a demonstration. Light shoots out of his eyes and he makes a horse disappear. He offers to give them the same power. Frank tests it out by making a wagon wheel disappear. With this amazing new talent, the best the can think to do is kill the storekeeper and steal a couple of saddles and horses.
Jake & Ben see Frank & JD at the cemetery. Frank says, “Let’s get going.” Ben stops them after a few steps and says, “Hold up, this is it.” They all start digging and unearth a steel box. Frank uses his superpowers to enable him and JD to steal the loot. OK, so Frank & JD didn’t get mad that the money had been moved; or that they dug a huge back-breaking hole for nothing. Maybe they were playing it cool until Jake & Ben took them to the real burial space. That kind of calm strategic long-game doesn’t seem like a good fit for Frank, though.
Jake & Ben point their pistols at Frank, but he just makes them disappear. When Ben rushes him, he strangles him, with sparks flying from his hands. After Frank & JD take off with the loot, the Preacher happens by. He gives Jake & Ben the same power.
The Preacher explains he is from another planet. This was all a test from yet another condescending alien species. Jake gets on his horse and inexplicably rides off leaving Miriam, the only other survivor, behind. Well, she did kill his brother which could make Thanksgiving awkward, but he really had it coming. But again, the motivation escapes me. I like that she is left stunned, staring at the sky, but why is she alone?
It gets a little more interesting as we are treated to a POV shot which, like 
The Elder is giving a speech to the prisoners about the era twelve generations ago, before the New Masters arrived, when humans held dominion over the earth. Special scorn is heaped on the treasonous humans who help the 
Later, 98843 is complaining to a guard about the lack of replacement parts for the factory. She is joined by a young mute girl [1] who has been bringing water to the prisoners as they work. She is also teaching the girl about electronics. This is good, because the way 98843 mouths off to the overseers, there won’t be a 98844.
Prisoner 91777 (Bill Cobb) is elected as the new Elder. The Commandant orders them both to his office to receive supplementary rations for the prisoners. 91777 wants to know how 98843 got him to agree to this, but she dodges the question. The Commandant tells them they will receive sharrak, an alien food from the New Masters; also some cigars from the 
The Commandant’s new eye goes bad, revealing that he is a robot. He orders 98843 to repair him or he will feed the young girl to the sharrak. She does, and becomes his personal mechanic, living separate from the other prisoners. Despite her securing more food for them, they shun her as a traitor.
A good episode despite maybe being padded out a little. As usual on The Outer Limits, the performances and production design are great assets. Harley Jane Kozak and David Hemblen as the Commandant were both great in their roles.
An AHP Christmas episode. Unlike 
She explains today is her new birthday. While cleaning the closet, she found hidden bank books showing a balance of $33,000 [1]. He explains that is for their old age. She calls him a cheap, miserly, penny-pinching, money-grabbing . . .” She can’t say asshole on TV, so she asks for a divorce. Alexander is stunned. He thinks, “That would be a terrible thing. I didn’t want to part with Jennifer . . . not in this community-property state.” So he decides to kill her — Ho ho ho, AHP rules!
That night, Jennifer’s eyes roll back in her head and she keels over dead. Well, not quite. Arthur calls the doctor who finds she is in very bad shape, but still alive. The doctors says if she makes it through the night, she has a small chance to recover. Not one to take risks, Alexander smothers her with a HOME SWEET HOME pillow.
This was such a good episode that the last minute fumble is not a deal-breaker. The performances are uniformly great. Dennis Day as Alexander was believably prim and parsimonious. Alice Backes was almost too good as Jennifer. She had a sly delivery, an interest-ing angular beauty and a smile that cut through the jokes. She could have been the standard AHP cookie-cutter shrewish wife, but turned the part into a real person. The thugs were appropriately menacing and even kind of textured characters. Their mugs sold the menace, but their deeds and manners showed more depth. The chemist was a dead-ringer for