Description: Season 1, Episode 6
Air Date: November 6, 1959
Plot Summary: A man afraid of sickness and death makes a deal with the devil to become immortal.
Review: This seems to be a common trend in a lot of TZ episodes what with people making deals with the devil. Not too sure what that's all about--maybe Mr. Serling and the other TZ writers suspected a lot of people did this? Anyway, the scheme this time involves a big baby who is a self-proclaimed hypochondriac who cannot stand the notion of dying. The guy comes off super annoying at first, but he gradually becomes funnier as time passes. I especially liked his unusual quip whereby he called his wife a "potato pancake." I'm going to have to use that one, buddy. The devil comes-a-calling after he hears the guy's whining, I suppose, and he makes an unusual proposal for our resident baby. In all fairness, it's a pretty sweet deal, and it's rare we see such a generous incarnation of the devil. In exchange for his soul the man gets not only immortality but indestructibility and eternal youth. There is only one caveat to the contract which is an escape clause that can be implemented at any time; this allows for the man to choose when he wishes to end the immortality. Honestly, only a fucking potato pancake could screw up a deal this good and of course our little baby does.
At first the man is loving it as he becomes fearless of the world which was the exact opposite of his former self. He tests his new found abilities by jumping in front of a train which he survives unscathed. To make the deal even sweeter, the man abuses the situation and appears to sue or seek compensation for his train "accident." This just keeps getting better and better! But before you can say potato pancake, the man already feels the thrill of life is gone. For realzies, dude? It's been what, one...two days at most? No wonder the devil chose you--you're an idiot of the highest caliber! So the man tries to kill himself a few more times when his equally stupid wife tries to talk sense into him and falls off the roof of their apartment complex. Natural selection at work? The man decides this is a great opportunity to test his abilities further and confesses to the murder hoping they will execute him. It's not hard to see where this story is heading as the man ends up receiving a life sentence rather than the death penalty. Unable to cope with the idea of spending thousands of years in prison, the man opts to use his escape clause and the devil comes to collect. Ehh, the lessons are kind of self explanatory: don't make deals with the devil, be careful what you wish for, all men are mortal, circle of life, yada yada yada. Overall, this is a pretty good episode and quite funny to boot. I liked the way they handled the deal, and the devil, even if the end results were easily predictable. Plus, I have a new insult to hurl around so there's that!
Walter is definitely annoyingly whiny the first part of the episode when he's a hypochondriac, I couldn't stand his non-stop complaining and his repetitiveness too, very irritating. The devil here is a good character, chatty and cheerful with a bargain. Walter then immediately changes to excited and fearless. The excited part sure changes with his constantly playing with death for thrills but can't get any. I think that more than a couple of days passes by though between the day he signed the devil's bargain and the day he sees his attorney about his subway "accident". Because we also see him getting a check through pulling the same scheme over a bus accident and he then mentions how the same thing has happened 14 times now. He becomes just as whiny as he did when he was a hypochondriac except now he's whining about not being able to get any more thrills. You're whining no matter what you're whining about. Then when his wife is killed, he doesn't even seem to care, let alone by grief struck, all he cares about is wanting to try the electric chair for excitement. I believe that that has to do with, backing up to the scene with the devil when Walter asks about giving up his soul for the agreement, and the devils says he'll never miss it. I think that Walter not even caring about his wife's death is due to him having given up his soul. Same with his jumping in front of trains, buses, etc. and reacting to it by suing. His lawyer in jail also notices how he just doesn't care about anything going on. I also found the potato pancake comment funny.
ReplyDelete