Nick of Time

Description: Season 2, Episode 7

Air Date: November 18, 1960

Plot Summary: A couple stopping by a small town is entranced by a seemingly innocuous, fortune-telling machine.

Review: I don't know if this episode is a full-blown classic yet, but it has received significantly more praise over the years...and rightfully so. Even though not a lot happens in the story, it's engaging with a great aura of mystery. So we meet a couple, to which, the husband is played by William Shatner when he was still a pretty boy. They're waiting in some little town, in the middle of oblivion, as their car is being repaired. To bide their time, the couple goes to the local diner as we get a feel for their situation. There, the couple comes across some gimmicky fortune-telling machine that also doubles as a napkin holder. The way it works is you put in a penny, ask a yes or no question, pull the lever, and a card with an answer will pop out. Hell, I'd give it a few pulls for shits and giggles. Willy, nervous about a promotion and a bit on the superstitious side, asks about said promotion and receives a favorable response. It's important to note the vague nature to the answers written on the cards; as we will see, it's quite easy to read too much meaning into the answers. Of course Willy gets his promotion and he becomes intrigued with the little machine.

Perhaps too quickly, but forgiven for the time constraints, Willy becomes obsessed with the, seemingly, accurate fortunes provided by the machine especially after a near-death experience. Willy's wife becomes worried, but I liked that they included a subtle inkling that she too was impressed by the fortunes. Willy begins to believe that the machine can foretell the future and wants to know more to the point that it's influencing his decision making. The wife manages to rationalize with Willy by explaining to him that he's in control of his own life and that she would rather live her life not knowing such answers even if it were possible. The couple pulls their shit together and decides to leave the town and ride off into the sunset. In an apropos ending, a different, and disheveled, couple comes into the diner shortly thereafter. This couple is the end result of allowing vague predictions to control your life as they have been trapped by their obsession with the machine. On the bright side, I wouldn't mind being trapped at this particular diner, gladly becoming a total fat ass, eating all their food for so cheap. 1960s food...yum!

Although the setting may be a bit dated given the old-people/college student atmosphere of most diners nowaday, the themes are very much timeless. You can't let fear control you and people often see what they want to see without putting their emotions aside. Seeing the possible path Willy could have taken, had he let the fear control him, was a fitting conclusion. At the same time, the audience is left to their own imagination regarding whether or not the fortunes were real. This is just an all around fun, entertaining, and creative episode that gets you thinking.