The Masks

Description: Season 5, Episode 25

Air Date: March 20, 1964

Plot Summary: A dying old man demands his horrible family wears masks until midnight or else they will be cut from his will.

Review: This is another classic and definitely one of the best episodes to boot. It may or may not be top 10 worthy, but there is a certain, poetic nature to the ideas presented. The story is not complicated at all as it follows an old man approaching his inevitable death. Awaiting the old man's death, or, more appropriately, awaiting their money, is the old man's family: a daughter, her husband, grandson, and granddaughter. Knowing his time is short, and coinciding with Mardi Gras, the old man has arranged for a special party. No, that doesn't mean drunk whores going topless for beads. In order to receive their inheritance from the old man the family must abide by the one stipulation of keeping their masks on until midnight. Given the plot, and the Louisiana setting, they do hint at the magical properties of the masks.

The actors do a decent job of demonstrating the antics of the characters without spending a lot of time to get to know them. The daughter is a crybaby hypochondriac, the husband is a panderer and greedy bastard, the grandson is a sadistic idiot, and the granddaughter is a narcissistic bitch. The old man assigns them a mask that represents those traits yet the family members believe themselves to possess the opposite of those traits; the old man himself dons a skull mask that is intended to represent the face of death. Almost immediately after midnight has passed, the old man finally does die but not before providing some parting wisdom for the audience. Realizing the old man is truly dead, the family rejoices until they discover their faces have distorted into the shape of their masks. As it turns out, the face of the old man remains normal and content as he has found peace through death. In the end, the family has received exactly what they wanted, but they must live with their freakish appearance as a consequence--no longer able to hide their true nature.

What makes this episode so great is the entire notion of the masks themselves and what they symbolically represent. Typically we understand that bad people wear a figurative mask to hide their true self--a veneer in order to manipulate those around them. This can come in various forms--from fake smiles to a pretty face--as people are very good at hiding their true selves until an opportune moment. In this story, the characters are forced to confront and accept the grotesque face that lie under that mask. The comeuppance of the characters is that they are exposed--they must now go through life unable to hide behind their figurative mask. As the old man says, they are caricatures of their devious traits--representing outwardly and inwardly the worst that mankind has to offer. More so, there is an important part when the old man is nearing death and he asks if anyone has anything to say to him. Notice, no character mentions the sense of loss, mourning, or wish that this didn't have to be; there is no emotion, remorse, or pain from such heartless individuals. This is an episode I'd love to see made in today's environment. Oh the horror I'm sure we would see in response!