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!

What's in the Box

Description: Season 5, Episode 24

Air Date: March 13, 1964

Plot Summary: After insulting the TV repairman, a cheating husband watches visions of himself killing his wife.

Review: WHAT'S IN THE BOX?! WHAT'S IN THE BOX?! Please tell me you get that reference? Okay, moving right along...as you may guess from the plot summary, the main guy here is not receiving any husband of the year awards. I'm not entirely sure what this episode was trying to convey--a douche getting his comeuppance? Don't mess with the TV guy? I don't know. I'd place this episode as a middle-of-the-road kind of story: not much going on but not necessarily bad either.

An old dude, named Joe, is somehow getting nookie on the side that he's keeping secret from his wife, Phyllis; he's a taxi driver and makes up stories about faraway fares. Seriously, how is this old guy getting ass? Needless to say, this married couple absolutely hates each other with a burning passion. After Joe talks shit to the TV repairman, the repairman bails with a taunt about the TV being "fixed." I don't know who this guy is supposed to be, but he keeps eyeing the camera like a wink to the audience. It's situations like this, where TZ doesn't fill in the void, that I feel like Mr. Serling should have been a kind of entity moving about the series. Oh well, that's just another reason to love the "A World of His Own" episode so much.

On the TV, Joe sees himself cheating on the wife, his conversations with Phyllis, and eventually himself killing her. Being one of the dumbest characters known to man, Joe willingly creates this future he claims he wants to avoid. After revealing his cheating ways, but claiming he loves Phyllis, the two fight until Joe punches her out a window; that shot is amusing though. The episode ends with the police arresting Joe but not before the TV repairman gives one final taunt. Who is this guy?! Ehh, this episode isn't really noteworthy. The TV repairman could have been the x-factor to spice the episode up, but they never utilize this character meaningfully. At the end of the day, the lesson to be learned is don't get married.

Queen of the Nile

Description: Season 5, Episode 23

Air Date: March 6, 1964

Plot Summary: A journalist discovers that an actress is far older than anyone would believe.

Review: Think of this episode as the reverse of "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine;" instead of an actress growing older, the actress cannot age. As the title would imply, the actress is, more than likely, supposed to be Cleopatra who has magically achieved immortality through shenanigans with a scarab. While this is mostly a mediocre episode it did have its moments. I especially liked that the actress uses her daughter, who is an old woman, as her mother. Though, this begs the question, why wouldn't the daughter be immortal too? Or, if it really does come down to this magic scarab, why can't the actress share this power with her own daughter? I'd love to say that this story touches on interesting ideas or topics, but it doesn't dig deep. Too much time is spent with the journalist pathetically trying to explain away how this actress can be all over the world at different eras yet claims to be only in her thirties. The journalist does die due to his own idiocy, but you'd think this actress would get caught by now, right? I mean, sure, technology was limited back in those days, but it shouldn't be too hard to keep track of a woman who stays in the limelight in all eras rather than keeping a low profile. Hell, there's even a guy in the episode who claims he knew one of her past identities, and he doesn't put two and two together? Come on, son. Eh...average thrills for an average episode.