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* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Macy's ordeal shouldn't have been as painful as it was, since there are no nerves in the brain.
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* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Macy's ordeal shouldn't have been as painful as it was, since there are no nerves in the brain. At the same time, there ''is'' an exterior and interior network of veins to supply it with blood, so frankly Macy should have died of internal bleeding.
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----
-> Based on the short story "Boomerang" by Oscar Cook.
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Based on the short story "Boomerang" by Oscar Cook.
-> Original story by: E. C. Tubb
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-> Story by: E. C. Tubb
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* StockFootage: The nuclear detonation scenes at the end of the segment are borrowed from ''Film/ColossusTheForbinProject''.
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-> Teleplay by: Creator/RodSerling
-> Directed by: Creator/JeannotSzwarc
-> Directed by: Creator/JeannotSzwarc
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Based on the short story "Boomerang" by Oscar Cook.
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-> Teleplay by: Stanford Whitmore
-> Story by: E. C. Tubb
-> Directed by: Timothy Galfas
-> Story by: E. C. Tubb
-> Directed by: Timothy Galfas
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!!The Caterpillar
Macy (Creator/LaurenceHarvey), an unhappy soldier stationed in the wilds, lusts after his superior's wife and ultimately plots murder to have her to himself. However, the plot boomerangs and Macy becomes the victim.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Mr. Warwick is a sympathetic character here, while in the original he was the villain who tried to use the earwig to kill Macy, and ends up being murdered by him in revenge.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Macy is the victim in the original story and the husband is the villain. Here the roles are reversed, with Macy as the jealous one trying to kill the husband.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Macy's ordeal shouldn't have been as painful as it was since there are no nerves in the brain.
* AttemptedHomewrecker: Macy begins lusting after his boss's much younger wife, despite her clearly not wanting his attentions and being happy with the way things are. His murder plot to "free" her from her husband backfires on him horrifically.
* BreakingBadNewsGently: The doctor tells Macy to sit down before telling him the bad news about the earwig. Macy initially says it's not necessary, but the doctor insists, and given the news, he might have been right.
* CanonForeigner: Tommy Robinson, who supplies the earwig and talks Macy into going through with the scheme, has a major role in the episode but doesn't appear in the original story.
* CompositeCharacter: Mr. Warwick has the role of the husband from the original story but takes the name of the story's narrator.
* FemaleMonsterSurprise: A man pays to have a romantic rival murdered by having a carnivorous earwig placed in the man's ear. The plan goes wrong, however, and the next morning he awakens to find that the earwig has been placed in his ear instead, and has crawled inside his head. He endures weeks of agony as the earwig eats its way through his brain, but he remarkably survives the ordeal. He is then told by a doctor that the earwig was female... And it laid eggs.
* HappilyMarried: Macy thinks he's saving the object of his affection from her marriage because her husband is so much older than she is, but the woman is quite happy with how things are and thinks Macy is an asshole for making assumptions about her happiness and continually hitting on her.
* HereWeGoAgain: Macy starts screaming after the doctor tells him that the earwig laid eggs, meaning he'll have to endure more of the same agony in which he's spent the past week-- and the odds of him surviving are ''very'' low.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Macy plots a gruesome murder (having a bug placed on the pillow of his rival in love to eat through his brain) but is accidentally made the victim.
* ManipulativeBastard: Tommy Robinson is a disreputable criminal who hatches the assassination plot and pushes an initially conflicted Macy into going through with it.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: Mr. Warwick says he's just going to have Macy sent back to England; he doesn't intend to press charges for the murder attempt. It's implied he thinks what Macy will have to deal with as a result of his scheme backfiring is worse than the legal punishment he could potentially expect.
* ScreamDiscretionShot: The ending shot cuts to the outside of the Warwicks' house as Macy, having been told that he's going to have a repeat of the last two weeks, screams in pain or fear.
* TheSociopath: Macy fits a lot of the criteria, seems superficially charming, a stunning level of entitlement and inability to feel for others, a superficial understanding of love, and very little ability to show emotions.
* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Not only is the episode's "biology" based on old wives' tales but even the ''title'' is subject to this trope. Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but these (harmless) arthropods aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: The husband is killed by Macy in the original story but survives here.
* TheUnapologetic: Even after the agony he's been through, Macy is still unrepentant for his attempted murder, likely to keep the sympathy for him lower when the TwistEnding is revealed.
!!Little Girl Lost
An invalided pilot receives an unusual assignment -- monitor brilliant scientist Professor Putnam (Creator/WilliamWindom) and play into his delusions about his dead daughter to get him to complete his work.
* AtomicHate: The ending. Don't piss off the scientist that has nothing to live for after his beloved daughter has died. Especially if he holds a button that sets of a bomb that destroys the entire world.
* DeathOfAChild: Professor Putnam lost his young daughter Ginny and the government asks the protagonist to humor his delusion that she's still alive in order to get him to continue his work.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Professor Putnam, a military scientist, has delusions that his dead daughter is alive. A wounded pilot becomes his bodyguard and must act as if he is interacting with the daughter. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that the scientist has realized that his daughter is dead and has found a way to be reunited with her and get revenge on those who killed her. And it turns out he has been working on nuclear fission. Oops.
* FlawedPrototype: A deliberate example. Putnam was supposed to create nuclear weapons from nonradioactive material, but instead gives his superiors the wrong formula, turning his creation into a doomsday device.
* MisanthropeSupreme: This is made clearer in the extended cut of the episode, where Putnam states that he feels everyone in the world is rotten and sometimes wishes they would all die.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The protagonist forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat when Professor Putnam almost wrecks the car, thus breaking him out of his delusion and causing an EarthShatteringKaboom.
* TooDumbToLive: Trusting a delusional and mentally unstable man with scientific research that could potentially end the world might not be a bright idea. It gets the ''entire planet'' wiped out.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The man assigned with watching Putnam mentions how his leg was injured in an ejection accident due to the mechanism containing a flaw that wasn't noticed. This likely gave Putnam the idea for giving his superiors a flawed formula, which ends up ending the world.
Macy (Creator/LaurenceHarvey), an unhappy soldier stationed in the wilds, lusts after his superior's wife and ultimately plots murder to have her to himself. However, the plot boomerangs and Macy becomes the victim.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Mr. Warwick is a sympathetic character here, while in the original he was the villain who tried to use the earwig to kill Macy, and ends up being murdered by him in revenge.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Macy is the victim in the original story and the husband is the villain. Here the roles are reversed, with Macy as the jealous one trying to kill the husband.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Macy's ordeal shouldn't have been as painful as it was since there are no nerves in the brain.
* AttemptedHomewrecker: Macy begins lusting after his boss's much younger wife, despite her clearly not wanting his attentions and being happy with the way things are. His murder plot to "free" her from her husband backfires on him horrifically.
* BreakingBadNewsGently: The doctor tells Macy to sit down before telling him the bad news about the earwig. Macy initially says it's not necessary, but the doctor insists, and given the news, he might have been right.
* CanonForeigner: Tommy Robinson, who supplies the earwig and talks Macy into going through with the scheme, has a major role in the episode but doesn't appear in the original story.
* CompositeCharacter: Mr. Warwick has the role of the husband from the original story but takes the name of the story's narrator.
* FemaleMonsterSurprise: A man pays to have a romantic rival murdered by having a carnivorous earwig placed in the man's ear. The plan goes wrong, however, and the next morning he awakens to find that the earwig has been placed in his ear instead, and has crawled inside his head. He endures weeks of agony as the earwig eats its way through his brain, but he remarkably survives the ordeal. He is then told by a doctor that the earwig was female... And it laid eggs.
* HappilyMarried: Macy thinks he's saving the object of his affection from her marriage because her husband is so much older than she is, but the woman is quite happy with how things are and thinks Macy is an asshole for making assumptions about her happiness and continually hitting on her.
* HereWeGoAgain: Macy starts screaming after the doctor tells him that the earwig laid eggs, meaning he'll have to endure more of the same agony in which he's spent the past week-- and the odds of him surviving are ''very'' low.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Macy plots a gruesome murder (having a bug placed on the pillow of his rival in love to eat through his brain) but is accidentally made the victim.
* ManipulativeBastard: Tommy Robinson is a disreputable criminal who hatches the assassination plot and pushes an initially conflicted Macy into going through with it.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: Mr. Warwick says he's just going to have Macy sent back to England; he doesn't intend to press charges for the murder attempt. It's implied he thinks what Macy will have to deal with as a result of his scheme backfiring is worse than the legal punishment he could potentially expect.
* ScreamDiscretionShot: The ending shot cuts to the outside of the Warwicks' house as Macy, having been told that he's going to have a repeat of the last two weeks, screams in pain or fear.
* TheSociopath: Macy fits a lot of the criteria, seems superficially charming, a stunning level of entitlement and inability to feel for others, a superficial understanding of love, and very little ability to show emotions.
* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Not only is the episode's "biology" based on old wives' tales but even the ''title'' is subject to this trope. Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but these (harmless) arthropods aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: The husband is killed by Macy in the original story but survives here.
* TheUnapologetic: Even after the agony he's been through, Macy is still unrepentant for his attempted murder, likely to keep the sympathy for him lower when the TwistEnding is revealed.
!!Little Girl Lost
An invalided pilot receives an unusual assignment -- monitor brilliant scientist Professor Putnam (Creator/WilliamWindom) and play into his delusions about his dead daughter to get him to complete his work.
* AtomicHate: The ending. Don't piss off the scientist that has nothing to live for after his beloved daughter has died. Especially if he holds a button that sets of a bomb that destroys the entire world.
* DeathOfAChild: Professor Putnam lost his young daughter Ginny and the government asks the protagonist to humor his delusion that she's still alive in order to get him to continue his work.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Professor Putnam, a military scientist, has delusions that his dead daughter is alive. A wounded pilot becomes his bodyguard and must act as if he is interacting with the daughter. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that the scientist has realized that his daughter is dead and has found a way to be reunited with her and get revenge on those who killed her. And it turns out he has been working on nuclear fission. Oops.
* FlawedPrototype: A deliberate example. Putnam was supposed to create nuclear weapons from nonradioactive material, but instead gives his superiors the wrong formula, turning his creation into a doomsday device.
* MisanthropeSupreme: This is made clearer in the extended cut of the episode, where Putnam states that he feels everyone in the world is rotten and sometimes wishes they would all die.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The protagonist forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat when Professor Putnam almost wrecks the car, thus breaking him out of his delusion and causing an EarthShatteringKaboom.
* TooDumbToLive: Trusting a delusional and mentally unstable man with scientific research that could potentially end the world might not be a bright idea. It gets the ''entire planet'' wiped out.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The man assigned with watching Putnam mentions how his leg was injured in an ejection accident due to the mechanism containing a flaw that wasn't noticed. This likely gave Putnam the idea for giving his superiors a flawed formula, which ends up ending the world.
to:
Macy (Creator/LaurenceHarvey), an unhappy soldier stationed
!! The Caterpillar
[[quoteright:329:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_80_1.png]]
-> '''Rod Serling:''' There are horror stories and ''horror stories''; elements of terror that take myriad forms. But this item has a built-in terror which can refrigerate even the most dispassionate amongst us. It has to do with a little beastie known as an earwig, a small bug that crawls into the human ear. And while inside, it doesn't whisper sweet nothings... it performs quite another function. Offered to you now, on ''Night Gallery'', a brand new nightmare which we call: '''The Caterpillar.'''
In the early 20th century, Stephen Macy (Creator/LaurenceHarvey), an unhinged British soldier unhappily stuck in the jungles of Borneo, lusts after Rhona (Joanna Pettet), the much-younger wife of his host and commanding officer Colonel John Warwick (Tom Helmore), and aches to kill him so he can have her for himself. Macy soon meets Tommy Robinson (Don Knight), a fellow British expatriate from the wrong side of the law who chose to be exiled to the tropics rather than spend life in prison, and often handles deliveries for the Warwicks. Over drinks, Tommy discusses the earwig, a native carnivorous insect which has been known to kill people by crawling into their ears and eating straight through their brains, suggesting that Macy can use one to remove John from the picture and get together with Rhona. Macy agrees to the proposal, but a mix-up on the night of the event results in him getting the earwig instead, leading to weeks of unbearingly ceaseless agony for the attempted murderer.
[[folder: Tropes]]
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Rhona thinks of Macy as one for his attitude and his lust for her, yet she's still horrified at the ordeal he goes through.
* AdaptationalHeroism:
* AdaptationalVillainy: Macy is the victim in the original story
* AgeGapRomance: John is 66 while Rhona is 28, yet they love each other dearly. The age difference is notably the
* AndIMustScream: The act of an earwig eating through someone's brain is described as horrifically painful, and Macy learns this fact the hard way when his intended earwig is put in his own ear. During Tommy's visit, he outright declares that he ''wants to die'' because of how agonizing the pain is, and later describes the sensation to both the doctor and the Warwicks in great detail.
-> '''Macy:''' It's an agonizing, driving, itching pain. Anything would have been preferable; to be flayed alive, to be burnt at the stake, to be put on the rack. To be hanged, even, would be an act of mercy.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Macy's ordeal shouldn't have been as painful as it
* AssholeVictim: Macy is a definite case, but the earwig gives him a great deal more karma than he expected, to the point of overkill.
* AttemptedHomewrecker: Macy begins lusting after his boss's much younger
* BreakingBadNewsGently: The doctor tells Macy to sit down before telling him the bad news about the earwig. Macy initially says that it's not necessary, but the doctor
* CanonForeigner: Tommy Robinson, who supplies Macy with the earwig and talks
* CompositeCharacter:
* DarkerAndEdgier: With Macy's long and excruciatingly painful punishment, this segment takes the cake as the darkest of any segment on this show, to the point where even ''Creator/StephenKing'' considers it one of the scariest episodes in television history. Rod Serling himself even spends a portion of his narration warning the viewers beforehand to prepare themselves for something truly horrific.
* DrivenToSuicide: As Tommy checks on him, Macy, suffering the brutality of the earwig's attack on his brain, openly croaks that he wants to die so the pain can stop.
* EarAche: Macy gets the mother of all earaches once the earwig crawls inside his head and starts eating his brain.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Though Rhona reacts with disgust at Macy's advances towards her and his accusations of how unhappy her married life must be, she's terrified at the revelation that an earwig ate through his brain. Especially the one he was planning to kill her husband with.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Tommy is an unrepentant crook who sets up the initial murder attempt with Macy, but he's shocked when his "friends" put the earwig in the wrong man's ear, even apologizing directly to the suffering Macy for the mix-up.
* FateWorseThanDeath: The earwig eats its way through Macy's brain in a weeks-long process, to the point where he outright begs to die so the agony can stop. It gets even worse because the ending not only reveals that the earwig was ''female'', but it '''''laid eggs.'''''
* FemaleMonsterSurprise:
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: At breakfast the day after Macy agrees to the murder attempt, he starts getting a painful itch in his ear. When he scratches it with a handkerchief, he spies blood on it, revealing that he got the earwig instead.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The first scene has Macy complaining about the endless rain in Borneo, venting that he'll go mad if it continues and he can eagerly be shipped back to England then. Both things happen by the end of the segment, as Macy goes mad (well, more than he already was) after the earwig eats through his brain and John has him shipped back to England instead of pressing charges for his murder attempt.
** As they discuss the murder plot, Tommy tells Macy that an earwig has a 1-in-1000 chance of actually tunneling out through the other side of someone's head. This happens to Macy near the end of the segment, but his own earwig left something to remember her by in his head.
* HappilyMarried: John and Rhona love each other with all their hearts in spite of their age difference. Macy thinks that he's saving Rhona, the object of his
* HereWeGoAgain: Macy starts screaming in agony after the doctor tells him that the earwig laid eggs, meaning he'll have to endure even more of the same agony in which he's spent the past
* ItsAllAboutMe: Since he's a sociopath, Macy realistically shows a great amount of entitlement, thinking that he's destined to be with Rhona simply because her husband is nearly 40 years older than her.
* JungleDrums: Given that the segment is set in early 20th century Borneo, it's only natural they appear here.
* KarmaHoudini: Tommy gets off scot free for persuading Macy to attempt murdering John and having his "friends" supply the earwig. He ''does'' apologize to Macy for the mix-up in complete sincerity, but he disappears after that scene.
* KillerRabbit: Earwigs are depicted as such, as they crawl into sleeping peoples' ears and eat through their brains.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Macy plots a gruesome murder (having
* ManipulativeBastard:
* OhCrap: When Macy spots blood on his handkerchief and realizes that the earwig is inside his head.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime:
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: John is a friendly commanding officer to his men, even trying to help Macy get used to the tropics. When he learns what happens to him and why it happened at all, he doesn't press charges for Macy's attempted murder and just has him sent back to England, thinking that the earwig eating through his brain made him suffer enough.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Rhona keeps giving Macy such speeches as a means to rebuke his lust for her and his assumptions about her husband, especially once he survives the earwig's trip through his head.
* ScreamDiscretionShot: The
* SociopathicSoldier: While stationed in Borneo, Macy feels entitled to Rhona's love simply because he's much younger than her 66 year old husband, and plots a gruesome method of death on said husband, his commanding officer, so he can get him out of the way.
* TheSociopath: Macy fits a lot of the
* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying:
* SparedByTheAdaptation:
* TakeOurWordForIt: We never see the earwig that torments Macy. Instead, we see his reaction as he's tied to the bed: non-existent voice, pale face, sunken-in eyes, and the fact that he's soaked in tears and sweat as the insect eats through his brain, all while Macy can do nothing but ''plead for death''. From all this, it's certain that Macy has subjected himself to '''absolute hell.'''
* TimeSkip: After Macy finds out that the earwig is in his own ear, the segment skips two weeks into the future, where he yearns for the sweet release of death thanks to the constant agony.
* TheUnapologetic: Even after all the agony he's been through, Macy is
!!Little
* WhamLine: The segment ends with one that has haunted viewers for years: "And a female... lays eggs."
* WhenItRainsItPours: The majority of the segment is set during a heavy tropical rainstorm. The opening scene features a grumpy Macy getting tired of the inclement weather, asking if it ever stops raining in Borneo. Rhona notes that the rains let up in March, frustrating him further.
[[/folder]]
----
!! Little Girl
[[quoteright:392:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_81_55.png]]
-> '''Rod Serling:''' Our next painting on ''Night Gallery'' tells the story of an illusion. An
Tom Burke (Creator/EdNelson), a military test pilot recently injured after flying an experimental jet, receives
[[folder: Tropes]]
* AtomicHate:
* ChromosomeCasting: The main cast is all male, fitting for the military motif.
* DeathByChildbirth: Ginny's mother is said to have died in childbirth, and Putman was so devoted to her because she was all he had left. As a result, her death in a hit-and-run destroyed his psyche and made him conjure an imaginary version of her.
* DeathOfAChild: Professor
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Accompanied by Tom, Putman takes "Ginny" to a fancy restaurant on the boardwalk for dinner. It apparently never came to either his, Tom's, or the military's mind that people in a busy place like this would notice what he'd be doing and call him out for it.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Ginny was killed by a single hit and run driver, and this was enough to make Putman crave destroying the entire world.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: After the ordeal at the restaurant, Putman, his delusions close to breaking, swerves up and down a cliffside road in an almost suicidal manner. Tom ultimately breaks the delusion fully after ranting at him for this style of driving.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Professor
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Professor Putman gets his revenge on the driver who kills his beloved daughter by destroying the world in a nuclear holocaust.
* FlawedPrototype: A deliberate example.
* ImaginaryFriend: An imaginary ''daughter'' in this case, as Putman has been deluding himself into thinking that his little girl, Ginny, is still alive after he watched her die in a hit-and-run.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: It's said early in the segment that the police never found the driver who killed Ginny, but whoever they were, they get their comeuppance when Putman produces his explosively flawed formula.
* MadScientist: Professor Putman, a military physicist who went insane after witnessing his daughter's death and deluded himself into thinking she was still alive. We later learn that he was tasked with creating a formula that could make fission from nonradioactive material for "bigger and better bombs at a fraction of the cost", and when he breaks through the delusions, he bungles the formula and gives it to the scientists who were monitoring him, causing the end of the world to get revenge on his daughter's killer.
* ManlyTears: Tom begins getting teary-eyed as he tells "Ginny" the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears before bed.
* MisanthropeSupreme:
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Tom has one when he realizes what exactly he said to Putman after his erratic driving.
** Dr. Cottrel later gives one on behalf of the military, once he and Tom learn what Putman was actually planning to do with the formula.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Three examples drive the episode's plot, and prompt Putman to destroy the Earth in the process:
** The
** The surly patron of the restaurant where Putman and Tom have a meal with "Ginny", who tells the pair that there's nobody in their extra seat, and no plate set for who's supposed to be sitting there.
** Tom himself, when Putman almost wrecks his car and he forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat
* ReflexiveResponse: As he's recovering from Putman's erratic driving on the
* TogetherInDeath: Part of Putman's plan to blow up the world with his defective formula is to reunite with Ginny in the afterlife.
* TooDumbToLive:
* TragicVillain: Putman clearly loved his little girl Ginny with all his heart, and having her being taken away from him in a manner as sudden and brutal as a hit-and-run broke him. He clearly has evil thoughts on his mind with his plan to blow up the world in a plethora of explosions, but it's hard to say he had no reason to do so.
* TimeSkip: Two weeks pass after Tom first pretends to believe in Ginny's existence, during which he's spent a good amount of that time "taking her" to the seashore.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom:
** The restaurant patron who refuses to play along with Tom's insistence about "Ginny", making a sizable dent in Putman's delusions.
** The hit and run driver that originally killed Ginny, being the catalyst for the entire segment's events.
* WhamLine: After nearly crashing his car during his erratic drive from the restaurant, Tom angrily notes to Putman "You could have killed ''both'' of us!". Because of this one simple slip-up, Putman finally breaks out of the delusions for good, and storms off to end the world
* WorldOfJerkass: Putman fervently believes this about the
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The man assigned with watching Putnam mentions how his leg was injured in an ejection accident due to the mechanism containing a flaw
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: As psychologist Dr. Cottrell tells Tom, once the delusional Putman completes his
[[/folder]]
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Added DiffLines:
* FlawedPrototype: A deliberate example. Putnam was supposed to create nuclear weapons from nonradioactive material, but instead gives his superiors the wrong formula, turning his creation into a doomsday device.
* MisanthropeSupreme: This is made clearer in the extended cut of the episode, where Putnam states that he feels everyone in the world is rotten and sometimes wishes they would all die.
* MisanthropeSupreme: This is made clearer in the extended cut of the episode, where Putnam states that he feels everyone in the world is rotten and sometimes wishes they would all die.
Added DiffLines:
* TooDumbToLive: Trusting a delusional and mentally unstable man with scientific research that could potentially end the world might not be a bright idea. It gets the ''entire planet'' wiped out.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The man assigned with watching Putnam mentions how his leg was injured in an ejection accident due to the mechanism containing a flaw that wasn't noticed. This likely gave Putnam the idea for giving his superiors a flawed formula, which ends up ending the world.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The man assigned with watching Putnam mentions how his leg was injured in an ejection accident due to the mechanism containing a flaw that wasn't noticed. This likely gave Putnam the idea for giving his superiors a flawed formula, which ends up ending the world.
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Changed line(s) 21,22 (click to see context) from:
* TheUnapolegetic: Even after the agony he's been through, Macy is still unrepentant for his attempted murder, likely to keep the sympathy for him lower when the TwistEnding is revealed.
to:
* TheUnapolegetic: TheUnapologetic: Even after the agony he's been through, Macy is still unrepentant for his attempted murder, likely to keep the sympathy for him lower when the TwistEnding is revealed.
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Changed line(s) 4 (click to see context) from:
* AttemptedHomewrecker: Macey begins lusting after his boss's much younger wife, despite her clearly not wanting his attentions and being happy with the way things are. His murder plot to "free" her from her husband backfires on him horrifically.
to:
* AdaptationalHeroism: Mr. Warwick is a sympathetic character here, while in the original he was the villain who tried to use the earwig to kill Macy, and ends up being murdered by him in revenge.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Macy is the victim in the original story and the husband is the villain. Here the roles are reversed, with Macy as the jealous one trying to kill the husband.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Macy's ordeal shouldn't have been as painful as it was since there are no nerves in the brain.
* AttemptedHomewrecker:Macey Macy begins lusting after his boss's much younger wife, despite her clearly not wanting his attentions and being happy with the way things are. His murder plot to "free" her from her husband backfires on him horrifically.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Macy is the victim in the original story and the husband is the villain. Here the roles are reversed, with Macy as the jealous one trying to kill the husband.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Macy's ordeal shouldn't have been as painful as it was since there are no nerves in the brain.
* AttemptedHomewrecker:
* CanonForeigner: Tommy Robinson, who supplies the earwig and talks Macy into going through with the scheme, has a major role in the episode but doesn't appear in the original story.
* CompositeCharacter: Mr. Warwick has the role of the husband from the original story but takes the name of the story's narrator.
* CompositeCharacter: Mr. Warwick has the role of the husband from the original story but takes the name of the story's narrator.
* ManipulativeBastard: Tommy Robinson is a disreputable criminal who hatches the assassination plot and pushes an initially conflicted Macy into going through with it.
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* SparedByTheAdaptation: The husband is killed by Macy in the original story but survives here.
* TheUnapolegetic: Even after the agony he's been through, Macy is still unrepentant for his attempted murder, likely to keep the sympathy for him lower when the TwistEnding is revealed.
* TheUnapolegetic: Even after the agony he's been through, Macy is still unrepentant for his attempted murder, likely to keep the sympathy for him lower when the TwistEnding is revealed.
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* AttemptedHomewrecker: Macey begins lusting after his boss's much younger wife, despite her clearly not wanting his attentions and being happy with the way things are. His murder plot to "free" her from her husband backfires on him horrifically.
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* TheSociopath: Macy fits a lot of the criteria, seems superficially charming, a stunning level of entitlement and inability to feel for others, a superficial understanding of love, and very little ability to show emotions.
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* HereWeGoAgain: Macy starts screaming after the doctor tells him that the earwig laid eggs, meaning he'll have to endure more of the same agony in which he's spent the past week.
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* HereWeGoAgain: Macy starts screaming after the doctor tells him that the earwig laid eggs, meaning he'll have to endure more of the same agony in which he's spent the past week.week-- and the odds of him surviving are ''very'' low.
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Macy (Laurence Harvey), an unhappy soldier stationed in the wilds, lusts after his superior's wife and ultimately plots murder to have her to himself. However, the plot boomerangs and Macy becomes the victim.
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Macy (Laurence Harvey), (Creator/LaurenceHarvey), an unhappy soldier stationed in the wilds, lusts after his superior's wife and ultimately plots murder to have her to himself. However, the plot boomerangs and Macy becomes the victim.
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* HappilyMarried: Macy thinks he's saving the object of his affection from her marriage because her husband is so much older than she is, but the woman is quite happy how things are and thinks Macy is an asshole for making assumptions about her happiness and continually hitting on her.
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* HappilyMarried: Macy thinks he's saving the object of his affection from her marriage because her husband is so much older than she is, but the woman is quite happy with how things are and thinks Macy is an asshole for making assumptions about her happiness and continually hitting on her.
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* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Not only is the episode's "biology" based on old wives' tales, but even the ''title'' is subject to this trope. Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but these (harmless) arthropods aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
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* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Not only is the episode's "biology" based on old wives' tales, tales but even the ''title'' is subject to this trope. Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but these (harmless) arthropods aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
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* EarthShatteringKaboom: Professor Putnam, a military scientist, has delusions that his dead daughter is alive. A wounded pilot becomes his bodyguard and must act as if he is interacting with the daughter. At the end of the episode it is revealed that the scientist has realized that his daughter is dead and has found a way to be reunited with her and get revenge on those who killed her. And it turns out he has been working on nuclear fission. Oops.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The protagonist forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat when Professor Putnam almost wrecks the car, thus breaking him out of his delusion and causing an EarthShatteringKaboom.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The protagonist forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat when Professor Putnam almost wrecks the car, thus breaking him out of his delusion and causing an EarthShatteringKaboom.
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* EarthShatteringKaboom: Professor Putnam, a military scientist, has delusions that his dead daughter is alive. A wounded pilot becomes his bodyguard and must act as if he is interacting with the daughter. At the end of the episode episode, it is revealed that the scientist has realized that his daughter is dead and has found a way to be reunited with her and get revenge on those who killed her. And it turns out he has been working on nuclear fission. Oops.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The protagonist forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat when Professor Putnam almost wrecks the car, thus breaking him out of his delusion and causing anEarthShatteringKaboom.EarthShatteringKaboom.
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* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The protagonist forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat when Professor Putnam almost wrecks the car, thus breaking him out of his delusion and causing an
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Macy, an unhappy soldier stationed in the wilds, lusts after his superior's wife and ultimately plots murder to have her to himself. However, the plot boomerangs and Macy becomes the victim.
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An invalided pilot receives an unusual assignment -- monitor brilliant scientist Professor Putnam and play into his delusions about his dead daughter to get him to complete his work.
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An invalided pilot receives an unusual assignment -- monitor brilliant scientist Professor Putnam (Creator/WilliamWindom) and play into his delusions about his dead daughter to get him to complete his work.
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* DeathOfAChild: Professor Putnam lost his young daughter Ginny and the government asks the protagonist to humor his delusion that she's still alive in order to get him to continue his work.]
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* DeathOfAChild: Professor Putnam lost his young daughter Ginny and the government asks the protagonist to humor his delusion that she's still alive in order to get him to continue his work.]
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* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Not only is the episode's "biology" based on old wives' tales, but even the ''title'' is subject to this trope. Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but they aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
to:
* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Not only is the episode's "biology" based on old wives' tales, but even the ''title'' is subject to this trope. Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but they these (harmless) arthropods aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 11,12 (click to see context) from:
* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but they aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
to:
* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Not only is the episode's "biology" based on old wives' tales, but even the ''title'' is subject to this trope. Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but they aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
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to:
* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Earwigs not only aren't caterpillars, but they aren't even in the same taxonomic Division of insects as moths and butterflies.
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!!The Caterpillar
Macy, an unhappy soldier stationed in the wilds, lusts after his superior's wife and ultimately plots murder to have her to himself. However, the plot boomerangs and Macy becomes the victim.
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* BreakingBadNewsGently: The doctor tells Macy to sit down before telling him the bad news about the earwig. Macy initially says it's not necessary, but the doctor insists, and given the news, he might have been right.
* FemaleMonsterSurprise: A man pays to have a romantic rival murdered by having a carnivorous earwig placed in the man's ear. The plan goes wrong, however, and the next morning he awakens to find that the earwig has been placed in his ear instead, and has crawled inside his head. He endures weeks of agony as the earwig eats its way through his brain, but he remarkably survives the ordeal. He is then told by a doctor that the earwig was female... And it laid eggs.
* HappilyMarried: Macy thinks he's saving the object of his affection from her marriage because her husband is so much older than she is, but the woman is quite happy how things are and thinks Macy is an asshole for making assumptions about her happiness and continually hitting on her.
* HereWeGoAgain: Macy starts screaming after the doctor tells him that the earwig laid eggs, meaning he'll have to endure more of the same agony in which he's spent the past week.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Macy plots a gruesome murder (having a bug placed on the pillow of his rival in love to eat through his brain) but is accidentally made the victim.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: Mr. Warwick says he's just going to have Macy sent back to England; he doesn't intend to press charges for the murder attempt. It's implied he thinks what Macy will have to deal with as a result of his scheme backfiring is worse than the legal punishment he could potentially expect.
* ScreamDiscretionShot: The ending shot cuts to the outside of the Warwicks' house as Macy, having been told that he's going to have a repeat of the last two weeks, screams in pain or fear.
!!Little Girl Lost
An invalided pilot receives an unusual assignment -- monitor brilliant scientist Professor Putnam and play into his delusions about his dead daughter to get him to complete his work.
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* AtomicHate: The ending. Don't piss off the scientist that has nothing to live for after his beloved daughter has died. Especially if he holds a button that sets of a bomb that destroys the entire world.
* DeathOfAChild: Professor Putnam lost his young daughter Ginny and the government asks the protagonist to humor his delusion that she's still alive in order to get him to continue his work.]
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Professor Putnam, a military scientist, has delusions that his dead daughter is alive. A wounded pilot becomes his bodyguard and must act as if he is interacting with the daughter. At the end of the episode it is revealed that the scientist has realized that his daughter is dead and has found a way to be reunited with her and get revenge on those who killed her. And it turns out he has been working on nuclear fission. Oops.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The protagonist forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat when Professor Putnam almost wrecks the car, thus breaking him out of his delusion and causing an EarthShatteringKaboom.
Macy, an unhappy soldier stationed in the wilds, lusts after his superior's wife and ultimately plots murder to have her to himself. However, the plot boomerangs and Macy becomes the victim.
---
* BreakingBadNewsGently: The doctor tells Macy to sit down before telling him the bad news about the earwig. Macy initially says it's not necessary, but the doctor insists, and given the news, he might have been right.
* FemaleMonsterSurprise: A man pays to have a romantic rival murdered by having a carnivorous earwig placed in the man's ear. The plan goes wrong, however, and the next morning he awakens to find that the earwig has been placed in his ear instead, and has crawled inside his head. He endures weeks of agony as the earwig eats its way through his brain, but he remarkably survives the ordeal. He is then told by a doctor that the earwig was female... And it laid eggs.
* HappilyMarried: Macy thinks he's saving the object of his affection from her marriage because her husband is so much older than she is, but the woman is quite happy how things are and thinks Macy is an asshole for making assumptions about her happiness and continually hitting on her.
* HereWeGoAgain: Macy starts screaming after the doctor tells him that the earwig laid eggs, meaning he'll have to endure more of the same agony in which he's spent the past week.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Macy plots a gruesome murder (having a bug placed on the pillow of his rival in love to eat through his brain) but is accidentally made the victim.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: Mr. Warwick says he's just going to have Macy sent back to England; he doesn't intend to press charges for the murder attempt. It's implied he thinks what Macy will have to deal with as a result of his scheme backfiring is worse than the legal punishment he could potentially expect.
* ScreamDiscretionShot: The ending shot cuts to the outside of the Warwicks' house as Macy, having been told that he's going to have a repeat of the last two weeks, screams in pain or fear.
!!Little Girl Lost
An invalided pilot receives an unusual assignment -- monitor brilliant scientist Professor Putnam and play into his delusions about his dead daughter to get him to complete his work.
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* AtomicHate: The ending. Don't piss off the scientist that has nothing to live for after his beloved daughter has died. Especially if he holds a button that sets of a bomb that destroys the entire world.
* DeathOfAChild: Professor Putnam lost his young daughter Ginny and the government asks the protagonist to humor his delusion that she's still alive in order to get him to continue his work.]
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Professor Putnam, a military scientist, has delusions that his dead daughter is alive. A wounded pilot becomes his bodyguard and must act as if he is interacting with the daughter. At the end of the episode it is revealed that the scientist has realized that his daughter is dead and has found a way to be reunited with her and get revenge on those who killed her. And it turns out he has been working on nuclear fission. Oops.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The protagonist forgets to act as though Ginny is in the backseat when Professor Putnam almost wrecks the car, thus breaking him out of his delusion and causing an EarthShatteringKaboom.
