History Recap / TalesFromTheCryptS2E13KormansKalamity

Jim Korman, a cartoonist who works for ''Tales From the Crypt'', grows immensely frustrated at Mildred, his domineering nag of a wife. Since one of her biggest peeves with Jim is the fact that he is unable to give her a child, she forces him to take experimental, non-FDA approved fertility pills. Soon after, policewoman Lorelei Phillips is saved from an attempted rapist's late-night ambush when a monster suddenly appears out of nowhere and tears the offender's head off. Having heard that similar monsters were recently sighted throughout the city, and after seeing the same monsters on an issue of ''Tales From the Crypt'', Lorelei visits Jim, whom she believes is making the monsters come to life. As Jim tries to decipher his connection to the monsters, he also struggles to juggle his developing feelings for Lorelei while avoiding Mildred.

** The opening shot of the episode briefly pans by Jim and Mildred's wedding picture. Mildred has an ear-to-ear smile while Jim looks stone-faced.

[[caption-width-right:350:What starts as drawing monsters leads to drawing blood.]]


->'''Crypt Keeper:''' ''(illustrating a DrosteImage of himself)'' Oh... Hi there, fright fiends. How do you like my rancid rendering? Not bad for an amateur. Hopefully, it will give you an ''inkling'' of what tonight's ''fungusy'' photo-play is about. Because long before my eerie offerings appeared on your silver screen, ''(pulls out a stack of old Tales From the Crypt issues and puts them on his table)'' they were a magazine called, get a load of this, "''Tales From the Crypt!''" So tonight, let's take a behind-the-''screams'' look at a struggling artist named Jim Korman, who one day got a little too... '''drawn into his work.'''

Jim Korman, a cartoonist who works for ''Tales From the Crypt'', is growing immensely frustrated at Mildred, his nag of a wife. Since one of her biggest peeves with Jim is the fact that he is unable to give her a child, she forces him to take experimental, non-FDA approved fertility pills. Soon after, policewoman Lorelei Phillips is saved from a late-night ambush by a rapist when a monster suddenly appears out of nowhere and tears the offender's head off. Having heard that similar monsters were recently sighted throughout the city, and after seeing the same monsters on an issue of ''Tales From the Crypt'', Lorelei visits Jim, whom she believes is making the monsters come to life through his experimental pills.

!!Tropes:

** The monster with an overbite helps himself to the first person he can grab. Said person turns out to be an attempted rapist.
** Both versions of Mildred qualify. The real Mildred is about to shoot Jim for being unfaithful, only to be distracted by the sudden arrival of her monstrous counterpart. The monster soon menaces Jim, and is just about to grab him, but then Mildred distracts it by openly insulting it. Jim is able to slip off in all the confusion.
* AdaptationNameChange: By necessity, as the original comic story ("Kamen's Kalamity!") was about EC artist Jack Kamen and featured his colleagues. It was completely different from this episode, anyway.
* AgentMulder: Monsters keep being spotted all over the city. Lorelei sees one for herself and notices that it resembles a monster on one of the ''Tales From the Crypt'' comic book covers that Jim drew. She is immediately positive that Jim is somehow bringing them to life, and she is absolutely right.

* ArtInitiatesLife: Thanks to the experimental fertility pills that Mildred has been forcing on him, Jim can make his drawings come to life if he thinks about them hard enough. As Mildred is being attacked by her monstrous counterpart, Jim throws the pills out, ensuring there won't be any more sightings.

** Mildred Korman, Jim's shrewy nag of a wife that constantly belittles him.
** The man who tried to rape Lorelei. On grounds of being, y'know, a [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapist]].
* AttemptedRape: The thug at the laundromat was intending to rape Lorelei, only to find she was more than capable of defending herself. Before he can try anything else, the monster with an overbite makes short work of him.

** Mildred is constantly browbeating Jim, dismissing his occupation, accusing him of cheating on her, and blaming him for their inability to conceive (to the point of demanding he take medication that hasn't been approved by the FDA). Despite this, she stays with him purely to deny him the chance to be with anyone else.
** Bob remarks his wife is even less forgiving than Mildred is.
* BadassNormal: When cornered by the thug at the laundromat, Lorelei busts out some kung fu moves to knock him to the floor. We later learn that she's a cop.
* BerserkButton: One that applies to both sides occurs when Mildred blames Jim for their inability to conceive a child. Jim angrily reminds her that the doctor said it could be either one of them, prompting her to glare at him for even ''suggesting'' she could be at fault. It's notably the only time that Jim asserts himself when Mildred yells at him.
* BlatantLies: While on the phone, Jim assures Mildred that all of the secretaries have gone home for the day, just as a buxom blonde one hands him some drawings.
* TheCameo: The Crypt Keeper himself, as an inanimate puppet, appears in the ''Tales From the Crypt'' offices.
* CardCarryingVillain: The thug who tries to rape Lorelei in the laundromat is almost cartoonishly sleazy. Given that he's seen on the same cover as the monster that kills him, he was so evil because he was also one of Jim's drawings.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Mildred is positive that Jim is only working on a Saturday because he has a bimbo on the side there, and she promises to slap her silly in addition to him for supposedly being unfaithful.
* DeathAsComedy: Mildred's death is played this way, especially when Lorelei shows up at the door and Jim is in a hurry to leave.

* DenserAndWackier: Make no mistake, there are horror elements. But the over-the-top performances, wacky looking monsters, zany music, and heavy meta plot render this episode one of the most off-the-wall entries in the whole series. There's even a short scene that features a bunch of kids leaving a dorkier kid out of their game, and even though one of Jim's monsters appears where they play and Lorelei is called to the scene, it has nothing to do with the rest of the episode.
* DrugsAreBad: All of the events of the episodes happen because of the experimental fertility pills Mildred has been foisting on Jim.
* TheDreaded: Jim's not the only one who can't stand his wife. The minute she appears at the door, his coworkers make themselves scarce.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Jim finally manages to get rid of Mildred, and goes on a date with Lorelei. If the Crypt Keeper is believed, they'll also be getting married.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: For both sides of the conversation, when Mildred first shows up at Jim's workplace.
-->'''Jim:''' ''[flatly]'' Hi, honey.\\
'''Mildred:''' Don't "Hi, honey" me, you pompous jackass.

* FashionVictimVillain: Mildred wears some pretty ridiculous outfits, especially in the finale.
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Phil thinks Lorelei's "monster with an overbite" story is crazy, citing other such claims as a two-headed ogre or a dinosaur in a Volkswagen. In the next scene, Lorelei comes across covers depicting all three monsters and checks to see who the artist is.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Lorelei arrives at the office, just as Mildred is being attacked by her monstrous counterpart. Jim and Lorelei talk, as we see the silhouettes of the ongoing fight.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Mildred getting mauled by her monstrous counterpart is largely shown as a FunnyBackgroundEvent and otherwise kept off-screen. After Jim and Lorelei leave in the elevator, we see a splatter of blood hit the drawing that Jim had been working on.
* GoshDangitToHeck: Given the zany, comic-book style of the episode, Mildred is prone to cursing this way.
* HateSink: Mildred, Jim's comically obnoxious and overbearing wife, who belittles her husband at every opportunity, lambasts him for not giving her a child, and only stays with him to prevent him from finding any other lover, getting her jollies by watching him squirm. She's ironically taken out of the picture by a more (physically) monstrous version of herself.

* IdiosyncraticWipes: Appropriately, the episode's scene transitions resemble a flipping page like in a comic book.

* InNameOnly: The original comic story was also a {{Metafiction}}, but a SelfDeprecation one about a new artist finding EC staffers are violent lunatics, becoming one himself, and having an AllJustADream ending. This story is about an artist that accidentally develops the ability to make his creations come to life.
* {{Irony}}: Mildred wears garishly colorful outfits in all of her scenes, despite having a heart that's pitch black.
** The opening scene of the story is set to a song about how lucky a man is to be married to a wonderful woman. Jim's situation is the exact opposite of the song's.
* ItCameFromTheFridge: One of Jim's drawings is of a zombie covered in cobwebs and slime emerging from a refrigerator. The creature manifests in an abandoned fridge in a junkyard, giving a good scare to the kids who were playing there.
* KarmicDeath: Mildred is about to shoot Jim for being unfaithful, only to end up provoking one of her husband's creations (an unflattering and horrific caricature of herself, no less) and being killed in response. Heck, she was the one who forced Jim to take the pills that made it possible for him to inadvertently bring his drawings to life in the first place. Even the Crypt Keeper points out that Mildred [[LaserGuidedKarma brought about her own death]] by being an insulting, bitter shrew to a husband that had actually been pretty nice to her.
* LampshadeHanging: As quoted above, Jim questions the premise of him being able to bring his drawings to life thanks to the experimental fertility pills.
* LetMeGetThisStraight: Phil, when trying to understand Lorelei's claims of a monster crawling out of the washing machine and attacking the thug who was about to rape her.
* LookBehindYou: Subverted. At the laundromat, Lorelei genuinely tries to warn the thug threatening her that something has just crawled out of the washing machine, but he thinks it's a bluff. He soon pays for not heeding her warning.
* {{Metafiction}}: The story revolves around an artist working for the ''Tales From the Crypt'' comic book, from which the TV show draws inspiration.
* MistakenForCheating: Mildred repeatedly accuses Jim of fooling around behind her back, well-before he actually meets Lorelei and falls for her.
* MyBiologicalClockIsTicking: Mildred desperately wants a child and blames Jim for not being able to conceive. She demands that he take the experimental pills to increase their chances and threatens him to shape up.
* MythologyGag: Jim says he's burned out on horror comics and suggests trying a romance story instead. The original comic story was about a romance comic artist having to switch over to horror stories.
* NoIndoorVoice: Mildred. So much so that it's really easy to hear her yelling at Jim over the phone.
* NoodleIncident: Prior to the episode and Lorelei's encounter with the laundromat monster, Phil tells her (and by extension us) that there have been all sorts of monster sightings throughout the city, including a man encountering a two-headed ogre, and a housewife who found a dinosaur in her Volkswagen.
* OffscreenTeleportation: The monsters are shown to spontaneously manifest in random places.
** The thug who harasses Lorelei, who may possibly be one of Jim's drawings brought to life, also appears in the laundromat when the power goes out.
** Mildred is suddenly seen in front of Jim's desk as he calls Lorelei for a date.
* OffWithHisHead: At the laundromat, the monster with an overbite attacks the thug and ends up ripping off his head.

** Lorelei when, while on her beat, she passes by a magazine stand that holds issues of ''Tales From the Crypt''. She gets another one when she finds that said issues depict the monster she saw in the laundromat, as well as a few others that were sighted recently.

* PhlebotinumPills: The experimental fertility pills that Jim is forced to take by his wife, which he says aren't approved by the FDA. We don't know what's in them, but we learn that they can make Jim bring his drawings to life as a sort of side effect, to the point where quite a few people in the city have spotted monsters in recent days. When Mildred is being killed by her monstrous self, Jim throws the pills in the garbage to end the monster sightings.
* ThePowerOfLove: The episode ends with Jim and Lorelei having a romantic dinner. The Crypt Keeper suspects this "sappy ending" will soon give way to the happy couple getting married.
* ProperlyParanoid: For all the crap she gives Jim about him fooling around behind her back, Mildred's claims turn out to be true when he falls in love with Lorelei.
* {{Pun}}: "Was it a little too ''graphic'' for you?"
* QuipToBlack: At the laundromat, courtesy of Lorelei's co-worker when discussing her claims of a monster attacking the thug.

** As the monster with an overbite attacks the thug, Lorelei beats feet out of there as quickly as possible and only comes back with a number of cops.
* SeenItAll: Jim's bored response to Mildred accusing him of cheating on her suggests that this routine happens a lot.
* SelfDeprecation: Jim remarks that the idea of an artist somehow managing to bring his drawings to life is a really weird leap in logic.

** Lorelei says Jim's monsters are "popping in from ''Series/TheTwilightZone''."
** The episode's page-flipping scene transitions are borrowed from ''Film/{{Creepshow}}'', which was similarly inspired by the old Creator/ECComics.

* SympatheticAdulterer: We see a lot of scenes where Jim is relentlessly hassled and insulted by Mildred, and she spitefully makes it clear she won't ever leave him just to rob him of his happiness. Jim immediately hits it off with the far more pleasant Lorelei, meeting right after a rather unpleasant phone call with the missus.
* TitleDrop: "Because long before my eerie offerings appeared on your silver screen, they were a magazine called--get a load of this--''Tales from the Crypt''!"

* WolfWhistle: After pitching a story from the perspective of a rabid dog, Art does this in response to a sexy secretary entering. She is displeased.
* WomanScorned: Thinking that her suspicions have finally been confirmed, Mildred gets a gun out of her car and is fully prepared to shoot Jim for being unfaithful.
* YouExclamation: Lorelei, when she recognizes Jim as the guy she saw in passing at the laundromat.
* YouMonster: After Mildred storms out of the office, Bob refers to her as such. As it happens, Jim agrees and suddenly feels inspired to finish drawing a monster.

->'''Crypt Keeper:''' ''(illustrating the closing scene of Jim and Lorelei on their date)'' Well, how's that for a ''sappy'' ending? Was it a little too ''graphic'' for you? Oh, well. Next thing you know, Jim and his new ‘gal pal’ will be walking down the ''easel'' together. I guess he learned that life imitates art, after all. As for poor Mildred, she learned that ''death'' imitates art, too. Maybe if she'd been nicer to him, she wouldn't have ended up... ''a monsterpiece!'' ''(cackles)''

* KarmicDeath: Mildred is about to shoot Jim for being unfaithful, only to end up provoking one of her husband's creations (an unflattering and horrific caricature of herself, no less) and being killed in response. Heck, she was the one who forced Jim to take the pills that made it possible for him to inadvertently bring his drawings to life in the first place. Even the Crypt Keeper points out that Mildred brought about her own death by being an insulting, bitter shrew to a husband that had actually been pretty nice to her.

* ShoutOut: Lorelei says Jim's monsters are "popping in from ''Series/TheTwilightZone''."

* OneSceneWonder: The kids in the junkyard who get spooked by Jim's fridge zombie when it manifests there.

* DenserAndWackier: Make no mistake, there are horror elements. But the over-the-top performances, wacky looking monsters, zany music, and heavy meta plot render this episode one of the most off-the-wall entries in the whole series. There's even a short scene that features a bunch of kids leaving a dorkier kid out of their game, and even though one of Jim's monsters appears where they play, the scene has nothing to do with the rest of the episode.

[[quoteright:140:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tales_from_the_crypt_korman_s_kalamity_287759678_large.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:140:What starts as drawing monsters leads to drawing blood.]]

** Mildred Kamen, Jim's shrewy nag of a wife that constantly belittles him.

A Comic Book Artist discovers that the monsters he draws are more real than he could ever imagine.

!!"Korman's Kalamity" Includes examples of:

** The monster with an overbite helps himself to the first person he can grab and that turns out to be an attempted rapist.
** Both versions of Mildred qualify. The real Mildred is about to shoot Jim for being unfaithful, only to be distracted by the sudden arrival of her monstrous counterpart. The monster soon menaces Jim and just about to grab him, but then Mildred distracts it by openly insulting it. Jim is able to slip off in all the confusion.

* AgentMulder: Monsters keep being spotted. Lorelai sees one for herself and notices the resemblance to monsters on comic book covers. She is immediately positive that Jim is somehow bringing them to life, and she is absolutely right.
-->'''Jim:''' [[LampshadeHanging You know that's a really weird idea.]]
* ArtInitiatesLife: Thanks to the experimental pills that Mildred has been forcing on him, Jim can make his drawings come to life if he thinks hard enough. As Mildred is being attacked by her monstrous counterpart, Jim throws the pills out, ensuring there won't be any repeat sightings.

** The man who tried to rape Lorelai. On grounds of being, y'know, a [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapist]].
* AttemptedRape: The thug at the laundromat was intending to rape Lorelai, only to find she was more than capable of defending herself. Before he can try anything else, the monster with an overbite makes short work of him.

** Mildred is constantly browbeating Jim, dismissing his occupation, accusing him of cheating on her, and blaming him for their inability to conceive (to the point of demanding he take medication that hasn't been approved by the FDA). She stays with him purely to deny him the chance to be with anyone else.

* BadassNormal: When cornered by the thug at the laundromat, Lorelai busts out some moves to knock him to the floor. We later learn she's a cop.
* BerserkButton: One that applies to both sides when Mildred blames him for their inability to conceive a child. Jim angrily reminds her that the doctor said it could either one of them, prompting her to glare at him for even suggesting she could be at fault. It's notably the only time that Jim asserts himself when Mildred yells at him.
* BlatantLies: While on the phone, Jim assures Mildred that all of the secretaries have gone home for the day, as one hands him some drawings.

* DeathAsComedy: Mildred's death is played this way, especially when Lorelai shows up at the door and Jim is in a hurry to leave.
* DeathGlare: The not-so-happy couple have these exchanges in the first scene.
* DrugsAreBad: All of the events of the episodes happen because of the fertility pill.
* TheDreaded: Jim's not the only one who can't stand his wife. The minute she appears at the door, his colleagues make themselves scarce.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Jim finally manages to get rid of Mildred, and goes on a date with Lorelai.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: For both sides of the conversation, when Mildred first shows up at Jim's work.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Phil thinks Lorelai's "monster with an overbite" story is crazy, citing other such claims as a two-headed ogre or a dinosaur in a Volkswagen. In the next scene, Lorelai comes across covers depicting all three monsters and checks to see who the artist is.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Lorelai arrives at the office, just as Mildred is being attacked by her monstrous counterpart. Jim and Lorelai talk, as we see the silhouettes of the ongoing fight.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Mildred getting mauled by her monstrous counterpart is largely shown as a FunnyBackgroundEvent and otherwise kept off-screen. After Jim and Lorelai leave in the elevator, we see a splatter of blood hit the drawing that Jim had been working on.
* HenpeckedHusband: Mildred won't give Jim a break.
* IdiosyncraticWipes: Appropriately, the scene transitions resemble a flipping page like in a comic.

* KarmicDeath: Mildred was about to shoot Jim, only to end up provoking one of her husband's creations and being killed in response. Heck, she was the one who forced him to take the pills that made it possible for him to inadvertently bring his drawings to life in the first place. Even the Crypt Keeper points out that Mildred brought about her own demise by being an insulting, bitter shrew to a husband that had actually been pretty nice to her.
* LetMeGetThisStraight: Phil when trying to understand Lorelai's claims of a monster crawling out of the washing machine and attacking the thug.
* LookBehindYou: Subverted. At the laundromat, Lorelai genuinely tries to warn the thug threatening her that something really nasty has just crawled out of the washing machine, but he thinks it's a bluff. He soon pays for not heeding her warning.
* {{Metafiction}}: The story revolves around an artist working for the "Tales From the Crypt" magazine, from which the TV Show draws inspiration.
* MistakenForCheating: Mildred repeatedly accuses Jim of fooling around behind her back, well-before he actually meets Lorelai and falls for her.
* MyBiologicalClockIsTicking: Mildred desperately wants a child and blames Jim for it not having happened yet. She demands he take the experimental pills to increase their chances and threatens him to shape up.
* MythologyGag: Jim says he's burned out on horror comics and suggests trying romance stories instead. The original comic story was about a romance comics artist having to switch over to horror stories.
* NoIndoorVoice: Mildred so much so that it's really easy to hear her yelling at Jim over the phone.
* NoodleIncident: Prior to the episode, there were all sorts of monster sightings, including a man encountering a two-headed ogre and a woman finding a T-Rex in her Volkswagen.

** Lorelai when, while on her beat, she passes by a magazine cover that depicts the monster she saw in the laundromat.
** Jim when Mildred surprises him with a gun.
* ThePowerOfLove: The episode ends with Jim and Lorelai having a romantic dinner. The Crypt Keeper suspects this "sappy ending" will give way to the happy couple getting married soon enough.

* QuipToBlack: At the laundromat, courtesy of Lorelai's co-worker when discussing her claims of a monster attacking the thug.
-->'''Phil:''' Have it your way, but if there was a monster, I've got one thing to say about it: he's got one hell of an overbite.

** Upon seeing Mildred's distinct silhouette at the door, Jim's colleagues immediately go hide in their offices.
** As the monster with an overbite attacks the thug, Lorelai beats her feet out of there as quickly as possible and only comes back with a number of cops.
* SeenItAll: Jim's bored response to Mildred accusing him of cheating suggests this happens a lot.
* SelfDeprecation: Jim remarks that the idea of an artist somehow managing to bring his creations to life is a really weird leap in logic.
* ShoutOut: Lorelai says Jim's monsters are "popping in from ''Series/TheTwilightZone''."
* SympatheticAdulterer: Of the Pay Cheating Unto Evil, with a little Impossible Divorce thrown in for good measure. We see a lot of Jim being relentlessly hassled and insulted by Mildred, and she spitefully makes it clear she won't ever leave him. Jim immediately hits it off with the far more pleasant Lorelai, meeting right after a rather unpleasant phone call with the Missus.

* TooDumbToLive: Sure Mildred, insult the monster your husband created right before your eyes. That'll end well for you.

* WomanScorned: Thinking her suspicions have finally been confirmed, Mildred gets the gun out of her car and is fully prepared to shoot Jim for being unfaithful.
* YouExclamation: Lorelai when she recognizes Jim as the guy she saw in passing at the laundromat.
* YouMonster: After Mildred storms out of the office, Bob refers to her as such. As it happens, Jim agrees and suddenly feels inspired to finish drawing a monster.

* InNameOnly: The original comic story was also a MetaPlot, but a SelfDeprecation one about a new artist finding EC staffers are violent lunatics, becoming one himself, and having an AllJustADream ending. This story is about an artist that accidentally develops the ability to make his creations come to life.

* MetaPlot: The story revolves around an artist working for the "Tales From the Crypt" magazine, from which the TV Show draws inspiration.

* TooDumbtoLive: Sure Mildred, insult the monster your husband created right before your eyes. That'll end well for you.

* TooDumbtoLive: Sure Mildred, insult the monster your husband created right before your eyes. That'll end well for you.