History Recap / TalesFromTheCryptS2E17MyBrothersKeeper

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Weeks later, Frank and Marie lie chastely in bed as Eddie is abused by a dominatrix. When Marie enters the bathroom to freshen up, the dominatrix meets with her, where she reveals that Marie is actually a hooker who Eddie came into contact with and hired to persuade his brother to sign the release form, promising her with a cash settlement big enough to help her get off the streets. Exiting the bathroom, Marie tells Frank that even though she loves him, she rejects his marriage proposal as long as he's stuck to Eddie, which spurs a brutal fight fight between the Duran Brothers. Just as Frank is seconds away from signing the form, Marie barges back in and reveals the truth about her and Eddie's plan to him, but also reveals that she genuinely fell in love with him and agrees to marry him, even if he is attached to Eddie.

* {{Dominatrix}}: Eddie gets frisky with one as Frank and Marie lie in bed. Marie then meets the dominatrix in the bathroom, the latter revealing that their both hookers and that Marie was hired to persuade Frank into signing the release form in exchange for enough cash to get off the streets.

* HaveWeMet: At the bar, Frank seems finds Marie oddly familiar, to which she suggests that they saw each other in passing at the symphony.

** After they wake up in the hospital and the police come to arrest him, Eddie smirks and believes that they can't touch him since he's joined to the innocent Frank. As it turns out, they just woke up post-surgery.

* SingleMindedTwins: While they're getting ready for bed, Frank and Eddie brush, gargle, and use the (conjoined) toilet at the same time before excercising on a stationary bicycle built for two. A good amount of their scenes also feature them wearing the same outfits as well.

->'''Crypt Keeper:''' Are you alone tonight? Well, consider yourself lucky...there could be ''two'' of you! And imagine what a ''fright''-mare '''''that''''' could be. ''(notices his reflection in a nearby mirror; he yelps, then giggles meekly)'' Just a reflection. Not so for tonight's stars, Frank and Eddie. Two brothers who are ''touchingly'' close. When a woman tries to come between them, she finds herself caught in a tangled web of jealousy and intrigue. I think you'll find it a ''twinning'' combination. So without further ado, I bring you: '''My Brother's Keeper.'''

Frank and Eddie Duran (Timothy Stack and Jonathan Stark) are a pair of conjoined twin brothers fused at the hip. The brothers are different as night and day, with Frank being a cultural, hygienic, and well-mannered bookworm, and Eddie being a crude, slovenly, lecherous pervert. While visiting a bar (where Eddie does all the drinking as Frank reads), Frank meets a woman named Marie Hilton (Creator/JessicaHarper), who is similarly reading and is gradually intrigued by Frank's personality. While attempting to get down on the dance floor, Marie is rammed into the mass of tissue that fuses the brothers' waists, and makes a hasty exit upon the discovery.

The brothers then proceed to meet with a doctor who specializes in separating conjoined twins. While astounded with the brothers' unique abnormality, the doctor agrees to have them separated, but warns them that the surgery has a 50% mortality rate. Eddie happily signs the release form that will allow the surgery, eager for a separate life, but Frank is reluctant, not only because of the 50/50 chance that the brothers could die during the operation, but from the fear that losing his brother will render him truly alone for the first time in his life.

That night, Eddie persuades his brother to sign the release, noting that he would no longer have to put up with any of the stuff Eddie wants to do, and he would finally be able to do all the stuff that ''he'' wants to do. He even goes as far as to hide the release form throughout the brothers' apartment in the hopes that Frank will say yes. Frank soon gets a call from Marie, who apologizes for her behavior the night before and offers another chance to go out with him. Frank eagerly accepts her offer, treating her to a trip to the symphony and a home cooked French dinner. Eddie acts increasingly obnoxious to the couple during the date, and gets himself incredibly drunk in the process, knowing that the drunkenness will carry over to Frank since the brothers share a bloodstream. Despite this, Frank tells his brother that he's not stopping his romance with Marie.

Weeks after they first met, Frank and Marie lie in bed as Eddie is engaged in roleplay with a dominatrix. When Marie enters the bathroom to freshen up a little, the dominatrix meets with her, revealing that Marie is actually a hooker who Eddie came into contact with and has hired her to persuade his brother to sign the release form. Marie then tells Frank that even though she loves him, he rejects his proposal of marriage so long as he is stuck to his brother. This spurs a brutal fight fight between the brothers, and Frank is seconds away from signing the form when Marie barges back in. She reveals everything about her and Eddie's plan to Frank, but she actually fell in love with him in the process and agrees to marry him, even if he's attached to Eddie.

Incensed that his plan to rid himself of his brother has failed, Eddie kills Marie with a meat cleaver. Eddie even digs into his brother's pain by calling the police and confessing to the crime, touting that they won't be able sentence him to execution with the innocent Frank still attached to him, citing that it would be cruel and unusual punishment. Enraged, Frank handcuffs Eddie to the kitchen counter, collects Eddie's pills and vodka, and attempts to commit murder/suicide by overdosing. While the pills kick in, Frank begins ranting about how he's sick and tired of having to clean up all of Eddie's messes, apologize for his brother's actions all the time, and about about being the "good one" is a lot of responsibility. As Eddie passes out, Frank uses the last of his strength to sign the form with Marie's blood.

The brothers awaken in the hospital, where they are greeted by the police, arriving to arrest Eddie for Marie's murder. Eddie's smug attitude fades away when Frank tells him that he finally signed the release form, and the brothers aren't conjoined anymore. As Eddie pleads for Frank's help and is taken away, Frank's behavior seems to perform a 180, repeating one of his brother's inappropriate pick-up lines to the nurse after ordering a drink.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Eddie, believe it or not. In the comic, Mark was a complete psychopath from childhood, even going so far as to burn a cat alive. None of this is even mentioned in the show, making him more of a obnoxious jackass than a psychopath until the climax.
** His motivations are also different. In the comic, Mark was so destructive because he was jealous of Frank, and would destroy anything of his that he couldn't have, up to and including his fiancé. In the show, Eddie just wants freedom from their situation, and even tries the diplomatic approach before Marie decides to give Frank a chance. After that, he steps up his game, but he doesn't get violent until after she convinces Frank not to go through with it.
* AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul: In the comic, both brothers were in love with Alice, but she eventually chose Frank, leading Mark to kill her to ensure neither one of them could have her. In the show, Eddie has no interest in her and paid Marie (who was actually a hooker) to act interested in Frank so that he could convince him to go through with the operation, though she did come to truly love him.

* TheAlcoholic: Eddie is a heavy drinker. Since he and his brother Frank share a bloodstream, both brothers are able to get drunk at once.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: It seems a bit suspect that the hospital staff would do the surgery, as the release form was signed with a woman's blood.
* BatmanGambit: Eddie learned about the experimental surgery shortly before the episode. He subsequently hired hooker Marie to woo Frank, and then did everything he could to make their dates as uncomfortable as possible (including not bathing, constantly mouthing off, and hiring a dominatrix for a double date). The final straw is for Marie to dump Frank on the grounds that their situation is unworkable "the way things are" and walk out. Eddie fully expected Frank to get so angry about the relationship being wrecked that he would agree to sign the release form. It almost works, only for Marie to confess at the last second.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: After all the hassles Eddie puts him through, Frank signs the release and allows the brothers to be free at last. Unfortunately for Eddie, his brother did so ''after'' he killed his fiancé and blabbed about it to the police.
* BecomingTheMask: At first, Marie only acted like she loved Frank because Eddie paid her to do so, but she came to truly love him and accepted his marriage proposal. Unfortunately, she picked the worst time to do so...
* BeingGoodSucks: Frank's rant to Eddie near the end has him admit that he's sick and tired of having to apologize for Eddie, clean up his messes, and is generally tired of all the responsibility that comes with being "the good one". Case in point, when the brothers are finally separated, Frank orders a drink and flirts with the nurse, not unlike his brother did.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Frank is a squeaky clean, unassuming guy that resorts to violence when Eddie murders his lover, where he doesn't hesitate to ensure his brother gets what he deserves.
* BigOMG: Frank, in response to Eddie murdering Marie.
* BittersweetEnding: Frank has lost the love of his life, but he's finally free from Eddie and can now live the life he wants to... a life suspiciously similar to his brother's.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: Frank borrows his brother's "studded leather corset" line as he is greeted by the nurse.
* ClassicalMusicIsCool: Frank is big on classical music, while Eddie is most definitely not. Frank tells Marie that he and Eddie have worked it out so that three bar trips equals one symphony trip.
* CommonalityConnection: Frank and Marie meet at the bar that Eddie wanted to go to, with her pointing out they're both the only ones there reading books. She then suggests they've previously saw each other at a symphony. We later learn that Marie's a hooker who Eddie hired to seduce Frank into getting the release form signed.
* ConjoinedTwins: Frank and Eddie, who are joined at the hip. The doctor who analyzes them is astounded to find a biological abnormality as rare as theirs in such pristine condition. While both brothers have a full set of organs and limbs, the real issue is that the mass of flesh connecting their hips together is full of veins and arteries, and makes it so the brothers share a single bloodstream. As such, when one of the brothers drinks, the other brother can feel it just as much as the first.
* CoolCar: The Duran brothers own and drive a red Ferrari. Eddie is said to be the one who negotiated its purchase, since Frank says he wanted a Volkswagen.
* CouldntFindAPen: Or rather, some ink, since Frank dabs a pen in Marie's blood to sign the release form.
* CrazyPrepared: Eddie seems to have planned for almost everything in the episode, hiding the release form throughout the brothers' apartment, meeting and hiring Marie to fall in love with Frank, even finding them the doctor who could sperate the brothers. Even more impressive is that he pulled it all off by himself, a feat which should be impossible given that he can't do anything separate from Frank.

* DeathByIrony: Eddie suffers this a couple times over, as he gets carted off by police because Frank finally signed the release form for the surgery that he so desperately wanted. Also, Frank did it by dabbing the pen in the blood of the woman that Eddie had murdered.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: In his crazed state, Eddie never once thinks about ripping up the release form that he already signed and ultimately left within arm's reach of Frank.
* DirtyCoward / MilesGloriosus: Eddie is a very tough person as long as he has someone (usually his brother) to cover him. The moment his protector is gone, he [[AintTooProudToBeg starts to beg and cry]].

** After several long and grueling years of abuse, Frank finally gets the final word with Eddie (and takes his life as a result).
** Waking up in the hospital, Eddie immediately sets about ordering the nurse for a drink and slaps her on the ass. She is all too happy to introduce him to his visitors: the cops intending to arrest him.
* {{Dominatrix}}: Eddie gets frisky with one as Frank and Marie lie in bed. Marie meets the dominatrix in the bathroom, the latter revealing that the both of them are hookers and that she's been hired to persuade Frank into signing the form, having been promised enough cash to get off the streets.
* EvilGloating: Eddie does this to Frank after he kills Marie and confesses his crime to the police, bragging that as long as he's still attached to Frank, who is innocent, the Justice System can't sentence him to execution, citing it as cruel and unusual punishment.
* ExactWords: "I can't live attached to a murderer." Eddie thinks that this means Frank truly wants to kill both of the brothers in one go, but it also means that Frank is more willing than ever to sign a certain release form.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Frank is well-mannered and well behaved, while Eddie is reckless, rude, and cruel.
* HatesBeingAlone: The main reason that Frank won't sign the release. Being a conjoined twin, he's never been alone once in his entire life, and he worries about what isolation could do to him.
* HaveWeMet: At the bar, Frank seems finds Marie oddly familiar. She suggests they saw each other in passing at a symphony.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Marie is actually a hooker who works with the dominatrix who gets kinky with Eddie. Eddie managed to find her and hired her to persuade his brother into signing the release form with the promise of enough money for her to get off the streets. The end of the episode has her break away from Eddie's plan and tell Frank everything, having genuinely fallen in love with him and agreeing to be his wife, even if it means having to put up with Eddie.
* HopeSpot: Two for Eddie. One is when Frank is seconds away from signing the release, Eddie's actions with Marie finally driving him over the edge, but Marie comes back and ruins it. Later, after they wake up in the hospital and the police come to arrest him, he smirks and believes they can't touch him since he's joined to the innocent Frank. But as it turns out, they just woke up post-surgery...
* {{Hypocrite}}: For someone who lives recklessly, especially when it comes to haphazard driving, heavy drinking, taking a sleeping pill with vodka, and even threatening to disconnect them manually with a meat cleaver, Eddie tries to stop Frank when he's overdosing on sleeping pills and vodka as an act of suicide after Eddie kills Marie.
* IronicEcho: Eddie ridicules his brother for supposedly acting like a coward. Frank says the same thing to Eddie when [[AintTooProudToBeg he starts to beg]].
* JerkassHasAPoint: When Frank first expresses hesitancy about the surgery, Eddie rationally lists the many benefits of being separated: getting the kind of privacy others enjoy, no longer having to do activities that he hates, getting to do all the things he's always wanted to do.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Eddie being arrested for Marie's murder, and a chance of him facing execution if and when convicted. Eddie had it coming to him after all the pain he brought to his brother, especially killing the love of his life.
* LittleNo: Eddie, after one of the cops snaps on the handcuffs.
* MirandaRights: The detective arresting Eddie reads them after he admits to killing Marie. Thinking he's safe, Eddie brushes him off, but soon regrets it.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: One of the benefits Frank considers if he's separated from his brother is the chance to roll over in bed.
* NiceGuy: Before the ending, Frank is well-mannered and polite, and tries to live life the best that he can while attached to Eddie. The climatic scene near the end of the episode has him admit that he's sick and tired of having to put up with all of the responsibility that being "the good one" foists upon him.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Eddie openly gloating about how being a [[ConjoinedTwins conjoined twin]] means the law can't touch him is what gives Frank the push to sign the release form.
* OhCrap: Exactly what happens to Eddie when he finds out that just before the brothers went into overdose, Frank finally signed the release form, having the brothers separated. He also found this out just as the police came to arrest him for the murder of Marie.
* PlotHole: How did Eddie meet with Marie and hire her to pretend to fall in love with Frank, given how neither brother can do anything without the other?

** In Eddie's case, Marie confessing his plan to Frank, ruining his last chance to get Frank to sign the release form, making Eddie kill Marie with a meat cleaver.
** In Frank's case, Eddie killing the love of his life, ruining his chance at happiness, making Frank attempt murder/suicide by overdosing on Eddie's sleeping pills and vodka, and also signing the medical release form in the chance they both survive, which they both did.
* TheReveal: It's during the double date (of sorts) where we learn that Marie is actually a hooker Eddie hired to push Frank into signing the release form.
* SanitySlippage: Marie confessing to his plot causes Eddie to lose it. He kills her in a fit of rage and remains quite unbalanced when gloating about how he'll get away with it.
* SarcasmMode: Frank happily indulges in this when saying that he "forgot" to warn Eddie in advance that they finally underwent surgery.

* SingleMindedTwins: While they're getting ready for bed, Frank and Eddie brush, gargle, and use the (conjoined) toilet at the same time.
* StepfordSmiler: Marie's smile seems rather forced at some points during her and Frank's (and Eddie's, hinting at the fact that she's in cahoots with Eddie.
* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: Frank and Marie (and Eddie) dance at the bar set to a song about how the singer tells their lover that they're "Stuck On You".
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Frank is completely disgusted with Eddie murdering Marie, decreeing this to be the last straw after spending his whole life having to apologize for him and clean up his messes. He ensures Eddie gets what he deserves and openly ignores his pleas for help.
* ToiletHumor: There's a brief scene where Frank and Eddie piss in a special, conjoined toilet. Eddie persuades Frank to sign the release form during this time so that each brother could piss in peace.
* VillainousBreakdown: Eddie is a complete mess as the police take him away for the murder he just confessed to.

* WorthIt: The doctor estimates that there's a 50/50 chance of the brothers' surgery being successful. Eddie is all too eager to the risk.
* XanatosGambit: After Marie dies, Frank handcuffs Eddie to the counter before downing pills and booze. He justifies his actions by saying that he refuses to live attached to a murderer. Eddie thinks this is some kind of murder/suicide attempt, and it certainly could've worked out that way, but Frank also uses his last bit of strength to sign the release form so that the surgery could finally be performed. No matter what happens next, Frank passes out knowing he's taken Eddie down for good.
* YouMonster: Eddie openly gloating about how he'll get away with murder prompts this reaction from Frank.

->'''Crypt Keeper:''' Well, maggot-meisters, how's that for a ''cheeky'' little tale? ''(cackles)'' Frank sure picked a deadly time to sever all ''thighs'' with his brother. And poor Eddie suffered the unkindest cut of all: ''(smashes the mirror with a sledgehammer)'' a real ''split personality!'' ''(cackles and pounds the sledgehammer)''

->'''Crypt Keeper:''' Are you alone tonight? Well, consider yourself lucky...there could be ''two'' of you! And imagine what a ''fright''-mare '''''that''''' could be. ''(notices his reflection in a nearby mirror; he yelps, them giggles meekly)'' Just a reflection. Not so for tonight's stars, Frank and Eddie. Two brothers who are ''touchingly'' close. When a woman tries to come between them, she finds herself caught in a tangled web of jealousy and intrigue. I think you'll find it a ''twinning'' combination. So without further ado, I bring you: '''My Brother's Keeper.'''