!! The Sacrifice

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_sacrifice.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The perfect crime... but for whom?]]

->'''Crypt Keeper:''' (''wearing a chef's hat and preparing a recipe'') Eye of newt, bladder of cobra, and whisker of a rat. Oh! Hi, kiddies. I was just rustling up a sickening snack for a ''ghastly'' guest. Let's see. I need the blood of a sacrificed goat. (''glimpses at a live goat next to him, which happens to be pregnant'') Whoops! It's got to be a ''virgin'' goat. (''to the goat'') Guess you're off the hook, Nellie. (''cackles'') Tonight's story is about a ''different'' kind of sacrifice. A sacrifice... '''made for love.''' (''cackles'')

James Reed (Creator/KevinKilner), a hotshot insurance agent, meets the attractive Gloria Fielding (Creator/KimDelaney) as he prepares to discuss policy with her husband Sebastian (Don Hood). Growing enamored with Gloria, James throws Sebastian over his hotel balcony under Gloria's influence, so the pair can have his money. James' boss Jerry Jasper (Creator/MichaelIronside), an old flame of Gloria's who's been stalking her for sometime, witnessed the murder, and in exchange for not calling the police, Jerry blackmails his employee into "sharing" Gloria whenever he wants. As the months roll on, and the sexual abuse Gloria receives from Jerry escalates, there's no telling what James will do to get himself out of this predicament.
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!! Tropes
* AlliterativeName: '''J'''erry '''J'''asper.
* BatmanGambit: Gloria and Jerry are revealed to be lovers who were planning to take Sebastian's fortune from the very beginning. They first arranged for Gloria to marry Sebastian, then to have Jerry work out the purchase of his penthouses before using his authority over James to lead him to Gloria, who instantly fell for her and would go on to kill Sebastian on her orders, allowing Jerry to use his own penthouse to spy James doing the deed. With Sebastian out of the way, Jerry presents James with photos of him in the midst of killing Sebastian, blackmailing him into "sharing" Gloria dusk to dawn. Eventually, James can't take the abuse Gloria receives anymore and kills himself via an overdose, leaving a note that clears Gloria of everything. Gloria burns the note and meets up with Jerry, telling him that James killed himself and left no evidence that Sebastian was murdered as they abscond with his fortune.
* TheBadGuyWins: As detailed above, Gloria and Jerry's plan goes off without a hitch. Unless of course, Sebastian's parrots are discovered.
* {{Blackmail}}: Jerry, who lives across from Gloria's building and spies on her, takes pictures of James throwing Sebastian off a 15 story hotel balcony to his death. Being presented as an obsessed former flame of Gloria, and in exchange for not showing the police his evidence, Jerry blackmails James into "sharing" Gloria so he can have sex with her whenever he wishes.
* CountryMouse: Sebastian has a strong Southern accent, but he's filthy rich and loves Los Angeles, citing it as "the money, pussy, and bullshit capital of the Western world."
* DeathbedConfession: As James lays dying, he writes a final note that clears Gloria in all matters relating to Sebastian's death. She burns the note to cover her tracks completely.
* DisneyVillainDeath: Sebastian is given one by James, who throws him off his balcony.
* DownerEnding: James kills himself for Gloria, who is revealed to have been in a relationship with his boss, and the pair drive off into the sunset with Sebastian's money.
* DrivenToSuicide: James overdoses on Nembutal thanks to the guilt of his murder of Sebastian, and the subsequent forced sharing of Gloria.
* TheEndOrIsIt: Sebastian's parrots are seen repeating their owner's dying words, hinting that Gloria and Jerry may ''not'' get off scot-free after all.
* EvilWearsBlack: The villainous and (faux) obsessive Jerry is seen only wearing a black suit.
* FemmeFatale: Gloria, though she doesn't work alone as most examples do.
* {{Flanderization}}: The ''second'' James meets Gloria, he goes from a self-centered insurance agent who is confident that he can sell anything to anyone, to a lovestruck patsy who gets ordered around by the woman he's crushing on.
* GoldDigger: Gloria is married to the obnoxious-but-rich Sebastian, but the marriage was part of her and Jerry's plan to get rid of both Sebastian and James, who kills the former under her influence.
* HeroicSacrifice: James overdoses on Nembutal, but before he goes, he writes a note confessing to his murder of Sebastian so Gloria can be free of Jerry's abusive "sharing". Unfortunately for James, this is exactly what she was counting on.
* HouseboatHero: James lives on a houseboat called the "Why Not", which he claims is handy in the event he needs a quick getaway. He and Gloria have sex on said boat, and in the end, she finds him overdosing on the bed there.
* InsistentTerminology: Sebastian insists his penthouse apartments are meant to "awe", not impress.
* InsuranceFraud: Sebastian is killed by James, his insurance agent, so he and Gloria can split his fortune. It's revealed that Sebastian's insurance policy wasn't signed before he died, and this is a good thing for James and Gloria because it provides the cops without a motive for the killing.
* LargeHam: A lot of Gloria's dialogue is repetitive, cliché, or over-the-top, almost as if she's acting. This turns out to be the case because she ''is'' acting, putting on a performance good enough to fool James into believing her and Jerry's ruse. The end of the episode even has Jerry compliment her for her theatrical skills.
* LoveAtFirstSight: The easily-influenced James falls in love with Gloria the minute he meets her. She and Jerry use this to their advantage by having him persuaded to murder Sebastian so the pair can run off with his money and have James be their fall guy.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Upon meeting with Gloria, James falls head-over-heels for her, in the process going from a confident insurance agent to a lovestruck idiot who does whatever Gloria tells him to do without question, then kills himself to avoid his lover taking the fall for Sebastian's murder, playing right into said lover's hands. The Crypt Keeper himself lampshades how sudden it was for James to throw his life away for a woman he just met.
* TheManBehindTheMan: While it would seem that Gloria calls all the shots for her and James' plan to get rid of Sebastian, the end of the episode reveals that James' boss Jerry, her lover, helped to fully set things up, including the negotiations in purchasing Sebastian's penthouse, where Jerry could easily view the crime.
* MonochromePast: James' flashbacks to his murder of Sebastian.
* NoirEpisode: The episode has a heavy noir theme, since it's about a gold-digging wife who seduces a man into murdering her husband for her.
* NotInFrontOfTheParrot: Sebastian owns a large collection of parrots, which he has trained to repeat whatever he says. At the very end of the episode, one of them repeats Sebastian's begging as James murdered him, implying that Jerry and Gloria may not get away with their plan after all.
* RailingKill: Sebastian is killed when James throws him over his balcony.
* RelationshipReveal: The ending reveals that Jerry and Gloria are lovers, having orchestrated the whole scheme to kill Sebastian, take his money, and let James take the rap.
* SerialSpouse: Sebastian is noted by Jerry to have had three wives before he met Gloria.
* {{Sexophone}}: In keeping with the story's noir theme, saxophone music is heard throughout the soundtrack, especially during James and Gloria's sex scenes.
* SomethingWeForgot: Sebastian's parrots, who are heard repeating their owner's dying words.
* StalkerWithACrush: Jerry is presented as Gloria's obsessive ex-lover, having been keeping tabs on her to the point where she becomes angry in his presence. When he presents James with photographic evidence of what happened to Sebastian, he blackmails him into having sex with Gloria, the woman he killed for, whenever he wants. As the months roll on, his abuse escalates, to the point where he pays a group of particularly dirty "street people" to watch him have sex with her. It's subverted at the end of the episode when it's revealed that it was all an act and they genuinely ''are'' in love.
* SuicideByPills: James kills himself by swallowing 48 Nembutals.
* TimeSkip: When James agrees to Jerry's demands of "sharing", the episode moves three months into the future, where he drinks away his misery with Gloria's situation.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Sebastian is fat, obnoxious, and swears like a sailor, but he is ludicrously wealthy and married to the attractive Gloria.
* UnwittingPawn: James is revealed to have been used as the fall guy for Jerry and Gloria's own plan to run off with Sebastian's fortune.
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->'''Crypt Keeper:''' (''stands on a stool and puts a noose around his neck'') Excuse me, kiddies. Be with you in a moment. (''kicks the stool over and dangles from the noose, but doesn't choke to death'') So, this is suicide? Ah. Somehow, I thought it'd have more punch! Oh well, at least ''Jim's'' big finish had a bright side. I hate to see a guy throw his life away without some dame getting a laugh out of it. So remember: if your lady's evenings are all booked up, do what I do: (''whips out a pair of scissors and cuts the rope, dropping himself out of frame'') '''Drop her.'''