Die Now, Pay Later
Based on the short story "Year-End Clearance" by Mary Linn Roby.
Teleplay by: Jack Larid
Directed by: Timothy Galfas
Rod Serling: It's a measure of our current morays that we base an economy on a credit plan. We do things on time, so to speak, purchase the item, use it while you're paying it off. And this sets up the intriguing premise of this painting, in which the fate between seller and buyer is the ultimate. It's called: Die Now, Pay Later.
Walt Peckinpah (Will Greer), owner of a local funeral parlor, is holding a monthly clearance sale as his town's number of deaths suspiciously goes through the roof. Sheriff Ned Harlow (Slim Pickens) is sent to investigate the parlor, suspecting a connection between Walt and the deaths. No evidence connecting Walt to murdering people directly surfaces, but a good amount of the dead are those who have been loathed by the community, so much so that the townsfolk may have been driven to murder them themselves, especially since it's hinted that Walt has strong connections to the witches of Salem and is a descendant of a powerful warlock.
Tropes
- Affably Evil: Walt may use his feline familiar's hypnosis to force the people in his town into committing mass murder, but he's nothing but pleasant to Sheriff Harlow when he's sent to investigate.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Walt is free to continue his sale for at least another month, thanks to an implied case of hypnosis on Ned's wife.
- Blue-Collar Warlock: Walt is the descendant of a powerful warlock, and he uses the power of mass hypnosis housed in his cat to get people around his town to kill loathed citizens so he can boost his funeral home's profits.
- Could Say It, But...: Walt's attitude when confronted by Ned about the hefty death toll, noting that everyone who died was known to be loathed by the townspeople.
- Familiar: The black cat that hangs around Walt's parlor and can freely teleport in and out of the place is hinted to be his, given his ancestry. The transitions we get involving it prowling through town hint that it's actually the source of the hypnosis.
- Gossipy Hens: Ned's wife is a noted one, and he threatens Walt by telling him that his wife can spread the rumors about his magic and tank his reputation.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Ned's wife calls him to tell him off for confronting Walt, likely having been hypnotized by the man to persuade the sheriff into ceasing his investigation.
- Large Ham: Sheriff Harlow, as bombastically played by character actor Slim Pickens. He's noted as being a transfer from the south to Massachusetts, lampshading his almost out-of-place nature with the segment.
- Mass Hypnosis: Walt is capable of the skill, thanks to his ancestry of witches and warlocks. He uses the ability to mentally command the citizens of his town into committing mass murder on the town's most hated residents to boost his profits, and is hinted to have hypnotized Ned's wife to get him to stand down.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Walt, as his cat regularly invades his fellow citizens' minds with hypnosis and commands them to kill hated townspeople for him.
- Playing with Fire: Walt lights his pipe by setting his thumb on fire, revealing that he's indeed a warlock.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Walt uses his cat to hypnotize people en masse to commit murders so he can profit from the many funerals, but he notes that all the people he has killed were already notably loathed around town and he's essentially doing his job.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Walt, likely through his skills of hypnosis.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Walt hypnotizes people to commit mass murder for him, but he notes that everyone he has killed is said to have been particularly loathsome individuals.
Room for One Less
Rod Serling: As usual, following the course of the old switcheroo on Night Gallery, a painting called: Room for One Less.
Written by: Jack Larid
Directed by: Jack Larid
In a minute-long vignette, a busy elevator reaches maximum capacity. When a demon (Lee Jay Lambert) manifests inside the car from nowhere, the elevator operator (James Metropole) points out that he's breaking the rules, prompting the demon to rectify the situation in its own way.
Tropes
- Exact Words: The passengers in a crowded elevator get a surprise when a monstrous demon manifests out of nowhere. The operator, surprisingly nonplussed, scolds the demon and points to the sign stating that only ten people are allowed inside at a time. The demon obliges... by obliterating the operator with his powers, thus following the rules.
- Maximum Capacity Overload: The crux of the sketch's plot. A towering demon appears inside an already crowded elevator, and the operator points out the "Maximum Capacity" sign. The demon solves the problem by zapping him into non-existence.
- Recycled Premise: The sketch is a near-exact replay of "An Act of Chivalry", as a supernatural being enters an elevator and obliges in following the rules in his own way.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Aside from the operator, no one in the elevator is all that surprised when a demon straight from the depths of Hell suddenly manifests in the car, and even then, the operator is more annoyed at the demon for breaking the ten-person maximum capacity rule than anything else.
