A Case of the Stubborns
It's a sad day at the Tolliver family's rustic country cabin, as Grandpa Titus (Eddie Bracken) passed away from a heart attack the previous night. His daughter Pearl (Barbara Eda-Young) and grandson Jodie (a young Christian Slater) pray over their morning meal, thanking God for His blessings and letting him know that Titus will be on his way up later that day. Much to Pearl and Jodie's surprise, Titus himself walks down the stairs to join them for breakfast — still dead, but absolutely refusing to believe it. Throughout the rest of the day, Pearl and Jodie enlist the help of Dr. Snodgrass (Bill McCutcheon) and Reverend Peabody (Brent Spiner) to try and convince the rapidly-decaying Titus that he's dead as can be, but the incredibly stubborn Titus won't hear any of it. Jodie eventually calls upon a local voodoo woman (Tresa Hughes) for a solution, and as she and Titus had a history together, she agrees to help the family by offering the boy a surprisingly simple solution to their problem.
Tropes:
- Achievements in Ignorance: Titus died of a heart attack, but he wakes up the next day regardless, just because he outright refuses to believe he's dead.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Inverted. Titus begins the episode as a sapient zombie who refuses to believe he's dead, and the plot involves his frustrated family trying to convince him to stop being "alive."
- Artistic License – Biology: It's made clear that Titus isn't able to breathe, so his ability to talk, and later sneeze, makes no sense. Granted, none of the episode makes sense, so it's likely a case of Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
- Back from the Dead: After dying of a heart attack, Titus gets up the next morning and tries to go about his daily routine, oblivious to the slack-jawed faces of his family.
- Beyond the Impossible: Titus, a corpse with no heartbeat or breath in his lungs, is able to get up, walk around, talk to people, and be fully cognizant of everything going on around him because of his stubbornness alone.
- Boring, but Practical: The voodoo woman's satchel of black pepper. After every medical, religious, and philosophical attempt to convince Titus that he's dead fails, this is what does the trick, since it makes Titus sneeze his nose off.
- Dead to Begin With: Titus died of cardiac arrest before the episode began, and the plot of the episode comes about because he needs to stay dead before the health inspector comes around.
- Face Death with Dignity: When Titus finally realizes that he's dead, he quietly goes upstairs, wishes his daughter and grandson well, and lies down to pass on peacefully.
- Graceful Loser: Once Jodie successfully convinces Titus that he's dead, the old man graciously accepts his fate and stops fussing.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: The last shot of the episode is of Titus' decayed nose and sinuses sitting in the napkin he sneezed them into.
- Happy Ending: Titus finally learns that he's dead and dies for real, just before the Tollivers' house is quarantined.
- I Gave My Word: Titus swears that if anyone can show him solid proof he's dead, he'll march back upstairs, lay down, and pass away without any further complaint. When Jodie uses the black pepper to do just that, he sticks to his promise and bids his family a fond farewell.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: When Reverend Peabody discovers the sentient corpse of Titus on his porch, he takes a long pull from the jug of moonshine that Pearl offers as a refreshment. He ends up walking away with the whole thing shortly after.
- Inexplicably Awesome: No explanation is ever given as to how Titus somehow managed to come back from the dead; it's implied that he's still walking and talking because of his stubbornness alone.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When faced with the fact that he just sneezed his nose off, Titus finally learns to accept that he is, in fact, dead.
- Large Ham: Titus is as big and grand a talker as he is a disbeliever in his lack of mortality.
- Lighter and Softer: One of the most light-hearted episodes of the show, that manages not to fall into Denser and Wackier territory. The supernatural force isn't malevolent or even dangerous, he's just a zombie that refuses to accept his death. The main conflict is his daughter Pearl and grandson Jodie trying to convince him to pass on properly before the health inspector quarantines their house. Once they finally convince Titus that he's dead, he goes without a fuss. The only disturbing part is that Titus continues to rot as the episode progresses, to the point when his nose comes off after a sneeze.
- Mundane Solution: The voodoo woman offers Jodie a satchel of strong black pepper to help convince Titus that he's dead. It actually works, as Titus inhales the pepper and sneezes so hard that his nose snaps right off, which finally makes him realize that he's passed away.
- Nasal Trauma: The black pepper the voodoo woman gives Jodie makes Titus sneeze, and in the state of decay he's reached by the end of the episode, his nose and sinuses fly right into his napkin.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Titus is only brought back to life by his sheer deniability to the fact that he died at all. Without the body's natural abilities to protect itself, he insists on sitting out on the porch during an extremely hot day. As a result, he gradually rots throughout the episode, with his face going from pale to greenish to blue, flies buzzing around him, and the unrelenting stench of decay setting in. He's also gradually stricken with rigor mortis as time passes, since he has a harder time walking and moving his arms.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Doctor Snodgrass and Reverend Peabody get fed up with the insanity of the plot and leave after talking to Titus for a few minutes, leaving poor Pearl and Jodie to deal with the consequences.
- Struggling Single Mother: Jodie's father died a while ago, and Titus was the closest thing to a father figure he's had since. It's notably difficult for Pearl to handle the situation with just Jodie, as the doctor and reverend aren't much help.
- Stubborn Mule: Titus takes this far beyond mortal levels, as his firm belief that he's not dead lets him cheat death itself.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Jodie and his mother aren't really that horrified that Titus is still walking, talking, and rotting after he's died. They're more mildly shocked at seeing him wanting breakfast, before gradually turning frustrated about how bull-headed he's being about the whole thing.
- Wham Shot: The episode ends with Jodie sitting at the table, looking at the napkin his grandpa sneezed into. After being informed by his mom that Titus finally passed on, Jody opens the napkin, where we see Titus' severed nose, which he sneezed off.
- World of Ham: Everyone is ludicrously over the top, given the episode's comedic nature.
