Title: Death Is Blind
Air date: November 20, 1938
Plot summary: Lamont and Margo are at a fair when they see a young man, Walter Dunn, and his rather creepy companion, Dr. Franz Layden. Walter is strong-armed by the pushy Dr. Layden into demonstrating his phenomenal marksmanship at a pellet gun game. Walter has been coached by Dr. Layden, and now can use his hearing to hit any target, even when he's blindfolded.
It turns out that Dr. Layden had a reason for teaching Walter how to shoot a target using only his ears. At sometime in the past Dr. Layden lost control of the company where he works, and now he thirsts for revenge. He deliberately engineers a laboratory "accident" that blinds poor Walter. Then, after Dr. Layden convinces Walter that the company is to blame for Walter's blindness, Walter, with Layden's help, starts murdering the board of directors.
Tropes:
- Driven to Suicide: Overcome by remorse for his crimes after killing Dr. Layden, Walter kills himself.
- Evil Cripple: Dr. Layden, a crazed scientist bent on murder and revenge, also happens to be a hunchback.
- If My Calculations Are Correct: Dr. Layden says to Walter that "if my calculations are correct," the changes to the boiling liquid caused by the addition of the chemical will be subtle, so Walter must look closely. Subverted, as Dr. Layden is actually staging an explosion and making sure that Walter is blinded.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Walter can fire a gun with pinpoint accuracy going only by ear, when he's blindfolded, or later when he's actually blind.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Gilmore, one of the members of the corporation's board, sees Walter and says "Aren't you Walter—" before Walter shoots him. Another board member opens the door to Walter and says "Walter Dunn, well w—", and gets shot. There's actually a reason for this: Walter is blind and so has to wait for people to start talking before he shoots them.
- Narrating the Obvious: A lot of this in the opening scene as people at the fair tell each other things that everyone can see about how the young man is hitting all the targets.
- Only a Flesh Wound: The Shadow doesn't even miss a beat after Walter Dunn shoots him in the arm.
- On the Next: The episode ends with a preview of next week, which was done relatively infrequently.
- Perception Filter: Discussed Trope, as Lamont and Margo talk about how The Shadow's ability to make himself invisible will still leave him vulnerable to a killer who goes by ear. Sure enough, Walter manages to shoot The Shadow in the arm at the end.
- There Are No Coincidences: Margo, always The Watson, thinks it's remarkable that three different members of a corporation's board committed suicide within a week. Naturally Lamont sees through this and realizes that the board members were murdered.
