Acts of Terror
"Louise Simonson, considered quite pretty once, not long ago. Before the arguments, and the years, and the stick took it out of her. Louise Simonson, like so many broken on the wheel, with one subtle difference: this wheel has a name."
Louise Simonson (Melanie Maryon) is the sweet and docile wife of Jack (Kenneth Welsh), an abusive tyrant who beats her for the most minute reasons. For her birthday, her sister Claire (Kate Lynch) gives her a ceramic sculpture of a Doberman Pinscher as a present. Soon after she is given the statue, Jack discovers a real Doberman angrily barking at him wherever he goes. Not paying any mind, he tells Louise that he's going fishing, which she finds out is a cover story for the fact that he's having sex with another woman behind her back. Believing that the Doberman is a physical manifestation of the anger she's bottled up at Jack and everything he's done to her, including his affair, Louise gradually decides to let her new friend off his leash once and for all.
Tropes
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After beating Louise for years for minor infractions, Jack is reduced to begging for his life as the Doberman mauls him.
- Angry Guard Dog: Louise gains the ability to summon a vicious Doberman out for Jack's blood thanks to the ceramic statue of said dog Claire gifts to her.
- Bottle Episode: The near-entirety of the episode takes place in and around the Simonsons' house and garage.
- Clothing-Concealed Injury: Louise regularly tries and fails to hide the bruises inflicted by her abusive husband. She tries hiding the latest one with the top of her dress, and when the mailman asks about it, she tells him she walked into a door.
- Did Not Think This Through: Invoked and Played for Drama. In the later portion of the episode, Louise tries to get Jack to admit he was cheating on her during his "fishing trip" by pointing out that parts that don't hold water. When he pushes her too far with his belligerent attitude, she angrily shoots back that she indeed overhead his conversation with Phil about having an affair with Denise. His response? A very cold and ominous "So what?...", cruelly indicating that as far as he's concerned, Louise was impulsive to think that confronting him with the truth would be the end of it. Sure enough, his response is to start beating her, up until the Doberman intervenes once again.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Jack is quick to assault and abuse Louise for every little thing she does incorrectly, giving her a black eye for burning his eggs and not wanting her to do anything else until she makes his lunch.
- Domestic Abuse: Though it's largely offscreen, Jack takes every single opportunity he can to assault poor Louise, and has been doing so for a long time. He is also emotionally abusive and controlling, as he refuses to let her open a package from her sister until she has makes his lunch. The package contains a ceramic Doberman, and Louise soon discovers that clutching the statue lets her anger and hatred towards Jack cause a real Doberman to manifest and attack him.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After spending years being treated as Jack's punching bag, Louise finally has enough of his atrocious treatment and leaves him, after she lets the Doberman maul him to an inch of his life. Jack threatens to come after her for this, but she replies with a stern and menacing "No, you won't." as the dog backs her up. All he can do is sullenly let her drive away with no threat to back him up, letting Louise bask in her freedom.
- Emotional Powers: Poor Louise has been subjected to terrible abuse by Jack for years. After she receives a ceramic Doberman from Claire for her birthday, her long-repressed anger manifests in the form of a real Doberman that tries to attack Jack. The angrier Louise gets, the more vicious the Doberman becomes, and when she finally tells Jack that she hates him and wishes he were dead, the Doberman mauls him, grievously injuring his face and arm. Not wanting to take a life, no matter how atrocious the person, Louise is able to call the dog off and have it re-enter her subconscious. The end of the episode shows that she's learned to accept her anger and finally musters up the courage to leave Jack. When Jack threatens to follow her wherever she goes, Louise retorts that he won't, prompting the Doberman to appear in the seat next to her, as she apparently learned to control her ability to manifest it.
- Establishing Character Moment: Louise is shown to be a timid and abused woman who nervously tries to hide the most recent of the many bruises given to her by Jack, telling the mailman that she had an accident. When she goes back inside, Jack verbally thrashes her because his lunch is five minutes late, which Louise nervously concedes it should take precedence.
- Foreshadowing: When Louise first admires the Doberman statue her sister sent her for her birthday, Jack asks to see it. Louise meekly implores she'd rather not, implying she fears he will damage it. Without warning, he grabs it anyway to inspect it. Although he doesn't break it that time, it does hint at Jack breaking the statue, and the unpredictable nature of the act.
- Hate Sink: JACK SIMONSON. The man treats his wife like a slave and a punching bag, regularly beating her senseless over the most minor mistakes and ordering her to fix his meals before she does anything else, even cheating on her with someone else. The straw that finally breaks Louise's back, enough for her to wish him dead, is smashing the Doberman statue Claire gives Louise for her birthday, the only personal property she's ever had since she married Jack. After years of having nothing, even fidelity, to show for marrying this atrocious monster, she finally sics the Doberman on him, which grievously attacks him. The only reason he's even alive is because she didn't want to stoop to his level. She promptly leaves Jack the next morning, manifesting the Doberman at will to remind him that he's only alive on a whim.
- I Surrender, Suckers: When the Doberman injures him, Jack tries to appeal to Louise that he'll be nicer to her from now on if she just gives him another chance. For a moment, Louise falters. The bad news is, his pleas were insincere and he ultimately uses Louise's hesitation to break the Doberman statue, seemingly the source of the creature's existence. The good news is, it doesn't make the Doberman go away.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: After Louise screams about how she hates him and wants him dead, the Doberman finally pounces on Jack and begins to viciously maul him. Louise is appalled at the brutality and calls the dog back into her mind, not wanting to stoop to her husband's level.
- Laser-Guided Karma: For all of his atrocious treatment of Louise, the Doberman she has been able to summon finally gives Jack a good mauling, and stays by her side to ensure that Jack doesn't come after her for said mauling.
- Oh, Crap!: Jack had a rather hopeful assumption that if he destroyed the Doberman statue, it would make the Doberman itself go away and render Louise powerless. And one can imagine his arrogance when he believed he was successful. Now imagine how surprised (and scared) Jack must've been when the Doberman was still in the room, despite breaking the statue.
- Persona Non Grata: By the end of the episode, Louise leaves Jack and sets out for a new life. The Doberman, which she can now summon at will, stays by her side to ensure Jack never comes near her again.
- Power Incontinence: Towards the climax, Jack begs Louise to somehow send the Doberman away. Louise tells Jack that she can't, as all her pent-up anger has taken a life of its own at this point. It's only once Louise acknowledges her angry feelings and controls them that she can in turn control the Doberman.
- Rage Breaking Point: Louise learning that Jack had been cheating on her during his "fishing trips". Like many real-life abuse victims, Louise loved him unconditionally despite his deplorable treatment of her, and losing his fidelity, the one thing that was keeping her in his home, was what finally broke her. That, and having the Doberman statue smashed.
- Symbolism: The Doberman comes into existence every time Louise's angry feelings rise up. When she wishes Jack was dead, the Doberman mauling him represents Louise's anger hitting its breaking point, while her stopping it from killing Jack and sending it away signifies she has regained control over it.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Jack regularly beats his wife, cheats on her, and breaks her property. Thanks to a supernatural Doberman responding to Louise's concealed anger, Jack starts suffering for his ways. When Louise is finally pushed over the edge by learning about Jack's affair, the Doberman mauls Jack as he begs for mercy. Louise ultimately stops it from killing him, and packs her things and ditches him the next morning. Jack finds out and intends to get payback now that the supernatural pooch is seemingly gone. Of course, Louise is no longer scared of him, and the Doberman reappears as backup.
- Villains Want Mercy: Towards the climax, when the Doberman has gotten a few bites in, an injured Jack begs Louise to make it stop. Poor Louise can only bemoan that even if she wanted to, all her pent up feelings have made it impossible to send away the Doberman at will, especially in wake of falling out of love with Jack. In turn, Jack asks Louise to give him a chance, despite that he's never shown her that sort of mercy or patience throughout their marriage.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Jack punches Louise in the face after she burns his eggs, telling her that it was her own fault and calling her a crybaby for making a big deal out of it.
"Louise Simonson, driven by pain and anger into the desperate regions of the human heart. Only to discover the pre-eminence of her own personal power, and an act of recognition that reverberates in and out — of the Twilight Zone."
