Rendezvous in a Dark Place
"Barbara LeMay, the woman in black, out of place in a world of colors and sounds and life. A woman caught between fascination and something more profound, and less earthly. Barbara LeMay, with one foot in the grave; the other, firmly planted — in the Twilight Zone."
Barbara LeMay (Janet Leigh) is an old woman who is obsessed with the concept of death. She regularly attends the funerals of people who she's never met in order to get as close to death as she can, even refusing to make time with her relatives to do so, prompting her son Jason (Malcom Stewart) and his family to view her obsession as unhealthy and suggest that she seek psychiatric treatment. That night, Barbara receives an unexpected visitor named Trent (Todd Duckworth), who robbed a liquor store and was shot as he was escaping. Death himself (Stephen McHattie) arrives to claim Trent, and Barbara, fanatically excited to meet her idol, asks her to take her instead of the dying crook. Death refuses to take a life "where there is none", prompting the tearful Barbara to explain just why she's been so obsessed with him.
Tropes
- Becoming the Genie: After Death takes her, Barbara becomes an agent under his employ, ecstatic to finally be able to share the beauty and peace Death represents with others.
- Bottle Episode: Aside from the first and last scenes, the whole episode is set in Barbara's house.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Barbara is obsessed with Death and finds beauty in what he represents, aching to join him. Death initially refuses to take a person whose obsession with him has cost them their life, but ultimately relents.
- Death Seeker: Barbara has been obsessed with Death after he took everyone she ever loved, such as her old friends and her husband. She explains to him that she was at first jealous after he took their pain away when she couldn't, and decided to do everything she could to be closer to him, even attending the funerals of people she didn't know. Now she wants Death to take her because she doesn't fear him, but because she sees the beauty, freedom, and tranquility that he represents. Death initially refuses because her obsession with him means that she essentially has no life, but he reconsiders and takes her the following night. The ending shows that Barbara has become an agent of death, with Death commending her job well done on the dying man in the hospital.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Barbara not only doesn't fear Death, she finds beauty in what he represents and wants to join him, but Death isn't interested.
- Driven to Suicide: As she chats with Death, Barbara tells him that she considered suicide to have him take her, mainly by overdosing on pills, but she denied this decision because it seemed too forward.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Barbara becomes an agent of Death when he finally takes her, finally able to share the tranquility she always saw in him with others.
- Freudian Excuse: Barbara's obsession with Death and her hobby of attending strangers' funerals makes her seen as creepy and unsettling, but it's largely because she sees Death as a figure of tranquility and liberation. Her obsession with him began after he gradually took everyone she ever loved, ending their pain when she couldn't.
- The Grim Reaper: Barbara is obsessed with him because he took everyone she loved and sees him as a figure of tranquility, begging him to take her, but he isn't interested in taking someone who is so obsessed with him that they basically have no life at all.
- Invisible to Normals: In most cases, Death can only be seen by those who are about to die. However, Barbara can see him in full health, as her obsession with him means they've spent so much time together.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Barbara is obsessed with Death and does whatever she can to get closer to him, even attending funerals of complete strangers. Her son and his family are unnerved by her devotion to Death and consider her a creep who needs professional help, but Barbara only started getting obsessed because Death took everyone she loved when she was young, and fell in love with what he represents.
- Take Me Instead: Barbara pleads with Death to take her instead of Trent, a young crook dying from a gunshot wound. However, Death tells her that Trent's time is up, and he can't take life where it doesn't exist, referring to Barbara's obsession with him.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Death is originally against taking Barbara, as her almost maniacal obsession with him means that she essentially has no life. That, and he also finds it a little creepy, like everyone else.
"Incident in a hospital room. Part of the status quo of life and death. A visitation accompanied by cold winds and warm hands, locked in a midnight embrace — in the Twilight Zone."
