Many, Many Monkeys
"A city hospital, 8:00 PM. An unexpected visitor has just arrived, bearing unwelcome tidings; a disease so new the textbooks haven't recorded it. This, then, is its first case history, documented from the medical files — of the Twilight Zone."
Nurse Clarie Hendricks (Karen Valentine) visits Jean Reed (Jackie Burroughs), a woman in the emergency room who has been stricken blind by a curtain of flesh growing over both eyes. Over time, more and more people stricken with these unusual cataracts are brought to the hospital, flooding all of its rooms and overworking the staff. Mrs. Reed tells Claire that the blindness is an act of divine punishment for humanity's indifference to the suffering of others. A news report clarifies that the blindness is actually the result of an accidental explosion at a biological research lab, where several unstable strains of bacteria were released into the atmosphere. The staff gradually become infected with the blindness plague as well, and whether it's the work of something scientific or something supernatural, it doesn't appear to be ending anytime soon.
Tropes
- Apathetic Citizens: The blindness epidemic results in almost 100,000 people across the United States suddenly having a growth forming over their eyes. Jean theorizes that the epidemic is divine punishment for humanity's indifference towards each other's pain and suffering. She tells Claire that her husband lost his own sight after he received news of his mother's death, which he talked about as if he was discussing the weather. Jean admits that she left him alone in spite of his condition in order to save herself, thinking that she herself was struck blind as a result. Claire eventually becomes convinced that Jean was right when she said that people everywhere have become monkeys.
- Battleaxe Nurse: Claire is a mild example, as she's professional and diligent in her job, but cold and offhand with her patients, never paying them more attention than what's necessary. As the blindness spreads and presumably affects her, Claire comes to realize that she gradually lost her compassion and came to view her patients as charts and numbers as opposed to individuals with life stories.
- Bittersweet Ending: It's proven that the fleshy growths spontaneously forming over peoples' eyes can be safely removed via surgery, so people can easily be saved from the plague. Despite this, the plague itself presumably remains ongoing, and Clarie herself becomes blind, but she can't be saved because her blindness is psychosomatic.
- Blank White Eyes: The curtains of flesh growing over peoples' eyes result in their eyes looking this way.
- Bottle Episode: The entirety of the episode is set in the hospital.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Is the plague of blindness spreading across the US an act of divine retribution for humankind growing ignorant, apathetic, and heartless to one another's suffering? Or is it the result of unknown strains of bacteria entering the atmosphere through an explosion at a top secret biology research lab in Alaska? Jean and Claire come to believe that it's the former, while the government's explanation is that it's the latter. Throughout the episode, it's never revealed which theory is true.
- Monkey Morality Pose: The three wise monkeys (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil) are referenced frequently by Jean, who believes that the blindness plague is a divine punishment for humankind reducing themselves into monkeys, apathetic and indifferent to everything that doesn't concern them.
- Mystical Plague: Jean speculates that she and everyone else afflicted with the blindness are being punished because they have become apathetic monkeys who see, hear, and speak no evil, thinking God and/or nature has turned a blind eye to them because of their diminished humanity. Although Claire initially dismisses this idea as preposterous, she later becomes convinced that Jean may be on to something, even after the government links the plague to an accidental release of bacteria from a top secret biological research facility.
- Temporary Blindness: A rapidly spreading medical condition results in 100,000 people across the US losing their sight, due to a curtain of flesh growing over their eyes. It may be a punishment for humankind ignoring each other's hardships, as Jean suspects, or the result of bacterial strains being released from a biological research lab, as the government says. Regardless of whatever the cause is, it's determined that after several days, the flesh curtains can be safely removed through surgery.
- Wham Shot: By the end of the episode, Claire has been rendered blind, like most people in the hospital. However, the camera zooms in on her face, where we see that her eyes are normal, revealing that her own blindness is psychosomatic.
- World of Jerkass: The episode is set in such a world. It's downplayed, as the people aren't actively malicious or evil, just apathetic and indifferent to everyone else's misery. Jean theorizes that the plague of blindness is an act of God meant to punish humankind for said indifference.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: The ending reveals that Claire never actually contracted the plague of blindness. Her own blindness is psychosomatic, having been caused by her own guilt at treating her patients with coldness and indifference for years.
"Enigma, draped in hospital sheets and self-imposed darkness, with the added, sobering thought that Claire Hendricks is perfectly correct in her own diagnosis. Take it as a warning, a cry for humanity, or a simple plea for responsibility, from the dark places — of the Twilight Zone."
