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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twilight_zone_the_jeopardy_room_5072.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Kuchenko gets the drop on Vasslioff.]]
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': The cast of characters: a cat and a mouse. This is the latter, the intended victim who may or may not know that he is to die, be it by butchery or ballet. His name is Major Ivan Kuchenko. He has, if events go according to certain plans, perhaps three or four more hours of living. But an ignorance shared by both himself and his executioner is the fact that both of them have taken a first step into the Twilight Zone.
Air date: April 17, 1964
Trying to defect, former KGB Major Ivan Kuchenko (Creator/MartinLandau) is trapped inside a hotel room. A hitman named Commissar Vassiloff (John van Dreelen) and his assistant Boris (Robert Kelljan) are watching him from a room across the street.
Vassiloff is an artistic killer who has tricked Kuchenko into drinking a sleeping potion in the hotel room after pretending to surrender to Kuchenko. Kuchenko awakens to learn that Vassiloff has planted a bomb in the room: Ivan must find it within three hours or he will be shot by Vassiloff and Boris, who have a gun trained on him at all times. Vassiloff tells Boris he has hidden the bomb in the room's telephone, where it will be triggered by picking up an incoming call.
Ivan manages to escape and avoid being shot. Later, Vassiloff and Boris enter the room and try to figure out what went wrong. The phone rings and Boris, without thinking, picks it up; Vassiloff barely has time to realize this and shout to Boris before the bomb goes off. On the other end of the phone line is Ivan Kuchenko at the airport. When the operator notifies him of the bad connection, he reassures her that the message was indeed delivered. The loudspeaker then announces that his plane is about to take off and he walks off to his freedom. The scene then cuts to Vassiloff and Boris's charred corpses.
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Major Ivan Kuchenko, on his way west, on his way to freedom--a freedom bought and paid for by a most stunning ingenuity. And exit one Commissar Vassiloff, who forgot that there are two sides to an argument and two parties on the line. This has been...the Twilight Zone.
----
!!The Jeopardy Tropes:
* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: Commissar Vassiloff tricks Major Kuchenko into drinking drugged wine by drinking first. Vassiloff built up an immunity to the drug by repeatedly taking increasing doses over time.
* ATeamFiring: When Kurchenko opens the door and runs out of the room, Boris (who had been earlier established as a crack shot) might as well have been firing with his eyes shut.
* BigNo: Vassiloff says this when Boris absentmindedly answers the booby trapped phone.
* BondOneLiner: After Boris causes the booby trapped phone to go off, the operator informs Kuchenko that she is unable to reach the intended party.
-->'''Kuchenko:''' It's all right, operator. I-I have reached them.
* BondVillainStupidity: Kuchenko is clearly at the mercy of Vassiloff and Boris, yet manages to escape.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Averted. Kuchenko remembers Vassiloff being there for his interrogations and immediately recognizes him at the door, hence why he keeps a gun aimed at him. Vassiloff is amused that Kuchenko remembers faces and pleased that they can cut to the chase rather than engage in the formality of supposed strangers feeling each other out.
* CharacterFilibuster: Vassiloff in the beginning indulges into the one about the bourgeois gulping their wine instead of sipping etc.
* ChromosomeCasting: This episode does not feature any women on screen.
* ColdSniper: Boris, Vassiloff's assistant, is a pragmatic sniper who would prefer to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim just shoot Kuchenko]].
* DeadlyGame: Vassiloff frames his DeathTrap this way, claiming that if Kuchenko can find and defuse the bomb in time, he will allow him to live.
* DeathTrap: Vassiloff traps Kuchenko inside a hotel room with a hidden explosive booby trap. If Kuchenko finds the bomb within the time limit, he lives. If not, he dies. Kuchenko figures out the truth and brilliantly turns the tables.
* TheDogBitesBack: The entirety of the ending is about Kuchenko tricking Boris into setting off the bomb and showing Vassiloff that people are ''not'' prey to toy with in his sadistic mind games.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: As Serling pointed out, Kuchenko truly earned his freedom.
* EvilLaugh: Vassiloff does an epic one after he explains his "game" to Kuchenko.
* ExplosiveStupidity: The bad guys are killed in the end when Boris absentmindedly answers the phone that his boss Vassiloff turned into a bomb.
* ExpoSpeak:
** The first part of the conversation between Kuchenko and Vassiloff is exactly that. They both know the things about which they talk. The viewer does not.
** Also, it is mentioned that Kuchenko spent twelve years in a camp to make him more sympathetic than an ordinary defector.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Vassiloff claims to be "a friend" to Kuchenko, but is in reality a cruel {{sadist}} who wants to watch him squirm in his DeathTrap before killing him.
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: One of the very few ''Twilight Zone'' episodes to contain no sci-fi or fantastic elements whatsoever.
* GoodMorningCrono: Kuchenko is woken up in a hotel room by the ringing of the phone.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: On the page describing the trope it is said that male users of cigarette holders are almost always Evil. This is certainly the case with Vassiloff.
* HellHotel: Kuchenko's hotel room is fairly shabby-looking at the beginning of the episode, but it descends into true hellishness after Vassiloff has set up his DeadlyGame, with a hidden bomb somewhere in the room and a sniper outside the window.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Vassiloff and Boris's fate, with Boris being tricked into setting off the very same bomb that was meant to kill Kuchenko.
* IWarnedYou: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris reminds Vassiloff that his [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim quick and efficient approach to killing]] would've gotten the desired results.
* MadArtist: Vassiloff compares the way he's about to kill Kuchenko to a subtle, sophisticated ballet.
* MaskOfSanity: Vassiloff presents himself as an AffablyEvil gentleman, but his EvilLaugh on the tape recording, and his sadistic pleasure at watching Kuchenko squirm makes it clear there's something wrong with his head.
* MinimalistCast: This episode features only three credited actors: Martin Landau, John van Dreelen and Robert Kelljan. The voices of two uncredited actresses are heard in the final scene.
* OhCrap: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris and Vassiloff enter the room to clean up. The booby trapped phone rings, and Boris, forgetting that it is rigged to explode, picks it up, causing Vassiloff to scream, "NO, BORIS!" before both of them are blown up.
* ProfessionalKiller: Both Vassiloff and Boris are professional assassins. Vassiloff, who claims to have killed 800 people, likes to kill his victims with artistry and subtlety to prevent himself from becoming bored. He considers himself the last of the imaginative executioners. On the other hand, Boris prefers to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible. As such, he simply wants to shoot Kuchenko in the head at the earliest opportunity. Vassiloff regards this less imaginative approach as the impatience of the bourgeois.
* {{Sadist}}: Vassiloff very much so. For all his talk about wanting to deal with Kuchenko for the sake of their nation's well-being, he simply enjoys stalking and finishing his prey. Rather than simply shoot a target dead, he sets up elaborate, ingenious traps that make those caught in them squirm and panic before finally dying. As he tells Kuchenko, he's an imaginative executioner that has done stuff like this ''800'' times. Kuchenko also recalls Vassiloff overseeing his brutal interrogations, smiling and nodding in entertainment the entire time.
* SelfPoisoningGambit: Vassiloff uses this to drug Kuchenko. The two share a drink, and it seems like it would be safe because Vassiloff is drinking the same thing, but the drink in question has a sleeping agent that Vassiloff [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity has a tolerance for]]. Kuchenko, who doesn't have that tolerance, is quickly knocked out.
* TalkToTheFist: Kuchenko breaks the tape recorder with Vassiloff's voice on it when the recording stops explaining the "rules" of the "game" and lets out an impressive EvilLaugh.
* TooDumbToLive: After Kuchenko escapes, Vassiloff enters a room that he knows still has a live bomb in it. The same goes for Boris who foolishly forgets about the phone bomb.
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Boris outright suggests this, but Vassiloff would rather turn it into some kind of sadistic game. This comes back to bite them both.
* WickedCultured: How Vassiloff presents himself: a refined gentleman, who converses amicably with his intended victim, smokes fine cigarettes, drinks well-aged wine, and treats murder like some kind of art form.
* WorthyOpponent: Vassiloff tells Kuchenko that they are "worthy adversaries".
----
[[caption-width-right:350:Kuchenko gets the drop on Vasslioff.]]
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': The cast of characters: a cat and a mouse. This is the latter, the intended victim who may or may not know that he is to die, be it by butchery or ballet. His name is Major Ivan Kuchenko. He has, if events go according to certain plans, perhaps three or four more hours of living. But an ignorance shared by both himself and his executioner is the fact that both of them have taken a first step into the Twilight Zone.
Air date: April 17, 1964
Trying to defect, former KGB Major Ivan Kuchenko (Creator/MartinLandau) is trapped inside a hotel room. A hitman named Commissar Vassiloff (John van Dreelen) and his assistant Boris (Robert Kelljan) are watching him from a room across the street.
Vassiloff is an artistic killer who has tricked Kuchenko into drinking a sleeping potion in the hotel room after pretending to surrender to Kuchenko. Kuchenko awakens to learn that Vassiloff has planted a bomb in the room: Ivan must find it within three hours or he will be shot by Vassiloff and Boris, who have a gun trained on him at all times. Vassiloff tells Boris he has hidden the bomb in the room's telephone, where it will be triggered by picking up an incoming call.
Ivan manages to escape and avoid being shot. Later, Vassiloff and Boris enter the room and try to figure out what went wrong. The phone rings and Boris, without thinking, picks it up; Vassiloff barely has time to realize this and shout to Boris before the bomb goes off. On the other end of the phone line is Ivan Kuchenko at the airport. When the operator notifies him of the bad connection, he reassures her that the message was indeed delivered. The loudspeaker then announces that his plane is about to take off and he walks off to his freedom. The scene then cuts to Vassiloff and Boris's charred corpses.
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Major Ivan Kuchenko, on his way west, on his way to freedom--a freedom bought and paid for by a most stunning ingenuity. And exit one Commissar Vassiloff, who forgot that there are two sides to an argument and two parties on the line. This has been...the Twilight Zone.
----
!!The Jeopardy Tropes:
* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: Commissar Vassiloff tricks Major Kuchenko into drinking drugged wine by drinking first. Vassiloff built up an immunity to the drug by repeatedly taking increasing doses over time.
* ATeamFiring: When Kurchenko opens the door and runs out of the room, Boris (who had been earlier established as a crack shot) might as well have been firing with his eyes shut.
* BigNo: Vassiloff says this when Boris absentmindedly answers the booby trapped phone.
* BondOneLiner: After Boris causes the booby trapped phone to go off, the operator informs Kuchenko that she is unable to reach the intended party.
-->'''Kuchenko:''' It's all right, operator. I-I have reached them.
* BondVillainStupidity: Kuchenko is clearly at the mercy of Vassiloff and Boris, yet manages to escape.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Averted. Kuchenko remembers Vassiloff being there for his interrogations and immediately recognizes him at the door, hence why he keeps a gun aimed at him. Vassiloff is amused that Kuchenko remembers faces and pleased that they can cut to the chase rather than engage in the formality of supposed strangers feeling each other out.
* CharacterFilibuster: Vassiloff in the beginning indulges into the one about the bourgeois gulping their wine instead of sipping etc.
* ChromosomeCasting: This episode does not feature any women on screen.
* ColdSniper: Boris, Vassiloff's assistant, is a pragmatic sniper who would prefer to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim just shoot Kuchenko]].
* DeadlyGame: Vassiloff frames his DeathTrap this way, claiming that if Kuchenko can find and defuse the bomb in time, he will allow him to live.
* DeathTrap: Vassiloff traps Kuchenko inside a hotel room with a hidden explosive booby trap. If Kuchenko finds the bomb within the time limit, he lives. If not, he dies. Kuchenko figures out the truth and brilliantly turns the tables.
* TheDogBitesBack: The entirety of the ending is about Kuchenko tricking Boris into setting off the bomb and showing Vassiloff that people are ''not'' prey to toy with in his sadistic mind games.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: As Serling pointed out, Kuchenko truly earned his freedom.
* EvilLaugh: Vassiloff does an epic one after he explains his "game" to Kuchenko.
* ExplosiveStupidity: The bad guys are killed in the end when Boris absentmindedly answers the phone that his boss Vassiloff turned into a bomb.
* ExpoSpeak:
** The first part of the conversation between Kuchenko and Vassiloff is exactly that. They both know the things about which they talk. The viewer does not.
** Also, it is mentioned that Kuchenko spent twelve years in a camp to make him more sympathetic than an ordinary defector.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Vassiloff claims to be "a friend" to Kuchenko, but is in reality a cruel {{sadist}} who wants to watch him squirm in his DeathTrap before killing him.
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: One of the very few ''Twilight Zone'' episodes to contain no sci-fi or fantastic elements whatsoever.
* GoodMorningCrono: Kuchenko is woken up in a hotel room by the ringing of the phone.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: On the page describing the trope it is said that male users of cigarette holders are almost always Evil. This is certainly the case with Vassiloff.
* HellHotel: Kuchenko's hotel room is fairly shabby-looking at the beginning of the episode, but it descends into true hellishness after Vassiloff has set up his DeadlyGame, with a hidden bomb somewhere in the room and a sniper outside the window.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Vassiloff and Boris's fate, with Boris being tricked into setting off the very same bomb that was meant to kill Kuchenko.
* IWarnedYou: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris reminds Vassiloff that his [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim quick and efficient approach to killing]] would've gotten the desired results.
* MadArtist: Vassiloff compares the way he's about to kill Kuchenko to a subtle, sophisticated ballet.
* MaskOfSanity: Vassiloff presents himself as an AffablyEvil gentleman, but his EvilLaugh on the tape recording, and his sadistic pleasure at watching Kuchenko squirm makes it clear there's something wrong with his head.
* MinimalistCast: This episode features only three credited actors: Martin Landau, John van Dreelen and Robert Kelljan. The voices of two uncredited actresses are heard in the final scene.
* OhCrap: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris and Vassiloff enter the room to clean up. The booby trapped phone rings, and Boris, forgetting that it is rigged to explode, picks it up, causing Vassiloff to scream, "NO, BORIS!" before both of them are blown up.
* ProfessionalKiller: Both Vassiloff and Boris are professional assassins. Vassiloff, who claims to have killed 800 people, likes to kill his victims with artistry and subtlety to prevent himself from becoming bored. He considers himself the last of the imaginative executioners. On the other hand, Boris prefers to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible. As such, he simply wants to shoot Kuchenko in the head at the earliest opportunity. Vassiloff regards this less imaginative approach as the impatience of the bourgeois.
* {{Sadist}}: Vassiloff very much so. For all his talk about wanting to deal with Kuchenko for the sake of their nation's well-being, he simply enjoys stalking and finishing his prey. Rather than simply shoot a target dead, he sets up elaborate, ingenious traps that make those caught in them squirm and panic before finally dying. As he tells Kuchenko, he's an imaginative executioner that has done stuff like this ''800'' times. Kuchenko also recalls Vassiloff overseeing his brutal interrogations, smiling and nodding in entertainment the entire time.
* SelfPoisoningGambit: Vassiloff uses this to drug Kuchenko. The two share a drink, and it seems like it would be safe because Vassiloff is drinking the same thing, but the drink in question has a sleeping agent that Vassiloff [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity has a tolerance for]]. Kuchenko, who doesn't have that tolerance, is quickly knocked out.
* TalkToTheFist: Kuchenko breaks the tape recorder with Vassiloff's voice on it when the recording stops explaining the "rules" of the "game" and lets out an impressive EvilLaugh.
* TooDumbToLive: After Kuchenko escapes, Vassiloff enters a room that he knows still has a live bomb in it. The same goes for Boris who foolishly forgets about the phone bomb.
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Boris outright suggests this, but Vassiloff would rather turn it into some kind of sadistic game. This comes back to bite them both.
* WickedCultured: How Vassiloff presents himself: a refined gentleman, who converses amicably with his intended victim, smokes fine cigarettes, drinks well-aged wine, and treats murder like some kind of art form.
* WorthyOpponent: Vassiloff tells Kuchenko that they are "worthy adversaries".
----
to:
[[caption-width-right:350:Kuchenko gets the drop on Vasslioff.]]
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': The cast of characters: a cat and a mouse. This is the latter, the intended victim who may or may not know that he is to die, be it by butchery or ballet. His name is Major Ivan Kuchenko. He has, if events go according to certain plans, perhaps three or four more hours of living. But an ignorance shared by both himself and his executioner is the fact that both of them have taken a first step into the Twilight Zone.
Air date: April 17, 1964
Trying to defect, former KGB Major Ivan Kuchenko (Creator/MartinLandau) is trapped inside a hotel room. A hitman named Commissar Vassiloff (John van Dreelen) and his assistant Boris (Robert Kelljan) are watching him from a room across the street.
Vassiloff is an artistic killer who has tricked Kuchenko into drinking a sleeping potion in the hotel room after pretending to surrender to Kuchenko. Kuchenko awakens to learn that Vassiloff has planted a bomb in the room: Ivan must find it within three hours or he will be shot by Vassiloff and Boris, who have a gun trained on him at all times. Vassiloff tells Boris he has hidden the bomb in the room's telephone, where it will be triggered by picking up an incoming call.
Ivan manages to escape and avoid being shot. Later, Vassiloff and Boris enter the room and try to figure out what went wrong. The phone rings and Boris, without thinking, picks it up; Vassiloff barely has time to realize this and shout to Boris before the bomb goes off. On the other end of the phone line is Ivan Kuchenko at the airport. When the operator notifies him of the bad connection, he reassures her that the message was indeed delivered. The loudspeaker then announces that his plane is about to take off and he walks off to his freedom. The scene then cuts to Vassiloff and Boris's charred corpses.
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Major Ivan Kuchenko, on his way west, on his way to freedom--a freedom bought and paid for by a most stunning ingenuity. And exit one Commissar Vassiloff, who forgot that there are two sides to an argument and two parties on the line. This has been...the Twilight Zone.
----
!!The Jeopardy Tropes:
* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: Commissar Vassiloff tricks Major Kuchenko into drinking drugged wine by drinking first. Vassiloff built up an immunity to the drug by repeatedly taking increasing doses over time.
* ATeamFiring: When Kurchenko opens the door and runs out of the room, Boris (who had been earlier established as a crack shot) might as well have been firing with his eyes shut.
* BigNo: Vassiloff says this when Boris absentmindedly answers the booby trapped phone.
* BondOneLiner: After Boris causes the booby trapped phone to go off, the operator informs Kuchenko that she is unable to reach the intended party.
-->'''Kuchenko:''' It's all right, operator. I-I have reached them.
* BondVillainStupidity: Kuchenko is clearly at the mercy of Vassiloff and Boris, yet manages to escape.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Averted. Kuchenko remembers Vassiloff being there for his interrogations and immediately recognizes him at the door, hence why he keeps a gun aimed at him. Vassiloff is amused that Kuchenko remembers faces and pleased that they can cut to the chase rather than engage in the formality of supposed strangers feeling each other out.
* CharacterFilibuster: Vassiloff in the beginning indulges into the one about the bourgeois gulping their wine instead of sipping etc.
* ChromosomeCasting: This episode does not feature any women on screen.
* ColdSniper: Boris, Vassiloff's assistant, is a pragmatic sniper who would prefer to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim just shoot Kuchenko]].
* DeadlyGame: Vassiloff frames his DeathTrap this way, claiming that if Kuchenko can find and defuse the bomb in time, he will allow him to live.
* DeathTrap: Vassiloff traps Kuchenko inside a hotel room with a hidden explosive booby trap. If Kuchenko finds the bomb within the time limit, he lives. If not, he dies. Kuchenko figures out the truth and brilliantly turns the tables.
* TheDogBitesBack: The entirety of the ending is about Kuchenko tricking Boris into setting off the bomb and showing Vassiloff that people are ''not'' prey to toy with in his sadistic mind games.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: As Serling pointed out, Kuchenko truly earned his freedom.
* EvilLaugh: Vassiloff does an epic one after he explains his "game" to Kuchenko.
* ExplosiveStupidity: The bad guys are killed in the end when Boris absentmindedly answers the phone that his boss Vassiloff turned into a bomb.
* ExpoSpeak:
** The first part of the conversation between Kuchenko and Vassiloff is exactly that. They both know the things about which they talk. The viewer does not.
** Also, it is mentioned that Kuchenko spent twelve years in a camp to make him more sympathetic than an ordinary defector.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Vassiloff claims to be "a friend" to Kuchenko, but is in reality a cruel {{sadist}} who wants to watch him squirm in his DeathTrap before killing him.
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: One of the very few ''Twilight Zone'' episodes to contain no sci-fi or fantastic elements whatsoever.
* GoodMorningCrono: Kuchenko is woken up in a hotel room by the ringing of the phone.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: On the page describing the trope it is said that male users of cigarette holders are almost always Evil. This is certainly the case with Vassiloff.
* HellHotel: Kuchenko's hotel room is fairly shabby-looking at the beginning of the episode, but it descends into true hellishness after Vassiloff has set up his DeadlyGame, with a hidden bomb somewhere in the room and a sniper outside the window.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Vassiloff and Boris's fate, with Boris being tricked into setting off the very same bomb that was meant to kill Kuchenko.
* IWarnedYou: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris reminds Vassiloff that his [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim quick and efficient approach to killing]] would've gotten the desired results.
* MadArtist: Vassiloff compares the way he's about to kill Kuchenko to a subtle, sophisticated ballet.
* MaskOfSanity: Vassiloff presents himself as an AffablyEvil gentleman, but his EvilLaugh on the tape recording, and his sadistic pleasure at watching Kuchenko squirm makes it clear there's something wrong with his head.
* MinimalistCast: This episode features only three credited actors: Martin Landau, John van Dreelen and Robert Kelljan. The voices of two uncredited actresses are heard in the final scene.
* OhCrap: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris and Vassiloff enter the room to clean up. The booby trapped phone rings, and Boris, forgetting that it is rigged to explode, picks it up, causing Vassiloff to scream, "NO, BORIS!" before both of them are blown up.
* ProfessionalKiller: Both Vassiloff and Boris are professional assassins. Vassiloff, who claims to have killed 800 people, likes to kill his victims with artistry and subtlety to prevent himself from becoming bored. He considers himself the last of the imaginative executioners. On the other hand, Boris prefers to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible. As such, he simply wants to shoot Kuchenko in the head at the earliest opportunity. Vassiloff regards this less imaginative approach as the impatience of the bourgeois.
* {{Sadist}}: Vassiloff very much so. For all his talk about wanting to deal with Kuchenko for the sake of their nation's well-being, he simply enjoys stalking and finishing his prey. Rather than simply shoot a target dead, he sets up elaborate, ingenious traps that make those caught in them squirm and panic before finally dying. As he tells Kuchenko, he's an imaginative executioner that has done stuff like this ''800'' times. Kuchenko also recalls Vassiloff overseeing his brutal interrogations, smiling and nodding in entertainment the entire time.
* SelfPoisoningGambit: Vassiloff uses this to drug Kuchenko. The two share a drink, and it seems like it would be safe because Vassiloff is drinking the same thing, but the drink in question has a sleeping agent that Vassiloff [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity has a tolerance for]]. Kuchenko, who doesn't have that tolerance, is quickly knocked out.
* TalkToTheFist: Kuchenko breaks the tape recorder with Vassiloff's voice on it when the recording stops explaining the "rules" of the "game" and lets out an impressive EvilLaugh.
* TooDumbToLive: After Kuchenko escapes, Vassiloff enters a room that he knows still has a live bomb in it. The same goes for Boris who foolishly forgets about the phone bomb.
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Boris outright suggests this, but Vassiloff would rather turn it into some kind of sadistic game. This comes back to bite them both.
* WickedCultured: How Vassiloff presents himself: a refined gentleman, who converses amicably with his intended victim, smokes fine cigarettes, drinks well-aged wine, and treats murder like some kind of art form.
* WorthyOpponent: Vassiloff tells Kuchenko that they are "worthy adversaries".
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 21 (click to see context) :
* AffablyEvil: Vassiloff.
* ColdSniper: Boris, Vassiloff's assistant, is a pragmatic sniper who would prefer to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim just shoot Kuchenko]].
* DeadlyGame: Vassiloff frames his DeathTrap this way, claiming that if Kuchenko can find and defuse the bomb in time, he will allow him to live.
* DeadlyGame: Vassiloff frames his DeathTrap this way, claiming that if Kuchenko can find and defuse the bomb in time, he will allow him to live.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Vassiloff claims to be "a friend" to Kuchenko, but is in reality a cruel {{sadist}} who wants to watch him squirm in his DeathTrap before killing him.
Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* HellHotel: The episode begins with Kuchenko waking to find himself trapped in a hotel room with a hidden bomb and a sniper outside the window.
to:
* HellHotel: The episode begins with Kuchenko waking to find himself trapped in a Kuchenko's hotel room is fairly shabby-looking at the beginning of the episode, but it descends into true hellishness after Vassiloff has set up his DeadlyGame, with a hidden bomb somewhere in the room and a sniper outside the window.
Added DiffLines:
* MadArtist: Vassiloff compares the way he's about to kill Kuchenko to a subtle, sophisticated ballet.
Added DiffLines:
* TalkToTheFist: Kuchenko breaks the tape recorder with Vassiloff's voice on it when the recording stops explaining the "rules" of the "game" and lets out an impressive EvilLaugh.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 40 (click to see context) from:
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: On the page describing the trope it is said that male users of cigarette holders are always Evil. It is the case here too for Vassiloff.
to:
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: On the page describing the trope it is said that male users of cigarette holders are almost always Evil. It This is certainly the case here too for with Vassiloff.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
TRS cleanup
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: One of the very few ''Twilight Zone'' episodes to contain no sci-fi or fantastic elements whatsoever.
Deleted line(s) 49 (click to see context) :
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: One of the very few ''Twilight Zone'' episodes to contain no sci-fi or fantastic elements whatsoever.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Deleted the Punch Clock Villain aversion since Punch Clock Villain is not one of the Omnipresent Tropes, a Necessary Weasel trope or an aversion-only trope. It should not have averted examples.
Deleted line(s) 46 (click to see context) :
* PunchClockVillain: Averted for Vassiloff who enjoys murdering people in an artistic way.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 38 (click to see context) from:
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: On the page describing the trope it is said that Male users of cigarette holders are always Evil. It is the case here too for Vassiloff.
to:
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: On the page describing the trope it is said that Male male users of cigarette holders are always Evil. It is the case here too for Vassiloff.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 40 (click to see context) from:
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Vassiloff's fate.
to:
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Vassiloff's fate.Vassiloff and Boris's fate, with Boris being tricked into setting off the very same bomb that was meant to kill Kuchenko.
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* GoodMorningCrono: Kuchenko is waken up in a hotel room by the ringing of the phone.
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* GoodMorningCrono: Kuchenko is waken woken up in a hotel room by the ringing of the phone.
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* OhCrap: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris and Vassiloff enter the room to clean up. The booby trapped phone rings, and Boris, forgetting that it is rigged to explode, picks it up, causing Vassiloff to scream, "NO, BORIS!" before both of them are blown up.
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Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
Trying to defect, former KGB Major Ivan Kuchenko (Martin Landau) is trapped inside a hotel room. A hitman named Commissar Vassiloff (John van Dreelen) and his assistant Boris (Robert Kelljan) are watching him from a room across the street.
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Trying to defect, former KGB Major Ivan Kuchenko (Martin Landau) (Creator/MartinLandau) is trapped inside a hotel room. A hitman named Commissar Vassiloff (John van Dreelen) and his assistant Boris (Robert Kelljan) are watching him from a room across the street.
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* IWarnedYou: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris reminds Vassiloff that his [[WhyDon'tYaJustShootHim quick and efficient approach to killing]] would've gotten the desired results.
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* IWarnedYou: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris reminds Vassiloff that his [[WhyDon'tYaJustShootHim [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim quick and efficient approach to killing]] would've gotten the desired results.
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Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* IWarnedYou: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris reminds Vassiloff that his quick and efficient approach to killing would've gotten the desired results.
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* IWarnedYou: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris reminds Vassiloff that his [[WhyDon'tYaJustShootHim quick and efficient approach to killing killing]] would've gotten the desired results.
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Changed line(s) 12,13 (click to see context) from:
Ivan manages to escape and avoid being shot. Later, Vassiloff and Boris enter the room and try to figure out what went wrong. The phone rings and Boris, without thinking, picks it up; Vassiloff, realizing what is happening, yells at Boris, but the telephone bomb quickly goes off. On the other end of the phone line is Ivan Kuchenko at the airport. When the operator notifies him of the bad connection, he reassures her that the message was indeed delivered. The loudspeaker then announces that his plane is about to take off and he walks off to his freedom. The scene then cuts to Vassiloff and Boris's charred corpses.
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Ivan manages to escape and avoid being shot. Later, Vassiloff and Boris enter the room and try to figure out what went wrong. The phone rings and Boris, without thinking, picks it up; Vassiloff, realizing what is happening, yells at Boris, but Vassiloff barely has time to realize this and shout to Boris before the telephone bomb quickly goes off. On the other end of the phone line is Ivan Kuchenko at the airport. When the operator notifies him of the bad connection, he reassures her that the message was indeed delivered. The loudspeaker then announces that his plane is about to take off and he walks off to his freedom. The scene then cuts to Vassiloff and Boris's charred corpses.
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* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Averted. Kuchenko remembers Vassiloff being there for his interrogations and immediately recognizes him at the door, hence why he keeps a gun aimed at him. Vassiloff is amused that Kuchenko remembers faces and that they can cut to the chase rather than engage in the formality of supposed strangers feeling each other out.
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* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Averted. Kuchenko remembers Vassiloff being there for his interrogations and immediately recognizes him at the door, hence why he keeps a gun aimed at him. Vassiloff is amused that Kuchenko remembers faces and pleased that they can cut to the chase rather than engage in the formality of supposed strangers feeling each other out.
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* TheDogBitesBack: The entirety of the ending is about Kuchenko single-handed tricking Boris into setting off the bomb and showing Vassiloff that people are ''not'' prey to toy with in his sadistic mind games.
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* TheDogBitesBack: The entirety of the ending is about Kuchenko single-handed tricking Boris into setting off the bomb and showing Vassiloff that people are ''not'' prey to toy with in his sadistic mind games.
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Vassiloff is an artistic killer who has tricked Kuchenko into drinking a sleeping potion in the hotel room after pretending to surrender to Kuchenko. Kuchenko awakens to learn that Vassiloff has planted a bomb in the room: Ivan must find it within three hours or he will be shot by Vassiloff and Boris, who have a gun trained on him at all times. Vassiloff has hidden the bomb in the room's telephone, where it will be triggered by picking up an incoming call.
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Vassiloff is an artistic killer who has tricked Kuchenko into drinking a sleeping potion in the hotel room after pretending to surrender to Kuchenko. Kuchenko awakens to learn that Vassiloff has planted a bomb in the room: Ivan must find it within three hours or he will be shot by Vassiloff and Boris, who have a gun trained on him at all times. Vassiloff tells Boris he has hidden the bomb in the room's telephone, where it will be triggered by picking up an incoming call.
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!!Tropes:
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* BondOneLiner: After Boris causes the booby trapped phone to go off, the operator informs Kuchenko that she is unable to reach the intended party.
-->'''Kuchenko:''' It's all right, operator. I-I have reached them.
-->'''Kuchenko:''' It's all right, operator. I-I have reached them.
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* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Averted. Kuchenko remembers Vassiloff being there for his interrogations and immediately recognizes him at the door, hence why he keeps a gun aimed at him. Vassiloff is amused that Kuchenko remembers faces and that they can cut to the chase rather than engage in the formality of supposed strangers feeling each other out.
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* IWarnedYou: After Kuchenko escapes, Boris reminds Vassiloff that his quick and efficient approach to killing would've gotten the desired results.
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* {{Sadist}}: Vassiloff very much so. For all his talk about wanting to deal with Kuchenko for the sake of their nation's well-being, he simply enjoys stalking and finishing his prey. Rather than simply shoot a target dead, he sets up elaborate, ingenious traps that make those caught in them squirm and panic before finally dying. As he tells Kuchenko, he's an imaginative executioner that has done stuff like this ''800'' times. Kuchenko also recalls Vassiloff overseeing his brutal interrogations, smiling and nodding in entertainment the entire time.
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Changed line(s) 4,5 (click to see context) from:
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': The cast of characters: a cat and a mouse. This is the latter, the intended victim who may or may not know that he is to die, be it by butchery or ballet. His name is Major Ivan Kuchenko. He has, if events go according to certain plans, perhaps three or four more hours of living. But an ignorance shared by both himself and his executioner is the fact that both of them have taken a first step into The Twilight Zone.
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->'''Creator/RodSerling''': The cast of characters: a cat and a mouse. This is the latter, the intended victim who may or may not know that he is to die, be it by butchery or ballet. His name is Major Ivan Kuchenko. He has, if events go according to certain plans, perhaps three or four more hours of living. But an ignorance shared by both himself and his executioner is the fact that both of them have taken a first step into The the Twilight Zone.
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->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Major Ivan Kuchenko, on his way west, on his way to freedom--a freedom bought and paid for by a most stunning ingenuity. And exit one Commissar Vassiloff, who forgot that there are two sides to an argument and two parties on the line. This has been...The Twilight Zone.
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->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Major Ivan Kuchenko, on his way west, on his way to freedom--a freedom bought and paid for by a most stunning ingenuity. And exit one Commissar Vassiloff, who forgot that there are two sides to an argument and two parties on the line. This has been...The the Twilight Zone.
* ChromosomeCasting: This episode does not feature any women on screen.
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* {{Mind Game}}s: For Vassiloff with Kuchenko.
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* {{Mind Game}}s: For MinimalistCast: This episode features only three credited actors: Martin Landau, John van Dreelen and Robert Kelljan. The voices of two uncredited actresses are heard in the final scene.
* ProfessionalKiller: Both Vassiloff and Boris are professional assassins. Vassiloff, who claims to have killed 800 people, likes to kill his victims withKuchenko.artistry and subtlety to prevent himself from becoming bored. He considers himself the last of the imaginative executioners. On the other hand, Boris prefers to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible. As such, he simply wants to shoot Kuchenko in the head at the earliest opportunity. Vassiloff regards this less imaginative approach as the impatience of the bourgeois.
* ProfessionalKiller: Both Vassiloff and Boris are professional assassins. Vassiloff, who claims to have killed 800 people, likes to kill his victims with
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!!Trivia
* Martin Landau also appeared in "Mr. Denton On Doomsday" and the 1980's revival episode "The Beacon".
* Martin Landau also appeared in "Mr. Denton On Doomsday" and the 1980's revival episode "The Beacon".
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* ExpoSpeak
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* ExpoSpeakExpoSpeak:
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** Also, it is mentioned that Kuchenko spend twelve years in a camp to make him more sympathetic than an ordinary defector.
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** Also, it is mentioned that Kuchenko spend spent twelve years in a camp to make him more sympathetic than an ordinary defector.
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* TheDogBitesBack: The entirety of the ending is about Kuchenko single-handed tricking Boris into setting off the bomb and showing Vassiloff that people are ''not'' prey to toy with in his sadistic mind games.
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* HellHotel: The episode begins with Kuchenko waking to find himself trapped in a hotel room with a hidden bomb and a sniper outside the window.
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* MindGames: For Vassiloff with Kuchenko.
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* MindGames: {{Mind Game}}s: For Vassiloff with Kuchenko.
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Deleted line(s) 33 (click to see context) :
* GeniusBonus: Vassiloff presents Kuchenko with a bottle of amontillado wine. A famous Creator/EdgarAllanPoe story, ''Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado'' was ''also'' about someone using a convoluted plan to lure a man into his own murder. Given Vassiloff's WickedCultured persona, it's no stretch to believe this was an intentional ShoutOut on his part, and that he's a fan of the story.
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* GeniusBonus: Vassiloff presents Kuchenko with a bottle of amontillado wine. A famous Creator/EdgarAllanPoe story, ''Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado'' was ''also'' about someone using a convoluted plan to lure a man into his own murder. Given Vassiloff's WickedCultured persona, it's no stretch to believe this was an intentional ShoutOut on his part, and that he's a fan of the story.
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* MaskOfSanity: Vassiloff presents himself as an AffablyEvil gentleman, but his EvilLaugh on the tape recording, and his sadistic pleasure at watching Kuchenko squirm makes it clear there's something wrong with his head.
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* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Boris outright suggests this, but Vassiloff would rather turn it into some kind of sadistic game. This comes back to bite them both.
* WickedCultured: How Vassiloff presents himself: a refined gentleman, who converses amicably with his intended victim, smokes fine cigarettes, drinks well-aged wine, and treats murder like some kind of art form.
* WickedCultured: How Vassiloff presents himself: a refined gentleman, who converses amicably with his intended victim, smokes fine cigarettes, drinks well-aged wine, and treats murder like some kind of art form.
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There is no Subversion involved - it's a straight example.
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* ATeamFiring: Suddenly subverted in the scene where Kurchenko runs out of the room. Boris might as well have been firing with his eyes shut.
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* ATeamFiring: Suddenly subverted in the scene where When Kurchenko opens the door and runs out of the room. room, Boris (who had been earlier established as a crack shot) might as well have been firing with his eyes shut.
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Changed line(s) 12,13 (click to see context) from:
->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Major Ivan Kuchenko, on his way west, on his way to freedom--a freedom bought and paid for by a most stunning ingenuity. And exit one Commissar Vassiloff, who forgot that there are two sides to an argument and two parties on the line. This has been The Twilight Zone.
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->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Major Ivan Kuchenko, on his way west, on his way to freedom--a freedom bought and paid for by a most stunning ingenuity. And exit one Commissar Vassiloff, who forgot that there are two sides to an argument and two parties on the line. This has been been...The Twilight Zone.
