History Recap / TheTwilightZone1985S1E22

* PlagiarismInFiction: Billy steals a joke about a gorilla eating a banana peel from a struggling comedian named Dave, who approached him for advice on how to be funny. He performs the joke on ''Larry Gibbon's Hollywood'', unaware that Dave is in the studio audience. As he drives away from the studio, Dave pulls a gun on him from the backseat, having become desperate as he has no money and his wife is pregnant. The two men struggle with the gun, but they are killed when the car crashes. Billy finds himself in an IronicHell where he is forced to tell a picky and sadistic audience about all of the terrible things he's done, including stealing Dave's routine.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: In his life, Billy injured a hooker and stole material from other comedians without anyone ever finding out about it. Once he dies and goes to Hell, he finally gets his comeuppance.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Billy was extremely selfish when he was alive. He stole jokes from other comedians, he threw his own mother out of his house because he was tired of hearing her complain, and he once broke a hooker's jaw and didn't call an ambulance because he didn't want his reputation to be ruined. However, after being forced to recount his selfish actions, he finally feels guilty about them.

* TheHeckler: The audience in Hell's comedy club includes a heckler who brings up Billy's most shameful deeds and goads Billy to talk about them.

* HeelRealization: Billy finally realizes how much of an ass he was in life after he's trapped in his IronicHell, telling Max that he doesn't even like himself anymore.

* BittersweetEnding: Billy gets his karma for ruining Dave's life and his deplorable behavior, but Dave himself is likely to have died in his car crash as well, leaving behind a widow who is both pregnant and broke. Billy also realizes what a monster he is and comes to regret it, but since he's trapped in Hell and DeadToBeginWith, it's too late for him to make up for his sins.

* BittersweetEnding: Billy gets his karma for ruining Dave's life and his deplorable behavior, but Dave himself is likely to have died in his car crash as well, leaving behind a widow who is both pregnant and broke. Billy also realizes what a monster he is and comes to regret it, but since he's trapped in Hell and DeadToBeginWith, it's too late.

* BittersweetEnding: Billy gets his karma for ruining Dave's life and his deplorable behavior, but Dave himself is likely to have died in his car crash as well, leaving behind a widow who is both pregnant and broke.

* EvilOldFolks: Billy is old enough to have a head of grey hair, and he's the meanest comedian you'll ever meet.

In Victorian England, Andrew, Brian, Cornelius, Deaver, Eli, Frederick, and Grant (Osmund Bullock, Creator/JimPiddock, Creator/WayneAlexander, Creator/EthanPhillips, Robert Schenkkan, Creator/BenCross, and Hywel Bennett) are seven poetry students at Cambridge University who have established the Devil's Alphabet Society, a private club where they can drink, smoke, discuss poetry and literature, and overall enjoy their company as friends. As the years pass, the members of the society slowly die one by one, some under mysterious cicrumstances. The last remaining members, Frederick and Cornelius, realizes that they have been bound by the pledge they made when they founded the society, where the members are to continue attending every meeting on All Souls' Day, dead or alive.

* SmokyGentlemensClub: The titular society, where the seven members can discuss literature, drink and smoke to their hearts content, and overall just enjoy each other's company.

** Ellen rewrites Edwin's life story so that he's rich from getting into real estate, but she finds that he is now her landlord and Lori is leading the building's tenants a strike against the inflated rent that he charges.

** While Carla is happy and recieving numerous luxurious gifts from her new boyfriend, Ellen learns that Edwin has gone bankrupt after compulsively buying Carla all those gifts. Ellen then rewrites Edwin's book so that he becomes rich from real estate, which he's always wanted to pursue a career in.

* RewritingReality: Aspiring writer Ellen gets a job working at a private library run by Gloria, who explains to her that every book on the shelves is an accurate account of the life of a living person. That night, Ellen is annoyed by the noise made by her obnoxious neighbor Doug and his live-in girlfriend Carla. The next day, she rewrites Doug's life story so that he is an extremely dedicated Catholic priest. However, she soon feels guilty because Carla is suicidally miserable at being alone in her old age, so she uses the opportunity to rewrite her life story to set her up with fellow neighbor Edwin. When she returns home, Carla is happy again and wearing an expensive fur coat, but Edwin is now bankrupt from compulsively lavishing Carla with presents. Ellen rewrites Edwin's life story so that he's rich from getting into real estate, but she finds that he is now her landlord and Lori is leading the building's tenants a strike against the inflated rent that he charges. The next day, Ellen rewrites her own life story so that she and Lori live in a nice house by the ocean. However, as soon as she arrives at her new home, Ellen learns that Lori drowned after rescuing a little boy from the raging sea. The devastated Ellen admits to Gloria what she has been doing and pleads for her help. After chastising her for her actions, Gloria fires Ellen and throws her out of the library. Ellen immediately finds Lori alive and well, as well as having returned to her original self. She also learns that the building the library was housed in is now owned by a man who has never heard of Gloria, relieving her of the opportunity to change others' lives.

Aspiring author Ellen Pendleton (Creator/FrancesConroy) applies for a new job in a private library. She soon discovers that this library houses books that document the lives of every living person, accurate to the second. When she has trouble writing due to her neighbor's late-night passion, Ellen breaches the library's rules regarding the books and alters the book detailing said neighbor's life. Unfortunately, every new alteration to the book results in unpleasant changes in the life of Ellen's neighbors and her sister Lori (Creator/LoriPetty), leaving her desperate for a way to fix things in a way so they don't backfire.

* StealingTheCredit: Billy stole a comedy routine from Dave. In Hell, he also makes a comment about Dave being “easy pickings”, implying that he regularly steals jokes from other comedians.