It's been three years since Gail Brand was murdered, a tragedy her husband Marty still cannot accept. Like so many who deny the death of a loved one, Marty has become a shell of his former self unwilling to move on to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. But as Marty Brand is about to discover, those pieces are even more shattered than he imagined...
After his wife's murderer is finally sentenced, a man starts to see visions of the crime, revealing a horrible truth that he's managed to hide from himself. Original airdate, April 14th 1998. — Rip Torn, opening narration of episode
Tropes:
- A Deadly Affair: Gail having an affair with Marty's best friend Ed is what led to her demise.
- Awful Truth: Marty's wife Gail was having an affair with his best friend Ed, and Marty killed his wife because of her affair.
- Big "NO!": Marty, when he realizes that he was the one who killed his wife Gail all along. He was just in deep denial about it.
- Blame the Paramour: Once he discovers the affair, Marty is quick to attack Ed for his betrayal and question his friendship.
- Downer Beginning: The episode opens with Marty looking over his late wife's personal belongings and obsessing over newspaper articles about her death.
- Downer Ending: Marty discovers who his wife's real killer is (it's him) and he still hasn't come to accept it and is left lying on the living room floor having lost his mind.
- Five Stages of Grief: Marty goes through them. Though by the end, he's gone to insanity and stuck in denial forever.
- Denial: Marty refuses to believe his wife's murder case is over and her killer caught and seeks justice.
- Anger: Marty is furious when he discovers that his late wife Gail and his best friend Ed were having an affair and physically attacks him during his tennis coaching class.
- Bargaining: After realizing someone else may be the killer, Marty tries to rectify his mistake in accusing a mentally challenged delivery guy of being the killer and goes to his lawyer, asking her to have the man cleared of all charges and released from death row. It doesn't work.
- Depression: Marty has not been himself since his wife died.
- Acceptance: Averted. Even after learning the truth, Marty still refuses to believe it and he falls into a deeper madness.
- Foreshadowing: Marty to Ed during a confrontation: "So you just, like, blocked it all out? Pretended it never happened? Well, listen, people don't just block it out unless they have something to hide!"
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Marty loses his mind after finding out that he himself killed his wife three years ago.
- Ironic Echo: Marty says one to Eddie during a fight, after discovering that Eddie had slept with his wife Gail: "So you just blocked it out? Pretend that it never happened? The only reason people blocked things out is that they've got something to hide!"
- The Lost Lenore: Gail is this, as it has been three years since her death and her husband Marty still hasn't moved on.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Marty thinks this after seeing flashbacks of the night his wife was murdered showing that he was her true killer.
- Never My Fault: Marty, both the cause for his wife having his affair with his best friend and him being responsible for her death.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Marty, when he sees the killer in his flashback pick up the cloth he dropped in the present day and use it strangle Gail.
- Gail, when she realizes that the man she thought was her lover turned out to be her killer/husband in disguise.
- Red Herring:
- The mentally challenged delivery guy who allegedly murdered Gail.
- Also, Marty's friend Ed who was having an affair with Gail.
- The Killer in Me: Marty Brand, type 2. After he killed his wife for having an affair, he felt so guilty that he blocked out the memory and covered up the murder by framing it on a young mentally-challenged delivery guy.
- Title Drop: Marty delivers one during a talk with his lawyer.Marty: How can you let that Jackson kid rot in prison knowing he's innocent? I'll tell you how. It's called denial. Just pretend the bad stuff never happened and hopefully it will all just go away.
- And again by the narrator in the episode's conclusion.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Marty, who still believes that his wife's killer is out there somewhere. He's revealed to be the true killer.
- Wham Line:
- When Marty sees a flashback of Gail's potential killer and Gail approaches the shadowy figure:
Gail: Oh, you scared me! What took you so long? It's okay. Marty's out of town. It's just you and me, darling. Don't tell me you're still mad at me. I didn't mean it, Ed.Marty: (in the present day, watching) Ed?!Gail: You know I would never breathe a word to your wife.- Gail delivers one in the paranormal flashbacks after successfully unmasking her attempted killer.
Gail: ...Marty?! - Wham Shot: After the reveal that Gail managed to remove her attacker's mask, it shows that her husband Marty was her killer after all, much to his dismay in the present.
We all know that life is a journey of self-discovery. For Marty Brand, that journey ended where it began three years ago...trapped in the madness of denial
— Rip Torn, ending narration of episode
