Directed by
Stuart Gordon and based on a short story by
Edgar Allan Poe. In 1840s Philadelphia, Edgar Allan Poe (
Jeffrey Combs) is going through a bad case of
Writer's Block as he begins to hit the bottle more than usual and his young wife Virginia (Elyse Levesque) contracts tuberculosis. To make things worse, their pet black cat Pluto begins to act a lot
meaner than usual.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Virginia Clem Poe is played by the gorgeous Elyse Levesque. The one confirmed portrait of Virginia depicts her as rather plain looking, with a round face and a double chin.
- The Alcoholic: Poe, to the point that the habit is bankrupting him.
- All Just a Dream: The end reveals that virtually nothing in the episode happened and that both the cat and Virginia are alive and healthy (rather than undead).
- Answer Cut: "Really, Mr. Poe, where does all the money go?" Glug glug glug.
- Back from the Dead: Both Virginia and the cat return after they die.
- Blood from the Mouth: Virginia, coupled with Incurable Cough of Death, as a result of her tuberculosis.
- Body Horror: Virginia coughing copious amounts of blood. Later Poe accidentally hacks her on the head... and she doesn't die instantly.
- Cats Are Mean: The cat's increasing meanness and unwillingness to go away are the main drive of the story.
- Cat Stereotype: Pluto is a supernatural all-black cat and bringer of doom to his owners.
- Color Wash: Red is very bright, while other colors are dulled.
- Eye Scream: Happens when Poe attacks the cat with a cutter.
- Historical Domain Character: Both Poe and his wife.
- Hell Is That Noise: The last time the cat returns he stands on Virginia's body and screams instead of going to Poe directly.
- Indulgent Fantasy Segue: Poe goes through one when talking to his editor.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: No matter what happens to the cat, it just comes back to life while bearing the mark of it.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Virginia is dutiful to her cat. Also to her pet fish and husband.
- Kissing Cousins: One of the men attending Virginia's funeral remarks that the Poes are first cousins. "Something perhaps acceptable in Richmond, but not here".
- Living Shadow: The cat, when he follows Poe to his second home.
- Meaningful Name: In Classical Mythology, Pluto is the king of the Underworld.
- Secret History: Although based on Poe's story, the episode is framed as showing the events that led him to come up with that story.
- Show Within a Show: Poe begins to write his The Black Cat at the end of the episode, inspired by previous events.
- Starving Artist: Poe is both a celebrity writer and an impoverished man.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: The cat keeps returning to Poe even after he kills it... repeatedly.
- Writer's Block: Poe struggles to write a line for most of the episode.
- You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Poe tries to use this at a bar, but fails because everybody knows who he is. And that he doesn't pay.
