Barnum and Bailey this is not.
Crypt Keeper: (dressed as a dentist and surrounded by dental equipment, looking over the X-Ray of a groaning man seated in a chair whose mouth is forced open) Hmmmm. Frankly, your hacks-rays look terrible. You've got to pay closer attention to your oral die-giene, or you'll end up looking like me. I want you to brush after every meal, floss and gargoyle twice a day. Hmm, yes, looks like I'll have to drill. (picks up a power drill on his table) This won't hurt me a bit! (cackles, then sedates the man with a gas mask) In the meantime, to take your mind off the pain, I've got a little dose of fright-rous oxide for you. It's about a sideshow mind-reader who's lost his head over a pretty girl. I call it: Food for Thought.
"The Great Zambini" and his wife Connie/“Sultana” are the star performers of the circus they work in, their mind-reading act drawing in many an audience. Not everything is as it seems between them, as Connie was picked off the streets by Zambini, who exploits her mind-reading ability and forces her to perform sexual acts on him against her will. He is known terrorize and even beat Connie when she refuses to comply, as Zambini’s mind has a strong psychological hold over her. However, while Connie can read his mind, Zambini can’t read hers, and he aims to fix this problem by any means necessary. Connie is also developing an attraction to Johnny, the circus's fire eater, and their flirtation soon deepens into something more as Zambini becomes more abusive. As Connie and Johnny engage in passionate sex, Zambini suddenly becomes able to read Connie’s mind, driving him mad with jealousy. Zambini ultimately does away with Johnny via a dose of ironically place fire, but he soon draws the ire of one of the circus' other attractions: Nabunga, the Man-Eating Gorilla.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Species Change: In the original comic ends with Carl gets eaten alive by a Ghoul while in the show Zambini gets eaten by the female gorilla named Nabunga.
- Armless Biped: A partial case, but one of the circus's performers has a left arm that's shriveled and atrophied.
- Awful Wedded Life: Connie and Zambini are not happy with one another, the former for being snatched off the street by the latter and forced to demean herself by performing sexual acts on him whenever he wants.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Emmett is portrayed as kind of a jerk, and he demonstrates that by pelting Nabunga with peanuts.
- The Beastmaster: Johnny is the only person who tends to Nabunga, his very presence allowing her to be at her calmest.
- Big Eater: Zambini, who's constantly thinking about food or otherwise indulging in it. His wife Connie even lampshades it during an argument.
- Big "NO!": Johnny unleashes one just as Zambini lights him up.
- Bittersweet Ending: Johnny is burned alive, but Connie finally has enough of her abusive and psychotic husband and finds the courage to leave him. Moments later, Zambini meets a Karmic Death via Nabunga, who aims to avenge Johnny, the one person who treated her with kindness.
- Blind Seer: This is one of Connie's telepathic abilities, being able to deduce what clothes audience members are wearing and the belongings they have on their person while blindfolded. She even manages to guess a specific passage Zambini selects from an audience member's Bible.
- Bookends: The episode begins and ends over accordion-sounding circus music.
- Brain Food: The episode ends with Nabunga, having killed Zambini to avenge Johnny's death, eating Zambini's brains out of his severed head.
- Bullying a Dragon: Emmett frequently antagonizes Nabunga, thinking she can't harm him or anyone else from her cage. Zambini would say otherwise.
- Carnivore Confusion: In the end, Nabunga is seen devouring Zambini's brains out of his freshly severed head. Well, at least she lives up to her character's name: "The Man-Eating Gorilla".
- Circus Episode: The episode is, naturally, set in a circus full of odd and perverse performers.
- Circus of Fear: Downplayed. The circus's main elements of fear are the psychopathic Zambini and Nabunga, the carnivorous, man-eating gorilla.
- Conjoined Twins: Two of them, joined at the breast and dressed as little girls, are seen among the circus folk. Emmett, the Depraved Dwarf ringmaster, decides to peek at their fused, naked chest while they take a shower.
- Contortionist: One of them appears as a circus act.
- Creepy Circus Music: This plays a few times over the episode, notably the beginning, ending, and during Zambini's show.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Zambini's murder of Johnny consists of him tossing gasoline on the guy and setting him on fire. As expected, he burns to a crisp.
- Death by Irony: Zambini kills Johnny the fire-eater by burning him alive.
- Similarly, Zambini is killed by one of his own cooking utensils.
- Depraved Dentist: The Crypt Keeper plays one in his framing segments.
- Depraved Dwarf: There are a few little people who are shown to be performers in the circus. Emmett, the circus ringmaster, is the biggest jerk of them, as he's seen peeking on the conjoined twins as they take a shower.
- Didn't Think This Through: Zambini is a phony would-be "mind-reader", but he could actually pick up stray thoughts and believed they were his wife's. He never stopped to think he could read the minds of animals close by to him...
- Dodgy Toupee: Zambini wears a black wig while he's performing onstage with Connie.
- Does Not Like Spam: Emmett admits that he hates peanuts while snacking on a handful of them. He gets more pleasure by chucking them at Nabunga.
- Domestic Abuse: Zambini constantly abuses his wife Connie, both verbally and physically. It's even said that he straight-up abducted her off the street. Connie even tells Johnny how Zambini told her that he beat up his previous assistant in a drunken rage, and that he wears his clown makeup to hide himself from the cops.
- Double Entendre: A wisecracking member of Zambini's audience asks if he can twist Connie's "dials" after Zambini calls her his "radio".
- Drowning My Sorrows: When Connie finally leaves him, Zambini starts chugging bottles of cooking wine to soothe himself.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": "Zambini" is the title character's stage name. His real name is never revealed.
- Evil Chef: Zambini can be seen as one, given that he has an intense passion for cooking as well as performing.
- Evil Is Hammy: Zambini never stops raising his voice or acting sinister towards people. It's partially justified since he's a circus performer.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Zambini's voice is deep and threatening, compliments of his actor Ernie Hudson.
- The Freakshow: The circus where the episode is set focuses more on the freaks than the animals and acrobats, so it can be seen as one.
- Hate Sink: Zambini, a psychotic and violently abusive circus performer who inflicts psychological torture on his wife, who he abducted off the street, forcing her to obey his commands and perform sexual acts on him whenever he wishes.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Johnny and Connie's lovemaking is interrupted by Zambini's telepathic control of Connie before it can go any further.
- Karma Houdini: Even though Zambini is dealt with, Emmett the dwarf gets away with being a pretty huge dick to everyone he interacts with, including pelting Nabunga with peanuts and peeping on the conjoined twins as they shower.
- Karmic Twist Ending: Zambini's death at the end via Nabunga the gorilla, whose caretaker he killed.
- Killer Gorilla: Nabunga, advertised as "The Man-Eating Gorilla", is shown to live up to her name at the end of the episode, where she's seen eating Zambini's brains out of his severed head.
- Lecherous Licking: Zambini's tongue goes to town on the plate he's holding when he forces Connie to perform oral sex on him in the opening scene.
- Love at First Sight: Johnny and Connie fall for each other right when they meet.
- Meaningful Echo: "I want my dessert. I want to taste your mind..." Zambini mentally communicates these lines to Connie to get her to submit, and they're thrown back at him through Nabunga.
- Mind Control: Zambini's mind has a psychological hold on Connie, forcing her to do whatever he commands.
- Mister Big: Emmett the dwarf happens to be the circus ringmaster, and the de facto leader of the circus folk.
- Monster Clown: Zambini is abusive and certifiably insane, and he's never seen without his clown makeup on. He even started wearing the makeup to disguise himself from the police after he assaulted his last assistant in a drunken rage, then went nuts and started wearing it full time.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Zambini's solution for keeping Johnny away from Connie. He conducts the murder that very same night, burning the fire-eater alive.
- Nice Guy: Johnny the fire eater, who comes to Connie's aid after a beating from Zambini, and is the only person in the whole circus who treats Nabunga with any sort of kindness.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Just what was the incident that rendered Zambini psychotically insane? We don't get any specific details about it, only that he started wearing his makeup full time when he cracked.
- Not in Front of the Gorilla: Johnny and Connie twice make out in places where Nabunga can easily see them from her cage. Nabunga is then somehow able to mentally communicate in Connie's voice, and Zambini is somehow able to hear the ape's thoughts. After he kills Johnny and Connie leaves him, Zambini hears Nabunga's new mental voice and demands that who he thinks is his wife come to him. The gorilla is all too happy to oblige, and get revenge on her caretaker's death in the process.
- Off with His Head!: After breaking into Zambini's trailer, seeking revenge for the death of Johnny (her caretaker and the only person who didn't treat her as a monster), Nabunga grabs a meat cleaver and chops Zambini's head off. The end of the episode shows her devouring his brains right out of his skull.
- People in Rubber Suits: It's pretty obvious that Nabunga is portrayed by some guy in a gorilla suit.
- Poke in the Third Eye: Zambini mentally screaming Connie's name, which she can hear, gives her a strong sense of fear and apprehension, much like anything else that he communicates to her mentally.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Several of them are dropped:
- "You play with fire, you get burned!"; From Zambini to Johnny.
- "I want to taste your mind!"; To Zambini from Nabunga, along with "This is for Johnny!".
- Riddle for the Ages: The end of the episode reveals that Zambini does indeed have the ability to read minds, but only on animals, as he hears Nabunga mentally speaking to him in Connie's voice. The reason why this ability manifests so suddenly, or why Nabunga is suddenly able to telepathically speak in a woman's voice in the first place, is never revealed.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Nabunga breaks out of her cage and into Zambini's trailer after he kills Johnny, the only person who gave her kindness instead of treating her like a violent savage. She avenges Johnny by chopping Zambini's head off and eating his brain.
- Scary Black Man: Zambini. Goes a step further by being a mind-reading Monster Clown too.
- Shower Scene: The conjoined twins are given one, where they are shown to be fused at the breast.
- Starting a New Life: Johnny admits to Connie that he's getting tired of life as a circus performer and invites him to travel with him to St. Louis, saying that he has a cousin there with government connections who can get them both jobs.
- Telepathy: Connie has the ability to read peoples' minds, and correctly deduce what they're wearing and whatever they're carrying even when she can't see them. Zambini aims to gain the same ability that his wife has, and until then, he basically uses her as a prop during his act while he takes all the credit. The end of the episode reveals that Zambini also has the ability to read minds. Or at least, the minds of animals.
- Tempting Fate: Johnny questions Connie about what her paranoid husband could do to him when he finds out about their affair: "What's he gonna do, sit on me?"
- Tongue Trauma: The Crypt Keeper rips out his patient's tongue in the epilogue.
- Tragic Monster: If Johnny's to be believed, Nabunga became the ferocious beast she is today by suffering from several deep-seated issues.
- Voices Are Mental: Nabunga's thoughts are vocalized in Connie's voice, as she gained the ability to speak English mentally after watching her and Johnny have sex.
-
The Woobie: Connie, a young telepathic woman who, after living on the streets, was abducted and forcefully married to a violently abusive and insane circus performer who psychologically dominates her, forcing her to comply with his sick cravings for sex whenever she wants. She thankfully up and leaves the bastard when he ends up killing her new extramarital lover.
Crypt Keeper: (picking up a pair of pliers) Mmmmm, yummy! I sure hope Nabunga ate it all. You know what they say, kiddies: "A mind's a terrible thing to waste!" Maybe she saved some for breakfast and had it in a brain muffin! (cackles; to his patient) I'm afraid it's going to have to come out. Oh, yes, it does. Now, put your head back! Open wider. Wider! (he rips out the patient's tongue) Got it! They don't call me the Tooth Scary for nothing. (snickers)
