"I know all about you..."
Rod Serling: Month of November, hot chocolate, and a small cameo of a child's face, imperfect only in its solemnity. And these are the improbable ingredients to a human emotion, an emotion, say, like—fear. But in a moment this woman, Helen Foley, will realize fear. She will understand what are the properties of terror. A little girl will lead her by the hand and walk with her into a nightmare.
Air date: April 29, 1960
Helen Foley (Janice Rule) is a schoolteacher with a troubled past. She comes home to her apartment one afternoon and meets a young girl, Markie, sitting on the stairs of her apartment building. Markie is an odd child with a deadly serious manner, and what's more disturbing, she is strangely knowledgeable about Helen and her past. Markie demands that Helen dig deep into her childhood and unearth a horrible trauma from her youth, which she must put to rest.
Nightmare as a Trope:
- Anti-Hero: While she's creepy, solemn, harsh, and mouthy, Markie wants to help Helen overcome her memories of the past, learn who her mother's killer was, and ensure that they are served justice.
- Bottle Episode: The episode takes place entirely in Helen's apartment and the corridor outside of it.
- Catapult Nightmare: Helen, after dreaming of her mother's murder.
- Creepy Child: Markie, with her demanding manner and dead-eyed stare. She's revealed to have good intentions, but she's still creepy.
- Creepy Children Singing: Helen hears Markie creepily singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" over and over in her mind.
- Creepy Good: Markie is a very unnerving little girl, but she's only trying to help Helen - she's Helen's repressed memories of her childhood trying to resurface and let her know she's encountered her mother's killer.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Helen saw her mother be killed by a close family friend and suppressed the memory.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After years of being subconsciously haunted by the memory of her mother's murder, Helen can finally close that chapter of her past and move on.
- Foreshadowing: Peter tells Helen he was the first to find her mother's dead body. Now think, who would be the first person to see a murdered body?
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Peter dies trying to kill Helen to get rid of the witness of his crime.
- Ignored Epiphany: Helen verges on realizing the truth about Markie when she checks Markie's arm for the same burn she has, but her memory suppression keeps her from putting the pieces together.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Peter dies falling down the stairs, a result of trying to kill the daughter of his victim, the only living witness to his crime.
- Repressed Memories: Helen repressed the memory of witnessing Peter Selden murder her mother in her room when she was ten years old.
- Riddle for the Ages: It is not explained how Helen got the burn on her arm.
- Staircase Tumble: Selden dies falling down the stairs after a struggle with Helen.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed, since Helen was never mean to begin with, just cold and distant. However, it's worth noting she becomes a lot more open and tender after coming to terms with her past.
- Troubled, but Cute: Markie, an extension of Helen's trauma.
- Tuckerization: Helen Foley is named after Rod Serling's favorite teacher.
- Wham Line: Peter mentioning that "Markie" was Helen's childhood nickname.
- Wham Shot: Peter provides a picture of Helen when she was a little girl. The latter is taken aback to see her childhood self looks exactly like Markie.
Rod Serling: Miss Helen Foley, who has lived in night and who will wake up to morning. Miss Helen Foley, who took a dark spot from the tapestry of her life and rubbed it clean—then stepped back a few paces and got a good look at the Twilight Zone.
