wiseguy182
03-06-2016, 03:33 PM
I wanted to discuss my insights and analyses on various Tales From The Darkside episodes.
The Last Car ~ This was one of the best episodes of the series and probably the most talked about as the whole thing was mysterious and the ending didn't tie everything up. This was the one where a young woman boards a train at night. There are 3 other passengers on the train, a bunch of mysterious happenings and she can't get off, even when she tries to get thrown off. In the end, we realize she isn't (or no longer is human).
Various sites have heavily debated this episode, throwing out every theory that they were in Hell, or in Limbo on the way to Heaven. I definitely don't believe they were in Hell as one of the other passengers was a little boy and it's difficult to believe a child that looks to be about 10 would endure such a cruel fate, especially one with no apparent ending.
Rather, I believe something else entirely. I believe that they were dead and had not accepted that they were dead yet. So, in essence, they were in some sort of Limbo until they accepted what they were.
Sorry, Right Number ~ This was another one of the best and most famous episodes (not hard to see why since it was written by Stephen King). This was the episode where Deborah Harmon plays a mother and wife who receives a mysterious phone call one night. She can't make out much before the call terminates, but is able to glean that the caller is familiar, a female and is in trouble. She tracks down all of her female relatives, and none of them placed the call. Later that night, her husband suddenly passes. The end features Harmon's character 10 years in the future reliving the night of her husband's death via a memento and having flashbacks. She then frantically calls her past self in an attempt to inform her that her husband will die and to get him to the hospital.
I've seen various people on other sites wonder how it was possible that Harmon's character could call her past self on the old phone number, or why she would even do such a thing since the events of that night were long gone and she couldn't go back in time to change them.
But I realized something. At the very beginning of the episode, Harmon's character is on the phone, chatting it up about mundane topics. She casually mentions that her husband is having health problems, but isn't too concerned about it. Her two youngest children have a sibling rivalry, but she too sweeps that under the rug. What happens when her future self calls her is really her feelings of guilt. She feels guilty that she didn't pay attention to her family more and feels responsible for her husband's death. She then finally realizes this at the end and tries to do anything possible to make it right, even something as nonsensical as calling the old phone number and trying to change the past. The whole story is about guilt.
I would be interested to hear what others have to say about these episodes or any other episodes for that matter. While like all other anthology shows, this one had some misses, but there were also a good number of fascinating and wonderfully spooky episodes.
The Last Car ~ This was one of the best episodes of the series and probably the most talked about as the whole thing was mysterious and the ending didn't tie everything up. This was the one where a young woman boards a train at night. There are 3 other passengers on the train, a bunch of mysterious happenings and she can't get off, even when she tries to get thrown off. In the end, we realize she isn't (or no longer is human).
Various sites have heavily debated this episode, throwing out every theory that they were in Hell, or in Limbo on the way to Heaven. I definitely don't believe they were in Hell as one of the other passengers was a little boy and it's difficult to believe a child that looks to be about 10 would endure such a cruel fate, especially one with no apparent ending.
Rather, I believe something else entirely. I believe that they were dead and had not accepted that they were dead yet. So, in essence, they were in some sort of Limbo until they accepted what they were.
Sorry, Right Number ~ This was another one of the best and most famous episodes (not hard to see why since it was written by Stephen King). This was the episode where Deborah Harmon plays a mother and wife who receives a mysterious phone call one night. She can't make out much before the call terminates, but is able to glean that the caller is familiar, a female and is in trouble. She tracks down all of her female relatives, and none of them placed the call. Later that night, her husband suddenly passes. The end features Harmon's character 10 years in the future reliving the night of her husband's death via a memento and having flashbacks. She then frantically calls her past self in an attempt to inform her that her husband will die and to get him to the hospital.
I've seen various people on other sites wonder how it was possible that Harmon's character could call her past self on the old phone number, or why she would even do such a thing since the events of that night were long gone and she couldn't go back in time to change them.
But I realized something. At the very beginning of the episode, Harmon's character is on the phone, chatting it up about mundane topics. She casually mentions that her husband is having health problems, but isn't too concerned about it. Her two youngest children have a sibling rivalry, but she too sweeps that under the rug. What happens when her future self calls her is really her feelings of guilt. She feels guilty that she didn't pay attention to her family more and feels responsible for her husband's death. She then finally realizes this at the end and tries to do anything possible to make it right, even something as nonsensical as calling the old phone number and trying to change the past. The whole story is about guilt.
I would be interested to hear what others have to say about these episodes or any other episodes for that matter. While like all other anthology shows, this one had some misses, but there were also a good number of fascinating and wonderfully spooky episodes.