History Recap / TheTwilightZone1959S2E25TheSilence

* {{Hypocrite}}: Archie gives Jamie a lot of flack for being a man of low character. All the while, he's been lying to everyone about his fortune and forces Jamie to endure go through a psychologically destructive bet, torturing him with rumors about his wife cheating on him to weasel out of paying him the money he offered for said bet.

* FixingTheGame: Since he knew that he couldn't remain silent for a while year, Jamie tried to ensure that he would win the bet by having his vocal cords surgically severed. Since Archie is broke, it didn't make any different.

At the end of the year, Jamie has stayed silent and won the bet. He comes out of his glass prison and approaches the Archie, silently demanding the promised $500,000. Caught on the back foot, Archie makes an admission of "distasteful candor": he himself has no fortune either, having squandered it a year ago. He also admits that the counter-offers were far more than he could afford. He praises Jamie for his resolve and says he'll resign from the club.

Old man Colonel Archie Taylor is a prominent member of a gentleman's club. The chatter proceeds as normal, but one member's chatter bothers him: that of young, nouveau riche Jamie Tennyson. He's a new member, and he's mouthy and "poorly bred" in Taylor's opinion. To get rid of Tennyson, and because he knows Tennyson has squandered his recent wealth and is desperate for money, Archie offers a wager despite gambling being illegal in their state.

He promises Tennyson $500,000 if he can keep from saying a word for an entire year. Not only will Tennyson have to not speak for a year, but he'll have to consent to being in a locked glass suite riddled with microphones so they can catch him if he talks, even a word, to himself, at any time when no one's watching - but people will be watching. He is allowed to communicate only through gestures and writing. Tennyson is offended, both at the conditions of the wager and the fact that the Colonel has just aired all his dirty laundry to the whole club! He asks questions of the Colonel, before agreeing. He finally says he needs a check on deposit in Jamie's name, but the Colonel takes umbrage at what seems like impugning his honor and his word, and the rest of the club backs him up because he's a longstanding member. Jamie subsides, accepting "my courage against your credit", and shows up the following night to begin his mute year. Archie's friend in the club, Alfred, seems to think this whole thing is a bad idea and says so.

Weeks pass, and Colonel Taylor is astonished that Tennyson has made it so far without speaking a word, but remains confident that he will win the bet. The young man is well cared for, but Archie is astonished that a young man with a beautiful wife isn't bored. Months pass and pass, and by the time nine months of the year have passed, Archie is visibly on edge. He approaches Jamie and offers him $1,000 to walk out that very day, having proved he can keep quiet for a long time. Jamie angrily marches over to the calendar, taps it, and writes out his reply to the Colonel: "Three months to go! The Bet stands!" Alfred warns Taylor again that his bet is a bad idea and asks if he has the money to make good if Jamie does succeed in holding up his end of the wager. Alfred walks away saying he hopes Archie really does have the money.

Taylor decides to fight dirty. Though Jamie has sent multiple requests for his beautiful young wife to visit, she never has. Taylor begins tormenting Jamie with gossip about her: she's been seen around town with moneyed young men who drive around in flashy sportscars. Jamie is visibly hurt and tormented by hearing these things, but he still never says a word. Taylor turns the screws, repeating every nasty word of gossip, calmly tormenting Tennyson with the knowledge that his wife is stepping out on him and doesn't seem to care who knows. Taylor tries again to offer Jamie an out to the bet in the form of $5,000, then raises to $6,000. Jamie doesn't see the actual cash and refuses, certain he's being scammed.

Finally the year has passed, and Jamie has won the bet! He comes out of his glass prison, and approaches the Colonel with his hand out for the promised $500,000. Archie, caught on the back foot, must now make an admission of "distasteful candor": that he is himself also without a fortune, which he lost a decade ago. He even admits that the counter-offers were more than he could afford. He praises Tennyson for his resolve and says he'll resign from the club.

With all the membership watching, a tearful Jamie Tennyson pulls out his pad and begins to write. The men of the club are boggled. His year is over, he can speak if he wants, why doesn't he?!

Jamie hands Archie Taylor a note, which Taylor reads aloud:

->''"I knew that I would not be able to keep my part of the bargain, so one year ago I had the nerves to my vocal cords severed!"''

Jamie tears off his cravat, revealing a surgical scar which he's kept hidden under scarves and turtlenecks the whole time, causing the members of the club, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Taylor especially,]] to react with shock and horror.

->'''Creator/RodSerling:''' Mr. Jamie Tennyson, who almost won a bet, but who discovered somewhat belatedly that gambling can be a most unproductive pursuit, even with loaded dice, marked cards, or, as in his case, some severed vocal cords. For somewhere beyond him, a wheel was turned, and his number came up black 13. If you don't believe it, ask the croupier, the very special one who handles roulette - in The Twilight Zone.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Unlike the bet-setter in Chekhov's original story, Colonel Taylor never considers ''killing'' Jamie even when he's at the absolute end of his rope (then again, [[PragmaticVillainy in this version the silenced man is imprisoned in the basement of a communal club, not in a room on the bet-setter's property, so it's not like he could've gotten away with it]]).
* AdaptationalJerkass: Conversely, unlike in the original story, Tennyson cheats via vocal-cord surgery instead of genuinely toughing out the years of silence. The bet-taker in the original story was also motivated by his idealistic conviction that even life imprisonment was an improvement over death, rather than {{Greed}} or {{Pride}}.
* AnAesop: One of the few episodes to have two: Don't make a bet if you are unable to keep it, and Cheaters never prosper.
* AllForNothing: Jamie's entire ordeal ends in this as Archie reveals he's completely broke.
* AmoralAttorney: Inverted. Archie's lawyer Alfred is the only one not to gleefully go along with the bet and to point out why it's a bad idea to both men.
* AndIMustScream: By the end, Jamie is left in a state where he can no longer speak or scream due to having the nerves to his vocal cords severed.
* BottleEpisode: This episode takes place entirely in the gentleman's club and features only two sets.
* CheatersNeverProsper: Jamie has his vocal cords surgically paralyzed so he will win the bet. Unfortunately for him, not only is he permanently mute, but now, Taylor is broke, so Jamie is in huge debt.

* CruelTwistEnding: An ''exceptionally'' cruel one.

* DownerEnding: Both parties end up worse in the end. Archie is humiliated and forced to admit he is a fraud and has destroyed his reputation and credibility, while Jamie gets it worse. He has severed his vocal cords and can no longer speak or verbally communicate and remains in large debt.
* EvilIsPetty: All this because Archie was sick of listening to Jamie talk.
* FixingTheGame: As he knew that he couldn't remain silent for a year, Jamie hoped to ensure that he would win the bet by having surgery to have his vocal cords severed. Since Colonel Taylor is broke, it ends up not making a difference.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Nine weeks into the bet, the club attendant Franklin remarks that Jamie doesn't eat much, but his appetite is better than it was weeks before. This hints at Jamie's surgery that took his voice, as it would be painful for him to swallow.
** After four and a half months, Alfred asks if Archie has the money ready in case Jamie does beat him. Archie brushes it off, believing that Jamie can't last, and Alfred hopes for his sake that he's right. Considering the two of them are friends and Alfred is his lawyer, it's no surprise he'd know Archie is actually broke.
* TheGhost: Jamie's wife Doris, much discussed (Archie implies she's cheating on him) but never seen. Her reaction to her husband locking himself up in a cage for a year can only be guessed at.
* GlassyPrison: Jamie lives in a glass cell in the basement of his club for a year to prove that he is fulfilling his part of the bargain and remaining silent.
* HappilyMarried: Jamie loves his wife Doris very much. Archie's rumors that she may be cheating on him clearly leave him distraught.
* HeroicWillpower: Subverted and played with. No matter how much Archie tries to convince him to give up, from offering him smaller sums of money to gossiping about his wife, Jamie is determined to win the bet. Everyone concludes that he's the stronger of the two men, only for it to be revealed that he had the nerves to his vocal chords severed. While it undermines the victory, especially since Archie had no money to give, Jamie was still willing to be surgically disabled ''and'' endure a year in near-isolation, and fears that his marriage has been falling apart, none of which should be scoffed at.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Archie gives Jamie shit for being a man of low character. All the while he's been lying to everyone about his fortune and letting Jamie go through a psychologically destructive bet and torturing him with rumors about his wife cheating on him to weasel out of paying him the money he offered for said bet.
* {{Irony}}: To quote Tennyson, "My courage against your credit. In a year, both will be proven." This is indeed the case: both are proven to be completely bogus.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Archie. He provoked Jamie into the bet by insulting him as a shallow ne'er-do-well. When it became obvious that Jamie was going to win the bet, he resorted to attacking him psychologically by sharing gossip about Jamie's wife. He realized he was going to lose the bet, but not once did he lift a finger to try raising the money to pay off his end of the bet when he lost. He just confessed he was broke and that was that.
* ManlyTears: Jamie shows them in private moments while reliving Taylor's words about his wife's infidelity and betrayal. He shows them again when Colonel Taylor reveals he can't pay off the bet.
* MockMillionaire: Archie reveals that he lost his fortune long ago and never would have been able to pay the money, not even the lower sums he offered.
* MotorMouth: Jamie is this. It's what kickstarts the whole plot.
* NoSenseOfHumor: Taylor's is, by his own admission, the least developed aspect of his character. He's dead serious about the bet.
* NouveauRiche: Jamie, which causes part of the conflict with OldMoney Archie.

* OnlySaneMan: Jonathan Harris' character and Archie's lawyer, Alfred. He tries to be a voice of reason to both him and Tennyson, telling both why the bet is a bad idea and is the only one who doesn't happily go along with it and who seems at all concerned about Tennyson's well-being and to call Archie out on his behavior at the end.

* PetTheDog: It's not much, but after coming clean that he's not rich, Archie humbly admits that even without "fine breeding, Jamie has more honor". Though this amounts to cold comfort when it turns out Jamie cheated, and the compliment hardly compensates for the fact that he's now in debt ''and'' mute.
* ProperlyParanoid: Jamie refuses Archie's lower offers, certain that he was being scammed. Considering that Archie admits he wouldn't have been able to cover even those sums, it's very likely Jamie was right to be distrustful.
* PyrrhicVictory: For both men.
** Sure, Jamie wins the bet, but Archie has no money to give him. After he's wasted a year of his life in a glass box, he's still in debt, possibly lost his wife, and he's now permanently mute.
** Archie finally gets the silence he wanted. All it cost him was his reputation, having to publicly admit he's a fraud, and the knowledge that he put Jamie through serious psychological and physical trauma for a petty bet.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Taylor delivers one to Jamie.
-->'''Taylor:''' "I dislike you intensely, Tennyson. It goes much beyond the ordinary distaste I feel for someone without breeding, without principles, without manners. Your voice has become intolerable. I sit here each night and the sound of it makes me wince. I can't ask you to resign from the club. I haven't got that right. So, it occurred to me that I'd be willing to offer you a large sum of money just to have some quiet. You see, Tennyson you could not possibly remain silent for a whole year, it's not in your nature. You're a shallow, talkative, empty-headed ne'er-do-well and to remain silent would absolutely destroy you. So, what I assume will happen, you will perhaps withstand the pressures for three or four weeks, maybe a couple of months and then you will succumb. That's again, your nature. In the meantime, I will derive oh, several months of exquisite silence. ''(other members except for Jamie laugh)'' Well, Tennyson does it appeal to your sporting blood."

* SnobsVsSlobs: The whole purpose of the bet - Archie is disgusted by his club having been invaded by what he perceives as a talkative, shallow nobody who wasn't bred to live the life of the rich. Jamie isn't really a bad guy if a little [[MotorMouth motormouthed]], and unfortunately frivolous with his money.
* TheVoiceless: Jamie, as it turns out, thanks to his surgery.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Jamie failing this is the very root of how the cruel twist happens - had he tried to rely solely on willpower to win the bet, it would've spoken volumes on his spirit. Rather, the strength of his muteness is made empty because it's a testament that he cheated.
----

* CheatersNeverProsper: Jamie has his vocal cords cut out so he will win the bet. Unfortunately for him, not only is he permanently mute, but now, Taylor is broke, so Jamie is in huge debt.

* HeroicWillpower: Subverted and played with. No matter how much Archie tries to convince him to give up, from offering him smaller sums of money to gossiping about his wife, Jamie is determined to win the bet. Everyone concludes that he's the stronger of the two men, only for it to be revealed that he had the nerves to his vocal chords severed. While it undermines the victory, especially since Archie had no money to give, Jamie was still willing to be surgically disabled ''and'' endure a year in near-isolation, neither of which should be scoffed at.

* HeroicWillpower: Subverted and played with. No matter how much Archie tries to convince him to give up, from offering him smaller sums of money to gossiping about his wife, Jamie is determined to win the bet. Everyone concludes that he's the stronger of the two men, only for it to be revealed that he had his vocal chord surgically paralyzed. While it undermines the victory, especially since Archie had no money to give, Jamie was still willing to be surgically disabled ''and'' endure a year in near-isolation to win the bet, neither of which should be scoffed at.

* AmoralAttorney: Inverted. Archie's lawyer Franklin is the only one not to gleefully go along with the bet and to point out why it's a bad idea to both men.

* OnlySaneMan: Jonathan Harris' character and Archie's lawyer, Franklin. He tries to be a voice of reason to both him and Tennyson, telling both why the bet is a bad idea and is the only one who doesn't happily go along with it and who seems at all concerned about Tennyson's well-being and to call Archie out on his behavior at the end.

* OnlySaneMan: Archie's lawyer Franklin. He tries to be a voice of reason to both him and Tennyson, telling both why the bet is a bad idea and is the only one who doesn't happily go along with it and who seems at all concerned about Tennyson's well-being and to call Archie out on his behavior at the end.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Archie gives Jamie shit for being a man of low character. All the while he's been lying to everyone about his fortune and letting Jamie go through a psychologically destructive bet and torturing him with rumors about his wife cheating on him.

* AndIMustScream: By the end, Jamie is left in a state where he can no longer speak or scream due to having the nerves to his vocal cords severed.

Jamie tears off his cravat, revealing a surgical scar which he's kept hidden under scarves and turtlenecks the whole time.

* TheAesop: One of the few episodes to have two: Don't make a bet if you are unable to keep it, and Cheaters never prosper.

[[caption-width-right:350: Cat got your tongue?]]

* PetTheDog: It's not much, but after coming clean that he's not rich, Archie humbly admits that even without "fine breeding, Jamie has more honor" (though this is negated when it turns out Jamie cheated, and the compliment hardly compensates for the fact that he's now in debt ''and'' mute).

[[caption-width-right:350: "..."]]

* DownerEnding: Both parties end up worse in the end. Archie is humiliated and forced to admit he is a fraud and has destroyed his reputation and credibility, while Jamie gets it worse. He has severed his vocal cords and can no longer speak or communicate and remains in large debt.

-->'''Taylor:''' "I dislike you intensely, Tennyson. It goes much beyond the ordinary distaste I feel for someone without breeding, without principles, without manners. Your voice has become intolerable. I sit hear each night and the sound of it makes me wince. I can't ask you to resign from the club. I haven't got that right. So, it occurred to me that I'd be willing to offer you a large sum of money just to have some quiet. You see, Tennyson you could not possibly remain silent for a whole year, it's not in your nature. You're a shallow, talkative, empty-headed ne'er-do-well and to remain silent would absolutely destroy you. So, what I assume will happen, you will perhaps withstand the pressures for three or four weeks, maybe a couple of months and then you will succumb. That's again, your nature. In the meantime, I will derive oh, several months of exquisite silence. ''(other members except for Jamie laugh)'' Well, Tennyson does it appeal to your sporting blood."

* CruelTwistEnding: An exceptionally cruel one.

** Archie finally gets the silence he wanted with the bet. All it cost him was his reputation, having to publicly admit he's a fraud, and the knowledge that he put Jamie through psychological trauma and drove him to have the nerves to his vocal cords removed for a petty bet.

** Archie finally gets the silence he wanted with the bet. All it cost him was his reputation, having to publicly admit he's a fraud, and he'll have to live with the knowledge that he put a young man through such physical and psychological trauma.

* WhamLine: A written one from Jamie.
--> ''"I knew I would not be able to keep my part of the bargain. So one year ago, I had the nerves to my vocal cords severed."''

* HappilyMarried: Jamie very much loves his wife Doris. Archie's rumors that she may be cheating on him clearly leave him distraught.

* DownerEnding: For both parties. Archie is forced to admit he is a fraud and has destroyed his reputation and credibility, while Jamie gets it worse. He has destroyed his vocal cords and can no longer speak or communicate.