History Recap / TheTwilightZone1985S3E22

In a dystopian version of the year 1999, Simon Foster (Creator/BruceWeitz), a broke and unemployed vagrant, pawns all his valuables for petty cash in the hopes that he can pay his rent and get a job. His usual pawnbroker, Mr. Quint (Geza Kovacs), offers to let Simon in on his practice of "memory transference", a black market operation where people who go to him have their memories physically extracted from their minds, whereupon Quint sells them to wealthy buyers who seek unique experiences. Simon is forced to undergo this sketchy trade so he can pay off his crooked landlord, but when he goes to get a job interview, he finds that he can no longer remember details that the couneslor asks him, leaving him torn between getting his memories back or getting more cash.

* {{Blackmail}}: Simon's landlord turns out to be a crooked extorionist who, after Simon pays him the rent he's owed, immediately and illegally demands ''next month's rent'' in advance, threatening to set up a "clerical error" and give his apartment to someone else if he says anything to the Housing Commission.

* TransferableMemory: Memories can be copied, removed, and transferred to other people in 1999. Mr. Quint offers to take Simon's memory of his high school graduation in exchange for the rent money he desperately needs to pay back. Simon reluctantly agrees, and although he intends for it to be a one-time deal, his financial situation means that he must return to the pawn shop again and again to keep selling his memories. Over the next few weeks, Quint takes his memories of his fifth birthday, his first steps, and a trip to the circus, among others. When Simon has an interview for an engineering position, however, he finds that he can't remember anything he needs to know, as he has sold his memories of attending college. He nevertheless returns to Quint's shop and sells his memory of making love for the first time. After he does so, Simon realizes that his memories were a vital part of him and holds Quint at gunpoint, demanding to have them back. Quint can't comply with the request, since he's already sold Simon's memores, but he attempts to compensate by giving Simon other people's memories. At his next job interview, Simon discusses his numerous new contradictory memories, including graduating from numerous different high schools and colleges (including Sorworth College; for women only), as well as being both an only child and having a brother and sister.
* VideoPhone: Simon uses one to talk to a counselor at the employment agency several times, including two seperate job interviews.

* KarmaHoudini: Mr. Quint gets off scot-free for illegally harvesting and selling Simon's memories to interested buyers, and he's free to keep doing so to everyone who comes to him. He ''does'' try to help Simon get new memories in the best way that he can, but the result turns out even worse for Simon in the long run.

* FakeMemories: Simon has the memories of numerous people put in his mind by Mr. Quint as a half-assed means to fix his problem. As seen by his closing interview, the memories are disjointed, haphhazardous, and contradictory, and they're not likely to let him get ''any'' sort of job now.

* StepfordSmiler: Once Quint loads his mind with different peoples' memories, Simon becomes blissfully ignorant as he describes his highly contradictory background to the unemployment office, almost as if he had schizophrenia .

-> "The year is nineteen-hundred and ninety-nine. Within the box, evidence that some things do not change with the passage of time. Its contents, the collected debris of a shattered life, now valuable only for the dimes and nickels they can solicit from a third party. A familiar process and a familiar long walk, that is about to lead into the unfamiliar terrain -- of the Twilight Zone."

In a dystopian version of the year 1999, Simon Foster (Creator/BruceWeitz), a broke and unemployed vagrant, pawns all his valuables for petty cash in the hopes that he can pay his rent and get a job. His usual pawnbroker, Mr. Quint (Geza Kovacs), offers to let Simon in on his practice of "memory transference", a black market operation where people who go to him have their memories physically extracted from their minds, whereupon Quint sells them to third parties. Simon is forced to undergo this sketchy trade so he can pay off his crooked landlord, but when he goes to get a job interview, he finds that he can no longer remember details that the couneslor asks him, leaving him torn between getting his memories back or getting more cash.

* {{Blackmail}}: Simon's landlord turns out to be a crooked extorionist who, after Simon pays him the rent he's owed, immediately and illegally demands ''the next month's rent'' in advance, threatening to set up a "clerical error" and give his apartment to someone else if he says anything to the Housing Commission.

* ChromosomeCasting: The counselor at the employment office is the only female character in the episode.

* CrapsackWorld: 1999, where the United States is in the midst of a major economic depression. The unemployment rate is 32%, bread costs $5 per loaf, and real meat can only be obtained on the black market. As a result, Simon tries to piece together enough money to survive, even in the short term.

* FakeMemories: Simon has the memories of numerous people put in his mind by Mr. Quint as a half-assed means to fix his lack of original memories. As seen by his closing interview, the memories are disjointed, haphhazardous, and contradictory, and they're not likely to let him get any sort of job now.
* KarmaHoudini: Mr. Quint gets off scot-free for illegally harvesting and selling Simon's memories to interested buyers, and he's free to keep doing so to everyone who comes to him. In fairness, he ''does'' try to help Simon get new memories in the best way he can, but the result turns out even worse in the long run.
** Also, Simon's crooked landlord gets away with extorting Simon with paying next month's rent in advance right after he pays the rent he already owes him, and is no doubt playing the same ruse on his other tenants.
* MotorMouth: The ending has Simon, his mind now filled with several memories from the lives of completely different people, ramble about these contradictory pasts to the worker at the employment agency, ignoring her growing concern with a dissonant smile on his face.

* TransferableMemory: Memories can be copied, removed, and transferred to other people in 1999. Mr. Quint offers to take Simon's memory of his high school graduation in exchange for the rent money he desperately needs to pay back. Simon reluctantly agrees, and although he intends for it to be a one-time deal, his financial situation means that he must return to the pawn shop again and again to keep selling his memories. Over the next few weeks, Quint takes his memories of his fifth birthday, his first steps, and a trip to the circus, among other memories. When Simon has an interview for an engineering position, however, he finds that he can't remember anything he needs to know, as he has sold his memories of attending college. He nevertheless returns to Quint's shop and sells his memory of making love for the first time. After he does so, Simon realizes that his memories were a vital part of him and holds Quint at gunpoint, demanding to have them back. Quint can't comply with the request, since he's already sold Simon's memores, but he attempts to compensate by giving Simon other people's memories. At his next job interview, Simon discusses his numerous new contradictory memories, including graduating from numerous different high schools and colleges (including Sorworth College; for women only), as well as being both an only child and having a brother and sister.