The Man Who Was Death
Shocking, isn't it?
Crypt Keeper: (watching insects fly into a bug zapper) Awww. Poor little fellas. When I think of their childhood; all those cute little maggots! (cackles) Our story is about a man with nobler ambitions. He likes to kill human pests, and he does it in front of an audience. Now that's entertainment! (cackles) So hang onto your hats, kiddies: this one's a real shocker!
Niles Talbot (William Sadler) works as the executioner at the state penitentiary, throwing the switch to put convicts to death in the electric chair. He's an easygoing, genial sort of fellow, commenting on the prisoners' behavior when their time comes, and touting the virtues of electricity as a method of execution. That all comes to a screeching halt when the local legislature votes to abolish the death penalty, costing Niles his job. Niles' musings become more bitter and his impulses less controlled as he wanders the city's less reputable districts. As a means of "venting", he administers his own brand of justice, electrocuting suspects who were brought to trial on murder charges and subsequently acquitted, such as biker Jimmy Flood (Robert Winley) and adulterous couple Theodore Carney and Cynthia Baldwin (Gerrit Graham and Dani Mennick). A go-go dancer is next on his list, but when he throws the switch, nothing happens. The police arrive and arrest him, having found him out and cut his wires. While in custody, Niles learns that the state has just voted the death penalty back in. Now on the receving end of his old line of work, Niles is dragged to the chair as he screams about the governor calling to pardon him. The call never comes, just as it never did while he was on the job, and he is executed. He is even jolted twice for good measure, just as he did to all the others.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: Gerrit Graham, once again in a horror role, is given a High-Voltage Death.
- Adaptational Heroism: Niles is much less evil than his comics counterpart, Edgar Bowman, going after acquitted killers who are clearly guilty, while his comic self went after people who had just been found not guilty, with at least one victim implied to have been innocent.
- Adaptational Name Change: In the comic, the executioner was named Edgar Bowman. Here, he's Niles Talbot.
- Adaptational Personality Change: Edgar was an eccentric lunatic, but Niles remains more grounded in reality.
- Affably Evil: Niles, to a tee. While he carries out his work with a cold tenacity, he treats anyone he doesn't want to kill with kindness and respect. He's also courteous to the audience as he introduces himself and narrates his life story.
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: Niles' first victim after he turns Vigilante Man is Jimmy Flood, a murderous biker who killed a gay man and was let Off on a Technicality. Before doing this, Niles delivers a lecture to camera about how much he admires biker culture, how it represents what was great about the country before it became all 'civilized'. Flood, however, "crossed a line" by murdering his victim just because of his sexuality, so Niles decides that he has to go.
- Apologetic Attacker: Just before Niles gets fried, the warden admits to him that he's sorry it came to this.
- Artistic License – Law: Niles receives the death penalty for murders he committed while it was rescinded by the state legislature. This is an ex post facto law, which is prohibited at both federal and state levels under the United States Constitution.
- Asshole Victim:
- For those who don't think too highly of him, it's REALLY cathartic to see Niles get led to the chair after listening to him for a half-hour.
- His victims count too, being unrepentant murderers themselves. Jimmy Flood murdered a gay man, and was only let go because of a technicality, mocking the grieving sister of his victim as he left. Theodore and Cynthia worked together to off the former's first wife for her fortune, and they don't hesitate to turn on each other when Niles appears to perform the sentence.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Niles is a poetic vigilante who embarks on a one-man crusade to murder acquitted killers through electrocution. After racking up only three victims, the police quickly find him and cut his wires, and then they jolt him in the same chair where he killed countless men.
- Bookends: The episode opens as a prisoner, Charlie Ledbetter, is dragged to and strapped into the electric chair. The episode's closing scene shows Niles being dragged to and strapped into the same chair as the same music that played over the opening scene jangles to an end.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Niles does it all the time during his narration.
- Death by Irony: Niles gets juiced in the very same electric chair that he subjected countless men to.
- Death Row: The episode opens with Charlie Ledbetter sitting on death row, awaiting execution, while Niles narrates how Charlie came to be there.
- The Dreaded: Niles has built up a horrifying reputation to the inmates of his old workplace, so much so that the warden can't even rehire him to a different position because of how much he scares them shitless.
- Electrified Bathtub: Niles murders Theodore and Cynthia by wiring their hot tub and then electrifying it while they're soaking.
- Everyone Has Standards: When Niles prepares to kill Jimmy, he makes it clear that he respects bikers, but makes no effort to hide just how far out of line Jimmy went.
- Gold Digger: Theodore and Cynthia worked together to murder the former's first wife so they could run off with her $2 million fortune.
- Hate Sink: Niles' first victim, Jimmy Flood, is a biker who shamelessly murdered a man for being homosexual. Being forcibly released on a technicality causes the prosecutor overlooking his case to yell about how said release is a travesty of justice. While he's celebrating his freedom, the sister of the man he murdered rebukes him, prompting him to nearly manhandle her and call her brother a "fag". Thankfully, he meets his end via a crude electric fence.
- High-Voltage Death: Niles really loves to deliver this method of execution, deeming electricity as the most dependable and effective method of death. The episode ends with him being on the receiving end of it.
- Homophobic Hate Crime: Jimmy Flood murdered a man just for being gay. Niles makes him his first victim when he's forced to be acquitted.
- Inheritance Murder: Theodore killed his wife because he wanted to be with his side piece Cynthia, but "all the loot was in her [his wife's] name", according to Niles.
- Ironic Echo:
- In the episode's opening scene, Niles revels as Charlie is dragged to the electric chair and strapped in, shouting all the while that the governor is going to call and give him a stay of execution. Niles states that in the 12 years he's worked as an executioner, this phone call has never once come. The episode concludes with Niles himself being strapped into the chair, repeating Charlie's desperate cries, and then being executed after the phone doesn't ring.
- At one point, Niles narrates "I have seen a few heads smoke after it's all over. A smokin' head ain't very pretty." Following his own execution, he says, "I didn't want no haircut. They said that was a mistake 'cause my head might catch on fire from the electricity when they juiced me. I told 'em, 'Don't worry. Governor gonna call.'" Cue a shot of Niles' body in the chair, smoke dribbling up from the electrodes on his temples.
- When Jimmy is let off the hook, he cheers with a loud "YEAH!" as the court looks furious with his acquittal. This same soundbyte plays when Niles is being sent to the chair, almost as if Jimmy's ghost is celebrating his killer's karma.
- Karma Houdini: The go-go dancer who was acquitted of killing her boyfriend evidently gets off scot free, since the police arrest Niles before he can juice her. That being said, we weren’t shown a trial for her unlike the other three victims, so it may be possible she was actually innocent.
- Last-Minute Reprieve: At the start of the episode, Charlie Ledbetter, the prisoner who is about to be executed, demands that they call it off because he thinks the governor will call and pardon him. The governor doesn't call, and he's executed. The exact same thing happens to Niles when his own time comes.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Theodore Carney, Niles' second (or third, depending on who died first) victim, murdered his wife in order to be with his mistress Cynthia Baldwin.
- No Honor Among Thieves: As Niles is about to kill Theodore and Cynthia, the latter tries to pin the whole thing on Theodore to try and save her own neck. In a move that likely won't shock you, it doesn't do her a lick of good.Niles: Y'know, I gotta say this for ol' Carney: if you gonna do it, make sure she's worth doin' it for. And this girl of his is awful pretty. 'Course, everybody knows beauty is only skin deep. Looks just don't last.
- Off on a Technicality: Niles' first victim as a Vigilante Man is Jimmy Flood, a murderous, homophobic biker who is let off because the warrant for his arrest was improperly worded.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Jimmy Flood murdered a man for being gay, calling his victim a "fag" to the dead man's grieving sister and almost throttling her. He doesn't face consequences due to getting Off on a Technicality... well, not the legal consequences.
- Public Execution: Niles and his bartender friend think that televised executions would be the highest rated programs of all time.
- Sadist: Niles is revealed to have a heavy bloodlust, and electrocuting condemned prisoners seems to be the only thing keeping his murderous impulses at bay. When he's out of a job, he becomes a vigilante who takes to the streets, electrocuting acquitted murder suspects in the name of reinforcing his warped view of justice.
- Shower Scene: There's a lingering shot of Cynthia, one of Niles' victims, taking a shower before she hops into the hot tub, just before Niles turns it into an Electrified Bathtub.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The music at the beginning and end of the episode is very upbeat and cheery, almost carnival-esque, completely at odds with what's happening on screen: Charlie being executed while he screams for mercy.
- Villains Want Mercy: Niles says that pretty much every inmate led to the hot seat always cries out that the governor will call and pardon them, which hasn't happened once in the 12 years he's worked for the prison. When he himself is being led to the chair, he says the same thing, and it works just as well as it has for all the other inmates.
- World of Jerkass: The city where the episode takes place is shown to be rather seedy at night, and lots of people who live there are known to get away with murder. To Niles, this provides him with an untold amount of victims.
Crypt Keeper: (strapping himself into an electric chair) Gad! What a revolting development! And what a switch for poor Talbot. It just goes to show you what happens when you get "too caught up" in your work. (throws the switch and electrocutes himself; cackles) Don't worry, though. I'm sure he never knew watt hit him! (cackles) So remember, boys and girls: Safety first! (electrocutes himself again; cackles again, giving way to hacking coughs and spitting)
