Recap / Tales From The Crypt S 7 E 2 Last Respects

Yeesh, and you thought your sibling rivalries were bad...

Three sisters in need of cash come into contact with The Monkey's Paw, and use it to save their struggling pawn shop. But when greed takes over, they'll learn that you must Be Careful What You Wish For.

"Last Respects" includes examples of:

• Alpha Bitch: Yvonne
• Armor-Piercing Response: A twofer during the climax.
  • About to leave the store, Yvonne demands Dolores hand over the Paw.
    Yvonne: I don't want you using that last wish against me.
    Dolores: You don't have to worry, Yvonne. I've already used it.
  • Thinking the wish was given to her, Yvonne tries to give it right back and tosses the Paw away.
    Yvonne: That's done it.
    Dolores: No, it's not because I didn't tell the Paw which sister to give it to.
• Awful Wedded Life: Yvonne is married to Basil, who is said to require medication and appears rather ditzy. Yvonne openly holds him in contempt and belittles him whenever he talks. During dinner, he appears to be aware of this and often looks away from her following an insult.
• Back Fromthe Dead: Marlys briefly, thanks to Dolores giving her wish to her.
• Batman Gambit: When Dolores says she gave the last wish away to her sister, she says it all depended on not telling the Paw which sister to give it to.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: What else would you expect from a story concerning The Monkey's Paw?
• Berserk Button:
  • Marlys is the youngest child and takes offense to Yvonne suggesting she was an accident. She immediately tries to attack her for saying it.
  • Based on the inscription, the Paw abhors greediness.
• Break the Cutie:
  • Marlys becomes a blubbering mess, due to the Hope Spot.
  • After learning Marlys has died, Dolores becomes a wreck and desperately tries to think of how to safely wish her back.
• Cain and Abel: Yvonne is the Cain, while Marlys is the Abel. Upon learning this, third sister Dolores is rather worried about being alone with Yvonne.
• Daddy's Girl: Marlys is devoted to upholding their father's Last Request of keeping Mr. Finger's House of Curios in the family, and he even left her everything. Dolores also speaks fondly of the old man and wants to the run the shop true to his vision. Yvonne is most definitely not this, bristling at the idea of sticking with this failing shop and showing no regard for the old man's coffin.
• Dead Guy on Display: The sisters' father is kept in a glass casket prominently on display in their shop. Given how well Dolores and Marlys think of him, this was apparently at his request. Yvonne is irritated that valuable space is being taken up.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • The reason the Paw finds it way to the sisters. An old woman wished it would go to someone that deserved the curse. Richard points out to his wife, however, that the only way the Paw can get a new owner is if the current owners (i.e. them) die.
  • Yvonne was so scared of the revived Marlys that she realized too late that she backed right into the closet.
• The Dog Bites Back: Marlys gets her revenge on Yvonne, with a little help from Dolores.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Dolores beats the Paw and Yvonne.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Dolores when she realizes what the third wish should be.
• Everyone Has Standards: Dolores has rivalries with her sisters and isn't above thinking about enriching herself at their expense, but she is genuinely saddened by Marlys dying and so badly wants to undo it (not caring one bit about the hefty life insurance policy that's getting paid out). She's also outraged over what Yvonne did and denounces her as a murderer.
• Exact Words: A rare example where someone uses it to their advantage. Dolores gave her wish away to her sister, which Yyvonne assumes is her. But she Dolores never specified which sister...
• Genre Blindness: Yvonne chastises her sisters for messing around with the Monkey's Paw. She doesn't believe it's the real deal at first, but she points out the story was rather clear on how badly it can backfire and advised against doing anything with it.
• Good Is Not Nice: Both Dolores and Marlys are certainly nicer than Yvonne, but they're both pretty catty themselves. When it looks like they're about to come into a lot of money, Marlys is positively giddy, as she is the only one with a legal claim on it and intends to place the goods in a security deposit box that she alone has complete access to. Dolores is rather flippant at the prospect of both her sisters dying in a car crash (meaning she alone gets the supposed money), though she is genuinely devastated that Marlys died and blames herself for it.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Dolores over beating the Paw at its own game and Marlys arriving to claim her revenge.
• Hope Spot:
  • The sisters get a call from their father's lawyer, who reports word of a package containing three waterford snake fountain pens valued at 250,000 pounds apiece. The sisters are ecstatic (as well as wondering who gets what, if anything at all), but it turns out to have been a misprint.
  • Dolores is certain she figured out how to properly revive Marlys. Instead, her wish simply revealed how Yvonne murdered her.
• I Did What I Had to Do: When confronted, Yvonne feels all the hardships she's endured over the years made her murderous actions justified.
• It's All My Fault: Dolores is devastated by Marlys dying, feeling it was her wish for a million pounds that led to her death. She desperately tries to figure out a way to make it right.
• Last Request: The sisters' father requested that they never sell his shop. Dolores and Marlys fully intend to honor that request no matter what Yvonne says.
• Literal Genie: Dolores attempts to revive Marlys by wishing her as she was before the car accident. This only serves to undo Yvonne's cover-up, as Marlys was shot before the supposed accident occurred.
• Little "No": Richard when his wife snatches the Paw and makes one last wish.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Averted. There is no ambiguity about the Paw's nature, as we see a few supernatural occurrences throughout the episode (particularly the climax).
• Mundanger: Though the first wish set the chain of events in motion, Marlys was simply killed by a jealous sister with a gun and all for a life insurance policy.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: As Yvonne is cornered by Marlys and ripped to shreds, Dolores quips that "The funny thing is, her wish was to spend a little bit more time with you!"
• Real After All: The sisters had all been told the story of the Monkey's Paw by their father. Marlys and Dolores are immediately certain they've got the real deal.
• The Reveal: Marlys wasn't killed by a car accident; she was shot by Yvonne and the car was sent into a lake.
• Riddle for the Ages: Things open at an estate that has been upended by two wishes. We never see what happened and the dialogue is evasive, but it apparently involved raising the dead and resulted in Richard sustaining a head wound.
• Sanity Slippage: The old woman at the start and later Dolores, due to the traumas that occur. Both are certain that they can beat the Paw and obsessively refuse to simply throw it away. Dolores is ultimately able to achieve peace of mind by figuring a way out.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: With her actions about to be uncovered, Yvonne gets to work grabbing assorted valuable items from the store before she clears out for good. Dolores gets back to the shop before she can leave, however.
• Sibling Rivalry: The three sisters are not a particularly happy bunch. Yvonne mainly clashes with Marlys, due to their clashing personalities and how the latter (the youngest child, no less) was left everything in their father's will. Dolores is somewhere in the middle; she's better at being civil to either of them, but she can still dish it out, too. When her sisters are arguing, Dolores won't join in on insulting whoever's getting the worst of it, but she won't jump to that one's defense, either.
• This Cannot Be!: Dolores has this expression when the coroner tells her the true circumstances of what happened to Marlys.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Yvonne is very nervous over Dolores's second wish (restoring Marlys to as she was before the car accident) working.
• Wham Line: Dolores revealing she didn't specify which sister should get the last wish.
  Dolores: I beat it at its own ridiculous game! That twisted paw gave the wish to Marlys!
• Wham Shot:
  • Yvonne's "grief" over what happened to Marlys may not have been very convincing, but the way she casually tosses away the flowers after Dolores leaves the room confirm she's up to no good.
  • The coroner showing Dolores the bullet wound on Marlys's corpse.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Richard to his wife for thinking that, after two chaotic wishes, she can still somehow beat the Paw. His warning is soon proven correct.
• Worth It: Faced with being mauled by their own dogs, Richard tells his wife he's actually not terribly upset, as he says they're finally free of the Paw's curse.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: When coming across the Monkey's Paw, Dolores (despite knowing the story) is certain this is a good omen from their dead father.
• You Meddling Kids: "I would've gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that ridiculous paw!"
• You're Insane!: Dolores when confronting Yvonne about killing Marlys for the life insurance policy.