Madness Room
Edward Osbourne and his wife Cathy (Stuart Whitman and Therese Pare) invite their attorney Michael Fox (Nick Benedict) over, hoping to finalize Edward's will. Through Cathy's Ouija board, the spirit of Benjamin Fairchild, original owner of their large house, tells Cathy and the others that the house contains a walled-off room that has been rumored to turn any person who enters violently insane. Cathy and Michael, revealed to be lovers, plan to use the room to scare Edward into a fatal heart attack so they can steal his fortune. Little are they unaware that something spiritual might've interfered with their scam.
Tropes:
- Apocalyptic Log: The diary of Ophelia Fairchild, who stayed in the titular room long ago.
- Bait-and-Switch: Just before the episode cuts to commercial, Cathy raises a pistol towards Michael and Edward, likely intending to kill them. After the break, she claims that it's simply for protection.
- Bittersweet Ending: The ending leans more towards the bitter than the sweet. Cathy, Michael, and Edward all die in the fire, and no one aside from Benjamin will ever know what happened to them. Despite this, Cathy and Michael won't be able to get their hands on Edward's money, and Benjamin makes them pay for their treachery.
- Bookends: The beginning and end focus on an exterior shot of the house, with copious amounts of smoke in the latter.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Edward's sensitive heart and continued use of medication implies that he's very susceptible to excitement.
- There's also the lantern the trio brought into the titular room, which Edward uses against them.
- Deadpan Snarker: Edward, who treats the whole situation with one wisecrack after another.
- "Everyone Dies" Ending: Thanks to Benjamin's meddling, all three main characters burn alive at the end.
- Foreshadowing: Notice how Edward suffers a small heartache and reaches for his pills, and while this is happening, Cathy and Michael stare at each other longingly at the front door.
- Gold Digger: Cathy, who's been having an affair with Michael and is willing to kill Edward to take his money.
- Haunted House: Cathy and Edward's huge estate, inhabited by the spirit of previous owner Benjamin Fairchild. It's played off as being a giant ruse by Cathy and Michael to scare Edward to death, but the ending reveals that it was genuinely haunted all along.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: A violent thunderstorm occurs all episode, fitting its spooky setting and plot.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Benjamin's interference with Cathy and Michael's plan has him tricking Edward into dropping the only key out of the titular room down a crack in the floor. As a result, when the fire starts, all three are unable to escape.
- Real After All: Benjamin's existence initially seems like a part of Cathy and Michael's plot to scare Edward to death. By the end of the episode, as all three of them burn to death, villainous laughter can be heard, revealing that Benjamin was real all along and he was behind the whole thing.
- Room Full of Crazy: The Madness Room, which is said to turn anyone who stays inside too long murderously insane. In actuality, the madness itself is an act, and Cathy had an ordinary room refurbished and walled up while Edward was in the hospital.
- Sanity Slippage: The Madness Room supposedly induces it in anyone who stays inside too long.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Madness Room, supposedly having been walled off for 100 years after the Fairchilds' deaths.
- Taking You with Me: Before Michael can smother him and finish the job, Edward, undergoing a heart attack, throws their lantern against the wall in an attempt to fight back, setting the room on fire. Since Benjamin duped him into getting rid of the room's only key, all three of them burn alive.
- Title Drop: Benjamin spells out the episode's title through the Ouija board the trio talk to him through.
- Wham Line: As part of their scheme against Edward, Cathy and Michael take him into the titular room, and pretend to come into contact with the ghost of Benjamin. Among the messages Benjamin "tells" them is to lock the door to the room behind them, then take the key and drop it down a crack in the floor. By the end of the episode, after the dying Edward spites them by setting the room on fire, Cathy and Michael attempt to escape, only to learn they don't have a second key:Cathy: Then why else did you spell out that last message about dropping the key through the crack?!Michael: (confused) I didn't spell that out! I thought you did!
- Would Hurt a Child: While under the Madness Room's sway, Benjamin's wife Ophelia shot him in the heart, then jumped to her death down a well with their baby.
