Mary, Mary
Mary Jones (Margaret Whitton) is a gifted photographer who is immensely shy and suffers from cripplingly low self-worth. As such, she isolates herself from the world, turning to dolls, stuffed animals, and mannequins for friendship, using a particular mannequin she's named "Monique" to create applications for a video dating service. When David Sticks (A. C. Weary), a new neighbor living in the building next door, looks through her window, he mistakes Monique for the real Mary, giving her a call and asking her out on a date. This proposal leaves Mary gripped with fear, as her low self-esteem gets the better of her and makes her think that she isn’t worthy of his or any other person’s love. As she voices Monique, she keeps dressing herself down for thinking that anyone could love her, so she tries to step out of her comfort zone and return David's affection, but her constant self-loathing unfortunately leads to a horrible conclusion.
Tropes:
- The Ace: Scott, who sends a dating application to Mary's mannequin, Monique. Mary watches the tape early in the episode, revealing that he's handsome, well-educated, a lawyer, filthy rich, and enjoys all sorts of exciting experiences. Mary makes herself even more miserable watching it, noting how nice it must be to be as popular as him.
- And I Must Scream: The fact that Mary is heard whispering "Psst!" to David after she transforms into a mannequin indicates that she's still conscious in her new plastic body.
- Bait-and-Switch: As noted below, Mary appears to own a pet dog she's named Ace, gifting him a chew toy and a new bowl. She promptly picks him up to reveal that Ace is actually a plush dog she makes bark.
- Bookends: The beginning of the episode has Mary encountering her stuffed dog "Ace", and the end has David discovering the exact same dog.
- Bottle Episode: The episode never leaves Mary's apartment.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Though she's able to create all sorts of professional dating videos flawlessly as Monique, Mary easily breaks down in tears when she tries to speak to the camera as herself.
- Cargo Ship: In-Universe: Mary hits on a stuffed monkey in her apartment and dances with it to simulate falling in love with a man.
- Chair Reveal: When David enters Mary's apartment to talk to her at the end of the episode, and spots what appears to be Mary in a chair, he turns the chair around to find that Mary has completely transformed into a mannequin through her own self-hatred.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Mary lights one as David calls on her answering machine, internally freaking out at the fact that someone actually finds her attractive and wants to go to dinner with her.
- Companion Cube: Mary's favorite mannequin, Monique, who she regularly talks to and dresses up as her when David spies her and falls in love.
- Creepy Doll: As the episode continues, Mary's self-loathing prompts Monique to start "talking" to her, the mannequin demeaning her for thinking that someone could love her.
- Darker and Edgier: There's no blood or guts, but the episode gives a clear look at how her constant self-loathing and perpetual isolation have driven Mary to despair and gradual madness.
- Downer Ending: After experiencing an emotional breakdown in front of her own camera, Mary turns herself into a mannequin through her sheer self-loathing, sending a horrified David running from the room.
- Establishing Character Moment: Mary entering her apartment and talking to the mannequins spread out through her studio, showing that she can't handle being around regular people. She also gives her stuffed dog Ace a new bowl and a squeaky toy, and also talks to a stuffed parrot named Tweety, showing that she can't even be around animals without getting scared.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Mary, our poor protagonist, has virtually no pride in being herself, and she makes that fact known when she starts thinking that David is attracted to Monique instead of her. She hates herself so much that she voices her own mannequin to ridicule herself, and even turns into a mannequin after deciding that she may not as well be a person.
- Lonely Doll Girl: Stuffed animals and mannequins are all over Mary's apartment, and she talks to them and mimics their sounds to simulate talking to real people and animals.
- Loser Protagonist: Mary views herself as one with her self-depreciating nature, so much so that she turns herself into a mannequin because of how much she hates herself.
- Makeover Montage: Mary puts herself through one near the end of the episode, trying on wearing different outfits, jewels, hairstyles, and types of makeup to try and win David's heart.
- Nice Guy: From what we see and hear of him, David is endlessly pleasant and honestly wants a relationship with Mary instead of Monique, offering to get dinner with her and sending her tickets for a major sporting event, but she keeps turning him away after mistaking that he loves Monique instead of her.
- Perverse Puppet: Monique, as voiced by Mary, develops an attitude problem and rebukes the poor photographer for thinking that David loves her.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: As her self-worth dwindles from her failed attempts to speak to David, Mary starts feeling like she might as well not be human. She gets her wish granted when she becomes a mannequin at the end of the episode.
- Shout-Out: Mary is shown to own a stuffed parrot she's named "Tweety".
- Shrinking Violet: Mary. The poor girl has horribly low self-esteem, and as such, has a lot of trouble talking to people and even animals. Even talking to someone over the phone makes her nervous.
- Stalker with a Crush: The withdrawn Mary starts thinking of David as one when he keeps calling her and asking (albeit politely) if she'd like to go out on a date.
- Talking to Themself: Thanks to her deteriorating mental stability, Mary starts talking as Monique after David gives her the game tickets, rebuking that David clearly loves her and not the real Mary. Mary is seen actively speaking in Monique's harsh tone in the second act, proving once and for all that this isn't a case of Through the Eyes of Madness, but an indication of just how pathetic Mary thinks herself to be.
- Wham Shot: When David finds that Mary is revealed to have turned into a mannequin.
- Womanchild: Mary is one when she's at home, playing with the stuffed animals she uses for company and pretending to be a variety of different people for her amusement.
