Title: Can the Dead Talk?
Air date: March 19, 1939
Plot summary: Margot drags an unwilling Lamont to a performance by a mentalist, Anton Voltron. Voltron, after guessing a few secrets from people in the audience, says he senses a skeptic. As Lamont continues to grouse, Voltron says he will prove he is for real, by picking a secret from the mind of the skeptic. He does: he discovers the secret identity of The Shadow!
Voltron decides to keep this a secret, but Lamont comes to visit him as The Shadow anyway. Voltron proves he is an actual psychic by telling the invisible man in his dressing room that he, The Shadow, is Lamont Cranston. Then Voltron reveals what he is really up to. He isn't just a mind-reader, he can control minds. His servant, Emile, who let The Shadow in, is basically his zombie slave. Dr. Voltron has seeded mind-control slaves all over the world, slaves that have assumed positions of power. Soon, Voltron will unleash an uprising that make him ruler of the Earth!
The Shadow quite logically asks why Voltron is telling him this. Voltron says that he wants help with the task of controlling the minds of his minions, so he's come to The Shadow, who obviously has great skill in manipulation of the human mind. He suggests that he and The Shadow can rule the world together. And The Shadow had better agree, because if he doesn't, Voltron will reveal his secret identity.
The Shadow asks for 24 hours to think about it but Voltron says he has only until midnight that night. Afterwards, Lamont Cranston, the Millionaire Playboy, goes off to play polo. But there is an accident during the polo match, and Lamont is knocked off his horse. He's pronounced dead on the field. Is he really dead? Is this the end of The Shadow? (No.)
Notes: This was the Season 2 finale, and in fact the first time that The Shadow took a break in a year and a half, after what would have been the 1938 hiatus was taken up with a syndicated summer series. It was also the last episode with Agnes Moorehead playing Margot Lane. Moorehead, who had originated the role but departed for the summer series before coming back for Season 2 proper, now left the show for good.
Tropes:
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Voltron is defeated, but he still knows The Shadow's secret identity. So he is "very conveniently" (Lamont's own words) killed by his newly freed former slave, Emile, while The Shadow basically stands there and watches.
- Blackmail: Voltron demands that The Shadow join him in his take-over-the-world plot, or he will reveal that The Shadow is Lamont Cranston.
- Faking the Dead: Lamont puts himself into a "cataleptic trance" onto the polo field, and fools everyone into thinking that he is dead. This includes Voltron, who was there, and also Margot—as Lamont explains to her at the end, if she'd know the truth then Voltron would have gotten it out of her with his psychic powers.
- Foreshadowing: Voltron rather foolishly tells The Shadow that his control over his minions will be broken if he ever feels fear—but of course Voltron never feels fear. So naturally at the end The Shadow pretends to be a ghost, and makes Voltron feel fear, which frees all of Voltron's slaves.
- Psychic Powers: To Lamont's great surprise, Voltron is an actual psychic, and learns The Shadow's secret identity. He also has the power of mind control, and has made Emile his slave and has an army of slaves waiting for him.
- Questioning Title?: Lamont Cranston has died, but The Shadow shows up at Voltron's hideout! Can the dead talk? No.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Done by the hero! Voltron was on the scene and witnessed Lamont Cranston declared dead, so he's pretty shocked when the voice of The Shadow sounds out in his hideout. The Shadow says that he's a ghost come back to haunt Voltron. The whole idea is to make Voltron afraid, which will break his mind-control powers over his slaves, and it works.
- Taking a Third Option: Voltron says that either The Shadow joins him, or he reveals to the world that The Shadow is Lamont Cranston, which will mean every criminal in the underworld will come after him. The Shadow plays for time by faking his death.
- Thanking the Viewer: After the show, Bill Johnstone and Agnes Moorehead come out as themselves, thank the audience, and suggest that the audience write to Blue Coal and buy Blue Coal products so that The Shadow can return.
- We Can Rule Together: Voltron makes this offer to The Shadow, since he covets The Shadow's psychic talents.
