The Trunk
"It's been said that all good things come to those who wait. This is Willy Gardner, a man whose lifetime of waiting is about to end. Willy Gardner, a man with limited space, limited horizons, and limited contact with humanity. People float in and out of his life like flotsam and jetsam washing up on the beach. But the law of salvage is about to change all that. Today, Willy is going to find something very valuable on his particular beach — in the Twilight Zone."
The Winchester is a run-down, ramshackle hotel owned and operated by Willy Gardner (Bud Cort), a man with no friends and very few prospects in life. While he clears some rooms for check-out, Willy stumbles upon an empty steamer trunk, possibly having been left behind by a former tenant. An offhand comment from Willy promptly causes the trunk to become filled with nickels, leading Willy to realize that the trunk has the ability to magically conjure anything its owner wishes for. He promptly wishes for a tuxedo and some stylish furniture, throwing a party and inviting his long-time guests. It's during the party that Willy questions whether the guests are attending for him, or his newfound wealth.
Tropes
- An Aesop: A variation on the classic "All that glitters is not gold", as Willy realizes that money doesn't measure up to the real wealth that love and friendship give.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The desperately lonely Willy uses the titular trunk to wish for all kinds of material possessions in the hopes it'll make him popular and well-liked. After only a few hours, it becomes clear that everyone around him is pretending to be his friend so that they can take advantage of his kind nature and give them his money. Willy is more depressed than before at this revelation, and tells his guests that they can just take whatever they want, none of them even hesitating to do so. What's worse, the situation leads to him being attacked by Danny, Rocco, and Cap, a group of hoodlums who harassed him early in the episode, who want the money they believe he stole.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Willy learns the hard way that having his every wish granted by the magic trunk causes more problems than it solves, as it leads to him gaining many false friends, three of whom attack him and try to steal the money they think he's hiding. He hides from them in the trunk, but finds that he can't get back out. Sometime later, a woman who has gained possession of the trunk idly wishes that she could find a decent man to spend the rest of her life with. The trunk then opens to reveal Willy, still clean-cut and in his tux, whose own loneliness is finally over.
- False Friend: Willy finds an old abandoned trunk in Room 303 of the Winchester, and soon discovers that it can grant his every wish. He uses it to fill his small room with expensive clothes, electronic equipment, designer furniture, and bottles of wine, and he invites the hotel guests and local punks Candy, Danny, Rocco, and Cap to the hotel for a party. He comes to think of them as his new friends, but it doesn't take him long to realize that they're merely using him for his newfound wealth. The only person who truly likes and/or respects him is an elderly guest named Mrs. Kudaba.
- Gold Digger: Candy, who outright tells Willy that she'll go out with him for $50 as part of the punks' dare.
- Hates Being Alone: Willy is extremely shy and introverted, having no friends beyond the stray cat he gives milk to every day and spending most of his life waiting for human companionship. He's a frequent subject of mockery for the local hoodlums, and is disrespected by everyone he comes across with the exception of Mrs. Kudaba. When he finds a trunk that grants wishes, Willy thinks that he can finally end his loneliness, but it doesn't take long for him to realize that his new "friends" are only interested in his money.
- Hell Hotel: The Winchester is dilapidated and run-down, and it's one of the reasons its proprietor is mocked by nearly everyone.
- If I Had a Nickel...: Willy makes such a remark for every piece of luggage left behind in the Winchester, prompting the magic trunk to be filled to the brim with nickels.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: The magic trunk is found by Willy completely at random in Room 303. Whether someone left it there by accident or it's just always been in the room is never stated.
- Introverted Cat Person: Willy cites a stray cat who lurks in the alley behind the Winchester as the closest thing he has to a friend. He considers it the highlight of his day when he gives the cat a bowl of milk.
- Loser Protagonist: Willy, a friendless introvert who owns and runs a failing, decrepit hotel by himself. When he finds the trunk and becomes rich, all his party guests are clearly only interested in his new fortune, and he even allows them to take whatever they want. He's also seen as the punching bag of Rocco, Cap, Danny, and Candy, who hassle him for what they think is the location of the money, and Willy ends up stuck in the trunk when he uses it as a hiding spot. Thankfully, he still gets a happy ending.
- Mundane Wish: Willy's first wish comes from an offhand remark about having a nickel for every piece of luggage someone left behind, causing the nickels to fill the trunk and make it immensely heavy. In order to test whether his wish was actually granted, Willy makes some more experimental wishes, such as a giant mug of root beer. He's delighted when the beverage and other objects appear in the trunk as he wishes for them.
- Nice Girl: Mrs. Kudaba, Willy's most frequent tenant and the only person who doesn't think of him as pathetic, as he often lets her stay in the Winchester when her social security can't help pay her rent.
- Prank Date: Candy asks the shy and withdrawn Willy for a date in front of her boyfriend Danny and his fellow hoodlums. Willy is surprised at this, as she barely ever speaks to him, but he nevertheless accepts. When he does so, Candy tells him that he'll need to pay her $50, allowing her and the hoodlums a laugh at Willy's expense.
- Time Skip: After Willy gets stuck in the magic trunk, the episode's ending skips ahead sometime later, where a lonely woman who has come into possession of the trunk uses it to free Willy through her own wish.
- World of Jerkass: Willy lives in a world where a trio of punks and the girl who hangs with them mock and assault him, everyone else (aside from Mrs. Kudaba) looks on him with scorn and contempt for his miserable life, and all the guests at his party clearly more interested in his money than his personality, to the point where they don't even hesitate to swipe whatever they want when he dejectedly lets them do so.
"Willy Gardner, a simple man who discovered in a steamer trunk the difference between possessions and real wealth. Once adrift in a sea of humanity, he's finally found a safe harbor, in a port of call known — as the Twilight Zone."
