Retro Recap - Tales From the Crypt: "Cutting Cards"

Written by Scotty

Having history with people is a good thing most of the time, but having a long history with an enemy could be even better.  You know what they are good at and also know what they are bad at.  Being able to use their downfalls against them, you are able to use your intimate knowledge for whatever you want, but you have to be careful, as they know the same things about you.

Reno Crevice has just ridden back into town looking for a game of cards.  Walking into his old stomping ground, he finds out that one of his lifelong enemy’s has taken the game over.  Without having any of his old friends to play against since Sam Forney has cleaned them all out, there is a different game on the horizon.  As Reno only has a hundred dollars to play the game, Sam is a much higher roller now and wants to play for the right to stay in town.

Starting with a dice game, both gamblers roll double sixes, forcing them to take their next wager even higher.  Walking out to the parking lot, a game of Russian roulette is their next venture.  As Reno talks the talk and goes into why it is important to think when death is on the line, Sam just urges him to pull the trigger.  When the gun comes down to the final chamber, the odds are purely against Reno, but he still pulls the trigger.  As the gun does not go off, he blames Sam for loading duds in his gun, and the game must continue since both men have such a strong hatred of each other.

Heading back inside the bar, the two men sit down and start a game of Chop Poker, winner gets to take the finger of the loser and so on.  As the game begins, Sam is losing more than a game, but most of his fingers and needs to find a way to turn his luck around.  When he is able to beat a pair of tens with a pair of jacks, he knows that the hot streak will continue and his game has just begun.  With each man winning and losing just the same, they keep playing their games, but can there ever be a true winner when they seem to have the same amount of skill at every game they try to play?

The story of pure hatred between two men that will never back down, no matter what the odds are.  I love how this episode plays out as each man becomes more stubborn than the other when it comes to winning and clearing the other one out of town.  As Lance Henriksen plays Reno and Kevin Tighe plays Sam, it is easy to believe that these two men genuinely do not like each other.  As each game comes up in a draw, watching as their rage grows is just fantastic and I am very pleased with how it all played out in the end.  Until next time, Stay Scared. 

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