Retro Recap - Tales from the Crypt: "Fitting Punishment"

Written by Scotty

There is nothing more important than family and making sure that they are always taken care of.  I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but I would like to think that if I have some, anything that happened to them leaving them unable to take care of their kids, I would jump right in and help. But some families have stronger ties than others, while I get to hear horror stories from my friends about how much their siblings are willing to help when they need it.  I guess that is what good friends are for then as well.  You only get one family that is of the original definition, but you should be able to build upon it with everyone you can, since you never know what will happen further down the road.

Young Bobby Thornberry has been left with nothing after his parents died in a car crash.  His only living relative is his uncle Ezra who is running a funeral home.  Being a mortician for many years, Ezra has found that it is not as a fulfilling trade as he would like it to be, monetarily at least.  Trying to cut corners at everything he does, he does not want to take Bobby in as well as it will cost more money.  But Bobby is able to convince his uncle that he can earn his own way around the home and will do anything for room and board.

Ezra accepts this offer and although he will not pay for his nephew’s work, he is a strong young man and should be a great help around the building.  Teaching Bobby how to embalm a body, Ezra has cut costs on all of the chemicals that are generally used and is only using water to fill the recently deceased.  Bobby knows that this is not right, but as his uncle consistently shows his love for the bible, quoting it nonstop while working around the dead bodies.  Bobby is unsure about what to do about what his uncle is doing, but cannot confront him since it will leave him without a roof over his head.

Picking up on the trade, Bobby becomes a big help around the parlor and earns every bit of his room and board.  When measuring a young man’s body, Bobby gives his uncle the height of the coffin he needs to order, along with the wood request, but something went wrong.  When the wrong wood came in, Ezra has a very unsatisfied customer when the boy’s father inspects his work.  Blaming Bobby for the mix up, Ezra hits him several times with a crowbar.  Crippling his nephew, Ezra now has to house and feed the boy that can do next to nothing for him in return.  Thinking this is not a fair trade, Ezra has to find a way to release himself from the burden that is living in his building and get rid of the mistake the young boy made that cost him a load of money.  Pushing his nephew down the stairs, Ezra can now correct all of the wrong that has been done to him, but will that be enough to appease the lord, as blood is thicker than water.

This is a hard story to watch, as I know there are families out there that have problems and take it out on each other.  Ezra is trying to do as much as possible with spending next to nothing, but he is taking it out on the deceased that have done nothing to him.  Bobby is just thrown into the mix and without being able to say anything to anyone about his uncle’s practices, he is stuck and just has to pray that nothing goes wrong, for his housing sake. Staring Moses Gunn as Ezra and Jon Clair as Bobby, both of these men put in top notch performances, I could really feel the distrust between the two of them, along with the sorrow that Bobby felt when knowing that this was going to be the rest of his life.  Until next time kiddies, Stay Scared.

---