"Tales from the Crypt" Retro Recap: "Spoiled"

Written by Scotty

Sometimes we lose out on reality when watching our favorite shows.  I will admit, I have had a hard time coming back from a couple of episodes in the past, but I have always made it back.  But some people believe so much in their shows, that they think it is the way life should be.  Most of the time this is harmless, but sometimes it can become an obsession that cannot be broken.  Walking in your favorites stars shoes might seem like a good idea, but in the real world there are consequences that you would never see on the television. 

Janet is living the American dream, she is a stay at home wife who is married to a doctor.  But this is not enough for Janet as she has been getting caught up in her favorite soap opera and wants some sort of excitement in her life.  Wanting to get it from her husband, she is disappointed that he seems to want to work on his experiments more than he wants to be with her.  With the promise that he will be with her when his work is done, Janet starts to look for other ways to fulfill her needs.

When watching her stories however, the television goes out and she misses one of the vital happenings and cannot live without knowing what has happened. Feeling stronger than she ever has, she calls to get cable installed in the house, since she has been told by her husband to continue watching the television.  But when the cable man comes to make his installation, Janet falls for him and with a name of Abel, she will not let him go. Thinking that she is living out what her favorite character would be doing, Janet takes the plunge and lets the cable man know he is the only one that can keep her plugged in.

Thinking very little about the consequences that could occur with her affair and not caring since her husband is more in love with his work than her, she starts making calls to get her time slots filled by Abel.  But when her husband comes home early one day to tell Janet that he will be at home at all times, working on his project, she is destroyed, but comes up with the ultimate plan to keep the affair going, just closer to her husband’s lab.  Knowing that her husband Leon will not come out of his laboratory without turning off the light first, Janet and Abel are performing encore presentations on the couch just outside of the lab, but when Leon finally finishes his research, he is so happy and does not kill the safety light before running upstairs.  Finding his wife with the cable man on his couch and listening to all of the things they want from each other, Leon comes up with a plan of his own on how to get even.

Just a sad story for Leon when all he wants to do is finish his research and make the world a much better place.  But neglecting his duties of being a married man and pushing his wife away while working is a little bit too harsh in my opinion.  Forcing her to get her slots filled by a different channel, Abel is ready, willing and…you know the rest.  Starring Faye Grant as Janet, Alan Rachins as Leon and Anthony LaPaglia as Abel, the Cable Guy, this story is full of the deepest desires of a daily soap opera, along with all of the innuendo that you could ever want to hear.  Until next time, Stay Scared.

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