‘Tales from the Darkside’ Retro Recap: ‘Pain Killer’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Finding true love is something that is supremely important to each and every one of us and it makes sense as to why. After all, love really does send our spirits soaring and it gives us a confidence and a high that is unmatched by anything else in this life. Not to mention, it gives us a sense of purpose and a reason to push harder toward our goals. Since now we have extra incentive to achieve them so we can share in the wonder of the fruits of our labors with our partner and speaking of sharing, the prospect of making special memories that can bring us joy and fulfillment is another big reason that we are eager to fall in love. Since it means we will create something quite special and beautiful with our partner, in a world full of chaos. 
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But of the many reasons that we seek out love, the one that matters the most to us… is that it provides us with safety and a sense of belonging and it also allows for us to feel whole. For when we’ve found our soulmate, they complete the missing parts of us. But what’s unfortunate about love… is that sometimes its draw is so powerful, and our need to find it is so great… that we don’t realize we’ve fallen for the wrong person. One that eventually stops giving us the important elements we just discussed and in fact… isn’t at all who we thought they were, and instead has a tendency to indulge in dark behaviors that are the opposite of love. And well… when we come to realize that unfortunate reality, we find ourselves at quite the crossroads. One that is explored in a terrifying manner in the next episode of Tales from the Darkside.

For ‘Pain Killer’ introduces us to a man named Harvey Turman and his wife Nadine and well… they seem to have a great life. After all, they’ve got a nice house and Harvey is steadily employed and they enjoy quiet evenings together in front of the television and really the only problem they seemingly have to deal with, is Harvey’s newfound back pain. Because it is bad and it is keeping him out of work and causing marital strife and that brings Harvey to a back specialist known as Doctor Roebuck, to solve his woes and uh, Roebuck has quite the interesting theory as to why this pain is occurring. In that, it is likely related to Harvey’s wife and the toxic relationship he resides within and the best way to handle this… is to remove the problem from the equation, through murder and mayhem of course.

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Which is at first glance, a story that seems grounded heavily in just a rotten twist that impacts an everyday Joe. Since Harvey is blindsided by this idea and finds himself in hot water when the deed is done, courtesy of another appearance of the Devil, who is Doctor Roebuck in this particular tale. But while that particular twist is what brings about the classic horror elements in this story, since a deal with the Devil permeates the genre and, in this instance, has quite the Faustian feel for certain, this is another story that is grounded in real world concepts. Because abusive and toxic relationships are indeed a very real thing and that is precisely what we are dealing with here. Since Harvey is sticking around in a marriage that is bad for his mental health since Nadine really is quite abusive for certain.
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But he’s staying in it because confusion is the crossroads that battered lovers face. Since they are taught that love is both pure and difficult, and that moments such as these are likely related to marital and romantic challenges, instead of calling it what it actually is… stone cold abuse. The kind that impacts our health mentally, and physically if it comes to that, and well… this story more or less offers advice and a warning on this matter. In that… when we discover we are in an abusive relationship, we have to look at it objectively so we can make the hard call and get the hell out. Because it won’t get better, and we won’t ever heal. It will just escalate until something horrible happens, which happens here in an abstract manner of course, since the deal with the Devil serves as the allegory for Harvey committing the ultimate defense act… one that will damn him forever and well, no one deserves to have their life go that route.

Nor does anyone deserve to be abused for that matter either. Which is why it is imperative to reiterate the need to leave and if that isn’t immediately feasible or safe, one should be making plans to make it feasible and safe and well, in the end… this is an incredible episode when all is said and done. Because it too brought up a topic that is somewhat taboo now and was very taboo in 1984 and it is one that genuinely puts more real-world horrors on display and offers up some fine answers on the matter and well, despite the dark nature of this story, it does compel one to continue the journey. For season one of this show is pulling out all of the stops and it does leave one to wonder what kind of other everyday terrors it is going to put on display as season one moves along. Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight.  

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