Episode no. Season 3
Episode 8 Written by Alan Brennert Original air date 28 February 1997 | Directed by Mario Azzopardi Production code 52 | |
"Heart's Desire" is an episode of The Outer Limits television show (new series). It was first aired on 28 February 1997, during the third season.
Plot
It is set in the town of Heart's Desire in the Oregon Territory in 1872. In the episode, a visitor from another world takes over the body of a human preacher. He gives four outlaws a special energy power, which they can use to destroy anything they wish as long as they "want it more than anything else".
The first outlaws to be given these powers are two friends, Frank and JD Kelton. Frank wants to use them to rob people. Frank and JD use the powers to rob their ex-partners, brothers Jake and Ben Miller. Later in the episode, the visitor gives the powers to Jake and Ben Miller, who want to use them to rival their ex-partners.
Each pair of outlaws use their power against each other, which results in Frank killing JD, and Jake killing Frank. After Jake kills Frank, Jake has a change of heart. Because of his change of heart, Ben attempts to kill Jake. Jake refuses to fight his brother, and asks the visitor to take away his power. The visitor does so, and Ben is just about to kill Jake when Ben's power gets taken away by the visitor. Just after his power gets taken away, Ben gets shot by Jake's ex-lover, who witnessed the violence.
Jake asks the visitor, "All of these people, dead, for what?"
The visitor then shows them that he is an alien, and tells them that he is scouting ahead to see if humans will ever be able to rival his civilization:
"The fate of a world isn't determined by its best examples, but by its worst. It takes a few to destroy the many, especially when even the best of you can be dragged down into the mire. Judging from your example, brother against brother, friend against friend, you people have such a potential for violence; sheer, unvarnished wickedness. I've got every confidence you'll destroy yourself before you build your first interstellar engine. We've got nothing to fear from you."Then the visitor disappears.