Episode no. Season 3Episode 61 | Original air date March 18, 1989 | |
"Many, Many Monkeys" is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone, first broadcast in 1989. The episode was written in 1964 for the final season of the show's original black-and-white run by producer William Froug, but though CBS bought the script, they chose not to use it. Froug believed that they found it "too grotesque." It remained shelved for more than twenty years until it was made as an episode in the third and final season of the 1980s Twilight Zone revival.
Plot
A woman bursts into a hospital emergency room and demands to see a doctor. Claire Hendricks, a nurse, tries to help her, but the woman is rude and insistent on only seeing the doctor. Before long, the doctor arrives, but too late—the woman is now blind with cataracts. In another instance, an elderly man is desperately trying to get Claire to help his wife. Claire claims that hospital policy is forcing her not to help, but it's clear she is an uncaring person, nevertheless. The blind woman, Mrs. Reed, wants Claire to come visit her, but Claire is apprehensive and negative. Mrs. Reed admits that she's beginning to realize what's happening and that she "sees" a lot of herself in Claire. She apparently wanted to warn her of something, but Claire dismisses her and leaves.
Mr. Reed shows up at the hospital, blind as well. It turns out Mrs. Reed, in her own selfishness, knew she was going blind and abandoned him to get help for herself. Suddenly, more and more people show up, all blind from spontaneous cataract development. An epidemic ensues from coast to coast. Claire, despite her incredible workload now, visits with Mrs. Reed again. Mrs. Reed talks about how much alike they are. She also claims the blindness is happening because we have become monkeys—see no evil, speak no evil, etc. We have become such an uncaring society, and since we now turn a blind eye to suffering, nature has turned a blind eye to us. Soon, a report surfaces that an explosion at a bioweapons facility may be responsible for the blindness, but Claire starts to realize that Mrs. Reed might be right. Claire soon succumbs to blindness.
News comes of a surgery that will cure all the blinded. Mrs. Reed visits with Claire and they discuss the surgery. Mrs. Reed and others will get their sight back. When she asks Claire when her surgery will be, Claire says she will not have it. She believes in what Mrs. Reed said and thinks that no surgery will help her. The doctor says Claire will see again, but it will take her a little longer. Claire's eyes are clear, her blindness psychosomatic.