Episode no. Season 5
Episode 24 Written by Martin Goldsmith Production code 2635 | Directed by Richard L. Bare Featured music Stock Original air date March 13, 1964 | |
"What's in the Box" is episode 144 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on March 13, 1964 on CBS.
Contents
Plot
Joe and Phyllis Britt are an old married couple in New York City who do not get along. Joe gets home from his job as a cab driver late one night, and Phyllis accuses him of seeing another woman. In the meantime, a television repairman is in the next room fixing their broken set. Irritated, Joe harasses the repairman about the inconvenience and cost. The repairman abruptly closes the open TV panel and announces the TV is fixed. After stating the job is free, he leaves, and the TV starts getting channel 10—a station showing the past, present, and future of Joe and Phyllis's lives.
The TV shows Joe seeing another woman, and when he tunes in again later, it shows him killing Phyllis in a fight. Joe breaks down at the sight and tells Phyllis what is happening. Phyllis seeks help from the family doctor, who gives Joe a sedative and says that seeing oneself on television is one of several common delusions manifested by the struggle to adjust to the new technology of television.
Profoundly perturbed by the sight of Phyllis's death, Joe tries to heal their relationship, telling her that he accepts the blame for their feuding and has realized that his extramarital affairs were only an escape from the stress of his job, that Phyllis is still the one he really loves. Embittered by years of Joe's coldness and philandering, Phyllis scorns his attempt at reconciliation. When he begins reacting to another channel 10 vision even as Phyllis sees only static, Phyllis is convinced that Joe has lost his mind and taunts him. Joe, angered, attacks her, and kills her in the same manner as he had seen on the television screen.
As Joe is arrested by the police, he comes face-to-face with the TV repairman, who mockingly asks, "You will recommend my service, won't you?" The repairman smirks as Joe is taken away.