"Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But, there is, unseen by most, another world, just as real but not as brightly lit. A darkside."
Title: “Red Leader”
Series: Tales from the Darkside
Season: 3
Year: 1987
Writer(s): Edithe Swensen
Storyline: A sleazy real estate broker is not exactly crying over the death of his partner, or ex-partner in the firm. Jake got into debt and Alex “helped him out” with a loan, which ended up handing all of Jake’s stock to his partner. Now that he’s dead, Jake’s widow has nothing. All her stock, held through her husband, is gone, her car has been repossessed and there is no windfall coming to her. She’s hardly heartbroken either: she admits she only married Jake for his cash, and now that he’s gone and she’s lost everything, she turns her charm on Alex, but he’s not interested, knowing the kind of woman she is.
After she’s gone, the building starts to shake. Earthquake? But no: a drill starts to pound through the floor and there’s an unearthly red light coming through the crack it’s making. A moment later, Jake steps out of it, looking somewhat the worse for wear, and tells Alex he’s escaped from Hell, though only temporarily. He’s come looking for the books - the right books, not the ones Alex and he showed IRS when audited. The real deal, that shows what crooks they both are. He needs these, in order to gain the respect he believes he’s due Down Below, and in order to rise through the ranks and become what he calls a Minion, which we can only assume is a sort of lieutenant or manager. There’s a big construction gig going on down there right now, and he’s not being trusted with any of the big stuff. He wants to show Satan that he has the right - or perhaps that should be the wrong - stuff.
Alex isn’t too keen though. He’s done some shady deals with Jake over the years, and he doesn’t want those broadcast all over Hell. He refuses, trying to shoot Jake, but then, Jake is already dead, so that doesn’t exactly work out. Then it seems Jake’s time is running out, as a real Minion arrives and starts to drag him back. Seeing his chance, Alex throws his ex-partner under the bus, laying all sort of good deeds at his feet, trying to make out that he was a good guy, and does not deserve any sort of promotion in the ranks of evil.
While they’re arguing, another man appears, this one called, with appropriate awe and reverence by the Minion, Red Leader. Of course this is the Devil himself and he reveals that Jake did not escape, Red Leader let him go in order to provide him the opportunity to meet with Alex. Oh yes, Red Leader is very interested in Alex Hayes! He offers him a top job, authority over millions, plenty of opportunity to skim, but Alex isn’t fooled. He doesn’t, he says, belong in Hell and as he’s still alive this Red Leader can’t take him against his will. Red Leader leaves, but he assures Alex he will be back. When he’s gone Jake’s widow enters and, seeing the gun Alex had tried to shoot Jake with, picks it up and shoots him, and kicks him into the hole which leads down to Hell. So it looks like he’s going to be taking that job after all!
Comments: Ah yes! This is more like it! I can’t believe that, of all the anthology shows, the one I rate least has come up with, so far, the best episode. I never have time for
Tales from the Darkside, but I have to admit they pulled it out of the bag with this one. Some ****ty acting, definitely - Jake’s reappearance from Hell doesn’t even faze Alex; he never once says I must be dreaming or anything, and when the widow comes back she remarks on the hole in the ground, yes, but basically ignores it after that. Plus what is it with that door? It sounds so loud and ominous, like a door on the Enterprise turned up to ten! But overall, a good morality tale, and not entirely predictable. I like the nod back to
A Christmas Carol when Red Leader tells Alex “You’ve been working on your resume for some time now.” Class.
Stories utilising damnation and the Devil can’t, even by the 1980s or 1990s, be said to be anything like original, but this one is handled in a semi-original way, sort of looking to the corporate world as the embodiment of Hell, so kudos on that. Everyone bar the widow works well. Jake, as the eternal second-rate guy wanting to lord it over his own empire, being in his wheelhouse for once; the Devil (Red Leader) working out the details of his offer to Alex, even the Minion who goes after Jake, all very good. The widow almost lets it down; of them all she’s the only one really serious. Even Alex can’t keep a straight face. Good interaction. The idea of using Hell as a place where the more evil you are the more promotion you can earn is a clever one, and using goodness as a way of “losing the interview” is good.
Rating: A+