"The Card" in '80s TZ Season 2 Forum

0 Points

Add Reply New Topic New Poll

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

"The Card"

Author

Comment

Dan Hollis

"The Card"

Lead

[-]

Posts: 15678

Jan 14 06 11:08 AM

Gilbert and Sullivan State Trooper

Tags : None

"The Card"

A credit-card junkie (Susan Blakely) gets a lesson in timely payments.

Stars Susan Blakely, William Atherton.
Original air date: February 21, 1987.

This is the preferred thread for any and all of your posts on this episode.* You are invited to rank it on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).

*More specific instructions and suggestions about posting questions/comments related to this episode are located here.

Your opinion of "The Card" -- 1 to 10 scale (Result)

Thanks to Dr. Moreau for surprising me with this signature. It beats peach brandy!
user posted image

"We're sober men and true!" -- "You had to go have him!"

Reply Quote

whitsbrain

#1

[-]

Posts: 1049

Jan 23 06 10:57 PM

This is a very good story of a compulsive spender with a moral that is very applicable given today's "gotta have it now" way of life. This spender ultimately pays a tremendous price. To quote from the interview of the director on the DVD's extras, this really is a "nasty little story".

My rating: 8

Reply Quote

Henry Bemis

#2

[-]

Posts: 6207

Jan 24 06 7:32 AM

I like this one too, the moral? Pay your bills! I'm glad falling behind on bills, which I have recently doesn't cost you your life and posessions!

RIP Phyllis Diller (1917-2012)

Reply Quote

JoseChungsDoomsday

#3

[-]

Posts: 32

Mar 31 06 1:04 PM

great episode, and the ending was very gripping

Reply Quote

adamgrant

#4

[-]

Posts: 2361

May 24 06 7:21 AM

great episode except that i didn't like the fact that it took her so long to figure out what was going on. it would have been better if she knew what her penalty would be, but still couldn't stop using the card.
**spoilier**

i didn't like the ending. i liked when her possessions were taken more subtly.

Reply Quote

MrRSerling

#5

[-]

Posts: 1592

Oct 27 06 4:27 AM

I remember this episode originally airing and enjoying the twist.

Reply Quote

octobercountry

#6

[-]

Posts: 198

Jun 19 07 11:36 AM

I am a big fan of this sort of story---where a person sees reality altering about them, but no one else seems to notice. Quite a few anthology show episodes have been done using variations of this theme---including others on the Twilight Zone itself---but this one does have its own unique twist. I thought it was a fine episode, and I'll give it an 8.

I will say, though, that the main character seemed fairly unsympathetic right from the start---and remained so throughout. If I had liked her more, I would have felt more empathy for her, and been more concerned as to what was happening to her. As it was, I wasn't involved in the story as much as I would have been, if I had liked the character.

I was really surprised at the harsh, bleak ending, though; I was rather expecting a happier sort of conclusion to the story. Well, I'll take that as a lesson to watch my own credit card spending!

Reply Quote

Dan Hollis

#7

[-]

Posts: 15678

Jun 19 07 1:10 PM

Gilbert and Sullivan State Trooper

QUOTE (octobercountry @ June 19, 2007 12:36 pm)

Quite a few anthology show episodes have been done using variations of this theme---including others on the Twilight Zone itself---but this one does have its own unique twist.

Are you perhaps thinking of "And When the Sky Was Opened"? In fact, "The Card" might also have been inspired by "Disappearing Act," the Richard Matheson short story on which AWTSWO was nominally based. All evidence of the narrator's existence gradually vanishes, including his own house. In the last few paragraphs, he says that there's now an empty lot where he used to live.

Thanks to Dr. Moreau for surprising me with this signature. It beats peach brandy!
user posted image

"We're sober men and true!" -- "You had to go have him!"

Reply Quote

octobercountry

#8

[-]

Posts: 198

Jun 19 07 5:36 PM

QUOTE (Dan Hollis @ June 19, 2007 01:10 pm)

Are you perhaps thinking of "And When the Sky Was Opened"?

Exactly! And the most recent revival had something like this also, didn't it... I haven't seen it lately, but "Upgrade" had elements in that vein, far as I remember...

Reply Quote

Dan Hollis

#9

[-]

Posts: 15678

Jun 19 07 7:44 PM

Gilbert and Sullivan State Trooper

QUOTE (octobercountry @ June 19, 2007 06:36 pm)

I haven't seen it lately, but "Upgrade" had elements in that vein, far as I remember...

(Spoiler) Somewhat. Elements of the lead character's life (such as family members) keep changing, as oppsed to disappearing, but she's the only one who remembers how everything used to be. Everyone else says that things have always been this way. The truth is that she's only a character in a video game, whose youthful operator keeps changing the characters until she has created her ideal virtual family.

Thanks to Dr. Moreau for surprising me with this signature. It beats peach brandy!
user posted image

"We're sober men and true!" -- "You had to go have him!"

Reply Quote

Rorschach

#10

[-]

Posts: 257

Jul 16 07 6:22 AM

The story of this one is ok, but I found the main character annoying and had no sympathy for her, people like her who spend without thinking dig their own graves. I give it a 4.

Reply Quote

Dan Hollis

#11

[-]

Posts: 15678

Jul 16 07 10:30 AM

Gilbert and Sullivan State Trooper

QUOTE (Rorschach @ July 16, 2007 04:22 am)

I found the main character annoying and had no sympathy for her, people like her who spend without thinking dig their own graves.

Same here, but I think that's the point. If she were a responsible person who had no alternative to using "The Card," the TZ sense of cosmic justice would be missing.

Thanks to Dr. Moreau for surprising me with this signature. It beats peach brandy!
user posted image

"We're sober men and true!" -- "You had to go have him!"

Reply Quote

Rorschach

#12

[-]

Posts: 257

Jul 16 07 11:16 AM

I did realise that, but I disliked her character so much I just couldn't care for the story anyway.

Reply Quote

DParker

#13

[-]

Posts: 1361

Jan 18 08 9:17 PM

I gave it an 8.

I liked it but there were a couple things that bugged me.

Why is the family using a credit card to pay for a fridge - what was wrong wtih the old fridge? Shouldn't the husband chip in or shouldn't he be making the purchase if the wife has a spending problem?

Why does the wife appear in charge of the chequebook when she has a spending problem?

I thought the logo on the card was horrible and distracting - one of the worst looking props I've ever seen. It looked like someone penned in the letters with White-out.

... it's all gonna fade...

Reply Quote

suburbanite

#14

[-]

Zone Traveller

Posts: 174

Jul 3 09 6:09 PM

QUOTE (DParker @ January 18, 2008 09:17 pm)

I gave it an 8.

I liked it but there were a couple things that bugged me.

Why is the family using a credit card to pay for a fridge - what was wrong wtih the old fridge? Shouldn't the husband chip in or shouldn't he be making the purchase if the wife has a spending problem?

Why does the wife appear in charge of the chequebook when she has a spending problem?

I thought the logo on the card was horrible and distracting - one of the worst looking props I've ever seen. It looked like someone penned in the letters with White-out.

I liked it, too, but agreed with these quibbles, especially the second one. If she was so irresponsible spending-wise, you'd think her husband would've totally removed her from the possibility of making any financial commitments.

Reply Quote

MichaelBiehnObsession

#15

[-]

Posts: 1825

Sep 8 11 2:24 PM

A great episode with wonderful acting. I think credit card companies should consider just such a program against those in debt.

Reply Quote

WarpWarp

#16

[-]

Zone Traveller

Posts: 202

Mar 23 12 10:42 PM

One my absolute favorites of NTZ. I recalled this one vividly from it's original airing, and it hasn't lost any of it's bite. It features very good acting from Blakely and Atherton, and an excellent slow build to an incredibly tense conclusion.

The "wood bending" sound that accompanies the house disappearing, followed up with the escalating tone as the two halves of the card falls to the ground still gives me a chill.

BTW, was that Joanna Kernes, "Mrs. Seaver" of Growing Pains, as the woman going from the acquisitions office to the disbursements office in the beginning? She's not in the credits, but the character (Woman #1)? isn't listed either...

I give it a 10.

WarpWarp

Reply Quote

PolarBear

#17

[-]

Posts: 1486

Jul 31 12 8:19 PM

Ursus Maritimus

Basically, this taken up to eleven

Reply Quote

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Add Reply

Yuku free message boards

"The Card"

"The Card"

Your opinion of "The Card" -- 1 to 10 scale (Result)