| "The Card" | |||
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| The New Twilight Zone episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 32a |
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| Directed by | Bradford May | ||
| Written by | Michael Cassutt | ||
| Original air date | February 21, 1987 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
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Susan Blakely : Linda Wolfe |
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of Twilight Zone episodes | |||
The Card is the first segment of the thirty-second episode (the thirteenth episode of the second season (1986–1987) of the television series The New Twilight Zone.
Contents |
| “ | The devil, they say, having so far, failed to destroy the human race with nuclear weapons, toxic waste, or elevator music, has finally devised his most cunning weapon: long term credit, with fine print written...in the Twilight Zone. | ” |
After having a number of credit cards revoked for lack of payment, Linda Wolfe, a mother of three, apparently is invited to become a cardholder from a credit company called The Card. Entering the office of The Card, she notes a woman clutching a baby coming from a door labeled acquisitions then entering a door called disbursements. During her appointment with Catherine Foley, the office manager, she discovers they have reviewed her credit and because it is poor, she will have to agree to special terms of payment. She will be required to make payments weekly. Nevertheless, they want her as a cardholder and she immediately signs.
Linda's husband, Brian, soon discovers the new card and that Linda has used it already to buy herself a bottle of perfume. He begs her to be very careful this time. One week later, she is delinquent on one payment, and her cat mysteriously disappears, but when she asks her family about it no one seems to remember that they ever had a cat, nor is there any evidence the cat existed. Then Linda and Brian attempt to buy a refrigerator and she discovers she neglected to make the first payment. The next week, once again, Linda neglects to pay and their dog is the next thing to disappear and, as before, none of the family remembers ever owning the dog. Then, Linda's car breaks down and she needs a mechanic. Since she only has twelve dollars in cash, she uses her credit card. As a result of her not keeping current with the payments, Linda's three children disappear. Of course, Brian doesn't know anything about the children and this pushes Linda over the edge.
Linda starts to realize that the credit card company might be behind it all. She goes to The Card who inform her that because she is behind in payment they are repossessing items to cover her bills, along with all memories that anyone but her have of them. She tries to buy back her children with a check from her joint account, but her husband stops payment on it. Everything then starts to disappear around her—car, furniture, and her husband. She ends up cutting up the credit card to keep things from disappearing. However, that causes her house and everything in it, including her, to disappear...
This episode was stretched into a half-hour run time for syndication, as recently shown on the Chiller TV network.