The Heist (The Outer Limits)

"The Heist"
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 14
Directed by Brad Turner
Written by Steven Barnes
Production code 36
Original air date 5 May 1996
Guest actors

Barry Pepper as Tyson Ruddick,
Jasmine Guy as Washington,
Colm Feore as Major Mackie,
Costas Mandylor as Lee Taylor,
Philip Granger as Calvin Taylor

"The Heist" is an episode of The Outer Limits television series. It first aired on 5 May 1996, during the second season.

Introduction

A bitter ex-soldier agrees to help a militia hijack a U.S. Army shipment of missiles. Instead of missiles, they find a lone guard who pleads with them not to open the shipment because it is deadly.

Opening narration

On the long road between cradle and grave, we travel alone. It is not the blind and random circumstances of our birth which determine the quality of our journey, that is decided by the choices made along the way.

Plot

Major Mackie demands to know what is in the shipment and believes that the Captain is lying. But all the lone guard will tell him is "don't open it". Even under threat of death, Captain Washington refuses to stand down, but Major Mackie eventually forces his will to be done. They open the door and a chilling series of events begin to unfold as an alien lifeform freezes them to death. The soldiers lose their discipline and begin to scatter, questioning their loyalties. All the while the alien stalks with cold impersonal efficiency, taking out the self-styled militia one by one.

The creature is eventually lured to a neon sign and appears to be defeated. The final scene shows a police officer frozen outside of the building.

Closing narration

Why do we need to belong? Is it for the fellowship of others? Or is it the fear of being left... out in the cold?

Minor Mistakes

External links