The Twilight Zone season 1, episode 9 recap: The Blue Scorpion
“The Blue Scorpion” — Pictured (l-r): Darcy Laurie as Lt. Bludworth; Chris O’Dowd as Jeffrey Storck of the CBS All Access series THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Photo Cr: Robert Falconer/CBS © 2018 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved.
The Twilight Zone heads into its the end of its season with an episode about the value we place on inanimate objects versus the value we place on the lives around us.
This episode of The Twilight Zone focusses on Professor Jeff Storck (Chris O’Dowd), a man who is in the early moments of a tough divorce from his wife, Anne.
The episode opens on Jeff going to hang out with his dad, Otis. When he gets to his dad’s place, he finds Otis dead, having apparently shot himself. It’s an event that Jeff can’t wrap his head around. He explains to the police that his dad was a life-long hippie who had even left the country to avoid the Vietnam draft. He never owned a gun.
In addition to the odd gun, the police find a note, “I love him more than you.” Jeff isn’t sure whether he’s the “him” or the “you” in that sentence.
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Later, Jeff is cleaning out his dad’s place when he finds a hidden safe in the bedroom closet. Inside the safe is another clip for the gun (which is now in police possession). On one of the gun’s bullets is engraved, “Jeff.”
Initial impulse is to think it’s a bullet meant for Jeff Storck. But, as Jeff goes about his life, he starts running in to more and more people named Jeff. They’re everywhere, including a Jeff who is a gun broker, Jeff who is Anne’s divorce attorney, and Jeff who Anne is now in love with. The bullet could be meant for any one of them or none of them.
Anyway, after getting the gun back from the police, Jeff (Storck) attempts to sell it by calling gun broker Jeff. Broker Jeff, after getting the gun’s serial number, explains that this gun is “the blue scorpion,” a legendary gun that people can never find because “it finds you.” Because of this, the gun is worth up to $50,000.
Just then, the gun randomly goes off.
After the call, Jeff goes to put the gun back in the safe, but the safe won’t close. One other thing Broker Jeff mentioned: the blue scorpion is afraid of the dark.