Episode 3 – Mr. Denton On Doomsday
Summary: There’s a town drunk named Mr. Denton in an Old Western setting. He’s forced to sing songs for people in order to get drinks, and everyone ridicules him. A buggy trots by and a gun is dropped by him. We learn that Mr. Denton used to be a great shot back in the day. He gets ridiculed again and sings for the town to get another drink, but then the main bully gives him crap about having a gun. The bully wants to quick draw with him, and a mysterious peddler gives him a look, and Denton fires off two shots to save his own life. This gives Denton confidence, and he gets back at the bully.
Then Denton exits and proclaims that he’s rather worried now, because he will have people coming to take him out since they know he’s a good shot; that’s why he became a drunk, over depression from this. He then goes to shave and is told to meet in the saloon later that night in order to challenge a new guy who rolled into town. Denton leaves his home and shoots around, noticing that he sucks with a gun again, and runs into that mysterious peddler again who promises that he can give him a potion that will make him the best shot around. His name is also Mr. Fate.
(The remainder of this summary contains spoilers – Read at your own risk)
So Denton takes the potion and then goes to the gunfight. He downs his drink, and he sees his opponent downing the same drink. Suddenly, they’re both very nervous over this. They fire and hit each other in their shooting hand. The town doctor inspects Denton and says that he’ll never shoot again. It seems like the other guy will be in the same shape. Denton then tells his opponent that they’re both very fortunate, because they can never shoot a gun again out of anger.
My Thoughts:
I have never really enjoyed this episode. I’ve always found it a bit dull and it drags on a lot, in my opinion. I understand the theme behind it, and I think it’s a good one, but the way in which they went about it seemed to be a little difficult to follow. I feel like they should have spent more time on that and less on the actions at the start of the story. Like One For the Angels, this is atypical to standard Twilight Zone. But unlike One For the Angels, it doesn’t really provide you with too big of a sense of worry for Denton because everything starts off slow, then goes really fast. Plus, Mr. Fate? Come on. That’s a bit too heavy handed. Overall, I’m just not impressed by the episode that much.
Score: 3/10
I get it. Guy becomes a drunk because he was too good with a gun, and then his life and another guy’s lives are saved. The pacing wrecks the impact of this though, in my opinion. I just really don’t enjoy this episode. And it’s rare that I ever say that. However, the acting is good, and I like the theme of it. It just could have been presented much better.
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