Recap / The Twilight Zone (1959) S5E25: "The Masks"

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The Masks

Air date: March 20, 1964

Jason Foster (Robert Keith), a very wealthy old man in Louisiana, lays dying on the night of Mardi Gras, with his doctor Samuel Thorne (Willis Bouchey), and his butler Jeffrey (Bill Walker), the former grimly confirming that his time is short. Cranky and candid, he's not at all cheered by a visit from his daughter Emily Harper (Virginia Gregg) and her family, including husband Wilfred (Milton Selzer), son Wilfred Jr. (Alan Sues), and daughter Paula (Brooke Hayward), as all four have various terrible traits: Emily is a cowardly, self-centered hypochondriac who whines and complains about the most trivial things; Wilfred, a successful businessman, is uncultured and greedy, thinking of everything only in monetary terms; Paula is extremely vain and self-absorbed, constantly checking her appearance in the mirror (to the point where she greets her grandfather via his reflection), and Wilfred Jr. is an oafish, dim-witted, and sadistic bully who enjoys causing pain and suffering to animals and other people. What's more, it's clear to see that the family is only visiting Jason to nab his estate and fortune once he dies. During the visit, Jason is not shy about expressing his opinions of his family, openly insulting them all. But as an act of apology, he says that he's prepared a special Mardi Gras party planned for the group.

After dinner, the family gathers in Jason's study, where he offers special one-of-a-kind masks "crafted by an old Cajun". The masks are hideously ugly and grotesque, as Jason informs his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren that it's Mardi Gras tradition to wear masks that are the exact opposite of one's personality, sarcastically revealing that these masks are just that. He offers the mask of a sniveling coward to Emily, a miserable miser to Wilfred, a twisted buffoon to Wilfred Jr., and a self-obsessed narcissist to Paula. He himself dons a skull, claiming that his approaching demise means he is set to wear the opposite of life. The family is reluctant to wear these masks until Jason notes that this task is also a proviso from his will: unless all four of them don the masks and leave them on until midnight, all they will receive from his estate is train fare home to Boston, prompting the miserly foursome to comply in spite of their disgust.

As the hours pass, the Harpers beg to be allowed to take the masks off, claiming that the sensation of wearing them is unbearable. Their pleas are wasted on Jason, who delivers a final scathing tirade to his so-called "loving family", explaining that even without the masks, they're mere caricatures of human beings. Right before he dies, just after the stroke of midnight, Jason informs them that they have fulfilled the terms of his will, and thus own his entire estate, sadly noting "May God pity you," before he expires. The family rejoice in the fact that they are now rich, until they remove the masks and find, to their shared horror, that their faces have conformed to the hideous shapes of the masks. When Jason's own mask is removed, it appears as if nothing has changed, but his face is actually the expression of death itself: calm, peaceful and serene. As Dr. Thorne observes, "This must be death. No horror, no fear... nothing but peace." As the episode ends, Thorne calls the nearby funeral parlor to take Jason's body away as Jeffrey looks upon the relatives' ugly faces, no doubt celebrating his employer's posthumous revenge.

Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Dr. Thorne takes Jason's jibes in stride, even laughing openly at one of them.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: The Harpers don't attempt to mask their joy over Jason finally dying, but it's cut short when they take off their masks to find that their true natures have contorted their faces.
• The Atoner: Jason has taken on a personal mission to atone for his own debts, dealing out some long-overdue karma to his less-than-ideal family on his deathbed.
• Attention Whore: Jason describes Emily as such during his description of her cowardly nature, putting her ailments and petty entitlements over everything else.
• Bad Liar: Anytime the Harper family acts hurt by Jason's accusations that they're only interested in his wealth.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Jason mentions that he's seen Wilfred, Jr. torture animals in the past, and later states near the end that the boy sees humanity itself as an animal caught in a trap and ripe for torture.
• Batman Gambit: Jason knew full well that the threat of not getting their inheritance would get his loathsome family to wear the masks.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Jason's relatives end up inheriting his fortune and all his possessions, just as they wished, but they are now hideously and permanently deformed.
• Becoming the Costume:
  • Jason forces his worthless heirs to wear masks caricaturing their insufferable personalities, and if they take them off before midnight, they get cut out of his will. At midnight, he dies and they're finally allowed to shed the masks, only to discover that their faces have permanently taken on the shapes of the masks.
  • Averted with Jason himself, who keeps his humble, human face as he dies of old age, instead of gaining the skeletal appearance of Death's skull.
• Benevolent Boss: Jason is genuinely kind and respectful to his butler Jeffrey, and Jeffrey seems to sincerely like him in return, being saddened when he finds his boss dead.
• Beyond Redemption: Before he dies and lets loose his climactic speech, Jason offers his relatives one chance to prove that they have any shred of humanity in them so they can remove the masks early. They fail miserably, validating his suspicion of their utterly heartless natures.
• Big Brother Instinct: Downplayed with the Harper children, since they don't get much screen time compared to Jason or their parents, but when Wilfred, Sr. reveals his changed face, Paula turns away in shock, prompting Wilfred, Jr. to hold her. Towards the end of the episode, he seems to be comforting his sister as the whole family is soberly taking in their situation.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: THE HARPERS, the parents and children of which are one-dimensionally horrid and abusive. You know that they're a family that isn't well-adjusted when Grumpy Old Man Jason is the nicest person.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Harper family is now loaded with an estate, stocks, bonds, and millions of dollars, but they're also permanently disfigured by the masks they had to wear to get it. Given their behavior, the fact they're disfigured could be considered the sweet part.
• Blatant Lies: Jason's relatives insist to anyone who listens to them that they care about him instead of his inheritance. He doesn't buy it for a second.
• Bottle Episode: This episode features only two sets: Jason's bedroom and his living room.
• Brutal Honesty: Jason is not spending his final hours sugarcoating his words to the sack of garbage he calls his family. He also values this as a trait in general, as he tells Dr. Thorne that he expects to be treated with absolute honesty. Thorne himself has learned to accept this and does as he's requested.
• The Bully: Wilfred, Jr. is an abusive idiot who gets his jollies torturing animals.
• Calling the Young Man Out: The dying Jason spends his final hours quietly snarking at his family, always sailing just below the line of flat-out insulting them. Once it finally becomes clear that they're much more interested in getting his inheritance instead of actually connecting with him on any level - or pretending to be anything other than utterly hateful people - Jason blasts the entire group with a bitter diatribe that targets their many, many flaws: his daughter's hypochondria and selfishness, his son-in-law's greed, his granddaughter's narcissism, and his grandson's cruelty.
• Cool Old Guy: Jason Foster, considering what he manages to pull on his greedy relatives just before his death, and how he's much more charming and benevolent to those who haven't earned his ire.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: One line often cut from the broadcast reveals that Jason and his late wife hated the idea of Emily marrying Wilfred, apparently having tried to warn her against it. But since Emily is so short-sighted and only cares about her own desires, she ignored them and it's implied that this led her mother to a Death by Despair.
• Deadpan Snarker: Jason gets some truly stinging one-liners in on his relatives.
• Deathly Unmasking: At the final stroke of midnight, Jason finally dies... only for his family to discover that all of them have been permanently disfigured by the masks he forced them to wear. By contrast, when Jason is unmasked post-mortem, it's found that he still retains his true appearance.
• Determinator: Jason is determined to stay alive at least until midnight, largely because the masks' magic seemed to require it.
• Dirty Coward: Emily definitely has the "coward" part down. She's a petty hypochondriac who treats every little discomfort as though it were a terrible, life-threatening sickness, to the point that she tries (unsuccessfully) to convince Dr. Thorne to look her over when he clearly has other patients to attend to. Later, while wearing her mask, she whines about how she's "suffocating" in it, and she wasn't too proud to beg her father to let her prematurely remove the mask.
• Dramatic Unmask: Five in a row, as each of the heirs removes their personal mask to see their now grotesque faces, and Dr. Thorne slowly removes Jason's mask to discover his calm expression in death.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • The entire prologue gives Jason one. He may be snarky and grouchy to Dr. Thorne, but he's also good friends with him and appreciates his honesty, giving us the implication that he's far more sympathetic than his relatives. He also knows full well that he'll die soon and isn't remotely upset or fearful about it. (Which explains why he chose the mask of death: he's trying to "mask" that he's unafraid of death).
  • The relatives each get a respective one before and during their visit with the dying Jason.
    • Emily complains over her aches and pains.
    • Paula applies make-up, and only greets her grandfather's reflection while doing so.
    • Wilfred Jr. doesn't hint at any intelligence on his part, only acknowledging others when prompted by his parents.
    • Wilfred Sr. tries to ask Thorne about Jason's condition to gauge how "the old boy" is doing.
• Face Death with Dignity: Jason never once laments about his impending death. Thorne comments on the peaceful look on his face while examining his body.
• Facial Horror: The punishment that Jason gives to his heirs by making them wear the masks.
• Flat Character: As Jason says, his family are all a bunch of caricatures exemplified through a single negative trait.
• Flowery Insults: Jason hits his relatives where it hurts with poetic, verbose, and scathing insults.
• Foil: Jason is one to his relatives: he's outwardly snide and snarky, but he's also a respectful and honorable person. Jason's relatives act civilized, but are selfish ingrates with shallow views who only want his money.
• Foreshadowing: When Jason's heirs feel more than a little uncomfortable after wearing the masks for several hours, it's a sign that the masks' supernatural properties are taking effect. The reality hits them hard once midnight strikes and they shed the masks.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The heirs: sanguine Emily, melancholic Wilfred, phlegmatic Paula, and choleric Wilfred, Jr.
• Freudian Excuse: One line (often unfortunately cut from TV airings) reveals that a good portion of Jason's anger stems not just from Emily choosing to marry the greedy Wilfred, but that in doing so, she "broke the heart of her late mother... in just about every sense of the word." It's the only mention of Mrs. Foster in the whole script, and suggests that her daughter's marriage led her to die of grief, which would certainly go a long way to explain why Jason is so reluctant to forgive his relatives.
• Greed: The relatives' motivation for visiting Jason, instead of trying to connect with him on any possible level.
• Grumpy Old Man: Jason. Given the personalities of his relatives, he has no reason not to be.
• Hate Sink: Jason's atrocious family, who make no effort to be sad at the fact that he's dying. This makes their fate at the end all the more deserving.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Jason is Brutally Honest with everyone, but he's also genuinely kind to his doctor and butler (and perhaps other people who are either honest with him or hard-working).
• How They Treat the Help: Jason is genuinely polite to his housekeeper, his doctor Sam, and his butler Jeffrey, and treats him with a great amount of respect. It's especially surprising because Jeffrey is African-American and living in 1960s Louisiana; considering that Jason's lived through most of the twentieth century (and at least some of the nineteenth) and is quite rich, it would be easy for him to be a casual racist, but there's no indication of any kind that he is. It's also worth mentioning that they're all just as fond of Jason, and the housekeeper is openly exasperated at the thought of her boss' relatives arriving.
• Hypochondria: Emily. Her very first scene involves asking Dr. Thorne for some medicine for a pain in her arm. Jason comments that over the last 25 years, she's claimed to suffer one ailment after another, sarcastically noting that she's said to be at Death's door so often, she's worn a hole in the welcome mat.
• Ignored Epiphany: Jason gives his relatives a vicious and blistering tirade for their wicked ways, and they seem to remain stunned by it. After Jason dies, they're all too happy to celebrate his death rather than contemplate his words.
• It's All About Me: Paula is exceptionally self-absorbed and obsessed with her own beauty, prompting Jason to comment she lives in a mirror, seeing the world as nothing more than a reflection of herself.
• It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans: The episode takes place in the heart of New Orleans on the night of Mardi Gras. It's justified because it makes Jason suggesting that his relatives wear the masks not seem unusual.
• Jerk Jock: Wilfred Jr. He’s a cruel sadist, and it’s mentioned that he’s on his school’s football team.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Implied with Jason. He may be brutally honest and snarky, but he's nothing if not honorable, hard-working, and morally sound, and he does respect and appreciate others such as his doctor and employees. He also genuinely resents his family for their shallow and selfish behavior.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Jason's family all talk about how much they care about him, but they actually only care about the money they're going to inherit. When he dies, they seem shocked... but then show how ecstatic they are right after.
• Karmic Transformation: The goal of Jason's ploy is to inflict this on his relatives, making them as ugly on the outside as they are on the inside. He succeeds with flying colors.
• Lampshade Hanging: Towards the end, Jason outright describes his family as as "caricatures" to their (masked) faces.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Jason's greedy relatives get what they deserve when he dies and they take their masks off, turning their faces as hideous as the masks themselves.
• No Sympathy: The family's reaction to Jason's death, inadvertently proving him right about what jerks they are in the speech he just made.
  Wilfred: At long last, he's dead.
  Wilfred, Jr.: Good!
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Jason is a man who Serling describes as "ancient" in his narration. Additionally, he espouses his morals in scathing speeches he delivers to his heirs and is liked by his doctor and butler. Meanwhile, all of his younger heirs are vapid and immoral.
• On One Condition: Jason makes it clear that in order to inherit his fortune, his family members must wear the ugly masks until midnight, otherwise they get nothing beyond train fare back to Boston. They fulfill his requirement, only to find that it has permanent side effects.
• Peaceful in Death: Shortly after Jason dies, his heirs unmask themselves, only for them to discover that their faces have taken the forms of the masks. Jason, however, retains his normal face after wearing a skull mask, meant to represent his death.
• The Promise: Jason's will dictates if the heirs wear their given masks until midnight, they will inherit his vast fortune. If any one of them is to remove their mask beforehand, they will only be given enough for train fare back to Boston.
• Psychopathic Manchild: The oafish Wilfred Jr., as described by his grandfather. Jason recalls seeing him torment small animals since he was a young boy, and implies that he has never grown out of that behavior. In one scene, he also plays around in his grandfather's wheelchair like a 12-year-old with a short attention span, and usually only pays attention to what's going on around him when his parents prompt him to speak.
• Punished with Ugly: All of the heirs are turned into hideous freaks to match their hideous natures. But at least they gained Jason's estate, which dovetails into the below trope.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The relatives succeed in fulfilling Jason's wish to wear the masks until midnight. As a result, they go on to inherit the fortune Jason possessed. However, they must also suffer faces that reflect their inner ugliness and pettiness, with Serling's closing narration implying that they will have to live out the rest of their lives in hiding, very likely not getting to enjoy what they've gotten.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jason gives one to his greedy relatives as he dies, and it's a doozy:
  Emily: Are you feeling weaker, Father?
  Jason: At last, a note of hope in your voice, Emily.
  Emily: Why must you always say such miserable, cruel things to me?!
  Wilfred, Sr.: I quite agree, Father.
  Jason: Why indeed, Emily. Because you're cruel and miserable people. Because none of you respond to love. Emily responds only to what her petty hungers dictate! Wilfred responds only to things that have weight and bulk and value. He feels books, he doesn't read them. He appraises paintings, he doesn't seek out their truth or their beauty! And Paula there lives in a mirror. The world is nothing to her than a reflection of herself. And her brother. Humanity to him is a small animal caught in a trap to be tormented. His pleasure is the giving of pain, and from this, he receives the same sense of fulfillment most human beings get from a kiss or an embrace! You're caricatures. All of you. Without your masks, you're caricatures!
• Redemption Failure: One feels a little sorry for Paula; many people are thoughtless and vain in their younger years only to become better people as they grow up, and with so selfish a family it's not entirely surprising that she learned to care only about herself, but any Heel–Face Turn is no longer possible for her due to the effect of the masks.
• Reverse Psychology: Jason does this to the heirs in order to talk them into wearing the masks, such as when he describes Wilfred, Sr.'s mask...
  Jason: Now the opposite of all this... amiability would be... this face here! Look at it!
  Wilfred, Sr: Charming!
  Jason: Wear it! Live with it a while, Wilfred. It has great subtlety, Wilfred. There's greed, avarice, cruelty. All of the character traits that you don't have.
• Sadist: Wilfred Jr. is an idiotic bully who delights in the pain and suffering of others.
• Scenery Porn: Jason's mansion, to a degree.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Jason is the trope incarnate. He doesn't take half-measures when showing his dislike and/or hatred for those who have earned it in his book.
• The Scrooge: Wilfred Sr. is described as one, since he sees nothing but the monetary value in everything and how he can make a quick buck off of it instead of seeking their meaning and/or beauty.
• Secret Test of Character: Jason, at one point, asks in a very resigned voice if his relatives have nothing else to say to him before he dies beyond their usual begging and self-absorbed behavior, which then leads into him finally cutting loose on them. This implies that he would've called off the whole thing and let them remove the masks early if they were able to prove that they had any sense of humanity in them, but was disappointed that they really were that miserable and cruel.
• Self-Made Man: Jason's dialogue implies that he's one of them, as he remarks that his relatives plan to take everything he's built away from him.
• Shout-Out: Paula says that Emily has done nothing but complain ever since she and the family arrived in New Orleans. Emily replies with the line "He jests at scars that never felt a wound." from Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Dr. Thorne, the housekeeper, and Jeffrey the butler only appear in a couple of scenes, but through their interactions with Jason, we can see that he isn't just an angry old man. He can get along fine with others, which makes his disdain for his relatives far more genuine. To a lesser extent, the housekeeper openly shows contempt towards his relatives as well, implying that he's far from the only person they've alienated.
• Spiteful Will: While Jason's will isn't read, it's amended to be one. As he explains to his relatives, they must wear four grotesque masks for several hours while they stay together in one room with him if they want his money. If any one person fails to keep their mask on before midnight, then they would receive only enough money for a return train trip. What he doesn't tell them is that the masks, if worn until midnight, transform their faces to match the mask they're wearing.
• This Is Your Face On Evil: The Mardi Gras masks Jason brings out literally bring all the negative traits of his greedy relatives to the surface, permanently disfiguring them in the process.
• Too Dumb to Live: After Jason spends the entire first half of the episode calling out his relatives for their negative qualities, he turns around and claims that the masks which embody those qualities are the opposite of their true selves. Only a complete idiot would fail to catch the sarcasm... but they are so indifferent to anything he has to say that they all fall for it, hook, line, and sinker. It helps cement the heirs as completely and utterly self-absorbed, being awful to the point where they don't care enough to bother to realize that they're awful.
• Transformed Ever After: The episode ends with the assembled heirs unmasking after midnight to discover their faces have been permanently transformed to match their ugly masks.
• Villainous Valor: More like Jerkass Valor, with a minor instance of Villainous Friendship, but it still abides by the trope's playbook. For all of the relatives' undesirable characteristics, they show nothing but complete and total respect and support between each other (which hints at Hidden Depths, among other things).
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Jason and Dr. Thorne have known each other for many years. As such, they freely snark at each other and don't sugarcoat their words, but it's clear that there's a strong level of genuine affection and respect between them.
• Wham Shot: The close-up of Wilfred Sr.'s new, hideously ugly face, which is predicted by his wife and children's reactions.
• When the Clock Strikes Twelve: The dying Jason forces his relatives to wear their masks until midnight under the threat of losing their inheritance. The old man dies at the stroke of midnight, but when the relatives remove their masks afterwards, they discover that they're just as hideous as said masks.
• Wicked Pretentious: Wilfred Sr. doesn't care for the artistic value of the art or books he deals with, merely the monetary value of what he sells.
• World of Jerkass: The Harper family, as all of them are horrible people defined solely by a single negative attribute.