Admittedly this is not one of the better episodes, but one that has always been a particular favourite of mine. The reason is that it has always left me feeling rather uneasy. To summarise, William J. Feathersmith, a bored, old, wealthy & rather unpleasant businessman, makes a deal with the devil, a return to his youth in Cliffordville in exchange for his fortune. He figures that with all his knowledge of the future, he will make a killing and make himself rich. He instead finds out that this supposedly formidable plan is not as watertight as he assumed.
My problem has always been the fact that although I was glad to see the villain get his comeuppance, the punishment did not fit the crime. The rather contrite Feathersmith seemed to be a better man and it was not necessarily for him to be ridiculed by Hecate, his former janitor. Another bothersome aspect of their exchange in the final scene is why was it necessary to make Hecate unpleasant just because he was now rich. More unnecessary moralising by Serling, methinks.
However I recently read "Blind Alley" by Malcolm Jameson on which the episode was based, and I have to admit that Serling's Feathersmith 'got off' rather lightly.
My problem has always been the fact that although I was glad to see the villain get his comeuppance, the punishment did not fit the crime. The rather contrite Feathersmith seemed to be a better man and it was not necessarily for him to be ridiculed by Hecate, his former janitor. Another bothersome aspect of their exchange in the final scene is why was it necessary to make Hecate unpleasant just because he was now rich. More unnecessary moralising by Serling, methinks.
However I recently read "Blind Alley" by Malcolm Jameson on which the episode was based, and I have to admit that Serling's Feathersmith 'got off' rather lightly.