A pianist returns to his hometown after a period of four years away in Europe. With no answer to his letters from his estranged father, this pianist (played by John Forsythe; Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry; the voice of Charley in Charley's Angels) fears his father will never forgive him for following his musical dream
but when his brother and sister-in-law (Warren Stevens & a young Chloris Leachman) greet him hesitantly, elusive about questions regarding his father (even Leachman's father seems to cautiously advise him to not pursue a meeting with his father). There's a secret that could very well recall a horrifying truth this pianist might have wished not to address; however, this feeling, as if a type of premonition haunting him, seems to will him towards this secret.
This episode is about the inability to escape the past and how such a traumatic event from said past has a way of returning to surface no matter how carefully buried it might have been (whether voluntary or involuntary). The mind is a funny thing and memories can sometimes be suppressed because of how traumatic an experience is. Forsythe imbues his character with enough confusion, distrust, anguish, and misery due to the "loss of his father's love, life, and inheritance". Also established is the loss of Leachman to Stevens (a tennis pro), and this tension that exists among all three. But the episode also illustrates that Leachman and Stevens are holding onto something significant as to spare Forsythe the painful memory of the past regarding his father. There are subtle references to hunting. Like the father's hunting cap and license, Forsythe's attention towards a hunting rifle, and a hunting trip that soon raises questions about what exactly happened at that particular time four years ago. Told it is a heart attack that took "Greg" (Forsythe refers to his father by name), this soon doesn't quite correspond with the hunting trip date his father took. That revelation will not be sweet news to his ears; if anything, this will once and for all leave him in regret.
I liked how this was designed as a mystery, with the hint that perhaps Greg was met with foul play, as the twist doesn't exactly provide Forsythe with the closure he'd want. He's so adamant about learning the truth, that once he does, Forsythe will never be the same. With George Macready as Leachman's daughter and the first to meet Forsythe before he finds out about Greg (he has that obvious concern about Forsythe learning the truth, doing what he can to halt him from encountering it).
This episode is about the inability to escape the past and how such a traumatic event from said past has a way of returning to surface no matter how carefully buried it might have been (whether voluntary or involuntary). The mind is a funny thing and memories can sometimes be suppressed because of how traumatic an experience is. Forsythe imbues his character with enough confusion, distrust, anguish, and misery due to the "loss of his father's love, life, and inheritance". Also established is the loss of Leachman to Stevens (a tennis pro), and this tension that exists among all three. But the episode also illustrates that Leachman and Stevens are holding onto something significant as to spare Forsythe the painful memory of the past regarding his father. There are subtle references to hunting. Like the father's hunting cap and license, Forsythe's attention towards a hunting rifle, and a hunting trip that soon raises questions about what exactly happened at that particular time four years ago. Told it is a heart attack that took "Greg" (Forsythe refers to his father by name), this soon doesn't quite correspond with the hunting trip date his father took. That revelation will not be sweet news to his ears; if anything, this will once and for all leave him in regret.
I liked how this was designed as a mystery, with the hint that perhaps Greg was met with foul play, as the twist doesn't exactly provide Forsythe with the closure he'd want. He's so adamant about learning the truth, that once he does, Forsythe will never be the same. With George Macready as Leachman's daughter and the first to meet Forsythe before he finds out about Greg (he has that obvious concern about Forsythe learning the truth, doing what he can to halt him from encountering it).