It's 1909 in San Francisco, for no particular reason. John Qualen, the mousy book keeper, has spent 20 years in the employ of the nasty Sebastian Cabot. Qualen is a little scatterbrained and Cabot fires him precipitately. "No gold watch?", asks Qualen.
The poor guy goes back to his desk in the empty outer office, removes a revolver from the drawer, is about to shoot himself, then thinks of a better idea and shoots Cabot instead.
The next day, Qualen shows up as usual and finds Cabot hale and healthy, chatting with his business partner. The stunned Qualen spills his story and the others assure him he must have been hallucinating from overwork.
It develops that Cabot really IS dead and his replacement is an actor. The point is to keep the business going with all the profit now going to Cabot's original partner. The only problem the partner has is Qualen. Qualen is liable to convince someone that the original Cabot is dead, which introduces a fly into the ointment.
So the partner fires Qualen. And Qualen shoots HIM. As Qualen is leaving the building he meets the janitor. He's all smiles and assures the janitor that he can go ahead with his task.
The only problem I had was that this episode was shaping up to be a one-hour program, not a half-hour program. Much more could have been drawn out of the situation, and much is left unexplained. Qualen was a guilty mess after the first murder. Why is he now grinning with satisfaction. And, by the way, what HAPPENED to Qualen? The plot seems to end in mid story. It's like listening to "Jeepers Creepers" over and over without ever getting to "where'd you get those peepers?"
Nothing is made of the time or the location. Only rarely is the location important, so the series lacked a sense of place. Compare "The Twilight Zone", which had the run of an entire studio to shoot in. Yet, San Francisco in 1909 was quite a raffish place, the time of the Barbary Coast, now turned into a street of brick buildings housing offices. Too bad.
The poor guy goes back to his desk in the empty outer office, removes a revolver from the drawer, is about to shoot himself, then thinks of a better idea and shoots Cabot instead.
The next day, Qualen shows up as usual and finds Cabot hale and healthy, chatting with his business partner. The stunned Qualen spills his story and the others assure him he must have been hallucinating from overwork.
It develops that Cabot really IS dead and his replacement is an actor. The point is to keep the business going with all the profit now going to Cabot's original partner. The only problem the partner has is Qualen. Qualen is liable to convince someone that the original Cabot is dead, which introduces a fly into the ointment.
So the partner fires Qualen. And Qualen shoots HIM. As Qualen is leaving the building he meets the janitor. He's all smiles and assures the janitor that he can go ahead with his task.
The only problem I had was that this episode was shaping up to be a one-hour program, not a half-hour program. Much more could have been drawn out of the situation, and much is left unexplained. Qualen was a guilty mess after the first murder. Why is he now grinning with satisfaction. And, by the way, what HAPPENED to Qualen? The plot seems to end in mid story. It's like listening to "Jeepers Creepers" over and over without ever getting to "where'd you get those peepers?"
Nothing is made of the time or the location. Only rarely is the location important, so the series lacked a sense of place. Compare "The Twilight Zone", which had the run of an entire studio to shoot in. Yet, San Francisco in 1909 was quite a raffish place, the time of the Barbary Coast, now turned into a street of brick buildings housing offices. Too bad.