A Clean Escape 

In John Kessel's short story about a post-apocalyptic near future, a psychiatrist (Davis) is trying to help a patient (Waterston) recover from a memory lapse.

Director:

Mark Rydell

Writers:

Sam Egan (teleplay), John Kessel (short story)

Stars:

Stephen Hawking, Sam Waterston, Judy Davis

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Stephen Hawking	...	Himself - Host
Sam Waterston	...	Havelman
Judy Davis	...	Dr. Deanna Evans
Allison Hossack	...	Kelly Prosky
Tom Butler	...	Warren Geslow
Robert Moloney	...	Pierce
Terence Kelly	...	Goldstone
Garry Chalk	...	General
Peter Bryant	...	Dr. Gavin
McKye Kelly	...	Claire
Peter Hall	...	Nick
Burkely Duffield	...	Will
Camyar Chai	...	Mansur
Malaya Cooks	...	Technician

Storyline

Dr. Deanna Evans is a psychiatrist treating Robert Havelmann who suffers from memory loss. She has been treating him for a number of months but every encounter is new to the patient since he can only remember what has happened in the previous forty minutes of so. Havelmann is in his mid-sixties but in his mind he is 41 years old and the head of a electronics firm doing secret work for the Pentagon. He is convinced that he left his wife and children that morning to go to work and simply doesn't believe Evans when she tells him that those memories were from 24 years ago. Feeling that she is making little progress, Evans decides to use more aggressive tactics to loosen him memory and make him realize the tragedy for which he is responsible.

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Plot Keywords:

looking at oneself in a mirror | memory loss | memory lapse | u.s. president | ends with narration | 

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 August 2007 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Reunion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Stephen Hawking - Host: Are there events so impossible to forget that they become too painful to remember?

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Connections

References The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986)

User Reviews

Watching from the future

Stumbled by accident on this series a few weeks ago yet never got around to watching it . Today i decided to give it a shot and right after i have an weird ominus feeling . In 2007 this dystopian future described by this episode would have seemed , sci-fi , a long shot , a apocalyptic story that could maybe happen in 100 years if everything went completely crazy and yet , here i am , just 10 years after this looking at a future that looks more and more like this episode everyday , and Trump has only been in power for a week .... The future of my past is now my present . As far as the episode is concerned , even 10 years later i don't feel this is a cheesy bad episode from the past . Story was solid and offered a great climax revealing key clues at the right time to keep the suspense going right to the end . Great work .