The Dark Pool story
A woman is blackmailed after her adoptive child drowns. Directed by: Jack Smight. Story by: Alec Coppel (story), William D. Gordon (teleplay).
17 total · 1 choice · 11 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with the death of a child | choice | Dianne and Consuela were both coping or feigning to cope with the death of their baby son who drowned tragically in the pool. |
| alcohol abuse | major | Dianne was a textbook alcoholic who had convinced her husband she had quit but, in fact, carried on drinking like a fish anyway. |
| blackmail | major | Consuela blackmailed Dianne by threatening to reveal that she had been drunk, negligent and in charge of the baby when the baby tragically drowned. |
| con artistry | major | The simple blackmail story escalated into something much more elaborate when Consuela decided to stay on, use tricks to drive Dianne into anxiety and boozing, have Dianne committed, presumably divorced, and to try and steal Dianne's husband. |
| coping with someone having an addiction | major | Victor supported his wife, Dianne, who was struggling with alcoholism. |
| greed for riches | major | Pedro complained in the end that he and Consuela had merely wanted to exhort $10-20,000 from Dianne and skedaddle together but then Consuela had gotten greedy for $5,000,000 and the beautiful house. |
| husband and wife | major | Dianne and Victor Castillejo were at heart of the story. |
| lying | major | Dianne ultimately came clean to her husband on a doozie of a lie: Their baby drown owing to her negligence, not through the fault of the nanny, as was determined at the inquest. |
| master and servant | major | Central to the drama was Dianne and her perfidious servant Pedro Sanchez who betrayed her secret and tried to blackmail her. Dianne's nanny took the fall after Dianne's negligence caused the death of her baby. |
| overcoming an addiction | major | Dianne had tried to quit drinking, and had in fact cut down significantly when they got the baby. |